Immortal Army
Immortal Army
The sentry who spotted the Imperial Army hastily sounded the alarm.
Sirens blared across the entire trench line.
The Republican soldiers, startled by the sirens, immediately sprang into action.
They grabbed machine guns and began deploying anti-tank guns.
"Enemy attack! Move to your designated positions! Hurry!"
"When is the medical unit arriving!?"
"Over there! Evacuate the most critically wounded among the retreating men first!"
The Republican Army officers grew busy in turn, scurrying about the trenches and issuing rapid orders.
While the soldiers and officers bustled about, Battalion Commander Rekolai emerged from a field tent.
No words could describe the scene outside the tent charitably.
In the distance, amid the sound of tank fire and rising flames, routed troops were streaming in, stricken with terror.
Some of the soldiers in their wretched state were trudging along empty-handed.
They had either lost their rifles while fleeing or had discarded them, complaining they were too heavy.
They were the very picture of defeated stragglers.
'......Are those men truly soldiers of our glorious Republic?'
Rekolai, responsible for defending the central sector of the trench line, could only stand speechless at the sudden situation.
"Battalion Commander, sir!"
Just as Rekolai was watching the retreating ranks of his own forces, the operations officer approached.
The operations officer, gasping from running, caught his breath and then spoke.
"It appears the Imperial Army has abandoned holding the high ground and has launched an assault with the bulk of their forces!"
"......I have eyes, so I am aware."
"Then must we not block the retreat! We must seize those men passing through our camp now and make them fight! We must hold them accountable for their defeat!"
Rekolai looked back at the operations officer with a grave expression.
"You suggest immediately recommitting troops who have been retreating all day while pursued by the Imperial Army? There are scores of wounded, and countless soldiers have thrown away their gear and rifles. What do you think will happen if we send them back in without reorganization in this state?"
Rekolai clenched his teeth.
"They won't be able to fight properly and will only gnaw away at our own morale! Look at those faces soaked in despair! Are they not defeated men with not a shred of fighting spirit left!"
He was not wrong.
But the operations officer felt his head spinning.
"Then what are we to do? At best, we have only a regiment's worth of troops defending this trench line. There is no way we can hold out against a division-sized enemy."
After a brief silence, Rekolai let out a groan.
"......There's no choice. We must defend this position as best we can and stall for time with a delaying action. We have to hold out for at least a day so the retreating friendly forces can reorganize and resume combat."
"Against the Imperial Army? Those monsters......."
Kwaang─
A high-explosive shell landed nearby, setting off flames and flinging dust high into the sky.
The shock, as if an earthquake had struck, sent the operations officer diving to the ground and brought Rekolai to his knees as well.
As the dirt began to patter back down onto the ground, the operations officer shouted in a panic.
"Fuck! We're all dead! All dead, I tell you!"
Rekolai, watching the operations officer disdainfully, slowly rose to his feet.
The Imperial Army's tanks and soldiers could be seen advancing close to the friendly trenches.
Even while machine guns were spitting fire, the Imperial soldiers were charging in with shouts of triumph.
It seemed bizarre to Rekolai's eyes.
'......How?'
Ordinary soldiers were instinctively terrified of approaching a machine gun emplacement.
If they had ever once seen a comrade's body ripped apart by an enemy machine gun, the normal reaction was to veer away in horror.
Yet now, the Imperial Army was charging toward the machine gun positions without the slightest hesitation.
This could not be expressed by the word bravery.
A madness, as if something had been twisted within them, was dominating those men.
Watching the scene, Rekolai soon understood why the soldiers were tainted by madness.
'The Witch......!'
Behind the soldiers, a woman with a black halo was singing a chant with her hands clasped together.
Then, the soldiers torn apart at the machine gun emplacements began rising from where they had fallen, one by one.
They let out war cries once more and launched their charge.
Having witnessed a mysterious, miraculous phenomenon with his own eyes, Rekolai could only exhale a hollow breath.
He felt despair, but as he had heard, that ability did not truly make the soldiers immortal.
Those who took a bullet through the head or had more than half their bodies blown away by high-explosive shells could no longer move.
'There is still hope. If we can neutralize the enemy tanks.......'
Even if she possessed a preposterous ability to regenerate soldiers' bodies, if a large number of enemy tanks were neutralized, they would lose their breakthrough power and have no choice but to retreat.
Shifting his gaze, Rekolai watched his forces attack the Imperial tanks with anti-tank guns.
Kwang!
A shell fired from an anti-tank gun struck an Imperial tank and exploded.
Thick black smoke billowed up, but through it, the Imperial tank advanced perfectly intact.
At that, Rekolai's pupils quivered minutely.
'......The anti-tank gun failed to penetrate the tank's frontal armor?'
He had heard that the Empire's tank technology was superior, but he had not imagined it would be this overwhelming.
A few soldiers, realizing that frontal attacks would not work, attempted to strike the flanks with anti-tank weapons, but it was beyond their capability.
This was because the Imperial soldiers swarming in from all directions were shooting dead any Republican soldiers who tried to flank them on sight.
'Ahh.......'
The intelligence officer had been right.
There was no way to hold out for a day against such monsters.
'No matter how I look at this.......'
It was no different from hell manifested on earth.
*
Making a mockery of its name as a fortress city, Lakedrapol's defensive line collapsed after roughly ten hours of battle.
Having succeeded in breaking the defensive line, Daniel led his forces into the city.
While urban combat erupted here and there, Daniel took a small elite force and headed for the enemy command post building located inside Lakedrapol.
After stationing his troops outside the building in case of a possible ambush, Daniel entered the building together with Lucy.
As he walked toward the control room, Daniel came to an abrupt halt in a wide hall that opened off the corridor.
"Daniel Steiner! You goddamn devil!"
An officer wearing the rank insignia of a lieutenant colonel, accompanied by twenty soldiers, was blocking the entrance to the control room.
'No wonder the path was deserted.......'
It seemed all the guards protecting the control room had been placed here to lie in wait.
As Daniel let out a sigh, the lieutenant colonel drew his pistol.
Simultaneously, the soldiers aimed at Daniel Steiner.
"The rumors said you were a bloodthirsty devil, and they ring perfectly true! For why else would you abandon the high ground and storm into Lakedrapol!"
That was a misunderstanding.
"You loathsome bastard! For the sake of Lakedrapol's citizens, the Supreme Council Comrade, and the Republic, I shall cut your throat right here!"
Faced with the lieutenant colonel's fury, Daniel wore a somewhat pitying expression.
"It would be better for you not to do that. I am advising you in earnest, for the survival of you and your men. Do not disregard it."
"Advice? Ha! I don't know why the mighty Daniel Steiner has grown so glib-tongued! The soldiers gathered here to kill you are elites! You'd best give up any thought of getting out alive!"
Dumbfounded, Daniel turned to look at Lucy.
"Adjutant. It seems that fellow doesn't know who you are."
Or perhaps he had underestimated the rumors circulating about Lucy.
As if it made no difference which was the case, Lucy calmly parted her lips.
"It will not take long. Please close your eyes."
Daniel did so.
Then, the sound of Lucy kicking off the ground could be heard, and gunshots and screams intermingled.
Before a minute had passed, Lucy returned to Daniel's side and spoke in a composed voice.
"It is finished."
Slowly opening his eyes, Daniel could see the lieutenant colonel and his soldiers lying collapsed, drenched in blood.
Perhaps his life had been spared, for the lieutenant colonel was still gasping for breath.
Watching him with pity, Daniel spoke.
"Have we not seen unnecessary blood spilled now? Be sure to correct your habit of ignoring others' advice."
Having said that, Daniel walked past the lieutenant colonel and entered the control room.
As the door opened, the staff officers of the Republic recoiled in fright.
At the head of the table sat the regimental commander responsible for the city's defense.
Spotting the soldiers collapsed beyond the open door, the regimental commander let out a groan.
"Daniel Steiner. Seeing that you have reached this point, it seems it is already over outside."
Daniel nodded.
"You had better issue a surrender order to all your forces. Do you not know that is the best course of action?"
"The best......."
It was the worst choice, but also the best one.
The division commander, Palome, had fled somewhere and was nowhere to be seen, and continuing urban combat within the city would only increase casualties.
"Of course, if you insist on a desperate resistance, I will not stop you. However, in that case, I will kill you and all your staff officers here and then set about mopping up the remnants left in the city. Have you ever imagined the civilian casualties that would result? Surely, countless people will die."
In wartime, citizens aiding the enemy could be judged as combatants and killed.
He was explaining that scenario, but to the regimental commander, it sounded different.
Due to the infamy lurking in Daniel Steiner's background, it sounded like a threat: 'If you do not surrender, I will slaughter even the civilians of this city.'
Left with no choice, the regimental commander gave a low sob and nodded.
"......I shall surrender. So I beg you, please guarantee the safety of the civilians."
For Daniel, who had never intended to attack the civilians in the first place, it was a rather strange request.
In any case, the enemy had ultimately surrendered, so there was nothing to hesitate about.
"Good. Transmit the order to the Republican forces to give themselves up immediately. Once the order has been relayed, I too shall command my division to cease the attack."
Having informed the regimental commander, Daniel turned to Lucy.
"Adjutant. Can you feel it?"
He was referring to the 'pull' they had discussed earlier in the medical room.
Understanding what he meant, Lucy nodded.
"Yes. The influence has been growing stronger from the moment we entered the city."
Her gaze shifted past the control room's window, and Lucy's eyes narrowed unpleasantly.
"The woman the Division Commander is searching for is nearby."
Following Lucy's line of sight, Daniel could see a grand mansion surrounded by a faint membrane.
Recalling Frien's memories of regressing hundreds of times, Daniel clenched his fist tightly.
'At last.......'
The opportunity to bring Serail to justice had come.