“Platoon tactics is where the Wanderfalke has really enjoyed its supremacy. Normally, during combat, I’d have three sections of two Wanderfalkes each in the Platoon. They keep each other well covered, and each section keeps the other sections supported during combat maneuvers. Franz Richter, my friend and wingman, has always kept my back well covered during fire and maneuver. Lamentably, none of that exists in this situation. I can’t even conduct basic fire and maneuver tactics properly at times—except for charging alone while Adelyn covers me. That’s a bit of a problem.”
- Excerpt from Lieutenant Hans Hoffman’s Journal Entries.
+++
+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++
Ygeian Countryside
AUG 24, 1538 CE
“Quite the target that we have,” Hans said over the comms as he watched the pack of white-skinned reptilians on the open field. “They say these things are a close relative of wyverns and dragons. Very rarely killed by the local forces, just like dragons. Usually, only high-tiered individuals or hunting parties get them.”
“So, you tracked these things since last night?” Adelyn asked. “Lieutenant…they look like dinosaurs to me.”
“Well, they probably are,” Hans said. “They seem to have magical properties though, so beware of that. Just like wyverns, they can fire these ‘fireball’ energy attacks according to the locals.”
“Hmm…think they can attack us at this range?”
“I don’t know,” Hans replied. “I mean, at two thousand meters, we’re practically invisible to them if they’re just normal reptilians. I doubt that assessment though. And look at them. Those scales. It’s like armor. Bet your ass it’s going to take a few sabot shots to take down.”
“Alright…” He heard Adelyn breathe in, as she pushed her Wanderadler to Hans’ left flank, just thirty meters away from him. “We’ll do long-range fires then?”
“Maybe bait them into a fire and retreat maneuver?”
“Yeah, that might work since we’re in an open plane,” Adelyn said. “Or we can circle them. Drive by this dirt road and use the treeline to confuse them while we drive around them. Then we focus fire on anyone that gets close to us.”
“Kinda risky though, if they reach us, we’d have to scatter. Hard to focus fire in that sense. Baiting them into a fire and retreat maneuver would mean we’re running away as a formation while firing at them while they’re chasing us. Your idea would do best if we had another section of two Wanderfalkes covering our ass.”
“True,” Adelyn sighed. “But, well, that requires them taking the bait. What if they don’t?”
“We do your plan.”
“Heh, simple guy, huh?” Adelyn chuckled. “Alright, Lieutenant. Let’s do this then. Since you insisted so hard to reach Tier II already. I swear…this could just be a waste of munitions in the short term.”
“Doesn’t matter, I’ll replenish them once we start combat operations with the Calamity of Desire. For now, our goal…is to prepare for that.”
“And how?”
“Well, maybe two more upgrades on our mech would do wonders, don’t you think?”
“You have a point.”
“Take the first shots now.”
“Clear copy.”
Adelyn and Hans both drove their mechs close to the dirt road around the open fields, spacing themselves at around twenty to thirty meters. Adelyn positioned herself behind a few trees to conceal herself, while Hans did the same. Hans coordinated himself with Adelyn’s targeting, aiming his main gun on the first out of the tree reptiles.
Briefly, the words of the town mayor came back to his head.
“You do know you’d be disturbing such ancient creatures of great power?”
He chuckled.
Well, if that’s what it takes to kill emergent creatures of great power…
Adelyn’s main gun boomed, finally taking their first experimental shot of the day against these creatures.
So be it.
Hans watched as the shot flew through the sky, and pierced the reptilian creature straight into its chest, creating a nasty hole that oozed blood and guts. The creature roared in great pain, attracting the two other reptile’s attention, who seemed to be resting on the grasslands, their heads raising and turning to the beast that Adelyn shot.
“Confirmed over-penetration,” Adelyn reported dryly on the comms. “Seems like the shot went through it clean. But look at it. It’s still standing. Its eyes are glowing.”
“Yep, seems like it’s in great distress,” Hans said, observing as the creature tried to continue walking, clearly in great pain. Suddenly, a violent light began growing on its chest, then its body, as its screech became high-pitched. “You got visual on that? It seems to be trying something.”
“Take fire now!”
Hans immediately pulled the trigger right as the creature began turning to Adelyn’s position, its mouth opening as a violet glow came out of it, but his APFSDS round pierced through its neck in time, causing the creature to stagger again, as the violet glow died out in its choked death. One of the white reptiles already ran to support the smaller beast, its feet touching and grabbing its bleeding form, before turning to Hans, its high-pitched growl of anger almost sending shockwaves even from two thousand meters.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Damn, pretty impressive. Fauna in this world is really quite something, huh?
“Seems like it’s their kid,” Hans said. “Those two, I believe, are its parents.”
“They’re taking a challenger’s stance on us,” Adelyn said, as they watched the two remaining beasts form a side-by-side formation, slowly walking toward them with clear anger, the lines on their white-skinned bodies glowing purple. “They’re going to attack us.”
“Well, I would too if I’m a mother or father and some dipshit shot my kid out of nowhere,” Hans said. “But, hey, it’s for the name of humanity. Captain, we’ll focus on the left one first. Then the right one. Two shots, right?”
“Gotcha.”
Immediately, their engines revved up, as Hans and Adelyn turned their vehicles in their direction of retreat. Hans took the first shot as they finally charged, piercing the second beast through its head, and downing it in one go. The third beast however fully charged its magic, and suddenly, a flying violet orb of light slammed into the direction of Adelyn’s mech, which she dodged in time when she jumped out of it.
Hans watched as Adelyn’s Wanderadler dropped on the dirt, and her main gun opened fire in a split second. The 120mm APFSDS didn’t make a joke when Hans looked at his targeting interface, watching as the skull of their target literally disintegrated into pink mist from Adelyn’s shot.
“Well…I guess the fire and maneuver plans we had were quite useless…”
“That’s…it?”
[3 SNOW DRAGONS (AVERAGE TIER III, LVL. 30) LIQUIDATED!]
[LEVEL UP! NOW LVL. 46]
[PROGRESS TO LVL. 47: 25%]
[NEW SKILL UNLOCKED!]
[AVAILABLE AP: 1450 PTS.]
“Wait what?! Snow Dragons? You said they’re just close relatives?! Wait, I’m now level forty-three?! How’d I gain that much?”
“Gee, who knew killing a monster that’s multiple Tiers away from us is going to yield that much?” Hans said. “Unfortunately, it seems that unlike with demons, their powers can’t compensate when it comes to fighting modern technology.”
“This is psychotic…”
“Well, if it works, it works.”
“I prefer gaining levels through the achievement system,” Adelyn said. “This sucks ass. You know, I’ll just practice actual magic and get levels that way instead of doing this. I feel so bad. That’s like killing…what must be an ancient endangered species.”
“Gee, you really are a moralist,” Hans said. “And why do I only unlock that mechanic in Tier II anyway? I swear…being a Vanus is such a handicap. No wonder these people want to advance through the ‘system’ at all cost.”
Hans then focused his sights on the dead corpses of these ‘Snow Dragons’. They probably just massacred an entire family.
“You’re right. Psychotic indeed.”
+++
Town of Torei
Hans parked his vehicle right behind Adelyn’s Wanderadler. It was already noon when the two returned to the town. The townsfolk of Torei seemed to be bustling with joyous celebrations. Hans looked around to see what was happening, when they spotted three individuals—two Vanus and one Virtus, proclaiming something to the crowd.
“The great three beasts of this province have finally been slaughtered!” A Virtus woman in…wait, Hans wasn’t sure why she was wearing that, a ‘nun-like’ outfit, proclaimed the news to the masses. “We vanquished them with our holy magic. At last, this town and the trade routes to it will be safe.”
“Pfft,” Adelyn chuckled as Hans approached her. “Liars. They probably watched us from a distance.”
“Those guys…they seem…”
“Must be a party of sorts,” Adelyn boredly checked her wallet. “Let them take the credit. It’s whatever. Let’s go find a good lunch for us and Alizée. I think we pretty much deserve it.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Hans followed her through the streets and crowd, as they tried to find a good place to buy cooked food. The celebrations kinda masked their movement, which Hans liked. There was too much attention being paid to them considering they used such modern mechs and had the audacity to park them in their town.
I should egg her to pay those guards nicely when we leave. Hans thought. Gee, imagine if someone actually tried to touch our mechs. It’d be a headache.
Suddenly, he felt someone pull him from behind. Hans instinctively slapped his hand off, pulled out his pistol, and aimed it at the man behind him.
“Stand back!”
The sudden commotion stopped the sounds of the crowd, and Adelyn turned back to Hans. Meanwhile, the man, most likely in his early twenties, with a very obnoxiously large horn, ridiculous plate armor, and a sword—had his cheeky smirk wiped out.
“Uh, chill out, man,” the Vanus guy said, backtracking a bit with an awkward expression. “I was just reaching out.”
“Did you touch him?” Adelyn asked angrily.
“Don’t do that again,” Hans warned, lowering his gun, as the two other allies approached him. One was another Vanus dude who carried a fancy bow, while the Virtus woman sighed at the sight.
“Mathieu,” the woman chastised. “I told you to just ask them out.”
“Err…” the man named Mathieu now seemed to truly lose his cocky demeanor. “Sorry, Priestess.”
Hans narrowed his eyes as he scanned the three.
“Shut up,” the woman Mathieu behind her, while the other Vanus guy pulled him, chastising him further. She however only briefly looked at Hans and went straight for Adelyn. “Anyway, I apologize for his uncouth behavior. I am Laura Klein. I believe you’re the two…demon slayers?”
Adelyn glanced away from the woman to Hans, suspicion clear in her eyes, but Hans just returned his pistol to his holster, preferring to wait for their words.
“I’m Captain Adelyn Wittenstein. Now…that’s quite the title that I’m not sure about,” she answered. “I cannot say anything about—”
“Do you really think a virtuous servant of the gods such as me would be a demon’s pawn?” Laura said as she looked at the side, closing her eyes. “Look, just like the two of you, we three are here to aid the efforts of Ygeia against the Calamity of Desire.”
Or you fools are just after the money.
“Uhuh…?” Adelyn replied. “Okay. Well, good luck then.”
“Are you two not on the big mission to vanquish it?” Laura asked, her eyes shining for a second. “I’m sure you two are. Of course, you two are. Why wouldn’t you be? All of those…silly soldiers and mercenaries are talking about you two like some sort of a messiah. Surely, you’re on the expedition.”
“I have nothing to say about that,” Adelyn answered. “Anyhow, steer clear of it, you three. You’re all young. Too young. This isn’t your business.”
“Hey!” Mathieu suddenly raised his fist. “Don’t insult us like that Madame! We’ve trained for this. Miss Priestess here is a seasoned mage herself. And I—”
His sword glowed for a second before Laura promptly aimed her staff in his direction, immobilizing him.
“You’re too painful, Mathieu,” Laura chastised as she crossed her arms. “Please behave.”
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I won’t do it again!” Mathieu exclaimed, still unable to move, with their last compatriot shaking his head as everyone looked at his frozen pose.
At that point, Hans felt Adelyn’s hand grab him, and within seconds, he was pulled out of the area, with everyone distracted. Hans naturally followed Adelyn’s lead as they exited the scene, but he looked back for a second. That ‘Priestess’...she stared at them. No, not at him, but at Adelyn.
Damn…what’s that woman’s big deal?
By the time they were out of range, Adelyn turned around and gave Hans a cheerful smile.
“Anyhow, what would you like for lunch?”