Sniper Counter

“Even in a new world full of monsters, somehow the biggest threat in this situation was a creature I am most familiar with from Earth.”

Nadia and Kitezh were startled by the towering horse prancing its legs in the air.

“Neeeiiigh!” cried the large brown horse.

BAM!

The horse suddenly kicked against the wall. The large stallion became out of control and took off from its spot. While horses are normally tied down with a rope at the stable, this one was not. In fact, as it flailed in a circle in the small stable, there was a loose rope flailing around its head.

The black horse in the stable cried out in shock. Unlike the other horse, it just pranced in place as it was still tied down.

WHAM!

“ACK!”

Kitezh was kicked in the chest by the brown horse. She was invisible, but she had no way to avoid such a hysterical animal.

“Neigh!” whinnied the brown horse, as it galloped out of the stable and into the street.

“Ack, N-Nadia!” coughed Kitezh.

“Kitezh, where are you?” asked Nadia worriedly.

Kitezh’s chest and abdomen suddenly appeared in the air. There was a large bruise in the center.

“Oh no, hold still. I can fix this.”

Nadia rummaged through her invisible outfit covering her invisible body.

“Damn invisibility! I found it!” yelled Nadia.

She waved the wand in the air, and it began to glow white.

“Nadia, NO!” warned Kitezh.

CLANG!

Nadia’s wand was suddenly sent flying from her hand.

“Damn it! I forgot about which stuff was still visible to that bastard,” said Nadia.

“I c-could see it too, f-for your information,” said Kitezh weakly.

“You seriously have the nerve to tell me that under this state.”

Nadia sifted through the hay on the ground and picked up her wand. She also found another metallic object. It was another kunai. However, she inspected it more closely this time.

“I can tell it’s a kunai, but the handle is missing. Did it hit the horse? No, it must’ve hit the rope to let that horse loose,” said Nadia, as she put the kunai in her pocket.

“Nadia, you know when you got hit by that other kunai back there? I need to warn you right now. I can see where you are from your blood,” Kitezh pointed out.

Nadia turned her head to look at her arm. She could see blood seeping down despite her arm being invisible.

“Damn it. I could use my healing magic to help us both, but now isn’t the best place.”

Kitezh looked out of the stable again. She still saw nobody visible outside.

“Nadia, I think I know what is going on. These objects suddenly flying at us from a distance. Our killer seemingly being invisible, just like me. I think we’re dealing with a sniper!”

“A sniper?!” exclaimed Nadia.

“He’s probably not using an actual sniper rifle. However, maybe his phenomenon is a sniper like ability.”

“Well. how do we fight against a sniper?!”

Kitezh looked up at the building across the street.

“There’s no way we can fight from down here. This killer could likely be on the roof of that building. We just need to get on his level, or higher,” explained Kitezh.

“How exactly are we going to do that? Climb up a building. He’s going to shoot us down if we attempt to go on the same roof as him!”

Kitezh looked a bit higher. Behind the building, she saw a tall, cylindrical stone tower. It was the city’s observatory tower.

“We’re going to have to out-snipe him at the observatory tower. If we make it up there, we’ll be more fortified, and you could heal both of us," said Kitezh. "OW! Ahk! My chest seriously hurts. Something is definitely broken. I'm not sure if I could get up.”

Nadia looked outside the stable as well, but had doubts. She looked back at her bleeding arm.

“Can you cover up a wound like this?” asked Nadia

“If you wrap a cloth, I could turn it invisible. Though if the blood seeps through, I would be able to see that.”

“That’s good enough for me.”

Nadia’s doubt transformed into hope from that one statement. She hatched an idea.

Nadia looked at the abandoned rope that was used to secure the brown horse.

“Kitezh, we’re going to get out of this. Though I’m going to need to tie you up a bit. Considering your current state, it’s going to hurt, so I might need to cover your mouth as well,” Nadia said in a somewhat awkward way.

“Whatever kinky idea you have, it better be worth it,” Kitezh said begrudgingly.

The streets were quiet. It was late at night, with just the moonlight and lamps illuminating the city.

The mysterious assassin patiently waited for a new opening. Although he knew where his targets were, he still needed the patience to detect the exact location of the invisible girls. Either a sound or even the slightest movement in the environment. However, what if it was something he could detect, but was not prepared for?

“Neigh!” whinnied a horse.

All of a sudden, the street was filled with the sounds of horseshoes clopping. They thundered through the street and around the corner of the intersection. And yet, despite the ample lighting on the street, not a trace of the source was seen.

“Ermmf. ERMMF!” said a muffled Kitezh, as she was flying through the street.

“We’re almost there, Kitezh. Mind you, I’m just barely an amateur at controlling a horse.”

“Neeeeiiigh” cried the horse, as it had no idea where exactly it was going.

Kitezh had created an invisible horse that carried both herself and Nadia. Though, Kitezh was forced to be tied down in quite an uncomfortable position on the horse.

The fast speed and invisibility were enough to make the horse outpace the assassin’s attacks. However, the assassin quickly realized what he was dealing with.

SNAP!

A large piece of fabric flew down from above. It was a large flag hanging from a building, right above the path Nadia was taking.

“Neigh!”

FWOOSH!

The horse ran straight into the flag, creating a bed sheet horse ghost. It stumbled and fell to the ground, throwing both Nadia and Kitezh off.

“MMMMF!” cried a muffled Kitezh.

“Kitezh! I’ll save you!” yelled Nadia.

WHAM!

“Neigh!” cried the horse, and it flailed on the ground.

Something struck the flag, hitting the horse underneath. Kitezh was still trapped under the flag.

Nadia pulled out the kunai from earlier and cut the horse and Kitezh free. The girls could hear the horse stumble and frantically gallop away.

“Kitezh, we’re here!” cheered Nadia.

Miraculously, Kitezh and Nadia landed right in front of the observatory. Nadia limped her way to the entrance. She was carrying a weak, tied-up Kitezh.

“Let’s get in!”

CLICK! CLICK!

“No way!” yelled a panicked Nadia.

The doors to the observatory were locked shut. Nadia looked around the sides. She saw above that there was one window out of arm’s reach.

“Damn it!”

SMASH!

Nadia chucked the kunai through the window in frustration.

She looked at the broken window and then turned her head to see the flag that previously covered the horse.

“Kitezh, you’re going to hate me again, but trust me on this,” Nadia said.

“MMF?!” questioned Kitezh through mumbles.

Nadia ran to the flag and brought it back to Kitezh, covering and exposing the outline of her body.

“Is this who you’re after, idiot?” Nadia said mockingly to the roof of the building.

BAM!

“MMMF! MM-HMM-HMM!” cried Kitezh, as she was hit by the assassin's projectile.

“He’s reloading. Get ready, Kitezh!”

Kitezh suddenly realized there was another rope tied around her body. It was connected to Nadia as well. It was the rope that originally held up the flag.

FWOOSH!

A sudden gust of wind blew upward. It blew the flag up like it was a parachute. Kitezh could see the glow of Nadia’s wand, where the wind was being emitted.

The flag pulled Nadia and Kitezh up like a balloon.

CRASH!

Nadia used the wind to redirect the flag through the smashed window. They were both flew in and slammed against the floor. The flag fluttered down on top of them. They were finally inside the observatory tower.

“I honestly didn’t think that was going to work. Maybe I should test using wind downward to see how that works,” Nadia said to herself.

“MMF…”

Kitezh had blood seeping out of her invisible body. They were from the glass shards upon entry.

Nadia looked at her own body and saw similar wounds. She grabbed Kitezh and pulled out her wand.

“It’s going to be alright!” Nadia consoled Kitezh.