Ch.33[Chapter 33] Reconnaissance Battle

“Move quickly! We don’t have time! The Star interview is coming up soon, and then it starts right after! We need to finish deployment before then!”

When Ivan Strelch, who was larger than a bear, shouted, the mercenaries moved their feet slowly.

“Ah, I was hoping it would be the Holy Maiden this time.”

“Well, when Stage 2 opens, the commander will change, so let’s look forward to that.”

“Who has time for chitchat! Get to your positions now! I said stick to the front lines as much as possible!”

Strelch erupted in anger after hearing the mercenaries’ idle talk.

The mercenaries pretended not to hear and continued walking slowly, but they only started moving quickly when an enraged Strelch drew his pistol.

Sir Dominic thought this situation was just like when he was conscripted.

Now, after enduring countless hardships, he could ignore the terrors of the battlefield, but back then, why had he been so afraid of the knights’ and generals’ shouting?

Sir Dominic smiled faintly, lost in memories.

Strelch, passing by Sir Dominic, noticed his slight smile.

Having already downed three bottles of vodka, he thought Sir Dominic was mocking and disrespecting his authority.

“Hey! You there!”

Strelch, his face bright red, called out to Sir Dominic.

“You’re on the front line! I don’t care about the others, but you’ll be expelled the moment you retreat—”

Just then.

Smoke suddenly rose in the distance, followed by a ping sound.

Instinctively, Strelch pulled out the field shovel from his waist and blocked the incoming object with its wide part.

With a clang, the field shovel bent.

Someone had fired a bullet aimed at Strelch’s heart.

Strelch knew better than anyone who had fired that bullet.

“Yekaterina—!”

“I didn’t expect you to block that. You’ve grown, Strelch?”

In response to Strelch’s angry shout, someone appeared on a hill near the assembly point, dropping their concealment.

A woman wearing a red beret and a dark red coat, with a sniper rifle larger than her height slung over her shoulder, waved at Strelch as she flipped her long blonde braid over her shoulder.

“A coward who knows no honor has a lot to say, Yekaterina.”

Strelch sneered.

“Even for a reconnaissance battle, offensive actions shouldn’t be permitted yet, right?”

“Of course, it was just a greeting. You wouldn’t die from such a poor shot anyway.”

The person called Yekaterina began adjusting her beret.

The golden lily decoration on her red beret glinted in the light.

“Actually, I came to say hello in advance, worried you might be eliminated right away like last time. If not now, I’d never get the chance, right?”

Yekaterina provoked him, raising one corner of her mouth.

Strelch immediately fell for the provocation, his face flushing with blood as if about to burst.

“Yekaterina—! I will kill you with my own hands. I’ll kill you again and again until you can never return to this sacred battlefield, you honorless woman!”

“Yes, yes. Do your best. Don’t go home crying like last time.”

“Yekaterina—!”

Yekaterina laughed at Strelch, who was grabbing the back of his neck and about to collapse, then disappeared as if dissolving into thin air.

Even before the reconnaissance battle began, Strelch had already lost to Yekaterina.

However, as soon as Yekaterina disappeared, Strelch’s face returned to its normal color as if he had never been angry.

Deception upon deception.

To make her underestimate him, Strelch had acted as if he’d lost his reason.

War begins before it actually starts.

“It seems Yekaterina’s forces will build a defensive formation in the rear. Seeing our forward deployment, they probably think they can win just by blocking us.”

Strelch was genuinely angry, but when his anger reached its peak, he became rational again.

With the alcohol’s effects gone, Strelch took a cigarette wrapped in rough paper from his pocket and put it in his mouth.

“But we’ll wait instead. We have far fewer people in Stage 1. But since the Giant of Hundread Hands prefers high-cost personnel, we’ll have the advantage as we move into the later stages.”

If the enemy wants defense, we can reap all the benefits. Strelch muttered this to himself.

Sir Dominic stared at Strelch, who suddenly seemed like a different person.

“What are you looking at, mercenary? You look like… a knight.”

“That’s right.”

Strelch smiled so widely his cheekbones seemed to reach the sky.

“A knight. So there’s another person here who chose romance.”

“By the way, how long have you been here?”

Sir Dominic, noticing Strelch’s extraordinary nature, asked.

“Being able to control yourself so quickly isn’t something you can do after just a day or two.”

“Hundreds of times.”

Strelch took a long drag from his cigarette.

Without a filter, Strelch inhaled the harsh smoke directly and exhaled it with a sigh.

Mixed with his breath in the cold air, the smoke half-covered Strelch’s face, making his expression unreadable.

“I’ve fought hundreds of times over decades. I’m a war maniac.”

His wax-stiffened beard stood up like a hedgehog’s quills.

“War maniacs like me can’t quit these great battles. Never.”

Sir Dominic couldn’t see his expression through the thick smoke, but he could feel the self-loathing, trembling, joy, and excitement in his voice.

“The only thing more valuable than death is dying in battle. And what’s better than that? Dying in battle and coming back to fight again.”

The cigarette in Strelch’s hand had already burned down to the end, burning his hand, but Strelch, intoxicated by the thrill of war, seemed not to feel the heat or pain.

Sir Dominic thought as he watched him.

Perhaps, just as he felt happiness, this man did too?

Sir Dominic shook his head.

He wasn’t someone obsessed with war like that.

At least, that’s what he believed.

“Anyway, it’s about to begin. The reconnaissance battle.”

“How does the war progress?”

Sir Dominic stood beside Strelch, looking out at the battlefield.

He thought people would have difficulty moving in the snow-covered field where the snow reached their knees.

“After the reconnaissance battle, the Star expands the war through points.”

Strelch decided to answer Sir Dominic’s question for a moment.

Though he had been annoyed thinking Sir Dominic had mocked him earlier, after talking with him, he thought he was quite a decent person.

Above all, no one would think badly of someone trying so hard to learn.

“Each region has places called high grounds. When you occupy them, points go to the Star. The Star uses those points to bring in Stage 2, Stage 3, etc., to expand the war, or to use divine power to support our battle.”

“If you have enough energy, you can come back after a certain time even if you die. Many people save energy for this day, so be careful.”

“The Giant of Hundread Hands likes to dominate the battlefield by quickly expanding the war with high-cost reinforcements. However, because of this tendency, they often fall behind in the early high ground battles, and the war expansion gets delayed due to the snowball effect from losing those battles, often leading to defeat. That’s what happened last time.”

“On the other hand, the Tentacle Explorer can temporarily advance lower-ranked soldiers to higher ranks with the divine power of enlightenment. That’s why we lost last time. The quality difference in troops early on delayed our war expansion and prevented us from gathering points, leading to our defeat.”

Having lived on this battlefield for a long time, Strelch shared more and more knowledge as he spoke.

Sir Dominic listened attentively to every word.

“It’s about to begin now. Once the Star interview ends, it starts immediately, so return to your position. Don’t worry about retreating; I won’t expel you, so just fight.”

With those words, Strelch returned to his position.

[(ALL) The Star interview will begin shortly. Both teams should complete their preparations as the exploration battle will start immediately after the interview.]

Strelch’s sense of timing was accurate.

Sir Dominic alternately looked at the system window that appeared before him and Strelch’s back, then headed to the front line.

At the front line, there was a translucent barrier preventing further advance.

When Sir Dominic curiously touched the translucent blue barrier, a warning window appeared before him.

[You can only cross this barrier if you have the [Forward Deployment], [Scout], or [Master of Ambush] traits, or with permission or orders from a team member with the [Master of Tactics] or [Master of Strategy] traits.]

Indeed. Unfortunately, Sir Dominic didn’t have any of those traits.

[(ALL) The Star interview will now begin. We apologize for expressing this through announcements to prevent side effects and additional damage.]

Something began to appear beyond the distant horizon.

[(BLUE) Giant of Hundread Hands: I’ve been waiting for this day. The day to get my revenge on you.]

A giant whose upper body was barely visible beyond the horizon, seeming to reach the sky.

The giant had a hundred hands and fifty heads, wearing a stretched-out t-shirt and a black padded jacket with a hood.

[(RED) The Tentacle Explorer: Look who it is. Isn’t it Hundread? Did I win or lose against you last time?]

From the opposite horizon, purple and green tentacles rose like pillars supporting the earth and sky, and at the writhing tips of the tentacles, eyes larger than the sun and moon appeared, sneering.

Seeing the size of the Stars, one could understand why it was necessary to communicate through chat to prevent side effects and additional damage.

[(RED) The Tentacle Explorer: Ah, that’s right. I won. It was too trivial to remember. Sorry about that.]

[(BLUE) Giant of Hundread Hands: This time will be different, you wriggling worm.]

[(RED) The Tentacle Explorer: What did you say? I can’t hear the words of a loser?]

[(BLUE) Giant of Hundread Hands: I have the advantage in our overall record. I’ve only lost recently. You will return to your old ways and be defeated by me.]

The battle of wills between the Stars was fierce.

However—

[(RED) The Tentacle Explorer: Pfft. Recent record 1-0 — you’re terrible. Puhahahahaha!]

It seems that even the Stars’ battle of wills is no different from that of humans.