BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!
The sound of bombardment that shook heaven and earth kept striking the ground repeatedly.
The soldiers of the First Platoon who had been first to engage at the front line, shooting down any visible enemies, sighed in relief upon realizing that this bombardment was aimed not at them but at the enemy.
“First Platoon, fall in!”
“Fall in!”
At Lieutenant Hilton Callia’s command, the platoon members immediately halted in their positions.
There was no one left in the trench they had entered who could be called an enemy.
Those standing were allies, and those lying on the ground with their heads pressed into the dirt, bleeding, were the enemy.
“Check ammunition by squad and report.”
“First Squad, all clear!”
“Second Squad, all clear!”
“Third Squad, no issues!!”
Fortunately, there were no casualties. Hilton Callia nodded as she surveyed the battlefield.
The bombardment continued, but it hadn’t eliminated as many enemies as expected.
Trenches.
They had dug deeply into the soft soil characteristic of the island, hiding their bodies within. Whether it was the aerial bombardment raining down or her own ‘Sorcery Bombardment,’ neither proved very effective against the Azoff forces entrenched in the trenches.
Moreover, the ballista battery remained operational, making it impossible for the firepower support ship hovering just above Hill 921 to provide more precise support.
In fact, the reason there hadn’t been many casualties in Fort Morok and Maniopol was solely because the firepower support ship had been eliminating enemies as soon as they emerged from their hiding places.
“Before the follow-up forces arrive, we need to take out that ballista first. The Third Platoon is currently applying pressure from the right flank! No artillery support is possible!!”
Therefore, the First Platoon’s objective was to suppress the ballista battery.
If that could be done, then the firepower support ship’s bombardment might become effective against the enemies in the trenches as well.
Hilton skillfully arranged the troops with her fingers.
Since they were already inside the winding trench area, running across open ground would be madness.
She visualized the operations map she had received directly from Colonel Enok Revendale, confirming her bearings with a compass.
“Chaikovsky, take the right flank and circle around for an attack while we draw their attention!”
“Understood!”
A comrade who had crossed the line of fire numerous times before. Hilton trusted her deputy platoon leader Chaikovsky.
“Then let’s meet at the battery!”
Hilton loaded bullets into the chambers of her revolver.
Click, click.
Gray cartridge cases fell and buried themselves in the dirt.
*
My head was ringing. My ears felt blocked. The only thing I could hear clearly was the sharp sound of gunfire.
Hilton blinked her eyes.
Where am I? What was I doing?
Just as that foolish thought came to mind, one of the platoon members ran up to her and shouted.
“Lieutenant! Are you alright?”
“Uh… uh…”
“You’re fine. You haven’t been hit anywhere! But… the rear attack team!”
At the mention of the rear attack team, Hilton snapped back to her senses.
She abruptly rose from her seat and looked up toward the direction where bullets were flying.
The burning ballista battery.
The corpses of the Azoff bastards scattered around it.
But something was wrong.
Hilton’s memory rewound again.
Taking over the ballista battery had been smooth.
After all, ballistae weren’t designed for anti-personnel use. They were hastily converted siege weapons originally meant for attacking fortresses long ago, now used for anti-aircraft purposes.
There was no significant trench or defensive wall protecting them either.
Through the winding passageways, they charged like predators stalking prey, and the Azoff men fell like leaves.
One bullet took down one man.
That’s how they’d dealt with them…
Suddenly, a lightning bolt struck from the sky. Werner from the Third Squad got hit. As he carried the guy, who was spurting blood from his leg, back, another explosion sounded.
And now, that was the situation.
“Werner!!”
“Lieutenant! There’s no hope for him! Focus on commanding now!”
Reflexively turning her head, she saw Werner collapsed against one side of the trench wall, his eyes not even closed.
He wasn’t breathing.
Lieutenant Hilton Callia felt as if her throat was being tightly gripped.
“Aaah… Aaaahh…!!”
Hilton Callia had two personalities.
One was the soul of the battlefield, crying out for revenge and slaughter.
The other was the soul of a girl who, in her youth, lost everyone she loved and fell into darkness.
Her vision went dark.
It was true. This was the first time.
The first time someone had died due to her decision, not anyone else’s.
The fact that a loyal subordinate who trusted her had passed away right before her eyes was enough to rob Hilton Callia, who had lost the spirit of the battlefield, of her thoughts.
“Lieutenant! Lieutenant!!!”
“The follow-up platoon has sent an urgent request for support! Red smoke! It’s a signal for retreat!!”
Bang!!
KABOOM!!
“Ugh!!”
“Shit, Jackson!! Are you okay!”
“This damn…!!! My shoulder, my shoulder won’t move…!!”
Vanguard units are the ones who enter the battlefield first.
This naturally meant they would bear the brunt of enemy fire.
And the brunt fell squarely on the First Platoon.
Hilton clutched her heart tightly as pain throbbed through her body. Though her mind told her she needed to move and lead everyone, her body wouldn’t obey.
“Lieutenant!!!”
“Damn, it looks like War Shock!”
“Lauren! Take cover! They’re coming your way!!”
Unfortunately, Deputy Platoon Leader Chaikovsky, who could have commanded beside her, was absent because the unit had been split into two.
Still, amidst vague unease, the First Platoon gritted their teeth and never ceased firing back at the enemy.
Ping! A bullet whizzed past her ear.
A shrapnel grenade rolled and tumbled, causing the troops to scatter in panic.
All these scenes slowly converged into one picture before Hilton’s eyes.
The valiant soul of the battlefield that always led the charge couldn’t seem to envelop her this time.
It was as if it were merely showing her her own powerlessness.
Even as her subordinates fell one by one to gunfire, Hilton remained silent.
And at that moment,
Hilton, who had been crouching, instinctively deployed a defensive spell. Whoosh! Violet flames erupted — the very flames that had brought down an airship — spewing toward the First Platoon.
“Lieutenant!?”
“Evade… Evade, quickly…!!”
Had she not acted on instinct, her troops would have surely died again. Trembling violently, Hilton raised her hand and absorbed the violet flames.
“A sorcerer.”
That single mutter. The icy voice, piercing through the roaring flames and hitting her eardrums precisely, made Hilton look up.
A figure stood atop the corpse of an Azoff soldier.
Even amidst the battlefield where bullets flew everywhere, he was completely exposed from the waist up.
His dark skin was covered with white painted symbols.
“Alamuut…!!”
Lieutenant Hilton Callia couldn’t possibly forget this sight. These were the ones who had burned her family alive.
The ones who skinned her parents in front of her children to use as materials for rituals — the dregs of humanity.
“You son of a bitch…!!”
Her paralyzed senses returned once more. Bang! Bang! Bang!! The pistol in Hilton’s hands continuously spat fire, but the Azoff warlock merely smiled leisurely at her.
“Don’t you hit well?”
Hilton’s vision blurred.
The Alamuut were called warlocks rather than sorcerers for a reason.
Unlike “magic,” which uses the mana stored in the body to resonate with elemental forces in nature and imbue them with specific properties,
they didn’t need anything like mana.
Literal sorcery.
They manifested powers that couldn’t be simply explained by theory through special rituals.
Violet flames.
Lightning bolts falling from a cloudless sky.
The main reason the Alamuut were so troublesome was because their unique “magic” could infiltrate human consciousness.
Though she thought she had aimed accurately, others watching could see Hilton’s aim was slightly off.
A difference so subtle she couldn’t consciously notice it, but in the logic of gunpowder and magic, such a difference decided life and death.
Bang!!
With a gunshot, Hilton Callia’s body rolled on the ground. Her entire strength drained away as excruciating pain overwhelmed her.
“Ughhhhh!!”
“Lieutenant!!”
The First Platoon rushed to Hilton’s aid but were powerless against the surging flames.
“Hanging the commander of this unit’s head would make a fine display, don’t you think?”
Sorcerers make excellent sacrifices.
If I kill her and extract her heart, I’ll surely be able to wield much higher-tier sorcery.
Crackle!
But Hilton Callia wasn’t about to collapse here. Just moments ago, she had trembled with trauma, yet the rising pain had cleared her mind.
‘Kill that bastard!!’
Another personality screamed. The switch hadn’t flipped yet. But Hilton began to move.
Feeling the warm flow of blood trickling down her thigh, she pulled a dagger from her pocket.
Crack! Crack!!
She should’ve been unable to rise. However, the violet electrical current wrapping around her legs forcibly pulled her muscles.
“Wha—?!”
The warlock, who probably hadn’t expected her to charge, distorted his smug face in surprise.
“Oh shi—!”
Realizing too late to create distance, it was already too late. Recalling a phrase Claude Rain had once said during training, Hilton threw herself forward.
“I should’ve confirmed the kill!!!”
Though its diameter was barely 7cm,
the dagger, slightly larger than a knife, was infused with violet mana.
Claude Rain.
The hero of Quernnen and the Butcher of Thunder had taught her this technique.
Sword Lightning (검뢰).
Closing her eyes, Hilton felt the flow of air with her whole body.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The sharply honed lightning cut through the undulating flames and pierced straight through the warlock hiding behind the flames, transcending both the curse that confused her vision and the searing pain in her thigh.
The carefree warlock spat blood from his throat and collapsed onto the ground.
“Lieutenant! Are you alright!!”
As soon as the warlock was subdued, a soldier who had consistently assisted her rushed anxiously and shouted.
“I’m… fine.”
Just as Hilton painfully opened her mouth to say that,
Whoosh! Suddenly, the soldier’s body burst into flames.
“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!”
The violet flames swiftly engulfed his face, eliciting a roar of agony from his lips.
Before she could do anything,
Bang!!!
Ending with a sound like the final scream of torment, his breath ceased.
“Damn it.”
“Did you miss your shot?”
“I guess I’m getting old too.”
The corpse of the shattered subordinate reaching out toward her.
Beyond it.
An old man was smiling at her.
“You’re lucky, aren’t you?”
