“They say the goddess fights on the side with the best artillery. I suppose there are merits to those words.”
- Excerpt from Lieutenant Hans Hoffman’s Journal Entries.
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+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++
Rousselot City
JUN 26, 1538 CE
Days of preparation had already passed. Days that were spent with evacuations, mobilization of all battalions of the 4th Holy Ygeia Regiment, scouting and shaping operations, and of course, endless planning.
Plannings and plannings, where Hans tried his best to spin everything that he found in his scouting missions as arguments for the three men and women in charge of the operation, Captain Strobel, Captain Wittenstein, and Father Strobel to agree to his plans.
The final meeting today ended, which included the Captains and Lieutenants of the 4th, especially the artillery officers.
Apparently, there even were two Vanus battlemages in the ranks of their artillery group. Hans was certainly surprised about it. Low-tiered mages, they were called. They were the ones in charge of the artillery.
Apparently, it was why their shots were managing to destroy those magical scalpels. Hans didn’t see it during the battle, but they definitely were using magic to greatly enhance the speed of their shots. And Hans knew that more speed meant more energy to kill the beast.
It was all shaping well.
They had everything planned out. They even had alternative plans should the main plan fail. They have established the positionings of each battalion on the field. Where the artillery would be and where they would be pre-aimed. When and how the cavalry would respond. How the pikemen would deal with the undead. Hell…they even established what basic skill all the musketeers would be using when firing their first volleys.
The simplest of them all, [ACT: IMPROVED SHOT I], something which practically all musketeers were trained to gain (most apparently were level ten to fifteen) in order to allow them to devastate their enemies in battle, would be available. With it, their bullets would essentially travel to more than three-fourths of the muzzle velocity of a modern rifle.
Considering the weight of their musket balls, that beast would certainly be in a lot of pain if it closed by. Not that it would be deterred by it, their MG24s after all were something it could shrug off, even if it penetrated its body.
Please…work. Hans begged as he laid his back on the wall, as the officers and other men from the meeting room of the Rousselot City Barracks left, each of them conversing with each other about random topics uninvolved with their strike tomorrow.
It baffled him how these officers could problematize with things outside of the threat they faced, but considering how the meeting went, he saw enough egos from them. Apparently, most officers in the Imperial Army below the General rank were sons and daughters of the human elite class—the petty nobility and the mercantile class, all of them with varying crap to prove to their families and to themselves.
It reminded him a bit of the Lotharingian military. Even here, nobles truly had an iron grip on everything. And it was probably why they were losing even with their technically superior technology.
“Lieutenant Hoffman,” Father Olbrich suddenly distracted him. Hans looked up at him and nodded.
“Yes, Father?”
“May I have a word with you?”
Hans looked around, as everyone fully left. “Sure.”
He followed Father Olbrich straight into one of the balconies of the barracks. It was already night-time, so the skies were pitch black, only barely illuminated by Rousselot City’s weak lighting systems. It was what fascinated him more about this land. Unlike in Terra, where night didn’t exactly mean that the city was dark—in fact, it seemed to be the opposite, there were more lights in the cities of Lotharingia at night, here, it was truly dark at night.
“Lieutenant,” Father Olbrich started. “I must ask. You’re a foreigner, aren’t you?”
“Yes, Father.”
“Then why?”
“...Father? I don’t understand.”
“You have no obligation to the people of this land,” Father Olbrich said. “Outside of being hired due to your Captain’s insistence, you’re no more than a paid mercenary, in reality. A foreign one lost in an alien land, as your Captain said. So why? Why the sheer initiative? The sheer…risk-taking, just to take down a threat you have only seen for days?”
“...It’s a threat, Father. You said it yourself. A threat against human life must be put down.”
“Lieutenant, you didn’t even gain much monetary compensation from this. It’s your Captain who received it all. You merely received some from her grace.”
“Well, money isn’t my goal. My goal is survival. Captain Wittenstein and I. And to protect that child I saved. Nothing more.”
“Nothing more?”
“Well, maybe I’m an egoist who wants the prestige of killing that beast,” Hans laughed. “I wouldn’t put that past myself. It’s certainly in the realm of possibility. Lots of potential for self-prestige in my nation’s history books by virtue of being first here, after all. Though, only if we make contact again though.”
“Ah, that does sound quite selfish, Lieutenant,” Father Olbrich nodded. “Indeed. But you don’t strike me as someone who would operate in such a way. In fact, you have so far kept your head low.”
“Well, maybe I’m a stealthy one,” Hans chuckled. “About that, you, Father Olbrich. Why? You’re in the church. Why fight with these men? Why try to stop it yourself?”
“It’s a demon, Lieutenant,” Father Olbrich said, his seriousness returning. “The enemy of the church. Of the gods. And it’s not just any demon, it’s a demon that spreads diseases. One of the things that the church must deal with.”
“Ah…”
“But more importantly,” Father Olbrich breathed in. “Have you ever lost…a brother? A comrade?”
“...I did, many times,” Hans laughed again, a bit bitterly. “In a way…I almost lost count.”
Father Olbrich closed his eyes for a brief second. “I still have to find him, Lieutenant. That’s why I’m doing this. He doesn’t need to go into any further torment. He’ll be free. Eventually.”
“Who…?”
Father Olbrich shook his head. “If you finish this task…you have my greatest thanks, Lieutenant. I’m sure his mother would too.”
Father Olbrich turned around and left.
Whatever…I’ll just take the thanks I guess. Hans looked down. Not that it’ll be me doing the lion’s work of killing it tomorrow. It’s all up to them now.
Even still, Hans feared his chances. Things could still go wrong.
That night, Hans prayed to the Goddess of Terra.
+++
Rousselot County’s Countryside
“Belancon Hill”
JUN 27, 1538 CE
0955 hours.
Hans sighed. They were finally situated on the hill. Four battalions, all from one regiment, and a full two batteries of eight light artillery pieces each. Beside him, Adelyn was watching over the deployment and the distant settlements with her binoculars, as cavalrymen and officers on horseback circled around the site.
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On the ground, the men of the 4th Holy Ygeia Regiment began erecting whatever barriers they could make. Men planted palisades in front of their positions, all while the artillerymen improved their artillery positions with basic earthworks, giving them a semblance of cover with the earth.
It was a beautiful sight, unlike the rushed engagement attempt they had last time.
Most of all, they even arrived at the sight thirty minutes ago—enough time to preposition and prepare their defenses. All while the cavalry cleared the surroundings of undead stragglers, ensuring that none would manage to sneak behind and cause a panic.
Most of all…they arrived without hiccups. Hans already cleared the routes they would use to reach this place, so what they met on the road was literally nothing that a few men with swords couldn’t handle.
Not a single casualty. Not a single tragedy.
Adelyn lowered her binoculars.
“Lieutenant,” she called.
“Yes, Captain?”
“Are you ready?”
Hans took a while to look back at the preparations. Their Wanderpanzers were both parked on the western flank of the hill, both overlooking the flatlands to the west. Hans sighed…this was it.
“Yes, absolutely, Captain,” Hans briefly smiled. Organized. All of it. For some reason…he felt oddly proud of himself. “Let’s get this thing finished.”
Adelyn nodded. “I have two ADI MPATs ready.”
“Good,” Hans replied. “If fortune smiles at us, we won’t have to use up more than four shots each.”
“I hope it does,” Adelyn took a deep breath herself. “The Countess, she…no, they all expect something big from us. Of course…we’re the ones with the shiny toys, and this is your master plan. So…”
She extended her gloved hand. “Let’s write this world’s history ourselves, going forward—with a few shots of our main guns.”
Does she really think she sounds epic with the way she said that?
Hans could only laugh. No matter what…this woman always liked that dramatic flare on her. No matter which timeline. No matter which moment. Hans really wanted to ask what the hell led her mind to always think of the things unfolding in front of her as some sort of a fairytale, and that she would be the protagonist of it.
But…
I suppose that’s just fitting for the Angel of Justice, even if she doesn’t know it yet.
She’d definitely be in for a great surprise once this battle ended.
He shook her hand.
“Alright, Miss ‘Princess’,” Hans sarcastically said, which only made her frown a bit.
“You just can’t go by your day without ruining a girl’s imagination, huh?”
“Sorry, not sorry, Captain.”
“Whatever, get in your vehicle. And…please don’t get too cocky. If I say retreat, you will retreat.”
“Rog.”
“Good luck to us then.”
Hans only nodded.
Soon, they were inside of their vehicles. Calibrating their subsystems for one final time, Hans and Adelyn pushed their feet on their pedals when Captain Strobel rode by with a yellow flag in his hand. The main force was ready. All they needed now was to bait the beast.
1000 hours. Hans smiled. Perfectly timed.
At once, their two Wanderpanzers raced through the Rousselot countryside. Unlike that rainy day, their legs were driving well on the solid, dry ground. Hans and Adelyn rapidly reached seventy to eighty kilometers per hour on the green fields, rushing straight into where Hans remembered as the location of that creature.
Indeed, it only took them four minutes of searching, finding it on the road west of Belancon, seemingly patrolling the area. It was three kilometers away from them—just somewhere at the effective range of their main guns. Hans immediately relayed the location to Adelyn, who positioned her mech just fifty meters behind him.
“Captain, I’ll be taking the honors,” Hans said, as his turret tracked the creature. “Can I?”
“Permission granted, Lieutenant. Take the shot.”
“Rog,” Hans gripped his control sticks, as one of his fingers moved from the buttons that controlled the turret’s movement, and hovered around the fire button. He also pushed the left control stick forward, causing his mech to turn neutrally to the left until he was facing the direction of the main force.
It seemed that Adelyn did the same as well.
“APFSDS, range, two thousand eight hundred meters—opening fire.”
At once, the Peacemaker’s 90mm main gun roared, as an APFSDS round was launched from its barrel—the sabots detaching as the round flew at a thousand eight hundred meters per second—traveling like a flash of light on the green landscape.
Only for one of the beast’s magical defenses to react, as one of the oversized flying scalpels intercepted and sliced the APFSDS rod four hundred meters from the demonic creature.
The Rodent of Pestilence turned—and roared at the new threat it faced.
Come at me, rat.
The chase was on.
The legs of both Hans’ Wanderfalke and Adelyn’s Wanderadler engaged fast, dashing through the plains as the monster chased from behind them, kilometers away. Due to the terrain conditions, there was nothing hindering the mobility of the two light metal beasts. And so, in just seconds, the two were outrunning the monster, who hopelessly chased after them with rage in its eyes.
It knew they weren’t just some pesky humans that could only poke at it. It felt the power of Hans’ shot—and it knew it had to kill Hans and Adelyn.
But the two of them separated on the fields, Hans running to the left flank of the main force, and Adelyn to the right, as the beast continued onwards, until they were only two kilometers to the main force, and Hans and Adelyn had already reached their “firing” positions.
Hans keyed his speakers, and his voice that called to open fire was carried through the battlefield. Hans watched as the first booms of the two artillery batteries thundered through the fields—raining round cannonballs sped up with magic all straight on the beast.
Its magical defenses reacted, trying to stop the brutal barrage, and indeed, most cannonballs were sliced and disintegrated by the sheer force of impact by the magical scalpels—but its true vulnerability was exposed. Two cannonballs pierced straight into the beast as it reached a thousand meters from the prepared musketeer lines.
The beast however only roared and continued charging forward, but the first volley from the musketeers cracked open as it reached four hundred meters on the main force’s line, as hundreds of magically sped-up lead balls slammed straight into its body, blood pooling out of it as it cried in pain. Hans almost felt frustrated at why they didn’t use that back then—they could literally shoot at four times the lethal range of unaided musketry with their basic magic!
Then again, they must have been conserving their Arcane Points for the actual beast instead of the undead.
A second volley pummeled in just seconds, as the next rank marched forward, all with freshly-loaded guns, but this rank had soldiers that didn’t use their skill. Their shots floundered on the fields, barely anything hitting the beast. But the third rank marched forward and engaged their basic skill—and their volley devastated the limping creature, even if most of their shots missed.
None of the flying scalpels were reacting. The beast knew it needed it for the upcoming volley of the “big guns”, but, Hans knew, it must have learned by now that they led it to the most perfectly crafted trap.
From the hills—the light artillery batteries opened up at last for the second time, and the defensive scalpels responded, intercepting most of the cannonballs that flew to it, but four normal ones punched through the body of the beast, and two special ones—seemingly glowing white, pierced through the center mass of the beast, flying in and out, sending a bloody mess on the ground.
The Rodent of Pestilence locked its eyes on Hans’ mech, as he had only been watching its takedown. It was the plan, after all, to lure it right in front of the main force, while Hans and Adelyn would be directly to the left and right of it, waiting for their turn.
Hatred…sheer hatred that wanted nothing more than to kill him radiated from the demon.
What a tough cookie you are. Hans laughed. Demons can really soak an unnatural amount of damage.
True abnormalities of biology. Nay…Hans at this point knew biology wouldn’t apply to these creatures.
Thus…they should be liquidated.
He pulled the fire trigger—launching an MPAT straight into its face, and utterly burning through it with a thunderous detonation.
Direct hit.
But it continued on. It was pained. Nearly dead. But it limped forward. It wanted to kill him.
For Hans led him to this trap.
But…
“Captain,” Hans said on the radio. “It suffered enough. Let’s end this.”
A deep breath from the other line. “On it…”
A boom erupted from the other side, as Adelyn’s 120mm main gun launched an MPAT round that left a reddish-glow behind. The shell slammed straight into the rear of the beast—generating an incinerating blue flash that almost blinded the entire field before the creature burned in an inferno that turned blue to yellow.
It left off its last monstrous wail—as Hans too pulled his trigger, sending an APFSDS round straight into its skull, skewering it, and finally, giving it its merciful end.
The beast, still burning—collapsed on the fields at last.
The battle…was finally over.
With not a single casualty.
Except for Hans’ momentarily hysterical laughter that only Adelyn heard.
Laughs that she would never understand.
[1 DEMONIC ENTITY (LVL. UNKNOWN) LIQUIDATED!]
[LEVEL UP! NOW LVL. 17]
[PROGRESS TO LEVEL 18: 50%]
[AVAILABLE AP: 205 PTS]