“Rain and mud is the enemy of horses, of artillery, of gunpowder. In the third Republic–Holy Empire War over the borderlands of Asfaleia, the Duke of Toussaint, Jean Bossuet attempted a counter-incursion on the Principality of Exousia, with his field army defeating two Imperial armies, but his campaign was slowed down, and he had to lay siege on the city of Mantia right during the rainiest season of the year. A hundred fifty artillery pieces failed to breach the walls of Mantia, all because of constant rain.”
- Excerpt from “The Eternal Rivalry of the Republic and the Holy Empire” by Joel Brandt.
+++
+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++
Near Belancon
It was already 1450 hours. No sight of the ‘Rodent of Pestilence’. But Hans and Adelyn were certainly drenched in rainwater. The worst had come to them.
The damned rain.
Hans lowered his binoculars. They were camouflaged on the treeline that overlooked a flat field to the now-abandoned town of Belancon. Well…abandoned as far as he could tell. The evacuation was definitely badly done, and they could see with their binoculars the sign of fighting that must have happened hours ago. Hell…Hans could even see the occasionally shambling undead with his binoculars.
No sign of the cavalry detachments that were said to shadow it earlier either. Even when both Hans and Adelyn scoured the countryside for two hours. All that they had to show for themselves was their drained fuel stocks, nearly eight hundred MG24 rounds fired in total, and the fact that Hans was now down to twenty-two rounds, and Adelyn down to twenty-six rounds both in their main gun rounds. They were using it up too much in order to not get bogged down and speed up their search.
It was the only way to deal with the straggling undead circling the ring of infested towns and villages near where that monster was reportedly sighted early morning. All while the main force both lagged behind and according to Captain Strobel, who they met just forty minutes ago because he rode ahead of the main column—-they were now down to a third of their powder after yet another minor engagement.
All in all…their detachment was being drained of supplies by the undead. All while being slowed down anyway. All while that damned rodent escaped their grasp. Hans wanted nothing more now than to punch the leg of his parked Wanderfalke.
“Looks like we’ll have to wait it out,” Adelyn tiredly said as she lowered her binoculars.
“Well, obviously. Their artillery and muskets won’t work until this rain parts away. And they have to stop to keep their powder dry. Damn it…if only their infantry had wheelocks at least…”
“Got plans to introduce those things to them?”
“Doesn’t matter if you give them flintlocks,” Hans replied. “It’d still take decades before they adopt it. Captain Strobel and his men use snaphaunce, but you’ve heard it. Too expensive in scale.”
Adelyn nodded. “Unfortunate. Holding all this modern knowledge but being unable to use it to its fullest.”
“Secondarily, I know how to use a gun, but don’t ask me to make a flintlock,” Hans shook his head. “Ain’t no damned engineer for that.”
“Point taken.”
The two fell silent again, watching as the rain turned the flat plains into muddy puddles. The last thing they would want is for their legs to be impaired by soft ground. Momentarily, Hans almost remembered the muddy fields of Lotharingia. Craters and mud.
…Damn it, this rain was taking way too long.
“Do you think we should continue the recce for it?” Hans asked.
“I don’t know,” Adelyn said. “But at the same time…if you think about it, if we find it, all we’ll really need is one good shot. Even if it’s a tough nut to crack, an MPAT is bound to devastate it enough that it’ll be easy to put in the takedown shots. We’d finish this quagmire in minutes.”
“I only have five MPATs left,” Hans said. “The rest are APFSDS. Think it’d do well against it?”
“No doubt,” Adelyn said. “Though, you definitely have to aim it better since it’ll be a solid shot without explosive filling or proximity fuse. But I’m positively sure that a round designed to destroy a literal tank is going to skewer that thing’s innards.”
“...Alright.” Hans paused. “Then what about Captain Strobel’s plan?”
“Yeah…we need to time it well. Though Captain Strobel and his remaining cavalry might try to bait it, that’s really our job at this point. The main force is already tired. Moving any further is going to be detrimental.”
“We expected this to be a quick takedown. Now it's a damned maze and we’re lost in it.”
“Strange, the last monster almost sought us. This one is hiding obsessively in comparison. It’s scary…in a way. What if these…these demons, or ‘Calamities’ aren’t just mindless monsters like the last one we fought,” she turned to him. “What if they have a mind like us?”
“...That’d be troubling.”
She turned back to her binoculars and observed Belancon for a few moments. “Fine. We’ll continue the recce. Try to bait it to the main force if possible. We can’t wait any further.”
“Aye, Captain.”
+++
Hans released his hold on the machine gun trigger.
[22 INFECTED UNDEAD (AVERAGE LVL: 8) LIQUIDATED!]
[PROGRESS TO LVL.14: 32%]
[AVAILABLE AP: 168 PTS]
Well…if there’s one good thing about all these, we’re progressing at a massive pace in just a day.
Well…killing hundreds of deadly undead that he imagined a regiment of this world’s soldiers would struggle on was certainly something that would of course reward them with a lot of progress. What did he expect?
“All clear, Captain.”
“All clear on our rear too!”
Both of them were now on a road between two infected villages north of Belancon. Still no rats in sight. Worse, they were now six kilometers away from the place where the main force took position, which they were now apparently fortifying in preparation for Hans and Adelyn pulling off the bait chase.
They continued on, advancing through the road as the rain started tapering off. What was a heavy downpour earlier was now turning into a light rain. Still, the wet dirt road slowed them down greatly. It was definitely putting a strain on their vehicles, as Hans imagined that staying still for too long would partially sink their vehicles in these conditions.
They stopped.
One and a half kilometers away…was something. The village ahead, to Hans’ targeting feeds, was definitely overrun. But he was staring at something different. Red glowing eyes. Almost greenish skin. About five meters tall…almost in a pouncing position. It was the rat. And it was staring at them…straight at them…from that distance.
Hans looked to the side, nine hundred meters away. There was a lone horse. Behind it…a shambling infected cuirassier. His armor seemingly cleanly sliced on the torso.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
…They definitely shadowed it till their last breath.
“Captain…you seeing this?”
“Yeah…how’d it even see us at this distance and foggy visibility?”
“No idea, Captain. Switching to thermals. Goddamn…it’s cold. Not even a sign of body heat.”
“Alright…let’s try this out slowly…turn your chassis around…”
Hans complied, and both of them commenced their neutral steering, keeping their turrets aimed straight at the beast while turning their chassis straight into the direction of the main force. The beast snarled further.
“Alright…” Hans took a deep breath. “You got more rounds. Wanna try it out first?”
“...Loading APFSDS,” he heard her breath deeply. “What the hell are those floating things around it…?”
“No idea,” Hans replied. “Opening fire?”
“...Firing.”
The Diligence’s main gun opened fire, and Hans watched as her shot flew in a flash straight into the face of the beast—but suddenly, one of the floating things slammed on it, and her shot slammed straight into one of the houses instead.
“...Run.”
Hans pulled the trigger as both his Wanderfalke and Adelyn’s Wanderadler broke into a sprint, and the creature rushed straight into them. Just as it began, Hans could hear the distant cracks of musket fire and cannon fire in the direction of the main force. Just as his MPAT was slashed by those flying things, and detonated right in front of the beast that was probably chasing them at sixty to seventy kilometers per hour.
“Ah, shit! Get the next shot out, Captain!”
“Firing!”
Another shot boomed from Adelyn’s mech, but her APFSDS was once again deflected. Horror rose in both of their voices, as Hans began frantically pulling the fire trigger until his main gun fired. Once again…he wanted nothing more than to run now. That thing…that thing! It wanted them dead!
He pushed on the pedal harder, as his mech reached sixty-kilometers per hour, and he was starting to outpace Adelyn. Shot after shot came from them, almost every seven seconds due to their autoloaders. But the beast was unrelenting. And it continued charging. But Hans noticed one thing. It was losing those flying things. It seemed that the energy of their shots was completely destroying it whenever those things intercepted it.
“Captain! We just need to keep firing and exhaust that rat’s defenses. It’ll run out eventually!”
“On it!”
They continued firing at it in an alternating pattern. Adelyn would fire a shot, then Hans would fire another one in three seconds, then Adelyn four seconds afterward, all while their Wanderpanzers sprinted on the muddy plains—slowed down greatly by the soft ground. By the second minute, almost halfway through their journey, they had already attracted hordes of undead along with the beast.
“I’m down to ten rounds!”
“I’m down to eight!”
But it seemed that they had only shaved half of that thing’s flying knives…well, no, those things were shaped like oversized scalpels to Hans’ targeting feed. Still, they were far from exhausting it, and they were now almost completely out of ammo!
He began spraying MG24 fire on it.
“Die! Die! Die! Damn it! Where are they firing at?!”
Unfortunately, they had no way of knowing it, as the elevation completely blocked their vision to see the main force, but it was clear that they too were fighting something, most likely the hordes of undead that must have spotted them.
Soon, they finished climbing the slope in the fields and began driving down—revealing the hill where the main forces seemed to have taken their position, two kilometers away. They were being swarmed by at least a few dozen undead, but they were firing their muskets and cannons. Thank god the rain stopped minutes ago.
But Hans and Adelyn knew they would be screwed soon with the hell creatures hot on their tails. Hans keyed his mech’s speakers. He hoped they’d hear him.
“Attention! Aim the goddamned artillery in our direction now! The rat is coming!”
Just as the beast emerged, Hans and Adelyn opened fire, as cannonballs flew overhead. The thing’s flying scalpels intercepted it, even if it didn’t seem to be accurate, further whittling it down. But Hans and Adelyn were almost out. Hans pulled his MG24 once more, as the last vestiges of its defensive flying scalpels disappeared.
But it was now only four hundred meters behind them…no, two hundred meters behind Adelyn who was lagging behind.
“Damn it I—”
One of the scalpels sliced through her mech’s chassis—and Hans watched as it sliced clean through Adelyn’s cockpit, emerging straight out of it with her blood still dripping from it as her mech drifted and slid on the mud. Hans immediately pulled his Wanderfalke to drift on the side, as he locked his main gun straight on the beast’s head.
It was now almost out of its oversized magical defensive scalpels, and he was very close.
He fired his shot, and his APFSDS completely skewered clean through its head. The beast tumbled down on the mud, dropping down a few hundred meters near Adelyn’s downed mech, as the hordes of undead descended on them. But the thing wasn’t even dead yet! It began rising and limping away, as the cannonade from the main force began hitting it.
But Hans could see the undead closing in to swarm Adelyn’s mech.
He had no other option. He opened his MG24 on them, slicing through them as he rushed back to her mech. However, by the time he closed in, his two coaxials already overheated. But he didn’t care anymore. Not about his mech. Not about his life. Not even about the damned demon that they were pounding with their artillery.
He pulled his SMG and jumped out of his hatch.
Controlled burst. Controlled burst. You’ll get to her!
One by one, he downed the remaining undead charging toward him and Adelyn’s mech. One, two, three, four…five, he racked up kills next by next, until his magazine ran out. Pulling out his Ruger, Hans shot the last two undead straight into their heads. He didn’t waste any further time and rushed straight to Adelyn’s downed mech.
Damn it! Please be alive! Please! Please!
With heavy breaths, he climbed her mech’s chassis and forced her hatch open. Down below was Adelyn. The damned thing sliced straight through her mech. Of course, it would, the Wanderadler’s rear had no armor. It could barely even stop small arms. She was going to die.
“H-hans…don’t…please, just run…leave…” Adelyn breathed out, blood pooling out of her mouth.
Hans however merely went down and removed her seatbelts as gently as he could. Father Olbrich was a healer. A priest. He just needed to get her straight into the main force as fast as he could.
“Absolutely not! I swear, if it’s the last thing I’ll do, I’ll get you there, just hold on!” He pulled her out and began carrying her out of the hatch, pushing her out first, before he emerged himself, and carried her. She was breathing raggedly, as Hans placed her on a fireman’s carry as quickly as he could. It was just an eight-hundred-meter sprint. He could do it.
But just as he was doing that…
She suddenly bit him on his shoulder. Hans screamed as he felt her teeth bury deep, drawing out blood. When she pulled her head out with some of his flesh still in her mouth…Hans saw none of her humanity…only that feral, bloodied rage, as she forced him to the ground. He tried pushing her head away with his other hand.
Captain Adelyn…how…
Why did you turn?
He tried to slowly overpower her, as he cried in pain. Why? Why? They were already so close! Why did this have to—
A shot silenced her.
All as her blood pooled from her skull, and trickled down on Hans’ face.
He looked at the distance. It was Captain Strobel on horseback, his musket pistol still smoking as he stared down at them. For many moments, Hans refused to move, as regret laced Captain Strobel’s face, but it seemed that determination returned on the veteran soldier's face.
“Lieutenant Hoffman,” he shouted. “It’s over now. You’re bitten.”
Silence.
He could not accept it, but…
He could only nod, as he sat up, still cradling Adelyn’s dead body in his arms. She was…she died. Again. Again. And he was next. He was bitten. He failed again. And he could only stare at her bloodied face. Again…
Again…
He heard Captain Strobel pull his saber behind him, as he held Adelyn one last time. He gave her golden blonde hair a few pats, as he tried to hold off the tears pooling in his eyes…
I’ll do better next time.
I swear…
Captain…
I’m so sorry…
I’m sorry for lying…
I’m sorry…
For failing you again…
“You’re both honorable, Lieutenant Hoffman,” Hans heard. “Thank you for your service, lost travelers. I won’t let you turn into one of them.”
Hans nodded again one last time, giving him permission to be offed. Then, in a split second—a slash.
Time almost felt slow, as his head flew in the air…until it all turned pitch black, right as his head dropped into the mud.
What a failure he was.
Lost again in this bloody maze.