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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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Bang, Bang!!
The sharp sound of gunfire continued to ring out. The village, once filled only with the quiet darkness of late night, was soon engulfed in screams and shouts.
The gunshots ringing out from all directions were terrifying, especially since even the sentries had been silently neutralized. But this group was composed of criminals who had risked their lives crossing the border.
They were mounting a counterattack, albeit sporadically.
“Platoon Leader! The enemy has holed up inside the building! What do we do!?”
“Wait a moment…!”
Sergeant Hilton Callia, commander of the 4th Platoon, peeked her head out. It seemed there were some officers among them; despite being pushed back quickly, the enemy had fortified a house and were defending it.
No matter how superior their firearms were, they couldn’t penetrate thick walls. Sending troops into a place where the enemy was hiding behind cover was suicide.
But…
‘Hold on…!!’
Hilton continuously suppressed the boiling battle lust within her. Another personality inside her kept provoking her.
‘Holed up? Just push through it. Let’s charge!’
‘Shut up, it’s not the time yet…! It’s not even that dangerous…!!’
She knew that if she let herself go wild, she could slaughter all the enemies inside. But what about her squad members?
Hilton’s role had always been that of a ‘fighter.’ It was only after being assigned to the 8th Assault Magic Infantry Battalion that she had her first real experience with command.
She couldn’t just go wild like before. What would happen to the squad members who trusted her?
She had already learned a harsh lesson during the previous snow mountain training about the consequences of reckless actions.
So she had to hold back even more.
“Platoon Leader?! Orders!!”
“We wait for reinforcements!”
Hilton knew her limitations well. She was a 1st-class Violet mage, but she specialized solely in lightning magic.
In fact, all of Enoch Levandal’s former squad members were unusual. Mages generally couldn’t handle attributes other than their specialty.
She couldn’t create powerful explosions like Lumia or break down walls with immense water pressure like Belle. She had learned a few high-level Violet spells, but since the enemy was holed up in a brick building, not a wooden one, her magic wouldn’t be very effective.
It was clear that forcing entry here would be sending her subordinates to their deaths.
Whizz—!
“Platoon Leader, it’s dangerous!!”
A bullet grazed past Hilton as she was observing the situation. If her deputy platoon leader hadn’t pulled her back in time, she would have been seriously injured.
“Th-Thank you, Sergeant.”
“Please don’t be so reckless! If you get injured, it’ll be too much for me to command alone…!”
At that moment, a silver-haired woman approached with a worried expression.
“Platoon Leader Hilton!? What are you doing here?”
Lumia Blue, the company adjutant. She was currently running around the battlefield, acting as Captain Enoch Levandal’s eyes and ears.
“Th-The enemy is fortified in front of us…! We can’t just charge in.”
“Fortified?”
Lumia came next to Hilton and peeked her head out. As expected, bullets started raining down again. Lumia quickly pulled back. There must have been at least ten people holed up in the two-story brick house.
“We need artillery.”
“We don’t have any mobile artillery, do we?”
“I’m talking about magic bombardment!”
Lumia looked around. She, a 1st-class Red mage, couldn’t destroy that sturdy fortress alone. And at that moment, she saw the company commander running around with a pistol in his hand.
“Captain!!”
“Lumia, Hilton! What are you doing not advancing? The enemy is starting to establish a defensive line!”
“It seems the 4th Platoon is blocked by that defensive line!”
Enoch Levandal quickly approached. He instantly grasped the situation and nodded.
“We’ll bombard. Lumia, prepare Flame Buster!”
“Yes!”
He already knew that Hilton wasn’t very proficient in magic other than Violet magic. She probably hadn’t learned the high-level Red spell Flame Buster.
But Hilton wasn’t necessary. Enoch made that judgment.
“Fire on my signal!”
Lumia and Enoch exchanged glances. Soon, red mana blended with the fading twilight, and a magic circle unfolded from her fingertips.
“Ready, fire!!”
The Flame Buster was activated almost simultaneously. The moment the flames, stretching in a straight line, collided with the brick wall, a massive explosion erupted, followed by a surge of crimson flames.
“…!!!”
Their synchronization was near perfect. The brick outer wall, which had resembled a small fortress, crumbled, and the bandits’ screams echoed.
“The 4th Platoon will advance and join the 3rd Platoon! Lumia, we’re heading towards the 1st Platoon! We’ll quickly eliminate the leader!”
The Captain said only that and headed deeper into the battlefield with Lumia. That sight was enough to deeply inspire Platoon Leader Hilton Callia.
“You heard the Captain! We advance!”
Hilton shouted as she stood up. The squad members followed her lead.
“You bastards! Charge! If you don’t want to lose your kills to the others, charge without hesitation!!”
“Yes—!!!”
The excited soldiers yelled and dashed forward. With the path cleared, there was nothing to stop the 4th Platoon. They charged before the bandits could set up a defense line, sending them to their graves. They deployed quickly, crushing even the enemy’s reinforcements.
It was the beginning of the legend of the ‘Assault Unit,’ which would later lead the charge in every battle.
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“They fell from the sky?”
“Yes, Boss! It’s complete chaos outside! You have to escape!!”
Zevret, the leader of the bandit group that had made Modor village their base, wondered if he was dreaming. He had been sleeping peacefully just a few hours ago, and now a sudden attack?
But it was obvious to anyone that the situation was urgent. Gunshots were ringing out incessantly from outside. And his subordinates, who would normally be snoring away, had all disappeared to fight.
“Moreover, according to those who came back alive, they weren’t wearing the Bialystok Guard uniforms, but black outfits.”
“Black outfits? The National Guard?”
“That’s possible, but considering they fell from the sky…”
“Damn it! They’re coming at us with a vengeance!”
Zevret cursed and slammed his fist on the table. He concluded that all of this was because of ‘Yekaterina,’ whom they had captured a few days ago.
Yekaterina Pedro. The eldest daughter of Count Jacques Pedro, the honorary lord of the current Bialystok region. A few days ago, they had ambushed and annihilated a Bialystok convoy while on a raid in a nearby village, and Yekaterina Pedro had been accompanying that convoy.
A noble. Even if it was just an honorary title, she was the daughter of a family that controlled the entire region on paper. To Zevret, she was a prize far more valuable than hundreds of gold bars.
Clashes with punitive forces had become more frequent recently, and Zevret had been racking his brains about how to strengthen their position in Bialystok. In the midst of that, they had captured the Count’s daughter.
This alone put Zevret in a much more advantageous position to negotiate with the lord.
So he had ordered his subordinates not to touch Yekaterina and her companions. Although they should have suffered a terrible fate or been forced to work until they dropped dead, they were living quite comfortably in a corner of the prison.
If they were raped or gang-raped by his subordinates… Zevret, who was just a bandit leader, wouldn’t be able to handle the consequences.
He wasn’t a fool like the other bandit leaders. He had fled the Soviet Empire primarily due to treason against the imperial family. He was the type to consider the consequences before acting.
The reason he had captured the village maidens was that they had no powerful force to protect them. And, unlike himself, to control his foolish subordinates, he had to reward them in ‘some form.’
“But to deploy the central army because they couldn’t wait. Now that things have come to this, I can’t be lenient either.”
Zevret’s only option now was to escape. If the central army was truly deployed, the bandit group’s destruction was certain. Then, his priority was to protect his own life.
“Bring that noble bitch here! If you want to live, grab your equipment and follow me!”
“Y-Yes…! Yes, Boss!”
A hostage was a hostage for a reason. If the attackers’ main objective was to rescue Yekaterina, as long as Zevret held her life in his hands, his safety would be guaranteed. Soon, a subordinate who had rushed to where the prisoners were kept brought a woman whose hands were bound with chains.
Platinum blonde hair that hadn’t lost its shine even after days in the underground mine. In this situation, she should have been crying and screaming, but instead, she looked at Zevret with blazing eyes.
“Your desperation is showing, Zevret. It’s too late for regrets now.”
“You bitch! The Boss showed you mercy and saved you from a terrible fate!”
Whack!
A subordinate kicked Yekaterina hard in the stomach, and she collapsed, coughing in pain.
“Get her up. Gag her so she can’t speak nonsense. We’re leaving through the back door. Hurry!”
“Yes, Boss!”
Escaping the village was his top priority. He could escape safely using the external mine tunnels he had intentionally kept open for such situations. However, before he could even drag the hostage away, the door of the mine office where he was staying was smashed open.
Crash!!
With a violent burst of lightning, two men appeared. A seasoned warrior with a prominent scar on his face and a blond man who looked aristocratic.
Was he a noble related to Yekaterina’s family? And several more people poured in behind them. All of them were heavily armed soldiers.
In that short time, they had broken through all resistance and reached the center where Zevret was.
“You bastard…! Ugh…!”
His subordinate quickly aimed his gun, but with a flash of violet light, a dagger pierced his throat, and he collapsed. They showed no mercy in killing.
Zevret, who wasn’t considered cowardly even compared to others, couldn’t help but shrink back at the sight of his subordinate dying before his eyes, blood gushing out.
“Damn it!”
But there was no other way. If he gave up now, he would die anyway. Zevret dragged Yekaterina in front of him. Her hair was grabbed roughly, and she squeezed her eyes shut in pain. He then pulled out his pistol, aimed it at Yekaterina’s head, and shouted,
“I know who you want! If you want this woman safe, get out of my way!”
No matter how fast the warrior who killed his subordinate was, he would be faster at pulling the trigger. That was a given. But their reaction was strange. They didn’t seem fazed even after seeing Yekaterina.
Since time was of the essence for Zevret, he thought he needed a stronger move.
He turned the gun, which was pointed at Yekaterina, towards the front. Then, he tried to pull the trigger on the blond man standing at the front. Zevret was in an advantageous position. Killing the noble without hesitation would be a sufficient threat to them.
Bang!!
A gunshot rang out. Zevret grinned, about to shout, but instead, a cry of pain escaped his lips.
“Aaaaagh!!!”
Clatter.
The pistol he was holding fell to the floor, and drops of red blood splattered on it. Smoke was rising from the gun the blond man was holding.
He had hit his arm in that instant? How was that possible? He couldn’t process the sudden question.
Thud.
With the sound of tearing flesh, a thrown dagger pierced Zevret’s forehead.
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