+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

Nomosian Countryside

February 16, 1539 CE

Gunfire streaked through the morning forests. Beastmen, once again mostly goblins, which had been harassing mankind's supply lines according to the locals, scattered in fear as two metallic beasts laid devastation in front of them.

It was another pacification side-quest for Hans and Adelyn. Already, they had cleared at least six 'colonies' of these monsters since they started last night. The Army itself arrived at the town that they reached yesterday. Unfortunately, they were having troubles in the rear.

Monsters, from abnormally powerful night wolves, gigantic spiders, and ants, alongside goblins, orcs, and even ogres were overrunning the countryside. The depopulation of human settlements and collapse of security was the most probable cause, allowing them to feed on the local fauna easily and therefore breed, though, the local commander also said that there was an active 'dungeon' nearby that constantly replenished these hordes of monsters.

In any case, whatever the reason may be, Hans and Adelyn took matters into their own hands. Within a few minutes, another batch of two hundred and sixty goblins lay dead in a forest they cleared. They quickly moved out of the area, in search of more monsters, passing by wagons and carriages used by the Imperial Army on a major road.

The soldiers paid them heed, most of them were tired from the long march, so the two mechs sped forward, as they had already been given information for their next target. According to a surviving villager, a village up north that sat on a major road had been taken over by red spiders.

They had been warned that these specific monsters had powerful sharp appendages and highly acidic spit, which they could launch at long distances. If the villagers they asked were to be trusted, there would be at least forty to sixty of these spiders, protecting the eggs they left behind in the area.

Already, Adelyn packed a lot of incendiary rounds in her bustle rack, while Hans' Wanderfalke was loaded to the brim with ADI MG24 rounds. He felt confident today, if not a tad bit happy. This entire process was raising their levels quite neatly, but what was most important to him was that he was building up a sizable AP reserve from all the kills and achievements he was getting.

Today was the first time he broke two thousand five hundred of stocked AP reserves. If he could push it to five thousand, he essentially could continuously manufacture rounds in another battle with Injustice using his Arcane Autofabricator. Needless to say, this was something Hans would fully exploit.

He was in a target-rich area—why wouldn't he milk that to its fullest?

"How's your XP situation, Adelyn," Hans asked with a smile on the comms. He had just reached level 17 after all. He was getting close now to his target of level 20, where he'd get the first attribute slot open for Tier III.

"I just reached level 17," Adelyn answered. "I got fewer kills than I would have wanted, I guess. You were just too insane at it. I think you got like sixty percent of the kills!"

"Ah," Hans laughed a bit. "Sorry. I'll try to share better next time."

"You better do it! I also need that level 20 attribute slot after all. I hope to get something that'll help with my AP cap or regen rate."

"I'm just doing latent AP regen again. I'd like to get it to Tier IV."

"You know, now that I think about it, you're just getting that singular attribute to its max."

"Well, it's a safety net once I run out of my reserves after all. Even if I reach six or ten thousand AP stored in my body, at some point…I'll have nothing and I'll have to rely on my meager regeneration abilities."

"I understand."

Hans looked onwards again, as they made a sharp turn. Leaving this specific road, they both drove in the flat, slightly muddy fields. With winter ending, a lot of the snow had already thawed, turning the fields wet. It wasn't as bad as what Hans remembered in Lotharingia in Terra, but it certainly gave their mechs some trouble regardless.

A few dozen minutes passed, as they traveled through the rough terrain before they reached a main road leading to their target settlement. The two mechs immediately drove straight to it, then, they were on it, cruising at a comfortable speed as they continued reloading their munitions.

If luck was on their side, their kills would be easy, and these powerful monsters would be worth a lot of XP, but that was a difficult thing to count on. Secondarily, Hans remained wary. He kept his eyes out, his mech's turret turning left and right, paranoid of any twitch that would indicate demonic presence.

While it was easier to take down demons now due to his upgrades, it was still important to have an early warning at all times. Alertness, swiftness, and rapid response were all the hallmarks of successfully fighting demons. Sure it probably wouldn't save them right now if they got into an unplanned battle with Injustice, but it would make a successful takedown of a lower demon easier.

"Alright," Hans spoke up. "How far are we?"

"Assuming that this map is correct and we're on the right road, it should only be nine klicks away."

"Hmm…we gotta get ready then."

"Are we fighting monsters again?" asked a nervous girl. "Hmph…it's starting to get scary…"

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"Oh, but I thought you always put on a brave face when it comes to demons?"

"Yeah, but monsters are extra ugly. And I hate night wolves!"

"Well, we're not fighting night wolves. But if you want, you can just close your eyes and sleep. We'll take care of things, Alizée."

"I don't wanna…"

Hans laughed on his side.

"Is she watching it all?"

"Yeah. I told her not to."

"Well, I wanna see if Sir Hans is safe or not! You always drive close to them like earlier."

"They were goblins, so it's fine."

"But this time it's big spider monsters. The book I've read about them said they are very dangerous. You should not try that with them, Sir Hans."

"Alright, alright," Hans nodded. "I'll keep my distance this time. We're going to probably just bombard that village and let them come at us."

"I see. That seems like a good plan. Maybe even burn it," Adelyn murmured.

"Yeah. You'll need to burn that place. Especially if they laid their eggs there. Now that I'm thinking about it, that's kinda disgusting. Big spider eggs."

"Certainly not something that has a right to be real. Yuck."

"Indeed."

+++

"Now that's just nasty," Hans commented over the radio, watching the horizon ahead of them.

The village…it didn't look neat. Surrounding it were packs of these gigantic, nasty red-skinned spiders roaming around. They were hairy, and their bodies seemed sturdy at a glance based on their exoskeleton plating. They seemed to have these large mandibles, and their frontal legs were sharp and massive.

Their sizes ranged from that of a tiny dog to something as large as Adelyn's Wanderadler. They were no slouch at walking either. They seemed to move at good speed, and Hans estimated that they'd run at around fifteen to thirty kilometers per hour.

The village they surrounded, was destroyed and turned into this ugly nest-like hub. Bodies of animals and possibly humans seemed to be covered in silk, some of the spiders feasting and eating on them. He imagined the eggs would be at the interior of this village-turned-nest.

We'll need to torch it to the ground.

"Alright," Hans breathed out. "We're two and a half kilometers away, and we're well camouflaged. I think we can bombard them comfortably here."

"That seems to be the case. Though if they get close, we can just back out to the hills over there as a secondary firing line."

"Sounds like a plan then," Hans sighed. "Makes you miss rear artillery, doesn't it?"

"I suppose. But my 120mm should get the job done. I have trust in my guns."

"Right," Hans gripped his control stick harder. "I'm taking my targets. Let's do this in alternating intervals so that we cover each other whenever we're reloading."

"Copy that."

With a powerful crack from Hans' side, and a tiny eep from Alizée, the Diligence opened fire first, sending an ADI MPAT at the village. The shot caused a massive inferno, incinerating at least three spiders in one shot. That took the attention of the bastards, and they turned in the direction of their mechs in a second.

But Hans made a follow-up with his standard MPAT round. While less effective, the airburst explosion from it still comfortably killed two spiders in one shot. The horde however was fully attracted, and they began rushing through the flat plains in these scattered groups.

"Focus fire on the larger groups," Hans ordered. "We can thin them faster that way."

"I'll take the ones on the left and you do the ones on the right."

Shot after shot came from the two stationary mechs. Their kills began to rack up high, leaving explosions and inferno on the muddy fields. While their foes were fast, it wasn't enough to truly sprint two and a half kilometers fast enough that they would be able to challenge the firepower shown by the Diligence and the Peacemaker.

Unfortunately, munitions were starting to run low. Hans was practically firing his main gun every seven seconds, exactly whenever his autoloader finished reloading. By the second minute, he already used up fifteen 90mm MPAT rounds. The enemy was already close enough, and he opened fire with his double coaxials.

"Alright, let's start backing up now," Hans said. "Don't wanna be in the way of those sharp legs."

"Let's do it. I'll cover you."

Adelyn retreated first, her mech's hull turning to their back before driving forward, leaving her turret aimed and firing at the horde. Hans followed suit, his hull also turning around before his Wanderfalke drove out of the danger zone.

Their machine gun rounds struggled a bit to penetrate the exoskeleton of the monsters, but they still did damage. Within twenty seconds, Hans counted around nine to twelve dead spiders from his machine guns alone, and fifteen more from four rounds from his main gun.

With two remaining MPAT rounds left, the replenishment rounds from his Arcane Autofabricator finally began to arrive, replacing the next shot that Hans fired, then the next shot. The rest of his munitions weren't exactly useful after all, as they were all APFSDS, but luckily, he already got his fabricator moving the moment he fired five shots earlier.

Fortunately, by now, the horde was significantly thinned. They didn't even need to get to their second firing line anymore when the last groups of spiders were wiped out. Breathing heavily, Hans stopped retreating and spoke to the radio.

"All clear," Hans said. "Let's check out the town now and torch it. That should finish our business."

[FORTY-SEVEN RED SPIDERS LIQUIDATED!]

[LVL UP! NOW LVL. 19]

[PROGRESS TO LVL. 20: 13%]

[AVAILABLE ARCANE POINTS: 5400 PTS]

He mentally closed his stat notification screen, a happy grin on his face. That was a lot of points for him to use later. On the other hand, Adelyn seemed to have an elated response as well.

"Alright. Just give me a few moments to fabricate extra ADI MPAT rounds."

"Copy."

He watched the infested town. There seemed to still be remnants waiting for them over there—and they seemed slightly larger than the ones who attacked them.

I see how it is.

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