Chapter 229 Volume IV - 74: One Kilometer Away from War

Chapter 229 Volume IV - Chapter 74: One Kilometer Away from War

We went through a long and quite wide corridor inside the ship, and then the center room at the end of this corridor came into view. The soldiers all moved toward the center room, so I followed them.

When we entered this room, no... literally a courtyard, my eyes once again widened.

This huge hall... used to be an empty place in the game, not too full because this vehicle was used only for transportation and as a kind of base. But now... It's literally filled with weapons, armor, and all kinds of implements of war...

Even someone with nano-armor would be happy to pick up a suit of armor here, so that they can use their armor for more functional purposes.

This is like a heaven for a soldier...

Ah, I just realized that every table has a name on it. Is this equipment customized...? Then my job is easy.

I looked around quickly. All the dwarves in my platoon were busy putting on their armor. Some were looking at their weapons and some were talking among themselves.

For the moment, though, I didn't care. I was looking for the table with my name on it and soon I found it.

'Aiden Tenebra' was written in the language of the dwarves on a table that no one was standing in front of.

I took a deep breath and approached the table, then looked at what was on it.

The second most prominent thing in the middle of the table was a few pieces of state-of-the-art armor that would expand slightly when I put it on and cover my whole body. Of course, it wasn't a nano armor.

Unlike the dwarves, I didn't need it as I could use mana freely, and my rank in the army was still insufficient for me to have access to one.

Apart from that, the table was full of military equipment such as an ammunition pouch that I would wear over my armor, several different types of grenades, and a tiny communicator that I would wear in my ear for communication.

Of course, there was also something that immediately caught my attention when I looked at the table; a long and heavy rifle that looked like something out of a science fiction movie.

When I focused on the rifle, I realized that I remembered it from the game.

This rifle was not a rifle that expended normal bullets. Each bullet was created with a short reload using mana, and the longer one reloaded before pulling the trigger, the higher the firepower.

It was not an overly easy weapon to use on the battlefield, but in the right position and situation, it certainly could be more than useful.

I smiled slightly and started to put on the armor pieces first.

Just as I thought, each piece of armor moved as I slipped them over my uniform, expanding its outer surface and increasing the surface area it protected.

As I continued to put the armor on piece by piece, the visible part of my uniform decreased. Finally, it got to the point where no parts were visible except my collar.

When I finished putting on the armor, I moved my arms, took a step forward and back.

The armor flexed perfectly, moving in accordance with my movements. I wouldn't say it was completely comfortable, but it was certainly several tens of times more comfortable than medieval armor. I would only have to get used to its presence for a short time, like putting on a piece of clothing for the first time.

So I looked at the last piece of armor left on the table, the helmet. It didn't look like much, just a plain helmet.

Sighing slightly, I put it on my head.

I almost jumped out of my seat when suddenly something started spinning in front of my eyes, but my curiosity overcame my bewilderment and I focused on this spinning thing.

Is this... a loading indicator or something?

The moment that thought crossed my mind, the indicator shrunk and disappeared, and then a floating window appeared in front of me.

<<------------------------------

Communication with the brain has been established,

There are no problem with the connection to the nerves,

Lag values are at an appropriate level,

...

------------------------------>>

Many such sentences continued to flow in the window in front of me, and then everything disappeared for a brief moment and was replaced by something else.

<<------------------------------

Corporal Aiden Tenebra,

With the system in your helmet, you have access to the army system, as well as many features specially tuned for combat.

------------------------------>>

Immediately after this notification, a list came into my field of vision, a list of things I could do with this 'system' I was given...

The list was quite detailed.

For example, I could receive urgent orders during the battle, instantly check the damage to my body and my health status, quickly identify important allies and enemies in my vicinity, and have instant access to a detailed map...

These were just a few of the numerous advantages of this system, AVRES, or Augmented Virtual Reality System, as the dwarves call it, and as it appears as a watermark at the bottom right of every window.

I quickly imagined a report on my current situation and a new window opened.

<<------------------------------

Corporal Aiden Tenebra

Vanguard Support Regiment, Seventh Platoon

Current Battlefield: Laronir District, Western Front

Mission: To push the enemy back as far as possible and secure the two hills, which are important to win the battle.

...

------------------------------>>

The information in front of me went on and on. The status of the allied troops, the enemy's situation, the areas under control, the current mutual strategies, the enemy soldiers who needed to be eliminated urgently, and so on...

On the battlefield, I had easy access to all the information my rank allowed me.

Even though I knew the technology of the dwarves, I couldn't help appreciating them again after experiencing AVRES.

I only had to put a helmet on my head and suddenly I had a kind of... 'system' that only I could see. There were no wires or chips implanted in my brain, just a simple helmet. It was no easy task, no matter what anyone said.

I smiled, reminding myself again that I shouldn't be surprised by the dwarves and their technology. Then I looked at the mass of information describing the battlefield in detail.

I will ignore it until I am fully equipped.

My vision cleared quickly as I imagined the 'window' in front of me disappearing. So I slowly started to equip everything else that was left on my desk. Finally, I picked up my rifle and aimed it, holding it as straight as possible.

The AVRES instantly matched the rifle's sights and changed my vision to support me, showing lines where it could go depending on how much I loaded the rifle.

I happily lowered the rifle, so that when the support system disappeared I sent it into my ring. There was no rule preventing me from doing so. The rifle had not been given to me as my main weapon in the first place, the army was aware that I used my sword and mana as weapons.

This rifle was for emergencies and I wasn't going to use it unless I specifically needed it.

I had just finished preparing in this way when a voice echoed through the ship.

"Heed t' th' garage! We'll be on th' battlefield in five minutes!"

I stared for a moment as the soldiers who had finished getting ready headed in the opposite direction from where they had come.

Had we already taken off? Well, I didn't even realize it... The ship doesn't really make the people on board feel anything.

While I was busy with my own thoughts, holographic arrows suddenly appeared in my field of vision. When I looked to see where they were trying to take me, I saw that they were following where the soldiers were heading and a smile appeared on my face again.

Calm down... I'm still getting ready, what's the rush?

Nevertheless, I followed the queue of soldiers and we went through the same wide corridor as before and came out again in a huge room.

Unlike the place before, it was a bit darker, exactly like the place in the movies where parachuting soldiers wait before jumping. Only... it was bigger.

Once I had a proper place in the garage, I focused on the emptiness and imagined the map of the battlefield. So a detailed three-dimensional map of a huge area appeared in front of me and I quickly began to analyze what I saw.

Toward the southeast is a city, which is not very big. The city was evacuated a long time ago and has been badly damaged after the devastating battles that took place in the area. So this area is mostly rubble, there are no solid buildings.

There used to be a lake above the city, but now the lake has completely dried up, and what was there is now a huge pit. It's a place to stay away from as anyone in between would lose the height advantage completely.

Outside of these two areas, the rest is generally open. There are two big hills and controlling the hills helps a lot in controlling the battle.

So our main goal is to try to capture these two hills. Then push the enemies back, basically kill them.

The enemy troops and reinforcements are mainly coming from the southwest, so their temporary bases should be there somewhere. So if we can somehow get there, we can change the course of the war much more effectively than just capturing those two hills.

Of course, this is a very risky option compared to the mission we were given, and it wasn't even considered in the mission.

The people at the top probably dismissed this possibility as too risky, and they were right.

<<------------------------------

Landing a kilometer behind the battlefield, the garage door will open in thirty seconds.

------------------------------>>

Ah... we are already here.

I took a deep breath, focused inside my ring, pulled out my main weapon, the Runic Obsidian Sword, and gripped it tightly.

Each of the soldiers in the garage, like me, had their weapons in their hands and were looking toward the garage door.

So a countdown appeared in front of me.

Twenty seconds...

Ten seconds...

Five seconds...

One second...

When the countdown reached zero, the garage door moved slightly, then a dim light filled the garage and the door opened as a ramp until it touched the floor.

The first thing I saw outside, the gray sky, was the first thing to make me feel the heavy air of the battlefield.

The sight I saw next made my heart skip a beat, even if only for a moment, and made me stand still, even though I thought I was fully prepared for the 'war'.