[center][h2]Tachibana Masaru[/h2][h3]Nagano Prefecture — Abandoned Mansion[/h3][/center]

Despite expectations that the enemy might have survived more than a single hit, Masaru found himself ever so slightly disappointed at their complete lack of durability. With Zhao covering the vanguard as he was now, the duration really [i]did[/i] boil down to little more than target practice. Arrow after arrow flew true, crippling any ashigaru that had miraculously not been shot somewhere "lethal"—not that they lasted long afterwards, though. Between the flurry of limbs and follow-up attacks, crushing the defensive line was but child's play.

Just as they were beginning to make headway, though, the defensive line that the team had broken through for but a moment seemed to reform in an instant. Despite the lighting in the area being less-than-ideal, though,  Masaru could make out more than a few of the phantoms taking aim; with more melee-oriented ones essentially marking the positions of a few barely-concealed rifling, though, it made sense to try and take them out before potshots could start being issues of any sort. 

Not that he'd have any chance to, though, as Zhao took the offensive and began to rush down the snipers before he could. 

"You're fine without any covering fire?" Masaru chimed in as he shifted his focus back towards the spearmen standing staunchly between them and the rest of the main hallway. "Don't think the guys turtling over there are liable to break formation or anything."

Regardless of his thoughts on the matter, Masaru began to unload volley after volley into the stationary ashigaru, to the point where he began to intentionally move forward to bait stabs before retreating and firing into any openings made as a result.

This wasn't a phalanx, after all; poking the line until it broke wasn't exactly too outlandish if the only things he had to be aware of were linear stabs or stray bullets, and moving unpredictably solved both of those issues easily. 

[@Psyker Landshark][@Raineh Daze]