Chapter 82: Chapter 82

[To charge right into the mana cannon's blind spot! Redirect the gate guards! Pulverize them!]

"Good. The entry route is secured."

Glaepnir, having opened the armor plates on its head.

Nodding at the Alfraian command voice coming from the cockpit, Yaan first retrieved the comm line laid by the trooper who had infiltrated the fortress ahead of him.

After confirming a fireball rising from the Alfraian fortress spire, Yaan asked Nill.

[Scan complete. Confirmed enemy colossus group moving to the front. Currently deploying for fire support.]

"Good. We charge the instant they turn their full attention to the main force."

Slowly focusing his mind on Glaepnir, Yaan spoke, his eyes gleaming.

No military operation ever goes exactly as first planned.

The countless variables encountered on site, the morale of the personnel executing the plan, equipment failures, accidents....

No matter how carefully one thinks through the plan, situations on the ground always exceed expectations.

[Enemy troop deployment confirmed. Displaying real-time location data.]

In that regard, Glaepnir's functions were earning their keep.

As if looking down from the sky itself, the combat-control feature of Glaepnir displayed real-time positions of enemy colossi and troops on the map and revealed their movement paths.

The greatest efficiency of ancient human technology lay not in physical factors like armor or firepower but in this informational edge.

It was the overwhelming information-warfare capability to pinpoint the exact timing that could turn the tide of battle.

- First we charge and break the gate. Greyhounds infiltrate after the knights enter. Suppress the enemy command.

At Yaan's brief order, the company members nodded and chambered their respective weapons.

After confirming it with a glance, Yaan soon dashed toward the fortress ahead.

The ground his foot kicked up exploded as if hit by a cannon, launching the ash-gray beast toward the fortress in an instant.

Glaepnir, bursting out in a flash, moved at a speed no one would ever believe belonged to a colossus.

"No matter how many times I see it, my jaw still drops."

Racing ahead, leaving the company members following behind, Glaepnir carried on its back more than ten times the normal load of smoke canisters.

[Approaching enemy defensive installations.]

"Been a while since I got a good look at the sky."

With those words, Glaepnir's giant frame leapt high. Just as it had once burst from the earth on its first activation, it soared over the fortress walls and spires, and the screen inside Glaepnir updated with targeting data on countless colossi.

[Enemy Frame detailed scan complete. Cross-check confirms 140 Type-Four colossi, 50 Type-Six colossi.]

"Fifty Type-Six units? Insane. Even after we charge it'll be trouble."

Recalling the battle against Varthael that had threatened him via coordination, Yaan grimaced in irritation.

But before that there was something that had to be done.

Rising into the air, Glaepnir plunged toward the nearest spire under Yaan's command.

A thunderous roar that shook the entire fortress.

At the spine-chilling sound from behind, the elf knights firing assault guns at the base of the wall turned to look back.

- What's going on? The, the spire...!

Among the debris of the spire beginning to collapse wholesale, the mangled corpses of mages fell together.

Soon a terrifying gunfire tore through the smoke, filling the fortress.

This time even the other knights couldn't help but look that way.

"What the hell is that sound!"

The commander who had run up shouting saw the mage corpses and the collapsed spire.

And the eastern gate shattered into pieces.

"How... how in the world...!"

The moment he muttered that-

Glaepnir began scattering the enormous load of smoke canisters across the entire fortress.

Moments later, smoke canisters belched in unison, weaving through every corner, and Alfraian Fortress Number One was instantly blanketed in acrid smoke.

"Keek! I can't see! Can't see anything!"

"Hah! Stay calm! There's only one intruder! Find hi-"

The Orc's words, trying to calm the panicked defenders inside the smoke-covered fortress, cut off mid-sentence.

A signal flare shot skyward.

But the Orc paid it no mind.

The intruder who had leapt the wall, destroyed the spire, and punched a hole in the gate-he had seen its identity with his own eyes.

Anyone in the Alfraian Army, anyone who had seen the previous battles, could never forget that figure.

The Imperial devil who had single-handedly crushed Delranel, hero of the central front, and then smashed one of the three Delta Colossi in reserve.

"A devil! A devil has entered the fortress!"

The moment the Orc screamed, Glaepnir rushed the panic-stricken Alfraian colossi.

Glaepnir burst through the sudden smoke. Before anyone could react, the greatsword mounted on its back came crashing down.

Starting with the cockpit pierced in an instant, Glaepnir began hunting colossi one by one within the smoke.

- Damn it, I can't see anything because of the smoke!

- Regroup here! Form up! Form ranks!

A black blade jutted from the Type-Six colossus of the elf knight trying to rally his comrades.

The sword, dripping with the pilot's blood, was pulled free, and before the terrified knights could respond, Glaepnir's silhouette vanished back into the smoke.

- Where, where is it!?

- Coward! We are knights of Alfraia! Show yourself and fight-

[Seven units destroyed. Updating additional position data.]

"Shit, this is way too many. It never ends."

Glaepnir had butchered seven colossi in the dark, but the expression of Yaan at the controls was far from cheerful.

"Couldn't use the cannons because of the wind pressure. Rotten luck."

The smoke that had covered the fortress interior thinned as the wind shifted direction.

- Damn, we lost seven to this guy!

- Surround him! Box him in!

Twelve colossi in a ring leveled their assault guns at Glaepnir.

- Hah, last time it was eleven to one, now it's twelve.

- Shut up! How dare you insult a knight's battle with such tricks!

As Yaan mocked them, the elf knights flushed red and tightened their triggers.

- Then shoot if you dare.

In both hands, the upper torsos of Type-Six colossi.

From the remains held up like shields came the coughing of the knights inside.

- Taking knights hostage!

- You think this will save you!?

The elf knights recoiled at the devilish tactic, but Yaan in the cockpit sneered and lifted the half colossi.

- No. But it'll buy time until my allies arrive.

With those words, Glaepnir tossed the upper torsos of the colossi.

Glaepnir's sword lanced through the elf colossus that had caught its comrade's body.

After skewering the two cockpits in succession, Yaan immediately hoisted the wreckage and blocked the assault-gun barrage pouring down on him.

The body of Colossus Six, shattered to pieces with a metallic shriek. The instant Glaepnir's frame vanished behind the smoke, a Rail Cannon round fired through the haze lanced clean through two colossi at once.

-Damn it, how many has that devil already-!?

While Yaan and the colossi were tangling, the fortress command was also thrown into utter chaos.

"Intruders inside the fortress!"

"Kiiiiik! Protect the Commander!"

Through the gate Glaepnir had breached, the Independent Greyhound Company had slipped inside under cover of smoke and confusion.

"Final objective: the enemy command on the top floor! Cut the retreat routes and seal the building!"

"Confirmed! Open fire!"

Using every weapon the dwarves' tech could build, the company overwhelmed the escort troops still relying on standard arms.

A portable cannon, its firepower rivaling field artillery, roared and blew the barricade blocking the corridor to splinters.

The orcs waiting behind the barricade for cover were obliterated as well.

"Number 32 down! Recover the weapon!"

Leaving their fallen comrade behind, the Greyhounds charged in an instant; before the fortress guards could react, they burst into the command conference room on the roof.

The fortress commander, who had been preparing to contact the homeland while receiving reports of intruders inside and outside the walls, stared blankly at the Greyhounds who had stormed in.

"This is the central plains-thousands of colossi move through here! How did ordinary infantry slip through-"

"How? We walked over our comrades' corpses, that's how."

"Don't kill him. Capture and extract intel."

The Greyhounds seized the trembling fortress commander, then fired a flare skyward.

[Signal confirmed. Enemy command secured.]

"Good. Now the question is how the hell we get out of here...!"

Yaan bared his teeth in a grin after confirming the Greyhounds' results.

Six colossi were leveling assault guns at him, two more aiming swords his way.

[Rail Cannon rounds remaining: one.]

Glaepnir had already fired every one of its twenty rounds, leaving holes across the fortress walls.

But Yaan's own body was far from sound.

Fourteen colossi destroyed. The dawn-long operation had pushed his nanomachines to the verge of runaway.

"No matter how many times I go through it, I never get used to it...!"

Clenching his teeth at the feeling of every blood vessel twisting, Yaan loaded the final round into the Rail Cannon.

"I've done my part; you handle the rest."

The Rail Cannon fired, the last round lancing through a section of wall.

-Your efforts will not be forgotten, Lieutenant Yaan.

And from the wall now beginning to crumble came a heavy, sinking voice.

One by one, the colossi of the House Lorenz contingent appeared through the broken wall.

Yet, unwilling to yield, countless colossi waiting in ambush began pouring out from every corner of the fortress. Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on novelꜰire.net

Legion against legion.

The first to shatter the tension between the two forces was Cain Lorenz's colossus.

-Knights of Lorenz! By order of all! In the name of Silver Knight Cain Lorenz! Annihilate the Alfraian Army!