by SOW
“Oh, I don’t mind. Thanks. You came to help me.”
Lud spoke nostalgically, as if reuniting with his best friend.
“Colonel, allow me to confirm the objectives and other specifics of this operation. Mission summary: incapacitate the approaching Hunter Unit without endangering the pilot’s life. Am I correct?”
“Yeah. Sound all right?”
“No problem at all.”
As Lud spoke, he could feel his nervous sweat drying in no time. It had been two years since he quit the military and over one year since he had become a baker. But it seemed as if that time had been a momentary sleep. He felt that this machine was under his control. He sensed that it wouldn’t be so difficult to accomplish his mission, even with just this armored machine.
“Shall we begin, Colonel? Just like always!”
“Yeah, let’s do this just like always!”
In that moment, Lud and Avei—the Silver Wolf—returned.
Chapter 8: The Wolf Teaches a Lesson
“Did you do all this?”
In the shelter of the second mine, ten Schutzstaffel soldiers were dead as Jacob came out of the storehouse where he had been held captive.
“Affirmative. The most effective way to suppress them was to discontinue their life functions.”
The girl who answered Jacob and Shylock had red hair and red eyes, and she even wore a red dress. She was covered in red from head to toe. However, some of the red spots on her red clothes were blood splatters from the soldiers.
“Hold on a second... Who are you?”
Although Shylock was an elderly man, he stepped in front of Jacob as if to protect his grandson from this mysterious girl and shield him from danger.
“I cannot reveal my professional affiliation. However, I have no intention of harming you. So please come with me.”
After saying this, she extended her hand toward Jacob.
“—!”
Jacob, however, immediately recoiled from her touch. That was understandable. The girl was very beautiful. In Jacob’s experience, only Sven was so pretty. Nonetheless, he sensed something ghoulish about her. It was understandable that a vulnerable child would fear someone who had brutally slaughtered ten strong soldiers in a moment.
“...............”
The girl stared at her hand for a moment. The hand she had offered had been rejected. It was stained with the blood of soldiers.
“I want you to trust me. My purpose is to escort you to a safe place. That is all.”
The girl produced a handkerchief from her pocket and began wiping her hand. She wiped the blood carefully and neatly—and with determination. She seemed to realize that the boy would not take her hand because it was bloody. Perhaps she hoped that if she cleaned her hand and tried again, he would take it the next time.
“My name is Rebecca Sharlahart.”
She told them this while wiping her hand.
“I received my name, Sharlahart, from your father. I heard he named me after the woman he loved.”
Sharlahart... That was how Charlotte, the name of Jacob’s mother, was spelled in the Wiltian language.
“Do you know my father?”
“Affirmative.”
“Did we meet in Saupunkt?”
“Affirmative. You had a very sad expression on your face.”
After answering Jacob, Rebecca extended her hand again. She stared at him with the expectation that he would take it this time. Her red eyes, which had looked blank earlier, now threatened to overflow.
“Okay... I believe you.”
Jacob stepped forward and took her hand.
“—?!”
At that moment, Rebecca pulled him close and leapt out of the way.
“What are you—?!”
A gunshot rang out. And a bullet hole appeared where Jacob had been standing.
“They dodged it? But it was a perfect shot from a total blind spot! What fast reflexes!”
It was Third Lieutenant Vanessa of the Schutzstaffel. She was standing at the entrance to the miner’s shelter and pointing a gun.
“What were you thinking?! What if you had hit Jacob?!” Shylock yelled.
“Joseph Shylock, please do not move from that spot. You, too, are a target.”
“What...?”
Shylock was standing just inside the storehouse, as Rebecca told him to keep hidden.
“So, you know everything?”
Vanessa said this with a voice that sounded slightly impressed.
“I’m not stupid enough to clash head-on with a monster that killed all our soldiers at once!”
Vanessa was out of sight but had watched Rebecca’s battle carefully and waited for a good chance to strike.
“I don’t know who you are or where you’re from, but you’re clearly after the old man and the brat. It was only natural for me to take advantage of that.”
Rebecca’s combat ability was much stronger than Vanessa’s. However, Vanessa had the gun, so if Rebecca were to attack, Vanessa would not hesitate to shoot Jacob.
“If you move, the boy dies.”
Vanessa smiled sadistically. Her actions would ordinarily be considered cowardly and despicable. However, she was a soldier. Her job was to use her limited combat ability to take control of whatever situation confronted her. If her opponent prioritized the protection of civilians above all, then she must use that to surmount the difference in their combat abilities. That was a soldier’s job.
“Um... um...!”
Trembling, Jacob tried to speak from within Rebecca’s grasp. He wasn’t trying to say “Help!” or “Don’t abandon us!” He was trying to say, “Don’t worry about me.”
Jacob was an intelligent boy. He understood that as long as Rebecca protected him, she could not overpower Vanessa. The only way for Rebecca to win was to abandon him.
“D-Don’t...”
He was still only 10 years old. He was so frightened that he couldn’t make his mouth form the words.
“Do not speak.”
Rebecca stopped him, as if she could predict what he was going to say.
“It will be all right. I will take his place in protecting you.”
She clasped Jacob, turned her back to Vanessa, and sat down where she was. It was as if she were protecting the boy with her body as a shield.
“Are you stupid?!”
Vanessa raised her voice in laughter. She had considered the various tactics Rebecca might try, but this was as foolish as it was unexpected. Vanessa pulled the trigger without hesitating.
One, two, three... the bullets struck Rebecca’s back. Each time she was hit, her body jerked, but her arms never let go of Jacob. She held him to her breast and shielded him from the gunshots.
Four, five, six... More bullets were fired. But Rebecca still did not move.
“Impossible...”
Vanessa’s face showed her frustration. The gun she held wasn’t a large-bore weapon with great destructive power, but Rebecca could not survive multiple shots from it.
Only one bullet was left...
“Urgh!”
She shifted her aim slightly. Her chances were slim, but guessing that Rebecca was wearing high-quality bulletproof clothing, Vanessa aimed for her head, which was uncovered.
And she fired accurately. The bullet struck the back of Rebecca’s head, which rebounded as if struck by a hammer.
“What the... What are you?!”
Vanessa was a career soldier. She had killed many enemies in battle. Something was extraordinary here.
“Why won’t you die?!”
The bullet that hit Rebecca’s head ricocheted with a sharp metallic sound. It was as if the bullet had struck a curved plate of armor.
“Including those final shots, you have fired a total of eight bullets. And that is all the ammunition your gun carries.”
Rebecca stated this as if confirming a fact. Then she slowly stood and turned to face Vanessa. Her cold, red eyes were narrow and expressionless, like the e
yes of a raptor staring at its prey.
“—?!”
Vanessa was terrified and hurriedly tried to reload. The distance between the two was nearly five meters. It would take time to close the distance. Vanessa could reload by then and—
“Too late.”
Her opponent was not a typical human who could be killed by gunshots. Rebecca was beside her before Vanessa even saw her move.
“Aagh!”
It was then, with a cry of fear, that Vanessa finally realized her mistake.
The best course would have been to run as far and as fast as she could before the monster had noticed her. If she had, Rebecca—who was only concerned with protecting the boy and the old man—would have left without paying attention at all. Vanessa had lost sight of the most important priority a soldier had: to protect herself.
“Die,” Rebecca murmured softly.
At that moment, Rebecca struck out with the heel of her hand. She didn’t strike with the practiced control of martial arts. The blow sunk into Vanessa’s midsection.
“—!!!”
She wasn’t even allowed a dying scream. The blow, which Rebecca had released with all her strength, sent Vanessa flying. The impact of her body cracked the wall in a radial pattern, like a crater. She looked as crushed as a clumsily-collected insect specimen.
Vanessa was no longer breathing. With that one punch, her ribs were broken, and her lungs, stomach, and even her heart had burst. Her body was now a leaking sack of skin.
“The threat is gone.”
Rebecca spoke with a voice as flat as the display on a gauge.
Her name was Rebecca Sharlahart. She was a humanoid Hunter Unit created by the most intelligent scientist of all time, Daian Fortuner, the Sorcerer. No unarmed living being could defeat her.
Meanwhile, at the first Baelz mine...
“What’s that about?! Ah ha ha ha ha!!!”
Hildegard, riding in her Teepneuen Hunter Unit, laughed at the machine in front of her.
“With that?! You’re gonna fight me with that piece of crap, Wolf?!”
Lud was driving the armored machinery. It was a rundown old model with little armor and no weapons.
“Oh, okay, okay! I was worried that a one-sided match would be too boring. So I will allow this desperate attempt!”
Inside the cockpit, Hildegard laughed maliciously.
Her noble family, the Hessens, had clung so hard to the ideal of combat that the family had fallen. However, the chance for a comeback had arrived with the new weapon called the Hunter Unit.
Hunter Units weren’t tanks, controlled by several soldiers at once, nor were they combat aircraft, whose main battlefield was the sky. As in the age of knights, a Hunter Unit marched into battle clad in steel armor, giving it the appearance of the victorious warrior that her family esteemed.
The Hessen family, full of hope, sent Hildegard to military school to become a Hunter Unit pilot. She had tackled the challenge with a fierce determination to save her family and restore its name. She worked hard to obtain the medal known as the Panzer Cavalerie, which was only given to the highest rank of Hunter Unit pilot.
However, the Great War ended soon after she began her training. Hildegard had completely missed her chance to achieve glory in war. She heard about the Hunter Unit pilot who left the military after declining the Panzer Cavalerie. That man was Lud Langart, the Silver Wolf. Defeating Lud was the only way for her to compensate for the honor she had not received.
“Wolf... I will kill you! There’s no way you’re better than me! I was born into the Hessen family of warriors, so I deserve the Panzer Cavalerie!”
Hildegard summoned all her fighting spirit. A voice spoke through the external speakers of the armored machine in front of her.
“Attention, approaching Hunter Unit pilot!”
It wasn’t Lud’s voice. It was the voice of Avei, who was once again Lud’s partner.
“Stop fighting immediately and retreat! This is a warning!”
The warning said, “If you run away now, we’ll let you go.”
“What...?”
For a moment, Hildegard was stunned. The tone of voice was so dignified and yet condescending that she thought she had misheard.
“I repeat: Retreat immediately. I am showing humanitarian consideration out of respect for your life.”
Avei repeated her warning to retreat.
“Ha ha ha ha ha ha!! You idiot! Who do you think has the advantage here?!”
Not to be outdone, Hildegard replied with contempt through her own speakers. Her opponent was piloting an old decommissioned unit, while she had a far superior model, updated for military use. The Teepneuen had higher quality weapons, armor, power and speed. It was difficult to find any way in which it was inferior.
“Understood. You intend to fight, no matter what.”
The armored machinery ignored Hildegard’s derision, and just replied, slowly and clearly, as if confirming her intentions.
“I have ascertained that you are an inexperienced soldier who cannot understand the difference in our battle capabilities. Thus, I shall educate you.”
Avei’s tone held no arrogance, ego or haughtiness. She expressed only the desire to teach a lesson in prudence to a foolish child, drunk on the power she thought she wielded.
“Silence!!”
Hildegard was furious. Without hesitating, she fired the machine gun housed in the Teepneuen’s forearm.
Ratta-tatta-tatta! The high whine of gunfire resounded throughout the mine.
However, before she could take aim and fire, the armored machine was long gone.
“Huh?!”
A warning beeped inside the cockpit. The search sensors indicated that the enemy had evaded to port.
“This is not a battle between multiple combatants. This is one-on-one, when firearms may carry a disadvantage.”
The Teepneuen’s external microphones picked up Avei’s voice.
“A firearm has a straight trajectory of attack. It’s easy to determine the angle and range of fire from the direction of the gun muzzle. Furthermore, firearms built into the vehicle’s arms are incapable of turning in small radiuses, making swift maneuvering difficult.”
Avei’s detailed explanation clearly meant, “I’ll teach you a lesson.”
“Don’t patronize me!!”
Hildegard screamed and tried to follow Avei with her machine guns, but it was just as Avei had said. Instead of maneuverable handheld firearms, her built-in guns forced her to move the Teepneuen’s entire body to point the muzzle.
“Impatience is not calm. And lack of calm breeds carelessness. Just like now.”
As a result of straining to point its muzzle, the Teepneuen was slightly off-balance. Something was stretched across its path.
“W-What’s this?!”
By the time Hildegard recognized the danger, it was too late. That “something” was an industrial wire winch that was attached to the armored machinery. Its special steel-fiber wire could hold the weight of one Hunter Unit. It was stretched across the Teepneuen’s legs and was being reeled in fast, entangling the Hunter Unit’s body and toppling it.
“Aagh!!”
At eight meters, a Hunter Unit was four to five times taller than a human being. When it fell, it could deliver a shock to the pilot that was several times stronger than the fall of a human body. Of course, the Teepneuen was equipped with a compensatory function to withstand sudden impact, but it would still break the pilot’s focus.
“What?!”
The armored machinery was attacking the fallen Teepneuen. The machine’s right arm was equipped with something like a knife...
Skrank! A screeching sound rang out, like the furious scrape of metal against metal.
Attached to the arm of the armored machine was an industrial mining shovel. The shovel was more than four times bigger than a regular shovel. It was designed to break rocks and now served as a powerful weapon, striking at the Teepneuen.
“Fool
!! That work tool can’t do anything against this thing’s armor!”
Shovels made excellent weapons for foot soldiers. Soldiers on long-term active duty would say that shovels were easier and more effective than knives and bayonets.
However, the Teepneuen’s heavy armor had been designed to withstand attacks from tank cannons. Its armor was fifty percent thicker than the Cyclops series that was in use when Lud was still on active duty. It was similar to a knight’s heavy armor and even the penetrating power of the shovel could not pierce it.
“How long are you going to keep that up?”
Hildegard used the vehicle’s auto balancer to force the Teepneuen back upright. At the same time, she shook off her opponent and pointed her gun muzzle for the third time. From this position, her opponent couldn’t escape. She pulled the trigger, certain of victory.
“What?!” Instantly, the Teepneuen’s right arm exploded.
“What? Why?! How did this happen?!”
Poor maintenance? Operation failure? Or...
As Hildegard broke out in a cold sweat, she heard Avei’s voice.
“In battle, the kind of weapon you have isn’t important. What’s important is how you use that weapon.”
The Teepneuen’s right arm was demolished and scattered. The pieces were so disfigured it looked as if the arm had detonated from the inside.
“No... An explosion? Impossible! What did that shovel do?!”
The attack from the armored machinery wasn’t intended to penetrate the Teepneuen’s armor. It had smashed the gun muzzle built into the Teepneuen’s right arm so the bullets wouldn’t eject. When fired in such a condition, the gun had exploded.
“I’ll warn you again. If you retreat now, we won’t pursue you.”
This was the third warning. The robotic voice held no emotion. However, Hildegard was overcome with frustration, so even that neutral tone infuriated her.
“You... You... How dare you?!”
Even though the Teepneuen had lost an arm and its firepower, it still possessed devastating combat strength.
“One attack is all I need to finish off armored machinery with little armor!!”
Hildegard was about to perform a full-power tackle.
“In battle, the word ‘defect’ doesn’t exist. It’s just the flip side of an advantage.”
