Do Your Own Revolution

#067

“The enemy airship fleet disappeared?”

At the Westraine Republic Army’s Armored Infantry Battalion.

Lieutenant Elena Ivanovna, who was checking weapons before the offensive, frowned at her battalion member’s report.

“This is a report from our aerial surveillance. They saw soldiers in black uniforms boarding the airships.”

“Their destination?”

“Based on the direction the airships disappeared in, they likely headed toward the airfield in the rear……”

The table in front of her shattered instantly, and a cry like blood being spewed shook the garrison.

“Those bastards dare to run away-?!”

Retreat.

Those bastards who killed the Colonel, retreating to the rear!

“It’s a judgment worthy of Imperial dogs.”

One of the battalion members with a face similar to Elena’s added.

“Colonel Klaus was a hero of the Republic who built his reputation across various frontlines…. Having already achieved the feat of killing such a figure, I suppose they saw no need to remain on this front any longer.”

“They’re afraid to fight us, but don’t want to give up their military achievement. So they’re abandoning their unit and running away instead!”

This was a sight she had seen countless times while facing Imperial forces.

Knights who treated soldiers like trash, and Imperial officers who cowered and groveled, volunteering to be their bullet shields.

From her perspective as a glorious member of the Republican Army, they weren’t soldiers.

Just a group of slaves subservient to knights.

Mere vermin who rejected enlightenment and willingly gave up their rights.

Those bastards dared, dared to kill the Colonel?

And then they got scared and tucked their tails to run away……!

“Call the political officer. Tell them we must launch an offensive right now! We’ll sweep away the Imperial vermin and avenge the Colonel…!”

“L-Lieutenant!”

However, her growling was interrupted momentarily.

A battalion member came running breathlessly toward her.

“He, he’s appeared! In the middle of the frontline, that guy……”

“What?”

Upon hearing those words, Elena immediately went outside the garrison.

Machine gun and rifle fire was already raining down from the forward positions.

However, the man in black uniform standing in the middle of that barrage simply stood there leisurely, as if nothing was wrong.

Two armored beasts lay dead at his feet.

Seeing that, Elena’s eyes widened.

“Eugene…. Lorentz……!”

“Impossible. Alone in the middle of enemy lines?”

“What in the world is he thinking…!”

Eugene, who walked alone into the middle of enemy lines and was withstanding the barrage from hundreds.

When he saw Elena’s face, he waved his hand as if greeting an old acquaintance.

“That bastard……”

As the battalion members were grinding their teeth, Eugene, noticing Elena’s gaze, took something out of the gas mask pouch hanging at his side.

What he held up ostentatiously in his hand.

It was Colonel Klaus’s head.

“L-Lieutenant?!”

Seeing that, Elena could no longer think of anything else.

Her only thought was killing that man before her eyes.

Not only did he kill the Colonel, but now he was desecrating the corpse – she had to tear this abominable bastard to pieces.

“It’s a trap, Lieutenant! Come back!”

“Damn it, battalion members follow me! Advance! Advance!”

Though the battalion members were bewildered by Elena’s impulsive action, they soon began charging forward under the command of several officers.

It was clearly a trap, but with no sign of Imperial forces yet and no enemy units in sight.

They judged that if they could catch up to him quickly enough, it would be worth trying.

“He’s running away!”

“Catch him! Catch and kill the Colonel’s murderer!”

Seeing the Armored Infantry charging out with Elena at the lead, Eugene immediately turned and began to flee.

‘As expected, his goal is to lure us out. However…!’

Eugene’s speed increased as he moved further away.

Seeing this, Elena and the Armored Infantry activated their powered suits to maximum output.

Their speed gradually increased along with the sound of diesel engines.

As Eugene grew closer, Elena trembled with excitement.

‘No matter how much he’s enhanced his body with magical power, he’s still just a human!’

With the output from the engines and artificial muscles of the powered suits, it was a speed they could certainly catch up to.

“Lieutenant!”

“The 3rd Company is circling around to cut off his escape route! Keep running!”

As they were saying this, members of the 3rd Company emerged from the side to block Eugene’s path.

The terrain was perfectly flat, with no ambushing forces in sight.

Elena was certain.

His plan had failed.

Our speed had exceeded his expectations!

After the long pursuit came to an end, the Armored Infantry surrounded Eugene in a circle and aimed their weapons at him.

Armor-piercing rounds, autocannons, flamethrowers, mortars.

No matter how strong his defensive magic was, no mage could withstand the barrage from so many heavy weapons.

“Die, Colonel’s murderer……”

Just as the battalion members’ weapons were about to fire at Elena’s command.

Shells falling from the sky shook the bodies of the clustered Armored Infantry.

“Wh, what?”

“Artillery?!”

An ambush? No, that wasn’t it.

There were no Imperial forces waiting in the open plains.

Artillery battery fire? That couldn’t be.

They had been in pursuit, and it would have been impossible to perfectly predict when he would be caught.

It was unimaginable that they could have pre-calculated artillery coordinates.

Then what was this?

This explosion, just what……!

“Captain Elena Ivanovna.”

Amidst their confusion, Eugene, who had been fleeing silently until now, spoke for the first time.

“Klaus Medvedev’s adjutant. Follower of the Red Bear, and his partner. Lover. Companion.”

“……”

Such a young voice.

Was he just a kid not even twenty years old?

No, more importantly right now…

“You, know about me?”

“Of course. I know everything.”

It shouldn’t have been possible.

He had never met her, and shouldn’t have had time to investigate her.

Yet Eugene smiled strangely, as if he had known her for a long time.

“That you’d go half-mad with Klaus’s death, that you’d charge in recklessly blinded by revenge without caring about anything else. I knew it all.”

After saying that, Eugene raised his finger to point at the sky.

“Cap, tain……”

“In the sky, that’s……”

Breaking through the thick clouds covering the sky, dozens of airships were descending to a lower altitude.

The battalion members’ faces turned pale.

The Imperial airship fleet that was reported to have retreated to their base was now opening their bomb bays above their heads.

The anti-aircraft guns positioned at the main base belatedly began to fire, but it was already too late.

Hundreds of bombs equipped on dozens of airships fell toward them.

Eugene, standing in the middle of the encirclement, sneered at Elena and the battalion members before raising a barrier.

Starting with the first aerial bomb falling.

The ground where they stood turned into a hellish inferno.

“Aaagh! Aaaagh-!”

“Everyone scatter! Scatter–!”

An unexpected large-scale bombing.

The panicked Armored Infantry tried to hurriedly evacuate, but the airships had already descended to a sufficiently low altitude.

As the machine guns mounted on the airships began to fire, even the officers’ directions were drowned out by the gunfire and explosions.

Though the powered suits made of special armor were relatively intact, the people inside couldn’t withstand this noise and impact.

As the bombing and machine gun fire continued, they were increasingly being drawn into the encirclement they had created.

“You, you devil bastaaaaard—!”

However, from within that barrage, Elena’s distorted scream burst forth.

“Come out! Fight us! Colonel’s murderer! Come out here and fight, I say!”

Elena continued pounding on Eugene’s barrier with her fists.

However, no matter how much she attacked, Eugene’s defensive barrier showed no signs of disappearing.

After this meaningless pounding continued several times.

Eugene, who had been quietly watching the screaming Elena, spoke to her with a cold sneer.

“Fight? Why should I?”

“Wh, what……”

“The Armored Infantry, which was the biggest obstacle to annihilating enemy forces, is now trapped in one place due to their own anger, and all that’s left in your main base are regular troops made up of non-awakened soldiers.”

Cutting off Elena’s growling words, Eugene spoke to her with cold eyes.

“Then think about it. If 200 mages descend upon a Republican Army camp made up of only regular troops… what do you think will happen to your main base?”

“……”

200 mages.

Hearing those words, Elena belatedly recalled the report she had heard.

‘This is a report from aerial surveillance. They saw soldiers in black uniforms boarding the airships.’

The airship fleet they thought had retreated was hiding in the clouds waiting for them.

Then, those ships they boarded…?

“Ah, aah……”

Elena, finally grasping the situation, hurriedly tried to leave her position.

This wasn’t the time.

Somehow, somehow they needed to escape from here again.

Just as the shocked Elena tried to move her body somehow, at that moment.

A sharp whistle sound came from beyond enemy lines.

The whistle of an Imperial armored train.

Hearing that, Elena stood frozen in place as if nailed there.

While they were struggling here, the enemy artillery had obtained their firing coordinates.

“A stupid woman blinded by revenge who can’t see ahead and puts her own subordinates in danger.”

Just when they thought everything was over, dozens of artillery rounds filled the sky.

The Armored Infantry, trapped in the encirclement they had created, waiting for death.

“It’s exactly the same as what I saw in the game.”

Until they were all annihilated, Eugene didn’t use a single spell.

***

The unexpected nice thing about creating a circular defensive formation is that it helps greatly with noise reduction.

Even with aerial bombs dropping right in front of me, only this level of sound gets through. We could make a fortune if we applied this technology to cars.

Thinking that as I arrived at the Republican camp, it had already turned into a slaughterhouse.

Airships landed in the middle of enemy lines, and Special Magical Power Unit members pouring out from them.

When 200 mages descended upon non-awakened soldiers without a drop of magical power, this outcome was as clear as day.

“Please spare us! Please, please……”

“I surrender! I’m an officer of the Republic! P-please, treat me as a prisoner……”

The defeat was already all but confirmed.

Some soldiers who knew Imperial language were raising their hands indicating their intention to surrender.

“What should we do, Battalion Commander?”

One of the soldiers approached and asked me.

The answer was already decided.

“Prisoners? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“……”

Hearing the words from my mouth, the Republican officers with raised hands opened their eyes wide.

“You violated the prisoner of war management treaty between the Empire and Republic, and massacred 2,400 Imperial prisoners.”

“Th, that!”

“The Armored Infantry acted in, independently……”

“Wasn’t it you who took the prisoners’ corpses, stripped them of their clothes, and mocked them?”

Hearing those words, the Republican soldiers fell silent with a start.

The rampage of the Armored Infantry battalion possessed by evil.

However, those who condoned, overlooked, and approved that massacre were none other than them.

As glorious soldiers of the Kalhyram Empire, we couldn’t overlook this deplorable situation.

‘Though the real purpose is for the unit’s reputation.’

Hiding that inner thought behind my back for now, I shouted loudly with magical power in my voice.

“Special Magical Power Unit, all battalion members listen-!”

Like passing judgment on the scattered Republican soldiers, I raised my right hand and shouted to the soldiers.

“This is a direct order from Battalion Commander Major Eugene Lorentz! There are no more Republican soldiers in this garrison! Those standing here are just maggots who violated treaties and massacred fellow countrymen of the Kalhyram Empire! They’re just pests worse than beasts!”

Among the soldiers who heard those words, several quick-witted ones were already loading magic bullets.

Ah, how lovely.

Thinking that, I shouted with an expression full of anger.

“Therefore, I have only one order! Extermination! This is extermination!”

“There are no prisoners! No survivors! Burn, tear apart, and kill everything that exists here! Sweep away all these vermin who killed our countrymen, without leaving a single one alive-!”

Magic bullets were loaded into the Heresy drawn from my holster, and the unit members also fired their magic bullets.

Hundreds and thousands of magic circles created indiscriminately by me, the trio, and hundreds of Special Magical Power Unit members decorated the sky.

“For the Empire–!”

With my one word, the magic circles shone, and the Republican soldiers gathered in the garrison were literally incinerated.

The Imperial soldiers who belatedly saw the Republican garrison full of only ashes looked at me and my unit members and spoke in unison.

The Devils of Magic Bullets.

It was the first nickname given to the Special Magical Power Unit on the battlefield.