Approximately 10 km from Kōyōjima Island, Harukami Shogunate
FES Vanguard.
August 6th, 1427. 7:30AM
“God… this place smells like my uncle’s nut room.” Rita covered her nose with a piece of tissue.
Joker, Richard Milton wiped away tirelessly at the floor of the well deck with their mops, each wearing a gas mask to block the smell of the dead fishes and mermaid goo smearing all over the ship’s well deck.
The FES Vanguard’s inside is covered in bullet holes and blue-ish blood mixed with red, a result of the constant attack throughout the typhoon. After they had broken through the typhoon barrier, the weather calmed down dramatically and so did the sea monster attacks.
“I just wanna get the hell off this ship.” Lewis took off the gas mask to attempt to breathe in the salty sea breeze before quickly throwing up overboard, realizing that the stench was far stronger than he thought.
“Good Lord in Heaven, Lewie.” Joker watches his buddy throwing up. “You kiss her mouth with that? Haha! What was ‘er name again… oh yeah it’s Alice!”
Lewis wipes his mouth. “Shut up, you think you’re some kind of comedian? Want some fists flying at your face again? I can do it all day.”
“Alright ok- you don’t want me to mention Alice, I get it. It’s fine buddy, geez… you’re no fun. Tsk.” Joker returned to cleaning the well deck.
“We are the luckiest ones that have dared to venture into this sea, for we have yet to become supper for these foul creatures.” An Azurian officer commented, his uniform was out of place within the well deck of the ship but everyone could tell that he was a liaison officer, a Captain. “Thanks to your advanced vessels, we managed to fight through the typhoon and the attacks.”
“Those things were nasty, how did your people even return back from expeditions?” Rita asked him.
“I have to be honest, we seldom ventured anywhere even close to Minato Sea. Few men dared, fewer returned. I was one of those men.” The captain pulled up his right sleeve, revealing a deep scar that ran along his arm. “Aye… The attacks I encountered when I was young were nowhere near as ferocious as the previous day, but we were still able to fend them off with our blades and arrows. Despite my effort, a Fangtide gave me this scar as a parting gift.”
The Azurian Captain continued to monologue about his experience to pass the time, starting from when his first attempt to venture into Minato Sea, to how much he loved sailing and ending at his eventual relocation to Sunsettia in eastern Azuria to serve in the First Eastern Fleet as a Captain.
“That’s why the Duke chose you, Captain Hayvan. Not just for being among the first Azurians to encounter us.” A calm yet reassuring voice appeared behind Hayvan’s back.
Seeing the sailors begin to salute, Captain Hayvan turned around and gave the woman an Azurian salute. “Admiral Lainey, it is a pleasure to meet you again.”
“The pleasure is mine, Captain. The Duke must’ve had a lot of faith in you, does he not?” She asked Hayvan.
“Myself is but a few who managed to return with all his limbs and a clear mind. The Duke said that I was special but inside, I knew I was just lucky.” He answered with a sad expression, recalling when only himself survived the previous expedition.
“Don’t blame it all yourself, Captain. Surviving these kinds of attacks with only blades and arrows on wooden vessels required more than just luck, I’m sure the Duke saw immense skills and capabilities in you.”
“Thank you, Admiral.” He adjusted his uniform as he looked at the island outside through the opened well deck. “It is nigh time for me to head out, I say it is time for us to bid farewell for now, Admiral.”
“Good luck, Captain Hayvan.”
The two bid farewell as each returned to their station, preparing for a landing on the island ahead.
Captain Hayvan looked back on the island ahead with a solemn expression, finding signs of his old ship but he found nothing nor signs of the dead. It’s been 20 years since his first expedition already, what was he even looking for?
8:24 AM
The typhoon’s wrath had all but disappeared after they broke through the storm barrier. The metallic vessels glinted brightly under the sun, more so because of the temporary cleanup work done by the sailors rather than the beautiful coat of pain put on by the shipyards, which had mostly been ruined from their water lines down due to the Fangtide attacks.
On the deck of the Vanguard are two massive quadcopters laid ready, their rotors spinning on standby as their turbines noise and windy blades can be felt even from the clear blue water around the ship.
“Alright, ladies. Time to mount up.” Sergeant Boris stepped first into the massive UH-48 Rorqual. “Get yourself comfortable on the seat.”
“Move! Let’s go!” Dozens of men poured up into the quad tiltrotor, totalling up to an entire company worth of men and their personal equipment. Several Azurian guides also followed in Elysian Marine uniform, carrying their own newly acquired R-25 rifles that they had been trained on for the past month. Their uniform, despite being similar, each wore a golden-colored armband on their right arm to distinguish themselves from those of the Elysian Marines surrounding them, though this proved somewhat unnecessary as most of them were elves or beastmen which aided in identification for the Elysians.
As the men settled down, the rotor blades spun faster and faster and their chopping sounds became all but a loud droning noise. They lifted up, heading for the peculiar red-covered island ahead which also contained an unusually high, snow-covered mountain.
“This is… the furthest anybody has ever got.” An Azurian guide mumbled nervously, his voice full of worries. The Elysian Marines on board seemed to be excited to finally get off the boats, evident by their enthusiastic chatter inside the aircraft.
“Don’t worry, this is the Marine Corps. No one gets left behind.” Milton patted the Azurian’s shoulder, giving him some morale support.
“We already knew the geography of the islands somewhat.” Boris pulled out a tactical map of the island ahead, which piqued the interest of the Azurians who were used to hand drawn maps.
Ignoring the staring from the few Azurians, Boris began to explain. “As you all know from the briefings, there is a large settlement deep inland. However the place is mostly located in what appeared to be a large crater or dead volcano surrounded by what seems to be heavy defenses. Located around this massive mountain is probably what you all expect a civilization to have: housing, lights, people, all that sort of stuff. Our job is to get to these people and establish contact, due to the dangerous nature of the island, Ambassador Anderson will not be accompanying us until a secured route could be created or guaranteed.”
Ensuring that everyone around him is listening carefully, he continued. “High altitude recon flights found a traversable route for vehicles.” He points at the maple forest on the map, tracking his finger on the paper map. “We’ll head inland through this area, the foliage pretty dense but the engineer section will clear the path with dozers and explosives if need be.”
“Say, if we encounter hostilities, what should we do?” The Azurian man asked.
“RoE permitted us to open fire on anything if necessary, due to the presumed dangerous reputation that this archipelago has.” Boris answered. “If anything moves too close, you put it down.”
“Got it.”
As the pair of Rorquals approached the beach, the sound of metal whipping the air rapidly scared off a flock of birds, causing them to retreat into the forest. Sand, leaves, and washed up seaweed on the shore were swept aside by the powerful gales generated by the large turbine-powered blades of the machines. They touch down on the ground, using their optional hydraulic skids to safely land on the soft sand below by spreading out their ground pressure.
They opened their front ramp, allowing for the company to disembark. More than a hundred men poured out of the leading quadrotor, totalling up to 160 in total as they took up positions on the beach, raising up their rifles. Another Rorqual opened its cargo hold, but this time it was a detachment of four Hussar light tracked vehicles which rolled out with the leading twos armed with automatic launchers while the other twos weren’t, instead in their place was a large rear bed used to store provisions and ammunition. The support vehicles also dragged their own water and fuel trailers, enough for three days without support.
The maple forest beyond the beachhead seemed much more menacing than previously observed, the leaves were blood-red and the entire place seemed to emit an aura that spooks the several Azurian guides in the company that could feel magical energy radiating from the place.
“Fan out! Secure the beach!” The newly transferred company Captain ordered, his young face betrayed the image of an experienced officer typical of his rank. Despite that, his commanding voice and demeanor certainly was up to the Corp’s standard.
“That’s Captain Raleigh isn’t it, Sarge?” Joker whispered to Boris, laying in the sand.
“Tsk. Yeah…” He answered, his tone more annoyed than curious.
The quadrotors took off once more, returning to the ship to pick up additional supplies.
“We’re clear!” Captain Raleigh stood up, giving signals to everyone as he began leading the convoy into the forest. “Company, move out!”
The deciduous trees and light brushes allowed the Marines to move forward into the forest. Falling blood red leaves contrasted greatly against the men’s camouflage which consists of a mix of dark green and darker white hard lined geometric shapes, causing several of the men to joke if it was better to paint themselves red also.
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Captain Raleigh pushed ahead, leading the way as he carefully observed his surroundings. Having ordered everyone to keep sound as minimal as possible, most of the noise that lingered in the air came from the four light armored vehicles with their usually quiet engine.
“It’s too quiet…” Captain Raleigh raised up his fist instinctively, which caused everyone to take cover immediately and sit still on their knees. The vehicles also stopped, their engines noise now the only sound that everyone could hear.
“Weren’t there birds around? Like at the beach? This forest looked normal so where the fuck are the wildlives? I didn’t even see so much as a squirrel here.” Richard whispered to Milton, who answered with a head shake before returning to observing his surroundings.
“Shit… something ain’t right.” Joker mumbled, flipping the safety switch off his rifle.
Lewis turned around. “Rita, go behind the lads.”
She moved back slightly, crouching next to Milton, Richard and Joker. All of them aimed their rifles around, trying to scan for something out of the ordinary but nothing here is ordinary to them, causing difficulty. Boris made an annoyed expression, biting his tongue before crouching forwards to Raleigh.
“Sir,” He paused, trying to hold back discontentment. “I got an idea.”
Captain Raleigh made a sorrowed expression, looking away from Boris for a moment before returning. “...What is it, Sergeant?”
Boris whistled for an Azurian volunteer forward. “I need you, can you make some magic? To know what the hell is going on here?”
“I understand.” The elf man answered.
He reached into his bag, producing a green Life gem. Holding it tightly within his palm, he began chanting. The company continued to wait for him, patiently holding their position. The gem’s arcane flow eventually disappeared, leaving an empty, transparent colorless crystal behind.
“Got it sire.” He placed his hand on the ground, transferring the energy he had absorbed from the gem from his body into the soil. The maple trees around the company began to lose their blood color, slowly returning to natural green color one by one.
The men of the company collectively smiled at the beautiful magical arcane sight before quickly widening their eyes in terror.
“What the living fuck is that?!” One of the Marines pointed his rifle upward before quickly being pulled upward by the leg, dropping his rifle on the ground.
“Contact!” The men began to fire on the trees above. “It’s a fucking ambush!”
Dozens of red-colored hexapedal creatures dropped down from the tree lay lifeless, some filled with holes from the 5.56 rounds finding their marks. More began to show up beyond the purified treelines, totalling up to hundreds, too many to count quickly.
“Up above!”
“Fall back! Form up around the vehicles!” Raleigh shouted as loud as he could, his voice echoed over the gunfire as the men began to fall back, moving behind the armored vehicles which also opened up on the side of the path, rapidly launching 40mm-sized medium velocity grenades at the swarm of red spider-like creatures charging on the ground at the company en-mass. Tracers criss crossed each other through the thickening smoke of the rifle and machine gun fire,
“Keep firing! Don’t let them get close!”
Lewis switched his R-25 to full auto, dumping the entire magazine at a spider approaching way too close for comfort. “Why the hell are there so many of them!?”
“Eat this you fuckers!” Joker fired a 40mm white phosphorus grenade from his R-25GL into a bug concentration on the treeline, which caused them to scatter and screech in pain. A few of the creatures tried to jump into water puddles to no effect as the burning substance continued sticking to their body, burning brightly like flares until the creature's furry flesh turned black and crisp from the intense heat.
Seeing the effectiveness of white phosphorus and high explosive grenades, several other Marines followed suit, launching their own white phosphorus grenades into the tight packs of red spiders. The fight eventually died out along with the attacking creatures as the last of them were taken down by rifle fire, their lifeless corpses laid strewn all over the forest floor.
“Cease fire! We’re clear!”
“Don’t breathe in the smoke! It’s toxic!”
The Azurian mage used another gem, this time it was a Wind type. He lifted his arm at the smoke, dispersing the toxic white phosphorus cloud high up into the sky where they quickly dissipated.
Raleigh puts down his rifle as he calms down, observing his surroundings once again. “Give me a sitrep.”
“Five casualties, one KIA. The spiders caught him when they ambushed, the rest had minor injuries. We’re still figuring out if they were toxic or not.” Boris answered with a tint of sadness between breaths. “Even with all those corpses, I don’t think that’s all of ‘em. Probably more somewhere around that uncleansed section of the forest.”
“Oh Mirrita, bless us all.” The Azurian mage kneels in front of the dead Elysian Marine before putting his hand on the man’s face, closing his eyes. “May he rest in peace.”
He gathered whatever is salvageable from the man’s corpse. Ammunition, armor, personal belongings, rifle and his name tag. Moving to Captain Raleigh, he handed over the small metallic tag. “If I had purified the nearby trees sooner, the man would still be alive…”
“You have done what you were ordered. Do not blame yourself.” Raleigh took the tag before turning to Boris. “Contact the boat and order a napalm strike on that section of the forest, should buy us some time to get out of here without being pursued by those things. Don’t forget MEDIVAC.”
Boris turned away from Raleigh, trying to hide discontentment. He turned to Lewis, who quickly turned on his RTU-4 backpack radio to call the boat.
“Orders confirmed, Orcas in bound for incendiary strike. Medevac is eight mins out. Over.”
“Looks like that’s it, man.” Lewis comments as he puts the microphone back to the radio on his back, patting one of the injured Marines whose leg is being bandaged by Rita. “You’re getting home early.”
“I hate this fucken island already.” Joker comments, passing an ammo belt to Richard for his newly issued R-125L machine gun.
The helicopters finally arrived with four AH-24 Orcas and a single UH-24 Narwhal flying by the company. Each Orcas carried a pair of IB-400 napalm bombs, slinging the bombs under their small wings before dropping them over the designated areas, engulfing the red blooded maple forest on fire so hot that water puddles inside were vaporized in an instant. The attack helicopters opened up, firing their nose mounted 25mm automatic cannon to pepper sections of the forest untouched by the searing flame with high explosive rounds.
As the last of the casualties were finally loaded up on the Medevac Narwhal, the helicopter took off and headed back for the fleet awaiting them.
“Your military’s firepower never ceased to amaze me, even though they’re loud at times. Not to mention the uncompromising care in which you treat your soldiers, I’m truly impressed.” The Azurian elf compliments as he observes the attack helicopters laying waste to the creatures below them.
“Couldn’t you have healed those men yourself?” Rita asked him, wiping her bloodied hands with a dry towel.
“Only higher mages could perform such a feat, but even then it’s taxing on both the mind and body. The only way to circumvent that is to use the appropriate gem for the task at hand, and Life Gem is the rarest to procure of them all. Wasting a good gem that could ease one’s finances for life just because of a minor injury is a luxury only afforded to the wealthy. Reviving the dead is impossible, also.”
“So… nothing comes for free in life then.” Rita reflected on the fact. “You think I can learn how to use magic too?”
“I think not, milady. One’s capability is already determined by birth, training may help but it would only take you so far. Those who were born without the ability to channel magic within them often rely on devices which use magic gems for their needs instead.”
Milton let out a sigh. “I shouldn’t have signed that bloody waiver before getting shipped here… time to march again.” He grabs his R-25MK, standing up first as the rest of his squad and the men of the company do the same.
Lewis began to march besides his Sergeant, curiously looking at him. “Hey Sarge. What’s the deal with you and the Captain? You don’t seem particularly jolly around him.”
“We have some history of deployments together, not all of it is good.” Boris explained, emphasising the later part.
“It was the Socialists wasn’t it?”
“I don’t want to recall that time anymore, Lewis. Better make sure you get this mission over with and get back to your Alice.”
“...”
“...Yes, Sarge.”
----------------------------------------
Kyode, Harukami Shogunate.
Peak of Yukihara Mountain, Kōyōjima Island.
August 8th, 1427. 5:24AM
A young female figure sat silently on a shrine peacefully reciting poems, a Katana and Kodachi laid neatly beside her, wrapped in silk fabrics with beautiful patterns woven into it. The young lady opened her eyes and took a slow breath, admiring the rising sun in the far distance. Even from here, she could see the everlasting typhoon that had surrounded the archipelago nation for generations, its black clouds contrasting greatly against the bright blue sky above, serving as a reminder that she and her people are now prisoners on their own island, never to see the outside world again. Outsiders find it impossible to trade with his people due to the perpetual typhoon that had lasted for generations, those who made it through rarely made it back.
The cause for the appearance of dangerous monsters on the islands couldn’t be identified, rumors floated around saying that it was the gods which had done it to punish the people for their sins while others believed in a more logical answer, judging by the source of the monsters from the southern Takara island.
Finding the tall Yukihara mountain to be a suitable place for defense, the Shogunate had abandoned its old capital near the coast to relocate its government. The growing amounts of mutated beasts immigrating to the southern side of Kōyōjima island is incredibly worrying to her as the army is exhausted from being under siege day after day. One thing is clear to her: The Shogunate will fall. If not in a few months then a few years, but sooner or later the day would come where she would have to commit Seppuku to avoid the shame of defeat.
“Harukami Senki-sama.” An anachronistically dressed man stood behind her. His dirty old Azurian lieutenant sailor uniform, poorly kept beard and bagged green eyes made him stand out among the pristinely dressed service maidens standing by the princess. “I brought news.”
“Good morning, Hauke. Isn’t it a bit early for that? And didn’t I tell you to shave and dress properly? You look like you haven’t had any sleep, also.”
“Don’t worry about me, Princess. The Onibanes and Kibaōkami won’t be deterred by me stepping in an Onsen.” He cracked a small joke.
“At the very least you could’ve had a change of clothing and armor?” She said in a worried tone.
“This is my uniform, Senki-sama. I have sworn by it and I will not be leaving it. It’s the only thing left I have beside my saber ever since I washed up on the shore two decades ago.”
He straightened up, ignoring the fatigue of staying up all night for guard duty. “Your father is unwell, the healers have told me that he does not have much time left.”
Feeling an ache in her heart, Senki quickly gathered her belongings. “Bring me to him.”
“Aye, Hime-sama.” (1)