Siege of the Coastal Fortress - Part 2

The military structures built after the invention of Aindium were, by animation setting, mostly designed with spaces large enough for Aindiums to move through. To accommodate Aind-class units, the minimum ceiling height was around fifteen meters. The troops originally stationed at this coastal fortress had already evacuated to a nearby naval base. In reality, only the personnel needed to operate the Aindiums and a handful of weapons remained, so destroying key facilities wasn’t particularly difficult.

After all, there was no way regular guards could stop a power armor squad.

“Aaaargh!”

When we charged in with White Fang at the lead, the guards who had been staring blankly—thinking we were their own forces—were knocked out by the power armor troops following close behind. As time passed, some of them started returning fire with pistols and rifles, but that level of resistance couldn’t land any meaningful hits on us.

After passing through several corridors from the emergency exit we had used, we reached the first target: the fuel storage facility.

“Let’s hurry. I think the alarm will go off soon.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

We had already taken out two groups of guards. Even if they hadn’t sent a radio report, they must have noticed something was wrong by now.

Boom!

“Uwaaaaaah—!”

The moment White Fang smashed through the door, the people inside the fuel storage facility screamed in terror and scattered in every direction. Most of them were young men in maintenance uniforms. The power armor soldiers waiting at the opposite entrance knocked them unconscious and tossed them roughly into the corridor just outside the storage room.

Since they had joined Rubens’ side, they were technically our enemies. But they were still citizens of Karmanu. Most of them had probably drifted here from nearby villages in search of work.

“Hmm….”

“No. I was just thinking… if there’s an explosion, they’ll die too.”

Having stepped onto the battlefield, both I and Ruwina had steeled ourselves to hurt people. Still, it didn’t feel good at all.

“I know. How long until the charges are set?”

The power armor soldier who had planted the bombs adjusted the timer and gave the signal. The alarm finally began to blare—wee-oo, wee-oo. It was rather late. As was often the case, the poor soul on dawn watch must have dozed off. They probably never imagined ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a small force would raid them at this hour. The fact that we had entered through an emergency exit rather than a main gate had also contributed to their complacency.

“Should we finish setting the rest and detonate them all at once?”

The adhesive bombs were powerful enough to blow up an entire fuel tank in one go. Since we had planted them across multiple tanks, even if someone tried to disarm them it would take time. The timers were also running, so even if the remote detonator failed, it wouldn’t matter.

“Then let’s move to the next point.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

We formed up with Rendel in the lead, another Aindium behind him, me in the center, and the remaining two units guarding our rear. From here on, enemy Aindiums could appear from anywhere without warning.

At the squad leader’s command, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Rendel—who had been at the front—stopped just before rounding the corner.

“Already?”

The response was faster than I had anticipated. I had confirmed that the Aindiums stationed at the fortress had left in pursuit of Line around evening. There was no way the units still being unloaded could have arrived here so quickly.

The squad leader seemed to calculate for a moment before answering Rendel’s question a few seconds later.

“I will take point.”

“What? If you charge in blindly—”

“Squad Leader. It’s fine to leave it to Cadet Rendel.”

I swapped out the sniper rounds while sticking close behind Rendel. Then I opened a private channel with him.

“We don’t have time. Let’s finish this quickly, Senior.”

“Roger.”

Rendel answered in a calm voice and lowered White Fang’s stance. Giiiing— The auxiliary wheels at White Fang’s feet spun rapidly before planting firmly on the ground. With a burst of acceleration that whipped up wind through the corridor, White Fang shot forward.

The instant it rounded the corner, White Fang dropped low and extended one leg, rapidly changing direction as it charged toward the enemy. I pressed the pedal down hard and yanked the lever upward, forcing Limpy into a prone position so I wouldn’t fall behind. Just as we had planned beforehand, Rendel stuck to the wall on the side of the corridor we had emerged from, while I took a slightly offset path beside him and opened fire.

Clack.

Thwoong—

The grenade I fired traced a nearly straight arc, grazing past White Fang before dropping among the enemy. After catching a glimpse of numerous tanks and a few Aindiums—

Kwaaang!

“Uwaa!”

Right before my grenade detonated, shells and bullets fired by the enemy rained down around me. Thanks to Limpy’s excellent barrier, there was no major damage, but if the attacks continued, we would start having problems.

The pilots from Line’s side finally rushed out in their Aindiums. One of them moved in front of me as if to shield me and deployed a force field.

“Whoa.”

This was the first time I had seen an Aindium using a force field since arriving here. According to the setting, that was quite advanced technology.

Clack. Bang.

I continued sniping with a relaxed mindset. By the way, there were far more tanks left than I had expected. This could also serve as evidence that Ainel and Rubens, who held some military authority, were colluding behind the scenes.

White Fang plunged into the gap between the tanks blown apart by my grenade and the toppled Aindiums, turning the enemy formation into absolute chaos. Rendel was displaying a completely different combat style from before.

Originally, his standard loadout for White Fang was a gun in the left hand and a sword in the right—suppressing one or two enemies from range with gunfire before closing in for melee. But now…

Ugh. The forum people are really laying on the curses. In the original work, the sword Rendel normally used broke, so he acquired a new one made of Ellydium. But this time, because we caught the Earthworm so quickly, his original sword was still intact. So the technique he chose was dual-wielding.

I only knew bayonet techniques when it came to close-quarters weapons, but I did know that normal swordsmanship and dual-sword style were quite different. I had wondered if it would be okay, but—

Clang—

The moment White Fang moved its arms, the gun barrels of tanks at both ends of the fifteen-meter-wide corridor and the arms of Aindiums were sliced off almost simultaneously. Then White Fang leapt onto a tank in the middle of the enemy formation, lowered its swords, and spun once. The heads of three Aindiums flew into the air.

A shell fired by a tank from behind was split by White Fang’s blade and exploded. Everyone thought White Fang had been caught in the blast, but it burst through the smoke, drove its sword into a gap in the tank, and blew the hatch clean off.

While the Aindiums from Line’s unit that joined late destroyed the fixed turrets and several tanks, Rendel swept through to the far side of the enemy formation and returned.

The pilots from Line’s side seemed stunned by Rendel’s display of power. Rendel simply shook the blood off his blades as if it were nothing and pulled out the cockpits of the fallen enemy Aindiums, laying the hatches on the floor so the pilots couldn’t escape easily.

The people from Line’s side, who had been standing there in a daze, jumped at Rendel’s words and sprang into action. To think they were taking orders from a foreign cadet. Rendel’s performance must have left quite an impression.

The forum was in an uproar too. They were saying the battle scene had god-tier animation quality or something. I want to see it too. I’m watching it in real life, but I still want to see the animated version.

The second facility was the armory. Located near the Aindium hangar, it stored a large quantity of weapons. Not only standard-issue armaments, but also shells, explosives, rockets, and missiles. If we destroyed all of this, Line would be able to turn the tide of battle.

We finished planting the explosives while fending off the enemies who arrived one after another.

“Now let’s head to the hangar. We’ll detonate after we’re in a safe position.”

More than thirty minutes had already passed since the transport ship began unloading. If it was packed with zombie Aindiums, they should be moving toward the hangar by now. With that worry in mind, we opened the hangar doors—only to find just a few Aindiums inside the maintenance bays. Even those stood motionless, apparently without pilots.

“Are they still inside the transport ship?”

“That makes sense. They can’t bring them in every single time.”

We disabled each Aindium one by one, then planted bombs ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠at the hangar’s critical facilities.

“Then next is the dock…”

I was even thinking of raiding the transport ship while we were at it, but suddenly all the lights in the hangar went out, plunging everything into complete darkness.

“Thanks.”

Thanks to the fairies’ help, I activated the night-vision function that allowed clear sight even in darkness. Something was moving in the distance.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

A heavy sound that shook the ground followed. The allied Aindium closest to the direction of the noise turned its body toward it—

Boom!

An explosion erupted where our allies were gathered. Since the Limpy I was piloting was also nearby, it was caught in the blast wave. The screen in front of me and my body spun at the same time, but thanks to the movements drilled into me through repeated training, I quickly regained balance.

“Luna!”

Rendel shouted my name as blue aura flared from his blades. The fallen allied Aindiums. One of the power armor soldiers had his armor shattered, and the rest had been sent flying by the impact. And from within the darkness, an Aindium one head taller than White Fang—a twelve-meter giant—revealed itself.

A giant wielding a grenade launcher and a shield now blocked our path.

The intense rock bass music ringing in my ears signaled the start of this battle’s boss fight.