episode_0262

The prelude to the second battle began just as the Violet Regiment’s 2nd Battalion, 1st Company, reached the collapsed first defense line of the Federal Special Forces.

As the clamorous footsteps tapping on the stone floor and the twisted roars of beasts drew closer, the Ariel Group turned back.

“That’s enough. You all pull back! Retreat and support the rear evacuation!”

The girl who introduced herself as the Ariel Group’s field leader waved her right arm, giving orders.

Her judgment was that if outsiders were caught between the indiscriminate melee and firepower battles, they would only get in the way.

It was clear they would act as unnecessary impurities within the solid cohesion of the Violet.

The hunters following behind turned their backs without a word. The senior officer leading the mobile unit spoke as if he had been waiting.

“…We will reorganize with other mobile units and return. Terrorists.”

“Do as you please! Hurry and go!”

Major Klein surveyed his surroundings. Complex emotions were mixed on the faces of the relieved soldiers and awakened mobile unit members.

The joy of finally escaping this hellish place.

The difficult feelings about cooperating with notorious terrorists.

The relief that they didn’t have to get involved with those monstrous killing machines for now.

‘Surely no one harbors unnecessary sympathy…?’

The Major’s worry was groundless.

Whispers passed among the hunters retreating to the rear.

One hunter who had volunteered to follow muttered with an incredulous expression.

“Are those things even human? Aren’t they robots? I haven’t seen them speak.”

“There’s no way a human could manipulate that many clones, right?”

“By the way, aren’t they women? It’s hard to tell properly due to the recognition hindrance, but their physiques were small.”

Despite their cute name, the Ariel Group’s actions were extremely cruel and destructive.

To those unaware of the network, the Violets were a collection of taciturn killing machines who never spoke a word unless necessary.

“Screech!”

“Ugh!”

Fortunately, the occasional adorable squeals and messy wails they uttered were buried amidst the gunshots and explosions.

A fortunate thing for the Ariel Group, who aimed for mystique.

And, they had seen too much to simply refuse this notorious terrorist organization.

A silent procession slowly advancing, treading over the corpses of monsters.

Taciturn soldiers wielding swords mechanically, like meatpackers in a factory.

With multiple layers of masks, goggles, and thin faceplates, combined with the blurry and distorted images from the recognition hindrance devices, they appeared as unknown warriors to observers.

Not only that, these small-framed soldiers were unrestrained and horribly violent.

They cleaved, ripped, and tore through the roars and screams of monsters with their swords.

By the time they retreated from the defense line, the imaginations of those who had witnessed such persistent determination, a willingness to sacrifice their own lives, began to stir.

“Isn’t that rumor from the last Magnabis incident? They say it’s a Federal clone army…”

“Nah, no way. I heard they’re half-human, half-monster bioweapons made by those Luminexa guys?”

The whispers spread among the soldiers as well.

“Mobile unit commander, they’re not really a secret unit created by the higher-ups, are they?”

“I don’t know either.”

Seeing the deflated Major, the deputy mobile unit commander fell silent. If an officer from the military academy didn’t know, then it must truly be unknown.

As they retreated a bit from the defense line, they heard a sound of wind rushing overhead. The Major, looking up, unconsciously frowned.

“Huh, wait? Isn’t that our army’s mortar sound? Surely they wouldn’t have—”

“There are field guns mixed in too. Old models, only rear units use them. When did they even prepare those?”

At the sound of impacts from the defense line, the Major inadvertently thought:

‘Those people, aren’t they really a Federal secret unit?’

**

Wings blazing chaotically in the sky. The hang glider squadron was tragically ravaged.

“No! They’re crashing!”

They say everything that falls has wings. Unfortunately, the flames from the manta ray-like flying monsters burned the hang gliders’ wings. I truly fell without wings.

“Gah!”

The flight squadron fought the manta ray creatures with machine guns and crossbows, but they were much faster and nimbler than us.

It must be what it looks like when a WWI biplane fights a WWII fighter jet.

“Hold on for now! It’s dangerous if we lose air superiority!”

The silver lining was that while the flight squadron was tied up in the sky, the ground battle was progressing smoothly.

Our regiment slowly and steadily advanced, stemming the tide of monsters.

“Democracy!”

“Liberation!”

When the first close-quarters battle faltered, the monsters attempted a ranged attack.

Various types of projectiles pierced and mangled us.

“Get down!”

“Take cover! Take cover!”

What flew at us were old ghoul bullets, magic-infused thorny bones, and poisonous stings.

“Screech!”

And various types of magic!

Violet, the 1st Company Captain, immediately called for fire support.

A finger pointed fiercely at the enemies, imbued with strong will.

“Command! Requesting artillery support at the designated location!”

The will, transmitted through the network, was instantly connected to the artillery units without delay.

No coordinate transmission needed. Violet was the coordinate itself!

A whizzing sound cut through the air above. Shells flew in and struck the monster horde.

The Apostle creature seemed to notice our attack and immediately tried to disperse the monsters, but Violets were clinging to each and every monster.

“Stop them from getting away! Tie them up in close combat!”

“Broken Arrow!”

With a crash, dust soared into the sky. Violet and the monster’s remains soared harmoniously side by side into the sky.

As the melee units were depleted, other Violets rushed in to fill their places.

“Shells! Shells! More shells!”

Violet-made homemade rockets flew in with brilliant light. A barrage of mortar shells and artillery shells struck the ground as if screaming.

Weaker monsters unable to withstand the bombardment were shattered to pieces.

Monsters able to endure with Aether defense and physical abilities survived but flinched from the impact.

“Heavy weapons team, prepare!”

After the initial artillery strike filtered out the weak, what remained were monsters capable of withstanding a barrage of shells.

A finger lightly rested on the tactical map.

As if tapping a tablet, she lightly pressed on each Violet heavy weapons team.

“Missiles ready!”

“Recoilless rifles ready! Machine guns ready!”

Moving her finger as if moving a mouse cursor, she designated threatening monsters one by one.

“Attack!”

All of this took less than a second within the Violet network.

The missile flew leisurely, trailing its guidance wire. Inside the aiming reticle, a flash erupted.

-Thud!

A specialized anti-monster warhead struck the head of a bull-like monster, knocking it down.

As the bull monster fell, medium and large monsters briefly retreated, while surviving small monsters surrounded it as if to protect it.

Following that, heavy metallic sounds struck the monsters.

-Tat-tat-tat! Tat-tat!

High-speed grenade launchers and machine guns mounted on the rooftop of the ruined building continuously spat fire.

“Reload!”

When the shells were almost depleted, the ammunition carrier Violets continuously swapped out clips and belts.

With a click, the charging handle was pulled again. The sound of the hungry machine gun devouring shells.

Each time the noise reverberated again, the monsters’ bodies burst apart.

“Concentrated fire!”

Shells and bullets mangled the body of a pig-like club monster.

The hazy magic defense shimmering on its body gradually weakened.

The next moment, the assault Violets rushed forward.

“It’s blowing up!”

-Boom!

The upper body of the pig giant, its defense weakened, was blown away by the explosion.

“The laws of physics don’t lie!”

To pierce Aether, Aether is needed. This was common knowledge in Rustrum.

However, in truth, this truth was only half correct. The other half of the truth was this:

If you beat it hard enough, you’ll eventually win. Because the laws of physics are honest.

“Hit it! Hit it! Keep hitting it!”

“We need more ammo!”

Even the tough hide or carapaces of medium to large monsters, distorted by magic, could be torn apart if assaulted with heavy weapons.

Even the Aether defense surrounding their bodies could be chipped away, weakened, or eliminated with enough continuous striking.

Like primitives hunting mammoths, I brought down powerful monsters one by one with concentrated fire.

What was needed for victory was more bullets, shells, and explosives.

Nevertheless, Aether often vexed the laws of physics.

-Humming!

In front, a Tyrannosaurus-like monster, Kranos, charged forward.

As it opened its mouth, I manipulated the heavy weapons team to suppress it.

The recoilless rifle spat out a shell, spewing flames from its rear.

Now, I intended to cut its legs and suppress it once it flinched from the impact.

-Clang!

The shell bounced off harmlessly and flew into the sky.

A grid-patterned barrier appeared in front of Kranos. Another high-speed movement nullification field.

Are there monsters somewhere else that can summon other force fields? Like Wardens, or other such creatures.

Without close combat or magic, our current physical firepower couldn’t penetrate it.

“Emergency! Emergency! Warrior monster appearance!”

And new monsters appeared once again.

They were the sword-and-shield monsters previously suppressed by close-range suicide attacks. They surrounded the medium and large monsters like soldiers guarding tanks, vigilantly scanning their surroundings.

Monsters they had never seen before, not even learned about at the academy.

Command roughly named them “monster warriors.”

This was clearly the Apostle creature’s simple yet cunning tactic.

To place artillery-capable monsters behind a force field and have them escorted by monsters skilled in close combat.

“Oh, no!”

-Boom!

Not only that, the monsters’ gunfire cleverly targeted only the Violets wearing suicide vests.

Even suicide charges were impossible.

As similar situations unfolded across all fronts, Command devised countermeasures.

“Their vigilance has increased! Rule out suicide attacks!”

“Vehicle units are still approaching! Just broke through the outpost and are entering the barrier!”

To make matters worse, the flying monsters began attacking the heavy weapons teams.

Those who had gained an advantage in aerial combat against the hang gliders leisurely air-raided the ground.

“No! Our artillery!”

“Anti-tank missile loss!”

Ghoul snipers’ bullets primarily targeted soldiers holding threatening weapons.

All ranged attacks, from the lowest-grade Skraks Casters to nameless monsters continuously firing light bullets, were concentrated on Violets carrying rocket launchers and grenade launchers.

The first card, physical firepower, was being blocked one by one.

The artillery units spat fire, but they couldn’t exert the same power as before against the nullification field.

“Hmph, did you think such crude weapons and shallow tactics could break our military prowess?”

The Apostle’s unpleasant laughter echoed within the network.

Had the creature glimpsed my vision in the meantime? I felt a slight connection to it.

But the number of Violets was 2500. Therefore, there were 2500 tactics.

“Opening the vision memory chip storage!”

No worries. The Apostle creatures hadn’t seen all of our tricks yet.

I selected the Violet units on the tactical map and had them retreat.

As the order came down, I turned back. The units needed to appear as if they were being pushed back in the firefight against the monsters.

“Aiyyaa! We’re dying!”

“No!”

I deliberately let three or four Violets with severe virtual injuries die.

The monsters’ offensive intensified. They finally started to creep forward, resuming their advance.

“Monster warriors are moving!”

Those must be their elite troops.

On all defense lines, the Violet units retreated little by little. The monsters were conducting combined arms operations.

As the Violets fell one by one, the rifleman Violets, who had been firing, began their charge.

“You didn’t forget the attachments, did you?”

I ran, shouting in despair.

“Uwaaaah! Long live Ariel Group independence!”

“Democracy!”

“Long live Academy City!”

“Hurraah!”

The monsters stopped firing again and charged. They held their rifles haphazardly forward and pulled the triggers. Bullets ricocheted.

And the moment the monster warriors were about to swing their swords.

The attachment fixed beneath the rifle gleamed.

“Beware our magic!”

“Melting Ray!”

A magic circle unfolded before the rifle. The rifle-mounted staff, handcrafted by a former magic-engineer spinster from Magnabis, spewed heat as scorching as the sun.

-BOOM!

A ray that cleaved the monster with a direct hit.

The melting ray, which had melted the monster warriors, annihilated the center of their formation as Moses parted the sea.

“Hahaha! You fell for it!”

For an instant, I saw it: the monster army freezing in place, as if petrified.

“The Apostle creature, it must be flustered!”

This was definitely an emotional manipulation error. It was surprised by our magic.

There was more good news.

-Thud!

From afar, a tearing cannon roar echoed, different from gunpowder weapons.

As the nullification field dissipated, a shell imbued with blue light flew in, blowing off Kranos’s head.

Heavy track sounds were heard. A dull engine noise.

Two light tanks, covered in shell marks and soot, appeared.

“Ruzilin’s Cheolkwon!”

Our brave and sturdy friend had arrived. Bearing fire, blood, and death. The armored vehicles following behind were a bonus.

Simultaneously, brilliant flashes colored the sky above.

-Whoosh!

The wicked manta ray monsters that had tormented the hang gliders instantly burst apart in a series of explosions.

A barrage of anti-air missiles tore the monsters apart like raptors’ talons. Amidst them, a fierce black shape flew in.

As the helicopter gracefully glided in and passed inside the barrier, the hang glider squadron followed behind like baby birds trailing their mother.

“I’m here!”

-Tat-tat-tat!

The machine gun mounted on the helicopter spat fire.

Perhaps the quality of the flying monsters was low. A single helicopter instantly seized air superiority.

“Good, let’s push them back again!”

Just then, an anomaly occurred.

-Crackle!

A rift in space tore open.

A strangely shaped, four-armed giant, several times larger than a Violet, appeared on the defense line.

As if it had been there from the very beginning.

“U-ugh!”

It was a being they had never seen before, but only then could they understand.

The aura emanating from it was similar to that of the previous white man.

It was an Apostle.