Mythical Steel Divine Beast (1)
Mythical Steel Divine Beast (1)
Hildea, who had been evacuating Yuzel and me, collapsed the moment the Dragon fled, as if the kit's effects had worn off.
【Piel Marshall】
【Rank: Colonel】
My rank also reverted to its original state.
Though Hildea remains incapacitated for combat, the total war situation ended because the Dragon fled.
Fortunately, the tank was not destroyed.
So I am happy.
'As expected, kinetic rounds are the best in terms of cost-effectiveness.'
I had also considered a combat vehicle equipped with Hellfire missiles, but in the end, I chose the tank.
Because the price per shot differs by more than ten times.
Assuming repeated use over time, continuously pounding with kinetic rounds from a tank would be better.
'The King said he would open up a Brigadier General TO for me, but is it still under administrative review?'
The wicked desire of my inner Yi family to march on the capital is writhing madly....
'What a shame. If I hadn't stockpiled food and kept the budget as it was, I could have bought an Apache helicopter.'
I had a budget exceeding 60 million.
But I stockpiled loads of canned food, and distributed sleeping bags and pemmican to the over 900,000 territory residents....
'But if I had saved enough budget to buy an Apache, there definitely would have been deaths from freezing.'
Right, the Apache isn't what's important; taking care of the territory residents is the top priority.
"Piel."
Rebecca approached.
"We don't know if the Dragon will attack again, so we should establish a defensive line. What do you think?"
"You are correct. Please create sloping terrain in various places everywhere."
"It's for securing the gun angle, right? That Steel Sacred Beast seemed unable to raise its head very high."
"Yes. And Luna."
Luna flinched in surprise and answered at attention.
"Yes! Colonel-nim!"
"We're going to select 10 or more smart airborne troopers to form a Stinger missile infantry unit."
"Ah, finally!"
After the Wyvern Lord hunt ended, I had taught Luna how to use the Stinger missiles.
"The Stinger cannot penetrate the Dragon's mana shield. But you know the reason, right?"
"Yes! It's to conceal the existence of that Steel Sacred Beast, isn't it?"
"Correct. The tank is sturdy, but we can't guarantee what will happen against the Dragon's attacks, so we'll hide its existence among the Stinger missiles."
Mortar attacks scattered in all directions.
Rebecca's wild spray of aura bullet machine gun fire.
The Unicorn's multiple mortar attacks.
With the Dragon's wits scattered like this, Stinger infantry units fire missiles sequentially from all sides.
Then the Dragon will be confused about which attack actually wounded it.
Finally, the tactic is for the tank to hide among the Stinger missiles, fire a kinetic round, and deliver the decisive blow.
"Understood! I will properly disseminate this throughout the entire army!"
"Good, thanks for your hard work."
The battle is over, but it's no time to relax.
The knights, according to my instructions, created numerous sloping terrains everywhere for the tank to secure gun angles.
They kept glancing at the tank in between, and murmuring something amongst themselves.
【Requesting supply of sniper scopes.】
【Requesting sniper scopes....】
I received a large supply of scopes for long-range reconnaissance and distributed them to the soldiers.
Radios were distributed to the airborne knights who swore the Sword of Subordination, allowing them to serve dual roles as signalers.
Thus, the observation line was spread evenly across the entire Ainshuvan Front.
So that no matter where the Dragon attacked, we could immediately detect it.
***
Three days passed.
The Dragon did not come, and instead, the budget arrived.
【Base budget of 30,000,000 is granted.】
【Special strategy budget of 5,000,000 is granted.】
【Landris budget of 4,506,225 is granted.】
【Remaining budget : 40,513,880】
Now I can finally breathe a little.
We sent some of the troops back, and the rest of us continued to stay at the Daeoncheon together.
Even if the Dragon came looking, it was highly likely to come here, not Ainshuvan.
And above all, it was warm here due to geothermal heat.
If we returned to the official residence, we might freeze to death.
The V-Bat UAVs took turns conducting high-altitude reconnaissance to watch for the Dragon's approach.
"Rebecca-nim, what is the status of the United Expeditionary Force?"
"Fortunately, it seems there are no fatalities."
"Really?"
"Yes, as Luna said, the Dragon really was just toying with them. Though the United Expeditionary Force didn't seem to think so."
We steadily gathered news of the expedition force.
They apparently believe that the Dragon felt threatened and fled.
"On the contrary, their morale skyrocketed, did you know?"
"Why on earth do they lack such objectivity about themselves?"
"They survived an encounter with a Dragon without anyone dying. Besides, they probably haven't experienced much life-or-death combat. Most importantly, Imperial nobles are mostly mages, not knights, so they don't know the battlefield."
Beside me, Luna coldly rebuked.
"Rebecca, was that remark meant to insult me?"
"Sorry, sorry, I was talking about the Imperial nobles."
Unlike other kingdoms, the Empire is overwhelmingly dominated by mages.
Almost all great noble families are prestigious magic houses, and even children prefer to learn magic over the sword, they say.
"The Emperor, having tasted one-horned rabbit meat, declared the Elf Forest pioneered by the expedition force so far as Imperial territory and appointed Count Yunes as Governor."
"Ah, that meat? Is it delicious?"
"Well, I don't know since we haven't tried it ourselves."
I had assumed they naturally ate a lot of it because food was scarce before I arrived.
"They're small, timid, and fast, so the cost-effectiveness of hunting them is poor. Hunting is meant to supply calories, but if you exhaust all your strength during the hunt, it's a loss."
Hearing that, it makes sense.
Since hunting beasts in the north was for survival, it would be better to ignore small and nimble prey.
Still, there was a knight who knew the taste of one-horned rabbit meat.
"I've eaten it before, and it was certainly tastier than other meats. Of course, it's utterly incomparable to the meat supplied by the Marshall family."
"How great is the difference?"
"Hmm, if meat that ordinary nobles eat is a non-awakened soldier... then one-horned rabbit is a mana soldier, and Marshall meat is... a Sword Master level?"
That's an enormous gap.
Indeed, 21st-century livestock farming is a collaborative synergy of highly advanced fields, from heavy chemical industry to genetic engineering, mechanical engineering, computer engineering, and the aviation industry.
It makes no sense for it to lose to something like a wild snow rabbit from a medieval fantasy.
"The Dragon battle remains secret. I do not wish to reveal the tank's existence to the world."
"We're already doing that. No secret will ever leak outside Ainshuvan."
The North is good because its loyalty, local patriotism, unity, and especially security are absolutely thorough.
Anyway, once we perfectly established response posture against the Dragon's re-invasion, we had a little breathing room.
Knights and soldiers kept swarming around the tank, gawking, praying, and began to worship it.
'I thought they would simply accept it as a magical device of incredible performance....'
Seeing the atmosphere of sanctification, it feels like they consider it more than a magical device, something beyond a mythic golem.
I introduced it as a tank, but no one calls it that.
Everyone was calling it the 'Steel Sacred Beast'.
Finally, Hildea's excruciating menstrual pain ended.
As the price for using the medical kit, it took two days longer than usual.
***
Hildea was dreaming.
"Hildeng... when is the guest coming?"
"We built the house beautifully and worked so hard...."
"No guests. The guest isn't coming."
Mini Hildeas surrounded her.
Grabbing Hildea's thighs, pelvis, and sides with their tiny hands, they look up at her urgently with bright, sparkling eyes.
A sight endlessly cute and lovable.
But Hildea, far from laughing, was actually breaking out in a cold sweat.
A house bigger and prettier than the cozy one from last time.
And before the house, imposingly positioned, a machine golem like a Steel Sacred Beast from myth.
On top of the tank's turret, a mini Hildea in military uniform was confidently sticking her head out.
"So stubborn, so stubborn. Even after this, you still won't bring him?"
"Yeah, we can just destroy it and build a new one."
"We'll see just how long you can not bring him."
"Smash! Smash!"
Kwang! Kwang! Kwang!
The tank vigorously breathed fire.
The house came crashing down.
The mini Hildeas surrounding the area began to brawl and hit each other with murderous glares.
And a pain as if her whole body was being torn apart assaulted every part of Hildea.
"You took a strong painkiller because you hurt, right? But you know it'll hurt even worse when the effect wears off?"
"It's going to hurt more and more from now on."
"Don't you want to stop hurting? Then hurry up and bring the guest!"
"Not a knight, not a mage, not a big build, platinum blonde hair and white skin, 186.3cm tall, super handsome guest, hurry up and bring him I said! Uwaaang! Uwaaang!"
Even though it was a dream, Hildea fainted.
***
Hildea regained consciousness.
Seeing her haggard complexion makes my heart ache for her.
"Hildea-nim, please take a warm bath in the hot spring."
"...Understood."
I wore swimming trunks, and gave Hildea a one-piece swimsuit.
We soaked our bodies side by side in the hot spring, and I fed her the dakbaeksuk I had prepared in advance.
"Piel Colonel, this is truly delicious. It feels like the kind of meat one should eat when their body is in poor condition."
"Please, eat plenty."
"But I wonder if I have the right to eat something this delicious, when I contributed nothing in the Dragon battle...."
"What do you mean you contributed nothing? You did so very many things."
Hildea dropped her gaze, dejected.
Even in the midst of that, her hands never released the dakbaeksuk.
"What on earth did I supposedly do.... Didn't the tank do everything...."
Hildea did everything. Just in case, she transferred temporary command authority.
If not for that, I would have never been able to procure the tank.
"A direct-fire cannon that pierces a Dragon's mana shield, over a meter thick, in a single shot, and digs into its tough scales to inflict fatal wounds.... It is on a completely different dimension from what I imitate with a howitzer...."
Hildea's face looked extremely depressed.
To feel a sense of deprivation toward a tank, this is something I truly never imagined....
"Hildea-nim, the tank cannon is designed for armor penetration. Its manufacturing purpose is inherently different from a howitzer."
"I am aware. But I...."
"That thing's top speed in rough terrain is 40 km/h. It is more than ten times slower than Hildea-nim."
"...It is that slow?"
"Furthermore, it also consumes an enormous amount of flour. Ah, of course, I don't mean it literally eats flour."
"It seems its maintenance cost is extremely high."
"Yes, once it begins maneuvering, it burns through 1 ton of flour every hour."
"What! 1 ton of flour per hour!"
Hildea's complexion brightened.