--- Police blockade ---
Pedro looked at his fellow cadets; they were all visibly shaken. The sergeant was constantly talking on the radio, receiving and giving orders. "What the hell is the damn Air Force doing? We need urgent air cover!" shouted the sergeant into the radio. This made Pedro wonder too; he could hear the sounds of Gripen NG combat jets, but he didn't see any ground attacks. The Super Tucano planes (light ground attack aircraft of the Brazilian Air Force) hadn't appeared yet. Could it be possible that the enemy also has some means of air attack that could be delaying them?
"Hey," said Gabriel, catching Pedro's attention, "you seem tense, man."
"I was just thinking, I don't know, this is all very hard to swallow, monsters, medieval knights, how is all of this possible?"
"I understand you perfectly, but let's focus on the mission; if we don't stop them here, there will be an even greater bloodbath," Gabriel said seriously as he cocked his rifle.
"Contact!" shouted one of the policemen, pointing to the corner 500 meters from the barricade position.
"Everyone to your positions," ordered the sergeant. "As soon as the target is visible, fire at will."
Everyone was shocked to see hundreds of green creatures that seemed to be at least 1 meter and 40 centimeters tall. They ran at full speed, crossing over cars and sidewalks.
"What the heck is that?" shouted one of the cadets.
"Hey, Gabriel," said Pedro.
"I know what you're going to tell me," he looked through his sight, "those are goblins." After saying that, he opened fire with his IMBEL IA2 rifle.
Everyone began firing bursts that quickly brought down dozens of those things at once; the Guarani also joined the fight and fired its 30mm automatic cannon, along with the .50 calibers of the LMV-BR. In a matter of seconds, hundreds of these things' bodies lay dead on the ground.
"Cease fire!" ordered the sergeant to the cadets. Everyone looked at each other and realized that these creatures really existed.
Gabriel wondered how these things got through the previous barriers since they easily died to the shots of 5.56mm and 7.62mm from our weapons.
A loud growl caught everyone's attention back to the corner. What they saw shocked them all. Three creatures, each 4 meters tall. They were wearing full-body metal armor, all with huge axes or giant hammers; one of them was eating what seemed to be the remains of an unfortunate policeman.
"Now I know how they got through the other barriers."
Everyone began firing; the 30mm cannon of the Guaranis seemed to have some effect on them, but not enough to stop them completely. They began running towards the police blockade. At this rate, they would be here in a few seconds.
That's when the sergeant ordered everyone to fall back and make space for the Centauro 2 to pass. The Guaranis moved onto the sidewalks to open up some space for the powerful tank destroyer's 120mm cannon. A quick bang was heard; it fired, and everyone looked towards those three creatures running frantically in its direction. The shot hit the Monster's chest squarely, making it fall to the ground with an immense hole in its chest. The other two monsters stopped and stared for a moment at their fallen companion, trying to understand what had just happened.
That's when a second shot exploded the head of the second monster. The third, realizing he was at a disadvantage, grabbed a car to use as a shield as he slowly retreated. A third shot hit him squarely, causing the car to explode and leaving him also with a huge hole in his chest.
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"That's what I'm talking about!" shouted one of the policemen as he saw the last monster fall dead to the ground. Everyone made a brief celebration.
"Was that an ogre?" Pedro asked Gabriel.
"It was," said Gabriel with an incredulous look at what he had just witnessed. Gabriel was a young man fascinated by MMO RPG games and everything related to Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, and so on. "if I had known I was going to fight against mythical creatures, I should have brought my wizard's cloak," he said, laughing.
The sergeant broke the light air of celebration. "okay men, we have new orders to advance; the policemen will stay here garrisoning the police blockade with one Guarani and two LMV-BR."
The Centauro 2 armored vehicle led the way, with the Guaranis following closely behind. It was decided to go on foot alongside the armored vehicles to protect their blind spots.
"here, take this," Gabriel handed an ALAC 84mm (84mm recoilless anti-tank cannon) to Pedro.
Pedro looked confused, "why are you giving this to me now?"
"I grabbed it from an LMV-BR before we started moving," Pedro took the ALAC, "and besides, you never know when we might need it; you saw those ogres, aiming an anti-tank weapon at their heads should be effective."
A 120mm shot from the Centauro put everyone on alert. "what was that?" asked one of the cadets.
Gabriel looked through his 4x scope and saw a group of 10 enemy soldiers in armor. The ammunition hit them directly; the armor didn't prevent a gory scene from being avoided.
"These are humans," he said;
"the more I think about it, the more I realize none of this makes sense," said Pedro as he adjusted his anti-tank weapon on his back. "I wish all of this were a tasteless joke."
---
As Pedro passed by a car, he noticed that it was completely destroyed. Upon looking inside the vehicle, he immediately turns away and starts vomiting. "What are you doing standing there, cadet?" shouted the sergeant. "Keep moving, or you'll die." "Sorry, sergeant," Pedro said. "I'll help him." Gabriel assists his friend by holding him with his arm and moving him away from the car. For a moment, the sergeant stares at the vehicle. Inside, there were two people in the front seats and 2 children in the back seats, all charred. He sighs and rejoins the rest of the battalion.
As the convoy continued, they had more encounters with goblins and enemy soldiers who seemed to be lost. They saw the convoy and attempted to attack, but in the end, they were all killed by the 7.62mm and 5.56mm weapons. "What do these guys want?" asked one of the soldiers aloud. "I believe they still don't know what armored vehicles are, and of course, our rifles," replied another soldier.
A Super Tucano flew low at high speed and then launched 2 air-to-ground missiles. The convoy couldn't identify the target as it was concealed by a building. However, as the aircraft made a turn to retreat, a beam of light flew towards it from the ground behind one of the houses. The Super Tucano narrowly avoided it at the last second, then climbed in altitude to avoid further attacks and accelerated to maximum speed.
Everyone in the convoy saw what had just happened and was shocked. "What was that, do they have anti-aircraft defenses now?" said Gabriel.
"Hey, that seemed like magic; look, so far, we've seen armored soldiers, goblins, and ogres, and I wouldn't doubt anything anymore," Pedro said to Gabriel.
Before Gabriel could respond, a soldier interrupted them, "if it really is magic, does that mean they might have an army of Gandalfs with staffs?"
Gabriel and Pedro looked at each other and laughed. "Well, for sure, my friend," said Gabriel as he extended his hand to shake the soldier's.
"I'm Gabriel."
"Pleasure, I'm Corporal João Victor." He accepted the handshake. Pedro also introduced himself and shook hands.
"You must be the new cadets assigned to this battalion, right?"
"Yes, but we're under the command of the Sergeant, and I still don't even know his name," said Pedro.
"He's called Tiago; he was assigned to our battalion too, probably just to command the cadets."
"Very interesting," said Gabriel, rubbing his chin.
"But you guys..." A sudden arrow prevented João from finishing his sentence. It pierced his neck from top to bottom, causing him to fall to the ground, his mouth and neck so red it looked like paint as he drowned in his own blood.
"One of the soldiers shouted, "they're on the rooftops!" Bursts of 7.62mm were fired towards the houses and rooftops. Arrows flew towards the convoy, hitting soldiers' vests or ricocheting off the armored vehicles. "Get him into the vehicle." Two soldiers ran, picked up the Corporal's body, and carried him into the vehicle. Pedro and Gabriel took cover, alternating between aiming at the rooftops and the corners of the avenue.
After a few minutes of combat, the arrows stopped. Several of the archers who ambushed them were killed and fell from the rooftops. Others probably died trying to shoot from the windows against the convoy. "Cease fire!" orders were issued. "Is everyone okay?" asked one of the officers. "Two with minor injuries and one dead due to an arrow to the neck, sir!"
Gabriel and Pedro looked at each other, shocked to have witnessed the death of a comrade they barely knew. Both thought it could have been one of them instead of that unlucky Corporal.
"The wounded will be taken back to the police blockade; the rest of us will continue the advance!"