Central Front Border Zone (4)
“So, the Fifth Legion Commander.”
Lennok sneered as he listened to the man’s declaration echoing from the airship.
“Was that really something the legion side could offer so casually?”
Deadrise, the colossal legion currently contending for control over one corner of the Central Front.
Among them, the Fifth Legion Commander of the alliance was a position granted independent operational authority and command over subordinate forces.
A commander’s seat bestowed only upon generals of at least lieutenant general rank.
And yet they were trying to hand that position to Evan this easily.
Even Feysha Grisburn had never become a legion commander.
Knowing that fact, Lennok could only laugh in disbelief.
“Handing the position of legion commander to some complete outsider hardly sounds like a rational decision.”
[The head of a legion is not decided by background or specialization.]
Yet the voice reverberating from the airship remained calm even after hearing Lennok’s retort.
[What matters are the qualities necessary to lead a legion. The feats you displayed in Vulcan more than satisfy those qualifications.]
[The resolve to burn a city alone, and the martial prowess to carry it out. Even the broader judgment required to ultimately rescue the Lighthouse Keeper from that chaotic Vulcan.]
Now the man’s voice boomed loud enough that the speakers seemed ready to burst.
[It has already been proven that the defeat you accepted was not meaningless. All that remains is for you to take the legion’s hand!]
“Well. I’m not so sure. It’s not as if there were no clashes with the legion while I was with Eyes of the Blue.”
Lennok smiled coldly.
“I’ve killed people from the cults, the legion, and the Federation alike. Do you really think all of that can simply be forgotten now?”
[Of course not. But that is precisely why this legion has endured in the Central Front until now.]
[If one possesses the necessary talent and ability, then even an enemy commander may be brought beneath the legion’s banner. Petty grudges are nothing more than obstacles in the pursuit of a greater cause!]
The uncompromising tone and conduct resembled not a modern soldier, but a medieval warrior.
That was only natural.
Deadrise had originally begun as a private military corporation before rising into the legion it was now.
If they needed capable personnel or resources, then even enemies would be recruited and brought over as allies.
The more capable the enemy commander, the more highly they were evaluated within the legion, and in return, the greater the likelihood they would rise to high office.
[This Third Legion is currently carrying out an operation to recover the records of the cultists’ sacrificial ritual acquired by the Gate Search Unit.]
“……”
The man’s heavy voice echoed beyond the airship speakers.
[Regardless of the achievements accumulated by the search unit, those records are information that absolutely must not leak beyond this quarter.]
[Ordinarily, we would have to prevent the search unit from returning through the Gate. However, if you accept this officer’s proposal, then by my authority I can cancel the operation entirely and return to headquarters.]
Even while extending a recruitment offer to Lennok, he alternated between coercion and persuasion by holding the search unit hostage.
Though his words were somewhat rough and aggressive, his judgment and manner of speech were surprisingly indirect.
He was not merely some ignorant brute blindly loyal to the legion, nor someone trapped within a single rigid worldview.
“Sorry, but I have no intention of deciding my future here.”
Even knowing that, Lennok shook his head without hesitation.
“It hasn’t been long since I left Eyes of the Blue. Rather than joining somewhere immediately, I’d prefer to look around the Central Front first.”
[I see. Was the legion’s offer too hasty for one still grieving the pain of separation?]
“......You know that’s not what I meant. More importantly, was the rank of legion commander really something that could be traded around like a gift?”
Lennok’s eyes sank as he looked around at the five airships floating around him.
“The legion I know wasn’t an organization like that. At the very least, decisions like this couldn’t be made without approval from the commander class. Yet despite that, you’re still making this offer to me……”
Slowly lowering the liquor glass in his hand, Lennok spoke.
“That means you’re a soldier with enough authority or justification to ignore those procedures.”
[That is not incorrect. This officer, too, stands before you bearing a mission from which he cannot retreat.]
The man acknowledged it calmly.
[Just as you are dragging out this conversation regarding my proposal.]
Buaaaaaang!!
At that moment, the search unit members who had burst out from the shelter began racing across the wilderness at tremendous speed.
Had they evacuated all the civilians remaining in the shelter?
Or had there already been no survivors left?
Given the methods Lennok knew the legion employed, the answer was obvious.
[A humble response. Were you listening this long merely to buy them time to prepare?]
“The moment I reject that proposal, you’ll try to kill the Gate Search Unit.”
The instant they had hidden in the night sky and launched the first bombardment, the legion’s airborne assault corps could have annihilated the search unit.
But instead of targeting them, they had struck the shelter on a massive scale.
That itself had merely been a means of creating an opportunity to talk with Lennok.
A commander who saw the battlefield broadly without assigning meaning to every single detail.
Lennok didn’t know who the man was, but he was undoubtedly a veteran who had spent an extremely long time on the battlefield.
Yet after hearing Lennok’s words, the man calmly denied them.
[That is incorrect. The moment you rejected the proposal, I had no intention of holding back.]
Clank!!
The artillery ports protruding from the airships tilted downward, aiming directly at the search unit approaching from afar.
[Regardless of the proposal, I intended to kill the search unit from the beginning.]
“......!!”
Tutatatatatang!!!
Bullets poured from the gunports like rain over the ruins the search unit was fleeing across.
Ammunition unleashed simultaneously from more than a dozen airships spread across the sky like a black curtain of gunfire as it surged downward.
In an instant, the ground was densely carved with wounds like a honeycomb.
Dudududududu!!!
As the fierce bombardment pursued them, the search unit members twisted their throttles and drew up their mana.
“Wulfhild!!”
“I know!!”
Wulfhild, who had leapt to the front of the search unit, closed his eyes and focused his mind.
[Kinesis : Anti-Barrel]
Paaang!!
Sweat dripping down his face, Wulfhild thrust his hand upward, and a transparent force field spread above them, intercepting the bullets.
A psychic ability of the telekinetic category.
More specifically, a technique specialized for ballistic defense against bullets.
Wulfhild, a Level 4 esper, had adjusted his powers through Geas in order to maximize his capabilities.
Because psychic abilities operated through pure mental force, Geas tended to push such powers to extremes one way or another.
Wulfhild had simply been one of the lucky cases.
While Wulfhild blocked the bombardment at the front, the other unit members each drew their weapons.
Clack, clack!!
Members pulled bazookas from the bike cargo compartments, quickly loaded them, and pulled the triggers.
“Eat this, you bastards!!”
Kwaaaaaang!!
Two airships struck by the bazookas shook faintly in the air from the impact.
Weapons of war produced directly by Deadrise itself.
There might be damage, but they would never be brought down by such a counterattack alone.
“That’s enough.”
However, Lennok raised his hand toward the struck airships and nodded.
“I’ll handle the rest from here.”
[Halo Bloom]
Hwarurururuk!!
At that moment, flames erupting from the impact site on the airships rapidly swelled in size.
As though someone’s will were forcibly amplifying their scale and heat on the spot.
Before long, the cloud of flames engulfing the entire airship burst into a raging inferno.
[Emergency, emergency!]
The burning airship lost balance, staggered, and crashed at high speed directly in front of the search unit.
Kwaaaang!!
The hatch of the crashed airship shattered apart as hundreds of soldiers burst out and charged forward.
“Waaaaaaaah!!”
“For the legion!!”
Every single one of them was already fully armed, advancing in formation as though prepared for close combat.
Considering the airship crash had happened because of Lennok’s interference, their response speed was abnormally fast.
The search unit members drew their weapons all at once as they faced the Third Legion’s assault corps already battle-ready before their eyes.
“Goddammit, seriously!!”
“I told you legion bastards can’t be trusted!!”
“Shut up and focus!!”
Uluric drew his sword and shouted while staring at Lennok’s back far beyond the wasteland.
“While Evan keeps them occupied, we’ll carve open a path. Everyone, prepare yourselves!!”
Kwagwagwang!!
The search unit riders mounted on bikes violently clashed with Deadrise soldiers all across the battlefield.
Within the chaotic melee, blades and bullets crossed while mana exploded and screams rang out.
Watching the search unit plunge into battle in an instant, Lennok slowly tilted the liquor glass in his hand downward.
Chwaak!
The remaining beer scattered in a circle at his feet, and Lennok flicked the ember from the cigar in his mouth.
The flame transferred onto the alcohol, instantly igniting a blaze beneath him.
[Crimson Fruit Divine Wheel]
Hwarurureuk!!
The rotating flames beneath his feet burned even more fiercely, rising into a pillar of fire centered around Lennok.
At the center of the crimson pillar blazing brightly enough to illuminate the night sky, Lennok clasped both hands together into a hand seal.
“Summoning.”
[Fire Heaven Steel Turtle]
Kugugugugugugu!!!!
Arms and legs extended out between the pillars of flame, and the fire bent into the shape of a colossal shell.
Beneath the blazing crimson carapace, the turtle’s head emerged, opening its mouth wide and releasing a heavy roar.
[Gwoooooooaar!!!!]
A gigantic flaming turtle the size of an airship had suddenly appeared in the middle of the battlefield.
At that moment, sensing the threat, the airships redirected all bombardment away from the search unit and toward the turtle instead.
Dududududududu!!!
Countless bombardments and shells rained down upon the hardened shell.
The turtle slowly blinked its eyes, and beneath its body Lennok summoned his combustion armament and gripped it.
[Gweeeeeeeek]
The Fire Heaven Steel Turtle opened its jaws wide and began spewing black-red lava from deep within its throat.
Chiiiiik!!
The lava flowing from its mouth spread across the ruins in every direction, encircling the battlefield.
It melted the crashed airships on the ground and instantly swept away even the soldiers surrounding the search unit in waves of molten rock.
“Kuaaaaaaaah!!”
“H-hot, it’s hot......!!”
“Huak!! Huaaak!!”
There was an obvious mobility difference between the search unit riding bikes and the soldiers running on foot.
The faster the lava spread across the ground, the more advantageous the battlefield became for the highly mobile search unit.
The Third Legion soldiers also rapidly widened their formation to avoid the lava, but before they realized it, Lennok descended from the sky wrapped in flames and crushed down upon them.
Chiiiik!!
Using the gigantic ignition device in his hand like a flamethrower, he exhaled blazing flames like a dragon’s breath.
Any lacking firepower was supplemented in real time through additional heat magic incantations, while he simultaneously blocked the airships’ bombardment.
“Activating Unique Magic.”
Heat-element Unique Magic Trait Transformation Catalyst Resonance
[Lava Sigil]
[Heavenly Collapse]
Ppeoeoeong!!!
A gigantic fist of lava rose from the molten stream and slammed downward, sweeping its arm sideways.
As the giant lava arm swept across the ground, the soldiers unable to escape were submerged into the molten rock.
Chiiiiiiik!!
[Uooooooooh!!!]
The flaming turtle roared and twisted its body, its shell cracking apart as flames burst skyward between the fissures like fireworks.
The flames struck directly into the undersides of the airships relentlessly raining bombardment.
Countless explosions erupted, shaking even the still-functional airships and destroying their balance.
Peobeobeobeong!!
On the ground, Deadrise’s land forces were overwhelmingly massacred as a path was carved open.
The summon seized control of the skies and laid out the battlefield, the search unit opened the route, and Lennok exterminated the enemies.
The tide of battle, which had begun entirely in the legion’s favor, instantly reversed and began shifting the balance.
[The records concerning the cultists’ sacrificial ritual are a black box that this legion absolutely must recover.]
The man’s deeply sunken voice echoed through the airship speakers.
[This has been confirmed under the approval of Ultima Alert, and it constitutes the highest-priority objective of this operation.]
“A black box?”
[The moment you rejected my proposal, all that remained was to complete the mission objective perfectly.]
Whoooooosh....!!!
From the airship floating above Lennok’s head, the presence of something suddenly exploded outward.
“Evan!!”
Kkiiik!!
Uluric skillfully tilted his bike to a stop and pointed toward the opposite side of the front line.
“We’ll break open a route over there. We’ll move first, so......!!!”
“No. Keep moving!!”
The moment Lennok shouted and manipulated part of the lava into a curtain-like barrier—
[Switching to fixed flight mode. Launch hatch opening. Ammunition loaded.]
A mechanical announcement echoed from the airship floating above the two men’s heads.
[Lieutenant General Robert Roberide is descending. Brace for impact.]
“....!!!”
The instant Uluric heard Lennok’s words and gritted his teeth before accelerating his bike once more—
Something dropped from beneath the airship and slammed into the ground at terrifying speed.
Kwaaaaaaaaaang!!!
It instantly shattered the lava curtain protecting overhead and crushed the ground beneath, scattering a devastating shockwave.
The ripple tore across the entire battlefield filled with fire and lava, spreading in all directions through the earth.
Even Lennok had to instinctively raise his mana for a moment to protect himself from the aftermath.
Kugugugugu!!!!
From within the crater where lava and airship debris were mixed together, something clad in thick armor slowly rose to its feet.
Chiiiiiiik.............!!
Clank!!!
Every time it moved, powerful steam burst out from the gaps in the armor joints.
It looked grotesque, as though the armor could not contain the immense output condensed inside and was forcibly venting heat in order to move.
Draped in steam pouring from its entire body, the massive figure slowly stepped forward and spoke in a heavy voice.
“Even after Ars Nova was destroyed, the Gate Search Unit continued carrying out its duties and fulfilled the mission entrusted to them.”
Kuuwoong!!
The moment he stepped forward, it felt as though the earth itself trembled and cracked.
A middle-aged man carrying a metallic case even larger than his own body upon his shoulder.
Though his armor far exceeded the size of his frame, it emanated a density so overwhelming it seemed ready to burst.
“It is regrettable that such fine soldiers must die. But the legion shall inherit their will.”
Standing before the expressionless Lennok and the search unit members whose faces had hardened stiffly, the man opened his mouth with a face as solid as stone.
“I swear it upon the name of Robert Roberide, Commander of Deadrise’s Third Legion.”