Chapter 987: Central Front Border Zone (4)

“The Fifth Legion Commander, you say.”

Lennok sneered, hearing the man’s declaration erupting from the airship.

“Was that an offer the legion could make so lightly?”

Deadrise, a colossal private military company currently vying for a section of the Central Front.

And now, the Fifth Legion Commander of the alliance, granted independent operational authority and command over subordinate units.

Was the position of commander, typically reserved for generals of Lieutenant General rank or higher, being so readily offered to Evan?

Knowing that even Peshia Grisbern couldn’t take on a legion commander position, Lennok couldn’t help but let out a cynical laugh.

“It wouldn’t be a rational decision to hand over a legion commander position to a complete outsider.”

[The head of a legion is not determined by origin or military achievements.]

But the voice echoing from the airship remained calm, even after hearing Lennok’s retort.

[What truly matters is the qualification to lead a legion. The feats you displayed in Vulcan are more than enough to meet that standard.]

“……”

[Your decisiveness in incinerating a city single-handedly, and the valor with which you carried it out. Even your grand strategic judgment in ultimately rescuing the Lighthouse Keeper from that complex and chaotic Vulcan.]

Now, the man’s voice boomed, as if the speaker would burst.

[It has been verified that the defeat you embraced was by no means in vain. All that remains is for you to join hands with the legion!]

“Well, I’m not so sure. It’s not as if I haven’t clashed with the legion while I was part of the Eyes of Blue.”

Lennok offered a cold smile.

“I’ve killed indiscriminately, whether it be from the Cult, the Legion, or the Alliance. Do you truly think all of that can just be undone now?”

[No, it cannot. But that, precisely, is why this legion has endured in the Central Front all this time.]

“……”

[If one possesses the necessary talent and ability, even an enemy commander can be brought under the legion’s banner. Petty grudges are merely obstacles in the pursuit of a greater cause!]

His resolute and uncompromising words were not those of a modern soldier, but rather a medieval warrior.

Perhaps that was because Deadrise, at its core, originated as a private military company and has now risen to its current position as a legion.

If talented personnel or resources are needed, even enemies are recruited and brought over to become allies.

The more capable an enemy commander, the higher their evaluation within the legion, and consequently, the greater the chance of ascending to a high rank.

[This 3rd Legion is currently carrying out an operation to retrieve the records of cultist sacrificial rituals acquired by the Gateway Search Party.]

The man’s deep voice echoed through the airship’s speaker.

[Regardless of the Search Party’s military achievements, that information must not be leaked externally this quarter.]

“……”

[Normally, we would have to prevent the Search Party from returning to the Gateway. However, if you accept my offer, I can, by my authority, completely cancel the operation and allow them to return to headquarters.]

Even while proposing a scout offer to Lennok, he held the Search Party’s safety hostage, alternating between persuasion and pressure.

Although he used somewhat aggressive and crude language, his judgment and rhetoric contained a subtle indirectness.

He was not simply an ignorant individual blindly loyal to the legion, nor someone trapped in a single way of thinking.

“My apologies, but I have no intention of deciding my future here.”

But Lennok, knowing this, shook his head without hesitation.

“It hasn’t been long since I left the Eyes of Blue. Rather than joining somewhere immediately, I wish to explore the Central Front.”

[Is that so. Was the legion’s offer too soon to forget the pain of parting?]

“……You know that’s not what I mean. Was the position of legion commander ever something that could be exchanged like a gift?”

Lennok’s eyes darkened as he looked at the five airships floating around him.

“The legion I know isn’t such an organization. At the very least, decisions like that are impossible without the approval of a marshal. Yet, despite that, you’re making this offer to me…”

[……]

Lennok slowly lowered the glass he was holding and spoke.

“It means you are a soldier who came with such a powerful standing or justification that you could disregard such procedures.”

[That’s not incorrect. I, too, stand before you here with an unwavering purpose.]

The man calmly assented.

[Just as you are taking your time with my offer.]

Vwooooom!!

At that moment, the search party members who had burst out of the shelter began to race across the wilderness at incredible speed.

Had they evacuated all the civilians remaining in the shelter, or were there simply no survivors left?

Given the legion’s methods Lennok knew, the answer was clear.

[A humble response. Were you listening to my words this whole time to buy yourselves time to prepare?]

“Because you would try to kill the Gateway Search Party the moment I refused that offer.”

The instant they unleashed their first bombardment, hidden in the night sky, the legion’s airborne assault unit could have killed all the search party members.

But the very act of broadly striking the shelter instead of targeting the search party was merely a means to create an opportunity for a conversation with Lennok.

This was a commander who could see the bigger picture yet didn’t dwell on giving every detail meaning.

Whoever he was, he was clearly a veteran who had been through the crucible of countless battlefields.

However, after hearing Lennok’s words, the man calmly denied his assumption.

[That is incorrect. We had no intention of acting the moment the offer was refused.]

Clank!!

The muzzles that had emerged from the airship tilted, precisely aiming at the search party approaching from afar.

[Regardless of the offer, we intended to kill all the search party members.]

“……!!”

Tatata-tatatatang!!!

Bullets poured from the muzzles, raining down like a deluge onto the ruins where the search party was fleeing.

Numerous airships simultaneously unleashed a barrage of ammunition, spreading across the sky like a black curtain of fire and surging forward.

Immediately, they carved countless honeycomb-like scars onto the ground.

Dududududu!!!

Amidst the fierce pursuing fire, the search party members throttled up their bikes, channeling their mana.

“Wolfhild!!”

“I know!!”

Wolfhild, who had burst to the front of the search party, closed her eyes and concentrated.

[Kinesis: Anti-Barrel]

Paaang!!

Wolfhild, beads of sweat dripping down her face, extended her hand upwards, and a transparent force field unfolded above her head, deflecting the bullets.

It was a psychokinetic ability, specifically a technique developed to specialize in bullet-blocking defense.

This was the result of Wolfhild, a Level 4 superhuman, adjusting her psychic powers with Geas to maximize her capabilities.

Because it was a superpower operating purely on mental power, Geas invariably functioned to an extreme degree when applied to psychic abilities. Wolfhild was one of the fortunate cases.

While Wolfhild blocked the bombardment at the front, other squad members each drew their weapons.

Clank, clank!!

Members who had retrieved bazookas from their bike compartments quickly loaded them and pulled the triggers.

“Eat this, you bastards!!”

Kwaaaang!!

Two airships, struck by bazooka fire, swayed slightly in the air from the impact.

These were war machines produced directly by Deadrise. While they could sustain damage, they wouldn’t fall from a mere counterattack of this extent.

“That’s enough.”

But Lennok nodded, raising his hand towards the airship hit by the bazooka.

“I’ll handle it from here.”

[Swirling Linked Fire]

Hwa-reureureuk!!

At that moment, the flames that erupted from the damaged airship began to rapidly expand in size.

It was as if someone’s will was forcibly increasing their size and heat right there.

Soon, the fiery cloud enveloping the entire airship instantly began to incinerating it.

[Emergency, emergency!]

The airship, engulfed in flames, lost balance and staggered, then plummeted rapidly, crashing in front of the search party.

Kwaaaang!!

The doors of the crashed airship shattered, and hundreds of soldiers burst out, charging forward.

“Waaaaaaaa!!”

“For the Legion!!”

All of them were fully armed, forming battle formations as if prepared for close-quarters combat.

Considering the airship’s crash was due to Lennok’s intervention, their response speed was abnormally fast.

The search party members, facing the assault unit of the 3rd Legion now ready for battle, simultaneously drew their weapons.

“Oh, you gotta be kidding me!!”

“I told you those legion bastards couldn’t be trusted!!”

“Enough of that, focus!!”

Uluric, who had drawn his sword, shouted, looking at Lennok’s back in the distance at the edge of the wilderness.

“While Evan-nim buys time, we’ll break through. Everyone, prepare yourselves!!!”

Kwakang!!

The search party members on their bikes and Deadrise soldiers violently clashed in various places.

Amidst the fierce melee, blades and bullets flew, mana exploded, and screams erupted.

Lennok, watching the search party instantly plunge into battle, slowly tilted the glass in his hand downwards.

Whoosh!

Lennok, who had scattered the remaining beer in a circle at his feet, flicked the glowing tip of his cigar.

The cigar’s flame caught onto the alcohol, instantly igniting a blaze at his feet.

[Divine Vermilion Wheel]

Hwa-reureureuk!!

The swirling flames at his feet burned even more fiercely, extending a pillar of fire upwards, centered on Lennok.

In the heart of the fiery pillar, which shone red enough to illuminate the night sky, Lennok clasped his hands together and formed a mudra.

“Summoning Spellcraft.”

[Steel Turtle of Fiery Breath]

Kugugugugugu!!!!

Between the pillars of flame, limbs extended, and the fire pillar curved, transforming into a colossal shell.

A turtle’s head emerged from beneath the blazing shell, opening its mouth wide and letting out a heavy roar.

[Uwoooooooo!!!!]

Suddenly appearing in the middle of the battlefield, a giant flame turtle the size of an airship.

At that moment, the airships, sensing the threat, collectively redirected their bombardment, surging not towards the search party, but towards the turtle.

Dudududududu!!!

An endless barrage of fire and explosions rained down on its sturdy shell.

The turtle slowly blinked its eyes, and in the instant Lennok, standing beneath its belly, summoned and gripped his Combustion Armament.

[Gweeeeeeek]

The Steel Turtle of Fiery Breath opened its mouth wide and began spewing dark red lava from its throat.

Chiiiiik!!

The lava, flowing from its mouth, spread out across the ruins, engulfing the battlefield.

A wave of lava melted the crashed airships and instantly swept away the soldiers who were encircling the search party.

“Kyaaaahhh!!”

“Hot, so hot……!!”

“Agh!! Aaaaaagh!!”

There was a clear difference in mobility between the search party members on their bikes and the soldiers on foot.

As fast as the lava flowed across the ground, the battlefield became more advantageous for the more mobile search party.

The soldiers of the 3rd Legion also quickly spread their formation and tried to avoid the lava, but then Lennok, now wreathed in flames, fell from the sky, pressing down on the soldiers.

Chiiik!!

Using the massive igniter in his hand as a flamethrower, he exhaled scorching flames like a dragon’s breath.

He supplemented any lacking firepower by casting additional heat magic in real-time and endured the airship’s bombardment.

“Unique Magic: Activate.”

Pyrokinesis Unique Magic.

Property Transformation: Catalytic Correspondence.

[Molten Seal]

[Celestial Collapse]

Bwaaaang!!!

A colossal fist of lava, rising from the flowing lava, crashed down and swept its arm horizontally.

As the lava giant’s arm swept across the ground, soldiers who couldn’t evade were submerged in the lava.

Chiiik!!

[Uwoooooooo!!!]

The flame turtle roared and twisted its body, its shell cracking open, and flames shot up like fireworks into the sky from the fissures.

The flames directly impacted the underbellies of the continuously bombing airships.

Innumerable explosions erupted, shaking even the still intact airships and breaking their balance.

Pubububung!!

On the ground, the Deadrise ground forces were overwhelmingly massacred, clearing a path.

The summoned creature controlled the ground and sky, the search party opened the way, and Lennok annihilated the enemies.

As the tide of the battle, which the legion had unilaterally initiated, swiftly turned and changed its balance.

[The records of the sacrificial rituals conducted by the cultists are a black box that this legion must absolutely retrieve.]

The man’s deeply subdued voice echoed through the airship’s speaker.

[This is a fact confirmed under Ultima Alert’s approval and is the top priority objective in this operation.]

“……A black box?”

[The moment you refused my offer, all that remains is to perfectly achieve the operational objective.]

Hwiooooh….!!

From the airship floating above Lennok’s head, a surge of power explosively increased.

[I express regret that things have come to this.]

“Evan-nim!!”

Screech!!

Uluric, expertly leaning his bike to a stop, pointed to the opposite side of the front line.

“We’ll break through that way. We’ll move first, so……!!!”

“No. Keep moving!!”

Lennok shouted, manipulating a part of the lava to form a curtain at that moment.

[Fixed-flight mode activated. Ejection port opened. Ammunition loaded.]

A mechanical guidance voice echoed from the airship hovering above their heads.

[Lieutenant General Robert Roberaid is descending. Prepare for impact.]

“……!!!”

Immediately after Uluric gritted his teeth and accelerated his bike again, following Lennok’s words.

Something dropped from beneath the airship, colliding with the ground at tremendous speed.

Kwaaaaaaaang!!!

It instantly burst through the lava curtain protecting their heads, crushed the ground, and scattered a powerful shockwave.

A ripple, crossing the entire battlefield where flames and lava surged, spread out in all directions across the earth.

Even Lennok had to instantly channel his mana to protect his body from the impact.

Kugugugu!!!!

From beneath the crater, mixed with lava and airship wreckage, something in thick armor rose to its feet.

Chiiik……!!

Clank!!!

With every movement, intense steam escaped from the seams of its armor.

A bizarre sight, as if it couldn’t control the concentrated output within its armor and was forcibly venting heat to move.

The colossal figure, shrouded in steam emanating from its entire body, slowly walked out and let out a heavy voice.

“Even after Ars Nova’s destruction, the Gateway Search Party diligently carried out their mission and fulfilled their duties.”

Kwooong!!

With each step, the ground seemed to shake and crack.

A middle-aged man with a metal case even larger than his own body on his shoulder.

His figure, clad in armor much larger than his body’s shape, radiated an overwhelming sense of density, as if it would burst.

“It is regrettable to have to kill excellent soldiers. But their will shall be inherited by the Legion.”

The man, with a face as solid as rock, spoke before the expressionless Lennok and the stiffened search party members.

“I, Robert Roberaid, Commander of Deadrise’s 3rd Legion, swear upon my name.”