“The political situation of this place is quite dire. I have spent hours reading through multiple books about the now-defunct ‘Vanus Republic’ and the reigning ‘Holy Empire of Virtus’. All I can say…this world is doomed at this rate.”

- Excerpt from Lieutenant Hans Hoffman’s Journal Entries.

+++

+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

Rousselot City

JUN 28, 1538 CE

“Make way everyone! Make way!”

Both Hans and Adelyn ended their endless discussions about what they had learned from their ‘intel gathering’ as three men rushed through the streets just right in front of the church. Alizée for her part, who was with them eating breakfast, only leaned through the table to look through the glass windows.

“Well, that looks bad,” Hans said to Adelyn.

“Men on horseback…”

“What’d she say?” Hans asked as it was only Adelyn who was actually learning her language.

“Something about horses,” Adelyn answered. “Go check on Father Olbrich. I think something’s up.”

Hans nodded, and immediately made his way out of Adelyn’s room, rushing down through the stairs and the church’s halls. Quite frankly, the St. Heka church was pretty massive, and he had sometimes been mesmerized by the elaborate stained glass art that depicted the nine gods and goddesses, or their so-called “Angels”, but he was already used to that. Just as he was used to navigating the once-confusing hallways and rooms that the church boasted.

He stopped right in front of Father Olbrich and Captain Strobel, both of them tensely discussing something.

“Is something up?”

“Oh, Lieutenant,” Father Olbrich said. “Tell your Captain to prepare. Our scouts have found the beast. We need to move out quickly.”

“Where is it?”

Captain Strobel turned to his direction. “Northeast of Rousselot, close to the town of Belancon. The civilian population of the town is now being evacuated by the town militia. My forward platoons are now engaging it on horseback.”

“Shadowing it?”

“Aye, can’t let it get away after all. The problem is, I doubt those men are going to last. That thing will annihilate them soon. Second of all, we have to move through the shortest road that is blocked by an infested village that fell three weeks ago. Since we cannot take the long route…we’d lose it…we also have to clear that village.”

Hans shook his head. That’d slow them down. “Our vehicles are fast. Very fast. We might be able to reach it within hours.”

Father Olbrich and Captain Strobel looked at each other.

“Do we let him?” Captain Strobel asked.

“No,” Father Olbrich answered. “We can’t send our best unit unsupported. We’d squander them. I refuse. We will clear that village quickly, then chase it, as one unit.”

“Or maybe we can bypass the village and wait for you while supporting your already engaged cavalry?”

“Look, Lieutenant Hoffman, you don’t understand. That thing sends in these strange scalpel-like blades, flying at high speeds and penetrating everything with precision. You told me your machines have essentially no armor, no?”

Hans gulped. Of course…their eternal bane. Demons and their sharp things. He imagined this thing would definitely skewer through his vehicle. “Yes.”

“Then we cannot. We need to have more units in the field to distract it and allow you to place the killing blow. I already reiterated it again and again, losing you two will be unacceptable. Especially when you demonstrated the accuracy of your weapons two days ago.”

“...Alright, Father Olbrich.”

“Move, all of you. Captain Strobel, get the men ready. A and B Company. Get them assembled in an hour.”

The Captain nodded, and so did Hans.

This was it.

+++

“It’ll be alright, okay?” Adelyn softly said to Alizée. “We’ll be back by tomorrow. I’m sure of it. Everything will be alright.”

Father Olbrich promptly translated what Adelyn said to Alizée, and the girl merely nodded in a half-tearful display. It seemed that she was really afraid when she figured out that they would be leaving to engage that thing. Hans himself also kneeled to Alizée.

“Be a good kid to the nuns and the folks out here,” was all he said. “It’s safe out here, I’m sure of that.”

He gave her a pat, as Father Olbrich once again translated it to her. Alizée nodded before she was taken in by the nuns of the church.

Hans sighed and stood up. “Alright. A mouse demon spreading unknown diseases. Can’t believe we’d be dealing with something like that, but eh…”

“We’d have to be quick on clearing out that village,” Father Olbrich said, pulling out what appeared to be a fancy drum-like brass-covered clock watch tied to his clothing. “At most, even an hour would be too much. Hopefully, those weapons of yours prove quick to dispatch the undead if a complication occurs, but we’d stick with the plan of not using it unless we have to.”

“Good. And I’m sure our weapons will do fine if need be,” Adelyn said. “I mean, if your musketeers can keep them at bay, and even clear it, we sure as hell can.”

Hans nodded. “Hopefully, twenty minutes would be sufficient. Then we’ll blast through with our heavy equipment and infantry through that road, and reach them quickly.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“We already sent a hundred cuirassiers ahead of time,” Father Olbrich said. “We shouldn’t find ourselves in any surprise.”

“Let’s do it then,” Hans replied, as Adelyn nodded.

+++

“Prelim checks green,” Hans reported, as he fumbled through the controls of his mech. Outside, the 4th Holy Ygeia Regiment assembled in full. They had eight pieces of light artillery, two hundred musketeers and pikemen already marching through the road, and of course, the mounted cuirassiers on the side of their formation.

“Copy. Powering up engines. Systems are all green.”

“Affirm,” Hans turned on the [MECH-SYSTEM PILOT ASSISTANCE INTERFACE] and gave a brief check on his current statistics according to the [SYSTEM].

Status Check.

+++

Current Status: Healthy (No Special Health Effects)

Name: Hans Hoffman

Age: 25

Race: Vanus

Type: Demon, [REDACTED]

General Tier: I

LVL: 7

Class: Mech Pilot (Vanguard)

Passive Skills: [REDACTED]

Active Skills: N/A

Mech Upgrades: [UPG: EYE OF PARANOIA I]

Available Arcane Points: 92 PTS [UNLIMITED CAP]

+++

Damn it…why does it keep calling me a “Demon” and why are some of my skills hidden from me…ah, whatever…

That certainly bothered him greatly, but he stowed those worries away for now. Not that he can ask around how to deal with it. Everyone except Adelyn thought of him as human, as far as he knew, and he’d like to keep it that way.

Hell…Adelyn didn’t even know that his type was “Demon”.

Screw that designation. I don’t look like a goddamned mouse monster to me. I absolutely am not one.

He’d take that crap to heart. Plus, he was killing demons. Why would a true demon do that?

“Captain, I’m ready to move out,” Hans reported.

“Lead the way, One-One.”

Oh…so that was how it was going to be now huh? Hans smirked a bit, the faint nostalgia hitting him this time.

“Copy that Einweg Actual, moving out now.”

He pushed his feet down on the pedal.

The ride out of the city of Rousselot was quick. Hans and Adelyn sped forward through the main formation, especially since both Hans and Adelyn were given a map of the local area. The infested village itself was only twenty kilometers away, an hour’s drive for them at a quarter of their top speed (and around three hours on forced march for the main force). Still, both of them advanced through the dirt road at medium speeds. Quite frankly, their remaining range was now down to six hundred kilometers due to fuel usage, and they still hadn’t reached level twenty-five for the next upgrade on their mech.

That was all they knew really. Quite frankly, their “skills” weren't actual skills yet. From what they have learned, skills were gained at levels ten, thirty, and forty-five, before the “general tier” is increased at level fifty, and an individual would start out at level one again. So far, Hans and Adelyn hypothesized that their special classes gave them a special upgrade for their vehicle at levels five and twenty-five (and they didn’t know if there would be a next one) plus the skills. Thus their game plan was to limit the use of their mech, get to level ten first, and utilize whatever “skill” they could gain.

They would, as much as possible, use their small-arms weaponry for the time being, and grind up to twenty-five. Quite the chore, but until they had [UPG: ARCANE AUTOFABRICATOR] to, apparently, constantly replenish their supplies at the cost of arcane points, they must not squander their fuel and ammunition.

Or it’d be game over.

No one in this world would be able to make their fuel, ammo, or rounds. Only that thing would be able to provide it. It was why they needed the killing blow and that damned “level progress increase”. It would be the only way to reach it faster.

“Lieutenant,” Adelyn said as they reached the village. “Looks like we’re here.”

The two of them stopped at around nine hundred meters from the village upon establishing visual contact with the enemy. Hans and Adelyn then began driving their Wanderpanzers to the side of one of the hills overlooking both the road and the village. It should provide them with a good vantage point once the shooting starts.

Then, they both dismounted and began observing the contacts with their binoculars.

Goddamn…they were ugly.

“Lieutenant, do you see that?” Adelyn was now right beside Hans, both of them using the cover of the bushes to conceal themselves and their mechs on the hill. “Those are children…”

“Their bodies are rotting,” Hans said. “They seem to be wandering aimlessly…”

“It’s a biological disease isn’t it?” Adelyn asked.

“Yeah. Think we should be in our CBRN gear?”

“Perhaps,” Adelyn placed her binoculars back. “Though, don’t you think it would be kinda useless? They spread it by bites…”

“Well, CBRN suits are definitely not reinforced against bites, but, I don’t know, what if it’s airborne?”

“Then it’d have spread like wildfire already and we’re probably already dead meat.”

“...Point taken.”

They continued observing it, as Adelyn took a pencil and a leather notebook from her vest pouches. With his binoculars, Hans began listing her every contact that they could spot around the village, as Adelyn drew the terrain around them and began marking the contacts with “X” symbols.

It wasn’t really for them, as much as it was a preparation for the arrival of the main force. They already left a sword two kilometers away from the village where the main force would deploy. Only Captain Strobel and his personal guards would be dashing straight into this hill so as to not attract attention.

The plan after all was to find a good position for the pikemen and musketeers, while Captain Strobel and the cavalry would lure them out by sound. With that, A and B Company would whittle them down with gunpowder and pike. Hans and Adelyn were only tasked to recon the area, and they were forbidden to waste any of their shots unless things went awry.

“Alright, so what’s your big plan, Captain?”

She finished drawing, pointing at the hills around the village. “Alright, look at these areas. Pretty good elevation. That should slow down the advance of these…things. We’ll place our pikemen and musketeers, A Company on this hill, B Company on that hill over there. We’ll get Captain Strobel and his men firing their guns two hundred meters from the village, and bait them to a chase to A and B Companies.”

“Then volley fire…”

Adelyn nodded. “Correct. Secondarily, if things go awry, we can have the artillery pieces unlimbered on the road down there. They’ll cover an unexpected retreat down the road. Also, we’ll position our mech on both sides of the road. You support B Company, I’ll keep watch on A Company.”

Hans nodded, before he returned to his binoculars, while Adelyn continued looking at the makeshift map she created, using her pencil to preposition the units that they had on it. Hans lowered his binoculars.

“Alright, what’s our range of engagement?”

“Two hundred meters,” Adelyn said. “The musketeers should open fire once those things cross three hundred meters.”

“They’ll be inaccurate at that range. They’re using antiques. Muskets.”

“I know, but they’ll get hits. Look at how densely packed those things are. Again, they have the ability to manufacture their musket balls. We can’t yet. We have to conserve. Hopefully, they’ll get them before they reach the close-quarters engagement range. If not, then we’ll cover them with our HMG fire. Also, triple bursts only, no spray and pray.”

“Alright,” Hans breathed in. He then crawled back to his Wanderfalke and watched their rear with his binoculars. There they were, Captain Strobel and Father Olbrich, rushing in on horseback alongside a dozen cuirassiers. “They’re here.”

“Alright, let’s regroup with them.” Both of them returned to their vehicles and silently withdrew.