My Gang of Swordsmen

Chapter 548: Chapter 181: 1 vs 67! The Final Battle Against the Anti-foreigner Group!

So, Aoto, well aware of the stakes, let out a deep breath, then suddenly darted to the left! He evaded to the right side of the enemy before his eyes, taking both himself and his sword out of the wrestling match!

The enemy, not anticipating Aoto’s sudden evasion, couldn’t withdraw in time and toppled forward due to inertia.

At this moment, Aoto’s slash arrived.

The distance between the two was incredibly close; Aoto didn’t need to move his feet at all. With a casual swing of his sword, he could hit any part of the enemy’s body.

This guy, unable to readjust his posture and balance, could only watch as Ghost-Slaying’s blade neared his head... the sound of a watermelon bursting.

Bang! Whoosh!

From the right front came the sound of a bowstring snapping and an arrow whistling through the air... Following the sound, Aoto lifted his eyes to see, not far away, an enemy holding a broad yumi bow and of considerable height aimed its body directly at him, the bowstring still trembling slightly from just having released an arrow.

Among the 66 subordinates Shinno brought to the settlement tonight, 10 were archers specifically responsible for shooting arrows.

A few months ago, during the assassination attempt against Anthony and Elodie, the Anti-foreigner Group used a dozen or so matchlock guns bought at great expense from Rakshasa of the Law Punishment Faction, reportedly manufactured in the Mito Domain.

According to the subordinates who managed to escape from this ultimately disastrous operation, these matchlock guns were terribly ineffective, with poor accuracy and slow firing rates, only effective in large numbers.

A few, a dozen matchlock guns... their biggest role was likely just to create a facade of power.

Listening carefully to his subordinates’ feedback and advice, Shinno had an epiphany: firearms are but odd skills! Arrows are still more effective!

With this insight, Shinno abandoned firearms and decided to focus wholeheartedly on using bows and arrows.

—Bows and arrows, huh...

Suddenly, Aoto remembered the new talent he copied a few days ago from that ”bearded middle-aged man”: Master of Archery.

An archery talent ten times that of ordinary people... This was Aoto’s second ”enhancing martial arts talent” after ”Sword Genius.”

Though acquiring a new talent is generally good... this ”Master of Archery” was rather useless to Aoto.

Aoto had little interest in archery; in this era where steam engines and ironclad ships had already appeared, Aoto was far more interested in traditional martial arts of the United States than archery.

Aoto didn’t know—the ”bearded middle-aged man” with the ”Master of Archery” talent was actually the best archer in the Anti-foreigner Group.

The 10 samurai chosen by Shinno to wield bows tonight were the best archers in their group.

However, though claimed to be the best archers, their actual archery skills compared to ordinary people... were only about the difference between 60 and 50 points.

Only large wealthy families had the resources and finances to learn archery, and almost all the Anti-foreigner Group’s members were subordinate samurai living under poor conditions.

Such poor economic circumstances led to a harsh educational environment, meaning hardly anyone in the group had received rigorous archery training from a young age.

Therefore, the 10 enemies holding yumi bows now could not be called masters of their craft.

Their archery skills weren’t great to start with, and now, surrounded by many of Aoto’s companions, they were even more wary, significantly limiting their performance.

Nevertheless, bows and arrows are still bows and arrows; their threat cannot be ignored.

Throughout history, how many heroes have died from a cold arrow?

—I must first find a way to deal with these archers...

After scanning the position of each archer to get a full view, Aoto began evading surrounding enemies attempting to encircle him while moving towards the nearest archer!

”Quick! Stop him! You don’t have to kill him, just obstruct his actions! As long as his movements are restricted, he’s finished!”

In front of Aoto, four enemies of roughly the same height linked shoulders to form a human wall, shouting as they charged Aoto like a surging wave.

Facing this human wall pressing straight towards him, Aoto acted as if he didn’t see them; expressionless, he flicked Ghost-Slaying to fling the blood and grease from the blade into the darkness where moonlight could not reach.

Aoto slightly lifted his gaze, peering beyond the wall ahead to the person commanding his four companions to form this human wall and now hiding behind it after shouting, ”As long as his movements are restricted, he’s finished.”

It was a burly man with thick eyebrows.

He exhaled a deep breath again with a ”whoosh,” then swiftly dashed forward, sleeves billowing as he charged towards the human wall!

Just as he was about to collide with the wall, Aoto suddenly dropped his waist, building up strength in his lower body in an instant. He then took a powerful step forward and leapt directly into the air.

Ascending into mid-air, above the human wall, Aoto used the shoulder of one of the enemies within the wall as a stepping stone, vaulting over the human wall and landing behind it.