Chapter 98: Chapter 98

'Target confirmed. Entering.'

At the distant hand signal from a soldier, Yaan held his breath.

Wearing civilian clothes, Yaan and the company members were at Pier 3, south of Runes.

It was the rendezvous point where the late Marek was to meet a Belkuth contact.

"What the-why's he so late?"

When Marek failed to appear at the appointed time, the informant-acting as if he were annoyed-shot off his mouth while glancing around.

A middle-aged man with blond hair and a scar. Just as Marek's intel had said.

At Yaan's hand signal the five company members split up and closed in on the informant from different directions.

Meanwhile, the remaining fifteen soldiers were watching the port buildings and back alleys, cutting off the informant's escape routes.

Hearing his name spoken so casually made the man called Zurk scowl.

"You crazy bastard-didn't they teach you not to use real names during training...?!"

As he spoke and turned around, Zurk's body froze.

Standing before his eyes was Yan Verkut.

The assassination target personally marked by head Hiram had come to find him.

"So Belkuth's informants never got that kind of training, huh?"

The instant Yaan said that-

Realizing the situation, Zurk spun in the opposite direction.

"Ah-ah, hold it right there."

"You're already surrounded. Why don't you give up?"

But the moment he saw the Greyhound soldiers closing in on him in an instant, Zurk had no choice but to back away.

"Those bastards-this was planned from the start...!"

Irene's fist slammed into Zurk's face.

"Looks like our rookie's really pissed about Marek's death."

The Independent Greyhound soldiers gave a short whistle and, with a loud thud, began tying up the sprawled-out Zurk.

"Damn it-did that bastard Marek sell the intel?!"

"We found it ourselves. Thanks to that we could track you down."

Saying that, Yaan pressed his foot on the struggling Zurk's throat.

"Make one suspicious move and I'll snap your neck right here. Come quietly."

When Zurk, unable to move, slumped in resignation, the soldiers confirmed it and began cuffing his hands.

"Simpler than expected."

"There could be a contingency-stay sharp."

At Yaan's hand signal, the soldiers stationed around moved in perfect order.

A signal flare fired from one corner of the city lit up the southern port with a tearing sound.

"Impossible-there's no way the Liberation Army could know I came here...!"

The Greyhound soldiers weren't the only ones flustered by the sudden flare.

Seeing Zurk's bewildered face-as if it were unthinkable-Yaan's lips curled in a sneer.

"Seems we weren't the only ones who caught the scent."

Just as Yaan muttered that, geysers of water began to rise from beneath the pier.

"Colossus! Colossi are coming out of the water!"

From the empty pier, where no ships were moored, water burst upward, revealing massive colossi.

Armor plates were joined by tarpaulins to keep water out of the interior.

"They modified colossi for underwater use? The Liberation Army has that kind of tech...?"

"Waterproofing doesn't take advanced tech-just an idea and tactical need."

Standard doctrine was to use colossi for ground warfare and leave naval battles to fleets led by battleships.

But without strategic assets like battleships, the Liberation Army had to defend the coast somehow-these colossi were the answer.

"Ha-ha! I don't know how it happened, but you're finished!"

Startled at first, Zurk now wore a triumphant grin at the appearance of friendly colossi and shouted at Yaan.

"This bastard-doesn't he get the situation?"

While muttering that, Yaan watched Zurk throw off his captors and dash toward the Liberation colossi.

"No. If we move rashly we'll draw the colossi's attention."

Glaepnir was still at the garrison; even if he tried to summon Nill remotely it would take time to arrive.

"Du-Duunkel! Perfect timing-get me out of here!"

The moment the desperate Zurk shouted toward the colossus-

The colossus's chest opened and the man inside fired a bullet straight through Zurk's heart.

"Zurk. Did you think we didn't hear what you just said to that Imperial?"

A man in a hood, goggles, and bandana. The one called Duunkel fired two more shots into Zurk's chest with an icy voice.

With heart and head pierced, Zurk's body collapsed lifelessly.

Having lost a key informant in an instant, Yaan clenched his teeth-but had no time to worry about that now.

- Captain. Imperials. About twenty. All well-trained.

"Right. We were lying in wait for a traitor and hooked a monster instead."

A heavy voice struck at Yaan.

Before he could answer, Greyhound soldiers scattered smoothly across the port at Yaan's signal.

- Where do you think you're going!

A colossus slammed its fist in the direction Yaan was headed.

The colossus's unimaginable strength made the ground ripple like a dance floor, turning the area into carnage.

"Damn it-do they not care about civilian casualties?"

- There are no civilians in this port. Everyone here dreams of Rubra's liberation-they are comrades of the revolution!

Hearing the colossus knight's declaration, Yaan looked around.

"Imperials! Those bastards are Imperials!"

"Duunkel's knights are fighting-everyone evacuate!"

"Don't get in the way-move!"

Merchants, beggars, people from every walk of life moved as one.

'They unite under Duunkel, not the Liberation Army. Then...?'

Recalling the rallying cry of the youths in the slums, Yaan's mind rapidly assembled the pieces.

Unlike the traditional Liberation Army-now regarded as mere bandits even among colonists-the man whose name alone rallied everyone.

And a colonist who, despite his status, commanded colossi under the title "Knight."

"Duunkel. He's either the Liberation Army's leader or its linchpin!"

When Yaan raised his hand, Greyhound soldiers on rooftops leveled their weapons.

- What are you doing? Do you think rifle rounds will work on a colossus?

Yaan twisted his lips at the man called Duunkel, who asked that as the soldiers appeared.

"But you just said it, didn't you? There are no civilians in this port."

As Yaan spoke, curses hissed from Duunkel and the colossi flanking him.

- This crazy bastard-no way...?!

The instant he said that, Yaan's mouth opened in a deliberate grin.

"Under the Liberation Army's own declaration, evacuating groups are to be treated as rebels in league with them. Commence firing!"

At Yaan's shout, gunfire blanketed the port city.

"The Imperial Army's firing inside the city!"

"Those crazy bastards really did it?!"

With events unfolding in an unexpected direction, Duunkel and the Liberation Army were the ones who grew frantic.

Once it became clear that their own words had provided the pretext for a massacre in the city, they would lose civilian support in an instant.

- D-Duunkel! If this keeps up-!

- Hold a defensive line until the civilians evacuate. Protect the people!

- The moment evacuation is complete, those bastards...!

The Liberation Army colossi wrapped around the civilians evacuating as he spoke. Watching that, Yaan grinned.

"They're just blank rounds, you morons."

As Yaan snapped his fingers, the Greyhound soldiers arrived right where the two colossi excluding Duunkel had leapt-

each with a recoilless rifle made from dwarf tech slung over his shoulder.

- Requesting support...!

"No, you stay put-if you want those civilians to live, that is."

Sensing that Duunkel's colossus posed the greatest threat, Yaan raked it with a machine-gun burst.

Live rounds this time, unlike moments ago. Duunkel had to stop those infantry, yet the instant his colossus abandoned its position the civilians would be in danger.

- Using civilians as hostages in battle-has the Imperial Army no shame?!

"Dunno. We're not regular troops, we're the Penal Corps."

While the Liberation Army knight reeled at the sight, Yaan answered his cry and began firing a pistol at Duunkel's Frame.

While Yaan kept Duunkel pinned, a shell accompanied by a cry of "Cover!" slammed straight into the cockpit of the crouching colossus.

A sound alien to the roar of gunpowder.

A noise like a drumbeat amplified hundreds of times spread, and the giant Frame hit by it began to twitch.

- What the hell is this now?!

A colossus-only special round that bypasses armor plating and tears up the pilot inside.

After fighting the Alfraian colossi, Yaan had commissioned its development, inspired by that battle.

"Two colossi-movement ceased."

"Only brought a few for testing, but it's proving far more effective than expected."

As he spoke, Yaan and the company tore open the drooping colossus's hatch at once.

"Y-you insane bastards...!"

The Liberation Army knight, who had been violently ejected along with everything else by the impact round, could offer no resistance to the following gunfire.

"Primary target confirmed dead-operation failed. We're pulling out. Retreat route-"

- No, I can't let you run.

While the company that had neutralized two colossi prepared to withdraw, Duunkel's low voice, along with his colossus, crashed down on Yaan.

"Damn it-so the captain's flag was still functional!"

"Out of impact rounds! At this rate-"

'The civilians... they've all been evacuated.'

Glancing across the now-empty port save for his own men, Yaan swallowed a curse.

Staying bunched up here is suicide.

If it comes to this, I'll have to use myself as bait.

"Enemy is armed with anti-personnel machine guns only! Take cover and scatter! Rendezvous at Point A!"

"C-Company Commander, if we do that, that colossus will-"

Irene's flustered voice came over the comm at Yaan's order.

"That's an order, Irene! Push through!"

Watching the soldiers scatter in every direction at Yaan's single command, a murmur of admiration escaped Duunkel's colossus.

- Never seen that weapon before, and the coordination is incredible... new forces dispatched from the Empire?

Even as he spoke, the muzzles of the machine guns swung straight toward Yaan.

'Damn-I might actually die here.'

As the thought crossed his mind, the machine gun mounted on Duunkel's Frame erupted.

Yaan dove behind a slumped colossus, but the machine-gun fire kept coming.

"If you'd asked, I'd have given you time to answer!"

- I'm rather busy myself. I already lost subordinates-I can't let the enemy commander walk away.

Clenching his fist at Duunkel's voice drawing closer, Yaan-

Too far from Ren to shield him. Even activating the nanomachines wouldn't let him endure sustained machine-gun fire.

- Impressive fight, nameless commander. It ends here...!

The instant Duunkel's Frame swung a fist at Yaan, an amplified young voice burst from a loudspeaker as a colossus rushed Duunkel's Frame.

The one that moved was the Liberation Army colossus whose pilot had just been killed. The owner of the voice-

Through the open cockpit, tears streaking her face, Irene was piloting the colossus.

To be continued in the next episode.