CH 53

Chapter 53 – Flying Humvee

At the top of the hill, Humvee’s huge build jumped up slightly. I was so nervous that I had pushed the gas pedal too hard. I told myself this was the moment of truth, and I needed to stay calm.

“Minya! When the distance to the front line of the Imperial Army is less than one mile (1600 meters), start firing!”

“Roger that.”

“If you think you can hit it, it’s your decision! That bullet will penetrate the human body. Aim for the upper half of the front line!”

“Alright.”

Unlike Myrril, who turned around and called out to her, I could only see Minya’s lower body in the rearview mirror. I was driving, so I didn’t know what kind of reaction she gave me, and I couldn’t judge her confidence.

“Are you sure you’re okay in all this shaking?”

“No need to worry. I am a descendant of the forest hunter Elves. Wind and water are my blessings.”

“Aside from the wind, why water?”

“It is said that wind spirit magic reduces the resistance of bullets and combined wind and water magic reduces barrel heating. For precision shooting, it is more suitable for archers than Dwarves.”

Oh, that’s great fantasy stuff.

Although the fact that the one she’s using is a second-hand M60 is a little less romantic.

As soon as we descended the hill, the Imperial Army reacted, formed up and went on the defensive. A line of heavily armed infantry formed a wide, dense horizontal formation, probably to counter the cavalry. The cavalry would bite through the soft flanks of the enemy troops, stopping the rush to the front.

The problem is that we are neither cavalry nor troops, but there is no way that the Imperial Army, which doesn’t even know who we are, can understand that. They may have heard about the firearms from the surrendered Kingdom Army generals, but from the reports of the defeated troops who have not even taken a shot at us, there is no way to plan a countermeasure.

“Effective range confirmed! I will start shooting, okay?”

The bouncy voice of Minya heightened my anticipation and anxiety simultaneously. There are still 1500 meters to the enemy position. I slowed down the Humvee slightly to stabilize the shot, thinking that it had reached the one-mile range that Myrril had instructed but that it had not yet reached the effective range.

The firing from the rear gun turret began.

The M60’s dexterous point-blank firing of several rounds at a time caused the enemy’s heavily armored infantry to writhe and fall one by one. As far as I could tell from their writhing, not all of them were dead, but that only added to the confusion in the enemy lines.

The hole in the crowded formation is like a monster with a tough shell exposing its defenseless internal organs. There was no way to close the hole, and the bullets that rained down on them slowly tore through the inner walls.

The formation immediately began to collapse. That’s right. If the vanguard of the heavy infantry were overtaken, there would be only soft light infantry in the back.

There is still no movement from the archers in the rear and the mage troops (who can’t be seen but should be accompanying a unit of this size).

“Yoshua! On the left side of the front, the mechanical bow is coming!”

I saw a stake-like object launched from the right-wing of the enemy line flying towards us, drawing a slight arc-shaped trajectory. The launch speed exceeds that of a longbow, and the aim and trajectory are not bad. If it hit, it could easily slaughter two or three heavily armed infantrymen. But.

“…How foolish of me to make something like that.”

Myrril let out a dry laugh. The heavy arrow, of course, could not keep up with the speed of the running Humvee and flew off in the opposite direction.

“I dreamed of betting my life on that thing, and now that it’s been taken from me, I feel a deep despair.”

“No… You know what, Myrril? It’s the operator who is stupid, and the mechanical bow itself is an effective weapon, you know?”

“You don’t have to console me.”

“No, it’s not. It’s not the weapon’s fault that it can’t hit a Humvee in combat maneuvers with only one bow.”

“…You may be right. Yoshua, I’m fine now.”

It would take several minutes to load the next round. A soldier with a crank is frantically turning it, but of course, we have no right to wait for it.

Couldn’t they at least have had the presence of mind to place them in the rear? There were no guards, not even a shield.

This is how the mechanical bow is regarded in the Imperial Army.

“Farewell to the fleeting dream.”

The troops in charge of the mechanical bow were hit by the UZI’s fully automatic fire from the maximum range, and the soldiers collapsed and died. In the end, the M60’s concentrated fire lasted about two seconds. One of them must have cut the string, and the body of the soldier who was using the pedestal as a shield was split apart and popped off.

That was the awful and sad end of the superweapon that Myrril had created.

“Change ammunition!”

“Copy that!”

After stopping for a few seconds, the Humvee started moving forward again.

In the meantime, the cavalry that had finally caught up to us were closing in on us. I don’t understand what they are going to do with their long cavalry spears.

They probably don’t know what to do either.

“Minya, don’t worry about the cavalry coming from the right; we’ll kill them here!”

“Yeah, got it! This one will eat the main force!”

Ah, there’s another character change here… Is this really okay, these muscle-brain girls?

“Myrril, take the cavalry. Do you need AKM?”

“No need. As long as I have Uuji in my hands, the only thing that can interfere with our love story is the beloved star.”

“…Ah, yes.”

What is this feeling of alienation? It’s like in a nest of crazies. The real people here are the crazies.

Whenever Myrril fires her UZI, the cavalryman staggers and falls off their horses and stops moving at all.

With every single shot, one cavalryman is certain to drop out. It’s not only the light cavalry who are defenseless due to their speed, but also the heavy cavalry with thick shields that can catch a pistol bullet. One by one, they were shot in the eyeballs, wavered, fell off their horses, and never got up again.

What is it? I wonder what this is. Hmm.

“Myrril-san. Seriously, you’re amazing. I’ll try not to make you too angry.”

“What are you talking about, Yoshua? Quickly go around to the left!”

“Roger that.”

About half a mile in front of the enemy line, I turn the wheel to the left and pass to the rear while cutting off the enemy’s right flank with bullets. The Imperial Army, unable to cope with the speed of the Humvee and the bullets raining down on them, panicked and ran for cover, but they had no effective means of attacking a vehicle that was faster than a horse. Not to mention, there was no way to defend against the 7.62mm bullets that could easily penetrate even the thickest tower-shaped shield.

Even the heavily armored infantrymen, who were wearing shields and armor, were completely overrun. The fear of the light infantry was like that of a common man in front of a dragon.

They ran off in all directions, disrupting the line of battle, and some were even cut down by the knights who seemed to be an upper echelon. A UZI .45 fired from inside the vehicle blows the head off the knight.

“You should not shoot those who run away, Minya!”

“Ro-ger that! Hahahaha…!”

Please don’t do that again. It’s too scary to see how happy you really are with your laugh.

Is it because of the history of hardship that the Northern Elves had gone through that the tension is even higher than the time when she annihilated the right arm of the Kingdom Army general (which is the revenge of her mother)?

I’m sure her father is still alive and well because I saved him, but I can’t stand it when he takes the blame for making her like this.

I don’t think it’s his fault at all. It’s not bad… right?

“Change ammunition!”

Copy that!””

I rode around the left flank from behind the enemy lines and stopped the Humvee at the sound of Minya’s voice after firing off an additional 100 rounds.

It is about 300 meters away from the Imperial Army, which is almost out of reach. The sweeping shots from the archers, fired as if they had just remembered, were not effective because they were blocked by the additional armor and reinforced bulletproof glass. If they were to be hit, it would be by Minya in the rear gun position. Even though all sides are covered with armor plates, the top is still open.

“Minya, keep your head down while reloading. It’s dangerous!”

“It’s okay if it’s within this range. I can deflect it with just wind magic. It’s easy, no problem. No problem at all.”

It’s not a problem, huh? No problem at all?

“Okay, Yoshua, let’s go!”

After we destroyed the vanguard, we snatched the rear and went around the enemy’s left flank while keeping the enemy’s right flank in check; the Imperial Army had moved its formation to the left flank.

“Myrril, what happened to the bus!”

“At the first impact, it slipped into a side road. It’s now going straight for Casemaian. Even the horses can’t catch up with it.”

“Okay, we’re moving out too…”

“Wait!”

Minya, in the rear gunner’s seat, poked my seat with her toe. The toe that was extended towards the windshield pointed towards the center of the enemy camp.

“There are probably two Beastman trapped. Another one in the back is probably a Dwarf, though he’s behind the soldiers.”

“Myrril, can you see them?”

I double-checked their position, but no matter how hard I strained my eyes, all I could see was a jumbled mass of gray.

“I can see it, though. Probably true. But if they are to be used as battle slaves, they must be treated improperly.”

“Is it possible that’s the reason why I felt the use of magic, but no attack spells flew?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I don’t know if the subhumans were being restrained, interrogated, tortured, enslaved, or whatever, but I think they were using the mages for something other than fighting.”

I turned my Humvee around to get some distance from the Imperial Army to gather my thoughts.

The girls who confirmed their position reported that the Beastman and a Dwarf were in the center of the enemy’s main camp, in front of a tent pitched slightly behind them. Normally, that would be a place where a commander or a high ranking noble would be sitting on his ass. The only reason they would place a subhuman, whom they despised and abused, would be as a prisoner or hostage.

What kind of subhuman is worth that much? What is the commander of the Imperial Army doing, and for what purpose?

No, that’s not important for now. The only thing that matters now is the fact that they are probably being guarded by the most elite of the elite and how to get them back.

“Think, think… No, I can’t, I can’t think of anything. Maybe this is the only way.”

“What’s the matter with you? What else can we do but go in there and get it back?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Minya, wipe out the enemy in any direction where the stray bullets won’t hit the Beastman and the Dwarf. After that, change your ammunition.”

As soon as I had finished my message, the muscle brain Elf resumed her one-sided slaughter from outside the enemy’s range. The Imperial Army was now in full wounds, and most of the soldiers seemed to be huddled behind supplies, wagons, stacked shields, and all kinds of shielding, or lying low among the bodies of the fallen soldiers, trying to survive the hail of bullets.

I can’t see them from too far away, but that’s what I get when I integrate the monologues and curses the girls are uttering.

I don’t care if they are commanders or troop leaders. From the perspective of ordinary soldiers, they are probably praying to God that the Grim Reaper will let them off the hook if they pretend to be dead. I can understand that feeling.

But there was no way that such a wish would come true.

“Change ammunition!”

“Copy!”

In the meantime, I told Myrril and Minya about the plan I had come up with.

I was about to tell them that I was going to take a risk that doesn’t need to be taken and that I was going to… do it alone, when Myrril kicked me in the side of the head, and Minya kicked me in the back.

It hurt, but the fact that it only hurt meant that they probably took it easy on me.

“The next time you talk nonsense like that, I will kick you to death.”

“I’ll kick you, too.”

“No, you did it already! You guys are doing it now, aren’t you?”

“Reload. Ready when you are.”

“You’ve got to get a grip, Yoshua. When we go, we go together. Whether it’s paradise or hell!”

I don’t know what these Dwarf and Elf views on life and death are, but I was a little relieved to hear that. I decided that I was ready to be a part of it and gave the girls instructions.

“Myrril eradicates the enemies around the captured people, I will collect them, and Minya will support the defense and retreat of the Humvee.”

“”Roger that!””

“I’ve never done anything like this before, so don’t get mad if I fail.”

Myrril and Minya smiled gently at my joking attempt to disguise my fear and anxiety. There is no impatience or agitation in their eyes. Not even a hint.

“I won’t blame you, and I won’t get angry. If you want to die facing forward, that’s fine.”

“You don’t have to ask, do you? It doesn’t matter where you go, as long as we go together. Anywhere is fine.”

Damn, they’re good women. It would be a shame if they died here. I want to do something to bring them back safely. That’s right. To the end, together.

Surrounded by an uncharacteristically happy feeling, I began my teleportation, right in the middle of the enemy lines.

“Here we go, hold on!”

…With the entire car.