Adrenaline surged through him, his morale reignited. He turned back toward the battlefield, his eyes narrowing as more malevolent crimson orbs lit up in the dark—a new wave of demons advancing. Then, to the southwest, another sinister azure light pierced the heavens. His heart sank. Another Cerus had appeared.
Inside the tank, Leila’s voice crackled over the intercom. “M-Mister Ivan! New Cerus sighting at southeast, 600 meters!”
“Copy that,” Ivan replied, his tone steady but tense. His eyes darted to his monitor, briefly scanning the fallen Cerus. The APFSDS round had punched clean through the beast’s massive frame. Too much penetration, he thought grimly. A HEAT round or even the 20mm cannon might have sufficed.
Leonard, ever eager yet unused to the tank’s mechanics, turned to Ivan. “My lord,” he began in deep, formal tones, “shall I prepare another bolt for thy weapon? This…this contraption of divine fury?”
“Just clear the spent casing for now,” Ivan instructed, his voice clipped and efficient. “Pull the lever down, and it’ll eject.”
Leonard did as instructed, flinching slightly as the heavy spent casing clattered to the floor with a metallic thud. “Aye, my lord. The casing is removed.”
“I’ll tell you which ammunition to load next,” Ivan added.
“Yes, my lord,” Leonard replied.
“Do exactly what you did earlier,” Ivan reminded them. “ Hold on tight—we’re moving in.”
Scarface gripped the controls, twisting them hard to the right. The tank’s left track roared to life, grinding against the dirt as it pivoted with crushing force. The ground trembled under its weight, sending clouds of dust into the air as it turned toward the new target.
The platoon commander stood rooted in place, watching as the tank rotated its turret with mechanical precision, its barrel now aligned toward the fresh wave of threats in the distance. Moments later, its treads roared to life, and the monstrous machine surged forward like an unstoppable juggernaut. The earth trembled beneath its weight, dust rising in its wake as it charged toward its new prey.
The commander felt a renewed fire igniting in his chest. He inhaled deeply, his lungs filling with the acrid air of the battlefield, then let out a thunderous shout. His voice, sharp and commanding, cut through the chaotic noise.
“Everyone! Regroup on me at the second line!” His words were firm, an anchor in the storm of battle. “You’ve seen it—our weapon took down a Cerus! We have hope! Leave the big ones to them—”
His words were interrupted as an orc lunged at him, its guttural roar echoing. The commander didn’t flinch. With practiced precision, he thrust his sword forward, the blade piercing the creature’s chest. Blood sprayed as the orc collapsed at his feet, its body twitching in its final moments.
He yanked the blade free, the steel gleaming with crimson, and raised it high. “And us? We’ll deal with the small fries!”
A collective roar erupted from the remaining defenders, their morale reignited like a firestorm.
The RedMusket roared forward at full speed, its massive turbine engine emitting a high-pitched whine that reverberated across the battlefield. Ivan expertly maneuvered the tank, weaving through the chaotic terrain, narrowly avoiding friendly forces scrambling to evade the juggernaut. Inside, Leila scribbled a quick note in her logbook: "Lacertil Cerus killed." With one Cerus down, the five in the sector had been reduced to four. Still, urgency loomed heavy as she glanced skyward, spotting another azure signal blinking—a squad was already locked in combat with a Cerus.
Ivan pushed the engine harder, his knuckles white as he gripped the controls. The second Cerus came into view—a massive, glowing lizard-like behemoth exuding an ominous blue aura. It stood poised to strike a terrified squad frozen in its shadow.
Through the intercom, Ivan’s voice was steady but urgent. “Jusis, ready your finger on the second trigger. When I say fire, hold it for three seconds.”
Jusis tensed, his middle finger hovering over the 20mm autocannon’s secondary trigger. “Ready, sir.”
“Leonard, load HEAT rounds—look for the one marked with the ‘H,’” Ivan commanded.
Leonard nodded, carefully opening the ammunition rack. Spotting the designated round, he hoisted it with both hands, the weight straining his arms, and slid it into the gun breach with a metallic clunk. Securing the breach, he pulled the lever and called out, “Up!”
The tank barreled forward, its trajectory aligning with the Cerus’s erratic movements. Ivan took over manual aiming, anticipating the creature’s next lunge. Despite the chaos, his hands remained steady, his focus razor-sharp.
“Jusis, sight on the target?” Ivan barked.
Jusis peered through the scope, his breathing shallow. The reticle aligned with the Cerus, its monstrous form nearly filling his field of vision. “Target identified!”
“Fire second gun! Three-round burst!” Ivan ordered.
The 20mm autocannon erupted, its staccato roar splitting the air. Three shells tore through the darkness, but only one found its mark, exploding against the Cerus’s face in a burst of fire and shrapnel. A thick spray of glowing blue ichor gushed from the wound, pooling beneath the monster.
“That did some damage,” Ivan muttered, his voice grim, “but it’s not enough.”
The Cerus reared back, its growl deep and guttural, the sound reverberating through the tank’s hull. Its glowing eyes locked onto the source of its pain. With an enraged roar, the beast charged, each thunderous step shaking the ground as it bore down on the RedMusket.
The rapid thud of the Cerus’s footsteps echoed inside the tank. Jusis felt his chest tighten, his heart pounding as if it would explode. His grip on the controls faltered for a split second, panic threatening to overwhelm him.
“Stay focused, Jusis!” Ivan snapped, his voice cutting through the young gunner’s fear. “Ready the main gun!”
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Leonard and Leila braced themselves, gripping the tank’s interior handles as the monster drew closer. Jusis’s eyes locked on the charging Cerus, its glowing maw wide open as if to swallow the tank whole.
“Fire main gun!” Ivan commanded.
Jusis gritted his teeth, steadied his trembling hands, and yanked the trigger. The tank unleashed its fury, the high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) round screaming through the air before slamming into the Cerus’s head.
The resulting explosion is cataclysmic. The Cerus’s skull disintegrated into a gruesome spray of azure ichor and chunks of flesh, the shockwave rattling the tank’s crew even inside their armored cocoon. The massive creature collapsed, its lifeless body thudding heavily to the ground.
Inside the tank, silence reigned for a moment, broken only by the crackling of distant fires and the crew’s labored breathing. Ivan glanced at the mangled remains through his monitor, his expression unreadable.
“Target down,” he confirmed, his tone devoid of triumph. “Three more to go. Leila, any Cerus nearby?”
Leila raised her wooden staff, her fingers trembling as she focused her mana. She murmured an incantation under her breath, and a soft glow emanated from her staff’s crystal tip. “Two Cerus at our eight o’clock, 800 meters,” she finally reported, her tone steadier now. Glancing skyward, she added, “No squad engaged yet.”
“Understood.” Ivan twisted the tank’s driving controls, redirecting its course toward the new targets.
The combat personnel who had just witnessed Cerus obliterated stood frozen in awe. Their disbelief lingered, but the war offered no room for celebration. The ground shook again as waves of enemy goblins surged forward, their shrieks cutting through the chaos.
“Leila, can you cover the tank?” Ivan asked, noting the goblins that threatened to intercept their path.
“Leave it to me!” Leila replied confidently, her hands gripping the staff tightly.
“Sister, is there any way I can support you right now?” Leonard asked from his post.
“Not at the moment,” she said without breaking focus. “For now, keep reloading Ivan’s weapon.”
Leila climbed halfway out of the turret hatch, exposing her upper body to the battlefield. She raised her staff high, its crystal tip gleaming brilliantly. With a commanding voice, she chanted,
“Crystallis Spherum Ignis!”
The air above the tank shimmered as multiple magical circles materialized, glowing a radiant blue. From each circle, a barrage of crystalline shards erupted, streaking toward the charging goblins. The crystals struck with unerring precision, piercing their ranks and stopping their advance cold. Goblins fell like ragdolls, their bodies crumpling into heaps on the blood-soaked battlefield.
The defenders on the South Sector walls continued their desperate fight, casting spells and hurling arrows into the surging enemy forces. Slowly but steadily, they began to retreat, rallying around.
Finally, the RedMusket reached its third target—a Lacertil Cerus, its monstrous form already locked in battle with two beleaguered squads. Soldiers stood their ground with swords raised and shields braced, their faces pale but determined.
“Just like earlier, Jusis. Fire a three-round burst with the second gun. Leonard, load HEAT,” Ivan ordered, his voice calm yet firm.
As the loader and gunner scrambled to prepare, Leila suddenly shrieked, her voice cracking with panic. “GET OUT OF THERE!”
Her shout crackled through the intercom, jolting Ivan to look at the monitor. His blood ran cold. The Cerus’s scales had begun to glow with an eerie, electric blue light—far brighter than before. Its jaws yawned open, pulsing with energy, and rows of luminescent spikes erupted along its spine, running all the way to its tail.
A devastating attack is imminent.
The squads below realized it too late. The Defenders turned to flee, abandoning their formation in a frantic rush. Ivan’s eyes narrowed as he wrestled to line up the tank. At this distance—500 meters—it was far from ideal. He muttered under his breath, If only Reznov were here.
Amid the chaos, one soldier stumbled. He hit the ground hard, his shield clattering beside him. Time slowed. The Cerus’s spiked tail began to whip into motion, glowing brighter with lethal intent.
“Can I fire?!” Jusis’s voice cracked through the intercom, his breath ragged as he watched the soldier struggling. His hands trembled over the controls.
“Wait—” Ivan tried to command, but before he could finish, Jusis squeezed the trigger.
A deafening BOOM filled the inside of tank as the main gun fired, rocking the tank violently backward. Leonard and Leila were thrown off balance, and even Ivan staggered as the recoil jolted through their armored shell.
The shot missed.
The Cerus, undeterred, surged forward with terrifying speed—faster than a creature its size had any right to move. The downed soldier barely had time to scream before the beast’s massive claws came crashing down, pulverizing him into the dirt.
“NOOOO!” Leila’s anguished scream rang out, her hands reaching out as though she could somehow pull him to safety.
The Cerus spun like a living storm. Its tail, a blur of jagged spikes, sliced through the two squads as they ran. A searing blue light trailed its movement, mingling with arcs of red as flesh and bone were obliterated. Bodies crumpled, limbs severed, and the ground ran slick with blood and azure mist.
Inside the tank, the crew sat frozen, their horror reflected in the pale glow of their monitors.
“God damn it! I told you to wait!” Ivan’s voice thundered through the cabin, his anger boiling over. Jusis felt his heart plummet, the weight of his missed shot and the slaughtered squads pressing down on him like a leaden anchor.
But there is no time for blame. The Cerus had paused, its glowing eyes locking onto the charging metal beast—a predator now sizing up its challenger.
Leila stared blankly at the remains of the squads, her hands trembling on her staff. “Sister!” Leonard’s voice cut through the haze, snapping her back to the moment.
Ivan slammed the throttle forward, sending the 70-ton tank barreling toward the monstrous creature at 60 km/h. “Jusis!” he barked.
Jusis hesitated, his shame and shock paralyzing him. “Y-yes,” he stammered.
“When the crosshairs line up again, hold the second trigger and don’t let go until I say so. DO YOU COPY?!” Ivan’s voice burned with authority.
“I-I understood,” Jusis replied, his voice trembling but resolute.
Ivan’s tone dropped to a chilling calm. “Let’s give that son of a bitch what it deserves.”
Gripping the controls, Ivan twisted the tank’s direction to the left, lining up the crosshairs manually with the Cerus. The turret stayed locked at 12 o’clock—his precise steering is their only aim.
“Hit it!”
Jusis pulled the second trigger. The 20mm autocannon roared to life, spitting high-explosive rounds at a blistering 120 rounds per minute. The battlefield quaked as bursts of explosions peppered the Cerus’s scaled hide.
The monster bellowed in agony, each shot cracking its thick, iridescent scales like glass struck by hammers. Shards of blue-tinged plating flew off, and its azure blood gushed out in erratic splashes, like water bursting through cracks in a dam.
“Aaaaaaargh!” Jusis screamed, his fury spilling over as he held the trigger.
The Cerus staggered under the relentless barrage. Its movements slowed, its once-menacing posture crumbling as it was reduced to a wounded, flailing mass. The closer the tank came, the clearer its fate became.
And then, the 70-ton war machine met its prey.
The ground shook as the RedMusket thundered over the Cerus. The tank’s steel treads ground the beast into a gory pulp, azure ichor splattering in every direction, painting the dirt with its shimmering gore. The creature’s limbs twitched one final time beneath the crushing weight of the M1 Abrams.
Ivan didn’t stop.
He yanked the controls into reverse, the tank grinding back over the Cerus’s broken body with a sickening squelch. The monstrous predator that once towered over soldiers, that crushed them with ease, was now nothing but a pulverized mess beneath the merciless advance of steel and fire.
“Target neutralized,”
The inside fell silent.
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