chapter_0154

153 – This Is Not What I Wanted

153 – This Is Not What I Wanted

Daniel Steiner was not unaware that the Allied Nations’ bomber squadron had arrived in the rear of their formation.

Boom! Bang—

The sound of an explosion strong enough to shake the ground came from not too far away.

The moment he recognized it as an enemy bombing, urgent voices began to come through the radio one by one.

— This is an attack by the Allied Nations’ bomber squadron! Bombs are being dropped from high altitude! Damn it!

— It’s dangerous! A unit that appears to be an enemy armored division is infiltrating from both the left and right simultaneously!

— Enemy armored vehicles and infantry support units, including about 30 enemy tanks, have been detected 5 kilometers to the north!

— The same goes for the south! An enemy armored unit is approaching from 4 kilometers away!

— At the current pace, we have 10 minutes until we collide with our forces!

The flood of radio communications was giving him a headache.

‘What the hell? Was it really a trap?’

Daniel had asked for a reconsideration of the advance, but he was still taken aback that the enemy would dig a trap and launch a surprise attack.

It made sense; if they were planning such a large-scale ambush, they should have been caught by aerial reconnaissance.

If the Allied forces were moving somewhere after abandoning their positions, it would have been impossible not to know.

Yet the reason this information had not been conveyed to their side was clear.

‘Those bastards in the Intelligence Agency…!’

For some reason, the Intelligence Agency had fed false information to the 7th Armored Division.

He couldn’t understand it, but there was no time to delve into why.

Boom—

A bomb dropped from high above exploded nearby, sending a cloud of dust soaring into the air.

Daniel instinctively crouched down and quickly grabbed the radio.

No matter how the situation unfolded, he did not want his forces to die in vain.

“Mortar unit, respond immediately! Begin suppressive fire on the enemy’s advance route! We need to concentrate fire on the expected movement path of the armored vehicles! Buy time for the troops in front to retreat!”

Upon hearing the command, the mortar unit quickly took their positions.

Daniel had ordered them to set up the mortars in advance, allowing for a rapid deployment.

Being able to shorten the time exposed to the enemy’s surprise attack by even a minute was a tremendous advantage.

The longer the deployment time, the fewer opportunities they would have to attack.

— Target distance 4 kilometers! Elevation 45 degrees, high-explosive shells!

— Loading!

— Ready to fire!

The mortar unit completed their preparations in an instant, and the firing command was given.

Boom! At the command, high-explosive shells soared into the sky, striking the enemy unit.

The flames from the explosion were visible even to the naked eye.

The immediate response began to slow down the movements of the enemy armored division.

Confirming the impact, the mortar unit intensified their fire.

As the sounds of the mortars echoed one after another, Daniel continued to send out radio messages.

“Machine gun positions, prepare to block the enemy infantry! Anti-tank weapon teams, take cover in the trenches and wait! Do not act recklessly until the enemy approaches within effective range!”

Issuing commands in succession, Daniel walked toward the makeshift trench where his soldiers were gathered.

He could have fled to a safer place to hide, but Daniel did not do so.

He knew that even if he hid and survived right now, he would be dead the moment his unit was defeated.

From the perspective of the Allied forces, there was no need to keep Daniel Steiner alive, who was essentially their worst enemy.

If captured, he knew he would die after enduring countless tortures, so he decided to stay with his soldiers to increase their chances of retreating, even if only slightly.

In short, Daniel was simply acting in a way that favored his survival.

Of course, the soldiers, unaware of his true intentions, saw their commander as noble for deciding to fight alongside them.

“Commander?”

“You should take refuge in a safe place…”

“We will hold this position.”

Despite the soldiers who usually respected Daniel Steiner trying to dissuade him, he did not back down.

“No! I will fight here with you all! What meaning is there in fleeing to a safe place to save my life? Can that be called living? I dare say turning your eyes away and running from the battlefield is no different from death!”

He was sincere.

Unlike the soldiers, Daniel would die the moment he was captured by the Allied forces.

It wouldn’t be a simple death; it was certain he would die after enduring brutal torture.

So he remained here, asking them to fight together.

“Soldiers! We are the vanguard and the cutting edge of the Empire! Even if the Allied rats launch a surprise attack, will our sharpest sword, the Empire, break!”

Cries of “No!” echoed from all around.

After a brief silence, the moment Daniel nodded as he surveyed the faces of his soldiers.

Boom!

An explosion near the trench caused a ringing in his ears.

As the dust that had soared high began to fall like rain, the soldiers began to attack the approaching enemies from their respective positions.

In the midst of the loud gunfire and explosions, Daniel hid behind the trench.

Leaning against the earthen wall, Daniel exhaled slowly.

‘Damn it. When is our side coming?’

The reason Daniel was holding the rear was to buy time until their forces, deep inside the enemy command, could retreat.

Since the main force was concentrated there, they had to be extracted somehow to retreat safely.

On the other hand, from the perspective of the Allied forces, blocking the retreat was essential for a siege attack, and Daniel was preventing that, putting them in a difficult situation.

‘I don’t know how much longer I can hold out.’

He was doing his best to hold them back, but it was only a matter of time before the enemy pushed in and blocked the retreat.

‘If only Lucy and Frien were nearby…’

He had sent them toward the enemy command to keep an eye on the division commander, so he had no one to rely on.

In the midst of his anxiety, the head of a soldier who had been firing a machine gun from the trench burst open.

Another soldier immediately grabbed the machine gun, but he too was shot in the head and fell backward.

As he watched the scene in disbelief, a radio transmission came through.

— Sniper! Damn it! There’s a sniper in the northwest watchtower!

Upon hearing the report, Daniel closed his eyes and let out a low growl.

‘When did he get up there? Or was he there from the start?’

He wasn’t sure, but if he left the sniper unchecked, the enemy’s advance speed would only increase.

Deciding he had to deal with it, Daniel opened his eyes and turned to the side.

He saw a young man who appeared to be a radio operator trembling while holding onto his helmet.

“C-C-Commander! If this goes on, we’re all going to die…”

“I have no intention of dying. At least not now.”

With that, Daniel grabbed the rifle of the radio operator he had left in the trench and stood up.

As if the sniper had noticed Daniel, he began to adjust his aim.

In that moment, Daniel used neural acceleration to steady his rifle.

Taking a deep breath, Daniel gauged the distance to the sniper and recalled the wind direction.

‘The distance is about five hundred meters…’

It was far, but still just within effective range.

In a world where everything moved slowly, Daniel focused all his concentration and pulled the trigger.

Bang—

As the bullet shot forth from the muzzle, the neural acceleration was released.

The bullet, infused with Daniel’s magical energy, explosively pierced through the sniper’s head.

As the sniper fell, cheers erupted among the soldiers who witnessed it.

“The sniper bastard is dead! Grab the machine gun again!”

“The commander took out the sniper! He’s fighting with us!”

“Alright! Let’s show them! You bastards!”

Seeing the soldiers’ morale boosted, Daniel hid back in the trench.

Holding his breath, he noticed the radio operator blinking in astonishment.

To Daniel, taking out the enemy sniper had seemed miraculous.

Of course, it was miraculous for Daniel as well.

‘I didn’t know if I could hit him…’

In any case, he felt relieved to have dealt with the sniper.

Boom!

The sound of a tank cannon echoed from nearby.

At first, Daniel thought the enemy tanks had already approached the trench, but upon confirming that the sound came from inside the retreat route, he felt a rush of joy.

‘Have they finally arrived!’

The armored units that had been isolated deep within the enemy command began to join up.

Thinking they could finally retreat, Daniel picked up the radio and shouted.

“The main force has joined! Prepare to retreat after delivering one last barrage! I repeat! The main force has joined! After one last barrage, we will retreat with the main force!”

Believing they had successfully secured the retreat route, Daniel let out a sigh of relief as he lowered the radio.

The radio operator looked at Daniel with a gaze of reverence, as if he were a god.

“…Didn’t I say so?”

Aware of the gaze, Daniel turned his head to look at the radio operator and smiled faintly.

“I said I have no intention of dying here today.”

–

Thanks to Daniel securing the retreat route, the 7th Armored Division was able to retreat safely to their positions.

They suffered minimal damage compared to being exposed to a surprise attack while under bombardment.

As a result, even though they had lost, the morale of their forces did not significantly decrease.

The focal point of morale was Daniel Steiner, whose ability to predict the enemy’s ambush and fight alongside his soldiers until the end played a significant role.

Of course, Daniel had little interest in such matters.

Relieved that he had survived, Daniel paused on his way to the command post to check on the survivors and assess the situation.

He encountered Pelf, the intelligence officer, on the way to the command post.

Pelf, looking thoroughly exhausted, hurried over upon spotting Daniel.

“Commander.”

Bowing his head in greeting, Pelf opened his mouth as if he felt ashamed.

“I’m sorry. If I had known it would turn out like this, I should have agreed with your opinion during the operation meeting instead of remaining silent…”

“That’s in the past. Right now, we need to prioritize stabilizing the military over seeking forgiveness. Where is the division commander?”

Pelf fell silent.

When Daniel tilted his head in confusion, Pelf quietly spoke up.

“Unfortunately, the division commander was killed in the bombing.”

What? Before Daniel could even process the shock, Pelf continued.

“So, according to the command succession procedure…”

Raising his head, Pelf’s eyes were filled with seriousness.

“From now on, you are the acting division commander of the 7th Armored Division.”