+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

"You seem like you're thirsting for a lot of kills today, huh?"

The teasing tone from Adelyn as Hans cautiously approached the red spider's nesting site with great bloodthirst pulled him back. An annoyed response came from Hans.

"Of course. Can you blame me? These things are total AP pinatas!"

"How much do you have now?"

"Five thousand four hundred."

"That's a lot!"

"I know. I wish there were more of these creatures. If I push this further, I'll be able to fight Injustice much, much longer."

"Hmm…your entire MO is being an annoying insect to them, so I guess the longer you can do that, the better."

"So long as I have bullets to fire, that means I can move around and keep them distracted from touching you. I wish in the next battle, I could do that for at least ten to twenty minutes while you do your thing."

"I see…"

The two stopped at around a kilometer away from the spider's nest. The creatures hissed and showed their mandibles defensively. To these creatures, the two Wanderpanzers appeared almost like a metallic cousin of theirs. The only difference was their massive guns—guns which they couldn't compete against.

"Seems like they lost the guts to fight back," Hans laughed. "You got your bustle rack reloaded now?"

"Mhm. I'm ready to commence bombardment."

"Good. Let's finish this then. We still have a lot of monsters to hunt after all."

Hiding on good cover using the terrain, the two only poked out their turrets, as they began firing shot after shot at the village. The red spiders panicked, trying to hide and flee, but each shot from the two rattled their little nest brutally. Adelyn's shots left larger explosions, alongside infernos that burned so many of them, that even the tiny children could only shriek in doom as they burned in the dozens.

The adults stood little chance. Many of them began to fire their acidic spit at Hans and Adelyn, but the red-colored liquids they left could only land a few hundred meters ahead of their positions, falling short. Instead of melting through their steel, therefore, the acid could only pool on the muddy dirt.

Hans watched as his bustle rack burned through its reserves fast. His autoloader was working at full capacity, and it had already begun to overheat a tiny bit. In fact, there was finally a warning on his screen, that his gun barrel was starting to be worn down.

It wasn't something he was concerned about though. He had enough AP to fix that with his Arcane Maintenance System afterward. Pressing a few things on his pilot–system interface, he spent AP on more MPAT rounds. In advance, he began producing fifteen more of them.

Hurling more and more rounds at their foes, it almost felt like a tedious grind. This wasn't a battle anymore, more of a clean-up where you lobbed a bunch of artillery rounds at your foe. He remembered once the bored gazes of those artillery operators in Terra, where they would complain that all day long, all they did was fire and reload their guns.

Is this how it feels like?

+++

"Hans! We got 'em!"

It was already the third minute of their constant bombardment. That excited shout from Adelyn amused Hans a bit, as he watched the massive inferno that she had ignited in the town. It seemed that the silk used by the spiders was highly connected, and with the constant bombardment, enough had been lit up that the fires reached their eggs.

And as it turned out, their eggs were a fire hazard.

"Good shot, Captain," Hans replied cheerily. "If you drank, I'd have bought a case of beer for you for that."

"Hmph, don't you even dare drink after this."

"Well, who knows what ole Jonas will give me."

"Stop listening to that corrupt mercenary!"

"Aye, aye," Hans pushed his Wanderfalke forward, adrenaline pumping into his veins. "Anyhow, let's finish this."

"Wait, what are you planning to do?"

"Careful with your shots. I'll just…grab as much AP and XP as I can."

His mech screamed through the battlefield, as his double coaxials opened fire, their awakening sending a hail of incendiary rounds at the surviving creatures ahead of them. Behind him, Adelyn could only make a faint shriek of protest.

"Hey wait, I thought we'd share the kills!"

"Sorry, but I think at this rate, you'll be awarded more than me," Hans replied, as his mech jumped high, its forward razors driving itself on one of the spiders. "I can't have that. I need what they can give to us too."

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

"You're way too greedy, Lieutenant!"

His mech weaved through the battlefield like a monster possessed. Acid spit, and attacks from sharp legs and mandibles, all began to oppose him. But the spiders, overwhelmed by his rapid movement, alongside those two machine guns that burned so hotly, could only hope in vain for survival measured in seconds.

Blood began to cover his mech, its paint job once again being dirtied by his reckless maneuver. While it wasn't particularly needed, Hans wanted to always get close and personal with foes he could manage. It wasn't only because he liked to preserve AP by stabbing them, no, it was also practice.

While his muscle memory was now so insane, that he could practically feel each limb of his mech and move it with utmost precision, it still had room to improve. Facing these spiders, with their different movement profiles, Hans' mind subconsciously learned his errors, their attack patterns, and whatever else he needed to refine his piloting skills.

When he was done, Adelyn's bombardment had fully torn the nest, and Hans came upon nothing but smoldering remains of the red spider's hundreds of eggs. With his weapons, engine, and radiator overheated, his mech turned back to Adelyn, the sensors on its turret staring blankly at her as the Diligence emerged from its covered position.

"Seems like it's a mission success, Adelyn," Hans grinned, as he looked at his rewards. "Seems like I have quite the good haul today."

[TWENTY-EIGHT RED SPIDERS LIQUIDATED!]

[LVL UP! NOW LVL. 21]

[PROGRESS TO LVL. 22: 78%]

[AVAILABLE ARCANE POINTS: 7100 PTS]

+++

"Asfaleia is having trouble deploying their forces."

Those cold words from General Ercole sent a chill to the room they occupied. Inside one of the abandoned cities in Northeastern Nomos, the Army of Nomos turned it into a temporary HQ. It was quite fortunate that the walled city of Loreal suffered no significant attacks.

Much of its population either safely fled with ships on the ocean, embarking on a journey east, or fled it by foot, back in the early days of the crisis. As a result, no demon appeared to have attacked it. While it was clear that chaos, riots, and whatnot affected the city on its last days, the damage it created was minimal.

So they were now, using it as their fortress at the furthest territory they had captured.

"...That's…a bit of a problem then," Emilia placed a hand under her chin. "We needed them to entrap Injustice."

"To be honest, I'm in a bind here. The purpose of the Army of Nomos is to defend Nomos itself. We've fought enough to chase nearly all of them out of Nomos. As far as I can see it, adapting a defensive posture would be better."

"That's not acceptable!" Adelyn spoke up, outraged. "We need to kill Injustice to free the people he cursed. Aren't there at least a dozen thousand people bedridden due to his curse, many of them dying?"

"That is true, but again, Asfaleia is struggling to coordinate things with us. We can't do the unrealistic, thus, we must settle with the bitter, realistic option."

"I can't have that," Adelyn shook her head. "If I have to go to Asfaleia alone to kill him, I will."

"I back her on that," Emilia followed. "General, you work under me. I work for the people of Nomos, and that includes those who were cursed and their grieving families."

"I know that," the Virtus general stood up, his face darkened. The officers around them spoke with murmurs, all of them shifty at the growing divide in the room. "You may have the authority over me indeed, but shall I remind you, Lady Viceroy, that we still have hundreds of thousands of survivors in the principality that need defense?"

"...I…but we have to save all of them."

"We have to make sacrifices in some areas. That's how survival works."

Throughout it all, Captain Strobel, Weibel, and even Hans remained silent on the side, letting General Ercole and the two women settle it between themselves. Hans stared at Valeria on the side, the Virtus woman already gritting her teeth. She was about to step up to join her friends, but Hans gave her the stink eye.

'Don't do it,' was what Hans practically said to her. 'You can come with us if need be.'

It was clear that this Virtus woman was still not done with her revenge spree. After all, it wasn't just Recklessness that got her friends dead—it was also Injustice. He imagined it was the same with Emilia, and why she sided with Adelyn. Ultimately, all of them had an axe to grind against Injustice.

But General Ercole was a practical man. He was a seasoned military man after all. He cared for grand strategy, not personal vendettas. An enemy that had been forced to turn tail and run was a defeated one, and to him, it must mean that he could start licking his wounds should that foe return.

It was a terribly rational decision, one that would harm thousands of cursed civilians and soldiers. But in the face of the casualties they already suffered, what was a few more extra thousand dead people to be added to the list of those who perished? Hans understood that.

He respected it even.

"I propose we come to a compromise then," Hans stepped forward, gaining everyone's attention. General Ercole leaned forward from his seat, his darkened gaze interested in whatever this young officer would propose again.

"Let's see what it is then," the general replied.

"If the priority of the Nomosian Army is the defense of Nomos, that must mean not everyone has to be assigned for that mission, no?"

"I suppose it is true that if we go into a defensive posture, we'll be having some spare units, just like Ygeia."

"Indeed. The 1st Anti-Demon Unit as well isn't a part of the Nomosian Army, so we are free to move on from this principality. I wish only that you spare us…" he raised his hand, four of his fingers as he smiled darkly. "Four regiments in total. That should be enough for a fight."

"...That's not nearly enough," Emilia muttered in the side.

"Captain Wittenstein," Hans called out, gaining Adelyn's attention, who was already down.

"Yes? What is it?"

"You still have a lot of contacts in the IYC don't you?"

"...Indeed. They're still supplying us a lot, after all."

"In that case, I want you to give them a very convincing letter," Hans turned to the gathered men and women in front of General Ercole. "Ladies and gentlemen, the battle isn't over yet. We'll assemble a tinier but more mobile force. That—will be Injustice's bane."

"And how are you so confident of this…Grey Knight?" General Ercole asked from behind.

"It's simple," Hans smiled. "Now that I understand how he fights—all I need to know, is to bait him into a trap."

And with my skills of returning in time…

It would be possible.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.