《Modern Weapon Summoning System》 Chapter 1 - In The Beginning "ONE MORE!!!" A drunk boy holding a ss of strong alcohol in one hand shouted, his gaze was hazy. At first nce, it just looked like a teenager that drank alcohol for the first time and got addicted. However, that was not the case. The boy was simply trying to let all of his problems go away with a gulp of the satanic drink. "Del, this is your third ss already. Are you sure you''re alright?" The bartender, who was wiping the ss, asked. The boy was very drunk and thus put his ss down roughly on the table, "Shut up and pour me another one." The bartender poured another ss for the boy with a face filled with concern, "Again, how did you end up here anyway?" "Rina, do I have to tell that story again?" Del asked back. Del was not an ordinary boy from this world. He used to be a high school student on Earth, and was summoned to another world alongside his ssmates. The reason he was summoned, alongside the other students, was to defeat the demon king. However, there was one particr thing with Del. He was inept. Compared to the other students, his status was very bad. His status was so bad that it was weaker than the average person of the world he was currently in. Besides, he also didn''t have any special skill either. All in all, he was just an ordinary high school boy that got transported to another world without any special perks. "You know," Del had a hup, "In my world, I am supposed to be studying to enter university. Now, I have to do odd jobs just to get a loaf of bread on my table." The bartender gave Del a confused look, "Why don''t you return to your old world then?" "Would you like to know what they said when asked that question by us? "Heroes, you have to defeat the demon lord first before you can return to your old world. The demon lord is the only one with the ability to return all of you to your world". Those were the words that the darn king said to me," Del said as he gulped the ss of alcohol on his hand. Rina poured alcohol into his ss again, "And here you are, turning into a drunkard before you even know it." "It ain''t like drinking milk will solve my problem." Del drank the whole ss in one swig and mmed the ss into the table. Then, he added, "I might as well turn alcoholic at this point." Rina sighed, "Whatever you say, Del. If you pay, I don''t give a damn." Del used to be a bright student back on Earth. However, it all changed when he got ostracized from the other heroes because he was the weakest among them all. Everything happened in such a short period of time that Del remembered almost every second of the summoning event. He swore he wouldn''t forget it, even if he died. *** [Del Moore] [Level: 1] Strength: 5 Agility: 7 Vitality: 15 Aptitude: 12 Perception: 6 Skills: Language Comprehension Magical Energy: 40/40 Health Point: 150/150 Del was beaming a smile as he looked at his stats. In his opinion, it was not too bad. His health was above one hundred, which was already good enough for him. ording to his knowledge of some shooter games, he knew that anything above one hundred was a good thing. While looking at his status te, Del admired the impressiveness of the throne room. The king was sitting on his throne while looking at the heroes that his court magicians just summoned. He expected that all of them would have a ridiculous amount of strength. He sat on a throne purely made of gold. The other students, on the other hand, were scattered around the throne room while they were busy looking at the status tes that the king''s servants had given them. Most of them were cheerful, even Del. "Yay, I have some op stats right here," Del smiled as he continued admiring his status te. Del hadn''t seen the others'' status te yet. So, he hadn''t found the benchmark for the stats. However, what mattered for him was his status was satisfying for him. It was more than enough. The only thing that was unsatisfactory was probably hisck of skills. He hoped to have more skills. Suddenly, one of the students raised his hand. Del looked over and saw it was Eric, one of his ssmates, who did that. "Your majesty, my average status is one hundred. Is it good enough?" "One hundred???" The king immediately stood up from his throne when he heard that, and immediately approached Eric. The king''s eyes opened wide when he saw the status shown on Eric''s status te. All of the status were indeed one hundred. It was pretty much overpowered. Del, who was standing near Eric, caught a glimpse of his status te. [Eric Lerand] [Level: 1] Strength: 100 Agility: 100 Vitality: 100 Aptitude: 100 Perception: 100 Skills: Magic Comprehension LVL. 45 | Swordsmanship Comprehension LVL. 50 | Leadership Comprehension | Language Comprehension | Explosive Barrage LVL.3 | Blitz LVL.5 | Magical Energy: 400/400 Health Point: 1000/1000 "Oh, God.. Thanks for sending us our savior," the king reacted that way. Then, before he could recover from the shock brought by Eric''s status, another student said something that shocked him as well. "Sir, how about me? I have 400 in my Aptitude." The one who said that was Del''s twin sister, Anna. Anna could be said as Del''s female equivalent. She had a beautiful feature and slender figure with ck hair. She was considered as one of the princesses in his ssroom. The king approached her and his jaw once again dropped when he took a look at her status te. He absolutely never saw a level one with Aptitude as high as Anna. [Anna Moore] [Level: 1] Strength: 30 Agility: 50 Vitality: 70 Aptitude: 400 Perception: 120 Skills: Magic Comprehension LVL. 75 | Language Comprehension | Auberium Spear LVL.7 | Persa w LVL.2 | Healing LVL. 5 | Area Healing LVL. 9 | Magical Energy: 1600/1600 Health Point: 700/700 Del also took a look at Anna''s stats and instantly noticed the difference, or rather, massive contrast between him and her. Even so, as a brother, it was only natural for him to congratte his own sister. Therefore, he approached Anna and congratted her for the very impressive stats she had. Like a brother he was, Del patted Anna''s head, "Anna, that''s some good stats you have there. Congrattions." Hearing her brother''s praise, Anna replied with a smile, "Thanks. I bet your stats are good too, Del. Still, I haven''t even looked at your stats. Would you like to show it to me?" Del just showed his status te in a nonchnt attitude, and the king who was nearby also had a look at his status te. Then, he frowned when he looked at Del''s status te. the expression on his face was saying he wasn''t satisfied at all. The way the king gave back the status te to Del was just like when his parents gave back his test paper when he got a bad score, with full disappointment on their faces, "Your status te is not good. That kind of status is actually below the average of this world." That was the moment when everything began to go downhill. Chapter 2 - Heroes Del just stopped in ce as his mind reyed the words the king just said to him. He held his status te in ce as he felt his heart devastated and crumbled piece by piece. He didn''t even react when the whole ss was walking in his direction. It could be seen that all of them had curious expressions on their faces. They were curious as to why the king was so disappointed. "Del, that''s quite a shitty status," Jackson, a student,mented as he showed his own status te. ?????? [Jackson Martin] [Level: 1] Strength: 50 Agility: 75 Vitality: 25 Aptitude: 50 Perception: 30 Skills: Language Comprehension | Swordsmanship Comprehension LVL. 40 | Knife Throw LVL. 3 | Dash LVL. 2 | Magical Energy: 200/200 Health Point: 250/250 ?????? Del took a deep breath and tried to regain his confidence that was just being devastated, "That''s quite¡­ a good one, I presume?" Jackson pulled his status te back and put it into his pocket as he replied with a smile filled with pride, "Haha, damn right it is." In the meantime, the king headed back to his throne chair, ignoring the students who began taking a look at Del''s status te. He was about to give the heroes their next order after his adviser whispered something to him. Before this, the adviser had been looking around at the students'' status tes to see whether there was something odd with the heroes or not. The king just nodded on what the adviser advised him to do. Meanwhile, Del felt ufortable with the situation. The king said that his status was below average. Could it mean that he will receive harsher training than the others? Momentster, the king stood up and introduced them to their trainer. His name was Lyner and the man was apparently the head captain of the royal guards. He was a tall man with a height as tall as probably six feet or something. Moreover, the man was wearing a very heavy-looking steel te armor. He would be their trainer for the next couple of weeks. The king said that they needed to train their strength before they would be adequate to be sent to the dangers of another world, to their quest of vanquishing the demonic lord. Del just nodded at the king''s words, understanding that he had to put more effort and train harder than the others to be strong enough. "Alright. Let''s take all of you outside, shall we?" The king''s adviser said as he walked to the door. Without further ado, all of the students followed the king''s adviser out of the throne room. They walked through the massive hallway of the pce, where they could see the extravagance befitting of a pce. The red carpet was stretched as far as the hallway went and dozens of exquisite artworks ced throughout. Looking out the window, Del saw a vast courtyard where neatly-trimmed verdant grasses grew profusely. They stretched across the courtyard which was as big as a football field. Eventually, the adviser led them to a balcony of the pce. From there, everyone was served with a spectacr view. There was a colossal mountain visible to the north. Rings of clouds covered the mountain peak like a crown. Meanwhile, there was a dense forest located in the west direction. "Wee to the Elbanian Kingdom, heroes. We are the biggest country on the eastern continent. The mountain to the north is the Belfar Ancient Mountain, the home of the dragon race. The forest to the west is the Gepard Sacred Forest, the home of forest creatures," the adviser exined right in front of the balcony. The students were amazed by the sight of the mountain and the forest. They could see there was a city in the middle of the twondscapes. That city appeared very lively with carriages entering the city walls from many directions. It would be safe to assume that this was the capital of the Elbanian kingdom. The adviser pointed his finger at the town and said, "That town is called Ferris, and it is the capital of the Elbanian Kingdom." Needless to say, the town was simply amazing. There was no way to describe it other than saying that the town was a marvel of technology during the middle age. Del looked intently at the town while enjoying the breeze blowing through the balcony. The other students were asking questions to the adviser, but thetter didn''t answer. He went ahead and simply described what the Elbanian Kingdom was, and what the heroes'' goal in this world was. As they heard the adviser''s words, some of the students that weren''t convinced to help the Elbanian gradually became convinced. In the end, it seemed that everyone woulde on board to help the Elbanian Kingdom fighting the evil demonic lord. On the other side of the balcony, Del just stared impassively at this and knew the reason why. This was what would happen when teenagers got praised too highly. They were quickly brimmed with unbridled pride and felt that they were capable of taking on the entire world. So far, it seemed that the king and his advisers were praising them as if they were Gods or something. The demonic lord resided in the western continent, and apparently, an expeditionary force had been sent to that region to investigate the activity of the demonic continent. The demons were known to be extremely powerful creatures, which required a strong force to be subjugated. The adviser told them that the demons had been bothering them for too long with their attacks on the merchants and adventurers in the eastern continent. Del didn''t understand too much about the politics of this world, but he understood from the adviser''s words that the demons were evil and the humans were good. "I hope this can convince you all enough to help the Elbanian Kingdom in our fight against the demon lord," the adviser said. "One important question, if I may ask," Eric raised his hand, "What is the Elbanian Kingdom going to provide for our fight against the demons? We are just students, and so we certainly can''t fight against demons or whatever you are saying." "Don''t worry, Head Captain Lyner will train you to deal with the threats of the demons. He will teach you the basics of surviving inside of this world. We will also provide you with the finest weapons in our arsenal," the adviser said. Eric nodded, "Great." "Anyway. You''ll have to train every day with Head Captain Lyner. We don''t ept anypromise with the heroes. We want the heroes to fight to the best of their ability. I hope every single one of you can live up to our expectations." "Don''t worry, we are the best after all," Eric replied while nodding his head readily. Hearing his words, the adviserplimented Eric, "As expected of the best person in the party. We will count on you, heroes!" After that, the group headed inside the pce again and made their way under the lead of the adviser. It turned out that they were invited to a banquet that the king held tomemorate their arrival. The adviser told them that they would be briefed more about the situation of the Elbanian Kingdom in the banquet. Everyone was excited when they heard about the banquet. However, Del wasn''t thinking about the banquet. He worried that the kingdom would do something to him to make him stronger, something that was outrageous. And that, wasn''t exactly what he had in mind. He only hoped that he could be as strong as his friends to defeat the demon lord. His status was below average.. Therefore, he worried that he would instantly die the moment he encountered a demon. Chapter 3 - Fake Training One Week Later. The training didn''t go so well for Del. He totally didn''t expect Head Captain Lyner to give him much harsher training than he expected. The man always gave him tenfold the amount of training the regr heroes went through, which meant ten times the amount of suffering. All of this was because of his stats. Nevertheless, Del brute-forced through the harsh training that Head Captain Lyner gave to him because he didn''t want to be left behind. He always tried to do his best to be as strong as the others. However, catching up with those who basically had the same power as a superhuman proved to be not an easy endeavor. He also tried training with the others, it didn''t work out so well. Trying to have a duel with someone who shed his sword so fast that Del couldn''t even react to anything was basically useless. What was the purpose of training if the opponent had no intention but to beat him without even pointing out what was wrong with him other than being so weak. "Look, I can do this," Eric said as he showed that he could lift two hundred pounds of weight easily. He managed to lift that much weight with only one finger, showing a feat that was impossible for a normal human to do. It just showed how strong he became in just one week, and how weak Del was inparison. In the same span of time, there was no significant change in his physical ability other than the bruises he got from the harsh training. Furthermore, there was one special training that Del didn''t like one bit. The training where he became a punching bag for Eric and the others. Head Captain Lyner told him it was to train his Vitality so he would be much more resilient to damage. However, all that he felt throughout the training was pain, pain, and more pain. epting it didn''t mean that he wanted to do it, it just felt like a meaningless sacrifice that yielded so little result It just seemed to never stop. The only thing that kept him going and stopping him from going insane was the slight increase in his status. His vitality indeed increased, but not as fast as others even though he did his training ten times harder than theirs. Apparently, it was simply his fate as a below-average hero. ?????? [Eric Lerand] [Level: 2] Strength: 200 Agility: 200 Vitality: 200 Aptitude: 200 Perception: 200 Skills: Magic Comprehension LVL. 45 | Swordsmanship Comprehension LVL. 50 | Leadership Comprehension | Language Comprehension | Explosive Barrage LVL.3 | Blitz LVL.5 | Magical Energy: 1600/1600 Health Point: 4000/4000 ?????? Compared to Eric, Del''s stats increase was very little. In fact, it was so little that it could be said to be nothing and made Head Captain Lyner think of giving him much more rigorous training than the harsh training he had already received. The man came to that conclusion after seeing the other''s rapid growth in stats andparing them to Del''s improvement. "Damn, Del, why are your stats increasing so slowly?" Lyner asked Del as thetter did his daily push-up. "Sir, I don''t know," Del replied, gasping for air. Head Captain Lyner stared at the young boy in front of him and couldn''t help but feel pity for thetter. "I really need to report this to the adviser and the king. This situation is something that is out of my ability. So, I hope you understand." Del nodded his head when he heard the man''s words. "I understand, Sir. Don''t worry. You can report it to the king." "Thanks, Del, I appreciate it," replied Lyner before he left. While Lyner continued training the other heroes, Del continued his training, alone. No one was willing to train with him because of his weak strength, unless he wanted to be a punching bag. Therefore, he couldn''t help but feel disgusted with their attitude. They used to help each other one week ago, and now they didn''t even want to be in touch with him. They seemed to have been corrupted by the extraordinary power they received. If in less than a week, they have changed so much. What would happen in a month? Or even two weeks? Del did not doubt that he would be stabbed in the back sooner orter. While Del was drowning in his own thoughts, Anna was seen approaching him with a ss of water in her hands. "Del, are you okay? Here''s some water." "I''m okay, Anna. And thanks for the water," Del said as he drank the water in one gulp. Even though her brother already said he was fine, the concerned look on Anna''s face still remained. "I am worried about you, Del. You are used as a punching bag by others. I can''t stand it. However, Head Captain Lyner told me that it was for training your Vitality." She seemed to hesitate for a moment before opening his mouth again. "Is that true?" "Yeah, it''s true. But don''t worry about it though. I''m fine for most of the time, thanks to your healing spell," replied Del with a smile to reassure his sister. Anna looked Del in the eye and said, "Don''t push yourself too hard, alright? I am worried about you." "If I don''t push myself, how can I be as strong as you? C''mon, you know how I am in life, right?" Del asked while shrugging his shoulders nonchntly. "You''re such a try-hard, you know that?"mented Anna when she saw how her brother behaved. "Haha, I know that. Anyway, you should get back to your training. The others are waiting for you." said Del, while pushing her away gently with his hands. Before Anna could walk far, Del called her. "Oh, and Anna.." "Yeah?" asked Anna as she turned her head around. "You have such an impressive spell," said Del with a smile. Anna let out a gentle smile at her brother''s words. "I know." She then ran back to the rest of the heroes while Del continued his lonely training. Looking at the back of his sister, Del silently vowed to be stronger. However, it also seemed that it wouldn''t happen to him anytime soon. Moreover, he felt that some people were starting to look at him like a human seeing a pest. He wanted to stand up against them, but sadly, he couldn''t. *** Dayster, the king suddenly asked Del to go to his office. Apparently, he wanted to give him an order. Furthermore, the order was for him and only him. Therefore, Del couldn''t even refuse that. As he walked down the long hallway, Del frantically hoped that the order wasn''t an order of his execution. If it was, then he could only helplessly ept it as he had no way of escaping it. The moment he entered the king''s office, the man was seen reading a paper on his table. Since there was no one else in the room, he must have expected Del toe. Not wanting to upset the king, Del quickly sat down on the chair in front of the king''s desk. He was anxious. The king was certainly a person with a very high societal standing. He was someone that expected respect from everyone that he saw. "Del, I''ll have to give you tough news. Are you ready to listen?" The king asked. Del subconsciously swallowed his saliva, "Sure, I''ll listen to it." "Excellent. Listen carefully as this is what my advisers and I have in mind for your condition. Del, we are going to war and I don''t want anypromise on our side. So, like it or not, tomorrow, there will be a vote. The vote will decide whether you will be banished out of the heroes'' party or not," the king said calmly, as if he had nothing to do with the matter. Del shouldn''t be surprised by the revtion, but his jaw couldn''t help but drop once he heard that from the king himself. Clenching his shaking hands that were hidden by the table, Del held back his feelings and asked in a quivering voice, "Why?" "The battle against the demons will be very fierce. So, I don''t want your friends to have a dead weight in their team." "That''s all? I''ve been training hard, giving and doing my best. And is this how you repay me?" Del asked, his face contorted with the overwhelming emotion he was feeling right now. "You misunderstood something, young man. this is not how I repay you. I do what must be done. be grateful that I don''t send assassins to you and tell your friends that you are dead in an ident." replied the king, his voice cold. Del didn''t have anything to say. He was in shock.. However, he still had faith in his friends. They might not be what they used to be, but they wouldn''t kick their friends out, would they? Chapter 4 - Modern Weapon Summoning System When tomorrow arrived, Del was anxious. The fear of the unknown was engulfing him. He had the odds of being banished, but it wasn''t that big in his mind. He still had some faith in his friends even after all that had happened to him. They were taking votes in the throne room. Most of his friends didn''t have that much reaction to Del''s banishment from the group. After all, Del wasn''t exactly useful inside of that group. He would be a dead weight and everyone knew it. It was just a matter of time until someone had the idea to banish him. "Your majesty, may I inquire something. Why would Del need to be banished?" Eric asked. "I''m not banishing Del. Del doesn''t have a ce inside of the heroes party. Del will be dead before he entered the front line. Let me tell you something, war is not a game young boy," the king said. "What do you mean?" "Elbanian Kingdom will take good care of Del while you all defeat the demonic lord. We are not banishing him anywhere. We will put him out of the heroes party and we will give him a morefortable ce," the king said. "In that case, I also agree with you, your majesty. Del will be better off outside of the heroes party," Eric said. There was arger murmur among the others student. Some agreed with the banishment since they knew that Del was below the average person of that world while the others didn''t want one of their friends to be separated from them. "Damn, why Del should be out of the party? He should stay, right?" "He will get himself killed, what do you think?" "C''mon, it will be better for Del." Del couldn''t speak up. He knew the king was lying. If he were to be banished, he would be really thrown out of the pce and the heroes'' party. There was simply no way out of that situation. Del felt very angry. He wanted to punch the king and Eric right now, but he couldn''t. If he punched the king, he would get killed. If he punched Eric, the others would surely vote to banish him. There was no way to run. Del couldn''t do anything. He was helpless. If he spoke up, Eric would cancel it out by saying that his voice meant nothing. "Guys, listen, the king will keep Del''s safe while we fight the demonic lord to return to our world. I trust the king, why wouldn''t you guys?" Eric used his diplomatic ability. Anna walked forward, "Eric, we are a team, we can''t do anything without Del." Eric smirked and sighed, "Look, Anna, I don''t care if he is your brother. But please, be realistic, in this current state, Del should get out of our party." "But¡­" "Please, Anna, be realistic. You want your brother to be alive, right?" Eric pressured Anna. "Yes, but this is not the way, Eric," Anna said. "Anna, please, trust the king¡­" Eric further pressured Anna. "Fine¡­" After that, the votemenced. After some dispute between the students, the result of the vote was clear. More than half of the students voted for Del''s banishment. Anna looked dissatisfied, but there was nothing she could do. Del felt betrayed that day. He swore that he would get back to Eric and give him a lesson. ''Eric, I swear I''ll give you a lesson you''ll never forget.'' *** "Oh, I see. Well, I always forget that kind of story, you know? Anyway, If you can help me with the inn tomorrow, I''d give you free rent for three nights, what do you say?" Rina asked drunk Del. Del wasn''t conscious any longer. He had passed out from the overconsumption of alcohol. Rina looked concerned, but it wasn''t like it was the first time Del passing out because of alcohol. Rina used to be an adventurer. She knew one of the spells to cure alcohol poisoning. "[Detoxification]!" Rina cast a spell. It wasn''t the first time Rina cast that spell on Del. Ever since Del became an adventurer and an inn worker, Rina always took care of Del no matter what happened. Rina was an old woman with one daughter. Her daughter usually took care of the inn during the daytime. Del rarely interacted with her daughter. He always went to the adventurer guild during the daytime to get money to buy some food from Rina. Meanwhile, Del was floating inside of empty space called his dream. He looked around and it was only darkness. He had been through the dark space more than once. The nothingness was rather calming and soothing for him although Del knew that Rina had cast a detoxification spell on him. Suddenly, there was a screen in front of him. [Establishing Connection With User¡­] [Connection Established] [Loading¡­] [Modern Weapon Summoning System Calibrated] "Oh, what the hell is this?" Del asked himself. [I''m your personal information and data management assistant. Just call me PIDMA. I''m part of the Modern Weapon Summoning System.] "Oh, you must be a part of my imagination, aren''t you?" Del asked the mysterious screen that appeared in front of him. [Perhaps?] "Anyway, who are you and what are you doing in my mind?" Del asked PIDMA. [I''m here to guide you in your journey on this world. My purpose is to serve you in your journey.] "What journey? Can you give me money or something?" Del asked. [Money? I don''t think I can give you any currency that can be used in this world. However, I can give you guns or anything ording to your level.] "Level?" Del asked. [Yes. My ability is based on your level. Disying user''s status] ?????? [Del Moore] [Level: 2] Strength: 7 Agility: 10 Vitality: 18 Aptitude: 12 Perception: 8 Skills: Language Comprehension | Marksmanship LVL.1 | Magical Energy: 96/96 Health Point: 200/360 ?????? "Well, what can you give for me now? Can you give me an M4 Carbine or something?" Del asked. [Error. User''s Tech Level Is Not Adequate For ITEM: M4 CARBINE] "Tech level? How does it work?" Del asked. [Your tech level will raise depending on your level. Right now, your tech level is one. Tech level increases every time you level up ten times. For example, to advance to the next tech level, you need to be level ten.] "Cool, what''s avable on this tech level then?" Del asked. ?????? [Please select the menu below] [Tech Level: 1][System Upgrade Unavable] [Vehicle] [Weapons] [Ammo] [Amenities] [Building] [Gear & Items] ?????? "Well, can you make me a kit?" Del asked. [A kit? A kit for you? Well, you have to finish a quest for me first.] "Quest? What kind of quest? I hope this is not some odd job or something," Delmented. He still felt suspicious about the system that appeared right when he cked out because of alcohol. However, it was nice to have someone to talk to in the dark empty space of imagination. He didn''t trust the system, but he certainly liked PIDMA. [Haha, Nah. This is just a job for improving yourself. You need to be fit. If you aren''t fit, you can''tbat those who prefer you to disappear. Anyway, let me get the quest for you, it should be easy.] ?????? [Basic Training 101] Alright, since you are not even fit to be a soldier, you need to exercise a bit. This exercise is certainly not heavy for you who have tried Head Captain Lyner''s training. Anyway, good luck with the exercise. Task: [Do Push-Up] [20x] [Do Sit-up] [20x] [Run] [10 Miles] Reward: [1x 1911 Pistol] [24x .45 ACP LVL.1] [3x 8-rounds magazine] [2x Sterile Gauze] [Strength +3] [Agility +3] [3x Medium Crackers Pack] ?????? "Is this just the way my brain told me to exercise? I think I need to lose some weight," Del said to himself. He still doubted the system. [I''m as real as you can think of. Just do the quest and I''ll give you the rewardter] "Still, PIDMA, what is your objective in helping me? Are you just a random part of my imagination thates out of nowhere?" Del asked. [Modern Weapon Summoning System activates when user levels up for the first time. Simply put, this is your special ability. Sadly, the king isn''t wise enough to wait until you level up for once] "What is your end goal? I don''t think you want me to defeat the demon lord, do you?" Del asked PIDMA. [My end goal? I have no end goal. My goal is to make sure that you stay alive. Maybe if you be a demon lord, it would be a bonus] "C''mon, Pidma, stop joking," Del said. [Do you want me to give you a long-term quest to be the demon lord?] "Hell no." [Very well then. I''ll see you tomorrow then. Hopefully, you''ll be prepared for tomorrow''s assignment.. Rina is a good woman, you should help her.] Chapter 5 - Guilds Quest And PIDMAs Quest Del opened his eyes. The ceiling was not that of the bar. The ceiling was that of his own room. He tried to regain his consciousness after that long drinking sessionst night. The hangover was killing him with the headache. He remembered that he had a weird dreamst night, about Pidma and something with a system on it. Well, it was a dream so Del wouldn''t even bother about that. He got up from his bed and washed his face with the water on the¡­. "Thinking about it, what happenedst night?" Del thought as he washed his face. [Hello¡­] "What???" The screen from his dream appeared right in front of him. [Yes. I''m PIDMA. We metst night, right?] "Wait, you''re the one from my dream? You''re real???" Del''s jaw dropped. [I''m very real. We already have this conversation before, haven''t we?] "Yes, I know, but still. I can''t believe that you''re real. What are you doing here? Are you here to remind me about something?" Del asked the mysterious screen that was floating in front of him. [Yes, I''m here to remind you of our dealst night. Disying Quest¡­] ??? [Basic Training 101] Alright, since you are not even fit to be a soldier, you need to exercise a bit. This exercise is certainly not heavy for you who have tried Head Captain Lyner''s training. Anyway, good luck with the exercise. Task: [Do Push-Up] [20x] [Do Sit-up] [20x] [Run] [10 Miles] Reward: [1x 1911 Pistol] [24x .45 ACP LVL.1] [3x 8-rounds magazine] [2x Sterile Gauze] [Strength +3] [Agility +3] [3x Medium Crackers Pack] ??? "Woah, so it''s real?" Del scratched his head while looking at the screen in front of him. [Yeah. Of course, it''s real] Suddenly, someone knocked on the door, "Del, who are you talking with?" Suddenly, Del realized that he had been talking to a screen that couldn''t talk back. The voice from outside was Rina''s. The inn owner must have thought that Del was still drunk fromst night''s drink even though he had been detoxicated with her spell. "Sorry, it was just a cat," Del said. "Alright. Breakfast is ready downstairs," Rina said from the back of the door. "I''ll being there soon," Del said. Del looked at the screen that was still in front of his face. It was on idle. PIDMA must have heard Rina and went idle. Del immediately felt that it might be a good idea to do what PIDMA told him to do. It was only a basic exercise. Del got on the floor and started the exercise. First, he would do the push-up. Del put both of his hands on the floor and started the exercise. He did the push-up twenty times. After that, another screen appeared. [Do Push-Up] [20/20] [Task Completed] Del flipped himself over and started to do sit-ups. He lifted his body up and down twenty times. After that, the same screen appeared. [Do Sit-Up] [20/20] [Task Completed] Del felt sweaty, but the sense of aplishment was filling his heart. He felt energized to start the day. However, that spirit went away once he remembered that he could barely make anything by doing odd jobs in the guild. He picked up his swords and he went out of his room and locked the door. Four rooms were on the second floor of the inn. The inn where Del was staying was well-known to be cheap and decent. It was no wonder why there were so many beginner adventurers on the inn. Some of them were obviously still sleeping while the others had gone down for the breakfast. Del went downstairs. The stair would lead to the lobby. The dining area and the bar were located at the back of the lobby. Usually, in the morning until afternoon, Rina''s daughter would be at the receptionist''s desk. Her name was Lisa. Lisa always worked when her mother was sleeping. Fortunately, Lisa was at the receptionist''s desk right now. "Del, what''re you going to do today?" Lisa asked as Del walked downstairs. "Ah, you know, the usual, running odd jobs from the guild for a little bit of cash," Del said. "It would be better if you spend it on something other than alcohol," Lisa said. "Hahaha, that''s good advice. I''ll see youter, Lisa," Del entered the dining area. As he thought, the dining area was quite crowded. Adventurers were eating at the tables of that dining area. Some of them were eating together in a group while some others were eating alone. The breakfast was served buffet-style. Del grabbed a te. The breakfast for that day was mashed potato and gravy. It was not fancy but certainly would fill up his stomach. Del sat down on a table near the window alone. He didn''t feel like talking to the other adventurers. As he ate, he looked out of the window. The view of the small town was quiet as usual. There weren''t many people living in the border region after all. Del was banished to a town called Midham. It was located very far away from the capital. It took Del three weeks just to reach the town using a horse carriage. The town was not filled with many buildings. There were only a few buildings inside of that town. The biggest building was the guild building where the adventurers took quests. The other buildings were the cksmith, the inn, the market, and some houses owned by the residents of that town. Overall, it was a quiet town without any traffic from a carriage or something simr. People also had zero to no interest toe to a town located close to the neighboring empire. Only select people wanted to stay in a town like that. There was a high chance that any border town would be attacked first. Del finished up his meal and he went outside of the inn. He smelled the fresh air of the countryside. It definitely smelled better than the urban area where he used to live in. He walked down the streets to the guild building. The guild building stood up among the other buildings. That building was painted in white and was the tallest building inside of Midham. It was five floors tall. Guild building could be said as the most luxurious building in Midham since it was a ce where the more experienced adventurers stayed. Del entered that guild building. He headed straight into the receptionist''s desk. Usually, the guild secretarypiled the quests ording to their difficulty. They were F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS, X, and O difficulty ranks. There was also the quest board where the guild secretary put a quest with high reward and high demands. Adventurers were also divided into those ranks. F toE ranks were considered to be the novice adventurer aka the newbies. D to C ranks were considered to be the beginner adventurers. B to A ranks were considered to be experienced adventurers. S to SS ranks were considered to be expert adventurers. SSS to X ranks were considered to be legendary adventurers. Then there was the O rank. This rank was so rare that nobody had gotten this rank before. This rank was usually attainable bybining the power of one adventurer party. But still, it was very rare to see a party with the strength of O rank. It was not like there was a quest for someone who had the rank beyond B in the town of Midham anyway. Most of the quests in Midham were either E rank or C rank. There was no point in giving an S-rank adventurer an E-rank quest. It would just be taken as an insult. "Hey, Del, looking for work again?" The receptionist asked. "Yeah, more or less. What do you have for me?" Del asked the receptionist. "Well, what do you have in mind? I''ll search for it on the guild''s quest book. There might be something that fit your request," the secretary said. Del thought for a moment. Right now, the only assignment that he hadn''t finished was the running for ten miles assignment. It might be good to do a delivery quest where he had to deliver a package to a location. "Do you have any delivery mission?" Del asked the guild receptionist. "Well, in fact, I do," the guild receptionist said. "Show me then," Del said. The guild receptionist put a paper on his desk. It was a quest with its description. There was also a small package beside it. The quest description was simple too. Maybe it was because an easy quest didn''t need a lot of descriptions. ??? [Delivery of a Wedding Ring] [Difficulty: F] Location of Delivery: Begard, Lebisa Street 27. Reward: 2 silver coins, 50 copper coins. ??? One silver coin was equal to that of one dor on Earth. It could buy Del a meal and that was it. One copper coin equals that of one cent. It was only there as a loose change. Copper coins were also very small, many people lost copper coins since it was worthless. "Alright, I shall take this quest then, Begard is not that far from here anyway," Del said. "Alright, here''s the quest paper, and here''s the wedding ring. I''ll reward you once you return here, ok?" The receptionist said as he gave Del the ring and the quest paper. Del left the guild building with the package in his pocket. Chapter 6 - Midham And Begard Del began walking towards Begard. The town was not very far from Midham. It would only take thirty minutes by horse. If Del ran in the direction of Begard, he would arrive there in around two hours. The road toward Begard was paved with stones. The road to Begard wasn''t dangerous due to the continuous patrol from the knights of the Elbanian Kingdom. It would be exhausting and Del knew about that. However, a 1911 pistol was well worth it alongside extra crackers. With those crackers, he would be able to take a quest located a little bit further without spending much money just for the food. The clothes that Del was wearing was still the same as the one which was given by the Elbanian Kingdom. He washed the clothes once a week when he could afford not to go outside of the inn. He would usually dry his clothes upstairs while waiting for them to dry with the other adventurers. He nned to buy new clothes if he had the money. Speaking of clothing¡­ "Pidma, are you there?" Del asked while running in the road. [Personal Information and Data Management Assistant Initiated] [Hello there, what can I do for you?] "Pidma,st night, I saw that you can give me something other than guns. Can you give me clothing?" Del asked. [Yes. I can give you anything besides guns for a modest price] "Cool, give me a new pair of clothing then," Del said. [Give you? You need to pay for it, Del. You better have the money.] "Is five silver coins enough for a new pair of clothing?" Del asked. [Calcting Conversion From Coins to Dors. User Has 10$] "Does that mean I have enough money to buy a new pair of clothing?" Del asked. [No, I''m afraid not.] "As expected¡­" Del sighed. Del knew that he didn''t have enough money. Even the cheapest clothing in the clothing store was twelve silver coins and it was used. A new white shirt would cost him around fifteen silver coins. Del couldn''t afford it yet. [However, if you need an item, I can arrange a quest for you. Some people actually have demand for some items. Others are interested in having someone disappear. There is also some demand on the market for information.] "Wait, well, show me a quest for clothing then," Del said as he continued walking. [Ok.] ??? [White Wolf Fur Demand] Alright, I found that someone in Midham wants to buy a white wolf fur. If youe to the guild and finish the quest, you should get enough money to buy a new pair of clothing. I can arrange a loadout for you to use if you finish the quest. Task: [Finish Gathering Wolf Fur Quest] [1x] Reward: [M1943 Combat Uniform] [20 Silver Coins] [50 Copper Coins] ??? "White Wolf??? Pidma, that thing is a D-rank threat. There is no way I can''t deal with that thing. I even doubt that bullet would prate the thick skin of the wolf itself. However, if you give me a rifle," Del said to Pidma. [Want me to put it forter?] "Yes, I''ll take that quest when I be strong enough. In the meantime, I''ll just focus on the task that you give for me right now," Del said. [Very well then.] Del continued walking on the road that led to Begard. The road that led to Begard was bordered by two locations. One was a mountain located on the north of the road. The other one was a forest located south of the road. Both ces were known to be dangerous ces and the guild advised anyone not to go there unless necessary. Talking about location, the mountain of the north was dangerous because it was a breeding ground for cold weather monsters. One of the monsters that Del knew was the White Wolf. It was known to be able to kill a novice adventurer in just one sh. That mountain was also known to be the home of the mythical ice dragon. As a result of thebination between dangerous monsters and air for an ice dragon, that mountain got a danger rating of C-rank. Ice dragon itself was an S-rank threat that required a full party of A-rank adventurers just to subjugate. [Del, could I ask for something? What''s your biggest fear of this world?] "What do you mean? I think I fear everything in this world. I don''t have any certified education in this world. I don''t have any connection in this world. I don''t have any strength to survive in this world. My only friends want me to go away. The kingdom banished me from my only hope of surviving. The only thing that I want right now is to live decently," Del said to Pidma. [That''s a tough life you have there.] "Trust me, I''m a high-school boy turned into adventurer without any preparation," Del said. [I see.] "Don''t you worry about it, my life is going to be short anyway," Del said. [Not under my watch, Del.] "Right, you''re kinda like a guardian angel, you know?" Del asked. [Yeah. I agree with that.] After two hours of sprinting and stopping. Del finally arrived in Begard, drenching in sweat. Begard was a bigger town than Midham. It was located right on the east side of Midham. Del had visited the town multiple times during his time as an adventurer. It had been a month since he became an adventurer. He was not as novice as he used to be, but he was certainly as poor as when he started. Now, he had to find Lebisa street first. The road in the Elbanian Kingdom usually had a namete, it made things way easier. Del walked in the direction of the center of the town. The center of Begard was a fountain. The fountain would lead him to every single street on Begard. Begard might be a big city, but it was not as big as cities like New York or anything in the modern world. "Sir, do you know where Lebisa street is?" Del asked one of the bystanders. "Boy, what did you do to get that kind of sweat?" The bystander asked Del. "I ran from Midham to Begard, that''s where my sweat came from, sir," Del answered as he wiped his head. "Boy, you can take a horse, can''t you?" The bystander asked. "Sir, respectfully, do you know where Lebisa street is?" Del insisted. "Sorry, it''s right around the corner of the fountain," the bystander answered. "Thank you," Del said. ''Goddamn old hag wasting my time,'' Del cursed quietly as he left for Lebisa street. Del looked at the buildings along Lebisa street. At first nce, all of it looked the same. All of them were buildings made from bricks and had two floors. Luckily, every building had a number te in front of it. Del just had to find the correct one. "27¡­ 27¡­ 27¡­," Del searched for the house, "Aha, 27!" Del approached the house with the package in his hand. The owner of the package might not feelfortable with Del''s sweaty palm. But well, if he wanted the wedding ring, he had to get it from Del. Del knocked on the door, "Excuse me, a package from Midham." A woman opened the door. It was an old woman, probably in her mid-40s. "Young boy, what can I do for you?" The woman looked at the box that Del brought, "Oh my, thank you so much. I''ll send a word to Midham that the package arrives safely." The woman took the package. "Thank you, ma''am," Del left the building. *** Del sighed as he gulped down the ss of water at the inn. It was exhausting, but Del got his money. Rina was nice enough to give Del a free ss of water. It usually cost around twenty copper coins just for a ss of water. "Del, why did you run to Begard? You can take a horse, you know?" Rina asked. "Rina, that''s a private matter, ok? It''s not like I can''t walk. I just want to save money, you know?" Del said as he gulped down another ss of water. "Haha, I see. Anyway, Del, I have to go back to work, you take a rest, ok?" Rina left Del''s room after she put a big mug of water on the desk of his room. "Now, let''s see. Pidma, are you there?" Del asked. [I''m here. Do you want to take the rewards for the quest?] "Sure, bring it on." [Alright. Dispensing Reward¡­] Suddenly, a big metallic box appeared on Del''s desk. It spilled the ss of water that Rina brought for him. "Dang it, my ss of water," Del said. However, his disappointment was wiped away by the sudden appearance of the metal box. He stood up from his bed and looked at the metal box. "Let''s see what we have here," Del opened the box. Chapter 7 - 1911 Pistol Vs Slime Inside of that metal box, there were the items that PIDMA promised to give to Del. There were three .45 ACP magazines filled with bullets. There were also three packs of crackers inside of an MRE bag. Del always saw the thing like MRE and pistols on the Inte. However, he never tried it out himself. There was also the sterile gauzes inside of the metal box which was basically a fabric useful for packing wound. Del remembered using it to cover his wound when he fell down the stairs. "Not bad," Del picked up the 1911 pistol. It was a ck pistol with wooden furnishings on its grip. It was an old pistol that was made way before the Second World War. It was chambered in .45 ACP. The bullet should be able to prate most non-demonic animals. However, Del doubted the bullet would be able to wound any demonic animal that entered the category of monsters. "Pidma, what''s this bullet is made of? Just copper and lead or is there a steel prator inside of this bullet?" Del asked. [The bullet is .45 ACP FMJ. It''s basically the standard bullet that you will find in 1911. You might want to upgrade the bulletter.] It was Pidma''s way of saying that the bullet sucked. Still, it was a giveaway item so Del shouldn''t even protest about it. Del also found a pistol holster inside of the metal box. It was a drop-leg holster so he could put it right on his upper thigh. There was a guide on how to put the holster too. It shouldn''t be hard. Del followed the instruction and put the holster on his thigh. He put the 8-round magazines inside of his pants pocket since he didn''t have enough money to buy a tactical rig. Still, for him, being able to defend himself from bandits was more than enough. At first, Del also thought just like anyone else from another world that bandits were dumb creatures that raided carriages for money. However, reality hit him differently when he got robbed by the bandits. They essentially surrounded Del while pointing their weapons at him. They usually ambushed any merchant that went out of a town without enough escort. Del was lucky that he didn''t get killed since he didn''t even have any money in his pocket. They were big in numbers and usually consisted of beginnerbatants. A group of bandits usually had a threat rank of D. They needed a single D-rank adventurer to eliminate or a group consisted of E-rank adventurers. However, it also varied depending on the groups. "Del, can youe downstairs?" Rina called Del from downstairs. "Sure," Del got out of his room and he walked downstairs. Downstairs, he couldn''t find where Rina was. There was only her daughter on the receptionist''s desk. He asked Lisa, "Lisa, where''s your mother?" "She''s in the kitchen. Anyway, my mother asked me to tell you that she needs help with pest control. A slime kept eating the vegetables that the townsfolk nted. They wanted an adventurer to deal with it. Luckily, there was you," Lisa said. "So, you want me to exterminate those slimes for you?" Del asked. "Yes. Don''t tell me you''re afraid of slimes. They don''t even hurt you," Lisa said. "I know," Del said. "Alright, the slime is in the grasnd on the back of the Inn, deal with it," Lisa said. "Damn, Lisa, you don''t need to be that authoritative with me, you''re not my boss," Del said. "Well, technically, I am your boss since my mother is your boss, so, get moving, ok?" Lisa said. "Fine. Three free nights, right?" Del asked. "I kept my mom''s words," Lisa said. "Ok," Del said as he left the inn through the front door. Del headed to the back of the inn through the small road that bordered the inn and another building. The back of the inn was an enormous grasnd. The grasnd was one of the safest ces that humans could traverse. Grasnd was rarely filled with dangerous monsters although anyone should be careful of small insects and animals. The grasnd was usually used by townsfolk to nt something or to feed their cattle. Slime was one of the monsters. The slime was put into the monster category because of its unusual behavior. This slime was actually herbivorous which meant they posed little to no threat to humans. Their size was as big as an ordinary bowling ball so it couldn''t harm humans either. They usually ate grass in the grasnd, but this time, they were eating crops of the townsfolk. Killing slime was an easy task. All Del had to do was to destroy the core of the slime or the dark part inside of the slime itself. If he just shed through the slime, he would only tear apart the body of the slime itself. However, Del got another idea. Since slime was known to be very gtinous and harmless. It might be a good idea to test his weapon at the slime. 1911 was rather urate at close range, he just had to aim it right to the core of the slime itself. In that way, he also had an idea of the ballistic performance of the .45 ACP itself. It would give him an idea of how damaging the bullet was. He walked to the grasnd and he found the target. "Emm, Pidma, can you give me an instruction on how to use this pistol?" [First of all, insert the magazine into the empty magazine slot.] Del inserted the magazine into the pistol. [Then, you pull the slide backward.] Del pulled the slide backward. [Then you fire the gun.] Del held the pistol firmly with his two hands. He aimed at the core of the slime. He pulled the trigger. .45 ACP flew to the core of the slime. Some parts of the slime exploded from the fragmentation of the bullet itself, much like a ballistic gel. "Damn, I''m a good shooter for a first-timer," Del said as he put the pistol back at his holster. [User Gains New Skill: Firearms Comprehension | Marksmanship ] "Cool, I also have a new skill. What will this skill do? Can you exin it to me?" Del asked. [Well, I''ll just summarize it to you. PIDMA: OPENING GUIDE] [Firearms Comprehension: The level of this skill will define the amount of recoil that you can handle, the speed of your reload, and your time in aiming down the sight of a firearm.] [Marksmanship: The level of this skill will define the uracy of any ranged weapon that you are shooting. An increase on this level will also increase the range of your weaponry.] "Damn, so I have a new set of skills as well. Thanks, Pidma," Del said. [Don''t mention it. Anyway, by shooting your guns more, you can increase the level of these skills.] "I understand," Del said. Suddenly, Del got interrupted by someone. That someone was Lisa. She came to the back of the inn because of the loud noise of the gun. Luckily, Lisa didn''t even notice that Del was carrying his gun inside of his holster. Lisa tapped his back, "Del, did you just master a thunder spell or something?" "No, but I just killed the slime," Del pointed his hand at the slime. Lisa peeked at the carcass of the slime. The slime was dead, but Del noticed that the copper fragments were in the dead body of the slime itself. He feared that Lisa would ask him a question about that. "Emm, my sword is shit so a little bit of it broke when I attacked the slime," Del gave his excuse. "That''s why you don''t buy a five silver coins sword on sale, Del. A sword is supposed to be ten silver coins at the very least. Anyway, since you get the job done, I should tell my mother then," Lisa walked away. "Thanks, Lisa," Del said. "And Del, take a bath, will you? Maybe you should buy new clothes too, you stink," Lisa said. Del justughed it off. He had a st with the gun even though he only fired two bullets.. With that gun, he should be able to take a more dangerous questter. Chapter 8 - Risk & Reward Inside the inn, Lisa was still watching Del. Del figured that Lisa was still suspicious of Del. He couldn''t tell Lisa that he just shot something called a gun. Lisa''s mouth could leak to someone who wanted to steal the gun from Del. It would be bad news if Del got an assassining after him just because of a single gun. "Lisa, why are you watching me?" Del asked. "I feel something suspiciousing from you, I should tell my mother," Lisa said. "What are you going to tell your mother? I don''t have anything suspicious," Del said. "How about the metal tool on your hip?" Lisa pointed at his gun. Del immediately went into denial, "This? I always carry this, don''t you think?" Lisa refused to believe that, "No, you never carry anything like that on your thigh before. I should tell mom that you start doing a suspicious activity." Del stared at her, "Listen here you little brat, you better not tell your mom anything. Understand?" Lisa feared Del and she just nodded and went back to the receptionist''s desk. Del''s tall stature always came into advantage at that kind of situation that required him to scare Lisa into submission. However, he must make sure that Lisa didn''t cry or otherwise, her mother would interrogate him. Del had been interrogated by her mother before and he absolutely didn''t want it to happen again. Thest time Del did that, her mother kicked him out for a day and he must sleep outside. He was allowed to return when he begged for forgiveness from Lisa. It was humiliating, but what was dignity if he couldn''t even find a proper ce to sleep but the streets. It was better to let Lisa did whatever she wanted to do than being kicked out of the inn just because Lisa was crying. It was truly mother instinct at its finest. The sky had turned orange outside. Most of the adventurers had gone back to the inn for dinner. Del wasn''t hungry though. He didn''t want to pay sixty copper coins just for the dinner when he had an abundant amount of crackers inside of his room. When he counted the number of crackers inside of the room, he found out that the crackers were enough to feed him for four days straight. One medium package of crackers contained more than enough to feed him for two days. He went inside his room again and locked the door. He sat down on the bed and called Pidma. "Hey, Pidma, are you there?" Del asked. [What can I do for you?] "Can you show me any avable rifle for me?" Del asked. ??? [Showing Avable Bolt-Action Rifle] [Mosin Nagant] [100$] [Carcano Rifle] [195$] [M1917 Enfield] [250$] [Kar98] [200$] [Showing Avable Battle Rifle] [M1 Garand] [400$] [Gewehr 43] [500$] ??? "Damn, all of these things are expensive as hell. There''s no way I can get this amount of money just by breaking my backs and doing odd jobs," Delmented. [To make money, you need to spend money. You need to take a more dangerous quest so you can upgrade your arsenal, Del. After that, you can spend your money on a rifle, or maybe SMG. With the new weapon, you can take a much more dangerous quest and gains some funds] "I see. What''s the cheapest food that you have in the inventory?" Del asked. ??? [Showing Low Tier Food] [Large Package of Crackers] [4$] [Medium Package of Crackers] [2$] [Small Package of Crackers] [1$] [Tiny Package of Crackers] [0.50$] ??? "It''s good to know when the emergency food supply is avable for me, hahaha," Delughed. [Good to hear that. Anyway, you better get some sleep.] "I see. Well, I''m stuffed from the lunch anyway. Pidma, good night," Del said. *** The next morning, Del came to the guild office to try something different. This time, he wouldn''t do any delivery or gathering job. He would take a much more dangerous job so he could get enough money to live a better life. He was confident that the pistol could take down any low-level monster with ease. "Del, what can I do for you today?" The guild receptionist asked. "Do you have any quest that will give me around fifty silver coins?" Del asked. The guild receptionist looked at him in doubt at first, then he said, "Well, Del, I think you need to consider that a quest with a reward greater than ten silver coins usually fell in the E-rank or higher quest difficulty. Now, 50 silver coins are on the border between an E-rank quest and a D-rank quest. Are you sure you want to take a quest like that? You can die," the guild receptionist said. "I think I am more than well-aware of the risk of earning that many coins. However, I am also in dire need of money so I have to make apromise," Del said. "Very well then, I have two kinds of quests for you. Both are equally dangerous, do you have the bravery to take it?" The guild receptionist asked. "What are those two quests?" Del asked. "One is an order of assassination, the other is an order of subjugation," the guild receptionist said. "What do I need to subjugate?" Del asked. "Alright, the first one is an order to subjugate a group of six goblins. They might be less dangerous than two bandits, but they are dangerous. The other one is an order to assassinate a bandit. His name is Alberto, he lived in a shack next to Begard," the receptionist said. "I''ll take the assassination request then. It should only be one person, after all, less of a hassle than six goblins," Del said. "You sound like underestimating the person. Del, you might make apromise to earn more, but please, value your life more," the receptionist said. "Heck no, if I said I needed money, I really need money," Del said. "Fine, here''s the quest description. Read it very carefully, you might find a weakness of the enemy inside of that description. Many young adventurers die because they don''t even bother to read the quest description," the receptionist said. "Fine¡­ just give me the quest," Del said. "Here you go," the receptionist gave Del a piece of paper. ??? [Hunt for Alberto Derrand] [Difficulty: High-End E] Alberto Derrand is a solo bandit that operates between Midham and Begard. The person will always target a solo adventurer that is unaware of his existence. Alberto has the ability to smell a weak adventurer to rob from a mile away so it''s better not to scare him. He always stays in the shack in the grasnd north of the dangerous forest, south of the road between Midham and Begard. The shack is known to be guarded by dogs. There''s a high chance that you will catch him unguarded if you ambush it at his own home. Beware of the dogs! Appearance: Tall stature. An earring on the left ear. A scar on his forehead. Threat Details: Probably armed with a very heavy sword capable of piercing low-end leather armor. Target is armored with leather armor. Target''s level is known to be 10. From the previous encounter, the target dislikes loud sounds from thunder. Reward: 60 Silver Coins, 200 Copper Coins ??? "Have you read it very carefully?" The receptionist asked while watching Del. He really red at him. The look in his eyes clearly told that Del shouldn''t take that quest. "Calm down, don''t look at me like that," Del said. "I''m worried about you, Del. You shouldn''t take the quest," the receptionist said. "Rx, I''m not that incapable," Del said. The receptionist finally gave up and sighed, "Fine, wait a minute, I have something for you." The receptionist headed for the back room. He walked in and walked out with a small bottle that might fit perfectly inside of Del''s pocket. A ck liquid filled the bottle to the top. Del wondered what kind of thing it was. "Wow, what is that? Is that a healing potion?" Del asked. "Healing potion? You must be nuts. That kind of thing costs a lot of money. It''s much more convenient to use a healing spell anyway. This is a painkiller. If you die, you''d be better off dying without any pain," the receptionist said. "Wait, you want to kill me with this potion?" Del reacted. He never looked at a ck solution like that. However, even a basic person knows that ck water meant poison. "Kill you? Hell no, that would be a heavy crime. This potion will ease the pain that you have, but that doesn''t mean that your wound will be healed. Even if you drink it now, it should be fine, but don''t me me if the potion wears off when you fight Alberto," the receptionist said. "Alright, alright, I get it. Thanks for the potion anyway," Del said as he grabbed the potion and the quest paper from the table. As Del walked closer to the door, the guild receptionist shouted, "Do you want a closed casket funeral or an open casket one?" Del justughed it off.. He headed back to the inn for the preparation. Chapter 9 - Bounty Hunting Is Hard Del headed to his room. He packed the necessary equipment. He brought the sterile gauze and put it inside his pocket. He also brought a special adventurer belt that he bought for a very cheap price of seven silver coins. It contained many small pockets. He put the small bottle of potion there. The sterile gauzes were packed tightly inside of stic packaging. He put those two gauzes inside of the pockets of the belt. He didn''t forget to carry his sword as a sidearm and put his pistol inside of the holster. He checked his pistol to make sure that it was loaded with bullets. He brought the other two 8-round magazines and put them inside of his pocket. [Preparation, huh?] "More or less," Del checked whether he left anything or not. [Do you want to know what the receptionist just gave to you?] "Sure. Wait, you can analyze any item?" [I can analyze any item that is located near your body and not in the vicinity of its previous owner.] "Cool, what''s the content of the bottle then? Is it a poison?" [Analysing¡­] [Content: 1500 mg Ibuprofen] "Ibuprofen? Isn''t that a medicine for fever?" Del asked. [Yes, but it should ease your pain in case you are injured.] "I see. Pidma, I want to browse grenade," Del said. ??? [Showing Grenades] [MK 2 Grenade] [25$] [Stielhandgranate] [30$] ??? "Damn, I don''t have that much money," Del protested as he closed the menu. Del walked out of his room. The moment he went downstairs into the lobby, he was greeted by Lisa. Well, he wasn''t greeted, but he was criticized by Lisa. "Del, you still stink like yesterday, haven''t I told you to buy new clothes? What with that cheap belt? Are you going adventuring to somece very far?" Del shushed Lisa, "It isn''t a little child business." "I''m not a child, I''m 12," Lisa protested. "That''s why you''re a child," Del left the lobby before Lisa went with her tantrum. Del headed back to the road that he ran through yesterday. Hopefully, Alberto just decided to ambush him instead of him having toe to his house and found that his dogs were more dangerous than Alberto himself. Truth to be told, Del also feared for his life. For him, it was a little bit of risk that he would have to take to increase his status in this world, both economically and socially. He didn''t want to be seen as that one frugal adventurer that basically couldn''t afford anything. Heck, the only reason he couldn''t take a bath every day as he used to be was that the inn that had a bathroom on it cost seven silver coins per night instead of Rina''s usual three silver coins per night and that was including breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Basically, it was a refugee for low-rank adventurers. Public baths also cost around fifty copper coins per bath which equaled to one meal inside of a cheap restaurant. That was not a luxury that Del could afford at that point. Hopefully, it changed for the better once he took this onepromise that could end his entire life. At best, he walked away with minor injuries. [Del, do you need something else?] "No, thanks for asking," Del said. Del continued walking to Begard. He looked left and right while staying vignt. He didn''t want that Alberto bastard to catch him off guard. He knew that even one swing from the big heavy sword of his could end his life. He would need his advantage in the distance by using a pistol and use his dislike of loud noise. He really didn''t want to use his sword to fight Alberto. In a sword duel, he would definitely lose without any doubt. "Alberto¡­ where are you?" Del looked around while appearing harmless. The bushes in the grasnd surrounding the road didn''t move an inch. There was no sound besides the chirping of the bird. It gave Del anxiety and cold sweat. He didn''t count the other risks. If Alberto robbed him with his friends, it was better to run or give anything that they wanted. Suddenly, Del''s ear heard something. It sounded like a footstep. Del stopped walking. He pulled his pistol out of his holster. He looked around again. The footsteps became louder and louder. Bushes surrounded the section of the road where Del was standing. Alberto coulde from anywhere. Del calmed himself down as he looked at one of the suspicious bushes. The bushes moved even though there wasn''t any wind. He aimed his pistol in the direction of the bush. He took a deep breath. His heart was pumping as he applied pressure on the trigger. He pulled the trigger. "FUCK!!!" Someone stood up from the bush. The person that came out of the bush was none other than Alberto. It matched the description. He was big, tall, and ugly. He held a giant sword that was probably as big as Lisa. He looked at Del with a very angry face. "FUCK YOU! I''LL KILL YOU!" Alberto wasn''t scared. Wait, when the quest description said that Alberto disliked noise, did it mean that he will be enraged instead of being scared of it? ''Oh no, I miscalcted, I''m dead.'' Del immediately pulled the trigger as fast as he could to Alberto. His footsteps were shaking the ground, Del didn''t have a word to describe it. Alberto''s face was red like a devil. He swung his sword blindly across the bushes while cutting it. Del noticed that there was a hole right on the left side of Alberto''s chest. Del ran as fast as he could from Alberto, "A SHOT TO THE CHEST ISN''T ENOUGH???" "LITTLE KID, TIME''S UP. TIME TO SLEEP!!!" Alberto shed his sword in Del''s direction and Del managed to dodge it. He aimed his pistol and shot thest three bullets inside of the 8-round magazine. One bullet hit Alberto''s hand, one hit Alberto''s chest, and thest one hit Alberto''s leg. Those parts started to bleed, but Alberto was still standing. "HOW CAN YOU STILL STANDING AFTER BEING SHOT?" Del reced the old magazine with a new one. "TAKE THIS! LITTLE BOY!!!" Wind gushed as Alberto swung his sword at Del. The sword missed his torso, but it shed his upper left arm, leaving a big sh wound. "ARRRGGHHH!!!" Del screamed in pain as he looked at blooding out of his arm. Del aimed at Alberto''s head after he jumped backward. He tried to calm himself down to get a proper aim. The wound on his hand prevented him from doing so. The sight swayed to left and right. He pulled the trigger five times. Alberto finally flinched and he stopped swinging his sword. However, he only flinched, he didn''t even fall to the ground. One of the bullets hit Alberto right in his left eye, he was blinded temporarily. Alberto pointed his sword at Del, "LITTLE FUCK!!! YOU''LL PAY FOR THIS" Del didn''t have time to listen. The wound on his arm was bigger than expected. Blood had begun dripping out from his arm. To make matters worse, the blood had dirtied the left side of his shirt with blood. It must have hit the artery. Del took another aim to Alberto''s head and pulled the trigger. Thest two bullets flinched Alberto again. This time, Alberto took a little pause and took a look at the blood that came out of his left eye. He seemed to start panicking as well. "DIE, YOU SHITHEAD!" Del reloaded his pistol and he took a far more drastic and dangerous move. He ran towards Alberto and he put his pistol right at Alberto''s head in point-nk range. He pulled the trigger several times before Alberto kicked him down in his stomach. "ARGGH!" Del flinched as he threw up and dropped his empty pistol on the ground. He threw up all of his breakfast. He looked at Alberto and he had dropped his sword. Alberto was holding his face in pain. However, Del was sure that he wouldn''t die even from that kind of injury. Del stood up with his onest strength and he unsheathed the sword and held it with his right hand. Del ran towards Alberto with his sword right in his hands. "DIE YOU BASTARD!" Del shouted as loud as he could as he charged towards Alberto. The sword bounced through his head. However, the charge was sessful. Instead of his head, the sword punched through Alberto''s heart. Alberto vomited blood as he dropped dead on the ground. Del took a deep breath as he held his bleeding arm with his right hand. He couldn''t believe that he won. "I¡­ Won," Del sat down on the road. He took the medicine that the guild receptionist gave to him. He pulled out the sterile gauze from his pocket and started treating his wound by stuffing the wound with the gauze. Thest time he had this kind of injury was when Anna identally shed his arm with a cutter. He continued stuffing the wound with gauze until the blood stopped dripping from the wound.. The pain was still lingering on his left arm, but he was more than happy that he could walk away from the battle with only a deep wound on his left hand. Chapter 10 - Medicines & New Partner "You shouldn''t do that kind of stunt again, understand?" Rina scolded Del as she helped him treating his wound. Del made quite amotion when he entered the town with his clothing ripped apart and his body drenched in blood. However, he also brought the evidence that Alberto was dead which was his big sword. He also looted some silver coins off from Alberto''s body. Itted him some cash to spend forter. Still, the cash on Alberto''s body was not enough to buy any rifle that [Modern Weapon Summoning System] provided. "But Rina, look at the cash I gathered," Del said to Rina. "I don''t care even if you finish a quest that grants you ten gold coins. If you die, it will be the end for you," Rina said. Lisa approached Del, "Del, don''t do it again, alright? My mom will lose another employee if you go away." "Sure little kiddo," Del said as Lisa pinched Del''s feet, "Ouch, ouch, why would you do that?" "I hate you, Del," Lisa came running out of the room. Del didn''t understand what was going on. It seemed that Lisa was a little bit more caring to him than usual. He wondered what happened to her. He wanted to ask Rina but she was busy treating his wound by sewing it. "You know, my daughter is worried sick for you," Rina continued sewing his wound, "[Healing Hands]!" "Really?" Del asked. "Yeah, now sit still, I''m still sewing the big blood vessel," Rina said. "Alright, ma''am," Del said as he sat still while bearing the pain on his left hand. In total, Del had around seventy-five silver coins now. It should be enough to buy him two new white shirts and one new cargo pants for him to wear. He also nned to buy better ammunition. The .45 ACP FMJ wasn''t enough to kill a level 10 person. He might want to buy the Armor Piercing ammunition, but he also wanted to buy the hollow point ammunition. It was rather a confusing choice for him. He didn''t know whether the round prated Alberto''s body or it didn''t go deep enough to cause any significant injury to his body. Still, he wanted to have arger caliber firearm as soon as possible. With arger caliber, he would be able to kill a more dangerous enemy than a mere level twelve bandit. He also felt that having arge caliber firearm should give him an advantage of engaging enemies in a longer range. "Alright, done, don''t you touch any water for these two days, ok? My healing spell works perfectly, but we still need time for your wound to heal uppletely," Rina said as she picked up the container where she put her medicine and she left the room. [Del, you might need an Ibuprofen for treating the pain.] "Why?" Del asked. [The pain that you felt right now has been reduced by Ibuprofen. After the Ibuprofen wore off, you''ll feel so much pain that I doubt that you can even move your body.] "Alright, how much does it cost?" ?????? [Showing Amenities: Medicine] [Ibuprofen Painkiller] [3$] [1 Stripe] [Amoxilin Antibiotic] [3$] [1 Stripe] ?????? "Alright, take the two silver coins then, do you have any direction on how often I should take the tablets?" Del asked. [Three times a day, after a meal.] "Alright, I''ll consume it ording to the instruction," Delid down on his bed. He put the stripe of Ibuprofen below his pillow. He didn''t want Rina to find a silver stripe containing medicine located right below his pillow. He knew that thebination of painkillers and antibiotics should help him to heal faster. After all, he wanted to make use of the system as much as he could. He wanted to gain enough power to convince Anna to his side. If Anna were on his side, he would have a family in the world where everyone wanted to kill him. It might be a hyperbole expression, but he had the feeling that the king wanted to assassinate him if he gave too much attention. If he proved that he was strong enough to join the heroes'' party, the king would have to swallow his word. Knowing his dignity, he might have Del killed. "Thinking about it, what my friends are doing right now? I bet they are having so much fun in the pce without worrying about a damn thing," Del asked himself. [Del, what do you think about your friends?] "They are a bunch of assholes that will stab their friend just because they are stronger than him. Well, except for Anna, she''s my sister," Del said. [Anna? Who is she?] "My twin sister, basically my female edition," Del said. [I see. Well, I hope both of you can meet soon enough.] "I don''t know about that. Well, for now, let''s think about surviving first, ok?" Del said. [Understand, I''ll do my best to keep you alive until that moment arrives] "Thanks, Pidma, you''re the best," Del said. [Sure.] He looked outside, at the grasnd. The wind was blowing so peacefully on the grasnd. The slimes were jumping across the grasnd. There were also some wild animals such as horses. They looked so peaceful. Del hoped that he could live a peaceful life. After all, as much as he likedbatting and shooting, he preferred to just shoot at a non-moving target instead of a bandit that wanted to kill him and would do anything to make sure that Del got killed. He was also still shocked with what money and his hands could do. "I just killed a person, didn''t I? He is a viin, but does he have a family? What if his money is actually used for donations for the poor? What if he robbed people because it is the only thing that he could do?" Del asked himself that question out loud. It didn''t matter though, the person was dead, and thinking about it was very stupid. *** Del ate his food at the dining area. Thanks to the painkiller and the antibiotic pills, he didn''t have the lingering sensation of pain on his left arm. He wasn''t wearing any shirt since hisst white shirt was thrown away by Rina. It wasn''t a big deal, it wasn''t umon to see a topless adventurer. Nobody would even mind him just using his pants while walking in the inn. The only person that would warn him was Lisa. She disliked seeing a topless body. Suddenly, a female adventurer approached him, "Excuse me, your name is Del, right?" "Yes, why do you ask?" Del asked as he continued eating his meal. "I heard that you beat that bastard Alberto. You are stronger than I expected. I like that in a man," the female adventurer said. This female adventurer was weird. Del looked at her, she was beautiful. She had red hair and she also wore thick leather armor that covered the vital parts of her body such as chest, stomach, upper hands, and thighs. From the look of her sword which was decorated with yellow stripes on its sheath, Del guessed that she must be a high-rank adventurer. At the very least, the woman might be an E-rank adventurer or more. "What do you want?" Del asked. "I''m looking for someone for my party. Someone who is reliable enough but not too wise. Someone who won''t argue with their quest rewards. Someone who will do his jobs reliably. Someone who is¡­" Del cut the female adventurer''s long talk, "You need me?" "Yes, that summarizes it, I guess?" The woman thought for a minute. "Alright, what can I do for you and what should I do for you?" Del asked. "I want you to work together with me. I need someone who will watch my back without any question. Are you ok with that or should I search for a braver man?" The woman asked. If Del took the offer, he would have the opportunity to do a harder quest and gain more money in the process. However, there was also the risk of being stabbed in the back with this woman. After all, he couldn''t trust anybody in this world. Still, the woman wouldn''t steal anything, would she? "Let''s talk about payment, shall we?" Del asked. "You''ll get 30% of the total payment from the quest, is that a deal for you?" The woman asked. "What''s your rank?" Del asked. "C." Del immediately spurted his drink, "C???" "Yeah, I''m a C-rank adventurer. If you want to make some real money instead of just scraping by, you better work for me. So, will you take the offer or not? I don''t like waiting," the woman said. "Alright, it''s a deal then. I''ll help you on your quest in exchange for 30% of the total rewards. When can I start?" Del asked. "Three days from now, I''ll wait at the Guild Building. Make sure that youe and I don''t want to see you topless," the woman said as she left the table. Del didn''t have anyment. He was confused on how a C-rank adventurer was able to find him? Well, it was something unexpected. It could be a trap as far as Del knew, but well, it was not really dangerous to go adventuring with her either. Rina approached the table and picked up Del''s empty te, "Have you finished eating yet? How was Laire?" Del looked at Rina in surprise, "Do you know her?" "Yup, I know Laire. She might be an asshole, but she''s actually not that bad," Rina answered. Del became even more surprised, "What? Look, Rina, she came to me like a hungry old woman looking for a young man. What makes you think I will ept her request?" Rina replied with a smirk, "Because you''re poor and she''s not. C''mon, just ept her request, she won''t kill you or anything." "Well, fair enough. If you trust her, I think I should trust her too." "Don''t worry Del, she won''t do anything to you under my watch," Rina said. "Ok, thanks, Rina," Del stood up from his chair. "My pleasure." Chapter 11 - Laire Del prepared himself to face the mysteriousdy, whom Rina somehow knew, and whom he met at the inn three days ago. He brought his pistol alongside new and improved rounds. He brought .45 ACP Armor-Piercing bullets for this job. Still, he also bought two packages of the same sterile gauzes inside of his adventurer''s belt along with the leftover pills. He felt something wasn''t right with that woman that he met, but he couldn''t figure what it was. Age-wise, this woman was older than Rina but probably younger than Del''s mother on earth. Del opened the door of the guild building, "Morning." "Ah, Del, good morning. Mrs. Laire is expecting you," the guild receptionist said. "Oh, I see, good morning to you too," Del said as he walked deeper into the guild building. If there was one atmosphere that could describe the guild building, it was fancy. The alcoholic drinks on the guild building priced ten times more than what the inn sold to Del. He knew that when he got ripped off by the bartender when he bought a drink there. Gems and expensive metals were decorating the bar of that guild building. In that bar, Del found the woman that he was looking for. She still wore the same armor as three days ago so she was actually easy to find. "Good Morning," Del said as he sat down on the chair across from her. "Morning, how''s your arm?" Laire asked. "Good, very good in fact," Del said. "The job for today is simple. We have to escort a carriage moving from Midham to Alder. You know where Alder is, right?" Laire asked. Alder was a town located on the south side of Midham. It was a town built around a harbor. That town was located right beside the sea that connected to the demonic continent. Basically, Alder would be targeted by the demons if the invasion forces arrived. The harbor town was one of the trading hubs inside of the Elbanian Kingdom. A lot of carriages wanted to go to that location for trading. The road to Alder was infested with bandits that were looking for profit. The knights from the Elbanian Kingdom were patrolling the road connecting Midham and Alder, but they weren''t enough to prevent the carriages from being attacked by bandits. Usually, any merchant would hire adventurers to escort their carriage. "I know the ce, but I have never been there in my entire life," Del said. "It''s your first time then, it must be very exciting for you," Laire said. "I know, but still, is there any other member of the team?" Del asked. "Nope, it''s just you and I," Laire said. "Great," Del sarcastically said. Del didn''t feel confident that just two of them would be enough to guard a carriage. However, he was also aware that a group of bandits probably only ranked at D-rank and the person that was apanying him was C-rank. "C''mon, are you doubting my power? Don''t be like that," Laire said. "I see. Anyway, where''s the carriage?" Del asked. "The carriage is located right beside the guild building. We just need to greet the merchant and he would start moving towards Alder," Laire said. Del and Laire got out of the guild building. They approached the carriage and the merchant greeted them. Del and Laire entered the carriage and the carriage started moving towards Alder. During the trip, Del decided to check on his status te. He felt that the battle with Alberto should give him enough experience to level up. ????????? [Del Moore] [Level: 5] Strength: 15 Agility: 18 Vitality: 28 Aptitude: 12 Perception: 18 Skills: Language Comprehension | Marksmanship LVL.2 | Firearms Comprehension LVL.3 Magical Energy: 240/240 Health Point: 1400/1400 ????????? "Not bad," Del thought to himself as he looked at his own stats. "Your status te is not bad for a person that is F-rank. You''re doing good, kid," Laire said. "Thanks, Laire," Del said. While he was in the carriage, he kept his hand on the holster of the pistol. He wanted to be ready to engage the enemy when they appeared. However, Del still hoped that the road to Alder was smooth without any obstacle. "What are you transporting?" Del asked the merchant. "You know, the usual, sugar. The people at the harbor really love sugar for no reason at all," the merchant answered. "They used it to make candy. It is a very convenient food," Laire said. "Really?" "Yeah, the tastiest candy in the whole Elbanianes from Alder after all. Anyway, what brings you to Midham, Del," Laire said. "I''d rather not talk about it," Del said to Laire. "Understandable," Lairemented. As the carriage moved, the wind was blowing Del''s head. It felt soothing and cold. The road to Alder was busier as well. There were several carriages that Del met along the way. Those carriages were owned by the merchants. The bandits hadn''t appeared yet. It was a good thing. Del wasn''t in the mood of fighting any bandits. He didn''t want to have any injury ever again. It hurt and it took a long time to heal. The wound also could kill him if the wound was big enough. "Let''s walk, my guts telling me that something isn''t right," Laire said as she tapped the back of the merchant so he slowed down his carriage. Del and Laire stepped outside of their carriage and they began walking alongside the carriage. They looked around at any potential ambush point. The bandits loved using big rocks and tall grass to hide. Just like Alberto, bandits usually looked very scary. They usually wore piercings or anything simr. Suddenly, Laire told the carriage to stop. "STOP! Del, back me up, I think I see something suspicious behind that rock," Laire said as she walked to one of the rocks. Del pulled his pistol out of the holster and he aimed at the bushes while making sure that he didn''t aim at Laire because it would be disastrous if he tried to kill her. He had no doubt that Laire would be able to kill him easily. Del looked closely at the bush. There was something suspicious on that bush. For example, there was a blood mark on one of the leaves of the bush. It could be from someone that was bleeding or worse¡­ "Blood mark?" Laire investigated the leaf. She walked further inside of the bush with her sword readied on her hands. She kicked the bush while looking for anything suspicious. Del walked closer to the bush. He aimed his pistol at the bush. Right now, he really wished that he bought a shotgun. Even basic buckshot would be better than .45 ACP at that kind of range. "I found something, Del, cover my back," Laire moved the leaves of the bush, "Oh boy, it looks like we will have a nice meal today." "What do you find?" Del approached the bush. A demon wasying down in the bush. Blood wasing out of its left thigh. Someone must have shed the demon. Appearance-wise, the demon looked way too simr to a regr human being. The only difference was the horns on top of its head. "A demon?" Del put his pistol into his holster. "Yeah, if we can capture it, we can have some nice amount of cash," Laire said. The demon looked harmless. Del felt that he shouldn''t capture the demon. He didn''t understand the why of things. The rivalry between the demons and the humans was not something that Del understood at all. However, cash was cash and Del wanted cash. "How much would we get from capturing it?" Del asked. "Maybe five to six gold coins, but we need him alive," Laire said. 30% of six gold coins was around two gold coins. It was a lot of money. It should be enough to buy Del a cheap rifle with its ammunition. He needed the money so he agreed to capture the demon with Laire. "Alright, should I treat his wound?" Del asked. "Sure. I do have a healing potion, but it''s for me and only me. Maybe you can temporarily fix its wound using your bandage or something," Laire said. "Alright, I shall do it. Cover my back, will you?" Del approached the demon closer. "Sure, go do your work then," Laire said. Del pulled out the sterile gauze of the stic packaging and started stuffing the wound with the gauze after he identified the point of bleeding. However, Laire looked at him with confusion. She never saw someone with enough proficiency to treat an open wound like that with the same age as Del. "Del, where did you learn to treat wound like that?" Laire asked. "My mother taught me two years ago. My sister is so clumsy. She always has the opportunity to injure anyone in her vicinity," Del continued packing the wound. "Still, I have a daughter and she never injures anyone to that kind of extent," Laire pointed her hand at the big wound. "My sister is the kind of person that dropped an axe on top of my knee more than once, you get the idea, right?" Del asked back. "I see." Del finished packing the wound of that Demon and Laire carried the demon on her back.. She put the demon into the carriage and they continued their journey to Alder. Chapter 12 - The Demon, Cole Alder was a town famous for its harbor. The seagulls were flying on top of the harbor. The ships were docked on the harbor. Most of the ships either came from the north or the south. It was very rare for ships toe from the West which was where the demonic continent was located. The demon was conscious all the time. He was sittingying down with the goods that the merchant brought to Alder. Laire kept an eye on the demon while Del kept an eye on the road. "What do you want from me? Let me go!" The demon shouted. "Say what? Listen, I don''t know what you''re talking about but you about to get me some cash," Laire said. "You evil creature, you''ll pay for this!" The demon shouted. Laire kicked the demon''s face, "Shut up!" Del didn''t have any idea whether Laire pretended that she didn''t understand the demon or not. However, he eventually remembered that [Language Comprehension] skill made him able to understand both of them. Del decided to strike a conversation with the demon. "Hey, you, what''s your name?" Del asked the demon. "Cole, call me Cole. Hey, you save me, right? Can you save me from this deranged woman?" Cole said. "Oh, so your name is Cole. What are you doing in this continent anyway?" Del asked. "I''m just doing my research, I swear. I''m just a student. I have nothing to do with the military," Cole said. Del was surprised to see someone with some intellectual background. Laire seemed not to have any intellectual background after all. Inspecting him again, it looked like the demon was not as dangerous as he thought nor as old as he thought. "Research? Research for what? Are you a university student or something?" Del asked. "You know university. I''m surprised a barbarian like you know something such as university," Cole said. Del smacked Cole''s head with his hand, "Damn, I saved you and you dare to call me a barbarian?" "Sorry, sorry, I was joking, I swear," Cole said. Laire looked at Del with displeasure. She didn''t say a word, but she kept an eye on Del. Being to speak in demonguage was something umon in that world. Del hadn''t realized that Laire also overheard the conversation. "Del, excuse me, but why are you speaking with that evil creature?" Laire asked. "Oh, sorry, no, I am just wondering who he is," Del said. "And¡­ did you find out who he is?" Laire asked. Del thought for a second. He needed an answer that wouldn''t arise any suspicion from Laire. He couldn''t tell that Cole was just an innocent little demon. "Wait a minute, I haven''t dug too much info from him," Del said. "Oh, take your time then," Laire said. Laire kept an eye on the road this time while Del kept an eye on Cole. Del continued their interrupted conversation. "Cole, I have never heard about the demonic continent. Can you tell me one thing or two about it?" Del asked. "It''s just like this continent with the exception that nobody tries to kill me there. Well, we do have a more advanced technology level than this continent. Why do you ask? Are you going to visit the continent anytime soon?" Cole asked. "I think the answer is no," Del said. "A barbaric like you won''t understand our society anyway," Cole said. Del responded with another smack on his head, "Damn, keep calling me barbaric and I might think to pull the bandages that I have stuffed there." "No thanks," Cole smiled. "What''s your expertise anyway? What are you researching in this continent? Is there even a necessity to do research where you would be killed in any opportunity possible?" Del asked. "Listen, the thing that I have to research is only avable inside of this continent. That thing happens to be a material called Darium. What is Darium? Darium is a catalyst for magical stones. It has the capabilities of increasing the efficiency of magical stones 85% more than using an ordinary catalyst," Cole said. "Oh, you took Engineering?" Del asked. "Ah, you''re very smart," Cole said. "Chemical Engineering, I presume," Del asked. "Exactly," Cole said. "Why are you researching about this Darium anyway?" Del asked. "It''s something very interesting and might be useful for our continent. Still, I''m only here to get a cheaper price for Darium," Cole said. "I see," Del said. "Well, I had known the risk ofing here. I guess, it''s hardbor all the way for me," Cole said, referring to his capture. "Hahaha, sorry friend, I don''t know how to help," Del said. Del finally arrived at the guild building in Alder. Carriages were crowding the city. The streets of the city were jammed by the number of carriages in that harbor town. Most of the carriages were filled with cargoes. People moved the cargoes from the carriages into the ships in the harbor. Del was carrying the wounded demon on his back and Laire was inside of the guild building. Blood wasn''t dripping out of the gauzes so it was good. "Ouch, can you not move so much?" Cole asked. "Why?" Del asked. "My thigh hurts man," Cole said. "Shut up, you are my prisoner," Del said. "What are you going to do with me?" Cole asked. "Well, I am thinking of selling you or something. You will make me rich!" Del said while grinning. "Please, I beg you, don''t sell me," Cole said. "Nope, money is money," Del said. "I can be useful to you. My knowledge will be helping you a lot, I promise," Cole said. "Helping me like what?" Del asked. "I can make you something that can go boom. I can make painkillers. I can do anything man, just please, don''t sell me," Cole begged. Del thought for a moment. If Cole worked for him, he might be able to make some interesting chemicals for him in the future. However, he would also miss the opportunity to get a decent amount of gold coins from selling him. As Del lost in his thought, Laire came out of the guild building with six gold coins in her hands. Laire gave Del two gold coins. It was a good amount of payment since it was equal to 200$ just for escorting a carriage from a threat that didn''t exist. "Now, let''s go to the ve registration building. Any captured demon should be put inside of the database before they can be sold," Laire said. "ve needs to be registered first? I never know that," Del said. "Of course they need to be registered first. Where do you think we can get a ve cor for the demon?" Laire asked back. "Oh, they provide it?" Del asked. "Yes," Laire said. Both of them walked to the ve registration building. Del followed Laire from behind since he didn''t know where the ve registration building was located. As he walked, the passenger on his back kept begging him not to be sold. "Please, don''t sell me as a ve, please," Cole begged. "You need to be more convincing than that, pal," Del said. "I already said earlier, I can make you explosives or painkillers," Cole said. "Unless you can make abustible powder, I don''t care," Del said. "Please, I can try to make it, just let me go, I will do anything that you want," Cole said. "I''ll think about it," Del said. They continued walking to the ve registration building. Del gave a thought to Cole''s proposal. If he could make an improvedbustible powder, Del might be able to enhance the capabilities of the bullets that he owned. Not to mention the potential investment of having someone with a Chemical Engineering degree on his team would certainly help him in his efforts in making money. He might also be able to make an explosive stronger than a standard military explosive. However, there was also a real possibility that this one demon would be able to stab him in the back, killing him while he slept, or worse. It was not something that Del could predict with ease at the moment. Del needed to think of a solution. It was between gold coins or a demon as a potential ally. It was a tough choice. Laire was the leader of the party so it was really up to her whether Cole would be sold or not. "Alright, we finally arrive, can you put the demon down?" Laire said as she opened the door of the building. Inside the building were many reception tables. Those reception tables were the ce where ves were registered. Looking at the people in that building, many demons were smaller than him, even as young as Lisa. Del was disgusted, but there was nothing that he could do. Underaged very was more thanmon in that world. Matching the standard of that world and Earth was not something that he should do. "What can I do for you?" The receptionist asked. "I''d like to register a new ve, here''s the ve," Laire said. "Very well, we just need to write some details," the receptionist said. The receptionist wrote some details. From the looks of it, the receptionist was writing the general detail of Cole from his heights, his weight, his appearance, etc. Basically, if he got lost, it wouldn''t be hard to find him. "Who will be the temporary owner of this ve?" the receptionist asked. "This kid," Laire said. "Wait a minute, why do you use me? I don''t even want to own a ve," Del protested. "Listen here, kid, if I register here, I will have to pay some amount of extra taxes while you are just a new ve owner which means no taxation for you, got it?" Laire said. "But I don''t want to own a ve," Del said. "Kid, just follow what I said, will you?" Laire red at him. Del sighed, "Fine, my name is Del Moore." "Congrattion for your new ve, sir," the receptionist shook Del''s hand. Del epted the hand but he felt disgusted about it. Chapter 13 - Cole And New Rifle After Del got out of the building, he felt a little bit awkward. It wasn''t because he disliked turning Cole into a ve. It was more because he actually owned Cole, inside and out. It also meant that everything that Cole did became whatever that Del wanted. He felt ufortable because of it. He hated very, yet, he was a ver himself. If Del owned Cole, did it mean that Del could actually im Cole all for himself? It would be a good thing to have if Laire allowed it. The thing was Del wasn''t sure about that. "Laire, what should I do with Cole?" Del asked while still carrying Cole on his back. "Well¡­ you can sell him, and I won''t take any cut from the ve sale if you decide to sell him. The ve is yours. You can keep it, or anything," Laire said. "Why?" Del didn''t understand. "Ask Rina," Laire said. "Ah, I see." Del just realized that Rina and Laire were in the same age group. It was no wonder why both of them had the same aura surrounding them, an old adventurer aura. However, it raised another question, what Rina and Laire were agreeing on? "Is there something that I haven''t known yet?" Del asked. "Besides the fact that Rina paid me fifty silver coins and one bottle of healing potion? I don''t think I haven''t told you anything besides it. Besides, I only want the healing potion from her. Anyway, I''ll need to go alone from here and out. You''re on your own, good luck," Laire said as he left Del. "Healing Potion? How expensive is that thing anyway?" Del asked. "10 gold coins. Anyway, see you, Del," Laire said. Del was left alone in Alder with a demon who was older than him. Luckily, he wasn''t taller than him, otherwise, the demon would have an idea about installing an inferiorityplex at him. Nevertheless, having someone in thest semester of his university year would prove to be advantageous, especially since he could use chemistry to make something. "Man, stop moving so intensely, my wound is still aching," Cole said. "Shut up! will you? goddamn it! My back is also aching from carrying you," Del said. "But mate," Cole said. "First of all, let me establish that I own you. Second, shut up already so people don''t look at us. Third, my name is Del, not mate," Del said. "Ah, Del, that''s quite a nice name," Cole said. "Yes. Now shut up! Unless you can make me a painkiller for my back," Del said. "Oh, I can make a white powder of meds from mixing Telse Flower, Andali Leaves with Magical Stones Powder," Cole said. "What?" Del squinted his eyes. [White Powder of Meds that he is talking about is Morphine Sulfate] "Isn''t the white powder that you''re talking about is illegal?" Del asked. "Yes, but at the same time, a lot of people buy it for unknown reasons," Cole said. "Damn, if you can create such substance like that, I wonder why bounty hunter hasn''te after you yet," Del said. Different from adventurers, bounty hunters were far more dangerous than adventurers. They worked together to hunt a certain individual using strategy and tactics. These individuals were usually adventurers that had a rank above C and were willing to kill other people for money. Being hunted down by a bounty hunter was basically a nightmare. "Well, I do get some mercenariesing after me," Cole said. "Mercenaries? Hmm, never heard of that," Del said. "I see. Anyway, do you need that white powder?" Cole asked. "Maybe for a small amount," Del said. "Good. The ingredients are expensive if not dangerous to find anyway," Cole said. Del finally arrived at the carriage that he was going to rent. Six passengers were sitting inside the carriage. The price of the ride to Midham was thirty silver coins. Del paid the carriage driver and he entered the carriage with Cole. The moment Cole entered the carriage, the whole crowd was looking at him. Del had no idea that Demon was as despised as that. Still, the moment they looked at Cole''s neck, they took a deep breath knowing that Cole was a ve. "So, Cole, I''m not selling you for several reasons besides your knowledge in Chemical Engineering," Del spoke in demonguage. "What are the other reasons?" Cole asked. "I need a guardian angel. Someone that will cover my back. You''re kind of an unexpected opportunity for me. Basically, I need you to protect me from the threats," Del said. "No, I don''t¡­" Suddenly, the ve cor started choking Cole. Although Cole was struggling to breathe, Del didn''t panic nor try to help him. He just found the expression quite funny, especially after everything that he had done for Cole and he was still bitching about Del''s way of treating him. He didn''t like very, but Cole was quite ainer. "Is he going to be okay?" One of the peasants inside of the carriage asked. "He might die, but to be honest, I don''t know how to stop it. It might stop soon though," Del said while holding his aching back. The cor stopped choking Cole and he started catching up his breath, "Don''t do that again, please." Del sighed, "Dude, I didn''t do anything." "You must be lying," Cole said. "Damn, why won''t you believe me? I''m not even the one that put the cor around your neck," Del said. "Shut up, you''re my owner!" Cole shouted. "Listen here moron, I think we should talk back at the inn. These people are thinking that we are up to something," Del said as he looked at the other passengers of that carriage. Both of them went quiet during the ride to avoid any weird gaze from the other passengers of the carriage. It seemed that none of them could mind their own business. It wasn''t like Del and Cole had something interesting to be heard anyway. The quiet ride ended as they arrived at Midham. Del paid the carriage and he carried Cole on his back again. He entered the inn and the first person that greeted him was none other than the little brat, Lisa. "Del, why are you bringing¡­ a demon?" Lisa asked. "Heyya, little girl" Cole waved her hand. Lisa shrieked, "Del! Put the demon away from me, he''s scaring me." "C''mon, Lisa, he''s my ve. His name is Cole," Del said. "Your ve?" Lisa asked. "Yes," Del said. "Mom needs to know about this, MOM!" Lisa shouted to the kitchen. Rina came out of the kitchen with an apron on her body. She looked at Del and she just nodded. She went back to the kitchen and Lisa looked dissatisfied with theck of reaction from her dear mother. Del just smirked in satisfaction after knowing Rina''s emotionless reaction. "See, even your mother will understand that the demon is harmless," Del said. However, the smirk went away once Rina came back with something different than the medical equipment box that he used to treat Del''s wound. However, the next question came as an even bigger surprise than that. "Alright, I only can harvest one organ from the demon, what kind of organ that you want?" Rina asked. Del just scratched his head, "Rina, I think you''ve mistaken my request this once. I want the demon to be fixed, not harvested." "Ohhh, I see, I see. You need me to sew his wound?" Rina asked. "Yes, I own him anyway," Del said to Rina. However, there was something that Del didn''t expect from Cole. He somehow feared Rina to a certain extent. She was indeed holding her scissor and her wound treatment equipment, but Del didn''t think that Rina would kill Cole. "Del, save me from this deranged woman!" Cole said. "Heck no, this woman will save you," Del said. Del dropped Cole on the wooden floor of the inn and left it for Rina. He wanted to return to his room. He was tired as his back was aching like hell. He also wanted to speak with Pidma. He had enough money to buy a bolt-action rifle now. Del opened the lock of his door and he entered his room. The crackers were still in the metal box on his table, Del might want to eat it sooner orter. "Pidma, open shop, browse rifle. Convert my total bnce too, including every money in this room." [Converting Total Bnce¡­ Total Bnce = 235$] ?????? [Showing Avable Bolt-Action Rifle] [Mosin Nagant] [100$] [Carcano Rifle] [195$] [Kar98] [200$] [M1917 Enfield] [250$] ?????? "Why the M1917 is more expensive than Kar98?" Del asked. [Because M1917 has more ammo variant] "I see. Well, give me Kar98 then, I only have the money for that," Del said. [Ammo too?] "Yeah, show me." ?????? [Showing Avable 7.92x57 mm Mauser rounds] [7.92x57 FMJ] [10x] [25$] [7.92x57 HP] [10x] [50$] [7.92x57 AP] [10x] [80$] [7.92x57 APS] [10x] [120$] ?????? "Alright, just give me the cheaper one alongside the ammo." [Ok] The metal box on top of the desk in his room closed. Del approached the metal box and he approached opened it. The Kar98 wasying down inside of that metal box alongside the crackers and a small box of ammunition. "Nice¡­" Del held the rifle in his hand, "This should¡­" Del passed out because of exhaustion. Chapter 14 - Cole, Pyrotechnics, And Guns "Mate, mate, wake up," someone was pping Del''s face. Del opened his eyes. The back of his head was aching. The first thing that he saw was that demon, Cole, was pping his face. He continued pping Del''s face until Del grabbed him by the hand. "I''m okay. I''m only exhausted. You don''t need to p me like that," Del grabbed his hand. "Oh, sorry, what''s the thing that you hold on your hands anyway?" Cole pointed his hands at the rifle. Del thought of a lie, "It''s a magical tool. It''s powered bybustible powder, that''s why I need you." "Oh, I see. What kind ofbustible powder that you need anyway?" Cole asked. Del tried to remember for a second what the powder inside of a bullet was called. He remembered that it was called a powder. He wasn''t sure whether it was called smokeless powder, odorless powder, or colorless powder. "Can you make odorlessbustible powder?" Del asked. "I''m afraid it''s a little bit impossible to make abustible powder that doesn''t create a stinky byproduct. However, I know the ingredient that can make your armpit odorless," Cole said. Del sniffed his armpit, "Is my armpit smells that bad?" "Well, probably above the average? But yeah, it smells," Cole said. "Alright, let me be more specific on my request. I don''t think the name of the powder is odorless anyway. I need a powder that will create a lot of gas, but the gas must be colorless. Do you have any idea on how to make that?" Del asked. "Oh, I know a certain chemical reaction that creates a lot of gas. I''m not sure what chemicals that you want though," Cole said. "Great, is the ingredient easy to get?" Del asked. "Easy or hard is rather rtive. I''d say that it depends on what kind of chemical reaction that you want. All of them create byproduct, but the effect differs from one another. You got the byproduct that will be very stinky. There is another recipe that will create a toxic byproduct. There''s also the powder that willbust when touched," Cole said. "Emm, Cole, can you exin it more simply?" Del asked. "The powder is either stink, poisonous, unstable, or expensive as hell," Cole said. "I thought you can make me something, but I think I have put my expectation too high," Del sighed. "It''s chemistry, not magic, what do you expect?" Cole asked back. "Right¡­ right¡­" "Anyway, do you have a status te or something? I need to assess what''s your strength and your weakness," Del asked. "No, my stuff is lost when those bandits attacked me. I managed to push all of them away, but the wound practically immobilized me. To make matters worse, both my medical supplies and magical energy had run out back then," Cole said. "I see," Del said. Things became harder now. Without the status te that almost everyone in this world had, there would be no way to assess the usefulness of Cole inside ofbat. Del didn''t want to put him outside of danger either since he still owed him for saving his life. "About the explosives, can you make explosives that can be shaped like y?" Del asked. "Perhaps¡­" Cole looked unsure. "What''s with that expression?" Del asked. "One of the ingredients for that kind of thing is the milk of a Nlupe," Cole said. "Nlupe?" Del asked. "You know, that animal that looks like a cow but actually not. That animal would explode when killed that no one wants to hunt that animal down. The milk from Nlupe is highly vtile, but when mixed with the right ingredient, it will make a controble explosive," Cole said. "Milk? You can drink something that mmable?" Del asked. "Well, I won''t try, but you can try, I guess?" Cole said. "You want to kill me?" Del asked. "Perhaps?" Del headed out of his room with his rifle in his hands. His rifle was also equipped with a sling so he could store it on his back. He brought the ammunition for the rifle inside of the pocket of his pants. Cole followed him from behind while observing the magical tool on his back. "Pidma, how to use a Kar98?" Del asked. [Please get out of the inn first] "Alright, I see," Del said. As Del got down the stairs, Lisa looked at him again. She seemed to be confused, "Del, who are you talking to again?" "Cole." "Who is Cole?" Lisa asked. "Did you forget? This demon is called Cole," Del said. "I see," Lisa continued working. Del left the Inn and he went to the grasnd on the back of the inn again. He wanted to test the Kar98 against a weak enemy like a slime. Besides, there was also something that Rina ordered back in the day. She wanted to make food out of the dead carcass of a slime. "Alright, Pidma, teach me how to use the rifle." [Hold the bolt handle, pull it backward] Del held the bolt handle with his hand and he pulled it backward, "put the bullets right?" [Right] Del put in the bullets one by one from his pockets into the rifle. [Close the bolt and pull the trigger. Mind your stance this time, will you?] "Alright," Del aimed his rifle at a slime in the grasnd. He pulled the trigger of his rifle. 7.92 Mauser round flew from the barrel of that rifle and prated the slime body. The bullet prated right into the core of the slime itself and exited the body of the slime. The slime exploded from the force of the bullet alone and all that was left was a green gtinous substance that was scattered across the grasnd. "HOLY FUCK, what was that?" Cole was covering his ears with his hands. "This is the magical tool that I''m talking about, Cole," Del said. "I meant, how the heck did the thing explode that slime to pieces?" Cole said. "Kic energy," Del said. "Kic energy? I know what kic energy is, but I never see a thing like that before in the demonic continent, to be honest. If you sell it, you will get a lot of money, I bet," Cole said. "Hell no, this is my weapon and this weapon is mine. I ain''t going to sell this to no one, understand?" Del said. "Alright, alright. You don''t need to be that stingy, man," Cole said. Thinking about it, Del had an idea. He would take a more dangerous quest from the guild to cover his expenses. He asked Cole to tag along and Cole didn''t have any option but to agree to Del''s request. Both of them walked together to the guild building. The whole town was looking at them. Cole stood out because of his horns. If not because of his horns, no one would bat an eye. They might think that the demons were preparing for an invasion or something. Del entered the guild building and the receptionist immediately hid under his desk. "Rx, he''s my ve," Del said. "Oh, I see." The receptionist came out of his hiding. "What can I do for you, Del?" "Do you have any quest that will yield me one gold coin at the very least?" Del asked. "Emm, do you have a death wish or something? After second thought, you have a demon ve so I think you might be able to handle it. I shall give you an exnation that the rank of a quest that will yield you one gold coin is around D-rank at the very least, do you understand?" the receptionist said. "What do you have in mind?" Del asked. The receptionist looked at the guild''s book. He searched for the quest that would give Del one gold coin at the very least. "Anyway, Del, why don''t you take an examination so you can increase your adventurer rank?" The receptionist asked. "What''s the advantage of increasing my rank? I still can take a B-rank quest if I want to, right?" Del asked. "That''s true. However, by being an E-rank, you will increase your social status. There''s also a privilege in the form of a discount from the guild for any items. You will also get a special job request every once in a while," the receptionist said. "I''ll think about it, what quest do you have right now?" Del asked. "I have a request for goblin extermination, bandit extermination, high-risk delivery job, bounty hunting, dangerous ruin exploration request, item search request, dangerous animal hunting request an escort request," the receptionist said. "What''s the bounty hunting request?" Del asked. "The kingdom wants a certain merchant to disappear, do you think you can handle that?" The receptionist said. "Just give me the details," Del said. The receptionist put a piece of paper on top of the table, "You know, you should join the mercenary guild if you want to be a bounty hunter." "Why?" "Let''s just say, the job options are rather "dark" and "illegal"," the receptionist said. Del read the paper that the receptionist gave. ?????? [The Scamming Merchant] [Difficulty: Low-End D] Osmond Menzie used to be a merchant that sells paintings and ancient furniture to the royalty of the Elbanian Kingdom. However, Osmond Menzie just sold a fake piece of art for 1,000 gold coins to Count D Rose. The Elbanian Kingdom has ordered a punishment for the scamming merchant which is execution. Osmond Menzie wasst spotted in his hideout between Alder and Midham. He operates with four of his bodyguard. Treat him with caution. Appearance: Short stature. Brown Hair. Always wear a white robe. Wear a gold ring on his pinky. Have a beard. Threat Details: Osmond Menzie is not a threat. The bodyguards are approximated to be around level 9. One of them is an archer. One of them is a mage. Two of them are knights. The mage Is known to cast deadly ice darts from distances. The archer can engage a distance below one hundred yards. The knights are just regr knights. Be careful of the mage. Reward: 1 Gold Coin, 10 Silver Coins. ?????? Chapter 15 - Planning For Hunting Down Osmond Menzie In the inn restaurant, Del was having his dinner after taking a bath from the nearest bathhouse. In front of him was Cole eating his dinner with such an appetite. Besides him was his Kar98 rifle loaded with ammunition. "Cole, we need to form a n," Del said. Cole kept eating. "I am thinking of attacking them from a distance. First of all, I really need to kill the mage first. After that, I will kill the archer. I hope you can deal with those two knights when I engage the ranged units. Do you have anything to add?" Del said. Cole kept eating. "Do you have any questions?" Cole kept eating. "Perhaps, you have any suggestion for me?" Cole kept eating. "I will also add that it will be a good idea that you act as my meat shield. I think it would be best for me if you distract those two knights that are highly likely to hunt me down first. I hope you don''t mind," Del smirked. Cole stopped putting food inside his mouth, "What? Are you crazy? Do you want to get me killed?" "Well, you don''t give me any input so I have to do what I have in mind. Unless you can give me a better input, I will force you to do what I''m nning to do no matter what the condition is," Del said. "Alright, alright, let me think what I can do. Do you have any idea where this gang is located?" Cole asked. "Finding them won''t be hard. The road between Midham and Alder had little to no ce to hide a little hut where Osmond is hiding. Besides, the only reason why he is not hunted down is that nobody takes that contract because the pay is simply too low for a D-rank adventurer," Del said. "One gold coin is too low?" Cole asked. "Yes, on average, a quest for a D-rank is ranging between one to five gold coins in reward," Del said. "Really?" Cole asked. "Yeah. I might be a novice adventurer, but I am more than well-aware of the payment of each rank," Del said. "I see. Back to the main topic, I don''t want to be your meat shield. I am an engineer, not a knight," Cole said. "I think I still need to remind you that I own you. Anyway, I don''t like to use the ability of the cor on your neck. Do you have any suggestion that will make sure that the enemiese after you instead ofing after me?" Del asked. "Well, I think I can burn the grasnd so that our enemies would be focused on running away instead of fighting us," Cole said. "It would be a good idea if the fire wouldn''t spread to Midham or Alder. However, in this season, I think you will identally create a wildfire that stretches from Alder to Midham. That''s not a good idea," Del said. "I think I don''t have any choice, do I?" Cole said. "I think so," Del smirked. "Fine, I''ll be your meat shield on one condition," Cole said. "What''s the condition?" Del asked. "Give me your sword," Cole said. "Fair enough," Del said. It was the same cheap steel sword that he used to kill Alberto anyway. If Cole identally lost it, he could buy a new one as long as Cole managed to pull the operation without making any blunder. If Cole made a blunder, Del doubted that both of them coulde back to Midham in one piece. Still, even though Del wanted Cole to be a meat shield, he didn''t want to leave Cole to death. He would still treat him if he became injured from the battle. After all, even though Cole was his ve, Del still considered him to be a friend that needed to be kept on a leash. Del and Cole finished their meal. They went back upstairs to their bedroom. Del opened the metal box and put his Kar98 back into the metal box. He went into bed shortly after that. "Del, where should I sleep?" Cole asked. "Well, you can sleep on the floor if you want, but I think my bed should fit one more person," Del said. "On second thought, I''ll just sleep on the floor," Cole said. Del threw a pillow to Cole, "If you want to sleep on the floor, just make sure that you use this." "Thanks," Cole said as heid down on the floor. Del turned off the magtern that was hanging on the wall and he closed his eyes. It didn''t take too long until Cole slept. It seemed that even an injured demon would require some sleep. Del eventually closed his eyes. [Del] "Yes?" Del opened his eyes again after seeing that screen. [Why are you taking this demon as your ve? Won''t he be an extra problem for you? He needs to be fed after all] "I have one simple reason. I need someone who can back me up without asking me many questions. Cole also seems to be very educated although he is a moron in some conditions," Del replied. [I see. Will you give Cole a gun?] "For now? I think the answer is a simple no. I can''t trust him for that matter," Del said. [I see. Del, what do you think of demons in general?] "They''re just another race. I don''t care about stereotypes of this world. If Cole proves himself to be a good man, I will trust him, that''s all. He only needs to gain my respect," Del said. [Are you scared of him?] "No." [Do you need anything else?] "No, thanks for asking. Right now, I only want some sleep to be honest. Pidma, good night," Del closed his eyes. [Good night, Del] ====== I''ll post the continuation soon. Hopefully, in under 12 hours.. Thanks for reading and have a nice day. Chapter 16 - Hunting Down Osmond Menzie Cole and Del were walking in the road stretching between Midham and Alder. Del was holding his rifle in his hands while Cole was walking alongside him. The road was bordered by two things. The sea was on the west while the grasnd was on the east. To look for the house where Osmond was hiding, they only had to look to the west or walk to the west. The grasnd was mostly t and if the description from the quest was correct, it would be a good idea to start doing that as soon as possible. Cole kept an eye on the road in case bandits decide to ambush them from the bushes while Del keeping an eye on the west direction. It seemed that there was more than one house on the grasnd. "Damn, I know this is going to take a very long time," Del said. "Why so?" Cole asked. "Look at it," Del showed Cole the view of the grasnd, "There are so many houses on that grasnd. It looks like a whole settlement is established there." "I see," Cole said. "Too bad for Osmond though, a mage usually stands out and his bodyguards are not experienced at all. They''re just dangerous because of the optimalbination of the party and the number of people inside of their party," Del said. "How can a mage stands out?" Cole asked. "They usually bring a staff, a magical device, or any magical enhancement clothing. These items tend to be very expensive and stand out. We only need to find a house with a mage in it and we''re good," Del said. "I see." "I only wish that I have a binocr right now," Del said. It was hard to differentiate between one house from another, not to mention that almost all of them looked the same. The houses on the grasnd were made of wood and painted in white. Not stopping there, it seemed that there was always one person staying in front of each house. Differentiating those people without any binocr was hard. Del didn''t want to risk attacking any random house and risking the target getting away whileughing at his stupidity. He also didn''t want to be ambushed if he went door to door while asking where Mr. Osmond lived. He also didn''t know how deadly the ice dart that the mage was able to cast. Technically speaking, being shot with ice wouldn''t be as deadly as being shot with bullets. Knowing that he was very weak, Del feared that the ice dart would be able to mortally wound him. "Cole, do you have a spell that won''t burn anything?" Del asked. "Well, I have a spell that can manipte magical stones, but I don''t think it will be useful inbat," Cole said. "Anything else besides that?" Del asked. "I can heat up and cool down sses, how cool is that?" Cole said. "Oh, so you''re a walking refrigerator and stove. Nice, I might ask you to make me a cold drink or something," Del said. "What''s refrigerator?" Cole asked. "It''s just something that exists," Del said. "Oh, I can make an explosion spell too," Cole said. "Now that''s the spell that I need, great job Cole," Del said. "There is one but though," Cole said. "What''s the but?" Del asked. Col opened his palm and an explosion appeared on his hand. The explosion was small, maybe onlyparable to an explosion created from a detonator. Still, it was dangerous. If it were Del, he might have cut his own arms off. "I am only able to create an explosion this small," Cole said. "That might be small, but is there any special property of the explosion spell that you have?" Del asked. "I can make an explosion at a precise ce as long as I can see the target. Of course, it also depends on the distance of the target, the uracy of the explosion, and the amount of magical energy stored inside of my body. However, this is the biggest that I can create," Cole said. "That''s not too bad, to be honest. Can I call you Mr. Detonator?" Del asked. "Detonator, hmm, no. That is one of the reasons why I offer explosives to you anyway," Cole said. "Alright, alright, I get it. You can make a firecracker, that''s not too bad. Don''t worry, we''ll find its uses inbat," Del patted Cole''s back. Eventually, they decided to walk to the settlement on that grasnd. Del wouldn''t enter the settlement, but he would circle the settlement from a distance farther than 100 yards. He didn''t want to risk being shot by the archer. It was also an optimal range to see the target from afar. Besides, it was not like Osmond wouldn''t be standing out from the others since he always wore a white robe. Not stopping there, he would look way cleaner than his bodyguards. "Del, looked at your left! the house on the right. It looks suspicious, right?" Cole asked. There were three houses in the left direction. The house on the right looked suspicious. Two knights were guarding the house. It seemed that there was also someone holding a staff on the window of the second floor of that house. There was also a person staying on the roof of that house. In the back of that person was a bow. It seemed that it was the house of the target. Now, Del only had to coordinate his n with Cole. Cole also needed to understand the n for it to work. "This seems to be a good distance for me," Del aimed his rifle at the window where he spotted the mage. Del crouched while aiming his rifle to increase the uracy of his shooting. Shooting a 100 yards target with an iron sight was quite a challenge after all since it was the first time Del ever shot a rifle at that kind of distance. He didn''t shoot the slime at that kind of distance. He shot it at much closer distance than that. He didn''t lie down on the ground since he needed to be able to change position quickly enough so he could engage any target from a different angle and dodging the arrow that the archer might shoot at him. "Alright, here''s the n, Cole, here''s the sword." Del gave Cole his sword. "I want you to approach the house from the back. Just hide behind one of the hay bales or something. The moment you hear a loud voice from my magical weapon, you better be running at the knights." "I understand. Do you have anything else to add before I walked into my death trap?" Cole asked. "Yeah, don''t die," Del said. Cole nodded and he started walking circling the house from a distance. Del observed every single movement of the bodyguard. If he saw anything suspicious, he would take the first shot at that bodyguard. He couldn''tpromise Cole''s position at the moment. He was also unsure whether the mage had spotted him or not. If the mage had spotted him, he would have been shot by the archer. Eventually, Cole reacher his hiding spot with his sword in his hands. Del took a deep breath and aimed his rifle at the mage. Del pulled the trigger. The bullet flew right through the window and the mage fell to the floor. "Now that''s what I call a bullet," Del pulled the bolt handle of his rifle and loaded another bullet into the chamber. The archer started looking around and he eventually found Del. The knights were also charging in Del''s direction. However, Cole stabbed one of them from the back. Cole stabbed the knight from the back and he also entered a sword duel with the other knight. "DEL, I NEED A HAND HERE!" Cole shouted from afar. Del wouldn''t bother with Cole first since the bigger threat for him was the archer, not the knight. He aimed his rifle at the archer. The bullet hit the archer right in the torso. The archer fell from the roof and hit the ground hard with his head first. "DEL, I THINK I REALLY NEED A HAND HERE!" Cole shouted as he parried the sword from the knight. "YOU''LL DIE NOW, DEMON!" The knight shouted. Del pulled the bolt of his rifle and aimed it at the knight. He aimed for the torso so he wouldn''t miss. Del pulled the trigger and the knight fell to the ground. Cole raised his thumb and Del approached the house. Del walked to Osmond''s house and the inhabitants of the nearby houses were looking at them. Cole gave Del a brief situation report. "There''s no backdoor, Osmond should be inside," Cole said. Del kicked on the door and he entered the house. The house looked empty. A staircase would lead them to the second floor, but Del wanted to search the first floor first. "Cole, clear the room for any hostile, if you found Osmond, kill him!" Del said. "Got it, boss," Cole said. Del put his rifle on his back and switched to his pistol. He looked around the living room on the first floor. The firece was still burning and a bottle of wine was still on top of the coffee table. It was very fancy after all. "Damn, it would take me a long time to get this kind of amenities," Del said to himself. He searched through every possible hiding spot and he didn''t find Osmond. There was no trace of him anywhere in the living room. The wardrobe was also empty. Osmond wasn''t in the living room of that house. Del continued by searching through the kitchen. The stove was still turned on. The magical heating element was still hot as well. It seemed that Del ambushed them when they were cooking. Del continued his search by going back to the living room and headed for the bathroom. He aimed his 1911 at the door of the bathroom and he kicked the bathroom door. There was no one there. All that was there was a bathtub, a toilet, and other toilet amenities. "Damn," Del closed the door. "Del, this side is clear as well," Cole shouted from the other side. "Let''s go upstairs!" Del shouted back. Cole walked up the staircase first then followed by Del from behind. He kept his pistol in his hands while Cole kept him covered with his body. They eventually reached the second floor of that house. "Damn, there are so many rooms in here," Del said. Del also observed that there was a blood trail on the floor. It might be from the mage that he just mortally wounded. "Let''s follow this blood trail. This might lead us to anyone that is wounded," Del said. They followed the blood trail. The blood trail came from the exact position where the mage was standing. It eventually led them to a room on the corner of the house. Del kicked on the door and he found Osmond, but he''s dead. "What happened?" "I think I know what happened," a voice could be heard, but it wasn''t Cole''s. A woman appeared from behind Osmond. Blood was dripping from her mouth. Cole seemed to understand what was going on. However, Del was more focused on how to kill the threat that appeared so suddenly. "Boy, you almost killed me, if not for Osmond, I might have died," the woman said as she wiped the blood that was dripping from her mouth. "Shit¡­" Chapter 17 - An Ambush!!! "Vampire¡­" Cole muttered. "What''s wrong with vampires?" Del asked as he switched from his rifle into his pistol. "They''re very strong," Cole said. "Let''s fight her together then!" Without any hesitation, Del shot 7.92 Mauser round at the head of that vampire. The vampire flinched, but that was all. The bullet was attached to her head. She grabbed the solid bullet that was attached to her head and pulled it out. "Just that? Is that the best that you can do, human?" The vampire asked. Del loaded another round into the chamber of his rifle and decided to shoot the vampire on the torso again. The vampire flinched and blood came out of her torso. However, the same thing happened again. She pulled the bullet that was attached to her skin with her bare hand. "Can you entertain me more, human? I think the demon right next to you will be able to do better than what you did to me," the vampire said. Cole didn''t do anything to fight the vampire either. "Cole, what are you doing? Help me!" Del loaded five bullets into his rifle. "Oh, yeah, right," Cole swung his sword at the vampire but the vampire dodged his attack. The vampire just stood there while smirking at both of them. She pitied them for theirck of skills in fighting. Cole kept swinging his sword at the vampire but he kept missing the vampire. It seemed that Cole wasn''t as good as Del had expected. "Fireball!" Cole cast a fireball at the vampire. The vampire dodged the fireball and the fireball hit the wooden wall of the house. Luckily, the fireball didn''t ignite the wood. "C''mon, you two, entertain me," the vampireughed. Del aimed his rifle at the vampire. He aimed for her head again. He pulled the trigger and another bullet flew to the head of that vampire. The vampire flinched from the bullet, but again, the bullet just stuck at the skin of that vampire and she pulled it out with ease. "WHAT ARE YOU MADE OF?" Del loaded another bullet into the chamber of his rifle. "Hahahaha, I know humans are weak," the vampireughed again while she dodged Cole''s sword. Cole jumped backward to gain a distance from that vampire. He then focused his vision on the vampire. He then cast a spell, "Explosion!" An explosion appeared and it missed the vampire. Instead, it created a big hole in that house that led outside. Apparently, Del was right that the weak explosion that Cole created would be able to cut his arm off. Del didn''t hesitate and he shot another bullet to the head of the vampire. He didn''t bother to see the reaction of the vampire and he kept shooting the bullets that he kept inside of his rifle until the magazine ran dry. "Human, your attempt is futile!" The vampire said. "SHUT UP!" Del switched to his pistol and he fired every single bullet left inside of the magazine. He shot eight .45 ACP AP bullets at the vampire. None of them prated the vampire. Instead, all of them simply bounced off the body of that vampire without any reason. Right now, Del just tried everything that he could to stop that vampire down. Cole ran up from behind and tried stabbing the vampire from behind. The vampire dodged it and he kicked Cole instead and he fell to the ground. Del put another fresh magazine into his pistol and he continued shooting the vampire. Again, the bullets just bounced off everywhere. It was just something unreal for Del. Alberto was at least wounded, but this vampire seemed to only be annoyed by the bullets that he fired. He loaded thest magazine of his pistol. He shot thest magazine at the torso of the vampire before he prepared to run away from that vampire. "Is that all that you can do? it''s my turn now," the vampire said. She kicked Cole again and Cole fell to the ground. Del ran away into the staircase and the vampire noticed it. Del looked backward and the vampire was preparing a magical spell to attack him. "Precise Strike Mode: Icicle Barrage!" Bunch of icicles formed in front of the vampire. All of it flew in Del''s direction. Del tried to run for cover, but the wall where he could take refuge was too far. The icicles hit Del''s body. His chest was hit by the barrage, as well as his legs. He couldn''t run and the icicle prated Del''s torso. It entered from the back and got out from the front. Blood starteding out of his chest and Del had a hard time breathing. Del fell to the ground with the rifle in his hands. "I know you will be easy to beat," the vampire walked closer to Del, "You''re such a hassle, you know that?" Del couldn''t move. He couldn''t talk either. His left lung had copsed from the wound. The floor around him started to get stained by his blood as well. Del barely had his consciousness. Del looked at Cole. Del muttered hisst words, "Cole, if you somehow meet someone called Anna Moore. Tell her to visit my grave." Del finally closed his eyes. He wasn''t able to maintain his consciousness. His life was full of regrets, but he knew that he would die. He just didn''t expect it to happen too soon. He expected he would be killed in another world after all. However, some things were left unknown to Del. === Cole looked at Del''s body, "Is he still alive? What are you even doing in here?" "What are you doing with him anyway? Why are you wearing that ve cor? It seems to be weird that your ver is way younger than you are," the vampire said. Del didn''t even think that the vampire and Cole knew each other. Cole wasn''t even putting any effort in fighting the vampire, to be honest. He was just putting an effort so Del wouldn''t suspect anything. "Well, Cassandra, what are you doing here? Don''t tell me that you''re researching something for your postgraduate thesis," Cole said. "Why would I be here then?" Cassandra asked. "Still, I''m amazed that you can resist the thing from Del''s magical tool. Tell me something, does it hurt being shot by a thing like that?" Cole asked. "Hurt? Man, I can''t even describe it. When I realized something just punched through my torso. It seems that some of my internal organs had been turned into mashed potatoes. If not for the blood from Osmond, I doubt I can survive," Cassandra said. "Anyway, is that kid alive?" Cole asked. Cassandra approached Del''s unconscious body. She touched the artery on his neck, "He''s still alive. Should I finish him?" "Heck no. He still has his uses. Why were you attacking him anyway?" Cassandra asked. "Why would he attack me?" "Simple, you''re guarding his bounty. It''s just a coincidence that he found out that you''re a vampire. After that, it was just a chain of misunderstanding that makes sure that both of you are killing each other," Cole said. "Fine, what are you going to do with him? He won''tst long without any medical intervention," Cassandra said. "Well, you''re a medical student, it''s your thing. Do something to save his life and I will make it worth your time when we return to the demonic continent," Cole said. "Are you even going to return to the demonic continent?" Cassandra asked. "I think I will. Don''t worry, the kid seems to be different from other humans inside of this continent," Cole said. "Will even this kid helps your research about Darium or something?" Cassandra asked. "We''ll see. With his kind of ambition, I think I''d be able toplete my research faster," Cole said. "Alright, prepare a bed, I''ll perform surgery on him," Cassandra said as he lifted Del''s body off the floor. Cole went to the nearest bedroom and he prepared the bed for Cassandra. Cassandra was his senior that went to a different university in the demonic continent. Cole took off all of the fabrics that might stick into the wound during surgery from the bed. Cassandra entered the room while carrying Del which was drenched in blood. Cassandra put Del into the bed and she applied a healing spell at the wound which bleeding can be easily stopped. "Cole, get me my surgery kit. It''s on the first-floor living room, right inside of the wardrobe," Cassandra said. Cole went downstairs and grabbed the surgery kit. It was a small bag with Cassandra''s name on it. Cole brought the surgery kit into the room. Cassandra seemed to be pouring her magical energy into the body non-stop. "Could you please leave the room?" Cassandra asked. Cole left the room.. He just hoped that Del could be saved. Chapter 18 - ... Explanation Del opened his eyes. Everything was so bright. Everything was so white then he realized that it was the lightsing out of the window. He looked around. It seems that he was in a normal bedroom, just like the one on Earth. He feltfortable in that room. "So¡­ all of them was a dream?" Del asked himself. Eventually, Del came to a realization when he felt the pain in his torso and his legs. He then looked at it. Bandages were wrapping his bodies on those parts. There was no blooding out of it, but he remembered that those wounds were from the icicles barrage. "Nice. Those should heal nicely," A voice came out of his left direction. Del looked in that direction and he found the exact vampire that was shooting him with the icicle barrage. Right now, she was just standing in the doorway with a bloodstain on her mouth. "AH, IT''S YOU!" Del tried standing up from his bed, but his legs felt wobbly from the pain. "Jeez, don''t worry about it, kid. Besides, you are delicious," the vampire licked her lips. Del feared that woman. It was the same woman that almost killed him and Cole. It was the woman that guarded a criminal. What did she do to him? Did she just turn Del into a vampire? "DID YOU TURN ME INTO A VAMPIRE?" Del shouted. "Boy, I ain''t going to turn a person like you into a vampire. Besides, I''m engaged," the vampire showed a rink on her pinky. Suddenly, Cole entered the room with three sses of tea on a tray. The vampire grabbed the tea and he put the tray right next to the bed. Cole sat down on the edge of the bed with a cup of tea in his hand. Del was confused why Cole was alive or why the vampire seemed to be very friendly with Cole. Del felt that all of the logic inside of his mind was thrown out of the window. He wondered how two people that tried to kill each other became a good friend that soon. "I think I have some exining to do, hehe," Cole smiled. The little bit ofughter at the end of Cole''s sentence sent Del down the trench of confusion. Did Cole betray him or was there something that he simply didn''t know? Del also noticed that the vampire was oddly friendly to him. Wait, Cole was a demon and the vampire on the doorway was a demon as well. Did it mean that they know each other? "Yeah, I''m confused and I also felt betrayed. So, will you exin it to me?" Del asked. The vampire walked closer to the bed, "My name is Cassandra ir. I''m a post-graduate medical student and a surgeon. I''m Cole''s senior from the same university, but we attend a different major. I guess I were too rough, huh?" "Too rough? I guess trying to kill me wasn''t rough enough," Del said sarcastically. "You might want to rethink that kid, I did save your life with the tools that I have in my bag," Cassandra sipped on her tea, "You might also need to know that you turn some of my internal organs into mashed potatoes." Del became even more confused. The woman that ricocheted .45 ACP AP and 7.92 Mauser said that the bullet smashed her internal organ even though the bullet didn''t even prate. How could that make sense? "Wait, I wounded you?" Del asked. "You did," Cassandra said. "When?" Del asked. "Before I sucked Osmond dry," Cassandra said. "The blood, right?" Cole smirked mischievously. Cassandra sighed, "Of course I sucked the blood. What else did you think I suck?" "Nothing, hehe," Cole let out smallughter. "Anyway, your name is Del, right? Can I ask you for a favor since I saved your life?" Cassandra asked. Del refused, "Wait a minute, you wounded me and you fixed me. I think that is just your way of taking responsibility. I don''t think I have any responsibility to do anything for you." "This is not for me, this is for my junior, Cole," Cassandra said. Del looked at Cole. Cole replied with a smile. "Can you help him with his research? You owe your life to him. Imagine if you found me without him. You will end up six feet under the ground like everyone else inside of this house," Cassandra said. Del agreed with that statement. If Cole weren''t with him, he would probably die. It was reasonable enough to help Cole with his research even though Del didn''t know what exactly Cole was researching even though it was about Darium or something. "Fair enough. Don''t worry, I understand what you meant. I will help Cole with his research," Del said. "That''s what I like to hear. Anyway, Del, your wound should heal up in around six days or so. I have fixed most of the internal bleedings, but you shouldn''t force yourself too hard for six days," Cassandra said. "Why?" Del asked as he held his stinging chest. "You still feel the pain, right? It''s your body working hard trying to normalize itself on the post-surgery recovery. I have connected all the tissues, all the blood vessels, all of the broken muscles, and bunch of other things that I''d rather not mention. Your body still needs to regte itself to maintain the after-effect of the surgery. Even with the ability of a healing spell, it still takes time," Cassandra said. "I¡­ understand, I will have no money then since I can''t even go out for assignments," Del sighed. "Well¡­ there''s Cole," Cassandra suggested. "What can Cole do for me?" Del asked. "I can take some assignments while you''re on your bed rest. However, after that, I want to demand something from you, can I?" Cole asked. "We''ll see about that, Cole. It depends on how much money I can get during my bed rest," Del said. "Cole, do you think you can handle him?" Cassandra asked. "Don''t worry, my little sister is worse than this," Cole said. "Alright, well, I should take my leave then, I see no reason to follow you two since my research requires me to move around the country a lot. Anyway," Cassandra held Del''s chin, "You''re one hell of a delicious specimen." Del felt awkward. The woman should be around thirty years old or something due to her taking a post-graduate ss. However, the woman also looked as young as his twin sister. Being teased like that wasn''t something that he wanted. Aging in demonic creatures was weird. Cassandra left the room, and eventually, the house. Maybe the best part of being a vampire was not having a horn. Unlike Cole who had to hide from the crowds, Cassandra could roam around freely. "You''re one hell of a sleeper, you know that, mate?" Cole asked. "How long did I sleep anyway?" Del asked. "Two days, perhaps more?" Cole said. "Huh? How did Cassandra feed me?" Del asked. "I''d rather not talk about that," Cole said. Del squinted his eyes, "Ok, I understand. We should get out of here. We will need to get out of here as soon as possible." "I do agree with that, but with your wounded state, I think we should take a rest in this ce," Cole said. "Alright, you sound more reasonable than usual. Anyway, where will get out food? Don''t tell me you''re suggesting us to eat the dead bodies of Osmond''s bodyguard," Del said. "No, hell no, I might be a demon, but I''m not that low," Cole said. "What are you suggesting then?" Del asked. "Meat. I hunted a wild deer in the grasnd," Cole said. "Deer? That''s a lot of meat, not to mention that it can spoil, where did you put it?" Del asked. "Huh? Spoil? I''m not that stupid, Del. I put it inside of the cer of course," Cole said. "What''s so special about a storage cer?" Del asked. "Huh? What are you talking about? Storage cer is a ce where you put an ice spirit and food, don''t you know that?" Cole asked. "Ice spirit? What''s that? I never heard of that," Del said. "Well, how can I describe it? It looks like a floating blue me oftentimes, but sometimes, it looked like a legendary creature as well. It fed on magical energy and it usually dissipates heat on its presence," Cole said. "I understand. Anyway, Cole, thank you," Del said. "No worries. Anyway, your magical tools are below this bed, in case you need it. I also found these 1,000 gold coins inside of Osmond''s pocket," Cole said. "Let''s return it to the guildter, we don''t need any bounty huntering after us," Del said. "I agree with that. Anyway, Del, do you need me to do anything?" Cole asked. "Yeah, I want you to exin how magic works? Instead of the simple pronunciation, Cassandra seems to be using a moreplex way of using magic. Can you exin how can I cast a spell simrly to Cassandra?" Del asked. "Well, fundamentally, I learned magic differently from you, humans," Cole said. "How so?" Del asked. "Well, you, humans, use magic using feeling while we, demons, use magic using a more sophisticated way called magical programming. I am not a magical engineer, so I wouldn''t go too deep about that. My magic only goes as far as what a Chemical Engineer uses on daily basis," Cole said. "What are you trying to tell me?" Del asked. "Magic is a veryplicated subject. Let''s y chemistry instead," Cole said "Alright, if you don''t want to teach me, just say it, damn it," Del said. "Fine, I will teach youter, once your body heals up. Before that, you need to take bed rest, understand?" Cole asked. "I understand." Chapter 19 - Return To Midham Six dayster, Del left the house with Cole. The wound hadn''t healed up yet, but the lingering pain had eased up inparison to the previous six days. At the very least, he could walk now, albeit with some help from Cole. Del brought his empty Kar98 and his empty 1911 as usual. He didn''t want that weapon to fall into the wrong hands. He hadn''t bought new ammunition for those two weapons since he didn''t have enough money. "Your legs are a little bit better now?" Cole asked Del who was walking very slowly. Del walked very slowly to mitigate the pain on his legs, "Well, at least, I can walk now. It will be faster if you can carry me, though." "You''re heavy, especially with the weapons on your body," Cole said. "Fine, the guild building is in front of us anyway, I should have asked you to carry me sooner," Del said. Del entered the guild building with the 1,000 gold coins pouch in his pocket and Osmond''s ring. It should prove that Del killed Osmond sessfully to the guild. The receptionist was surprised to see Del still alive. "I thought I am going to deliver the bad news to Rina. I''m d that you have proven me wrong," the receptionist greeted him. Del put the pouch and the ring on top of the receptionist''s table. The receptionist took it away and he put one gold coin on the table, "Here''s the reward. Count D Rose will be in touch soon." "What does the count want with us?" Del asked. "Well, he will be there to give you some rewards for giving him his 1,000 gold coins back. Anyway, just be prepared for it. Anyway, why are your legs covered in bandages?" The receptionist asked. "Well, there was a vampire, but I managed to fend it off with the help of my buddy here," Del said. "Your ve, you meant?" The receptionist asked back. "Yeah. My ve," Del sighed. Del grabbed that one gold coin and put it inside the pocket of his pants. Del needed to throw away the clothes that he wore. The white shirt that he wore was not unclean, but it had a hole from the icicle. His pants were also filled with two holes from the icicles. In short, both of his pants and his shirt needed to be thrown away since some of the holes were too big to be patched. Besides, it was not like Del couldn''t afford new clothing anymore. He entered the inn again and the first person that greeted him was none other than Lisa. "Del, YOU''RE ALIVE?" Lisa came running from the receptionist''s desk. She hugged Del and Del hugged her back, "Yeah, of course, I''m alive, what do you think I am?" "Mother is so worried about you," Lisa said. "Yeah, I understand. Anyway, does Rina have any alcohol in the bar?" Del asked. "Del¡­ I told you not to get drunk again!" Lisa pinched him. "Alright, alright, I should head back to my room then," Del said. Del and Cole walked upstairs. They entered their room and Delid down in his bed again. Walking from the settlement to Midham with three major points of injuries on his body without any painkiller was more than exhausting. Del felt that all he wanted to do was toy down on his bed again all day long. However, if he did that again, there was no way that the one gold coin that he had would be enough for the next two days. He really needed the money for supplying his armaments and his needs. Del looked at the status te that he had. He wondered whether killing two people would level him up or not. It felt that his pain tolerance went up significantly than before. Maybe there was something that changing in his body. ?????? [Del Moore] [Level: 7] Strength: 22 Agility: 20 Vitality: 35 Aptitude: 12 Perception: 22 Skills: Language Comprehension | Marksmanship LVL.4 | Firearms Comprehension LVL.3 Magical Energy: 336/336 Health Point: 1035/2450 ?????? "My vitality seems to be going up significantly, maybe it''s because of the wound," Del said. "What?" Cole asked. "This is my status te. This thing disys my status, you should have one so I can know how strong you are," Del said. "Man, I don''t need that thing. Unless I can work at your guild, the te that you''re holding is nothing more than scrap metal for me," Cole said. "Yes, but I also need to know how strong you are," Del said. "Fair enough. Do you have something on your mind?" Cole said. "Yeah, could you leave me alone for a while? Maybe you can go roam around the town, buy something nice for yourself, you have done enough for me anyway," Del gave Cole twenty silver coins. "Sure, thanks man," Cole retrieved the coins and he left the room. Del swallowed a pill of Ibuprofen from the bottom of his pillow and heid down in the bed. He asked Pidma toe out so he could buy new ammunition. "Pidma," Del said. [What can I do for you?] "I want to buy new ammunition. I want to buy ammunition for my rifle and my pistol." ?????? [Showing Avable .45 ACP and 7.62x52 Rounds] [Ammunition Level: 1] [Tech Level: 1] [Total Bnce: 100$] [7.92x57 FMJ] [10x] [25$] [7.92x57 HP] [10x] [50$] [7.92x57 AP] [10x] [80$] [7.92x57 APS] [10x] [120$] [.45 ACP FMJ] [10x] [5$] [.45 ACP HP] [10x] [7$] [.45 ACP AP] [10x] [10$] [.45 ACP AP-T] [10X] [20$] ?????? "It seems that there is something new on the menu, did I get this from leveling up?" Del asked. [Correct. You can upgrade ammunition quality now. Better ammunition will provide better damage and better pration. It will also unlock some prototype bullets that haven''t even been made on Earth before] "Wow, how can I upgrade ammunition then?" [You have to pay a certain amount of funds] "How much should I pay for it then?" Del asked. [100,000$] "THAT''S ONE THOUSAND GOLD COINS!" Del said. [Who said it will be cheap?] "Anyway, that tech level disy is something new on this ammunition menu as well. What does it do?" Del asked. [The higher your tech level, the more varieties of ammunition will appear. Basically, the higher your tech level, the more ammunition types will appear. Keep in mind that some ammunition types will only appear if you have reached a certain level of both tech level and ammunition level] "For example?" [HE ammo is only avable at tech level 2] "HE?" [High-Explosive] "Damn, ok, that''s very good then," Del said. [Del, can I ask you a personal question?] "Ask away. You have done beyond what I can expect in this world." [Who do you value the most in your entire life? Please, be honest with me] "Honestly speaking, my twin sister. She reminds me of my mother minus the clumsiness. She might have her own negatives. But to be honest, she was the only one left on Moore''s family. My parents have both passed away," Del said. [Weren''t your little sister vote for your banishment?] "I don''t think she did. She looked the saddest and angriest when I was banished. To be honest, I doubt that the rtionship between her and the other heroes is good at the moment." [I see. I hope both of you reunite soon] "I don''t think it will happen very soon. She is the healer of the heroes party. I doubt she can go anywhere at this point," Del sighed, "But still, I don''t think she''s the only healer inside of the heroes party." [Life is unpredictable, don''t you think?] "I couldn''t agree more. Anyway, Pidma, I want to buy twenty .45 ACP AP-T and ten 7.92x57 FMJ." [Sure] The metal box on top of the table in his room closed. Del painfully stood up from his bed and he walked towards the metal box. He opened the metal box and he picked up three packages of ammunition. One was written [7.62x57 FMJ] and the other was [.45 ACP AP-T]. Del didn''t have any idea why he bought the AP-T ammunition specifically for the .45 ACP other than that it was the most expensive ammunition. "What is AP-T?" Del asked. [AP-T stands for Armor-Piercing Tungsten. It uses a Tungsten core inside of the bullet instead of the ordinary lead or steel.] "I see. It''s good ammunition then. I shall go back questing again tomorrow, I think," Del said. [It''s a good idea] "Anyway, I think Cole will arrive at the room soon," Del said. Cole entered the room. Del wondered what Cole bought. In his hands were none other than a book and a bag. Del didn''t know why Cole bought those things, but he didn''t want to ask either.. He was too tired. Chapter 20 - Questing... Again Del and Cole walked to the guild building. Del consumed his Ibuprofen this time, so the pains were less than what they used to be for the past seven days. Del needed more money, but he didn''t want to risk himself to death again this time. "Del, why are you breaking your bones like this when you can rest in your room?" Cole asked. "If I rest, I have no money. If I have no money, I can''t eat. If I can''t eat, so do you. Understand?" Del asked. "I understand, but when will you help me with my research?" Cole begged. "When we have enough money to worry about your research. In the meantime, we will look for money until we can livevishly," Del said. "We should work hard then because we are living far fromvishly," Cole said. "Exactly. But still, if you tell me the price of Darium, I might consider buying some for you," Del said. "Really? It''s twenty gold coins per kilogram," Cole said. "You know, I take that back. Let''s search for the money to do that kind of research," Del said. "Couldn''t agree more," Cole said. Del entered the guild building alongside Cole. Awkwardly, the people inside of the guild building were more than usual. The bartender seemed to be very busy with the number of customers there. Del approached the receptionist''s desk as usual, "Yo, do you have something for me?" "An F-rank quest?" The receptionist asked. "Heck no," Del protested. "Well, since you are officially an F-rank, I will often suggest you an F-rank quest although I have to admit that you manage to handle D-rank quest quite well. Anyway, what do you want, specifically?" The receptionist asked. "I want something that will yield me a lot of gold coins," Del paused, "Preferably, I am looking for a party that requires a marksman." "Oh, you want to work for a party now? I see. Well, I think yourst attempt to survive a vampire attack is reputable enough to make some party interested in you," the receptionist said. "I see. Well, what do you have in mind then?" Del asked. "In that case, two adventurer parties are looking for specialized marksmen. I think I can put some nice words for you. The demon alongside you should prove to be a good enough leverage," the receptionist said. "I see. What should I do in the meantime until I get that request? How much will they pay anyway?" Del asked. "Fifteen gold coins daily. It''s a three days contract into the wilderness," the receptionist said. "What will we get in the wilderness?" Del asked. "It''s a request for taking down a bandit headquarter from a tradingpany. The party will be paid ordingly, of course," the receptionist said. "Oh, I see. That''s quite a good amount of payment, anyway, do you have any quest that will yield me five gold coins or so?" Del asked. "Really? You still want to take a quest with only one demon?" The receptionist asked in doubt. "Of course, thest one ended up sessfully, right?" Del asked. "Yeah. Rina kept going back and forth to this building because she is worried for you. Del, you should tell her before you for a very long time," the receptionist said. "Hey, thatst vampire attack was unexpected and it was not like Cole cane here to tell the bad news, right?" Del said. "Right. Anyway, what kind of quest that you want? There''s your usual bounty hunting quest, escort quest, delivery quest, gathering quest, etc," the receptionist said. "I want an escort quest," Del said. "Escort quest it is then." The receptionist looked for an escorting quest on the guild book. Del wanted to be prepared for a long-range quest. It might be a good idea to invest in a backpack or magical backpack. He wanted to bring enough supplies for him and Cole. He also wanted to buy enough ammunition for his rifle. He would also buy stripper clips for this operation since it became a necessity after hisst experience with vampires. Reload time was very important. Del wanted to buy automatic weaponry such as an MG42 to his arsenal if hepleted the long-range quest. He might also need to teach Cole how to use guns so he could work more effectively in protecting him from the danger of another world. "Anyway, this is the quest," the receptionist put a paper on his table. ?????? [Escorting Lize Reed] Lize Reed is the youngest daughter of Count D Rose. She is in Midham for a holiday visit. She will go to Begard and she is looking for an escort. Her carriage will be ready to leave in three hours after this request is taken. Any harm to Lize will result in a severe consequence. Reward: Five Gold Coins ?????? "Is there something in particr that makes you want me to protect the daughter of the same count whose request I took earlier?" Del asked. "No, it''s just a simple coincidence," the receptionist said. "Fine, I shall take it," Del said. Del took the paper and he left the guild building alongside Cole. The carriage should be waiting for them in front of the guild building once Lize finished packing her belongings into her carriage. The carriage was in front of the guild building. The caretakers were loading Lize''s belongings into the carriage. The dark blue carriage wouldn''t be standing out if not for the insignia that was painted on each door of the carriage. Del approached the carriage with Cole. The caretaker was tying down some suitcases to the top of the carriage. He "Hey!" Del shouted. "What do you want? Pesky adventurers¡­" The caretaker muttered. Del sighed, "I''m your bodyguard." The caretaker jumped from the top of the carriage, "Oh, sorry for my rude introduction. I''m Knight Osborne." "A knight, huh? Are you working for the military?" Del asked. "Yup, nice to be working with you." "Nice to be working with you too." Chapter 21 - Escorting Lize Del and Cole helped the knight to load the suitcases into the carriage. If one heard the word "knight", one would think that it was a person in shining metal armor including Del. However, this knight looked like a usual adventurer but with nicer clothing. "Where Lize is staying?" Del asked. "Madam Lize, you meant? She is staying in the guild building," the knight said. "I see. What is she doing in here?" Del asked. "You adventurers never have manners, don''t you? Madam Lize is here to attend a business meeting alongside taking a little R&R on the side," the knight said. "I see. About manners, I''m an independent contractor, what can I say?" Del just smiled. "Right¡­" Del waited for Lize toe out of the guild building. Three hourster, a woman came out of the guild building. Del expected a woman in avish dress to get out of the inn, but no, Lize was not even standing out from the other adventurers. Calling her part of the royalty didn''t fit well either since she looked more like an adventurer. An adventurer usually wore a shirt and pants with lots of pockets. Lize was looking exactly like that. She wore white pants instead of ck pants and she also wore leather armor that covered her whole torso. "I really should buy an armor sooner orter," Del muttered. The knight opened the carriage door for Lize and she entered the carriage. She immediately told the caretaker to get the horses to move. Del loaded five 7.92x57mm Mauser bullets into his rifle at once using the stripper clip. Del walked alongside the carriage while the caretaker drove the carriage. Cole was covering for the left side while Del was covering for the right side. The caretaker just kept an eye on the road. There was something that bothered Del though. He didn''t know why the payment for escorting someone from Midham to Begard became so high all of a sudden. He knew that the area surrounding the road to Begard was considered dangerous, but even then, the dangerous area was still bordered by grasnds. Del wanted to ask, but the caretaker wouldn''t even bother to answer him. Del could demand an answer from Lize, but he really doubted that a daughter of a count would want to answer his questions. "Robert, it might be a good idea to stop in the sweet shopter on, don''t you think?" Lize asked from inside of her carriage. "I agree, madam," Robert said. "You two are close?" Cole became confused. "They won''t understand you," Del said. Lize looked at Del, "You can speak demonically? Very impressive." "Yup, I can speak demonically," Del said. "How old are you, kid?" Lize asked. "17," Del said. "That''s quite a young age for an adventurer. Tell me, what brings you into this business?" Lize asked. "Money, to be honest," Del said. "I see. Life is hard, isn''t it?" Lize said. "It is." "My father also got scammed some weeks earlier. I know there is something suspicious about that merchant. The painting was very ugly for its price. Anyway, we rent a bounty hunter to hunt him down," Lize said. "And that bounty hunter is me, quite a coincidence, isn''t it?" Del asked. "Oh, so you''re the bounty hunter. What did you find?" Lize asked. "Not much, Osmond, the money, and a bloody vampire," Del said. "Vampire? You survived a vampire encounter? Damn, kid, you''re stronger than I thought for an F-rank. Heck, I am asking myself why you''re still F-rank at this point," Lize said. "I think I am still too weak for a D-rank certification," Del said. The test for leveling up involves sparring. With his weaponry, Del only had two choices. He could either kill his enemy or not doing anything to his enemy. He could easily spar a D-rank with his rifle and kill him in the process. It wouldn''t be good. If he sparred with a sword, he would certainly lose. A magical spell was also an option, but Del hadn''t mastered any magical spell so he wouldn''t be able to use that to his advantage. All ways simply ended up in him losing the fight or in him killing the opponent. "Surviving a vampire and you''re still calling yourself weak?" Lize asked. "Yes, more or less? I survive because of my friend right over there," Del pointed his hand at Cole. "Friend? Your ve, you meant?" Lize asked. Del sighed, "Yeah, my ve." Robert intervened, "You know, with that demon on your side, the rank of your party should be at C at the bare minimum, you know?" "Well, this demon is not as strong as I thought," Del said. "I see," Robert said. They continued their journey to Begard. So far, there was nothing suspicious along the way. There was no sign of ambush either. If not for protecting her from bandits, they why would Lize pay so much for just an escort. "Robert, is Madam Lize a target of an assassination?" Del asked. "More or less. To be honest, ording to my investigation, Madam Lize''s assassins are ordered by her own siblings," Robert said. "Robert! That''s family business," Lize shouted. "I apologize, ma''am," Robert said. "Ah, I''m dead¡­" Assassins and bounty hunters were pretty much the same things. It meant that there was a high chance that Del had to fight bounty hunters along the way. However, a request to assassinate a high-profile person like Lize wouldn''t be avable at the adventurer''s guild. It would be a request from the mercenary guild which meant that Del could be fighting an experienced veteran. "Robert, are you sure both of us are enough?" Del asked. "I thought that the demon is enough, but after hearing your testimony, we''re pretty much fucked," Robert said. "Don''t be like that, Robert, I can fight," Lize said. "And kill yourself in the process? No way I would allow that, Lize," Robert said. "What if I somehow survive while Lize is dead?" Del asked. "Well, just prepare for an endless wave of bounty huntersing after you," Robert said. Del just responded with a nod. Del became more vignt with his surrounding. Maybe too vignt. Even a little bit of moving grass would make him aim his rifle in the direction of that grass. Meanwhile, Cole was just whistling while giving zero to no attention to his surrounding. "Cole, keep an eye on the bloody road!" Del shouted. "Man, rx, I know what I am doing," Cole said. "Fine¡­" Del sighed. Del kept an eye on the road. He thought of something. It might be a good idea to check the road up ahead before the carriage passed. That way, he could prevent an ambush at the cost of risking his own life. "Robert, I have an idea," Del said. "What do you have in mind?" Robert asked. "Cole and I will check the road ahead. Can you stay behind us?" Del asked. "That''s quite a good idea. I will move slower then," Robert said. "Cole, follow me!" Del shouted. Del ran alongside Cole. Cole was running in front of Del while Del keeping an eye on any hiding spots such as the rocks and the bushes. Hopefully, the bandit would be foolish enough to attack Cole. Besides, Cole was running faster than Del. Eventually, after they gained some distance from the carriage, Del and Cole looked around for a point of ambush. In the road between Midham and Begard, there were no many ces to hide after all. Finding any ambusher would be easy. If the ambusher attacked from behind, Del could buy sometime using his Kar98 while Cole moved towards the carriage with his sword. Hopefully, that n worked or Del would basically sign for his own death warrant. "Cole, run faster!" Del saw one giant rock that could be an ambush point in front of him. If Cole acted as a decoy, the ambusher might be stupid enough to attack a single demon. However, it was not like the ambusher had much choice but to attack him. Technically speaking, Del was actually betting on the intelligence level of the ambushers. Why? If he were the ambusher, he wouldn''t ambush Lize on an open grasnd like that. He would ambush Lize inside of Midham because the guards were rather thinner than Begard. Ambushing someone in an open grasnd just didn''t make any sense for him. Del stayed in his ce while Cole ran towards the rock. Del aimed his rifle in the direction of the rock. "Del, why do you need me to run faster?" Cole asked. Just before he went past that rock, three people appeared behind the rocks. Del''s hunch was correct. That rock was an ambush point. Immediately, Del ran away from the rock to gain more distance from the rock while Cole dealt with the ambusher. Del immediately shouted, "AMBUSH!" Chapter 22 - Bounty Hunter Vs Escort Del pulled the trigger of his rifle and a 7.92x57mm Mauser bullet flew towards the ambusher. One of the ambushers fell to the ground once the bullet hit his torso, killing him instantly. 7.92 Mauser had ten times the kic energy of .45 ACP so it would be no surprise if it was able to kill a target like that with ease. Del ran back to the carriage to protect Lize from the danger of the ambusher. Cole was still fighting three of them at once. Lize covered her ears, "Kid, what was that?" "Magical spell, ma''am, please get down!" Del shouted. "Adventurer, protect the Madam Lize at all cost!" Robert got off the carriage and he unsheathed his sword. Del pulled the bolt of his rifle and he fired another bullet, "I know that, why would you need to remind me that?" Cole kept fighting thest ambusher with his sword. Hisbat style was rather smart from Del''s observation. When his opponent attacked him, he used his explosion spell to distract the enemy while he went for his attack. "DEL, YOU SHOULD HAVE GIVEN ME A BETTER SWORD!" Cole shouted, but it was faint because of the distance between both of them. "WHAT?" Del shouted back because he couldn''t hear Cole. Before Cole was able to reply, Del noticed something from behind the carriage. A convoy was heading towards them at a very high speed. The convoy would certainly crash into the carriage if not stopped. "Robert, look behind!" Del shouted. Before Robert had the chance to peek, a carriage appeared from the direction of Begard. That carriage was carrying mercenaries, just like the carriages that wereing from the direction of Midham. "Oh, Shit! Ma''am, we need to get out of here!" Robert opened the door of the carriage and escorted Lize out of the carriage. Del took a deep breath and he aimed at the horses that pulled the carriage. Theoretically, if one bullet hit the horse, the rest of the carriage wouldn''t move. Dell pulled the trigger and it hit right at the head of one of the horses. The horse fell to the bottom of the carriage and wreck the whole carriage down. It sessfully stopped the convoy on its track. However, it didn''t mean that the problem stopped. The carriage that came from Begard would crash into Cole if not stopped. "COLE! WATCH OUT!" Del shouted. "WHAT?" Cole shouted back. "LOOK BEHIND!" Del shouted. The moment Cole looked behind, he jumped from the road to dodge the iing carriage. The ambusher that he was fighting was whacked by the carriage and died in the process. The carriage stopped and six mercenaries disembarked from the carriage. Three of them were heavily armored with steel te armor while the other three were archers. Del wanted to help Cole, but stopping a convoy was more important since it could be carrying more than ten mercenaries. Del only carried ten bullets and there were only seven bullets left for his rifle and twenty bullets left for his pistol. Del loaded three bullets with his stripper clip and put the stripper clip back into his pocket. He pulled the trigger of his rifle and he killed another mercenary with a headshot. Del observed his surrounding to determine how much resistance that he would have to face. He looked at the convoy. Ten mercenaries disembarked from two carriages. It was hard to determine their types. At least, three of them were wearing heavy te armor. Seven of them were undetermined. "SHIT!" Del took cover behind Lize''s carriage as the archers from Cole''s direction shot a barrage of arrows at him. He needed a n, fast. Robert was useless since he was running away with Lize and Cole was too busy fighting six people at once. Del wasn''t entirely in danger, but he needed to decide with one he should engage first, the convoy from Midham or the carriage from Begard. Del soon made his choice. He aimed at the heavily armored enemy that was attacking Cole and he pulled the trigger. One bullet prated the steel armor, created some sparks, and killing the armored person in the process. The enemies were stunned once they looked at their friend''s head just turned into mashed potato from the energy of the bullet and the fragmentations from his own armor. Cole took the chance to charge towards the archer. Cole rushed towards the archers. The first archer shot an arrow at Cole who was charging in his direction. Cole broke the bow using his explosion spell and he rushed with his sword. Cole shed his throat and he jumped towards the second archer and stabbed him in the head. As a finisher, Cole threw his sword to thest archer and the sword stabbed the archer right on his belly. Cole rushed towards the archer and he snapped the neck of the archer with his own hands. He pulled his sword from the dead body of that archer and faced towards the direction of the stunned armored enemies. One of the armored enemies shed his sword at Cole. Cole parried the attack, "Is that all you can do? What a shame. I''m only a chemical engineering student, you know?" "DIE YOU DEMON!" The armored enemy wanted to sh his sword to Cole, but Del blew his head first, turning his head into brain juice. Cole just sighed as he smiled at Del. Thest enemy that Cole fought was stunned when he looked at the head of his friend. Del didn''t hesitate and he shot his rifle at the stunned enemy. Cole sheathed his sword and he came running towards Del''s direction. Del only had four bullets left inside of his rifle. His pistol was still filled, but shooting someone with a pistol within that range was quite hard. After all, the distance between the stopped convoy and Del was as big as a football field. "Cole, do you have any n before the convoy reaches us?" Del asked. "Well, I can disperse some area of effectrge radius fireball at them, but it will take some time," Cole said. "What? A giant big fireball? Can you even do that?" Del asked. "Yes, but you need to give me five minutes," Cole said. "Alright, that''s short enough," Del said. Robert and Lize were nowhere to be seen. They might be hiding behind the bush or something, waiting for Del and Cole to die. After all, there was no chance that an F-rank adventurer would survive an attack from bounty hunters. Del''s n was quite suicidal. However, if he sessfully pulled it off, he would be rewarded with Cole''s spell. Del would draw fire from the approaching convoy by firing at the armored enemies. Hopefully, the archers fire their bows in Del''s direction instead of Cole. The risk was big, but the reward was big too. Del began by aiming his rifle at the armored opponent. A 7.92 Mauser bullet flew in the direction of the heavily armored enemy. The bullet prated the armor and turned the enemy''s brain into brain juice. Without any hesitation, Del continued by firing his rifle at the remaining two heavily armored opponents. The ranged units were stunned to see that their protector fell to the ground just from one single attack. Del kept one bullet inside of his rifle in case he needed it for something else. He drew his pistol from its holster and started firing bullets at the ranged units blindly. Not long after that, a barrage of magical spells and arrows was flying in Del''s direction. Del crawled into the ground while kept firing his weapon blindly and the ranged units that he couldn''t hit. Icicles, fireballs, rocks, and arrows were all flying in Del''s direction. Some of those arrows missed, but one hit Del in the knee. His adrenaline kept rushing as he kept firing his 1911 at the ranged units. "COLE! IS IT STILL LONG?" Del asked. Cole was opening both of his hands and nothing happened, "A little bit more. Keep holding them!" Del ran out of bullets. He reced the magazine of his pistol and continued firing. Another arrownded, this time, it hit his hand. His left hand was now bleeding from the arrow, but it didn''t stop Del from shooting at the enemy. "COLE!" "Alright, [Magical Program: Fiery Inferno st Type]." A giant fireball as big as an elephant appeared on top of Cole''s head. Del was speechless when that big fireball appeared out of nowhere. That fireball immediately flew in the direction of the convoy. The fireball exploded at the convoy. The st of that fireball threw the enemies away from the carriage. It also burned all of the carriages alongside the horse. Del could feel the fiery heat st even from a distance as big as a football field. Del didn''t have anyment. He had no idea how Cole became that strong. "That was some good firework, wasn''t it?" Cole said. Chapter 23 - Loot And MG42 Cole approached injured Del. Del still could move since the arrows only hit the minor parts of his body. However, the pain was just immense for him. Most of the injuries that he experienced so far were either too minor or too lethal. He never felt such excruciating pain before. "Goddamn it, since when did you be that strong?" Del asked as he held his wounds whileying down on the grass. "Two words. Magical programming," Cole said. "I see. Well, could you help me treating my wound?" Del asked. "Well, you do have bandages, so I think I can. Besides, with my book back with me, it shouldn''t be hard to do any field treatment," Cole said. "Field treatment? Since when did you know how to do field treatment?" Del asked. "Why would I be here if I don''t have that kind of training?" Cole asked. "What kind of training that you''ve been through anyway?" Del said. "Every demon who wants to go to the human continent must pass a training called ORSEDE," Cole said. "I see," Del looked at his wound, "I should have brought some grenades." Cole opened Del''s pocket to search for the sterile gauzes that he always brought. Cole opened the gauze and he also started cutting the arrows one by one. Cole cut the sharp end of the arrows first before he pulled it out. Del screamed, "Cole! Why would you pull the arrow out? The bleeding bes worse now." "Shut up, I''m certified enough to deal with this kind of injury," Cole said as he stuffed gauze into the injury. The bleeding finally stopped with the usage of gauze. There was no injured artery so stopping the bleeding was quite easy. However, the pain still lingered in his body. Del stood up from the ground. "Alright, it should be safe to move," Cole said. "Yeah, let''s find Robert and Lize," Del said. Finding those two wouldn''t be hard since there weren''t too many ces to hide. Maybe they were hiding in the bushes. Del looked around the grasnd for a bush that stood out. Robert wasn''t a knight in his shining armor so looking for him wouldn''t be easy. "Did Robert get injured or something?" Del asked. "Why do you ask? I don''t even know," Cole continued looking through the bushes. "If one of them is heavily injured, following the blood trails will eventually lead us to them," Del said. "Yeah, and if one of them is injured, I hope it is not Lize," Cole added. Eventually, Cole found them in one of the bushes. Lize was shivering in fear while Robert couldn''t believe it when they looked at them. Robert was pointing his sword at them, fearing that they changed sides, and also came after Lize for the bounty on her head. "H-h-how can you survive all of them?" Robert stuttered. "Well, a little bit of finesse and help from this demon," Del said. "It makes no sense, you''re an F-rank," Robert sheathed his sword. "Let''s just say that I save your life and you have no right toin about it, got it?" Del asked. "I understand, Madam, can you stand up?" Robert asked. Lize stood up from the ground. When she stood up, she couldn''t believe the number of dead bodies that she saw with her eyes. Bounty hunters were known for their skills in assaulting their target, and yet, two F-rank adventurers managed to counter them all. It just didn''t make any sense. "How did you save my life?" Lize asked. "I don''t know. Maybe a little bit of this and that," Del didn''t want to answer. "Nevermind then, let''s go back to our carriage," Lize said. "Ma''am, respectfully, can you give us some time to loot our spoils of war?" Del asked. "Go ahead, take your time, I''m not in a rush either. After all you''ve done, I think it''s fair enough that to give you two some time," Lize said. Del nodded and thanked Lize. Del started going into the dead bodies of the bounty hunters. There might be something worth looting. Still, Del wanted the armor of the bounty hunters, but the armor was usually custom-made so it wouldn''t fit Del at all. te armor might protect him from some degree of attack from swords and arrows, but it wouldn''t protect him from magical spells. Magical spells were known to be great armor prators. Del looted one of the bodies of the bounty hunters. He searched the body thoroughly. So far, he only brought some loose change in the form of copper coins and some silver coins. His sword was broken so Del wouldn''t take it. Del put the coins inside the pocket of his pants. He moved to the next body. The next body was an archer. He continued looting everyone that he could loot. The equipment that the bounty hunters were wearing was either broken or couldn''t fit with Del''s needs. Eventually, Del stumbled upon thest body. It was the body of a heavily armored enemy. His armor was the shiniest. Even the sunlight was reflected so brightly on that armor. He might be the leader of the bounty hunter. Del looted his body. He found a rather decent sword, it might be a good idea to give it to Cole. He also found a knife. The knife was ck with a leather grip. That knife would be suitable for him. He might need that sooner orter. Del went back to Cole, "How much did you find?" "A lot, maybe I can find around twenty gold coins from my side, how about you?" Cole asked. "I have more. I found thirty gold coins and better weapons. Here, you said you want a better sword, right?" Del gave Cole the sword. "Damn, this one looks and feels much better," Cole gave Del his sword back. "Yeah," Del retrieved his sword back. Del wore his sword on his hip again. He might have a gun, but a sword would be more useful in close-quarterbat against a melee opponent. Del wouldn''t want to get the scenario where he needed to use his sword though. "What do you want to buy with all this money? We are rich, Del. WE ARE RICH," Cole was ecstatic. "Yeah, we sure do. Anyway, I''m nning on buying a backpack and an MG-42," Del said. "What''s an MG-42?" Cole asked. "A gun that goes brrr, you''ll love it," Del said. "A gun? What''s a gun?" Cole asked. "I meant, my magical tool," Del said. "I see." Del headed back to the carriage with his pockets filled with money that he looted from the dead bodies of the bounty hunters. Lize had entered the carriage again. They continued their journey towards Begard. There shouldn''t be any bounty hunter up ahead since Begard was more guarded than Midham. Assassinating a high-profile person like Lize in the middle of Begard was as same as looking for trouble. Not more than one hourter, they eventually arrived at Begard. It was still crowded as usual with carriages filling the streets left and right. The job request also stated that both Cole and Del only had to escort them into Begard. They didn''t need to apany Lize in Begard. "I guess, this will be the end of our journey. I like you though, I''ll contact the guild in Midham," Lize said. "Alright, I''ll head back then, see youter, Lize," Del said. ================================ Del headed back to the inn with pockets filled with gold coins. Lisa didn''t greet him since the day had ended. All of the jobs in the evening were her mom''s. Basically, if an adventurer wanted a ce inside of the inn, the adventurer could tell Rina in the dining area. Del immediately walked upstairs to his room. He wanted to buy new weapons and new stuff immediately. Del and Cole entered their room and both of them put their gold coins on the table, right beside the metal box. "Pidma, can you show me something?" Del asked Pidma. [What do you need, Del?] "Please show me my total bnce." [Total Bnce: 5055$] "Damn, I''m rich now. Show me what the weapons that are for sale." [Your tech level has reached level 2. New weapons have be avable. Do you want to check it out?] "Sure, show me all avable machine guns." ?????? [Showing Avable General Purpose Machine Gun] [Tech Level: 2] [Total Bnce: 5055$] DP-27 [600$] M1918 Browning [800$] MG-42 [1000$] ?????? "I want to buy one MG-42 alongside its drum mag, maybe three of them." [So, you want four drum mag in total?] "Correct. One from the original purchase and the others are for extras." [Ammunition as well?] "Correct." ?????? [Showing Avable 7.92x57mm Ammunition] [Ammunition Level: 1] [Tech Level: 2] [Total Bnce: 5055$] [7.92x57 FMJ] [10x] [25$] [7.92x57 HP] [10x] [50$] [7.92x57 AP] [10x] [80$] [7.92x57 API] [10x] [100$] [7.92x57 APS] [10x] [120$] [7.92x57 HE] [10x] [150$] [7.92x57 HEAP] [10x] [200$] ?????? "I want 300 rounds 7.92x57 FMJ. 50 rounds with stripper clips and the rest are with belts," Del said. [Total Purchase: 1850$] "I ept." Another metal box appeared on the side of Del''s bed. Del approached the metal box and he found the thing that he wanted. The box contained four drums magazines filled with 7..92x57mm Mauser rounds alongside the big MG-42. Chapter 24 - Coles Demand Del looked at the machine gun that was inside the metal box. It was huge, really huge. It was a little bit longer than the Kar98, but it was way heavier. If Kar98K was a big rock, then MG-42 was a giant boulder. The ammunition belt itself was very heavy on its own. However, Del didn''t feel that much of a difference. In fact, he actually felt that his MG-42 weight was as much as his Kar98 and his Kar98 felt as heavy as his pistol. His pistol was not heavy anymore. Maybe there was something that happened with his body. Del took a look at his status te. ?????? [Del Moore] [Level: 13] Strength: 45 Agility: 37 Vitality: 55 Aptitude: 12 Perception: 35 Skills: Language Comprehension | Marksmanship LVL.9 | Firearms Comprehension LVL.7 Magical Energy: 624/624 Health Point: 5830/7150 ?????? "Damn, my Aptitude never increases," Delmented as he looked at his status te. "Who needs a magical spell if even your magical tool can beat someone with just one shot?" Cole asked. "Magical spell doesn''t run out of ammunition," Del said. "I see," Cole said. Del held his MG-42 with his hands again. He felt something as he held the weapon. He felt as if the world was on his hands. The power of 7.92x57 Mauser was unquestionable, even from a bolt-action tform. Now, imagine firing it with a fire rate of 1,200 rounds per minute or twenty rounds per second. It would cost a lot of money. "What''s that anyway?" Cole asked. "This?" Del showed his MG-42, "This is an MG-42, nicknamed Hitler''s Buzzsaw." "Who is Hitler?" Cole asked. "An evil person." "I see. What can this gun do anyway?" Cole asked. "Well, it can kill a person faster than a Kar98," Del said. "Again, what''s a Kar98?" Cole asked. "The thing that I always bring on my back. You know, the rifle," Del said. "What''s a rifle?" Cole asked. "The thing that I always bring, damn it, Cole, why do you need to ask?" Del asked. "I''m just wondering, you know," Cole said. "I know. Anyway, we should be testing this weapon on slimeter," Del said. "Sure thing," Cole said. Del thought for a moment that it might be a good idea to give Cole a gun. However, it meant that he also needed to train Cole on its usage. On one side, he felt hesitant to give Cole a gun since he was still his ve and he still used Del as a tool. On one hand, no matter how long Del dyed it, he eventually needed to train Cole to use a gun. It was simply inevitable. "Cole, I need to see your status. I would buy a status te for you, period," Del said. "Why do you need that status te?" Cole asked. "I need to assess your strength and your weakness," Del said. "Haven''t I proved enough that I am more than capable to defend both you and myself?" Cole challenged. "No, I meant, I need you to protect both of us more efficiently," Del said. "Fair point. Del, I need to research Darium and so far, you haven''t fulfilled that end of the promise," Cole said. "Look, Cole, be patient, ok? Give me some time, I''ll work on it," Del said. "You better work on it, Del," Cole threatened. "Is that a threat?" Del asked. "Let''s keep our rtionship as beneficial as possible, shall we? I protect you, but you should pay me with Darium, got it?" Cole said. "Cole, remember, I save your life and I save your freedom. If you fell into the hands of another ver, I don''t know whether you can enjoy a life like this," Del reasoned. "I think we''re even. I still save you from Cassandra''s wrath," Cole countered. Del sighed, "Looked, Cole, let''s be reasonable for a moment. We''re still living inside of a budget inn and we don''t even have a stable source of ie as of now. Look, I understand that you need to do your research, but please be more understanding." Cole sighed, "Fine¡­" Del sighed, "You know, at times like this, I think we need to have a little R&R." "Sure, but where should we go? Downstairs?" Cole asked. "Nah, let''s just take a stroll around the town. I haven''t walked around the town for ages after all. Midham might be a small town, but it is not really that bad," Del said as he carried his Kar98 on his back. "Why do you need to carry your magical tool?" Cole asked. "Just to be safe," Del said. "Is the road in Midham is that dangerous?" Cole asked as he picked up his sword from the table. "No, I don''t think so. I meant, there are some bandits, but they don''t really attack the adventurers. Besides, Midham is actually quite safe for a small town," Del said. Del and Cole got out of the room. They went downstairs. Rina was busy in the dining area with her mixology. An adventurer was quite rare in the middle of the night so it wouldn''t be a problem if Rina stayed in the dining area while serving the adventurers. They got out of the inn. The magicalnterns on themp posts were shining the streets. Some people were in the streets, either drunk or just roaming around with a bottle of alcohol in their hands. There were also some street vendors roaming around. Del just enjoyed the cold air of the night. He might want to have a drink, but well, he didn''t think that drinking in the inn with Cole was appropriate at all. Appearance-wise, Cole might be as old as him, but age-wise, Del wasn''t sure. If Cassandra, who theoretically could be as old as thirty, looked way simr to his twin sister, Del had an idea how old Cole could be. It certainly made conversation less awkward because of his far younger biological appearance. "Cole, about Darium, what can it do?" Del asked. "Haven''t I told you before? It''s used as a catalyst to increase the efficiency of a magical stone," Cole said. "I know, I meant, what is the practical application?" Del asked. "Well, for example, if we mix water, Darium, and magical stone, we can make abustible liquid in a condition that the Darium and magical stone is mixed thoroughly with the water," Cole said. "How do we even mix two things that won''t mix with water?" Del asked. "With magical programming, it wouldn''t be hard to make a suspension of those two. Well, more like a borderline between a suspension and a solution. Why would I need to exin this to you anyway? It''s not like you''ll understand," Cole said. "In fact, I do understand. I''m still a high-school student, you know?" Del said. "What''s so special about being a high-school student? I don''t see anything so special about it," Cole said. "Fine, anyway, what is the ratio between the solid and the liquid to make a highlybustible fuel," Del asked. "1:100, for every one gram of Darium and Magical Stone mixture, you can create one hundred milliliters of fuel," Cole said. "That''s quite generous," Del said. "Below that and you''ll make an explosive, pretty cool, huh?" Cole asked. "I think my sister will like some fireworks. What will happen if I mix Darium with magical stone andbust it?" Del asked. "It will explode, I think. Well, theoretically speaking, I usually soak cotton into a suspension containing water and Darium-magical stones mixture with a ratio of 1:80. The cotton usuallybusts into gas, a lot of gas. It is colorless, but you can tell how much the gas produced," Cole said. Was the mixture just a basic acid? Del couldn''t tell, but he had the feeling about it. He knew that gun cotton was made bybining nt biomass with acid as far as he knew. Maybe it was the same over here, but Cole just didn''t know that the mixture was an acid. "Could you make some for meter?" Del asked. "Sure, it will be best for us if you provide me the ingredients first," Cole said. "I see. Well, how much does magical stone cost?" Del asked. "10 gold coins per kilogram," Cole said. "I''ll think about it," Del said. "Del, think about it, ok?" Cole asked. "Sure thing, Cole," Del said. They spent the rest of the night wandering Midham without any purpose. It was not that bad. They ate, they drank, and they slept.. Del would test the MG-42 tomorrow if he didn''t get the request from the adventurers. Chapter 25 - Adventurer Party While Cole was sleeping, Del was browsing [Gear & Items] because his sleep was disturbed by the drunk people downstairs. He wanted something to carry all of those drum mags. He was thinking of buying a tactical rig for a German machine gunner in the Second World War. With that, he could carry all of the magazine and the stripper clips outside of the backpack that he would also buy. ?????? [Showing Avable WW2 German Equipment] [Total Bnce: 3205$] [M40 Uniform] [30$] [German WW2 Tactical Rig] [40$] [M35 Helmet] [70$] [German WW2 Backpack] [60$] ?????? "Is that only for the whole set or only the shirt of M40 uniform?" Del asked. [One Set] "I see," Del said. [Do you want to buy the tactical rig?] "Yeah," Del said. [Tactical rig is a custom piece of equipment. What do you need?] "I want something that can at least carry two drum magazines and five stripper clips. As for the other tools, I want something that can carry sterile gauzes alongside some ibuprofen," Del said. [Del, you might want antibiotic ointmentter] "Sure, whatever you have in mind," Del said. [Purchase Confirmed. Remaining Bnce: 3165$] A tactical rig appeared on the metal box on top of Del''s table. Del approached his table and he turned on the magicalntern. He looked at the green tactical rig that appeared on the metal box. It was made from reinforced green fabrics. Del wasn''t quite sure what the material was, but it was quite strong. Del tried wearing the tactical rig. It felt rather morefortable than he previously expected. The rig didn''t feel too heavy and therge pockets on the front, sides, and back would certainly help in putting the magazines and anything that he would need quick ess to. Del tried putting one of the drum magazines into therge left side pocket of the tactical rig. It fit perfectly. Del put another one inside of the right side pocket of the tactical rig. The rig didn''t feel very heavy. In fact, Del could move agile enough while wearing it. Del also bought the backpack. The backpack was made from waterproof canvas and colored in olive. It was huge enough to put some food and clothing alongside the remaining bullets. There was also a ce to put his rifle on the side of the backpack. Del would look like a German soldier if he wore the uniform and the helmet. However, Del still thought that buying those two items would only be a waste of money. Maybe if the need arose for buying those uniforms, he would buy it. Del put the tactical rig and the backpack beside the metal box. He headed back to bed before he noticed something odd on Cole. There was nothing on his neck. The ve cor wasn''t supposed to be removable, right? Del became panicked. It might be a good idea to kill a demon that would go defiant, but thinking about it again, what if the bullet wasn''t strong enough to kill Cole. In an enclosed space like his room, even an MG-42 wouldn''t be useful enough to dodge Cole''s wrath. As harmless as he sounded, Cole was still the guy that held off six bounty hunters at once. He was also a person that beat an entire convoy of bounty hunters with a fireball. Del was only contributing by killing the heavily armored enemy. Del didn''t want to think about it anymore. He just wanted to sleep. Before this, Del only felt annoyed with Cole, but after seeing that, he feared Cole. Hopefully, Cole was still on his good side. =============== "What''s with that contraption, man?" Cole asked, Del wore his backpack and tactical rig while carrying the MG-42 on his shoulder. Del filled the tactical rig to the brim with useful stuff. He put the sterile gauzes and the magazines on his rig. The backpack contained thest two drum magazines alongside other items such as clothing and the crackers. "This contraption? What do you mean? We are going on a long mission, right?" Del asked. The guild secretary came to Rina''s inn early in the morning to tell that their application was epted. As a result, Del and Cole needed to be ready for the mission in under two hours or the adventurer''s party would leave them which meant no money for them. "Listen, Del, sorry if I''m being such a bitch yesterday," Cole apologized. "No problem, it''s not like both of us aren''t tired," Del said. "How''re your wounds anyway?" Cole asked. "Fine, thanks to Rina''s healing spell. I''m just waiting for the scabs to fall off and I can take off the bandages," Del said. "I''m d to hear that," Cole said. ording to Rina, the adventurer party would be waiting for them right beside the guild building inside of a carriage. After some walking, they finally arrived at the carriage. That carriage was filled with adventurers. Del approached the carriage. "Excuse me, is this the party for bandit extermination?" Del asked. "Correct. You must be Del, right?" One of the adventurers said. "Yup, my name is Del, this is my friend, Cole," Del said. "Friend? ve, you meant?" the adventurer said. Del sighed, "Yes, ve." Del felt a little bit ufortable calling Cole a ve. Maybe their rtionship was way simr to an ordinary friendship with its ups and downs. If Del saw Cole as a ve, why would he even carry all of the heavy stuff on his backpack? "My name is David, it''s a pleasure to meet you. I heard that you survived a vampire attack, is that true?" David asked. "Yeah, it''s true, more or less," Del said. "Great, let me introduce you to the rest of the team," David said. David walked to the back of the carriage. In there, three other adventurers were waiting. Those three adventurers were using different weapons. Del followed David from behind alongside Cole. Two adventurers were women while the other was a man. The women were both mages while thest man was another sword user. David introduced the member of the team one by one. "This man is Harold. He''s a swordsman," David introduced Harold. "Pleasure to meet you, Harold. My name is Del," Del said. "Ah, you''re quite reputable for an F-rank adventurer," Harold said. "Thanks, sir," Del said. "Just call me Harold," Harold said. David introduced the women, "The other two are Lizbeth and Lynia. These two are the mages in our group." "Nice to meet you, Del," Lynia said. Lizbeth just responded with a smile. "My sister is a little bit shy, don''t worry too much about it," Lynia said. "Oh, you two are rted?" Del asked. "Yup," Lynia said. It seems that the needs for specialized marksmen were because there was no long-range attacker at the party. A mage wasn''t known for its far range. A mage was more known because of their ability to pierce armor. An archer or a swordsman could only do so much to an armored opponent. Mage, on the other hand, could punch through the armor of an enemy rather easily with either a sharp projectile spell or using any other means such as explosions. However, mage usually stayed in the back due to theirck of closebat abilities. It was true that there was some type of mage swordsman, but that was quite rare and usually only avable if the adventurer had reached B rank or higher. "Lynia, Lizbeth, Harold, meet our specialized marksmen, Cole and Del," David introduced both of them. "Nice to meet you, Del," Lynia shook his hand. Lizbeth was just looking at Del''s MG-42 which looked unfamiliar in her eyes. "What''s the matter, sis? Are you really curious about the thing that our specialized marksman brings?" Lynia asked. Lizbeth just shook her head. "What''s that thing anyway, Del?" Lynia asked. "A some sort of magical tool," Del said. "You don''t want to tell us?" Lynia asked. "It''s rather¡­ ssified," Del said. "I understand. Anyway, the journey is simple. We will go to Alder, then to Liverley, after that, Injia Forest. It should take three days at least," David said. "Three days round trip or three days away from here?" Del asked. "Three days away from here. In total, we will take six days," David said. "Nice, more payment for me then," Del said. "Oh, so you have a mindset of a mercenary? Kid, you better not have that kind of mindset!" Harold said. "Nah, I just like money," Del said. "That''s a merc mindset," Harold said. "Whatever, I''m just here to do a job. Whatever you think about me or Cole isn''t relevant to our performance, now is there anything else that you want to add?" Del asked. "Fine," Harold said. Del put the backpack on the back of the carriage and he climbed inside of the carriage with the MG-42 in his hands. Camping tools were filling the carriage alongside the bags of the other adventurers. Thankfully, there was still enough space for Del and Cole to stretch their legs alongside the others. They immediately left Midham and started heading for Alder. Chapter 26 - MG42 Testing Time Keeping an eye on the road wasn''t easy when the soft breeze of grasnd air was hitting right on Del''s face. It felt soothing andforting. Del was sitting in front of the carriage alongside David. He held his MG-42 in his hands while making sure that he didn''t get ambushed all of a sudden. Thinking about it, there was no reason for the bandit to ambush a group of adventurers since it was very risky. Unlike a group of merchants escorted by adventurers, adventurers tended to fight back and they usually carried a small amount of cash which basically made attacking them useless. "Del, c''mon, rx for a bit, it''s not like anyone will ambush you," David patted Del''s back. "I think I have been ambushed in this road more than once. Well, it''s kinda nostalgic for both Cole and me," Del said. "Why?" "We met here," Del said. "Oh, this is the ce where you met your ve?" David asked. Del sighed, "Yeah, my ve, but I see him as a friend." "Damn, kid, you must be so desperate that you call a demon your friend," David said. Delughed, "Hahaha, perhaps?" "Still, I''m quite surprised that a low-leveled adventurer like you can keep a demon for a long time while still being alive," David said. "Why do you say that?" Del asked. "Demon tends to escape from its owner, sometimes, even killing the owner on its process. You two might have a special rtionship, but well, who knows?" David shrugged. "Yeah, who knows," Del said. After that conversation, everything went quiet. Lynia and Lizbeth were sleeping in the back while Harold was reading a textbook about something. Cole was looking out of the carriage, just like Del. It looked like the journey would be very smooth. Still, Del wondered about the security details at the bandits headquarter. To be entirely honest, it was rather risky just to send six adventurers into a dangerous area like that. Del was more than aware of what the bandits were capable of. Although they weren''t as dangerous as bounty hunters, they were still more dangerous than some monsters such as slimes or any low-ranked adventurers. In group, they were practically one of the mostmon dangerous threats. "David, what''s the security would be like in the HQ?" Del asked. "Let''s see. As far as I know, there will be at least ten bandits. I don''t know the details, but taking them down will be very easy," David said. "Are you sure you aren''t underestimating them?" Del asked. Davidughed, "Hahaha, trust me, I''ve been exterminating headquarter since a few years ago. I''m more than experienced enough to deal with that kind of threat," David said. "I see," Del nodded. Suddenly, Cole looked uneasy. It looked as if he looked at something that was troubling him. The only time Cole had that kind of face was when he wasying down on the ground with a big wound on his body. Del asked, "Is there something bothering you?" "Yes, look in your right direction," Cole said. Del looked in the right direction. It was a dark blue carriage with a somewhat familiar emblem on it. Del remembered seeing that carriage before. Why would the driver drive the carriage into the grasnd anyway? A lot of people were surrounding the carriage. There was something familiar about it, but Del couldn''t figure what was it. It was better to ask Cole. "Yeah, I see a carriage, what''s the matter?" Del asked. "That''s the carriage that we escorted yesterday, isn''t it?" Cole asked. Del just snapped. It was Lize''s carriage. Looking at it, bounty hunters wereing after her again. This time, there were more of them. Luckily, Del also had a new weapon to test at those crowds of bounty hunters. "David, can I kill those crowds of bounty hunters?" Del asked. "Are you crazy? Hell no, if you want to do that, go ahead, but I''ll leave you here," David said. "C''mon, wait here, I''ve been through this kind of situation before. I''ll meet you in Alder if that''s the case," Del said. "Fine, but I won''t pay you for today, is that ok with you?" David asked. "Sure, but wait for me in the guild office, if I don''t find you, I''ll put a bounty for taking away my stuff, got it?" Del threatened. "Alright, it''s not like we are not going to stop in Alder anyway," David said. Del got to the back of the carriage and picked up his rifle. He might need it for a more urate shot. Del walked away from the carriage with Cole. The carriage started moving away from them and Delid himself down on the ground. Del observed the situation. Six carriages filled with bounty hunters were surrounding Lize''s carriage. Maybe around ten bounty hunters were trying to break the carriage to force Lize out. Robert would have died at this point so there was no point in searching for him. He pulled a drum mag out of the tactical rig and attached it to the side of the MG-42. He asked Pidma how to operate the gun. It was the first time he ever operated a machine gun and he would like to know it from Pidma. "Pidma, how to use an MG-42?" Del asked. [First, pull the charging handle on the right side. Pull it backward, hard, then pull it forward. Open thetch on top of the machine gun and make sure that the bullet is loaded into the right ce] Del pulled the handle on the right side backward and he pulled it forward. He opened the toptch of the machine gun and put the bullet inside of the machine gun. He closed the toptch of the machine gun. [You can fire the gun now] Del pulled the trigger. Six bullets flew in the direction of that carriage in just one trigger pull. The bullets killed three people at once. The bounty hunters were looking in their direction. Some were angry, most were fearing for their lives. "Del, should Ie to them?" Cole unsheathed his sword. "No need, my MG-42 will take care of them," Del said. Del continued pulling the trigger of his MG-42. Bullets were raining to the enemies. Most of them were running without any direction, fearing for the thing that could kill them in one hit. The heavily armored bounty hunters fell to the ground just from a single burst from the MG-42. One of the bounty hunters looked at Cole, "THAT''S HIM. THAT''S THE DANGEROUS DEMON!" "THAT DEMON IS BACK?" The bounty hunter shouted back. Del took a bit of time just for the sake of hearing them. After that, he just turned the whole grasnd into Omaha Beach. He continued spraying his machine gun urately at the enemies that were attacking the carriage. Bodies started falling to the ground one by one. The mages were running in panic as they couldn''t find where Del was hiding. All they could find was Cole, a demon. Attacking a demon was considered unwise unless the attacker was skillful enough to deal with it. "FIRE AN ARROW BARRAGE!" One of the bounty hunters shouted. Del looked around for anyone that carried a bow. Del aimed his MG-42 in the direction of anyone in his vicinity that carried a bow. Del pulled the trigger of his MG-42 again and the gun started firing 7.92 Mauser in the direction of his enemy. "OVER THERE! ATTACK THE DEMON!" One of the mages pointed his hand at Cole who didn''t even do anything. Cole unsheathed his sword, "Should I go there now?" "No, not now," Del said. The armored enemies started to regroup. "PROTECT THE MAGES! EVERYONE, CHARGE!" The bounty hunters that were wearing armor started regrouping. They began to run to Cole. They thought that Cole was the main attacker since Del was pretty much hidden in the grass. Del threw away the empty magazine. "Del, I think I really should go there," Cole volunteered. Del loaded a fresh new magazine into his MG-42, "They just make things easier for me to be honest." Charging at a machine gun would be their dumbest idea. Del pulled the trigger of his MG-42 and the bodies of the heavily armored enemies fell to the ground. Even the most heavily armored one just fell to the ground the moment a 7.92x57 Mauser round hit them in the chest. Del continued pulling the trigger. After all of the armored enemies fell to the ground, he stood up from the ground and aimed in the direction of the mage. He finished them with a burst from his MG-42. All of the mages fell to the ground in one sweep. "Cole, you move to the carriage first, I''ll follow you from the back," Del said as he moved towards Lize''s carriage. Although the main priority was getting Lize to safety, Del was more interested in the number of gold that they could plunder from the dead bodies of the bounty hunters.. Del would bet that he would get more than yesterday. Chapter 27 - Bounty Hunters And System Upgrade Cole moved carefully among the dead bodies while stabbing every single dead body''s neck. He wanted to makes sure that everyone dead stayed dead. He didn''t want anyone to rise up and suddenly attacked him and Del. Del kept his MG-42 in his hands while aimed at Cole''s general direction. Del kept an eye for anyone that tried to ambush Cole. His weapon which fire rate could hit as fast as 25 rounds per second would make a quick work of anyone. Cole approached that carriage. "Lize,e out, it''s safe now," Cole knocked on the door of the carriage. "Cole, c''mon, it''s not like she will understand you," Del said. "Why don''t you try then?" Cole walked away from the carriage. Del knocked on the door of the carriage, "Mrs. Lize, this is me, Del, I''m your previous bodyguard." The carriage opened and Lize came out of the carriage. It looked like the carriage was indeed reinforced with steel. No wonder why the mages and the swordsmen had difficulty in opening up that carriage. "Lize, are you alright?" Del asked. "Thank you so much," Lize hugged Del without any hesitation. Del pushed Lize away, "Let''s keep things professional between us." "I understand. Still, what can I do for you? What are you doing here anyway?" Lize asked. "Nothing. Well, I was on the way to Alder when I saw you," Del said. Lize looked surprised, "Such a coincidence. If not for you, I don''t know whether I can talk to you or not." "I see, can you ride a carriage alone?" Del asked. "I can, why do you ask?" Lize asked. "Cole and I won''t escort you to Midham. You''re on your own," Del said. "Fine by me," Lize said. "Cole, can you ride a horse?" Del asked. "Of course I can, what do you think I take an ORSEDE training for?" Cole asked. "Fine, fine, I want you to detach one horse from the carriage. We will ride it to Alder. In the meantime, I will plunder these bounty hunters," Del exined. Del started plundering the body of the bounty hunters. The bounty hunters seemed to be better equipped this time. Del looked for a sword that was better than the cheap sword that he carried. If he found one, it would be more than helpful. After all, Del had found a nice ck knife. Another ck sword would be more than appreciated. After all, the knife was quite sharp. He tested the knife out on the table on the inn and it made quite a dent on the wood of the table. Del hoped Rina didn''t notice it. Del kept searching for money and any weaponry that he could use. The bounty hunters were carrying more money than he expected. He even thought it might be a good idea to hunt down the bounty hunters every once in a while to gain more funds for his system. After all, a low-end bounty hunter was usually weaker than him as of now. It was not when he didn''t have any modern weaponry in his arsenal. If he gained enough funds to livevishly in this world, it would be more than good. Cole detached a horse from the carriage that the bounty hunters brought. He brought something out of the bounty hunters'' carriage. It was a saddle and a tack. He attached the saddle on top of the horse and the tack on the horse. Del put all of the coins that he got into his pocket. It should be the safest ce to ce them as of now. "Del, c''mon, I''m ready to go," Cole said. "Yeah, let''s move," Del got on top of the horse while Cole riding it. Both of them headed to Alder with their pockets full of money. It was a good decision to loot the bounty hunters after all. Hopefully, it wouldn''t spark any jealousy when he brought all of the gold coins into his backpack. ===== "What? You just took down an entire team of bounty hunters? Alone?" Lynia red at Del. "Yes, I did," Del said. "Damn, are you really an F-rank?" Lynia asked. "I''m an F-rank, but I''m a good specialized marksman," Del said. David nodded, "I make the right decision to put you into our team then." Howard didn''t speak anything neither does Lizbeth. Maybe Howard just disliked Del with his mercenary mindset, and Lizbeth was too shy to initiate a conversation. Cole couldn''t even speak the humannguage. They would be staying in the guild building for today. The sky had gone orange as well. It was way better than camping out in the open with the risk of a random bandit''s attack. It was not something that the party wanted to face. Well, Cole probably would be able to hold them off, but Del wanted to sleepfortably without any disruption. Bandits tended to attack an adventurer''s camp. It was simply not safe to sleep outside. "Anyway, we have rented a room for you two. You two will be sleeping in Room 2. It''s on the second floor of the guild building," David gave Del a key. "Thanks," Del retrieved the key. Del grabbed his backpack and his weapons. He headed inside of the guild building alongside Cole. There was no need to speak to the guild secretary. He was there to stay, not to take a quest. Del headed for the stairs. The guild building of Alder gave a different atmosphere. If the guild building in Midham gave a more sophisticated atmosphere of a high-end ss, the guild building in Alder gave a more weing atmosphere for a middle-low ss like Del. Del walked into the hallway of the second floor to search for his room. He walked to the end of the hallway until he found his room which was at the end of the hallway. A te on the door of the room clearly read "2". Del opened the door. The room was better than his room. It was expected. Arge white bed was in the center of the room. There was a desk in front of it alongside one chair. A wardrobe was ced next to the bed. There was also another door located right beside the desk. Del put his heavy backpack on the table alongside the MG-42 and the Kar98. The first thing that he wanted to do was to contact Pidma again. He felt that killing that many enemies by himself should increase his level. "Pidma, can you show my status?" Del asked. "Who are you talking to?" Cole asked. Del searched for the right excuse, "Emm, my spirit." "Do you have a spirit?" Cole asked. "I think¡­ I do," Del said. "Fine, I won''t ask anymore," Cole said. "Pidma, are you there?" [I''m here. Showing Status] ?????? [Del Moore] [Level: 20] Strength: 69 Agility: 45 Vitality: 70 Aptitude: 12 Perception: 58 Skills: Language Comprehension | Marksmanship LVL.14 | Firearms Comprehension LVL.12 Magical Energy: 960/960 Health Point: 14000/14000 ?????? "Damn, I should be killing people more often," Del smiled. In Cole''s eyes. Del looked like a deranged person and a killing machine while speaking with his spirit. "Del, are you ok?" Cole asked. "I''m fine, I''m fine. I''m just talking to my spirit," Del said. Del continued speaking with Pidma. "Does my tech-level increase?" [Yes] "Cool, is there something new for me?" Del asked. [There are a lot of new features for you. Do you want to see it?] "Sure." ?????? [Tech Level: 3][System Upgrade Avable] [Vehicle][Weapons][Ammo][Amenities][Building][Gear & Items] ?????? "Upgrade yourself then," Del said. [Upgrade Cost: 10,000$] "Holy shit, I did find more than one hundred gold coins in the bodies of those bounty hunters, but what will you offer when I upgrade you?" Del asked. ?????? [Disying 2.0 Patch Note] -New feature: Killstreak -Ability to share system -Ability to upgrade weaponry -Ability to customize weaponry ?????? "What''s a killstreak?" [Killstreak is an ability to call a support unit when a certain condition is met. Killstreak also unlocks the ability to call support far more superior than your tech level. This also means that you''ll be able to call in a strong support team at a price] "For example?" [You can call an AC-130 Gunship to support you] "AC-130??? That flying gunship? That''s very overpowered," Del said. [It''s not cheap] "Well, what''s the cheap option?" Del asked. [You can also call in a special force unit to assist you in yourbat, but that''s not cheap either] "I said, what''s the cheap option?" [You can call in a mobile turret, but that''s not cheap] "I will say it one more time, I want the cheapest option," Del asked. [You can call an M2 Browning to your location after you have purchased an M2 Browning] "That''s quite generous actually," Del said. [Do you want to upgrade?] "Yes, upgrade yourself, will you?" Chapter 28 - System Upgrade And Brief Explanation ?????? [System Upgraded. Disying Menu] [Tech Level: 3][System Upgrade Unavable] [Vehicle][Weapons][Ammo][Amenities][Building][Gear & Items][Killstreak] ?????? "Pidma, do you have a new weapon? I think my higher tech level should provide me with something new," Del said. [I have something new. What do you want to browse? I think a battle rifle or assault rifle should fit your loadout perfectly. After all, you already have a general-purpose machine gun] "What assault rifles are avable as of now anyway? I even haven''t browsed that category," Del said. ?????? [Showing Avable Assault Rifle] [Tech Level: 3] [Total Bnce: 5205$] [AK-47] [300$] [M-16A1] [500$] ?????? "It''s truly the first generation of the assault rifle, I don''t think it''s worth the time especially since I don''t think there''s a caliber powerful enough to beat our enemies yet. Even a 7.92 Mauser isn''t enough to defeat a demon," Del said. [Do you need any ballistic vest or any helmet?] "I think I need a helmet, if my skull is crushed, I doubt any healing spell will be able to fix that," Del said. ?????? [Showing Avable Helmet] [Tech Level: 3] [Total Bnce: 5255$] [SSh-40] [50$] [M35 Helmet] [70$] [M1 Helmet] [80$] ?????? "I want to buy an M1 helmet," Del said. [Very well] A helmet appeared on the table of that room. Del walked to the table where the helmet was located. Del picked up the green helmet and it fitted perfectly on his head. It didn''t feel ufortable either. Overall, it was a solid helmet. "Thanks, Pidma," Del said. [Do you need any anti-materiel rifle?] "Yeah, but I think I will only need it if there''s some unpredictable threat, such as Eric," Del said. [Eric? What would that hero do to you?] "You know, you might not understand, but I have the feeling that the rtionship between my sister and the heroes'' party are getting worse as the day passed. I think, eventually, I have to fight them if my sisteres to my side," Del said. [Do you want any rmendation for the weapon?] "Sure," Del said. ?????? [Disying weapon rmendation] [PzB 39] [600$] [PTRD-41] [800$] [Solothurn S 18-100] [1400$] ?????? "What is so special about these rifles?" [I think I will have to say that killing your former friend will require an anti-materiel rifle] "I see. I''ll buy that rifleter. I doubt that I will survive any of them if I encounter them. Reality is saddening, isn''t it?" Del asked. [I see. I think the heroes won''t being after you anytime soon] "I know that and I''m more than well-aware of that. Still, I wish I can use an AC-130 for dealing with my friend," Del said. [I don''t think you''ll be able to afford an AC-130 anytime soon either] "Why?" [First, You need at least 5,000$ to operate it once. Second, you need a radiomunicator. Third, you need to be able tomunicate your target to the TV operator on the ne. Fourth, you need to have tech level at level five. Lastly, but optional, you need a targetingputer on your inventory if you want the TV operator to target your targets urately.] "Wow, that''s a lot of things to have just for the sake of calling an airstrike," Del said. [Did I tell you that they would only be avable for ten hours maximum before it returns to base? It also has its own ammunition reserve so the operational hour could simply be less] "I see," Del acknowledged that piece of information. Nevertheless, having an ess to something as powerful as an AC-130 that early was not even a bad idea for Del even though it wasn''t usable yet. For now, he would just focus on getting more and more money. "That''s all I need now, you can go now, Pidma," Del said. ==== Del and Cole were eating in the dining room of the guild building. The food was paid for by the other adventurers so they wouldn''t have to pay for such delicacy. As usual, the food inside of a guild would be rather decent. Del was just eating fried potato and sausage while Cole was eating soup. While eating, Cole was writing something inside of his textbook with a pencil. It looked weird, but somehow, Del could understand what was being told there. To be honest, it fell to the realm of programming the moment Del tried to read it. One of the lines went like this: If (Magical_Energy) < 100, Output=false If (Magical_Energy) > 100, Output=true If (Output=True), Initiate (Voice_Detection) That was the only thing that Del understood, the rest of it felt really gibberish. He could read it but understanding it was a different matter at hand. Asking Cole would be a better way to do it after all. "Cole, what are you writing?" Del asked. "Oh, this? Just filling up the book with my spell sequences that I wrote in my old book which was burned," Cole said. "Spell sequences? That reeks of programming," Del said. "Correct. What? Do you want to try?" Cole asked. "I think I''ve asked that for a long time," Del said. "Alright, I think it''s fair enough for me to teach you," Cole said. "What are you writing anyway?" Del asked. "A failsafe," Cole said. "What is the purpose of that failsafe?" Del asked. "Preventing magical exhaustion," Cole said. "Magical exhaustion? What is magical exhaustion?" Del asked. Cole sipped on his soup. "Cole?" Cole put his spoon on the bowl of the soup, "Magical exhaustion is a condition in which the body has run out of magical energy and when magical energy started sucking the life energy of its user. It''s quite lethal." "How lethal is it?" "Well, if we talk about numbers, maybe draining life energy as magical energy will require ten times the amount of magical energy necessary to create a magical spell. In short, it''s inefficient and ineffective," Cole said. "What''s the worse that could happen? You make it sounds as if we actually have an infinite amount of magical energy inside of your body," Del said. "Well, this is more of Cassandra''s territory as a medical student, but I will exin it anyway. Life energy is basically the energy that keeps your blood pumping, your heart beating, etc. Without it, you are as good as dead," Cole said. "What? It''s not even scientific," Del said. "It''s very scientific because it has been researched by the medical university. I won''t delve too deep into that. Anyway, magical exhaustion at the very least will cause a headache, and at worst, it will cause an organ failure," Cole said. "Damn, it sounds dangerous now," Del said. "It is. Anyway, when will we start training magic?" Cole asked. "Maybe after we get back to Midham after this assignment," Del said. "Good, great," Cole said. Del and Cole continued eating their dinner. They were sitting separately from the other adventurers because of one simple reason, Cole. They simply didn''t want to sit at the same table as Cole. Maybe it was just basicmon sense that a demon was dangerous. Del and Cole finished their dinner and they headed outside of the guild building for a little bit of a night walk. Del carried a kar98 on his back so he could defend himself in case someone tried something funny with him. The cold breeze of the night alongside the smell of saltwater was really a trademark of Alder. It might be a good idea to have a drink in one of the local bars. Some of the alcohol that Rina served was from Alder as well. "Let''s search for a bar," Del said. "Sure," Cole said. Del and Cole walked until they noticed something odd on the dark alleyway. Mugging was quitemon inside of Alder. Del usually wouldn''t bother with it, but the appearance of the victim was quite familiar. "Is that the girl that sits beside me on the carriage?" Cole pointed his finger at an alleyway. Del took a closer look at the alleyway. Two people were surrounding one single woman. It was nothing unusual. The woman just looked familiar. Maybe it was because of the staff that she held on her right hand. "Hmm, who is that?" Del tried to remember. "That''s one of the twins, isn''t it?" Cole asked. "AH, RIGHT!" Del facepalmed himself. "Can I rescue her?" Cole asked. "Sure, I guess? You''ll be her knight in shining armor," Del giggled. "Wait for me, ok," Cole said. "Sure," Del grabbed his rifle from his back. Cole walked in the direction of the alleyway. Del stayed behind one of the walls in the entrance of the alleyway. Cole walked there with his sword in his hand while spinning it. He might try to act cool, but to be honest, it just felt impractical. "Hey, gentlemen, what are you doing?" Cole shouted as he unsheathed his sword. "Fuck off!" The man shouted back, but he didn''t even take a nce at Cole. "Boss¡­, we should get out here," the other guy pointed his hand at Cole. Both of them looked at Cole, "DEMON!!!" Both of them ran away without fighting. Del was confused while Cole felt proud. Cole walked closer to the woman that was attacked. Cole sheathed his sword. He approached that woman. "Are you ok?" Chapter 29 - Cole And Women "Hey beautiful, are you ok? Do you get hurt or something? Do you need me to take you back to the guild office?" Cole looked at Lizbeth''s body while touching it, looking for anything that might result in an injury. "KYAAAAA," Lizbeth yelled. "Del, why the heck did this girl scream when I ask her," Cole asked Del. "She doesn''t understand you, Cole, and you don''t exactly touch girls like that and expecting nothing to happen," Del said. Del walked to Lize''s ce. "Hey, are you ok? The demon didn''t mean any harm," Del assured Lize. "Thanks¡­" Lizbeth said. Lizbeth was unknowingly¡­ beautiful, or that was what Del''s mind told him. Her body was slender but still proportional. Her ck hair was long enough to touch her shoulder. She also gave an aura that she was indeed very shy. Still, she was definitely older than him. Maybe Cole would be more suitable for her. "What are you doing here anyway? What a woman like you is doing in here?" Del asked. "Ehhh, well¡­ I¡­," Lizbeth stuttered because of Cole. "C''mon, the handsome demon next to me won''t even bite you," Del looked at cole, "In fact, I think he wants to have a date with you." Del winked to Cole. "But a demon is dangerous, isn''t it?" Lizbeth asked. "C''mon, you two are perfect to be together. Heck, Cole is a great man with amazing intellectual ability. Do you want to give Cole a chance, please?" Del convinced Lizbeth. "Sure, I¡­ think?" Lizbeth said. "Excellent," Del said. There was something about a shy girl that Del knew. A shy girl could be easily convinced. Lizbeth was a shy girl or woman. They sometimes didn''t have the ability to react to a fast-changing condition. It was important for Del to convince Lizbeth first before her brain would be able to react. Besides, this kind of situation could lower Cole''s demand for Darium and magical stones a bit. He could focus more on the mission if one of his demands was fulfilled. Besides, Cole liked women, right? "You know, you two should go to a bar or something," Del said. "I think that''s a great idea, what do you think?" Lizbeth asked Cole. Cole just gave Lizbeth that confused look that he didn''t understand what Lizbeth was saying. Del needed to trante it first to Cole. "She said whether you want to get a drink or not," Del said. Cole replied with a nod. "Lizbeth, do you know any establishment around here? We are a Midham resident, it''s not exactly like we know a good ce to drink," Del said. "Oh, I know a good ce around here. My sister always invites me there," Lizbeth said. The trio walked to the center of the town. From there, the bar was located around six blocks to the north of the center of the town. It didn''t take them a long time until they arrived at the bar itself. The bar looked so fancy. It seemed not to be an establishment for an adventurer like Del or Cole. Could it be that Lizbeth and Lynia belong to higher strata than both of them? Well, they couldn''t tell since both Lynia and Lizbeth were not dressing as fancy as Lize. "Lizbeth, are you sure we can afford to drink here?" Del asked. "Don''t worry, I''ll pay, besides, I know who owns the bar," Lizbeth said. "Good, Cole, you follow whatever she does, alright? I''ll go somewhere else," Del instructed Cole. "Are you sure it is a good idea to leave us both? I don''t even understand what this girl is saying," Cole said. "Language isn''t a barrier for love, I''ll see you two tomorrow, alright?" Del winked at Cole. "Sure, I''ll take care of him," Lizbeth said. Del was sure that leaving those two people alone would be a great idea. At worst, Lizbeth would only say that Cole was his ve and it wouldn''t spark any trouble. Lizbeth wasn''t exactly the type that would cause any trouble either. Del walked away from that bar. He just felt that he would either disturb those two people or embarrass himself with his weird attitude. Del wasn''t exactly a person with the best manner. He felt that he was free to do whatever he wanted. He would just have a drink inside of the guild building with either David and Harold. His n for this night was to have fun with Cole, but since he was having fun with Lizbeth, Del felt that disturbing them would further lengthen the rtionship between him and Cole. ¡ö ¡ö ¡ö Del woke up from his bed. The headache began to stroke his head again. "Damn, I must have drunk too much with David," Del held his head. He looked at the side of his bed. It was empty. Where was Cole? Del couldn''t remember the details fromst night. He only remembered that he had a drinking contest with David and he somehow won it. Without Rina and his detoxification magic, Del couldn''t remove the hungover. "Where the fuck is Cole?" Del woke up from his bed with a headache. Del headed for the bathroom. Maybe the bathroom wasn''t as modern as the one in his old world, but still, it was not exactly something that was supposed to exist in middle age. Deciding the tech level in that world wasn''t an easy task. The bathroom had a flush toilet. Flush toilets only existed on Earth in the 19th century. But still, it worked and it was avable albeit with the help of magical technology. The tap water inside of the bathroom worked not by pumping water from the ground, but by using magical energy. Del took a bath in that bathroom. As he took a bath, he heard that someone opened the door. The person must be Cole. Del finished his bath and he got out of the bathroom with only a towel on his body. Col looked strangely happy. Well, he might have something to do with Lizbeth and it was supported by the fact that he was not even sleeping in Del''s bedroom. Well, good for him to be honest. "How wasst night?" Del asked smugly. "Last night was great. In fact, more than great," Cole said. "More than great? Did you get Lizbeth?" Del asked. "Yup, and the extra," Cole said. "The extra?" Del gave Cole a confused look. "Lynia," Cole said. Del didn''t reply with a single word. He became speechless on the ability of his friend in getting a woman. Getting Lizbeth was impressive enough, but also getting Lynia? That was more than impressive. "H-h-how?" Del asked. "Let''s say Lizbeth was so drunk and I wasn''t even under the influence of alcohol. I took her to her room and I found Lynia was even drunker. After that, one thing happened after another," Cole said. "More details, please?" Del asked. "Well, with my spellbook in my hand and two drunk women in the room, I make sure that the situation ends up in how I want it to end even if I don''t say a single word. Well, you get what I mean, right?" "Damn, Cole, you''re such a yer," Del said. "Hey, I do what I''ll do in that kind of situation," Cole said. "Do you have any girlfriend in the demonic continent?" Del asked. "Nope, not yet," Cole said. "I see. Anyway, you better clean yourself," Del said. "Right, thanks forst night Del," Cole said. "Hey, I didn''t do anything. It''s all on you, Cole," Del said. Cole headed for the bathroom. Del prepared for moving out of that room. He wore his clothing then He wore his tactical rig on his body and he wore the M1 helmet on his head. He packed the clothes that he brought back into his backpack. The thing that he left on the table was only Cole''s clothes. The Kar98 was on his back, attached to his backpack. Del held his MG-42 in his hands. The 50-round magazine had been loaded into the gun itself. The gun was ready to be fired. "Cole, I''ll be waiting downstairs," Del said as he walked out of the room. "OK!" Cole shouted from the bathroom. Del walked downstairs. Downstairs, David and Harold were already waiting. They were dressed in their te armor. It made Del wondered why they would be dressed in such heavy armor. The road was dangerous, but Del didn''t think it would be dangerous. "Guys, why are you wearing armors?" Del asked. "Why are you wearing a helmet?" David asked. "For my safety, of course," Del said. "Good, so you know that the road between Alder and Liverley is treacherous, right?" David asked. "I''ve never been to Liverley before," Del said. "Well, since you can handle yourself against a horde of bounty hunters, I don''t think you''ll be our concern. We are concerned about the safety of the twins," David said. "Oh, Lizbeth and Lynia, are they mages? They can take care of themselves, right?" Del asked. "Sure, they can take care of themselves if their spells don''t take too long to cast. In terms of close-quarterbat, they are pretty much on the lower end of the spectrum. However, against armor in medium-rangebat, they are excellent," David said. "I see. We will take our own horse anyway, I''ll just put my backpack inside of the carriage," Del said. "Excellent, now, let''s wait for the others shall we?" David said. ======= This is just a bonus chapter, I''ll release the next chapter soon. Thanks for reading.. Have a nice day. Chapter 30 - Road Towards Liverley Cole rode the horse while Del was holding his head from the strong headache. He shouldn''t have drunk as much as yesterday. However, Del felt that he deserved that headache just because he wanted to win a mere drinkingpetition with David as foolish as it was. "Are we there yet?" Del asked. "Nope," Cole said. "Are you sure?" Del said. "Yeah, c''mon, as far as I could see, it''s only grass and grass. There is no city in the vicinity. Well, there are trees too, but I don''t think you''re looking for that," Cole said. "Headache, headache, and headache," Del muttered. "Hey, I didn''t drink that much alcoholst night," Cole said. "Yes, because you''re busy with other things such as getting two women at once. Next time, bring me too, alright? Damn, I never thought that you can convince two women without even saying anything to them," Del said. "Hahaha, yeah, sure, I''ll tag you along next time," Cole giggled as Del kept holding his aching head. To make matters worse, the road to Liverley consisted of many hills that went up and down. It just made Del''s headache worse. To top it all off, he felt nauseous too. He really regretted having that drinkingpetition with David. He bet that David wasughing his ass off inside of the carriage now. Del was still holding his MG-42 while on the back of the horse. Even if it was heavy, it would be better to carry that instead of the Kar98 since the rate of fire couldpensate for theck of uracy of the MG-42. So far, there was nothing suspicious in the vicinity. No bandits had tried to ambush them so far. Del hoped that it stayed like that until he reached Liverley. However, if even Harold and David were wearing armor, Del doubted that nothing would happen. Cole was looking at Del, feeling annoyed by his looking left and right, "Yo, bro, why are you so paranoid?" It was indeed true that Del kept aiming down the sights of his MG-42, but it was a necessity, "I don''t want to be caught with my pants down, Cole." Del continued aiming his MG-42. Cole just shrugged, "Alright, I understand. Anyway, I''m here to protect you so you don''t have to worry at all." Del nodded, "Thanks Cole, but I''m afraid that your protection without my effort won''t keep us both alive." Cole justughed back, "I have my arsenal of spells now," He pointed his hand at his book at his belt. "Ah yes, I see. To be honest, my headache is really killing me," Del kept holding his head. "Look around you," Cole showed the environment around, "There''s really no ambush point in here so why don''t you rx?" "Yeah, I do agree with that," Del nodded. Del lowered the weapon from his shoulder. What Cole said was true. There was simply no ambush spot in the area. Maybe it would be a great idea to take a deep breath. Del was still afraid of being murdered even though he had ess to overpowered weapons like MG-42. Well, unless one of Cole''s "associates" decided to make another unexpected "visit", Del wouldn''t have to be afraid. As they continued their journey to Liverley, they noticed something was blocking the road. There was a carriage blocking the road and there was no horse attached to that carriage. Pushing it out wasn''t an option, but Del felt something was suspicious. Del lifted his MG-42 and aimed it at the carriage, "David, I request permission to shoot that carriage?" Del asked. David looked at him, he red at Del and shouted a warning, "Are you crazy? What if that thing carries a noble? Do you want bounty hunters toe after you?" Cole interrupted, "Why don''t one of you check on it?" Howard red at Cole, "Are you insulting us, demon?" Del gave a pat on Cole''s shoulder, "Let me do the talking, ok?" Cole replied with a nod. "You two are armored, why don''t you two check it out?" Del asked. "Why should we?" Harold asked. "Because you''re armored, if I go check it out, I''ll surely be dead since I''m a marksman," Del gave his excuse. Harold sighed, "Fine, I''ll do it you pussy." Del just smiled. He didn''t bother to listen to Harold''s insult. If he volunteered to be the meat shield, it was more than enough for him. Del didn''t like the guy in the first ce. If he somehow died on this ambush, he would get more payment. More gold equaled better equipment after all. Better equipment meant that he would be able to get more gold and the cycle continued. Livingvishly was his dream after all. Maybe, beating the heroes would actually be feasible. Harold disembarked from his horse. The loud metal noise came from him each time he moved his body. He unsheathed his sword as he approached that carriage. His sword emitted a reddish aura. "Del, look at his sword, I think that soul is infused with a spirit." Del gave Cole a confused look, "Spirit infused weaponry?" Cole nodded, "Yup, when you attach a certain magical gadget to your weapon. A spirit can reside inside of it." "I see," Del nodded. He thought for a moment about Cole''s suggestion. If he attached a fire spirit, it would turn his weapon to fire incendiary round, wouldn''t it? If he got back home, Del wanted to test that theory out with the help of Cole. From afar, Harold was approaching that carriage slowly. However, as he approached that carriage, he suddenly ran away from that carriage. He ran, fearing for something. Del wasn''t sure what was it, but if it could make a heavily armored man ran, it must be very dangerous. Del disembarked from the horse with his MG-42 in his hands. He wasn''t sure what he was facing, but it was better to remain vignt. Running wasn''t an option either. Harold didn''tmand David to turn around. Del ran in Harold''s direction, "Calm down! What''s wrong ahead?" Del held his body tightly and shook him up, "Get a hold of yourself!!!" "There''s a ck wolf!" Del just scratched his head, "An ordinary wolf?" "No! This is a necromantic wolf!" Harold shouted. Del became more confused, "What the hell is a necromantic wolf?" "JUST RUN!!!" Harold just ran away, abandoning both his carriage and the others. The carriage started turning around and the wolf showed up. Behind the carriage that was blocking the road, a grey wolf appeared. The wolf was as tall as half of the carriage. Its fangs were dripping blood. "COLE! ENGAGE THE TARGET!" Del shouted. Col disembarked from his horse and unsheathed his sword. He held his sword in one hand and held a book on the other. "[Magical Program: Masking Soul Presence], Del, be careful, this wolf can sense your soul. You''re lucky that you have me on your side." Delid down on the ground and aimed his MG-42 at the wolf. However, the moment Del aimed his MG in the direction of that wolf, the wolf just disappeared without a trace. The wolf turned invisible. Del looked left and right, "Where the fuck does he go?" Cole ced his ear on the ground and then he whispered, "If this is a necromantic wolf, it has the ability to turn invisible and cast a magical spell. Keep your ears open," he then looked in the right direction, "RIGHT SIDE!" Del stood up and aimed his MG-42 at the right side but there was nothing, "WHAT? I DON''T SEE ANYTHING!" Suddenly, something wed Del''s face. Del jumped backward with him MG-42 in his hands. The damage wasn''t too deep, but blood started dripping from Del''s cheek. Three red scratches were dripping with blood on his cheek. The wolf just appeared in the ce where Del was standing. A fireball started forming in front of that Wolf''s face. Cole jumped in front of Del and he readied his sword. "[Magical Program: Explosion]!" A small explosion appeared in front of that Wolf''s pace. The fireball dissipated into thin air. Cole jumped forward and shed his sword at that wolf. The wolf growled in pain as the sword shed its legs. Cole jumped backward, "DEL! ATTACK HIM!" "Right, get some!" Del aimed his MG-42 and pulled the trigger. 7.92 Mauser bullets started flying towards the direction of that wolf. That wolf turned invisible, but the howl of pain could be heard from an unknown direction. For Del, fighting a wolf was one thing, but fighting an invisible wolf was something else. To make matters worse, the carriage that was carrying Del''s stuff had run away towards the direction of Liverley. Harold seemed to be gone as well. "Well, guess who is the pussy now, Harold!" "Del, stay vignt, the wolf can be anywhere," Cole ced his ear on the ground again. "Right," Del looked left and right. "DEL, WATCH OUT!" Chapter 31 - Having A K9 Dog, Wolfie "What?" Before Del knew it, the wolf rammed him with his head. Del fell to the ground and he dropped his MG-42 on the ground. Del retaliated by pulling his 1911 pistol out of the holster and fired it at the wolf, "Cole, attack it!" "Got it!" Cole shed his sword to that wolf again. The wolf parried his sword with his paw. Del kicked the wolf in the belly with both of his legs. The wolf flinched backward and Del took that opportunity to grab his MG-42. He grabbed the MG-42 that wasying on the ground and pulled the trigger of that gun. The wolf growled in pain again before it turned invisible. Del looked at his clothes that had been torn off. The wolf managed to inflict a wound on his chest. Luckily, it didn''t go deeper than a bare scratch. Del noticed that the wolf didn''t attack Cole at all, "Howe that the wolf attacks me instead of you? Is this the work of your friends again in an attempt to rescue you?" Cole shook his head, "I doubt it. There''s no reason for my friend to take control of an animal just for the sake of rescuing me. Keep an eye on the wolf, will you?" As if it wasn''t hard enough to find a magical wolf, Del had to fight an invisible magical wolf that tended to attack him instead of Cole. It really made him think whether Cole was really on his side or not. "Del, watch out! It''s behind you!" Cole shouted. Del turned his body around and he fired his MG-42 without aiming it first. He didn''t care whether it hit or not. He just wanted the wolf to be dead, "WHY WON''T YOU DIE ALREADY?" Bullets casings were raining down from his machine gun. 7.92 Mauser bullets flew out of the barrel of the gun. The random bullets hit the wolf in the head. The wolf fell while running and he came down towards Del''s direction. Del lowered his gun and he approached that wolf. Del aimed his gun at the head of the wolf, "Damn, it, you''re very hard to kill, do you know that?" "Human, please, don''t kill me," a sound came out of Del''s head. Del gave Cole a confused look, thinking that Cole was talking to him, "Were you saying something to me, Cole?" "It''s me, the wolf!" Del looked at the dying wolf, "So you''re talking to me, huh? Why would you attack us anyway?" Del put the end of the gun right at the head of the wolf, making sure the top of the barrel touched the wolf''s head, "wrong answer and I''d make sure that your head turned into a juice." The wolf reasoned, "you attacked me first, why wouldn''t I attack you?" "Fair point, but well, it''s better to have you killed anyway," Del readied himself to pull the trigger. "Wait, I can serve you, I promise I''d be serving you as a good dog," the wolf said. Cole patted Del''s back, he asked, "Are you talking to the wolf?" "Yes, how do you know?" Del asked back. "Simple, every time the wolf barked, you replied," Cole said. "I see, what do you have in mind, Cole," Del asked. "Well, if the wolf can understand humannguage, I doubt this is a regr necromantic wolf. A regr necromantic wolf only can cast magic, not turning itself invisible. I think this is a mystical wolf," Cole said. "Mystical wolf?" Del asked. "Yup, a wolf with a magical aptitude higher than a necromantic wolf. How should I say this? It''s ratherplicated, to be honest," Cole said. "Go on." "Basically, this wolf can turn invisible for a short amount of time, cast a magical spell, and change its size. If this wolf volunteers himself to be your familiar, I think you should take it," Cole said. Del became interested. Having a wolf as hispanion would make things way easier since there were some things that Cole wouldn''t do. For example, Cole couldn''t turn invisible nor want to sniff out something suspicious. Cole wouldn''t be hungry for his attention either and the most important of all, the wolf wouldn''t bitch about its Darium research. To top it all off, the wolf could be equipped with a bunch of tactical equipment which basically turned him into a great ally. Just imagine the potential that this wolf could bring as a familiar. He could distract the enemies and all of the other things that any K-9 dog could do. "How to take him as a familiar?" Del asked. "You can form a blood contract with him. That way, if you die, he will also die," Cole said. "How to form a blood contract?" Del asked. "Ask the wolf, he will surely understand what I meant," Cole said. "Do you want to form a blood contract?" Del asked the wolf. "Yes, what''s your name?" the wolf asked. "Del Moore," Del said. "I pledge my life and soul to Del Moore. I shall never betray nor try to kill my new owner. My life and death are in the hands of my new owner. If I break the contract, I shall ept death as my punishment," the wolf said. The wolf died and it disappeared into orbs of lights. Del wondered where the wolf had gone. However, that question was answered immediately once the wolf appeared right beside him. He was very clingy, fondling Del''s legs. "You always surprise me, don''t you think?" Colemented. "How so?" "You manage to get me two girls and you also manage to convince a mystical wolf to be your own pet. That''s just very umon, even in my standard," Colemented. Del patted on the wolf, "Can I call you Wolfie?" Wolfie barked, "Sure." Cole couldn''t understand what Wolfie said, but Del could. Wolfie''s appearance seemed to be altered as well. His fur was now gray. His size had also shrunk to that of an ordinary dog. There was also no bloodstain on his fur. Overall, he looked more approachable. "Anyway, let''s go to Liverley, it shouldn''t be that far now," Cole got on top of the horse. "Wolfie, can you keep up with us?" Del patted him. "I can, but master, are you sure you''re ok, I think I hurt you so bad," Wolfie barked. Del pointed at his scratches, "This is nothing, don''t worry too much about it Wolfie." Wolfie replied by licking Del. "Haha, c''mon, follow me and Cole," Del said. "Of course," Wolfie barked. Del got on the back of the horse and Wolfie followed it from behind. They headed in the direction where Liverley was located. Wolfie might have injured Del, but Del was more disturbed by his headache from yesterday hungover. ================ In front of one of the houses in a small vige called Liverley, a group of adventurers was having quite a ruckus. One of the members of their party apparently just turned a mystical wolf into his familiar. "WHAT? YOU MADE HIM YOUR FAMILIAR?" David looked at both Del and Wolfie in disbelief. The rest of the adventurers were also shocked by the sudden appearance of Wolfie. Lynia and Lizbeth were hiding right behind David while Harold was not even in the vicinity. The sight of a mystical wolf was really something to be feared for. "Yes, is that weird?" Del smirked. "No, absolutely not, turning something that tried to kill us into your own pet is not weird at all," Davidmented. Del just smiled, "Well, I do what I am capable of." "Fair enough, to be honest, the more the merrier. Anyway, after this, we will make a camp. I don''t see any innfortable enough while remaining cheap enough for us in this town. We should make a camp," David said. "Alright, where will we be setting up a camp?" Del asked. "Right there," David pointed his hand at a small spot right next to the main road. "That''s quite a good spot," Delmented. David moved the carriage closer to that spot. Del followed the carriage from behind. Cole was riding the horse to the nearest stable. He just needed to pay some coins to the owner and the owner of the stable would let him put the horse there. He didn''t even need to talk, money was a rather universalnguage. David set up the camp and the twins were setting up the tents. Harold finally returned after cowering behind a house for a while. Del just looked at him with a smile after Harold called him a coward. After Cole returned from the horse stable, he helped Del treating his wound. There was no need for thick bandages since the wound was not that bad. Cole cast a healing spell to Del to heal the wound up. It was just amazing to see a wound heal up right before your eyes. The sunpletely went down. Chapter 32 - Before The Attack The next morning, Del awoke with his head not aching anymore. He didn''t drink any alcohol after all. It was dawn. The sun hadn''t risen yet. He woke up so early so he could contact Pidma for ammunition resupply. So far, he had spent three drums worth of ammunition. It might be better to just buy 250-round-belt ammunition without the drum. "Pidma, are you there?" Del walked away from the encampment. [I''m here, what do you need, Del?] "I want to buy 7.92x57mm Mauser bullets, can you give me the list?" Del asked. [Sure] ???????????? [Showing Avable 7.92x57mm Ammunition] [Ammunition Level: 1] [Tech Level: 3] [Total Bnce: 5055$] [7.92x57 FMJ] [10x] [25$] [7.92x57 HP] [10x] [50$] [7.92x57 AP] [10x] [80$] [7.92x57 API] [10x] [100$] [7.92x57 APS] [10x] [120$] [7.92x57 HE] [10x] [150$] [7.92x57 HEAP] [10x] [200$] [7.92x57 IHEAP] [10x] [300$] [7.92x57 AM-AP] [10x] [350$] [7.92x57 AM-HEAP] [10x] [400$] [7.92x57 AM-IHEAP] [10x] [420$] [7.92x57 AM-APDS] [10x] [450$] ???????????? "AM ammunition?" Del asked. [AM stands for Anti-Materiel. For certain types of ammunition, the option for high-end ammunition will provide an Anti-Materiel option. This ammunition had enhanced destructibility and armor-piercing capability. For example, AM-HEAP ammunition will have a bigger explosion than HE ammunition] "Oh, I see," Del nodded. [So, Del, what do you want to buy] "I want to buy of mixed bullets. I want half of the belt to be AP and half of the belt to be FMJ in alternating orders. Basically, after I shot an AP ammo, I want to shoot an FMJ bullet afterward," Del said. [Calcting¡­] [Total Purchase: 1312.5$] "I ept the purchase," Del said. Del''s backpack glowed slightly. Del approached his backpack and there was a belt of ammunition. The belt of ammunition was very long. Del felt like he was holding a very long snake while holding that belt. The tip of each bullet was different too. There were some tips of the bullets that didn''t have any color and there were also some tips that were colored in blue. Del thought that was the armor-piercing ammunition. Suddenly, when Del was checking on the belt, Wolfie caressed his feet, "Master, what are you doing?" "Hahaha, nothing," Del patted Wolfie with one hand and put the ammunition belt back into his backpack with another. "Was that the thing that you use to defeat me, master?" Wolfie asked. "Yup, boy, you sure are fluffy," Del rubbed Wolfie''s fur even harder. "C''mon, stop it, hahaha, that tickles," Wolfie rolled down on the ground. Del sat down on the grass and Wolfie sat right next to him. Del grabbed his MG-42 and he inspected the weapon. He wanted to make sure that there was no big object such as rocks or dust buildup on his gun. He didn''t want his gun to jam. Wolfie observed Del like a good wolf he was. He didn''t disturb Del nor ask any questions while he was cleaning his gun. Del loaded thest drum magazine into his MG-42 and he put his machine gun right beside him. "Wolfie, what do you know about Injia Forest?" Del asked, wondering whether Wolfie knew about it or not. Suddenly, Cole approached him with a ss of water in his hand, "Talking with your wolf again I see. I am not surprised, to be honest. Mystical wolf had an intelligence level of human, more or less. It''s just that they can''t ignore their animal instinct," he sipped his ss of water. "Oh, is that so?" Del asked. "Yup, as intelligence as Wolfie is, if you throw a bone in his direction, he would catch that bone instead of doing whatever he is supposed to be doing," Cole said. "I see, anyway, Wolfie, back to the question, can you answer me?" Del ignored Cole and Cole went away. "Injia Forest is a forest located in that direction," Wolfie pointed his paw at a forest, "It''s not that dangerous for a creature like me, but humans always use it as a hideout. I rarely attack them unless I want some variation in my food." "I see, it''s basically an ordinary forest, right?" Del asked. Wolfie barked, "Correct." David and the others woke up and they started disassembling the campsite. They took off the tents, rolled up the sleeping bags, and put the equipment back into the carriage. Harold was cooking on the campfire. Del eventually helped Harold by stirring the stew that he was cooking while Harold cut the vegetables. Eventually, Harold came to respect Del, not out of his own conscience, but out of fear of Del''s power. Somehow, the same Harold that called him a coward stuttered when he talked with him. Del wanted tough, but he wouldn''t because of David. He might not like it if Del suddenlyughed at Harold, but Harold was quite an arse. Still, if there was one thing that was good about Harold was that he was a good cook. His food was quite a delicacy. The stew was cooked perfectly and the vegetables weren''t overcooked. Del grabbed another serving after he finished with his previous one. After the quick breakfast, the party quickly left the encampment and headed for Injia Forest. Del rode with Cole again while Wolfie followed them all from behind. So far, everything had been so good. ============== Injia Forest wasn''t as dangerous as it sounded. So far, it just looked like an ordinary forest. The road was even paved properly. It made him wondered why would the forest sounded so dangerous although it wasn''t. "David, I thought Injia forest is dangerous," Del said. "I didn''t say it is dangerous, did I?" David responded. David never mentioned that the forest was dangerous. It seemed that Del was just paranoid about his situation. He only entered a forest once in this world and he didn''t want to enter it again. He was chased by a wild beast when he entered a forest for the first time in that world and he swore that he wouldn''t enter a forest ever again. "Yeah, you didn''t say it," Del said. "Anyway, the bandit headquarter shouldn''t even be far. ording to the information that I got from the passing merchants, the headquarter should be two hours walk to the south from this road," David said. "I see. What the tactic will be?" Del asked. "Lizbeth, Lynia, and Cole would be together. They will attack the headquarter with their spells, I hope you can condition your ve, Del. Harold and I will attract their attention so they don''t attack the mages. Meanwhile, you can get a vantage point with that wolf of yours," David said. Del understood that n. Lizbeth and Lynia were practically useless in close-quarterbat so it would be wise to pair them with Cole who could both cast a magical spell and use his sword to defend himself. Harold and David were good in close-quarterbat so both of them would be best to face the heaviest resistance by attracting the bandits'' attention. However, Del wasn''t sure about his role. After all, he was the only one who was paired with Wolfie and the only one who used firearms. Still, Del bet that Wolfie had more use than either Harold or David. Those twin mages wouldn''t serve too much purpose either since Cole was the only one who understood Del''sbat style which was using firearms. "Wait a minute, Cole doesn''t even understand them, how could they work together as a team?" Del asked, even though he knew that Cole got those two twins without saying a word. "Well, I only ask Cole to be a body shield to be entirely honest," David said. "He''s my ve, he does what I want, Cole is better to be paired with me, either that or I tag along with the mage team," Del said. "Fine, fine, I think you have a point," David said. "Great, I know that you are capable of making the best decision, David," Del said. "You and Cole should be attacking from the highest point in the area. Harold and I would attack from the north direction alongside Lynia and Lizbeth. You two wait until most of the bandits'' attention is directed toward us. After that, you two have to attack," David said. "It sounds like a solid n to me," Del said. "It is a solid n. Anyway, I don''t have any doubt that your magical tool and your wolf will make sure our battle ends up victorious. I hope you don''t disappoint, Del," David said. "I won''t, but you better do your job, David, I don''t want every single bandit toe after me," Del said. "Don''t worry, Harold and I are a very capable knight," David said. "I hope what you said is true," Delmented. They parked their carriage and their horse on the side of the road.. They continued their journey to the bandit headquarter on foot because neither the horse nor the carriage would fit on the small footwalk to the forest. Chapter 33 - Commence Attack!!! After two hours of walking, they finally arrived at the bandit headquarter. Del really underestimated the bandits. Why? The bandit headquarter looked more like a vige than a bunch of shacks made from twigs and branches. Most of the houses were painted and they were made from proper wood. There were several buildings, the biggest one seemed to be their headquarter. Overlooking the building was a small hill. Del, Wolfie, and Cole would use that hill as a vantage point. However, Del wasn''t sure whether attacking that kind of headquarter with only six people was a good idea. He knew that he had faced more than twenty bounty hunters at once, but that happened inside of an open spot. In here, the bandits had a lot of cover from his machine gun and there was also the fact that David and Harold were going to attack it just from one direction. If it were up to Del, he would retreat and get more adventurers. Attacking that kind of headquarter was suicidal. However, it was not like Del could refuse the order from David since only David could get the payment from the guild''s office. Del really wished he had a tactical headset at this point or anything that would makemunicating through distance easier. Shouting wasn''t effective at all and it would leak their n to the enemy so it is unfeasible. After a short hike, Dely down on top of that small hill while Cole kept an eye on any hostile that tried to ambush them while also lying down. Del loaded the 250-round-belt into his MG-42. Wolfie alsoid on the ground to hide from the enemies. The order was clear, they had to shoot when the main team started advancing. "Master, do you need my help?" Wolfie asked. "Yes, but not now, I don''t want you toe running towards the enemy," Del said. "No, I know that master. I meant I can spot the enemies using my ability to spot their soul," Wolfie said. Del remembered that Cole hid the presence of his soul when he fought with Wolfie. It might be the main reason why Wolfie wasn''t attacking him at all. Still, if Wolfie could see them from this kind of distance, it also meant that he would be the best spotter, wouldn''t he? "Don''t tell me you can see the enemies behind the wall," Del said in disbelief. Wolfie barked, "In fact, I can see all of them clearly." "What? Do you realize that you''re a living wallhack?" Del asked. "What''s a wallhack?" Wolfie asked. "Nevermind," Del aimed his MG-42 at the headquarter. There were five buildings in total in that bandit headquarter. Besides the biggest building in the center, there were also four houses surrounding it. Each house had an archer on its roof. They were probably guarding the vige against any intrusion. However, since the headquarter itself was surrounded by thick forest, Del doubted whether the archers could see anything or not. Del was roofed by a thick tree so he doubted that the archers could see him. "Del, are you sure they have a great n?" Cole asked. "To be honest, no, they have a terrible n. No matter how I look at it, this is a bask ofbat personnel problem. It doesn''t take military knowledge to know that six people against a whole vige won''t work," Delmented on the number of bandits inside of that vige. "What are we going to do now?" Cole asked. "Let''s see whether the n works or not, if it doesn''t, either we run or we fight them all by ourselves. I got my ammunition upgraded so we will be okay," Del said. "Alright, besides, I think my new spell can easily wipe some of them out," Cole added. "Besides, we have a mystical wolf on our side, right boy?" Del patted on Wolfie''s head. Del observed the attacking group from afar. Harold and David were in front of them while Lizbeth and Lynia were in the back, holding their staff. Del became even more confused. Why would the archer not engage them? Were they blind? Del questioned himself, "Should I engage the archers?" If he engaged first, there would be no doubt that the whole headquarter would being after them, but David and his team would be basically saved. If he waited, there was a high risk that David and his team would be ambushed by the archers. He chose the best option for him. He waited for the group to attack the enemy first. Although, so far, none of the team members had managed to impress him. Harold literally ran away from danger more than once. David wasn''t that impressive and Lizbeth was literally defenseless against pickpocket. It really made Del questioned the ability of that team. Lynia was perhaps the only hope for that team. From his sight, Harold started charging towards the bandit headquarter and the mages on the back started preparing their spells. Del waited until all of the bandits came in their direction. People wereing out of the buildings one by one. Most of them directed their attention towards David and the archers aimed their arrow at Harold. Del took that as a signal to start engaging the enemy. "Wolfie, help me engage the targets!" Del pulled the trigger of his MG-42 and bullets started raining down on those archers. "Yes Master, look at the building on the left side of the biggest building, a bandit is hiding behind it," Wolfie said. Del aimed his sight towards that mentioned building, he searched for someone hiding behind the wall. With the AP round of his MG-42, he would be able to prate the thin wooden wall of the building. However, spraying it with bullets would be unwise. "There!" Del pulled the trigger without any hesitation. Thebination of AP rounds and FMJ rounds shredded the body of that bandit in half. Maybe the nickname of Hitler''s Buzzsaw wasn''t wrong either. The machine gun literally cut that body in half. "Damn, master, what kind of weapon is that?" Wolfie acted surprise as he saw that body got cut in half. "MG-42, made in Germany," Del answered. "What is Germany?" Wolfie asked. Del decided to lie, "A country located very far away from here," Del answered. Del continued engaging every single bandit that tried to run or get out of their hiding spot. Del couldn''t engage the bandits that were attacking David and the others since he was afraid one of the stray bullets identally killed one of them. His Kar98 was in the carriage so he couldn''t give a rather urate fire at the bandits. He could only aim at the general direction of the bandit and sprayed bullets in their direction while hoping for the best. "Dang it, how many bandits are there?" Del kept pulling the trigger as more bandits came out of the buildings. "A lot," Wolfie answered although Del felt that answer didn''t help him. David and his group were struggling to even fight ten bandits at once. Cole could fight them all alone and that was without Del''s help. With Del''s help, Cole was just there as a distraction while Del gave the finishing blow. Blood rushing through Del''s veins as Del kept pulling the trigger of his gun. He made sure that no one saw him although the loud thundering noise from the machine gun basically gave up his location. Those who saw him wouldn''t have the chance to tell the tale of the dangerous adventurers. Del''s machine gun killed them the moment they looked at him. Del stopped shooting his machine gun, "How many bandits are there?" Wolfie focused his eyes at the encampment, "Only the group that are fighting those humans." "Really? We have killed only God knows how many bandits and they haven''t finished with ten bandits?" Del was disappointed. He felt that the other adventurers were not aspetent as he thought. "Yes, master," Wolfie replied. "Cole, let''s go down from this hill. I can''t shoot the bandits without shooting the other adventurers," Del stood up from the ground and he ran down from that hill. Wolfie went first. He was the fastest runner among those three and he was followed by Cole. Del was behind because of his bulky MG-42 and the belt that he used instead of the drum magazine. Del ran between the building. He then finally arrived where David and the others were fighting the bandits. Lynia and Lizbeth fired their magical spells at the bandits, but their aim was all over the ce. It was no wonder why Lizbeth got robbed so easily. "WOLFIE! GET ''EM!" Del shouted as he aimed the machine gun at those bandits. Wolfie ran towards the direction of the bandit and wed one of them. The bandit screamed in pain before Del finished him off with a burst from his MG-42.. However, nine bandits were remaining. Chapter 34 - Mission Complete Del assessed the situation around him. Wolfie was standing still while guarding himself against the bandit. Cole had readied his sword on his hands. Del aimed his MG-42 at the bandits. Harold and David were holding off three bandits at once while Lynia and Lizbeth were casting their spell albeit with terrible uracy. Three of those bandits were swordmen dressed in dark blue te armor. It was definitely was not paint so Del suspected that the material of the armor wasn''t steel. Three bandits were unarmored while thest bandits were archers. Del assumed that he had previously taken care of all of the mages so he wouldn''t have to deal with armor prators. Thest time he fought a mage didn''t end up too well. It ended up in him being stabbed by icicles after all. "COLE, WOLFIE, HOLD THE ARMORED UNITS!" Del shouted as he took cover behind one of the walls. Cole ran straight to the enemies with a sword in his hand. Wolfie turned invisible and he charged towards the enemy. Del wanted to make sure that he had enough distraction before he began to attack the bandits. "A DEMON?" One of the armored bandits parried Cole''s sword. Del focused on targeting the archers and the unarmored bandits first. They posed the biggest threat to him since they could be the ones that detected him and warned the others that Del was the real damage dealer. Del pulled the trigger of his MG-42. 7.92 Mauser bullets rained down on the bodies of the bandits. They didn''t have time to react to the MG-42. Del put his MG-42 aside and pulled up his 1911 pistol. He aimed at the bandits that were fighting David and Harold. The .45 ACP AP prated the thick skull of the bandit and they dropped dead on the ground. Del shot his pistol at the remaining two bandits that Harold and David fought. He used the pistol because 7.92 Mauser AP could easily prate an unarmored target and killed two targets at once, risking a friendly fire. Del held his MG-42 again and he decided to help with Cole. Cole was struggling to fight that one bandit, not because his attack didn''t hit the bandit, but the armor literally bounced off his every single attack from his sword. "GODDAMN IT! WHAT KIND OF ARMOR ARE YOU WEARING? [Magical Program: Fireball Spear]!" Cole jumped backward and a spear made of fire appeared on his right hand. Cole threw the spear at the enemy. The spear dissipated once it hit the armor. The spear didn''t do any damage to the armor, "Hahaha, Mithril Armor son," the bandit shed his sword. If Cole''s fire spear couldn''t prate, Del doubted that any weaponry that the other team used would be able to prate it. Del aimed his MG-42 at the armored bandit and he pulled the trigger. The 7.92 Mauser AP prated the armor of that bandit easily and even managed to prate the back of the armor. Del continued spraying his machine gun at the rest of the armored targets. The bullets prated right through the armor and got out of the back. 7.92 Mauser AP rounds were more capable than what Del had expected. Del stopped shooting the gun. All of the bandits had been eliminated. Del looked at Harold. He was shivering in fear after that battle, either because he feared the Mithril armor or because he feared Del''s team who was able to manage ughter the bandits headquarter. Del approached Harold, "Yo, mate, are you ok?" Harold shivered and he ran away from Del and he hid behind David. David was shocked, or surprised, nevertheless, the cold sweat on his face told it all, "H-h-how did you manage to do that? Did you really kill the all?" Del just replied with a smile. "Del, sorry if I underestimate you in some way," David said. Del had something else in mind. He wantedpensation for his heavy lifting. Like it or not, his team was still the one that took care of most of the bandits, and bullets weren''t cheap either. Looking at the rest of the team in fear, Del demanded something. "I want a raise, David," Del said. "A raise? For what???" David replied in the midst of confusion. "I want 60% of the total payment for us. From all the way from Midham to Injia, I have done every single bit of heavy lifting while you guys are not really doing anything, and I''m speaking facts here," Del gave them an ultimatum. Harold came back to him, "You can''t take most of our payment like that!!!" Del just responded by aiming the end of his machine gun at Howard. Del really wanted the money so he could buy an upgrade. He also didn''t like the fact that he was only paid for 90 gold coins when he did most of the heavy lifting. David sighed, "Fine, I agree with you. Lizbeth, Lynia, are you fine with it?" Lizbeth and Lynia just nodded. Harold had hidden behind David. It seemed that he would agree as well whether he would like it or not. Del would get more than enough to upgrade his arsenal and he would be able to have money more effectively. "Ok, that''s settled then, I''m d to hear it," Del said. Del didn''t want to shoot them just for the sake of getting all of the payment. He only wanted to reasonably get more payment, not making more enemies. There was close to zero chance that the adventurers would stay in Midham so keeping them as a friend wouldn''t be that advantageous either. The adventurers stayed there for a while. They wanted to take a break while Del and Cole were busy plundering the whole vige for any coins that they could find. Del wanted as much money as he could get. =================== Del wasying down on the bed of his inn room. He was d that he came back with his backpack filled with coins to the brim. It was an indescribable feeling. He felt that all of his work on that world was well worth it. Cole was writing his shopping list for his research. Del kept his end of the promise. He had gotten enough money so giving some for Cole to do his research was reasonable. He thought that it would be a good idea to give Cole the money. After all, from all of the plunders and the payment from David, he got 350 gold coins in total. Adding it into his remaining funds that he kept, he had around 387 gold coins, 42 silver coins, and 50 copper coins so it wouldn''t matter if Del gave 30 gold coins to Cole. It would keep him docile while closing the gap of the rtionship between him and Del. If Cole could do his research, Cole wouldn''t even dare to protest to Del. So far, the only thing that bothered Cole was theck of progress with his research. But now, he wouldn''t protest anymore. Someone knocked on the door, "Del, there''s a guess for you." It was the sound of Lisa. Del woke up from his bed and he opened the door, "Ah, Lisa, who is the guess?" Without any hesitation, Lisa, like a little child she was, pulled Del''s hand without giving Del any time to react to it. Lisa pulled Del''s hand to the stairs. After he arrived at the stairs, he knew why Lisa insisted on himing. Lize was there. Six bodyguards wearing heavy steel te armor were surrounding her. She might have learned that it wasn''t a good idea to go cheap on bodyguards. She made quite an entrance. She still wore thick leather armor as usual. "Ah, Madam Lize, how may I help you?" Del pretended to respect her. Lize gave Del a letter, "My father gave you his thanks. Do you remember the house where Osmond was staying? It''s yours now." Del''s heart felt like bursting. She was serious, wasn''t she? House in that world was expensive, and yet, Del managed to get one. The house was also very nice if not for the hole that Cole made when he fought Cassandra. There was also a small dock in front of the settlement that led to the sea. It would be very nice to have it since he could use a boat. With a house, he also didn''t have to think about rent anymore. Cole also could do his experiment freely and Wolfie didn''t have to stay outside anymore. "Anyway, I have to go, I still have some business I have to do," Lize said. "Alright, see you," Del replied with a smile. Del opened the letter. There was a key and a home certificate. Well, Del couldn''t protest. Life would be easier than before. Hopefully, nothing went downhill after this.. Cole could do his research and Del finally could live as peacefully as he used to be. Chapter 35 - New House "We''ve arrived," Del said. Cole helped him to disembark from the horse. The house had been fixed. The hole had also been patched as well. The house had also been repainted in the same white color. The grass in front of the house had been cut as well. However, the house seemed to look emptier from the outside. There was simply no life inside of it. Maybe because the house was owned by a dead person called Osmond Menzie before Count D Rose transferred the ownership to Del Moore. "It''s rather decent, don''t you think?" Cole looked at the house. "Yeah, besides, you can do your research way more freely, right?" Del asked. "Right," Cole looked at his backpack that contained Darium and magical stones. Back in Midham, Del and Cole bought a backpack for Cole alongside magical stones and Darium to fulfill his promise. Del didn''t care whatever experiment that Cole would be doing, but he certainly wanted to know whether it could enhance his weapon or not. "Do you need beaker sses or something?" Del asked. "Don''t worry, I also had bought it," Cole said. "Good, I shouldn''t bother you then. Anyway, Cole, you said earlier that you can make abustible powder for me, can you make it in your research?" Del asked. "Sure, energy from thebustible powder can be taken as data for my research as well. We just need a hard measurement unit and we''re gold," Cole said. "Sure, hard measurement unit shouldn''t be hard," Del said. "Haha, yeah, well, I only need a ruler anyway," Cole said. "Ruler? Hmm, I think I can get you one," Del said. "Thanks, Del," Cole said. Del opened the door of the house. It smelled like freshly painted wood the moment Del opened the door. The furniture of the house seemed to have been stripped out. Maybe it was taken as a payment for the house itself. There was still one couch in the living room and a table. For Del, the space would be great for a further upgrade in that house. For example, he might be able to put more modern appliances like a coffee maker or a fridge. Still, the first and utmost priority was to buy a radio so Del could call a [Killstreak]. He might need Cole to carry therge radio transceiver called AN/PRC-77, a Vietnam-era radio transceiver that was basically a radio as big as a backpack. He actually just wanted to use a handie talkie, but Del doubted it would reach the AC-130 flying high above. Del sat down on the couch, "Cole, have fun setting up your experiment, I wanted to rx a bit here." Del put his backpack that was filled with coins and his clothing to the side. His MG-42 wasying down on the coffee table alongside the Kar98. There was also his helmet on the table. He thought for a moment while looking at that equipment. He felt that he needed an upgrade. This time, he wanted a total upgrade. His white shirt literally stood out in the jungle environment. His ck pants were useful, but not rugged enough for their purpose of carrying bullets. He also wanted a more properbat uniform. "Pidma, are you there?" Del asked. [I''m here, what do you need?] "I want an upgrade for my uniform, do you remember that you offer me a quest?" Del asked. [The quest is unavable at the moment. A group of adventurers took it a week ago when you''re in bed because of Cassandra] "Ah, well, shit. How much the full-set of uniform anyway?" Del asked. [What uniform?] "US OD," Del said. [United States Olive Drab?] "Yup," Del replied. ???????????? [Disying Full-Price of Full-Set OG-107 Uniform] [Total Bnce: 38742.5$] [Full-Set OG-107] [100$] [Vietnam Era Combat Boots] [50$] ???????????? "Why the heck this uniform cost holy shit expensive?" Del protested. [The uniform is more durable than the clothing that you are wearing] "How so?" Del asked. [It is made from a special blend of fabrics. It is morefortable to wear in a long run. It is more durable as well] "I see, give me one then," Del said. [Very well. Calcting Remaining Bnce: 38592.5$] A uniform appeared on the couch. One pant and one olive-coloredbat shirt appeared on the coach. There was also a pair of boots on top of it. Those things were squeaky clean. Del picked up the shirt. It was colored in olive, there was also an empty spot for a name tag. The shirt was also way thicker than his white shirt. He felt that the olive drab shirt would be a great upgrade for his next quest from the guild. It also looked like that he would visit Alder more often than usual since that town was closer than Midham. BOOM!!! "Holy shit, what the fuck was that?" Del stood up from the couch and grabbed his MG-42. The explosion came from right behind him. Del didn''t check that side when he assaulted Osmond so Del didn''t know where the explosion mighte from. Del walked in the direction of the explosion with MG-42 in his hands. Del crossed the hallway of the house and he found Cole in the opposite room with ss shards on his hands. The room had been turned into some sort of researchb in less than an hour. There was a wooden table filled with ss beakers of many sizes. "Bro, are you ok?" Del put his MG-42 on the ground and he looked at Cole''s wound. "I''m fine, in fact, I just made a progress," Cole said as he pulled the ss shards from his hand. "Really? What kind of progress?" Del asked. "I just found that mixing Darium, Areal Acid, and Water will create abustible powder. I am just too dumb to ignite it when it is still inside of the ss beaker, haha, silly me," Coleughed as he applied a healing spell on his hand. "How much did you ignite anyway? How the hell it made that kind of explosion?" Del picked up the ss shard. "I don''t know, maybe around 400 ml of that mixture," Cole said. "I see¡­" So this world also used the same unit as Earth. That was quite surprising to be entirely honest. It was a good thing so Del wouldn''t have to learn a new measurement unit of that world. If that was the case,municating with Cole wouldn''t be hard. "What''s the product of that reaction anyway?" Del asked. "Gas, mostly gas, Darium and Areal Acid creates Dareal Acid. Dareal Acid and water create a paste of Dareal Acid. The powder Dareal Acid blooms and turned the water into a thin paste. When burned, it dissipates into water vapor, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide," Cole exined. Del tried to remember some of the chemistry that he learned in high school. The reaction made sense, at least, for Del''sck of knowledge of that world''s chemistry. Basically, Cole just created a propent for his gunpowder. Heck, it seemed that recruiting this chemical engineering student wasn''t a bad idea after all. He basically had identally made gunpowder even when Del didn''t ask him to make it yet. Well, it was a good thing, Del could start improving his propent soon. "How much solid did you put inside of that beaker ss anyway?" "I only put 50 grams of Darium, more or less, the rest are acid and water," Cole said. "I understand, Pidma, are you there?" Del called Pidma. [Yup, what can I do for you?] "I need bullet casing without the propent, can you help me?" Del asked. [Sure, what caliber do you need?] "As usual, 7.92 Mauser," Del said. ???????????? [Showing Avable 7.92x57mm Ammunition Casings + Bullets] [Ammunition Level: 1] [Tech Level: 3] [Total Bnce: 38592.5$] [7.92x57 FMJ] [10x] [15$] [7.92x57 HP] [10x] [30$] [7.92x57 AP] [10x] [48$] [7.92x57 API] [10x] [60$] [7.92x57 APS] [10x] [72$] [7.92x57 HE] [10x] [90$] [7.92x57 HEAP] [10x] [120$] [7.92x57 IHEAP] [10x] [180$] [7.92x57 AM-AP] [10x] [210$] [7.92x57 AM-HEAP] [10x] [240$] [7.92x57 AM-IHEAP] [10x] [250$] [7.92x57 AM-APDS] [10x] [270$] ???????????? "You know, I want to try it with IHEAP ammunition, I will buy 10 of them alongside the reloading kit," Del said. [Dispensing Ammunition and Reloading Kit. Remaining Bnce: 38212.5$] A small cardboard box appeared in Del''s pocket. Del grabbed the box. It contained casings for the bullets alongside the bullets themselves. The tip of the bullet was ck with a red and green circle. It might contain magnesium for its incendiary property, but Del wasn''t sure. There was also that reloading kit on the corner of the room. Well, all was set then. "Can you make that same paste?" Del asked. "Sure," Cole stood up and he headed back to the table. He mixed a crushed ck powder into one beaker ss. He mixed two liquids into one beaker ss and he poured it into the beaker ss that had that ck powder. The result was a ck thin paste that was pourable into the bullet casing. "Alright, time to experiment." Chapter 36 - Coles Experimental Propellant Del reloaded the bullet one by one using the reloading kit and a table. The thin paste was easily pourable into the bullet casing. After he felt that there was enough liquid inside of the bullet, he used a tool to put the bullet into the casing. Del would test the bullet using his Kar98 from a safe distance. He would tie a string to the trigger of his rifle. A stone would be holding the rifle. Del didn''t care whether it would hit a target or not. He was more concerned whether the rifle would explode or not. After all, he was testing prototype ammunition which power was unknown. "What''s so special about that one thing that you held Del?" Cole asked. He called a bullet a thing since he didn''t know it was called a bullet. "Oh, this?" Del showed Cole the loaded bullet, "This thing is called a bullet. It''s a 7.92x57mm bullet to be exact. This thing is loaded with your mixture and I hope it will be doing rather well." "I hope so, it''s rather untested and unstable. Be careful, ok?" Cole asked. Hearing Cole said that, Del just sighed. To be entirely honest, Del wanted an EOD suit just to test Cole''s bullet because the risk of the rifle blowing up was very real. The fragment could kill Del easily. Del believed that his health point should help him resist some fragmentations, but he doubted it would protect him from rifle malfunction. Del put those ten bullets into two separate stripper clips. He walked out of Cole''s makeshiftb, into the living room. He picked up his Kar98 and extracted all of the regr FMJ bullets from the rifle itself. He put the five rounds of prototype ammunition into the rifle. Now, Del had to find a string. The quickest solution was the string on his boots. It might be long enough for the test. Theoretically, Del would put his rifle below a heavy stone and tied his shoces to the trigger of the rifle. He would put the trigger from a distance safe enough for him. If it didn''t blow up, Del would load another bullet. He would try to fire it again. If the rifle didn''t blow up, he would try the same thing until the magazine ran out. If there was no single heavy malfunction on that rifle, Del would try to use the rifle himself. Del carried his rifle on his back, "Let''s go outside, Cole. Let''s test this propent of yours." Del walked to the back of the house. Behind the house was a grasnd, they wouldn''t kill anyone by shooting at the grasnd. Del put his rifle on the ground and he searched for a rock that could hold his rifle in the ground. He found one rock and he put that rock on top of that rifle. He took off his shoes and his socks. He took theces out of those two shoes and tied them together. He then tied it to the rifle. "Wolfie, Cole, stand back! This could get messy," Del walked backward while holding the end of the shoces in his hand. Heid down on the ground and then he pulled the shoces. BOOM! An explosion could be heard, but there wasn''t any fragmentationing from the rifle. Del walked to the rifle and it seemed that the rifle hadn''t been broken yet. He loaded another bullet into the chamber of the rifle. "Alright, one more bullet," Delid down on the ground again. He pulled his shoces and the rifle fired another bullet. An explosion came out again, but the rifle wasn''t broken. Del wondered then he remembered that he was shooting a high explosive round. Del was confident that the rifle wouldn''t blow upon his face so he picked up the rifle from the ground. Del would try to shoot the rifle by himself now. He aimed at the empty grasnd and he pulled the trigger. "HOLY!!!" The recoil of the rifle was very strong, way stronger than it used to be. Del could feel the power of the rifle as the impulse from the recoil hit his shoulder. [Analyzing¡­ Ballistic performance is 250% of regr 7.92 Mauser] Basically, Cole just made a bullet that increased the power of the bullet itself at the cost of higher recoil. It was great. It basically enhanced the power of his ammunition. Del was impressed that the propent was able to more than double the power of his ammunition. "DAMN!!!" Del pulled the bolt of his rifle and he fired the rifle once again, "Cole, you''re a genius." "Thanks," Cole smiled. "Anyway, what kind of chemical thing that you can create besides this?" Del asked. "Well, I can create an alternative ofntern fluid, but it''s too violent to be used as antern fluid so I don''t use it," Cole said. "Oh, basically petroleum?" Del asked. "Yeah, petroleum, to be precise, refined petroleum," Cole said. It created another question on Del''s mind. How Cole was able to know about petroleum? Was the demon continent that advanced or was it because of his background as a chemical engineer? He really wondered. "Petroleum? The demon has ess to petroleum?" Del asked. "Yeah, but only to a limited amount of it. It''s not like we are using it that often anyway," Cole said. "Oh, I see. Well, to be honest, you never cease to amaze me, Cole," Del said. Del wanted to visit the demon continentter. Maybe it would give him new knowledge or something simr. Still, the demon continent must be a dangerous ce for humans like Del. If humans treated demons like a thing, why would the demon not treat humans the same way? It was the basis of war after all. "Cole, you know?" Del looked at him, "I think for a while and I think it''s a good idea to give you a magical tool like the one I have." Cole jumped in excitement, "Really? Are you going to give me that overpowered magical tool of yours?" "Yup." Chapter 37 - Uzi For Cole Cole and Del were back in the house. Cole was back experimenting in the makeshiftb while waiting for Del to give him his weaponry or his gun. Del was sitting down on the couch in the living room while deciding what kind of weapons that Cole should have. Combat style-wise, Cole was a close-rangebatant even though he was able to use a magical spell. Giving Cole a bolt-action rifle wouldn''t be practical, especially with his tendency to charge to the enemy. Del was thinking to give him either a submachine gun or a shotgun. Both have their own pros and cons. The submachine gun had better range and better rate of fire, that was for sure, but the shotgun had much more damage and ammo variation. It was confusing. "Pidma, do you have any advice for me?" Del asked. [Give Cole a submachine gun] "Why?" [With a shotgun rate of fire and ammo capacity, I have zero doubt that he will eventually use it like a baseball bat instead of reloading it] "I see, what''s the option that you have?" Del asked. ???????????? [Showing Avable Submachine Gun] [Tech Level: 3] [Total Bnce: 38212.5$] [PPSH-41] [400$] [Thompson] [500$] [MP40] [600$] [Uzi] [650$] ???????????? "Just give him an Uzi and be done with it," Del asked. [Sure. Remaining Bnce: 37562.5$] An Uzi submachine gun appeared on the couch. It seemed that Pidma no longer used the metal box, Del wondered. The metal box was still in the inn, Del hadn''t moved the metal box from the room yet, but he perhaps would pick it up sooner orter. Del picked up the Uzi from the couch. The Uzi only had one magazine, Del should have ordered more magazines. Well, it was enough for now. Del only needed to teach Cole how to use it anyway. Del mumbled, "How to even use this darn gun?" Del didn''t feel familiar enough with that submachine gun. The only time he shot modern guns such as an AR-15 style rifle or an AK style rifle back on Earth was a long time ago when his father was still alive. Uzi just felt unfamiliar to him, just like the rest of the other guns. [Need help?] "Yup," Del said. [To remove the magazine, press the button on the bottom of the grip. The safety lever on the side and the charging handle are on top of the gun. You know the rest, I think] Del pressed the lever on the bottom of the gun. There was indeed a lever and the empty magazine came out of the rifle. He checked on the empty magazine. There was no bullet inside of it. Del sighed, the bullet wasn''t included after all. "Yo, I also need a bullet for this, well, also magazines and tactical rig for Cole to be honest," Del said. ?????? [Showing Avable 9x19 Rounds] [Ammunition Level: 1] [Tech Level: 3] [Total Bnce: 37562.5$] [9x19 FMJ] [10x] [5$] [9x19 HP] [10x] [7$] [9x19 AP] [10x] [10$] [9x19 AP-T] [10X] [20$] [9x19 API-T] [10x] [30$] [9x19 HEAP] [10x] [50$] [9x19 HEAP-T] [10x] [100$] ?????? "I want to buy five 30-round magazines for him alongside with 180 rounds of HEAP-T ammunition and a tactical rig," Del said. There was a reason why Del wanted to buy the most expensive ammunition. Del doubted that standard 9x19 ammo would be effective against the threat of that world. For example, even .45 ACP AP couldn''t prate Wolfie''s skin. [Alright. Remaining Bnce: 35382.5$] Five 9x19mm magazines appeared on the couch alongside a box of bullets and a tactical rig. Del put the bullet from the box and into the magazine one by one. Loading 180 rounds of ammunition with only two hands wasn''t an easy feat, but Del wouldn''t want to buy a speed loader to save money. After a while, Del finished loading the bullets into the Uzi one by one. It was a long task, he should have told Cole to do it, but on second thought, Cole didn''t even know how a magazine worked. "Hmm, I wonder what is so special about this ammunition?" Del looked at the bullet inside of the magazine. It was tipped in purple color for some unknown reasons. Del could test the ammo, but it would be better if Cole experienced it first hand. So, Del called Cole. "Yes?" Cole walked out of hisb. "Come here, I want to show you something." Del gave Cole the tactical rig, he helped Cole to wear it. That way, Cole could carry his magazine more easily. There was also the fact that he always carried a small book in his pocket, with a tactical rig, he could reach that book way easily if he put the book in his tactical rig. "What''s this setup?" Cole held the straps on his tactical rig and started opening every button that should be holding the magazine in ce. Del put the magazine of the Uzi one by one, "This thing is called a tactical rig. This thing is used for carrying the magazine for you magical tool," Del showed a magazine to cole, "This thing is called a magazine by the way." "I see," Cole nodded. Del gave Cole the Uzi, "This magical tool is called Uzi. This is for you." Cole looked at the Uzi, "It seems to be way smaller than yours." He was disappointed because it was not as big and as intimidating as Del''s MG-42. "C''mon, it will still kill anyone," Del said "Alright, let''s test this thing out, shall we? There was a slime that I saw in the grasnd, it might serve as good target practice," Cole said. "I agree with that, let''s go," Del picked up his Kar98. They walked outside of the house again. This time, both of them were bringing their magical tools. It made Del wondered why none of their neighborsined about the loud noise that they made. Were they used to it? Del doubted it. There was an even more logical exnation though, the neighbors got used to the oddity of adventurers. After all, the house where they were staying was owned by Osmond Menzie before he passed away. Osmond Menzie was guarded by bodyguards who might or might not an adventurer. That should exin it. The grasnd was empty as usual with wind breezing through. There was a slime on the grasnd, exactly as Cole had said. Now, Del had to teach Cole how to use that gun even if he just learned how to use it. "I noticed that you use this thing like a crossbow, is this the same as that?" Cole aimed down the sight of his Uzi. "More or less?" Del shrugged. "Good, how to use it?" Cole observed the submachine gun. Del grabbed Cole''s Uzi, "Well, first, you insert the magazine into the gun first." Del inserted a magazine into the Uzi. He then switched the safety of the gun, "Switch the safety, then shoot the gun." "The magical tool is called a gun?" Cole looked at the Uzi and identally pointed the Uzi at Del. Del pushed the barrel away from his direction, "Hey, keep the barrel away from my direction, alright?" "Oh, sorry, I just need to pull the trigger, like a crossbow, right?" Cole put his finger on the trigger. "Yes," Del said. Cole pulled the trigger and a 9mm bullet containing a high explosivepound and tungsten prator flew to the slime. To Del''s surprise, the slime reacted differently than when he shot it with .45 ACP FMJ. The slime literally exploded on his face, sttering his face with a thick gtinous substance. Del rubbed his face in annoyance. It turned out that the slime exploded. Del didn''t think that the High-Explosive round would be that powerful to even explode a slime, let alone a human being. "Damn, what kind of crossbow is this?" Cole was amazed by the Uzi. "First, it''s called a submachine gun. Second, it''s not even a crossbow," Del replied. Cole held his submachine gun with his right hand, "I see, to be honest, I am more than satisfied with whatever you''ve done for me in this continent, for that, you have my thanks, Del." "Hey, I''d do anything for a friend, don''t worry too much about it," Del replied with a smile. Cole had done more than enough. For him, he was a valuable friend and a good ally. Cole tilted his head, "Friend, huh?" "Yeah, I don''t like calling you a ve anyway," Del said. Cole nodded. Two of them returned to their home. Wolfie waited in front of the front door. Maybe he wanted some pats or something. Del patted him once he arrived at the front door. "Good boy, what do you want?" "MEAT!!!" Wolfie barked. Del scratched his head, "Meat? Hunting time, I guess? I doubt the meat that you hunted is still in the cold storage." Del looked at Cole. "I think we can do that, can''t we?" Cole showed his Uzi to Del. "Sure, we''ll get the meat for you, good boy. Do you mind tagging along?" Del asked Wolfie. "Yes, please," Wolfie barked. Chapter 38 - Sibling, Politics, And Upgrade Theoretically speaking, searching for a huge deer in that grasnd wouldn''t be a hard task. Even with Wolfie''s help, Del and Cole couldn''t find any animal worth to be hunted. There was a rabbit, a small one, but it would only feed Wolfie, not three of them. "I swear searching a deer in this grasnd is harder than searching for gold coins on bandits'' body," Del looked as far as his eyes could see, there was simply nothing but slimes. "Well, we can eat slimes, but I doubt Wolfie wants that," Colemented as he saw a slime beside him. Still, during that time, he wondered about something that was inside of his mind ever since he was "kicked" out of the heroes'' party. He wondered what happened to Anna. Thest time he saw her, she was very upset about his banishment. Del could ept the fact that he was weak, but he couldn''t ept the fact that he was banished for it. It was simply uneptable, did they really have no use for him? Del was still upset about that. Perhaps, in the future, when he somehow became influential enough, he could demand an answer. Del shared his thought with Cole, "Cole, you did mention that you have a little sister, how old is she?" Cole replied, "She is neen years old now. Why do you even ask?" Del sighed, "I''m worried about my sister, you know? If the king treated me like this, I do not doubt that she will be treated like me sooner orter. If she makes the slightest of mistake, I doubt there will be any tolerance for her." Cole patted Del''s back, "You know, I was once as old as you are, I did worry about my little sister too, but trust me, they are sometimes more capable than they look like. She is sometimes clingy or speaks like our own mother, but that''s just the way she is caring for you." Del chuckled, "It''s rare to see you this wise. How old are you anyway?" Coleughed, "Hahaha, I am 22 years old." "Oh, I see. Damn, you look young for what you are," Delmented. "I see. Anyway, about your sister, why are you fearing for her? You never tell me much about her," Colemented. "Have I ever told you that I''m not from here? I mean, I''m not even from this world. I was summoned from another world by their court magicians to fight the demon lord or whoever the demon lord is to return to Earth," Del exined. "Earth?" Cole looked at Del with a confused face. "A ce so far from here. It''s very far that you can''t reach it, Cole," Del exined. "I am not sure about the current predicament about the war between the demon and human back in the demon continent. I mean, it''s not like demon continent consists of one country and one country only. There are many countries inside of the demon continent and all of them have different agendas. The one that is in war with Elbanian is the Reian, not us all," Cole exined. Del was aware that the stereotypes that demons are evil and humans are good are just pure propaganda made by the higher-ups of the Elbanian Kingdom. However, he wasn''t aware that there was only one kingdom in direct war with the Elbanian Kingdom. It just furtherplicated things. If that was true, then the king was really fooling the kids with nearly superhuman abilities to fight for their war that they didn''t even understand. No matter how Del looked at it, the heroes were just a bunch of kids looking for instant gratification, and the king provided it for them. Del agreed that he used to be one of them, but he just felt that the heroes were looking for the wrong kind of gratification. One thing about warfare though, Del couldn''t find enough reasons why would Elbanian go to war with the demons. It was simply a war against a race, wasn''t it? What made it different from genocide? The fact that the war was considered to be a holy war? Or the fact that demons also had their own share of atrocity? "Why would Elbanian go to war with Reian?" Del asked. "Resources war. You see, Reian is one of the biggest deposits of magical stones avable around here. That magical stone that is supposed to sell for twenty gold coins per kilogram only costs around one gold coin per kilogram in Reian," exined. "I see¡­" Del nodded, he knew that something was indeed fishy about the war. So, basically, Reian defended their territory from Elbanian while Elbanian was the true invader. The truth was often surprising, wasn''t it? Del previously thought that Reian attacked Elbanian first and Elbanian continued by attacking Reian under the guise of holy war. "If Elbanian called this the Second Holy War, what would the demon call this?" Del asked. "I attended a seminar in my university out of curiosity. It was a research paper seminar attended by many students from different majors. I remember that someone from International Rtions major called it Reian Genocide," Cole said. "Genocide?" Del looked at Cole in disbelief. "Yeah, and people wonder why they would have to take a one-year-long military training before they could start researching the human continent," Cole sighed. "Wait, are you a part of the military?" Del asked. "Not quite, but if I joined the military, I am instantly promoted to Corporal," Cole answered. "I see, is your sister in the university?" Del nodded. "Yup, she''s on her second year in medical major," Cole said. "Hahaha, I wish I can enroll, but I doubt it. Right now, I only can kill and kill, I doubt I can do that anymore," Delmented. "Hey, everyone had their own chance of redemption, you know?" Cole smiled. "Perhaps? But not now," Del said. Wolfie barked. He was looking at a deer that was standing in the grasnd. The deer finally arrived. Well, it would be the deer''sst meal anyway. Del loaded his Kar98 with normal ammo and aimed for the head of the deer. Del pulled the trigger of his rifle, "Headshot." The deer dropped dead in the ground. Del walked towards the deer and carried it on his back. The deer was very heavy. It meant that they would have quite a banquet tonight. Del didn''t know whether Cole was a capable cook or not though. "What will you cook?" Del asked as he carried the deer. "What do you want?" Cole shrugged. "Stew, perhaps?" Del asked. "Well, I''m thinking more of making grilled meat, would you mind if I cook that?" Cole asked. "No problem at all, but you will be the one that skinned the deer, I don''t want to do that," Del said. "Alright, alright," Cole nodded. ================ The meal was good. There was noment about it. Cole was more capable than Del previously had thought. The meat was still juicy and wasn''t smelly at all. Rina still had her own fair share of failures when cooking after all. Del wasn''t a capable cook, all of the cooking jobs were passed down to his sister after his mother passed away. Basically, Del only could cook instant noodles and that was it. His sister, on the other hand, seemed to be capable of cooking everything. "Nice one, the meat was delicious," Delmented as he put his fork and knife at the clean te. "Thanks," Cole picked up the te and he headed for the kitchen. After the meal, Del was thinking about a total upgrade to both his guns and his equipment. Using MG-42 was fun, but it was rather inurate and ammo-wasting as well. It also had a very long reload time and wasn''t very practical in close-quarterbat due to its bulky size. The power of 7.92 Mauser was more than adequate for taking down any target so Del wouldn''t need to even use the AP round. He noticed that even the regr bullet was able to prate the Mithril armor quite easily. Maybe he could use a battle rifle. It has more power than an assault rifle and had more ergonomics than a general-purpose machine gun. Still, the downsides were its small magazine capacitypared to a general-purpose machine gun and its heavier weightpared to an assault rifle. Del was also thinking of buying armor for himself. He thought of buying the FLAK jacket to protect him from the danger of an explosion spell that even an armor would have a hard time protecting due to fragmentation from nearby objects. Against blunt or sharp objects, a metal armor would be useful, but against fragmentation, it was another thing. Del was too sleepy.. It might be a good idea to sleep first before thinking about the upgrade that he should buy. Chapter 39 - Upgrade To Armor And Weaponries Del woke up from the couch, "Dang it, what time is it?" The sun had gone through the window. Del stood up from his couch and headed to the toilet to do his usual business. A snore wasing from upstairs. It looked like Cole took thefort of the bed for himself. Wolfie was sleeping right beside the couch. Del patted Wolfie''s head, "Heyya, good boy, how was the night?" Wolfie crawled to the couch and he responded by licking Del. Del just replied with a pat. "Boy, I need to do something first, can you walk around the house for a while?'' Wolfie replied with another bark and he walked in the direction of the kitchen. Del wanted to talk with Pidma about his upgrade. He had a n inside of his mind, but he wanted to ask Pidma first since she was somehow an adviser. "Pidma, are you there?" [What do you need, Del?] "I want an upgrade to my weaponry, in particr, I want something much more ergonomic than Kar98 and MG-42. You know, something that is much more modern," Del exined. [Do you want an assault rifle or a battle rifle?] "Battle rifle, the cartridge isn''t far different after all," Del said. ???????????? [Showing Avable Battle Rifle] [Tech Level: 3] [Total Bnce: 35382.5$] [M1 Garand] [400$] [Gewehr 43] [500$] [FAL] [700$] [G3] [800$] [AR-10] [900$] ???????????? "Hmm, hard decision, I like AR-style rifle, but I prefer G3 to be entirely honest. It''s more reliable and it''s not like I clean my guns that often. By the way, I want to also buy additional five 30-round magazines," Del said. [H&K G3es in a 20-round magazine by default. Do you want to rece the standard magazine as well?] "Yeah." [Alongside with the 7.62x51 rounds?] "Yup." ???????????? [Showing Avable 7.62x51 Ammunition] [Ammunition Level: 1] [Tech Level: 3] [Total Bnce: 34582.5$] [7.62x51 FMJ] [10x] [25$] [7.62x51 HP] [10x] [50$] [7.62x51 AP] [10x] [80$] [7.62x51 API] [10x] [100$] [7.62x51 APS] [10x] [120$] [7.62x51 HE] [10x] [150$] [7.62x51 HEAP] [10x] [200$] [7.62x51 IHEAP] [10x] [300$] [7.62x51 AM-AP] [10x] [350$] [7.62x51 AM-HEAP] [10x] [400$] [7.62x51 AM-IHEAP] [10x] [420$] [7.62x51 AM-APDS] [10x] [450$] ???????????? "Fill the magazines with 7.62x51 API rounds," Del said. [Ok. Remaining Bnce: 32602.5$] Five magazines filled with bullets alongside an H&K G3 appeared on the couch. Del grabbed the G3 with his hand. Although he was unfamiliar with it, G3 operated simrly with MP5 which was a very famous submachine gun. The magazine release handle was located simrly to an AK-style rifle. It also had a simr safety lever as an AR-15 style rifle. There was also a sling attached to that rifle for easier carrying. Sadly, there wasn''t any ce to mount a scope on that rifle. Well, it was not like Del was going to shoot a target from one kilometer away anyway. Still, the H&K G3 was an overall solid battle rifle firing a 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge. The rifle felt morefortable to handle than the wooden parts of the Kar98 or the metal parts of the MG-42. Del wouldn''tin about his own choice. Del eventually moved to the next item that he would want to wear. He wanted to wear armor. Having a custom-made Mithril armor would cost too much money and it wouldn''t protect him from fragmentations. Being cut wasn''t nice, but it was definitely curable quite easily. All that he needed were some bandages and a person with a healing spell and he would be done. On the other hand, if he were dealing with fragmentation, he would have to deal with internal bleeding. As far as he knew, the healing spell usually only worked when the area of bleeding was exposed. If the bleeding was covered by skin, the healing spell wouldn''t work. If internal bleeding was left, Del could die rather easily. Basically, Del needed to undergo surgery to cure internal bleeding. Del didn''t even know whether there was a surgeon besides Cassandra. Heck, even finding Cassandra itself would be a jarring task on its own. Cassandra might be in the capital right now, "collecting" blood samples from almost everyone. Bottom line was, Del needed armor that would protect him from fragmentation. "Pidma, I need to browse armor." ???????????? [Showing Body Armor] [Tech Level: 3] [Total Bnce: 32602.5$] [SN-42] [500$] [FLAK Jacket] [800$] ???????????? "Yeah, just a jacket, please," Del said. [Ok] A green FLAK jacket appeared on top of the couch. The FLAK jacket was colored green. It was the FLAK jacket that the US troops used in the Vietnam War. Del couldn''t say that it was heavy armor, but that would be decent enough for now. A footstep wasing from the stairs. Cole seemed to have woken up. He eventually walked to the couch. The first thing that caught his attention was the G3 that Del held. Cole looked at that rifle, "Yo, what''s that? Is that another gun?" "Yeah, it''s called the Gewehr 3, it''s chambered in 7.62x51 NATO," Del exined. "Cut the technocrap, is that thing strong enough for us?" Cole asked. "Oh, it is indeed very strong, my friend," Del said. "Let''s test that thing out then, shall we?" Cole asked. "This thing is reliable, we can straight go to the guild office in Alder and ask for a quest," Del said. "Alright, let''s pack things up and get going then," Cole said. ========================== The road to Alder was crowded with carriages as usual. Del and Cole were on top of their horse while Wolfie followed them from the back. It seemed that Wolfie managed to keep the bandits off them. "Del, may I ask you a question?" Cole asked. "Sure, fire away," Del said. "Why the king is not hunting you down? I meant, you are literally a banished person that somehow climbs the social strata," Cole said. "They have a bigger problem that requires their attention. I doubt they want to pour in the resources necessary to hunt me down. It was not like there''s any advantage in killing me either. As far as my friends are concerned, I am probably dead to them. Even if they found me, I doubt they will kill me," Del said. "Why are you so sure about that?" Cole asked. "Anna." "Your sister? Why?" Cole asked. "Just think about it, banishing me is probably reasonable for them, but killing me would be unreasonable for them. Anna would do a mutiny and that will cause a sh inside of the heroes party. I''m sure the king doesn''t want that, does he?" Del asked. "That''s quite a solid point," Cole nodded. "To top it all off, the heroes haven''t killed even a single living person, I have. Unlike them, I have the nerve to pull the trigger when the timees. However, with Anna on their side, I really can''t do anything with them," Del said. "What do you mean?" "Technically, any attack to the heroes group will just create a distance between Anna and me. In my prediction, Anna is in an indecisive state whether she has to support the heroes or she has to support the only family member in this world, me. Of course, I also think that the king has spoken his own bullshittery to Anna, but to be honest, I don''t even think Anna would fall for it," Del said. "You sound so confident with your prediction. Still, you also need to prepare the worst-case scenario. I think I would be able to set something up in the demonic continent for you if the timees," Cole said. "Thanks, Cole, I appreciate it," Del said. "Hey, that''s what friends are supposed to be doing, right?" Cole asked. "Yeah," Del nodded. Eventually, they reached the guild office in Alder. The guild office was crowded as usual, as expected from a town as big as Alder. The procedure of getting quest in Alder wasn''t different from Midham. "Ah, young adventurer, what can I do for you?" A female guild receptionist asked him. "I am looking for a quest," Del said. "What kind of quest?" The guild receptionist asked. "The kind of quest which yields around fifty gold coins as a reward," Del said. Unlike Midham''s guild which would ask so many questions about Del''s rank and abilities, the guild in Alder wasxer about it because the guild had so many adventurers to serve. Usually, they only asked what kind of question they wanted to take, "Sadly, we don''t have a quest that would give you fifty gold coins, but we have a quest that will grant you one hundred gold coins, will you take it?" "What''s the job description?" Del asked. "This is an assassination request for a certain noble, you will face a lot of threats, are you sure you want to take it?" The receptionist asked. "Yeah, sure," Del said. ???????????? [Retribution] [Difficulty: Low-End C] Firma D Rose is the daughter of Count D Rose who has turned into a criminal after multiple assassination attempts on her own sister, Lize Reed. After being convicted by the Elbanian Court, Firma is hiding in her estate located in Alendale. She has been surrounded, but she is well-protected. The army doesn''t want to spend too much manpower on assaulting the estate so they rent the adventurer guild. Threat Details: It is expected that Firma D Rose employs twenty mercenaries to protect her from her assassin. More information can be gathered from a guard barrack located in Alendale. Reward: 100 Gold Coins, Loot. ???????????? "Ah, so this is Lize''s sister that she was talking about," Delmented. "Say what?" The receptionist gave him a confused look. "Nah, I meant, I will take this quest." Chapter 40 - Alendale Del and Cole were on their way to Alendale. Del was on the back of the horse while keeping an eye on any possible ambush using his G3 while Cole was taking control of the horse. Alendale itself was a town located east of Midham. Alendale was a town well-known to be a noble residential area. Many nobles resided in Alendale because of itsrge beautifulke that was located beside the city. The town itself was known to be not adventurer friendly because of the expensive prices that the town had. "Cole, do the children of a noble usually use its family surname?" Del asked. "In this continent? Yeah, they usually do, why do you ask?" Cole replied. Del was thinking about Lize''s surname. Her surname was "Reed" instead of "D Rose". There must be something unusual about it. Could it be that Lize was actually not rted to her siblings? Del didn''t know. "Nah, you know, it''s about Lize, her surname is different from our target''s surname," Del uttered. "Now that I think of it, there is amon circumstance when an illegitimate child was born inside of a noble family, they would get the surname of their mother. For Lize''s case, it seems that her mother''s surname was Reed," Cole said. "Oh, so she is an illegitimate child?" Del asked. "I think," Cole asked but he was unsure. It took around two hours before they arrived at Alendale. The first impression of Alendale was the ce was holy crap luxurious. Even the guard post was decorated in jewelry. Never in his life, Del had seen a guard post which window frame was made of gold. What the heck? Looking at the houses and estates in the distance, it was clear that every single building was eithervishly decorated or made from an expensive object. For example, there was this house whose chimney was made of gold. There was also this house that had diamonds decorating its door frame. How much money did these people have? Thinking about it, Del also got a lot of money in such a short amount of time. The noble might have what he had in that short amount of time in just a few hours of working and getting taxes left and right. Well, life wasn''t always fair. If this was how a regr noble lived, Del, wondered how his friends were living inside of the pce. It must be nicer than living like a regr person in this world, right? Both of them eventually arrived at the center of the town. The amount of building there was even less than in Midham. The only building there was a restaurant, a clothing shop, and a jewelry store. There was a market as well. There was also a sign that told a kilogram of meat there were ten gold coins. "Damn, that''s one expensive piece of meat," Delmented. "Let''s focus on searching the guard barrack, shall we?" Cole said. "Right," Del said. Finding a guard barrack wouldn''t be hard. After all, there was only one building that resembled any defensive structure inside of that town. The barrack was located a little bit further down the road, in the road heading to those expensive estates. The barrack itself looked more like a house made to house the security guards guarding the nobles. However, it also looked like that the nobles also had security guards stationed for their estates or houses. Del disembarked from the horse and he approached one of the guards standing outside of that barrack. Del approached him to ask about Firma D Rose. They either would give Del the details or ask Del to fuck off. Thetter option was rather unlikely though. "Excuse me, sir, I need information about Firma D Rose," Del asked politely. "Oh, you must be the adventurers, our captain just told us about that. Anyway, our captain has established a checkpoint near Firma D Rose''s house on the northwest. Anyway, do you want toe there together with us?" The guard said. "Nah, I''m good, how''s the captain look like?" Del asked. "Just search for someone with a thick mustache," the guard replied. "Thank you," Del got on top of the horse again. "You''re wee," the guard waved his hand. Cole moved the horse and Del asked him to go to the northwest direction of the guard barrack. Cole just nodded and the house started moving away from the guard barrack. Wolfie followed them from behind as usual. Eventually, they reached the guard checkpoint. The checkpoint was pretty much located next to a road leading to a mansion that was surrounded by multiple people. The people consisted of guards wearing Mithril armor or mage holding a staff. Either way, they seemed to be keeping Firma inside of her mansion. Del disembarked from his horse. He walked to a person that was wearing heavy metal te armor and had a veryrge brown mustache on his face. Therge mustache was reallyrge, almost covering his mouth. Del approached him. "Stop right there, this area is off limit, and who''s that demon anyway?" the captain said. Del stopped walking in his direction, "Rx, I''m the adventurer from Alder. I was informed to ask the barrack of Alendale to get information. However, it seems that I have to ask you first." "Oh, I''m sorry, so you are the adventurer that Alder sent to deal with our current threat? Well, I wonder why they are only sending two people with a mystical wolf???" The captain walked backward slowly as he saw Wolfie. "Rx, he''s my pet, so, Captain, what are we dealing with?" Del patted Wolfie. "Oh, sorry, sorry, call me Belgram anyway," Belgram pointed at an estate that was surrounded by multiple people, "That''s Firma''s estate, she has rented around ten mercenaries. We have surrounded her estate, but attacking it by our own force will give a massive amount of casualties. Still, I couldn''t believe that the person that Madam Lize suggested only two people," Belgram said. "Lize? What are you talking about?" Del asked. Belgram coughed, "Madam Lize, anyway, we have assessed the strength of the enemy. There are three mages, five swordsmen, and two archers. We spot two archers on the roof of the building and three mages are patrolling on the second floor of the estate. The swordmen are guarding the entrances to the estate." Looking from afar, Del noticed how most of the estate was located on the higher ground which meant the archer got a clear all-around view of the estate. A stealthy attack was not an option. Well, Wolfie could do that, but it would be unwise to send Wolfie alone to distract five swordsmen at once. He needed Cole, but Del doubted Cole would want to participate in such a crude n. Still, thinking about it again, Del only needed to kill the archer first from distance. His G3 was more than capable to attack the archer from a distance that the archer couldn''t attack him. Overall, it was quite a solid n. Cole poked his back, "What are you humming about?" "I''m nning the attack," Del said. "I see, keep nning then, but I''d say that we should attack the mages first before we barge in," Cole suggested. "Yeah, how?" Del asked. "Well, Wolfie can distract the enemy first while you attack the archer. I will take care of those swordsmen with my new tool. While they''re distracted, you can enter the house and take out the mages, simple, right?" Cole asked. "Yeah, so basically, you will be dealing with the babies while I deal with the men?" Del asked. Cole nodded. "Damn, let''s n it more thoroughly, alright?" Del said Looking at the building, there was three entrance point. The first entry point was the big and obvious front door decorated in gold and thest one was the door on the left side of the house that led to a garden. Theoretically, there should be a backdoor somewhere on the back of the mansion, so Del also put that into ount. Mage is a good armor prator so Del would need to deal with them fast enough before they were able to cast their spell. Still, his k jacket should be able to deal with a ballistic threat much better than the te armor that the knights were wearing. "Ok, I think it''s should be better if you and Wolfie attack the estate together, that way, the swordmen''s attention will be divided and I can deal with the archers swiftly. After that, I will break into the building to deal with the mages," Del exined. "Sounds simple, I like it," Cole said. "It seems that Firma wouldn''t be able to escape either since the whole estate is surrounded, I think flushing Firma''s out is the best option I have avable," Del said. "Alright, is that all?" "Yup, let''s begin the assault, shall we?" Del put his rifle on full-auto. Chapter 41 - Main Assault Cole, Wolfie, and Del were preparing to begin an assault on Firma''s estate. Del would first start the assault by shooting the archers on the roof using his precision G3. Wolfie and Cole would charge towards the enemy. The estate was huge. The white wall of that estate seemed to never end due to howrge it was. There was also a fountain right after the gate to the estate. Del would climb the brick walls while Cole would charge through the front gate. Still, it wouldn''t be perfect if there was nost-minute briefing from Del. Del pointed out where the full-auto lever of Cole''s Uzi was and switched it to full-auto mode so Cole could wreak havoc. Well, not wreak Havoc, but he definitely would cause some damage. "Charge towards them, aim for their head, and pull the trigger, got it?" Del extended the stock of Cole''s Uzi. "Yup, got it," Cole said. "Alright, we shall start then," Del aimed his G3 at one of the archers. He held his breath to stable the iron sight. He held his breath and pulled the trigger of his battle rifle. 7.62x51 Armor-Piercing-Incendiary bullet flew in the direction of the archer on top of the roof. The archer fell to the ground. "Go, go, go!!!" Del shouted as he aimed at the other archer. Cole came running alongside invisible Wolfie. Wolfie attacked one of the armored knights and Cole pulled the trigger of his Uzi. One bullet of his Uzi flew to the head of one of the swordsmen and blew his face off. It wasn''t even an exaggeration, the head of the person just disappeared from the high explosivepound inside of the 9x19mm bullets. Cole pulled the trigger of his Uzi one more time to help Wolfie who was biting an enemy. Cole exploded the head of the mercenary and the rest of the swordmen were trembling in fear after seeing that one of hisrades got his head blown off. They thought that their heavy armor could protect them from a bullet with a tungsten core that was designed to prate modern ceramic body armor. Del climbed the brick wall after Cole managed to divide the attention of the swordmen. Hended on top of the grass and he switched his rifle to full-auto. He had managed to control the heavy recoil of 7.92 Mauser. 7.62 NATO wouldn''t be a big issue for him. Del ran through the small garden. There were still many employees working for Firma apparently. Even after being surrounded like that, there was still a maid that walked around the house or a gardener that was still maintaining the garden. Nevertheless, Del headed straight into the building without any hesitation. The moment he barged through the door, he realized that he made the grave mistake of not asking whether the workers had been evacuated or not. The estate was still in business as usual. Lots of servants were moving around, and Del couldn''t tell who the mages were. He could just shoot anyone inside of that building, but it seemed that it was not an option. What made him better than a regr criminal if he just shot them all here and there. It was practical, yes, but it was not what Del had in mind. "Everyone, get on the floor now!!!" Del shouted. If someone still stood up after that shout, Del would shoot it in the knee with his battle rifle as a safety precaution. Right now, the priorities were getting to Firma as fast as he could or eliminate all the mages that he found. Del moved slowly in the hallway as every single person in that hallway was lying down on the floor but Del himself. He walked slowly down the hallway while keeping an eye on every door. He kicked every single door that he found. "GET DOWN ON THE GROUND!!!" Del aimed the end of his gun at an empty room. The room was empty. Del got out of the room. One of the butlers stood up from the ground. Without any hesitation, Del shot the butler in the leg. He didn''t want to take a risk. The butler held his leg in pain as the bullet probably destroyed his leg. Someone kicked the front door opened. There was also a bark following it. It might be Cole or just Wolfie alone. Del approached the sound source. It was really Cole and Wolfie. Cole destroyed the front door with his fireball spell. "Del, did you find the mages yet?" Cole asked. "Nope, but I think I have wounded an old man," Del pointed to the butler. "Damn, that''s an unintended casualty, don''t you think?" Cole asked. "Yup, let''s check the rest of the house," Del said. "Right, but we have Wolfie, let''s ask him to smell a mage," Cole said. "Wolfie, can you scent anyone with high magical aptitude or anyone that might be a mage?" Del asked. "Well, a mage usually has a certain scent to them," Wolfie said. "Alright, boy, get them!" Del said. Wolfie ran through the hallway. Del and Cole ran after Wolfie. Both of them had to follow Wolfie so they could reach the mages. Wolfie ran upstairs. It was expected. Del ran in therge staircase while looking left and right for hostile targets. If there were an ambush, he would be able to counter it quite easily with the full-auto mode of his battle rifle. They reached the second floor of the estate. The moment they stepped into the second floor, a mage fired a fireball. The fireball exploded and chirped off the wall, creating fragmentations. The fireball threw Del across the hallway, "Holy shit, what the hell was that?" Del aimed his rifle at the mage that fired the fireball, "Get this!!!" Three 7.62x51 API bullets flew in the direction of the mage. The first bullet hit an energy barrier that surrounded the mage. It shredded the copper jacket that protected the bullet, but the tungsten core prated the shield cleanly and it hit the mage in the head. It also ignited the incendiarypound on the back of the bullet. The rest of the bullets just prated cleanly. Cole helped Del to stand up from the ground, Del wiped the blood that came from the scratches that he got in his face, "Damn, I''m lucky that were only scratches." "Well, you definitely give her more than scratches," Cole looked at the body that was lying dead on the ground. "Let''s get Firma then," Del checked the remaining bullet inside of his magazine. Wolfie continued running to search for the other mage. Hopefully, this one was rather easier than the mage that they had just fought. Even if the battle was short, Del didn''t exactly leave unscratched without any wound. "How the hell did I get wounded but you didn''t?" Del asked. "Lucky, I guess?" Cole shrugged. Del ran until Wolfie finally attacked a certain butler. Del''s thought was correct, there might be a mage hiding among the employees. Without any hesitation, Del pulled the trigger of his G3 and bullets were flying into the direction of that butler. "Damn, that was easy," Del said. "Don''t underestimate them, Del," Cole said. "Yeah, yeah, I know that," Del said. Del continued walking in the hallway while holding his battle rifle firmly. Eventually, Wolfie stood in front of a room. Wolfie barked loudly in front of the door. The door seemed to be housing Firma D Rose. "Cole, kick the door!" Del shouted. "Alright!" Cole kicked the door. The moment the door was kicked, another fireball flew in the direction of Del''s face. Luckily, it missed his face and insteadnded at the wall behind him. Del responded by firing bullets at that mage. "Damn it, does every single bloody mage in this godforsaken world use fireball?" Del asked. "Perhaps?" Cole shrugged. Del walked to the dead body of the mage. There was no reason for a mage to stay inside of a room except for a particr reason. In theory, the mage would be protecting Firma D Rose. Del started searching the room. There were only some possible spots for Firma to hide. Either she hid in her bathroom, her own wardrobe, or under the bed. There was simply no other ce to hide for Firma unless he wanted to be killed by the guards outside. Wolfie barked in front of the wardrobe. Del opened the wardrobe, "Well, well, aren''t you the little naughty one?" Chapter 42 - Upgrading G3, Buying M240 "Wait, wait, I can pay you, just let me live," Firma rose her hands in the air. Del had an interest in that counter-proposal, "How much? Your head is quite expensive, you know? If you can counter the offer that the guild building gives to me, I''d rather kill you here and now." With the blood still flowing on his face, Del actually didn''t have any intention of leaving Firma alive, but the money enticed him. He just wanted to dy Firma''s death, not preventing it. After all, he still had fought many bounty hunters that Firma sent after Lize. "Wait, I can give you gold, a lot of gold," Firma said. "HOW MUCH?" Del shouted. "Five white gold coins. Please, let me go," Firma said. A white gold coin equal to one hundred gold coins, but it was quite rare. However, it was still a good amount of money to be exchanged with Pidma. It was still 50,000$ and it was still a good amount of money. "Where''s the money?" Del questioned. "Here, here," Firma grabbed five white coins from inside of her pocket. She trembled as she gave Del the coins. However, the moment Del got the coins, he did what had to be done. "Say good night," Del pulled the trigger of his G3 and he blew the Firma''s head. Del further searched the dead body to search for any loot. There was another white gold coin inside of her pocket. Del didn''t feel the need to loot the house any further. The white gold coins were enough and there was no doubt that Lize also wanted to loot her own sister''s estate as her spoils of war. "C''mon, Cole, let''s get out here," Del walked out of the room. "You don''t want to loot the estate?" Cole asked. "Nah, the guards will search the estate soon. We are better off getting out this estate soon," Del held the scratches on his face that started to hurt. "Ah yes, your face is bleeding, do you need me to take care of it?" Cole asked. "Healing spell?" Del asked. "Yeah, but we have to wash the wound first in case there is a chirp of woods or any fragmentation left in that wound so the wound can healpletely," Cole said. "I understand, so the healing spell is not as miraculous as I previously expect, huh?" Del held his wound firmly to stop the continuous bleeding. "Yeah," Cole said. Both of them left the estate. Del walked in the direction of Captain Belgram. Belgram was holding his mustache and he looked surprised when he saw Cole and Del returned from the estate alive. He smiled, "It looks like I have underestimated you both. I apologize for that, I can''t believe you manage to prate that estate that easily and that quickly. Usually, it takes more than one hour just to deal with one of the archers with another archer." Del smugged, "Well, that''s why we''re taking the quest." "Haha, right, about the reward," Belgram grabbed a pouch of coins from his waist bag, "This is the reward, one hundred gold coins. I hope there is enough for you." Del got the pouch and he put it inside of his pocket, "Thanks for the payment. I really appreciate it." "No problem," Belgram smiled. "I will have to go, thanks," Del said. ====================================================== Back in his home, Cole had patched Del up by using his own healing spell. Del decided that an upgrade to his rifle was not enough. His armor might be enough for now, and he felt that he had leveled up and better hardware should be avable. Del was sitting on his couch while looking at his status te. He wondered whether killing that amount of people should level him up enough until he hit level 30. Well, he got better than that. He hit level 31. ???????????? [Del Moore] [Level: 31] Strength: 95 Agility: 82 Vitality: 85 Aptitude: 12 Perception: 80 Skills: Language Comprehension | Marksmanship LVL.25 | Firearms Comprehension LVL.21 Magical Energy: 1488/1488 Health Point: 26000/26350 ???????????? "Damn, I level up quite a lot, not to mention that I also have a lot of money now, hahaha," Del said. [Congrattion Del, you have reached tech level 4 now. That''s fantastic] "Thanks, well, I think I can buy some upgrade to my G3, right?" Del asked. [Yup, I think there are some upgrades though I have to admit that there''s not much customization since your G3 is not even modr] "Define modr," Del asked. [Picattiny rail, the gizmos. You know, the only avable modification for you is a scope, a muzzle brake, a custom stock, and an extended magazine. Other than that, you need to reach tech level 6 to unlock that] "Ok, I see. Well, I want every single thing that you mentioned as an attachment then," Del said. [Ok. Your weapon will be unavable for twenty-four hours, is that ok?] "I think that''s not even a big deal, besides, I can buy a new weapon, right?" Del asked. [Good point. Do you want to throw your old weapon out, Del?] "Throwing out, as in disposing them?" Del asked. [Yes] "Well, sure, I think I''ll also upgrade my weaponry to something easier to modernize, what do you think, Pidma?" Del asked. [It''s a good idea, may I suggest, the M240?] "Ah yes, that''s quite a magnificent choice," Delmented. [Alright, do you want to attach something to this weapon so you don''t have to wait for a day?] "Sure, well, I want a muzzle brake, and a scope," Del said. [Error. User''s Tech Level Is Not Adequate For ATTACHMENT: M240 Picatinny Dust Cover] "Damn, alright, just the muzzle brake then? Does the M240e with bipod like the MG-42?" Del asked. [Yup] "What''s the capacity of the ammo box for M240? 50 rounds?" [Yup, but you can upgrade itter.] "Can I upgrade it now?" Del asked. [Sure, but it will cost some extra. What option do you want, 100 rounds, 150 rounds, or 200 rounds?] "I want the 200 round magazine, of course," Del said. [Do you need an additional magazine?] "Yup." [How many?] "Three additional magazines," Del said. [What kind of ammo do you want?] ???????????? [Showing Avable 7.62x51 Ammunition] [Ammunition Level: 1] [Tech Level: 4] [Total Bnce: 92102.5$] [7.62x51 FMJ] [10x] [25$] [7.62x51 HP] [10x] [50$] [7.62x51 AP] [10x] [80$] [7.62x51 API] [10x] [100$] [7.62x51 APS] [10x] [120$] [7.62x51 HE] [10x] [150$] [7.62x51 HEAP] [10x] [200$] [7.62x51 IHEAP] [10x] [300$] [7.62x51 AM-AP] [10x] [350$] [7.62x51 AM-HEAP] [10x] [400$] [7.62x51 AM-IHEAP] [10x] [420$] [7.62x51 AM-APDS] [10x] [450$] [7.62x51 IAM-TAPFSDS] [10x] [1000$] ???????????? "I want 800 rounds FMJ." [Are you sure?] "I''m very sure," Del said. [Calcting Purchase¡­. 8,600$. Are you sure you want to purchase it?] Del thought for a while, he was indeed paying a lot of money for just a machine gun with its ammunition included. But thinking about it again, unlike the MG-42, M240 could easily be modernized. Basically, it was a one-time purchase and Del wouldn''t regret it in the future. "Sure." [Transaction Confirmed. Remaining Bnce: 83502.5$] An M240 machine gun appeared on top of the coach. The ck long gun would be recing the MG-42 that Del had been using for a long enough time. The machine gun was rather¡­ modern inparison to the MG-42. Some of the furniture of the gun itself was made from polymer instead of the usual wood or metal. The gun itself looked just as same as the one that Del always saw on the inte. There was also a big can of ammunition right below the gun itself. Maybe the appearance of the ammo box was simr to that of a regr ammo can but it was covered in fabric and modified so it could attach to the bottom of the gun itself. A two-point sling was also attached to the gun. Del held the machine gun with both of his hands, "Oh boy, this is quite heavier than the MG-42. It''s still manageable though," Del aimed the M240 from his shoulder. "Holy¡­ is that another gun? That''s quite big, isn''t it?" Colemented. "Yup," Del put the gun a little bit down, "This is called the M240. This is another machine gun." "Machine gun? Hmm, I remember thest thing went brrrrrrrr, does this one do the same thing?" "Yup, more or less," Del nodded. "Do you want to test that thing out again?" Cole asked. "Maybe, but not now, some of the operating mechanics of this thing need to be learned first. Still, I probably will test this thing tomorrow morning," Del said. "I see," Cole nodded. There was also one more thing that Del wanted to get from Cole. He wanted to know the magic application. It was the thing that he was currently reallycking besides his ability in close-quarterbat. "Could you teach me magic tomorrow, Cole?" Del asked. "I''ll do anything for you, friend," Cole said. "Thanks." Chapter 43 - Magical Spell 101 Del was sitting on the couch as usual. The breakfast was nice. Cole told Del to have a notebook so Del bought one from Pidma alongside a pen. While he was waiting for Cole to finish his preparation, Del was busy cramming 800 rounds of 7.62x51 NATO into his tactical rig. Del was thinking about a further upgrade, "Maybe I should buy a hand grenade or a shbang?" [Ah, I agree with that] "What makes you say that??" Del asked. [Logically speaking, yourck of throwable weaponry is real and it actually can save you from multiple situations. For example, the situation where your head got the fragmentation from the fireball, it is actually preventable if you throw a grenade upstairs] "I see," Del nodded. [Do you need any grenades?] "Yup," Del nodded. ???????????? [Showing Grenades] [Ammunition Level: 1] [Tech Level: 4] [Total Bnce: 83502.5$] [RGD-5 Grenade] [40$] [LOCKED] [M67 Grenade] [50$] [LOCKED] ???????????? "What is even the requirement of using a grenade?" [You need to pass basic training course of throwing training grenades first] "Why?" [Grenades are deadly] "What''s the course?" Del asked. [You need to throw at the very least thirty training grenades sesfully] "Emm, I think I''ll do itter then," Del said. [Understandable] Cole walked to the living room. He didn''t bring his Uzi, but he wore his tactical rig and held a book with a pencil in his hand. He was most likely there to teach Del magic. Del stood up from hisfy couch and he picked up his M240 from the couch. "So¡­ today is the day, eh?" Del said. "Yup, prepare yourself to write a lot, alright?" Cole asked. "Sure, I''ll shoot my weapon as well," Del said. Del walked out of the house, followed by Cole and Wolfie. The M240 on Del''s back didn''t stand out as much as Del had previously expected, probably because of the ck furniture that the M240 had or because there might be weirder weaponry that they had never seen before. Both of them walked to the grasnd located behind their house. Del wore his protective gear in case one of the magical spells that Cole taught blew upon his face. To be honest, he should have worn a bva or any ballistic visor, but well, it wasn''t avable yet. "Alright, first of all, in magical programming, you need to make the safety measurement program first. You can copy the program from my book," Cole showed his book. It was the same program like the one that Del saw when he was at Rina''s inn. ???????????? If (Magical_Energy) < 100, Output=false If (Magical_Energy) > 100, Output=true If (Output=True), Initiate (Voice_Detection) ???????????? "Remember, you actually can disable this spell, but I don''t rmend it. Heck, I don''t want you to do it, do you understand?" Cole asked. "I understand, so, after this, what should I do?" Del asked. "Well, you can copy the magical program that I wrote, but I have to exin it further now. You do notice that I always say "Magical Program" when I cast a spell, right? It''s actually an initiator," Cole exined. Cole exined that the phrase "Magical Program" was basically an initiator to use a spell under the category of "Magical Program". For example, "Precise Strike Mode" was the phrase that Cassandra used for her precision offensive spell while Cole just generalized everything under the term "Magical Program". "Why are you generalizing your magical spell?" Del asked. "It''s easier to remember, let me exin." Although simplifying everything under one category would make things way easier for him, it would also make a magical spell weaker. Although the margin wasn''t so far between simplifying and not simplifying, putting too many magical spells under one category would weaker the spell exponentially as more spell was added. "So, it''s better to use category for each spell?" Del asked. "Yeah, but most of my spells are for general usage, so theck of power is not a huge problem. For example, I have an energy barrier spell, but it was only for protecting me from exploding shards of sses, not an attack from a dragon. Adding too many spells will reduce the efficiency of a magical spell. The efficiency is reduced because the magical energy is taken to search for the program of the spell itself. One of the ways to counter this is to make a sub-specialization," Cole added. "Why did you generalize most of your spell then?" Del asked. "For the sake of simplicity," Cole said. "I see," Del said. "Alright, I''ll give you the most basic spell, fireball, I will exin it one by one as you copy the spell from my book, alright?" Cole said as Del started copying the spell consequence. ???????????? Name: Fireball If (Voice_Detection) recognizes phrase ("Fireball"), initiate program. Convert [300] (Magical_Energy) to (Thermal_Energy) Compress (Thermal_Energy) to (Sphere) Set (Sphere_Size) to [4] Protect (Object_Hand) with (Magical_Energy) Move (Sphere) to (Object_Hand) ???????????? "What does this spell do?" Del asked. "It will create fireball on your hand, and you''ll have to throw it. The fireball will appear right above your hand, and it will be hot. You better throw it soon," Cole said. "I see, where should I put the fireball spell then?" Del asked. "Up to you, you can generalize it or you can make it specific." "I see." "And, don''t forget to add the indexer," Delmented. ???????????? Category: Offensive Spell Name: Fireball If Indexer searches for (Offensive Spell), search for phrase (Offensive Spell: [X]) If (Voice_Detection) recognizes phrase ("Fireball"), initiate program. Convert [300] (Magical_Energy) to (Thermal_Energy) Compress (Thermal_Energy) to (Sphere) Set (Sphere_Size) to [4] Protect (Object_Left Hand) with (Magical_Energy) Move (Sphere) to (Object_Left Hand) ???????????? "Yup, this will do, so, what should I do?" Del asked. "Just use the magical program," Cole said. "Really? [Offensive Spell: Fireball]!" A fireball appeared on Del''s left hand. It didn''t feel hot although the fireball was so close into his skin, "How to throw it?" "Just throw it!" Cole shouted. Del threw the fireball like he threw a baseball with his hand. The fireball flew at an arc and itnded at the grasnd. It made a trap of me, but it didn''t really burn the grass. Maybe because the grass was still covered in morning dew. "Damn, that''s quite versatile," Del said. "Look at your status te," Cole told him. Del grabbed his status te from his back. ???????????? [Del Moore] [Level: 31] Strength: 95 Agility: 82 Vitality: 85 Aptitude: 12 Perception: 80 Skills: Language Comprehension | Marksmanship LVL.25 | Firearms Comprehension LVL.21 | me Maniption LVL.1 | Magical Energy: 1100/1488 Health Point: 26000/26350 ???????????? The spell consumed 388 magical energy instead of 300. Del couldn''t figure out why at first, but he had a clue afterward. It seemed that 88 magical energy was taken to protect his hand from the ze of that fireball. It seemed that the matter of magic in this world was more sophisticated than expected. It was also likely that only the demons had ess to this way of using a magical spell. Anyway, as long as Del had a functional magical spell, Del would be able to increase his strength inbat. "Anyway, there is one remaining spell that I wanted to teach to you. This one is for defensive purposes. This spell is used to defend yourself from arrows, this is called energy shield," Cole exined as he showed two types of magical programs, energy, and material field. The difference between both was quite simple. Energy spell could protect against any projectile fired at the user of the spell. However, Cole exined that the downside of this spell was that the spell only could protect as much as the energy being poured into the spell itself. The other type of shield was a material field spell. This one worked differently. Cole said that this type of spell could protect as much as four times better than the energy field. However, one of the downsides of this spell was described by Cole as how the API prated the shield of the magician in Firma''s mansion. Basically, even though the bullet''s energy was less than what the shield was able to protect, the bullet would still prate the shield although the copper jacket was probably shredded. It worked in a more simr way to conventional armor. [Material Field] basically sacrificed its ability to block all projectiles with extra durability. "Hmm, it seems that the spell is more convenient than I expected," Delmented. "Yup, do you know how to use it?" Cole asked. "Yeah, I think I know how to use it, I''ll just put it under Defensive Spell category," Del said. "Alright, good, I think you got all of the basics, I think. Why don''t you try one of the defensive spells?" Cole asked. "Alright, [Defensive Spell: Energy Field]." Del didn''t feel anything. However, there was an extra membrane seemingly made of light surrounding his entire body. It might be the energy field. However, Del didn''t specify how much energy the field consumed. "By default, this spell takes around 1,000 magical energy and will stay active for three hours or after all of the magical energy had run out from blocking the attacks," Colemented, "Still, you can add or remove the amount of magical energy stacked inside of your body." "How to do that?" Del asked. "Well, write this," Cole showed Del a magical spell add-on. Del wrote the magical program in his notebook. ???????????? Category: Defensive Spell Name: Force Field Modifier If (Voice_Detection) recognizes phrase ("Force Field Modifier"), initiate program. Identify value of [X] in {Force Field Modifier [x]} If (X) < 0, Take (Magical_Energy) from (Field) If (X) > 0, Give (Magical_Energy) from (Field) ???????????? "Basically, you use it by saying [Force Field Modifier -10], but it won''t work for me," Colemented. "Ok, I''ll use it [Force Field Modifier -1000]," Del said. The field disappeared from Del''s body. Del thought for a while about the usage of the spells. Theoretically, Del could dress as a juggernaut using the spell itself. He could dress in very heavy armor to mitigate the downside of [Material Field]. He also could have conceble armor that could protect him from anything by using [Energy Field]. "Why are you giggling like that?" Cole wondered. "Nothing," Del giggled, "Anyway¡­.." He looked at his M240 on his back. Chapter 44 - Tools Of War, And Cassandra... Again Del grabbed the M240 from his back and he asked Pidma how to operate the gun. As far as he could tell, the operating might be not so different from MG-42. Still, asking Pidma would be the best idea. "Pidma, how to operate this weapon?" Del asked. "Talking with your spirit, again?" Cole asked. "Yup," Del nodded. [First of all, there''s a safety button on the machine gun itself. You can press it to go safe or full auto. The operating mechanism isn''t that far different from an MG-42 so you won''t have any difficulty with it] Del put the gun on safety, pulled the bolt backward and he lifted the feed cover. As usual, he loaded the 7.62x51 NATO into the machine gun. He then closed the feed tray and aimed at any target on the grasnd. Since there wasn''t any target on the grasnd, he just shot at the air. He pressed the safety button of his M240 and he pulled the trigger. A stream of bullets flew to the sky. Del just feltforted by the sound of chugging machine gun. It was just satisfying. "Ah, shooting at the sky, huh? It is not like there''s an airship up above anyway," Colemented. "Airship?" Del asked. It was the first time he heard that term. "Yup, airship. It''s a giant flying fortress in the sky. You need flying troops just to deal damage to them. It fires cannonballs in our direction. You can think of it as a flying battleship, but bigger," Cole exined. Thinking about it, was it really possible to make a flying battleship in that world? That was an engineering marvel, wasn''t it? Even a flying battleship was not avable on Earth. The most that he could find on Earth was a destroyer carrying missiles or an aircraft carrier. "Do both sides have airships?" Del asked. "Well, yes. If you are asking about the conflict between Reian and Elbanian, then yes, both sides have airships. Though, I have to say that Reian had a much better airship inparison to the Elbanian. Too bad though, in air-to-airbat, your sophisticated technology wouldn''t matter if the opponent outnumbered you ten to one," Colemented. "So basically, the Reian was ughtered?" Del asked. "If you are talking about the casualties, I''d say that Elbanian suffers much more than Reian, but in terms of who was victorious, Elbanian was victorious. Why? It''s rather hard to fight twenty humans at once," Cole exined. "What made the Elbanian retreat then if they won the war?" Del asked. "Well, truthfully, I think it''s because of the disarray of the previous mascots, or should I say, heroes?" Cole took a breath the continue, "Basically, without their symbol, Elbanian tended to fall into a civil disarray." Del just replied with a nod. If this was true, then the unity between one hero to another was important then. Basically, the heroes were just a mascot for the Elbanian to make the public supported their expensive war against the demon. Still, there was one question in Del''s mind, "Were the previous heroes capable of killing the demonic lord?" "Haha, demonic lord? What kind of joke is that? Trust me, you humans are sometimes overestimating those people," Cole coughed, "Anyway, the current king of Reian is Sirius IV. He is quite strong, but not as strong as you previously expected." Cole''s answer only created more questions for Del, "Huh? Can you exin more?" "Alright, let me start from the beginning. Do you think thirty-ish people can hold an entire country on their own? If you say yes, I''d assume your brain is damaged. No, the heroes are definitely stronger than the strong demons, but spreading their power isn''t exactly an option," Cole exined. He then further exined that Elbanian wasn''t as weak as Del expected previously. The Elbanian was a country with a huge amount of "expendable" forces. They usually ordered their soldiers to invade Reian using the morale boost that came from the heroes who were evidently stronger than average humans. With that, the average Elbanian believed that they could win the war by using the power of the heroes even though the fact clearly said otherwise. Basically, the heroes were just a tool in warfare and they weren''t that special. Del only thought of them as special troops that could be deployed to the front line to boost the morale of the soldiers that were fighting the demons nonstop. As expected, the king was indeed just using the heroes as his own tool. "So, they have been yed like a damn fiddle?" Del asked. "More or less," Del said. Del nodded, "I see¡­" Del put his machine gun on his back again and he walked back to his home. He wanted to do another guild quest, but he felt that the amount of money that he had was more than enough for now. Still, if there was one thing that was missing from him was the sense of having a real family. Like it or not, Del was still attached to Anna in one way or another. Hell, they were even born together with Deling out a little bit sooner than Anna. Separating both of them forcefully wasn''t something that both of them liked. Del stepped inside the frontwn of his house. However, there was someone at the front door of his house. That person was none other than the person that had opened him inside and out. That person was holding a backpack on his back. The person was a ck-haired woman, waiting for someone to open the door for her. "Cassandra, what are you doing in here?" Del asked. Cassandra replied in humannguage, "I heard that you just moved in so Ie for a visit, is there anything wrong?" "Nah, Nah, everything is fine," Del said. "Cole, how did the research go?" Cassandra asked. Del gulped in anxiety. If Cole gave the wrong answer, it meant a long battle with Cassandra again. "Yup, it''s going very smooth thanks to my friend right here," Cole said. Del sighed in relief, "Do you want toe inside?" He opened the door. "Sure." Cassandra entered the house. Del was¡­ unsure about Cassandra. With how she was willing to treat him even after both of them had tried to kill each other, she seemed to be a rather responsible person. Still, there was the fact that Cassandra tried to kill Del without any hesitation. "So¡­ Cassandra, no hard feelings?" Del asked. "Hard feelings? Nah, I have forgotten about that," Cassandra said. "I understand. Anyway, what are you doing here? I don''t say that you can''t stay, but I just want to know your intention," Del said. "My intention? I just want to visit, but if you don''t mind me staying, I won''t refuse either." "Well, I doubt I have enough bed," Del said. "I can sleep on the floor if you want to, or I can take care of myself by doing my own bounty hunting. I''m on the final stage of my research anyway, I just need topile the research down and create the form," Cassandra said. "I see, well, technically, you can do your own bounty hunting. I think it will be more effective if we work as a team," Del said. "Fair enough. I think I won''t take the reward from you either," Cassandra said. Cassandra would be one extra firepower to be entirely honest. There was also one perk of having Cassandra on his side. It meant that he didn''t have to worry too much about torso injury since Cassandra was there to help him. Cole could probably easily treat an injury to the extremities of the bodies such as the hands, the legs, and minor scratches. However, if one of his lungs was prated by an arrow, Del really doubted whether Cole was able to treat that or not. After all, internal bleeding could easily kill him. Still, he had enough confidence that a 9x19 wouldn''t be able to kill him since he was positive that he was stronger than Alberto. Still, it was better to be safe than to be sorry so he preferred to take an easier quest. "Still, I have one demand, I want you to treat my injury if I got injured," Del said. "Fair point, I think not doing any surgery will make me rusty," Cassandramented. "I''m d to hear that," Del said. "Anyway, do you need anything from me?" Cassandra said. "Not right now, but I think I will want to be taught how to use healing magic," Del said. Cassandra replied with a smile, "Sure, I think I can teach you one spell or two. Still, I want to ask you, have you ever learned basic human anatomy?" "I think I have learned some of them in school and when I was volunteering to be the infirmary assistance," Delmented. "Oh, so you have done some medical background work, pretty impressive, if I have to say," Cassandramented. "Thanks," Del smiled. With Cassandra here, the total member of his group became four people in total. Wolfie was also included in that team since he served as a good scout. He also had ess to intensive medical care with Cassandra''s existence.. Well, life was good. Chapter 45 - Cassandra Gable Cassandra put her backpack right beside the couch. The backpack wasn''t big at all, in fact, it was as big as the backpack that Del brought from Pidma. It rose another question, where did Cassandra put all of her belongings? "Cassandra, if I may ask, where do you put all of the surgical tools or the first aid kit?" Del asked. "In my backpack, of course," Cassandra answered. She then opened her backpack and pulled out another bag from that backpack. That bag was only a little bit smaller than the backpack from which she pulled the bag. "What kind of backpack is that? I doubt an ordinary backpack can do that," Delmented. "This is a magical backpack. It provides the backpack a bigger space and reduces the weight of the luggage by 90%," Cassandra exined. "Wow, really?" Del asked. "Yup, the space inside of the backpack depends on the amount of magical energy poured into the backpack. Arge amount of magical energy is required to make arge space inside of a magical backpack," Cassandra exined. "How much did you pay for this backpack?" Del asked. "It is supposed to be fifty gold coins, but since I make this backpack myself, maybe it only costs my magical energy," Cassandra said. "How much stuff did you put inside of that thing?" Del asked. "A lot of stuff," Cassandra said. "Can you teach me how to make one?" Del asked. "Well, first of all, you need a regr backpack first," Cassandra said. "I do have that," Del said. "Well, in that case, I will teach youter," Cassandra said. "Alright, I understand. Anyway, since you''ll be living here for a while, what will you do today? Do you want to tag along with us to do a bounty hunting activity?" Del asked. "Sure, I meant, I think I can tag along," Cassandra said. "Very well then, anyway, unlike Cole, you''re registered in the adventurer''s guild, right? Do you have any certification that you have so I can dictate your strength?" Del asked. "Sure, here''s my status te," Cassandra said. ???????????? [Cassandra Gable] [Level: 75] Strength: 241 Agility: 359 Vitality: 100 Aptitude: 525 Perception: 275 Skills: Water Maniption LVL.45 | Health Maniption LVL.32 | Magic Comprehension LVL.60 Magical Energy: 157500/157500 Health Point: 75000/75000 ???????????? The first thing that Del wanted to say was, "Damn, these are some big boi numbers, how the hell had it reached this high anyway?" Del wondered how the hell Cassandra had that monstrous amount of magical energy and health. "Well, I''ve lived for quite a long time although I don''t necessarily spend most of my time adventuring from one ce to another. Still, this is quite normal in the demon world," Cassandra put his te back into her pocket. "What''s your qualification rank anyway?" Del asked. "B," Cassandra answered. "B rank adventurer??? Then your sry must be a lot, right?" Del asked. "Yup, I get around two hundred gold coins per quest at average," Cassandra answered. "I see, it must be nice living as a rich adventurer, isn''t it?" Del asked. "Well, I can''t exactly say I don''t enjoy it. Still, most of that money is for paying something that I need to pay in Ilbistirum," Cassandra said. "Ilbistirum?" Del asked. "Our country," Cole added. Wait, they were living in Ilbistirum? Del previously thought that both Cole and Cassandra were from the Reian Kingdom. Well, It was surprising to be entirely honest. It might be one of the reasons why Cole and Cassandra were not even aggressive when they met humans. Although, it had to be admitted that Cole saw Del as an inferior creature at first. "Oh, you both are not living in Reian?" Del asked. "No, of course, we are not," Cole said. "I see. Well, what are going to do for today?" Del asked, "Do you want us to go adventuring? Or should we just stay at home?" "Up to you, really," Cassandra said. "So, should we go to Alder now?" Del asked. "Sure." ==================================================== "Ah, Mrs. Gable, it''s a pleasure to meet you. Is there anything I can do for you, specifically?" The receptionist asked. Unlike Del that didn''t even get a greet, Cassandra got one from the guild receptionist due to her high rank among the adventurers. Del waited right behind her with his M240 on his back. He wondered what kind of quest Cassandra would take. "It''s a pleasure to see you too, anyway, do you have any search and rescue quests? I broughtpanies with me so it should be easier than usual," Cassandra answered. "I see, I see, well, someone is missing on the northern part of the road between Midham and Begard. As you know, the adventurer is missing on the foot of Adrea mountain," the receptionist exined. "Who are we going to search, an expedition, or just a group?" Cassandra asked. "You''re looking for a group of adventurers," The receptionist said. "I see," Cassandra nodded. "Here''s the task list. Good luck, Mrs. Gable," The receptionist gave Cassandra a piece of paper. "What is on the list?" Del asked. "Read it by yourself," Cassandra showed him the paper. ???????????? [Search in the Mountain] [Difficulty: B] A group of adventurers is reported to be missing at the foot of Adrea mountain. The group consists of six adventurers consisted of five swordsmen and one mage. Thest known position of the group is on the north side of the closer side of Midham. Reward: 10 white gold coins. ???????????? "The description is rather¡­ vague," Delmented. "Well, it''s called searching not for nothing," Cassandra smiled. "Anyway, do you have any n, Cassandra?" Del asked. "I usually work solo, but Del, what do you have in mind, you''re the team leader after all," Cassandra said. "Well, with how vague the location is, I''d prefer to have Wolfie to guide us. We will go to the northern part of the road and we will start searching to the north," Del said. "And then?" Cassandra asked. "We can start tracking down the adventurers with some tracking techniques that I learned and with Wolfie''s ability," Del said. "Oh, when did you learn that?" Cassandra asked. "Youth Red Cross, an organization, I doubt it exists here though. It''s kinda like a medical volunteer organization if I simplify it," Del answered. "Oh, like MSVI, well, it''s an organization in my university anyway," Cassandra said. "MSVI?" Del asked. "Medical Student Volunteer for Ilbistrum," Cassandra said. "Oh, I see," Del nodded. ============================================== Back in the house, Del, Cole, and Cassandra were ning their rescue operation more thoroughly. First of all, Del might be a former member of the Youth Red Cross, but he only had participated in a search and rescue operation twice in his entire life. Second, Cassandra might be more familiar with the terrain than Del. Cassandra also could help Del making a new magical backpack. That way, he could carry much more luggage than he was supposed to be carried using an ordinary backpack. "So, about the rescue operation, can you tell me more about what kind of condition we will be facing?" Del asked. "Well, the moment you entered the foot of Adrea mountain, you a need thick clothing. The shirt that you wore might not be enough," Cassandramented. "It can be taken care of quite easily. Anyway, what is the threat that we are most likely to face in the mountain," Del asked. "Well, we enter the Taiga at first, in that region, you will encounter snow wolves mostmonly. They aren''t hostile, but in a group, they are. There are also ice slimes that differ greatly from regr slime. This slime can shoot ice spike at great velocity, sometimes, even piercing metal armor," Cassandra said. "Hmm, is that ice spike small?" Del asked. "Yes, that''s why it''s dangerous, it''s a solid spit of ice shot at great velocity," Cassandra said. "I see," Del nodded. Maybe the FLAK jacket was all that he needed after all. Del could protect himself against a projectile like that, but a te armor probably couldn''t. Even though te armor could be said as a thing that would turn anyone into a walking tank, it wasn''t exactly that thick. Against bullet, it was as good as a coffin. "Anyway, do you have enough camping equipment for us?" Del asked. "Well, I have all of my equipment set, still, it might be a good idea to turn one of your backpacks into a magical backpack, what do you think, Del?" Cassandra offered. "Sure, I don''t mind," Del handled Cassandra his empty WW2 backpack. "Hmm," Cassandra looked at the backpack, "This should do nicely." "What would you do?" Del asked. "Let''s upgrade this backpack of yours, shall we?" Chapter 46 - Time For Rescue Del gave Cassandra his backpack. The backpack wasn''t worn out, but it definitely had seen some wear and tears. Cassandra grabbed the backpack and she grabbed her grimoire from her backpack. She started writing some spells inside of her grimoire. After that, she tore the page off from her grimoire and put it inside of Del''s backpack. "[Miscelenaous Program: Magical Storage]" The backpack glowed and then the glow disappeared. Del picked up the backpack and he opened thargest pocket of that backpack. As expected, thergest pocket of that backpack became increasingly deep andrge. Del could reach the bottom of the backpack, but it felt that it had ergened to the sides as well. Heck, he could put three filled backpacks of the same size inside of that backpack considering howrge the backpack was. "Damn, I think I can store like 5,000 ammunition rounds here," Delmented. "What do you mean?" Cassandra asked. "Nothing," Del just smiled. He had an idea to make a backpack that could carry 5,000 rounds of ammunition or more. He might be able to have an improved ammo bag. Why? It meant that the problem of carrying not enough ammunition could be solved. For example, he could attach an M134 minigun on top of a HUMVEE and have a lot of ammunition. It should give him an edge on a battle against something that could stand one bullet. He also could deal with enemies infantry with higher effectiveness. "Anyway, what should I buy?" Del wondered. "A tent and a cold-weather clothing," Cassandra added. "I see, well, I think we can buy a tent in Alder, and we can also buy a coat from somewhere," Del added. "Well, I''ll just wait here. I think you and Cole can go there together," Cassandra said. "Sure." ==================================== ???????????? [Showing Avable Cold Weather Uniform} [Tech Level: 4] [Total Bnce: 83502.5$] [Soviet Ground Force CWU] [100$] [United States Ground Force CWU] [300$] ???????????? Del brought the USGF CWU. It cost him 300$, but it should be worth it. It was a cold-weather coat alongside winter clothing such as thicker green pants and thicker clothing. Del brought three USGF CWUs for him to use once he reached the foot of Adrea mountain. He also brought three uniforms for Cole. He felt that Cole needed that kind of protection too from elements. Del also brought all of his crackers in case he needed them during the long search of that group of adventurers. He also brought one white gold coin to his backpack. There might be enough ammunition for Cole, hopefully. Well, it was not like Del couldn''t use Pidma outside of the house. He also brought additional 400 rounds of 7.62 rounds to be put inside of his backpack. [Calcting Remaining Bnce¡­ 80702.5$] "Emm, thanks for the new clothing," Cole appreciated that. "No worries, this if for you," Del said. Del finished packing up his things. He held the M240 in his hands and wore the modified backpack on his back. Cassandra had waited at the front door with her backpack on her back. Del walked outside and Cole followed him from behind. Del locked the front door of his house. Cole got on the horse as Del prepared himself. Wolfie would follow him from behind as usual. Del got on top of the horse and they started their journey towards Midham. Maybe they could visit Rina on the way, but well, rescue operation took the first priority. Cassandra exined that a quest like that usually had a deadline of one week. After one week, the pay would be gradually reduced to the point that the payment would only be reduced to only one gold coin. To make matter worse, there was a condition to retrieve the adventurers alive. It didn''t take long until they reached Midham, but Del decided not to ask Cole to stop there for a long time. He hoped that Rina didn''t catch a glimpse of him. She might want to meet and greet him which would cost him some time. The only reason why they stopped at Midham was to put the horse there. They wouldn''t be able to get the horse traversing the dense forest. After that, they continued their journey towards the road between Midham and Begard. Eventually, they arrived at the location where they would start searching for the trace of those adventurers. "Cole, let''s switch ces, can you carry the backpack now?" Del asked. "Sure," Cole grabbed the backpack from Del''s back and he carried it. "And Cole, you can get your cor off, I know for a long time that the cor doesn''t work anymore besides, it''s not like the group that we will be searching," Del said. Cole took off his cor and put it inside of his own pocket, "You have some good eyes, you know? Most humans often don''t notice that." "I''m not most human, am I?" Del asked. "Yeah, you''re rather¡­ different," Colemented. Cassandra interrupted, "Are you boys are going to chat all day long? Or are you both wanting to get the money to rescue the people?" "Alright, alright, let''s start tracking them down," Del said. "Yup, they''re going that way," Cassandra said without any hesitation. Cole gave Cassandra the confused look of a newbie, "How the hell did you manage to know that?" Unlike Cole, Del started his observation. A stepped-down grass wouldn''t heal that soon and the tendency of adventurers to bring heavy luggage would certainly broke the structure of the grass. The grass at the direction that Cassandra was pointed was indeed unnatural. "Ah, I see," Delmented. "What did you see?" Cole became more confused. "This ce is filled with unnatural signs, the grass is stepped, you can also find that there are footsteps on this exact road although it''s barely visible," Cassandramented. "Ah, as expected of a member of MVSI," Cole praised her. Cassandraughed, "You know, Del might be a good candidate for MVSI, but I think he has to enroll in my university first." "I see," Del nodded. They started traversing on the grasnd. The air was quite cold, possibly because of the cold air blowing from the top of the mountain. Before the foot of Aldea mountain was a forest, that forest was the border between the snowy foot of Aldea mountain and the grasnd between Midham and Begard. Cassandra led the way with Del in the middle and Cole in the back. Wolfie walked alongside Del. Somehow, Del noticed that there wasn''t any creature that tried to attack him or any hostile animal that Del was supposed to find in that forest. "Hmm, odd, there is simply no animal around here, what''s going on? Is it because of your dog?" Cassandra asked herself. "I have no clue, but I think we''re on the right track," Del said. This forest was also well-known to be a hideout for people being hunted by bounty hunters or a hideout for a well-known criminal. Still, it was rare for adventurers to encounter them unless the adventurers were actively looking for them. Forest was also a dangerous ce since the tall trees on that forest could fall at any moment and there was a real possibility that someone might nt a trap on the forest. Basically, it was a dangerous territory. "Hmm, why rescue operation is dangerous?" Del asked. "Well, a guild usually sent a rescue squad to rescue an adventurer if the adventurer doesn''t return at around two days from the expected quest time. This type of quest is also a high-risk high-reward quest because the payment is only paid if the adventurer is returned alive," Cassandra said. "But still, it''s only a rescue operation, it''s not like the chance of getting killed is marginallyrger than bounty hunting," Del said. "You really underestimate the job, don''t you know that? As far as we are concerned, this can be a real rescue operation or an ambush set up by bandits. It''s very rare for someone to take this kind of quest. Remember that the guild sent it under an assumption that an adventurer missing, not a fact that an adventurer is indeed missing, " Cassandra exined. "Ah, I see," Del understood. "Still, if we found them, the guild will give us some good cash. Still, as far as I know, this isn''t exactly a ce where a newbie adventurer would venture in and experienced adventurers are often experienced enough to know the threat of this region," Cassandra exined. "What do you mean?" Del wondered. "I have the feeling that this group is ambushed by something in the foot of Aldea mountain. We better be careful," Cassandra said. "Don''t worry, I''m noting here unprepared," Delmented. "Good, I really have huge expectations for you, Del," Cassandra said. "Thanks, ma''am," Del assumed that Cassandra was old. "Ma''am? Damn, how old do you think I am? I''m not even hitting 100-year-old marks yet," Cassandramented. Del just replied with augh. Chapter 47 - Aldea Snowy Mountain The second day of the search operation, the rescue team had reached the taiga part of the forest. Snow had appeared here and there and all of them had worn a thicker uniform. Cassandra was cooking breakfast while Del was on guard. "Damn, even Ilbistirum winter isn''t this cold," Colemented. "What do you mean? This is quite normal, isn''t it?" Del asked as he ate the soup. "No, it isn''t normal, this is like one of the colder winter days in Ilbistirum," Colemented. "C''mon, Cole, don''t be like that, you love to y snowball when you''re little, weren''t you?" Cassandra giggled. "Cassandra, it''s like seven years ago," Cole protested. "What changes you then?" Cassandra asked. "Someone throws a rock covered in snow at my bloody head," Cole said. Del teased him more, "C''mon, at least your own sister doesn''t drop a meat cleaver at your foot.: Cole just sighed, "Seriously, what kind of sister do you have?" "A clumsy, but loving one," Del said. Cole smiled, "I don''t know what kind of thing that you perceive as love, do you enjoy pain?" "Heck no, she has her own perks, maybe you''ll understand when you met her," Delmented. Cole just smiled, not understanding what his friend meant. Del shrugged because Cole didn''t know. Maybe he would tell him about the perk of having Anna on his side. For example, he didn''t have to cook or do any dishes. Most of the household works on his home after his parents had died was given to Anna. Del only helped by maintaining the garden in front of his house. Del, Cole, Wolfie, and Cassandra set up a camp in an opening in that snowy forest. Del was staying all night long while holding his own M240. So far, there wasn''t any hostile creature so far. Still, Wolfie yed a huge part in it since a mystical wolf alone was more than enough to keep the lesser creature away. Del sighed, "I wonder, how does the dragon look like?" "Are you trying to jinx us?" Cole asked. "No, I don''t mean that, I''m simplymenting on the situation," Del said. "I see," Cole said. After breakfast, they packed their camping equipment and continued their journey through the taiga. They would set a permanent camp at the foot of Aldea mountain. They would search for the missing adventurers on the team of two. Del decided he would search together with Wolfie while Cassandra would search together with Cole by turn. Del and Cassandra agreed since pairing Cole and Wolfie together were asking for trouble. They didn''t want Cole to be another missing adventurer. "This forest gives me anxiety, I won''t lie," Del looked at the trees, ice spikes were forming on the leaves of the tree. Del feared one of them fell right on top of his head. Even though he wore a helmet, some spikes were as big as his own machine gun. Cole noticed the behavior, "Why are you keep looking at the trees?" "It''s a potential danger," Delmented. "I see," Cole added. Del wondered why Cole didn''t even look at those ice spikes, although he didn''t wear any protective gear, "How can you be that calm although you don''t even wear any protective gear?" "Easy, I just chant [Material Field] spell on my body," Cole said. Del just nodded, "I see. I should do the same then. [Defensive Spell: Material Field]." An energy shield covered Del''s body. It was hardly visible, but there was indeed a thinyer of the green field covering his entire body. "Neat." They continued walking, and the air was getting colder and colder. Wolfie told him that the cold weather around Aldea mountain was because of the influence of the ice dragon. Del only could imagine what kind of temperature that he had to face if he somehow encountered the ice dragon. After some time, they arrived at the foot of Aldea mountain. They set up a camp there. It should provide them with a strategic position to search for the missing adventurers. The permanent camp for that search should be sufficient as a meeting point. "Alright, this spot should be good enough for tonight," Cassandramented. "I think I agree with that," Del added. "Why are you guys agreeing on something while I don''t understand a single goddamn thing," Colemented on hisck of participation. There wasn''t any discussion either, so it was expected for him to protest like that. "Area is t enough, which is good for a camping ground. I also think that the weather is still friendly enough for us to stay without fearing for storms. No cliff is nearby, so we don''t have to fear for an avnche," Del exined. Cassandra raised her thumb, "Outstanding, I know I can rely on you, Del." Del just smiled, he liked thepliment, "Thanks, Cassandra." They set up the camp on that spot. Del set up the tent while Cassandra and Cole were searching for firewood. Wolfie would guard the encampment while Del set up the camp. It was basically teamwork. While assembling the camp, Del still carried his M240 on his back so he could respond to any danger quickly enough. After getting the firewoods, Cassandra and Cole set up a campfire for that night. They wouldn''t start searching for the missing adventurers until tomorrow because it would be very exhausting to build a camp and search for the adventurers in the afternoon. As much as Del and his group wanted to find the adventurers, they prioritized their health and their safety first. Searching for the adventurers first would most likelypromising their safety so it was unfeasible. "Cassandra, do you mind helping me with this darn rope?" Del tried to tie a rope into the tent, but the rope was too short. Cassandra brought a rope from her backpack, "Here you go." Del grabbed the rope and tied it down to the rope that was too short , "Alright. Thanks." After they finished setting up the camp. They gathered around the campfire, and Cassandra brought arge map from his backpack. The map was the map for Aldea mountain and its surrounding area. Cassandra pointed to a position on the map, "This is our location." Then she pointed to another location on the map and marked it with an "X". "We will search for them from this point. This is one of the most well-known parts of Aldea mountain. This spot is the Suedor Valley. " Del thought for a second, "What''s so special about this ce?" "This ce is less cold than the other part of the mountain. If they want to shelter, there was also a well-known cave in that valley. So, that''s the best ce to look for them if they were there," Cassandra said. "This is not the first time you do this, right?" Del asked. "Correct." "Well, I think you can lead the operation, Cassandra." "Sure, I have no problem with that." Cole added his opinion on the mix, "Since only Cassandra has the experience of rescuing, I think the n of separating us is unwise, don''t you think?" "Yeah, but I also think that it''s better for us to divide our group in two so someone could monitor the camp. Although Cole had some sort of military training, I really doubt that he is more capable than you, Del." "Thanks for thepliment," Del smiled. Chapter 48 - Searching For Clues The next day, Cole and Wolfie were waiting on the camping site while Del and Cassandra headed for Suedor Valley. To get to the valley from their location, they had to traverse across a snowfield that was as cold as it could get. "The higher we go, the colder it gets, doesn''t it?" Delmented as one of his feet dug through a thickyer of snow. "Well, this is a snowy mountain for you. Anyway, the valley shouldn''t even be that far. Watch out for ice slimes or any snow creatures, though. If you see a dragon, just duck," Cassandra said. Del kept his M240 in his hands. Although he had to admit that both of them were quite standing out in that snowy field. Cassandra wasn''t exactly wearing something white and Del was wearing something green. The only camouge was the snow that covered their body from the snowfall. Anyway, it looked like that they would arrive at the valley soon since the road started heading descending towards the valley. Suedor valley was rather beautiful if Del ignored how cold the weather was. Many spikes of ice were shaped like a tree in that valley. There were also multiple caves in that valley. If Del observed the valley more, gtinous creatures were roaming in that valley. The gtinous creatures were none other than those ice slimes. Those ice slimes were none other than those ice slimes that spit projectiles. Not stopping there, a pack of wolves was roaming in the area as well, perhaps looking for foods to eat. Wolves could still rip off his clothing and injure him. Dealing with them from a distance was more beneficial. Delid down on the ground and aimed his M240 in the general direction of the wolfes. Del disengaged the safety switch of his machine gun and he pulled the trigger of his machine gun. 7.62 rounds started flying in the valley''s direction. Cassandra only reacted by closing her ears with both of her hands. Del kept spraying his machine gun until the wolves stopped moving. Del stopped firing his machine gun. The end of the barrel was giving off a white smoke from the melting snow that previously stuck at the barrel of his machine gun. Del stood up from the ground with his machine gun in his hands, "Well, that was some nice shootings." He smiled when looked at Cassandra that couldn''t believe at what she had just seen. Cassandra put her hands down from her ears, "What the hell was that? Don''t tell me that thing is firing the same thing that almost killed me." "Well, this is like the weaker version of what I was firing at you," Del referred to the less strong 7.62 NATO to the 7.92 Mauser that Del shot Cassandra with. "Weaker? Del, those wolves are minced meat," Cassandra pointed her finger at the wolves whose blood was scattered in the thinyer of snow across the valley. Del just shrugged, "Let''s just say, that thing is coteral damage. I only want to kill them before they kill us." "Smart thinking." They continued heading down towards the valley. Del wished he could bring Wolfie to that valley to make the search effort faster, but he doubted Cole could keep the camp safe by himself. After all, four eyes were better than one. In that Valley, Cassandra asked him to look for traces of human presence. They would look for blood, torn clothing, or, at worse, dead bodies. Thest item was not the item that he desired, but it would definitely be helpful. After finding that item, they would search the cave located the closest to that item. If they still didn''t find the missing adventurers, they would go back to the camp and let Wolfie help the search. With his ability to scent something from miles away, finding the missing adventurers shouldn''t be that hard if Wolfie were around. Del continued walking while opening his eyes widely. He wanted to finish the quest as quickly as possible and returned to his home. It only has been three days, but Del had missed sleeping on the warm couch of his. Anyway, there was no sign of life but those slimes. Del didn''t notice that there was a sign of someone staying in that valley, either. Cassandra walked toward an ice slime, "Hmm, ice slime, [Precise Strike Mode: Icicle Dart]." An icicle appeared in front of her and it flew like a dart, piercing the core of the slime and killing it. Del didn''tment, but he knew that the ice dart that Cassandra just fired was as big as a ruler. With the speed at which the icicle dart wasunched, the dart could easily kill him if he didn''t wear any armor. Eventually, after hours of searching the valley, Del finally found something. It was a bandage, covered in snow and drenched in blood. One adventurer must have been injured, and the bandage was the firm evidence of it. Del examined the bandage with his eyes, "It looks like this is just a bandage wrapped around an injury instead of being stuffed into an injury. This is probably the result of a scratch wound or aceration." Cassandra also had the same opinion, "So it is not from the ice slimes, huh? Well, this is bad news. Judging from the pack of wolves that you just killed, there might be more of theming to us. Still, this is a wonderful find." "We should head back for the camp then, I doubt they take shelter in this valley," Delmented. "Yeah, I agree with you. Even though there is a cave in this region. I really doubt that they take shelter here. This is literally the only sign of human activities that we can find in this location." Del nodded, and they walked back to the camp. Chapter 49 - Keep Searching "Boy, do you find something?" Del asked Wolfie. "Nope, I find nothing master," Wolfie replied. "Weird¡­" After yesterday''s finding, Cassandra and Del brought Wolfie along to continue their search for the missing adventurer. Wolfie led them to a ce colder than their camping site. However, Wolfie also didn''t know where the adventurers ended up after they arrived at the location. To make matters worse, all that Del could see was snow that was as thick as his feet. Every time he stepped into the snow, his feet sunk into the snow. Trees were also surrounding that entire unnamed area. Maybe the temperature there was in the realm of minus. The location they were in was between the valley and the top of the mountain where the ice dragon lived. Del was quite struggling to reach the position, which was quite confusing considering that one of them was indeed wounded. "You know, it took us an hour to hike to this height, how can they pull this off?" Del asked himself. "Well, if you ask me, maybe this ce had something," Cassandra said. "Something like what? A hiding ce? I''m thinking that they are going to ambush us right here. This is just too absurd. If they really wanted to treat the injured adventurers, why would they go higher instead of returning to the forest," Del said. "Yeah, I also have the same feeling, but we have gone too far to abort this rescue quest. Even though we are probably going to walk over an ambush, I think we should keep searching for them," Cassandramented. "Damn, you health workers are really persistent in rescuing people. It can cost you your own lives, you know?" Del shouted. Cassandra didn''t like the statement, "Why do you have to shout like that? You know, the satisfaction of finding a survivor is immeasurable. I''m not even talking about the payment that is waiting for uster." Del sighed, "I guess I can''t understand neither you nor my mother." "What happened to your mother, if you don''t mind me asking?" Cassandra asked. "She died in a car crash when the ambnce that she was in was speeding on the highway. The road was dangerous that day, my father didn''t want my mother to go, and yet, she went there just to save a life that she eventually couldn''t save," Del said. "Oh, my condolence although I don''t know what you''re talking about," Cassandra said. "That''s ok, it happened a long time ago. It''s just that, I don''t understand why," Del said. Cassandra rubbed his head, "I think you''ll find the answer out if you be a doctor." "How am I supposed to be a doctor in this world in which medicine hasn''t advanced too much? I''m not even eligible to enroll in any educational system in this world. You have quite a good idea, but I don''t think I am eligible to be a doctor," Del said. "You know, Del, if you want to be a doctor, I think you cane to Ilbistirum and perhaps try our examination for university. I don''t think you will do a major blunder, you just have to learn more and more," Cassandra said. Del smiled, but it was a sarcastic one, "Good idea, but you have to remember that I''m not even eligible." "I can make you eligible." "How?" "Juste to Ilbistirum, I can find a way for you to enroll, alright?" Cassandra said. Thinking about it, Cassandra might find two solutions for Del''s current problem. If he went to Ilbistirum, it meant that he didn''t have to worry about being hunted down by the kings and his army. He also had the chance to fulfill his wish to be a doctor as long as he studied hard enough. Still, if there was one problem, his sister wasn''t even with him. She might really think that Del had died. It was not something that Del wanted. He wanted to live together with her as a family until the time came for them to choose their own way. "Thanks for the offer, but right now, I don''t think I can take it. I have another thing that I have to take care of before I can get out of this continent," Del exined. "Personal issue?" "Family." "I see," Cassandra nodded. After the long conversation, they continued searching for clues about where the missing adventurers were. There might be some other things that both Cassandra and Del overlooked. There were many trees, so it might be possible that the trees had the traces of human activity. "Master, is there something troubling you?" Wolfie asked. "Yeah, I need to find these guys before they are dying from hypothermia, or worse," Delmented. "Hypo ¡ª What?" Wolfie said. "Whatever¡­" Del sighed. Wolfie was just a wolf, after all. Looking at the trees, there was something strange. It was hard to notice it at first nce, but some trees had "X" markings. It could be easily mistaken as something natural since the "X" was not that clear and there was more than one tree that had some of its bark broken, but not in a pattern. "Cassandra, look at the trees!" Del said. "What?" She then nodded, "Ah, there are some Xs. Good observation, Del," Cassandra said. Del and Cassandra walked to a tree, and they inspected the X together. The missing adventurers must have made the markings while running away for something. Comparing one X to another revealed that the X''s were inconsistent. Some trees had a clear one, but some trees had Y instead of X. "Strange¡­ I''m not sure about this clue," Del said as he held his chin. Although it was a good sign, it was too scattered and didn''t point them in one particr direction. As a result, it still didn''t tell them the direction. "Why?" "The clue is too scattered and isn''t pointing in one particr direction that we can follow. Still, there are multiple Y in this forest," Del said. "Hmm, if that''s the case, let''s put our tracking skill to the test again, shall we?" Cassandra asked. "Sure. That seems to be usible. Let''s keep an eye on the Y, shall we?" Different from the X''s, the Y seemed to point them in one direction and that direction was pointing to the south direction, which meant they had to go downhill after going uphill like that. Still, it raised another question, why would they even bother making that kind of confusing clues if they really wanted to be rescued? "I think these guys are hunted down by bounty hunters or bandits," Delmented, "All the clues so far suggest that they want to be found, but also not to be found. I think we might face quite a threat here," Del said. "Bounty hunters?" "I think so." "How many of them are we going to face?" "I don''t know," Del said. "Well, I think I can handle some bounty hunters," Cassandra said. "Can you?" Del doubted that. "I''m not really a person to be messed with. Don''t worry, I think I can handle ten or twenty bounty hunters as long as they''re not from the B-rank," Cassandra said. "Good, because I''m only an F-rank," Del said. "An F-rank that can handle a lot of bounty hunters at once, good luck convincing me you''re not hiding your true powers," Cassandra said. "Is there any reason for me to hide my actual power?" Del asked. "No." "Anyway, let''s follow this Y symbol," Del started walking. "Yeah." With caution, they went through the dense snowy forest on top of the mountain. Del held his M240 in his hands instead of putting it on his back. He feared he would be ambushed by the bounty hunters. Del walked slowly while keeping an eye on any suspicious thing. In this kind of situation, he felt that every single leaf on top of the trees had an eye that was looking at him. That kind of paranoia just happened when the threat of being ambushed to death could happen to him at any moment. They kept walking downhill until they arrived at an open spot that looked like a campsite. That campsite was upied, but Del did not know if that camp was hostile. Some people were walking in that campsite. All of them were dressed like adventurers. Del stopped before he reached that camp, "Cassandra, I think I will wait here. I can''t kill them unless they prove themselves to be a threat. Could you ask them if they are the missing adventurers?" Cassandra sighed, "You know, let yourself rx a bit." She walked in the adventurer''s direction camp. Delid down on the ground and aimed his M240 at the direction of the adventurer camp. Del hid among the snow alongside Wolfie. Hopefully, the adventurers were not hostile. However, the moment Cassandra approached the camp, an adventurer threw a spear in her direction followed by a barrage of fireballs that got neutralized by Cassandra''s own material barrier. Del pushed the safety button of his M240, "Ah shit, here we go again." Chapter 50 - Hostile! "Cassandra, get down!!!" Del shouted before he pulled the trigger of his M240. "WHAT???" Cassandra just shouted back. "JUST DO IT!" Cassandraid herself down on the ground. If this were a normal situation, it was like asking herself to get killed. However, there was no normal situation when she was with Del. Everything followed whatever Del had in mind whether it made sense or not. Del pulled the trigger of his machine gun, "Get some!!!" 7.62 rounds were flying in the direction of the adventurer''s camp. Del aimed at everyone''s leg. A bounty hunter cast a spell at Cassandra, but Del shot him in the legs first before he could do so, "WHAT THE HELL???" He fell to the ground afterward with blooding out of his legs. Del continued firing his machine gun. After every trigger pull, one bounty hunter fell into the ground with their legs usually separated from their body. "Shit! [Aldorah Shield]!" A bounty hunter stood up from the ground and Del fired his machine gun urately at the bounty hunter that erected his shield. The shield resisted the 7.62 rounds. Every bullet bounced off from that bounty hunter. Del continued firing his M240 at that bandit. It only made him wonder, "What the hell is this dude made of?" He reacted by using something on his arsenal "[Offensive Spell: Fireball]" The bounty hunter flinched as the heat of the fireball hit him in the face. Del took that window to fire another fireball at the bounty hunter. The bounty hunter flinched again. "CASSANDRA! I NEED A LITTLE HELP HERE!" Del shouted because his machine gun had run out of ammunition. Cassandra stood up from the ground, "[Precise Strike Mode: Piercing Spear]!" Cassandra shouted as she threw an ice spear in the direction of the bounty hunter. The bounty hunter noticed that, and he countered the ice spear with his shield. However, little did he know, it was hisst mistake as Del finished reloading his machine gun. "Get some!!!" Del pulled the trigger of his machine gun and it pumped the body filled with bullets. The shield only protected the bounty hunter from one direction, but not two. The 7.62 rounds easily destroyed the body of that bounty hunter. It only left a gruesome mess in the snow. The rest of the bounty hunters started running for no reason. Maybe they realized that Del just killed the strongest member in that bounty hunter team. Cassandra didn''t let them escape the area, "[Area Strike Mode: cier Downfall]!" The cloud on top of them thickened in seconds. Del didn''t know what the spell would do, but he ran from that area, "Wolfie, run!!!" He picked up the M240 from the ground and he ran away from Cassandra. Suddenly, ice spikes were raining from the sky above. Del''s reaction was right, he needed to be running from that area or ice spikes would kill him. Those Ince spikes were as big as Wolfie. "[Defensive Spell: Material Field]" Del added an energy shield on his body as prevention in case one of the ice spikes fell to him. The bounty hunters that were running were impaled by the ice spikes that came from the sky. Blood was spraying out from their bodies, turning the snow into red shaved ice. Pieces of bodies were scattered in that area. "Damn, it looks as if a wolf just came by and munched them all," Wolfiemented. "Cassandra is scary..." Del mumbled. He knew that in no way a protective gear could deflect that kind of thing. Del walked to the adventurer''s camp. There might be a survivor that he could interrogate, but well, in the mess that both of them just made, it was quite hard to determine if there was a survivor. There was one way that could describe what happened. The snownd around the camp looked like shaved ice with red syrup and the body pieces were the toppings of the shaved ice. It was rather grotesque. The only normality in that camp was the tent and the campfire that all had been stained with blood. Other than that, it was all gory. "Damn, I don''t think we leave any survivor," Delmented on the situation. "Are you sure?" Cassandra walked to him. "I''m very sure about it, look around us, it''s only dead bodies around us," Delmented, but he suddenly heard a groan from afar, "Well, if you can pull a miracle, I think we have a survivor." "Yeah, I heard the groan as well, let''s ask him then kill him," she said after she cleaned her clothes. Del would doubt that Cassandra was a doctor the moment he said that, nevertheless, it was another world, maybe that kind of standard where a doctor was the jewel of humanity didn''t really apply in this kind of situation, "Sounds¡­ alright. Let''s go." Del approached the dying man. It was the same man that Del shot in the feet until his legs got separated from his body. He was barely alive, but well, he was still conscious. Maybe Cassandra could pull her own magic to make sure that he could answer their question. Cassandra grabbed the dying man by the head, "Hey, where''s your target?" "Go to hell!" he replied. "I need to find your target, where are they?" Cassandra asked. "Fuck you!" "Jeez, mate, if you want to make yourst minute a little useful, you better told me." "I ain''t going to tell ya." Del shot the man in the head with his pistol. "Forget it, he won''t even talk. There should be something in his tent. I know that bounty hunters are usually provided with the description of their target." Cassandra just nodded. Both of them walked to the camp of the bounty hunters. There were two tents at that camp site. Del could check one and Cassandra could check the other, "I''ll check the one on the right, you can check the one on the left." "Sure," Cassandra replied before she entered one of the tents. Del opened the p of one of the tents. He immediately felt the warmness from the small furnace in that tent. There were three sleeping bags in that tent. A stack of paper was ced right beside one of the sleeping bags. Del approached that stack of paper, "Damn, they must have looked for information about this target for a very long time. Who the hell is the person whom they are looking for, anyway?" Del searched through the stack of paper. At first, he found the documents were about some kind of royal family and their background. The royal family was none other than the D Rose family. Del gulped as he read the documents, paper by paper. "Even they have the schedule when she''s taking a bath???" Del shuddered. Del just found out how many efforts these bounty hunters were putting just to track the woman down. Del hadn''t found out who the woman was, but he really had the feeling that this was the same woman the underpaid him for his protection. He was sure that this was the same woman that was hunted by more than twenty bounty hunters at once and still lived to tell the tale. He was sure that this was the same woman that gave Del a house. Del opened another paper, there was a hand-drawn picture of a woman, a very familiar woman. The woman was none other than Lize Reed. Del wasn''t surprised one bit. Still, even after killing Firma, why bounty hunters were hunting her down? Someone opened the p of the tent, Del aimed his pistol at the entrance but he lowered it immediately, it was Cassandra, "Do you find anything? The other tent is only filled with food." "Not yet, but the target is the same person whom I escorted some times ago," Del gave Cassandra the paper with the picture of Lize. "Ah, who is this woman?" "This woman is Lize Reed. She''s the illegitimate daughter of Count D Rose. As a result, most of her siblings want her to be dead," Del said. "I¡­ don''t know." "That''s fine, I don''t know why either. Anyway, let''s search these documents." Del continued searching the documents. It turned out that Lize was indeed hiding in Aldea mountain after the recent fiasco with Firma D Rose. Well, Del was the one who killed her anyway, it looked like her own siblings wanted revenge. Del finally found something useful, it was a map with arge red circle on it. It seemed to mark a general area located right near where Cole was staying. "Wait, a general area where Cole is staying???" Del shuddered. He immediately ran with the map in his hand. Casandra was confused at first, but she followed Del from behind. Wolfie also ran with Del. Cassandra didn''t have any idea why would Del suddenly run since she didn''t read the map, "Why the hell are we running?" "Cole''s in trouble!!!" Chapter 51 - More Hostile!!! Del kept running and running while worrying about Cole''s fate. He knew that he was somewhat capable, but Del was really unsure whether Cole was able to face many bounty hunters at once without his help. Maybe his Uzi would definitely help, but it wasn''t exactly something that was as strong as Del''s M240. Cassandra followed Del from behind while running although she absolutely had no clue why Cole would be in danger, partly because she didn''t have the chance to look at the reason why Del was even running without any reason. Nevertheless, since Del was the team leader, following him was a good decision. "Oy, why is Cole in trouble?" Cassandra asked while running. "I found a map with a circle. The circle showed a general area of whatever the fuck they are looking for and the circle is located near Cole!" Del shouted back as he slided down from the mountain using the slippery surface of the snow while holding his M240 with his hands. Del kept running and running. As he got closer to his camp, he heard gunfire from the distance. There was no way that the person that was shooting it was not Cole. His hunch was correct, Cole got mistaken as Lize''s camp and the bounty hunters were hunting him down. Still, there might be another reason on why there was a fight between the bounty hunters and Cole. Spotting a demon roaming around was something that was considered to be dangerous. Their goal might be killing Cole instead of killing Lize. After a lot of sweat and a lot of running, they finally arrived at the camp. Gunfight had issued indeed. Cole was moving from one ce to another while holding his Uzi firmly with one hand and his grimoire on another. Bunch of fireballs were flying to the direction of the bounty hunters. He was currently hiding behind a rock while firing his Uzi from cover. "BRO, I''M HERE!!!" Del shouted from afar. Delid down on the ground and the next thing that he did was to pull the trigger of his M240. He shot at the bounty hunter that came running after Cole with a sword on his hand. 7.62 bullet immediately stopped him from moving ever again. "Cassandra, hold them off! I will get to Cole," Del said as he prepared his stance to start running towards Cole''s position. "Aye, [Precise Strike Mode: Icicle Barrage]!" Bunch of icicles started forming in front of Cassandra and the ice spikes flew towards the direction of the bounty hunters that wereing from the mountain. Del dashed to Cole while providing supressing fire using his M240 to make sure that he didn''t get shot by a random magical spell that was aimed towards his direction. He slided down towards Cole''s hiding spot. Cole was sweaty and blood wasing out of his hand. A sword might have shed him before Del arrived at the spot. "Damn, where the hell have you two been? These guys just attacked from nowhere." "Sorry, I was a little bit busy," Del put his machine gun on top of the rock and started engaging the enemy. "Like the hell I''d care, anyway, kill these dudes!" Cole shouted. "Aye aye." Del looked at the bounty hunters that wereing after Cole. Del''s reaction after seeing them was surprised on how many of them were there. It was more than what he had previously expected. It was probably more than twenty people, maybe fourty of them. All of them were armed with various kind of weaponry. Some of them were holding a spear, some were holding a staff, some were holding a sword, and the rest were holding a bow. Some of the swordmen were also wearing Mithril armor. They were slowly creeping up toward Del and Cole. "Engaging high priority threats!" Del shot his machine gun at anyone that held a staff on their hands. Mages could easily kill him thanks to their variation in attack patterns. Still, even after firing his machine gun, the barrage of spells seemed to never stop. He needed a distraction. "Wolfie, is there anything that you can do?" Del asked Wolfie. "I think I can run to their direction and kill one of them, but you have to keep an eye out on the big guy," Wolfie answered. "Alright, sure, who''s the big guy? The big guy that is wearing thick clothing?" Del asked. Wolfie barked. "Sure boy, get em!" Del pulled the trigger of his M240 and sprayed all of the swordmen that were wearing mithril armor. Bullets were flying at the direction of those bounty hunters, prating their armor and killing all of armored opponents except for one. He used the exact same technique as the person that Del previously encountered in the bounty hunters encampment. "SHIELD? AGAIN???" Del shouted. This time, the person was also wearing a Mithril armor. The energy shield also seemed to be surrounding him from all sides without any opening. There might be a way to bust that shield open, but Del didn''t know how. "Cole, is there any way to bust open an energy shield?" Del asked. "Well, we can hit it with everything that we have and it might work out well," Cole said. "Saturation attack?" "I think so." "HAHA! WHY DON''T YOU TRY HARDER TO KILL ME?" That bounty hunter asked. Del responded with another barrage of 7.62 rounds to his shield. The bullet just bounced off from that energy shield. They needed a solution, and they needed it fast. "Cole, do you remember thatrge fireball that you created sometimes ago?" "Yeah, why do you ask?" Cole asked. Del''s n was simple. Cole needed to prepare his fireball as Del distracted the bounty hunter from approaching Cole. Hopefully, the big fireball would be enough to distract the bounty hunter and disable his thick shield. "Look, I want you to prepare the big giant fireball to that dude," Del pointed his hand at the person, "I will distract him." "Sure." "Alright, let''s make this n works, shall we?" Del reloaded his gun as he prepared his M240 to kill the approaching bounty hunter. Chapter 52 - C4 Saves The Day Del ran towards Cassandra while holding the trigger of his M240. Sparks were flying from the direction of that bounty hunter that shielded himself from bullets. The shield also looked thinner than the first time he chanted it. Maybe the constant stream of bullets weakened the shield, but well, who knew? Cassandra was throwing ice spears one by one at the bounty hunters while protecting herself using a material field. "Del, it looks like you have weakened his shield, impressive." "How can you be so calm in this kind of situation?" Del asked as he kept his head down byying down. "Because I''m confident that I will not die, trust me, in the demonic continent, you can face a threat far worse than this," Cassandra replied. "Whatever, just help Cole in distracting that dude," Del said. "Alrighty." Del kept shooting his machine gun at the armored person while making sure that at least one bullet managed to kill whoever was behind that armored person, whether it was a mage or a bowman, Del just wanted to kill and be done with it. "BE QUICKER ABOUT IT, COLE!" Del shouted as he reloaded his M240 again. "I''m on it, I''m on it, rx," Cole was holding his hand together for casting the spell. "HAHAHAHA! IS THAT ALL YOU CAN DO?" The armored person taunted. "Shut up! [Precise Strike Mode: Icicle Spear]!" A giant ice spear as big as Del''s entire body formed right beside Cassandra. The ice spear then flew toward the armored person. Even thatrge ice spear stopped when it hit the damn shield. However, Del noticed something. The ice spear that Cassandra threw didn''t exactly weaken the shield as much as Del''s bullet. Del concluded something. Even though his bullet wasn''t exactly as big as that ice spear, it contained much more kic energy than the ice spear that Cassandra threw. Not stopping there, he also noticed that the little piece of ice prated his barrier. It was likeparing a bullet to a knife. Sure, a knife would be able to puncture a ker vest, but a bullet had much more kic energy than the knife. It gave Del another idea. Even though a bullet had much more prating power, he knew something that had much more power. Del also had the theory that the shield wouldn''t stop the low-energy projectile. The little piece of ice was the evidence of it. Maybe the shield could only block things that would kill the armored person. He had formed a perfect n. "Oy, Pidma, buy me a C4 explosive. There should be enough gold coin for one kilogram of it." [You are not even allowed to throw a grenade, why should I even trust you to handle stic explosives?] "Disable all safety protocol, this is not the time to ask that question." ???????????? [Showing Avable C4 Kit] [Tech Level: 4] [Total Bnce: 1000$] [C4] [40$] [1 kg] [Remote sting Cap] [20$] [C-4 Singr Remote Detonator] [200$] ???????????? "JUST GIVE TWO KILOS OF IT!" Del shouted. [Dispensing 2kg of [C4],[Remote sting Cap] and [C-4 Singr Remote Detonator].] All of those three items appeared in Del''s pocket except for the two kilograms of C-4 charge that appeared in hisrge magazine pocket. Del ran towards one of the big rocks on thatbat scene and he quickly pulled everything out of his pocket. "Now tell me how to use the bloody darn thing!" [First, you put the sting cap into the C-4. After that, you can do everything you want with the C-4. Just don''t forget to throw it away as far as you can before you press the detonator, alright?] "Ok, sure, sure." Del peeked from behind the rock. Thanks to theck of Del''s suppressing fire, the armored person came closer and closer to Cole. It was not good, Cassandra couldn''t hold him for a very long time either. It looked like she had underestimated her opponent too much. Del opened the packaging of the C-4 andbined it together. He then put the sting cap inside of that thing. He put it firmly and he peeked from behind the rock. Del threw his C-4 toward the armored person. The brick flew far enough andnded right next to the feet of the armored person. The armored person unted, "DO YOU REALLY THINK THROWING A BRICK WILL STOP ME?" Del smirked, he hid right behind the rock and press the detonator of his C-4. BOOM! The loud explosion sent out arge st that could be felt from afar. Cassandra flinched from the explosion. Cole suddenly aborted his chanting as the st interrupted it. Del''s ears were ringing from the loud sound of the explosion. Del peeked out from behind the rock. The person was gone; it was simply gone, there was no trace of it. The only thing that resembled his form was the blood on the top of the snow. His body might have scattered in multiple different directions. Cassandra shouted at him, but Del couldn''t hear it clearly. "WHAT???" Cassandra pointed her hand at the bounty hunters. Those bounty hunters suddenly ran away. They were running away in fear in multiple directions, whether it was back to the top of Aldea Mountain or to the taiga. "AH, I SEE," Del shouted back. "WHAT???" Cassandra shouted back. Yup, the C-4 definitely caused a temporary hearing loss in him and the others. There was no cliff around the camping site, so that kind of explosion wouldn''t cause any major avnche. Still, the hearing loss that Del got was quite fatal. His ears kept ringing, and he could not perceive any sound. Del sat down right behind the rock while checking his body for any injury. When he sat down, it took him a while to realize that blood wasing out of his feet. It wasn''t serious though; it was only an arrow that got stuck to his leg. He might not feel it because of the adrenaline that he got when he fought the armored opponent that was seemed to be unbeatable at first, but Del found his weakness somehow. Del rolled up his pants to look at how severe the wound was. Ah yes, the arrow prated through his foot and came out of the other side. Blood was rushing out, but it was not lethal. If Del wanted to scream, he could, but it was not like Cassandra would hear it. In fact, she already looked at the arrow that impaled Del''s thigh. She immediately ran in Del''s direction. She asked something, but Del only heard it faintly, "Does this hurt?" "Yeah." "Alright, do you bring the gauzes?" Cassandra asked. Del nodded. Cassandra pulled something out of her pocket, it was a plier. Cassandra cut both ends of the arrow and she put the plier back into her pocket. She then grabbed a gauze from Del''s pocket and then she pulled the arrow with no hesitation. "ARGH!" Del screamed in pain as the arrow was pulled out of his leg. "Sorry, but it is a necessity," Cassandra started wrapping the wound with the gauze, and she opened her grimoire. "[Medical Protocol: Small Prating Wound]." Then something happened with his legs. It felt as if Cassandra was burning his wound with fire, but it died up soon enough. Eventually, the bleeding stopped, and the pain disappeared. However, Cassandra told Del not to open the gauze yet. Del just nodded. Cole eventually walked up to Del''s direction, "Dude, I didn''t remember that I taught you something about explosion magic. Nevertheless, good job." Cole raised his thumb. "You''re a quick analyzer. Good work." "Thanks," Del said. "You save my arse, I''m not going to lie. What kind of thing that you use, anyway?" Cole wondered. "C-4,position 4, I''ll exinter. I think our target is not really that far away from us. I have her location on the map," Del said. "Woah, woah, woah, hold up. Her? Do you really know her gender or is it just a basic assumption that the person that we usually rescue is a woman?" Cole asked. "No, I retrieved the information from the camp of the bounty hunters," Del said. "You asked them???" Cole became more surprised. "Heck no, Cassandra and I killed them all, and I happened to find a map with our target general area," Del said. "Ah, I see." Cole nodded, "Do you want to go to their location right now, or do you want to wait until tomorrow?" On one side, Del really wanted to rescue Lize first. However, considering their condition that wasn''t fit for anybat, Del decided it was better for them to stay in the camp for one night before disembarking for a journey towards Lize''s hiding spot. "Let''s go to their location tomorrow. I think we are not even prepared enough for anything that we will face tomorrow." "I agree with that. Your leg will not heal up instantly and I also need some rest. Running from the top of the mountain and to the feet of the mountain back and forth is quite exhausting," Cassandramented. "Alright, let''s have a rest then." Chapter 53 - Preparation For Tomorrow SAR Operation ???????????? [Showing Avable C4 Kit] [Tech Level: 4] [Total Bnce: 8700$] [C4] [40$] [1 kg] [Remote sting Cap] [20$] [C-4 Singr Remote Detonator] [200$] ???????????? "I think four kilograms of C4 should suffice." [Dispensing Item. Remaining Bnce: 8540$] On the cold night, Del was browsing through Pidma''s menu for tomorrow''s preparation. He wanted some explosives in case there were more armored enemies waiting for him when he went to the area where Lize could be waiting for him. Cole was sleeping soundly with the snore that was onlyparable to a loudspeaker. [That was close, wasn''t it?] "Well, it was close, but not too close," Delmented. [You really should prepare more. In this world, anything seems to be possible, don''t you think? Even 7.62 rounds don''t always work as intended. At this point, I really suggest you to buy something heavy] "The thing is, my machine gun is quite heavy," Del said. [Why don''t you ask Cassandra to carry the heavy stuff for you, you know, it''s a good idea to invest in a Barrett M82A1.] "No, I don''t want that vampire to carry something as powerful as Barrett M82A1, even I won''t let her touch the G3." [I see, but Del, you need to learn to trust her more. Right now, the more guns that you have, the better it will be. The first rule of a gunfight is you have to bring a gun, preferably bring at least two guns and also bring all of your friends who have guns. The only friend that has guns right now is only Cole, you need more.] "Hell no, Cassandra is strong enough without a gun, do you really want to turn her into a real threat?" Del asked. [Real threat? Hasn''t she always been a real threat?] Suddenly someone opened Del''s tent. Cassandra showed up. Del forgot that Cassandra was guarding the camping site for tonight. He might overhear the conversation with Pidma, "A real threat, huh? I will take that as apliment." Del was surprised, "Wait, you listened?" "Oh, I listened, I thought you were talking with Cole, but I figure that Cole won''t even understand what you are talking about. Still, who are you really talking with?" Cassandra asked. "Emm, someone?" Del made an excuse. "Really? Wolfie is not even inside of this tent, he is sleeping outside," Cassandra said. "Emm, well, I was talking with my spirit," Del said. "Spirit, huh? I understand. It''s quite rare to see someone have a spirit. Do you really want to tell me about it?" Cassandra said. "No thanks, it''s quite a private thing. Could you leave me with my spirit? I was having a conversation with it before you suddenly appeared." "Sure, after you give me an exnation why you see me as a very real threat," Cassandra crossed his hands, demanding an exnation about why Del called him a real threat. Del sighed, "Well, since you have eavesdropped on me, I''ll tell you why. First, like it or not, you''re the first person in this world that sessfully almost killed me. Second, you''re the same person that resisted my magical tool. Andstly, we haven''t known each other for a very long time." "I understand your skepticism. However, you should remember that I''m a doctor, and protecting Cole is still my job. Like it or not, if you were really his ver, I really will kill you because Cole is still my junior that I have to protect," Cassandra exined. "Fair enough, it''s not like I have any grudge with you, but I still have to be careful around you, I hope you understand," Del said. "I understand," Cassandra nodded and she eventually got out of the tent. Del returned in interacting with Pidma to decide what equipment that would fit him best when he headed for Lize''s location tomorrow. There might be an unknown threat that they would need to face tomorrow. Besides, preparing wouldn''t hurt anyone. [Is she gone?] "More or less," Del said. [More or less? You are not so sure about it?] "Yeah, you can put it like that, I''m not really sure whether Cassandra is eavesdropping on us or not." [It seems that she won''t kill you even if she knows my existence. Anyway, back to the main topic, we can say for sure that there might be another armored threat on our way to Lize''s ce] "I agree with that, still, I am looking for a solution that won''t require me to spend too much money. For now, Pidma, I think C4 is the best solution so far. Still, I don''t think the budget will be our limiting factor since I haven''t looted the body around this campsite." [What do you want to buy, Del?] "I want to buy the recement for my spent ammunition for now, as you might know, I have spent three box of 200 rounds belt now. I also want to buy a better round, I think the round that I''m using now is reallycking in its ability to bust a shield open," Delmented. [Alright. Disying Avable 7.62 Rounds] ???????????? [Showing Avable 7.62x51 Ammunition] [Ammunition Level: 1] [Tech Level: 4] [Total Bnce: 8540$] [7.62x51 FMJ] [10x] [25$] [7.62x51 HP] [10x] [50$] [7.62x51 AP] [10x] [80$] [7.62x51 API] [10x] [100$] [7.62x51 APS] [10x] [120$] [7.62x51 HE] [10x] [150$] [7.62x51 HEAP] [10x] [200$] [7.62x51 IHEAP] [10x] [300$] [7.62x51 AM-AP] [10x] [350$] [7.62x51 AM-HEAP] [10x] [400$] [7.62x51 AM-IHEAP] [10x] [420$] [7.62x51 AM-APDS] [10x] [450$] [7.62x51 IAM-TAPFSDS] [10x] [1000$] ???????????? "I don''t want to take any chance, I want to buy an APS ammunition, 600 rounds of it." [Alrighty. Dispensing Item. Remaining Bnce: 1340$] The ammunition appeared in boxes and the boxes could be attached to Del''s gun. All of the rounds were sabot rounds. It should be enough to prate the shield or any armor that Del''s enemies might be wearing. [You should take off the muzzle break in your M240. It''s notpatible with sabot rounds.] "Sure," Del grabbed the machine gun right next to his sleeping bag and released the muzzle break from his machine gun. [Anyway, this round is capable of prating heavy armor on Earth. This should suffice to prate the shield that you faced before.] "Ah, I see, good to hear that," Del said. [My pleasure.] Del put his machine gun near his sleeping bag and he went to sleep again although Cole was snoring pretty loudly.. Tomorrow would be a long day and Del needed to prepare himself fully for tomorrow rescue operation. Chapter 54 - Lab??? Del and Cole walked to the area where Lize could be seen ording to the map that the bounty hunter "provided" for them. It was located in a valley close to the campsite. They didn''t have to walk for too long until they arrived at the edge of the circled area on the map. "Well, here we are," Del said. The valley was different from the previous valley that he visited with Cassandra. This valley was much greener with bushes growing left and right although they were covered in snow. Trees were also there, most of the trees were pines. "It''s not as cold as the campsite, that''s for sure," Colemented. It was indeed warmer. It might the whole reason why Lize chose that location to take shelter. It was simply warmer. Still, why would Lize go to this kind of location? She was certainly not the adventurous kind, much less someone who would go to the home of the ice dragon. "Yeah, I agree, anyway, let''s start searching for Lize. She should be somewhere around here, but I don''t see any sign of any campsite so far," Del said. "Yeah, I don''t see it either, could it be that she is hiding inside one of the caves inside of this valley?" Cole asked. "I can''t say for sure, but it is certainly a possibility," Del said. "Is there even any cave in here?" Cole asked. "I don''t know man, I never go here before," Del said. "Anyway, let''s keep searching," Cole said. Looking left and right, Del could find several caves scattered on that valley. The caves should be the most probable spot where Lize could be hiding. Maybe checking the caves wasn''t a bad idea after all. Del wondered whether he should check the caves or not. Caves had their own special monsters, in particr, giant spiders. Still, Lize could be hiding there. Del wasn''t exactly bringing any shlight with him. Cave was dark and Del might need to buy one unless Cole had antern spell. Not because he couldn''t buy one from Pidma, but if he got separated from Cole, Cole wouldn''t have any light source. Del asked, "Cole, do you have anyntern spell?" "Yeah, why do you ask?" Cole then looked at the caves and looked back at Del, "Oh no, don''t tell me you''re going to enter the caverns." "Yeah, why do you even ask? It should be obvious, right?" Del felt confused. "I don''t like spiders, damn it," Cole said. "If there''s an option between spiders and money, what would you choose?" Del asked. "I choose money of course," Cole thought that Del asked whether he wanted to get money or to get a spider. Of course, in response, Cole chose money although he wasn''t sure what Del was asking. "Then help me go to the cave then," Del said. Cole shuddered, "Alright, alright, but you have to lead the way, ok?" "Fine," Del sighed. They entered one of the caves on the wall of that valley. The cave was dark, as expected, however, something sparked positivity in Del''s mind. There was something on the wall of the cave, a burned-out torch, and a piece of ripped clothing. "Hmm, it looks like someone entered this cave before," Del picked up the torch, "Let me talk to my spirit first, ok?" "Sure," Cole nodded. "Pidma, provide me with something useful." [Do you need a shlight and duct tape?] "Yeah, how much it will be? [60$] "Alright, give it all to me," Del said. A shlight and duct tape suddenly appeared on the ground. Del picked those two items up and attached them to his machine gun. The shlight was jury-rigged to his machine gun. It was held firmly with duct tape. Del continued heading deeper into the cave. He turned on his shlight as he led the way with his machine gun aimed down the sight. He wanted to make sure that anything that could kill him could be attacked first. They walked deeper and deeper into the cave. Del didn''t notice any sign of Lize and her group. However, he kept walking deeper into the cave, hoping to find any clue. He eventually found something after walking for a while in that cave. That something was not something that Del expected to find inside of that world. Why? That thing was a metal door, a futuristic one at that, and it was located right next to an RFID reader. There were a lot of dials on that reader and they needed a password to open it. Colemented once he saw that door, "What in the actual fuck is this?" The security door was white and there was no handle for it. It looked like it opened automatically. Still, an automatic door that appeared out of nowhere was quite weird. Still, there was something that made Del want to enter the space behind that door. There was a used bandage besides that something that caught Del''s attention. "Look, there''s a keycard on the ground," Del said as he picked up the keycard from the ground. The keycard was made of stic. It was odd. ss was quitemon in that world, but stic? It was something new. He questioned what was behind that metal door. It could be something that Del didn''t understand. However, the writing on that door really caught his attention. [Security and Defense Lab Of Cryotechnology. Site RADL-24] "Site RADL-24? Do you know what is this?" Del asked, thinking that the exotic door was the technology of the demons. "No, I never saw something like this in my entire life. Thinking about it, I know somece in Ilbistirum that is like this, but it''s quite rare," Cole was also confused. To enter or not to enter, that was the question. For ten white gold coins, would Del and Cole risk it to enter the ce that only could be guessed as some high-tech researchb? At one side, Del was sure that Lize was behind the door, but at another, he knew that there could be some advanced security system inside. "Fuck this, one hundred grand is still one hundred grand," Del put the keycard on top of the RFID reader and the door opened. Weirdly enough, the other side of the door was warmer than the cave entrance. Del stepped into theb. Theb was exactly what he was thinking. The floor was tiled and the wall was painted in gray. Inside of it, the light was shining from the fluorescentmp from above. It really felt like a hallway that would lead to some scienceb from a sci-fi movie. "Damn, what kind of ce have we entered?" Delmented. Cole replied, "The kind of ce that is very sterile and very bloody suspicious." Del switched off the shlight on his machine gun and he started moving forward. The door closed behind him but Del kept moving forward while Cole was still astonished by the appearance of that hallway. The technological level of that hallway itself was rather odd for that world. What kind of advanced civilization built a thing like that? Cole said that the demons were not this advanced, but he said that building like that was avable in his country. Del kept moving through that hallway. He felt that the threat of thisb was not a magical thing, but a technological thing such as guns or evenser weaponry. If that were the case, Del just hoped for the best. He eventually arrived at the T-junction of that hallway. There was a sign on top of that T-Junction. The sign was pointing in two directions, left and right and the sign showed where the hallway would lead them. [¡û Security | General Lab for Cryotechnology ¡ú] "Hmm, odd," Delmented. Del took the hallway to the left. He kept walking until he noticed something on the roof of the hallway. A turret suddenly appeared on top of the hallway. Before the turret was able to do anything, Del fired it with 7.62 rounds from his machine gun. "WARNING! WARNING! FACILITY BREACH DETECTED! FACILITY BREACH DETECTED!" Del sighed, "Ah shit, what in the actual fuck have I done?" Red strobe light started shining in that hallway. A bunch of other simr turrets suddenly appeared and Del took cover from behind one of the walls of that hallway. He peeked from the wall and the turret fired its bullet. The bullet hit his helmet and it bounced to the ceiling of the hallway. "Motherfucker, Del, what did you do?" Cole asked as he readied his spell. "I don''t have any idea, let''s get to the security office!" Del shouted. "Security? You can read the gibberish on the sign?" Cole asked. "Yeah, more or less, don''t you think it''s not the time to ask that question?" Del asked. "Fair enough." Del peeked his machine gun and blindly fired it, hoping that one of the bullets destroyed the turret. Del felt safe once one of the turrets was destroyed, but seriously, what the hell did Del get himself into? Chapter 55 - Security Force "WARNING! WARNING! FACILITY BREACH DETECTED! FACILITY BREACH DETECTED!" That damn rm kept ringing loudly as Del and Cole continued running through the hallway while keeping an eye on the ceiling in case another turret popped up and caught them off guard. So far, it had not been so good. Too many unexpected things were there. Fortunately, Del had encountered no security robots yet. "Shut up!" Del shot at the speaker. "Damn, man, let''s move as fast as possible," Cole said as he noticed another turret popped up from above. Judging by how the helmet stopped the round, Del concluded that the bullet that the turret fired wasn''t exactly a rifle round. Maybe the turret was shooting a handgun caliber round, so it didn''t prate, or it could be just luck from his side. Suddenly, Del heard a heavy footstep right from behind him. Del shuddered as he peeked his back. There was the thing that he feared, a security robot. It was a humanoid, looking simr to a human being, however, its whole body was made from metal. To make matters worse, the security robot. It also held some sort of futuristic rifle. "Holy¡­ mother of¡­ shit," Dely himself down on the ground. He gripped his machine gun and started shooting at that security bot. The security robot ran in his direction. It was so fast that Del knew the robot could run as fast as a car. To make matters worse, the robot was also shooting his rifle in Del''s direction. "Why won''t this thing die!!!" Del shouted as he kept shooting at the running security robot. He then felt something on his head, he didn''t care about it until blood was dripping from his chin. After he realized it, he felt a very strong concussion on his head. The robot got him. The bullet wasn''t exactly prating, but a part of his helmet was definitely stuck to his head. "Mate, are you ok?" Cole asked as he provided suppressing fire against that security robot. "Mostly, yeah," Del said as he didn''t exactly lose his consciousness yet, "Cole, distract the bot for a while, I have a n." "Alright." Del hid behind a wall, and he grabbed a b of C4 from his pocket. He attached the remote detonator to the C4 and threw it in the direction of the security robot. The C4 stuck to the leg of the security robot and Del blew the C4. Fragments were flying in multiple directions as a half kilogram of C4 exploded right below its feet, killing it and sent pieces of its body away. Del stood up and he continued moving towards the security room. However, the condition with his head worried him. He could take his helmet off and fix the bleeding, but there was also a chance that he could make the bleeding way worse than it already was. Still, if not stopped, the bleeding could be risky. "Cole, did you see something weird with my helmet?" Del asked. Cole looked at his helmet and noticed it. A part of his helmet was stuck on his head. It was also the source of bleeding, luckily, it didn''t go through his skull, maybe because of his improved vitality. Well, who knew? Del looked at his status te. ???????????? [Del Moore] [Level: 34] Strength: 98 Agility: 86 Vitality: 94 Aptitude: 22 Perception: 84 Skills: Language Understanding | Firearm Comprehension LVL.27 | Marksmanship LVL.30 | me Maniption LVL.1 | Field Maniption LVL.1 Magical Energy: 2992/2992 Health Point: 29876/31960 ???????????? He was fine mostly, but he noticed that his health point went down by eight as a second passed. Calcting it with basic math, his hp point would be drained out in under one hour, which was not good at all. The wound needed to be treated. The thing was, Del wasn''t sure whether he would make his wound better or worse if he took off his helmet. He could identally rip something off and made an even more serious injury. Still, bleeding out was worse. "If we found a room, let''s stop," Del said as he wiped the blood from his eye. "Sure," Cole nodded. If a bullet prated his helmet, it would be the end for him. Why? Even if a basic 7.92 Mauser could turn Cassandra''s inside into mashed potato, Del knew a bullet could turn his brain into brain soup. He knew he had some bullet resistance, but not to an overpowered extent. Suddenly, a turret popped up from the ceiling. This time, it was different. The turret was big, it might cover the entire ceiling. Del then noticed howrge the barrel of the turret was, there was belt ammunition attached to the side of it. "SHIT, THAT''S AN HMG TURRET!!!" Del jumped behind a wall. The turret didn''t start firing at him, but Del knew it would certainly kill him if he got shot by the turret. Cole also took cover behind one of the thick walls. "Man, what the hell is that thing?" "That''s a heavy machine gun turret, fuck your magic, this thing will shred us in half with no problem," Delmented. "Do you have any solution?" Cole asked. "Let me think," Del said. The barrel of the heavy machine gun turret definitely made him remember the barrel of an M2 Browning. The thing fired .50 BMG, but this was an unknown civilization site that turned to be very advanced. That thing could fire something that Del didn''t have any counter to. He thought about throwing the C4 in the turret''s direction. However, the turret was on the ceiling. He hoped that he could have an EMP grenade to disable the turret, but it was simply impossible since the EMP grenade wasn''t exactly 60s tech. Thinking about it, Cole could make a material barrier to resist the bullet, however, it also seemed to be bleak. He remembered that the strength of a material field or an energy field depended on the amount of energy stored inside of the shield itself. "Cole, can you make an energy shield, at the very least, seventy thousand in strength?" Del asked. "You must be nuts, I might be more powerful than you, but I''m not that strong either," Cole said. "Look, either that or we will never leave this hallway," Del said. "Well, I trust you. [Magical Program: Disable Magical Limitation] [Magical Program: Energy Field +70,000]." A very yellow field appeared in Cole''s body, but he also coughed blood. "What''s the n? Hurry," Cole coughed blood again. "Together, we will run to that heavy machine gun turret, you''ll be protecting me from the turret while I''d throw C4 at the turret itself, if we seed, we can progress to the security office," Del said. "And if we aren''t?" Cole asked. "Well, it has been good meeting you, my friend," Del said. "Feeling is mutual, Del, so, shall we do it, now?" Cole coughed blood again. "Wait," Del pulled two bs of C4, attached it together, and put a sting cap on it, "NOW!" Del shouted. Cole ran forward while shooting the heavy machine gun turret with his Uzi. Del followed from behind as the targeting system of the heavy machine gun aimed itself at Cole''s head. Del wasn''t sure if the amount of shield was enough. A burst of heavy caliber bullet hit Cole''s body. Cole didn''t flinch, thanks to his shield, but the color of the shield faded into a less bright one. Del readied himself to throw the C4 to the heavy machine gun turret. "EAT THIS!" Del threw the b of C4 to the ceiling and it stuck to the heavy machine gun turret itself. Cole and Del ran backward. The machine gun fired its rounds again, and it disabled Cole''s shield. With no hesitation, Del pushed the detonator of the C4. The C4 blew the machine gun turret off and the st could be felt from his direction. It also threw Cole''s body from his position and itnded right behind Del''s back. "Ouch, bro, get up," Del tried to move Cole. "Damn, what kind of thing that you used?" Cole stood up and he coughed blood again. "What happened with you?" Del asked. "Must be some sort of internal bleeding, heck, I don''t know, still, we survived," Cole shrugged. "From what?" Del asked. "I think I told you about magical sickness, well, I think I must have used some of my life energy to supplement myck of magical energy for that spell," Cole said. "Damn, I feel bad, sorry man," Del said. "That''s alright, we had to do what he had to do, right?" Cole smiled. "Yeah, let''s go to the security office," Del continued to run to the security office. Both of them were wounded, but they were also getting closer and closer to the security office. Del felt it should be the solution for lifting the security lockdown.. With some luck, they might help themselves with the current situation. Chapter 56 - Floor B1 After some walking with blood dripping from both of their bodies, Del and Cole finally arrived at the front of the security office. There were several security robots and ordinary turrets along the way, but it wasn''t that hard to destroy them all. Thebination of C4 and APS bullets made killing the rest of security quite easy. Del wasn''t exactly wearing his helmet anymore, it wasn''t wearable anymore. All that he wore at the moment was a bandage that wrapped around his head. He threw away his helmet since the bulge made it impossible to wear it without further injuring his head. The HP drain had stopped as well from the application of the bandage. Still, he wanted to ask Cassandra to check for anything out of the ordinary in case Del suffered from some kind of brain trauma. "What should we do with this damn door?" Cole held the door to the security office with his hand. "Open it?" Del held his keycard and put it on top of the RFID reader. The metal door slid open, revealing a room with many television screens and abandoned chairs. The monitors were still turned on and the room was quite clean for a ce that had been abandoned. There was a rugged tablet on top of the table inside that room. Del and Cole then entered the room. Del felt weird about that ce. It really reminded him of Earth, but the technology there was more advanced. For example, the monitors were actually made of holograms and there was a map of the entire region in the middle of that room. What kind of ce that Del had entered? There was also a te on top of the sliding door that read "Security Room: Level B1". He pulled up a chair and headed for one of theputers. The temte of the keyboard was familiar to Earth. To be honest, what kind of civilization created this thing? This was just too confusing for Del. [FLOOR B1 IS UNDER SECURITY LOCKDOWN. ALL DOORS ARE ONLY OPENED TO AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL] There was a key card reader next to theputer. Del put the key card on top of that key card reader and there was a weing screen for a person who Del didn''t even know who he was. [Wee, Chief Security Andersen. Biometric Is Required] "Shit, how am I supposed to search for his biometric sign?" Del asked himself as he put his thumb on top of the RFID reader. [Warning, Biometric doesn''t match.] [RFID #2 doesn''t register any spare key card] [Reset Keycard?] Del pressed the enter key. [Data Erased. Temporary ess for Floor B1 has been granted. Please input Username.] Del typed his name, and he pressed enter. [Del Moore has been sessfully registered. Biometric is required] Del put his thumb on top of the scanner. [Biometric saved. Wee, Mr. Moore.] Del smiled, it was the rare asion that he was called with his surname. He then grabbed his key card from the reader. He then further opened the menu that was avable on theputer. He then immediately lifted the security lockdown for floor B1. The red lighting from the strobes on the hallway ceased to appear. Del took a deep breath as the security was disabled. Now, he needed to find whoever was inside of that ce. Luckily, the securityputers would provide him with the way to do so. He checked every single security camera on the monitor. It turned out that a person was hiding inside theb. The person was quite familiar. Del zoomed the security camera, and it revealed the face of the person who was hiding in that room. That person was Lize. The footage came from camera #42. "Alright, that''s our target, too bad that she is alone," Del sighed, which meant that he had lost the reward. "She''s still our friend, now, c''mon, let''s rescue her," Cole said. "Yeah, let''s go, where she is anyway?" Del asked. "No idea, do you have any idea?" Cole asked. "Hmm," Del thought for a second until he noticed the tablet on the table. He picked up that rugged tablet and pressed the button to turn it on. However, as he turned it on, the tablet requested authorization. [Keycard Required. Biometric Required] There was a key card slot on the side of the tablet. Del inserted the key card into that slot and the table turned on. [Wee Del Moore] The tablet disyed many multifunctional menus that could help him on his journey in that world. It really reminded him of the basic smartphone app, but way more advanced. The tablet itself contained a map app, database app, entertainment app, etc. There was also a personal assistant app on the menu. The bottom line was, the tablet was very modern. There was also an icon on the battery which was [¡Þ] symbol. Del opened the map menu. There were two options on that menu. There were exterior maps and interior maps. Del selected the interior map menu, and it disyed his current position alongside the room where he was in. His room was called B1 Security Room. "Cole, excuse me, but can I talk with my spirit for a while?" Del had an idea. "Sure." "Pidma, are you there?" [Yes. Damn, that''s some tech that you just found, Del] "Haha, yeah, anyway, can you merge with this tablet operating system so I don''t have to say anything every time I need you?" Del asked. [Sure, I think I can do it. You know the tablet has some sort of voice assistant, right? I think I can highjack the voice assistant itself.] "Sure." The tablet suddenly rebooted itself. It restarted and the tablet turned on its own again. Suddenly, the voice assistant of the tablet engaged itself and a female voice came out of that tablet. Del assumed it was Pidma. "Ah, it''s nice to have a voice, anyway, what do you want to have?" Pidma asked. Delplimented, "Damn, the voice assistant doesn''t feel too clunky." "Wait, where was that sexy voiceing from?" Cole looked around the security room. "This," Del showed Cole the screen of the tablet. "Damn, that''s some kind of juicy tech bullshit you have there, what can it do?" Cole asked. "Dunno," Del swiped the touchscreen of the tablet to discover how many applications were installed. There was an app store on that tablet, but Del would have to figure it outter. Right now, he needed to navigate through the facility. Del typed camera #42 on the interior map menu. It showed that Lize was in a storage room on the other side of the facility. Del put the tablet inside of his tactical rig, in the space between his rig and his shirt since there was no ce to put the tablet in. Del got out of that security office. As he walked, his headache was still aching on his head. He walked alongside the hallway. Security robots were patrolling along the way, but he didn''t attack Del. Instead, they usually only said, "Have a good day, Mr. Moore." After several hallways and rooms, Del finally arrived at the storage room. He put his key card on top of the RFID reader and the storage door opened. "Hey hey, we''re here to rescue you," Del said. "W-w-what? Is that you, Del?" Lize asked as she stood up from the ground. "Yeah, this is me," Del said. "Oh, what are you doing here?" Lize asked. "I really expect you to say "Thanks" or something in that line, but yeah, I''m just here for rescuing you," Del said. "Rescuing me? Did I forget to tell the guild that this was a one-way trip?" Lize asked. "One-way trip? Are you here to kill yourself?" Del asked. "Kill myself? Heck no, I''m here with the other adventurers to discover the cryo-something facility. I found this ce, but well, the thing that killed myst two guards prevented me from going anywhere," Lize said. "Cryogenic? What are you expecting from this ce?" Del asked. He had no idea that Lize was aware of the fact that the ce was a cryogenicb. "I meant, I read some books and old documents about the existence of the ancient site. One of the ancient sites is this site which studies freezing things. The document that I read also theorized that this ce also had a ce where you can sleep for a very long time," Lize exined. "You meant cryosleep?" Del asked. "I think? But most of the door that I entered is locked, this thing is useless after all," Lize said as he threw a metal te that looked like a key card, but it wasn''t one. Del pulled the key card from his tablet, "You meant this card? I think you dropped it on the front door." "Wait, this is not the card?" Lize asked. "Of course it isn''t," Del picked up the key card, which was another metal te that signified nothing. Del threw it away, and they got out of the room. What was Lize doing in here, anyway? What made her want to search for some sort of cryo facility that might or might not have some sort of cryosleep facility? Lize got some exining to do, but to be honest, Del wouldn''t bother. Chapter 57 - Ancient Site For Del, the prospect of getting a cryogenic sleeping pod wasn''t really that important. It was more important for him to get out of the facility alive. Still, since he unlocked floor B1, maybe he could help Lize if she really knew where the cryogenic sleeping pods were. Del typed on his tablet. He searched for the location of the cryogenic sleeping pod inside of the facility. It turned out that the facility was on the same floor as the one they were on right now. In fact, it was really around the corner. Del opened the door to the cryo facility by swiping his key card on the key card reader. The door opened, revealing a room with a lot of cryo sleeping pods. There weren''t any filled pods inside of that room so Del wouldn''t be able to find out who the owner of the ancient site was. Inside of that room, weirdly enough, there was a stack of clean and dry towels alongside several undergarments inside of a ss wardrobe. There was another room inside of that room which was called the cleanroom. "Well, I think you have found your treasure, Lize," Del sighed. "What''s with that sigh?" Lize asked. "If I don''t bring you back to the guild, I won''t even get a single coin even though I have fought many bounty hunters that areing after you outside of this facility," Del exined. "Money? Well, I have a lot, but let''s figure out how to use this thing," Lize said. "Well, that''s not really an issue," Del said as he showed his tablet. Del searched for the procedure for using the cryogenic sleeping pod. Of course, he found it inside of the database. There was an instruction on how to use the cryo pod step by step. The cryo pod itself had its own name. [CSP-110 Instruction Manual] 1. Sterilize the Cryo Pod 2. Make sure the user is clean 3. Only undergarment is allowed on Cryo Pod 4. User can enter the Cryo Pod 5. Cryo Pod can be closed from the inside or outside "Hmm, what does that thing mean?" Cole asked. "Well, Lize, have you taken a bath or something?" Del asked. "Bath? Where do you think I can wash myself inside of this mountain?" Lize referred to her journey just for the sake of searching that facility. "Dunno, well, I think you can clean yourself in that clean room, I also think that you should rece your undies with the one on the ss wardrobe. Anyway, only undergarment is allowed " Del said. "Why do you ask me to do that?" "Because that''s what the instruction told me to," Del replied. "Ok, ok, can both of you get out of this room first?" Lize asked. "Sure," Del said. Cole and Del walked out of the room to let Lize have her privacy. Del grabbed a pill from his rig. It was Ibuprofen and he ate one of them to reduce the pain from the wound on his head. He sat down in the hallway while looking at the tablet. He opened the map application on the map. He wondered how far he was to Ferris, the Elbanian capital, or where her sister was staying. The distance was 410 miles away from the capital. It looked like Del wouldn''t be visiting the ce sooner orter. He noticed some ces like Alder, Midham, and Begard on the map. Del didn''t notice anything besides that. However, he noticed that the area of the road between Midham and Begard was inside of the range of the weaponry of the facility itself. It could be useful, but Del had no idea how to use that weaponry. Del entered the cryogenic room again and Lize was in the new underwear that she picked up on the ss cab. Just before she wanted to wear her own clothing, Del stopped her. "Lize, the instruction clearly told me that you must be in your underwear." "Say what?" Lize didn''t believe that. "Yes, it''s true, anyway, Lize, you can enter one of the pods," Del said. Del looked at one of the pods. It was avable to use. Del pressed a button that clearly said "Open". The cryo pod opened and Del told Lize to get inside of it. Lize was shuddering, maybe because she was fearing that thing-a-magic. "Del, if this thing kills me, I apologize for anything that I''ve done. Anyway, there is my money on my clothing, I think you can take it," Lize said as she got into the cryo pod. Del closed the cryopod and the pod started its process of decontaminating the pod itself. Del peeked from the little ss window of the cryo pod. It looked like Lize had been sedated. It made him wonder how the cryo pod worked. He opened his tablet and searched for more information about it. [CSP-110] CSP-110 works by first sedating the user inside by pumping a muscle rxant into the chamber of the cryo pod itself. After that, a self-guiding venttor mask would attach itself to the user''s nose. The onboardputer would guide a catheter into the user''s dder and pump out all of the urine inside of it. After that, a procedure of recing the user''s blood with bio machinery liquid will start. After the procedure is done, the cryo function will engage. A brain monitor will be attached to the user''s head and the user will have full ess to the cryogenic pod. [End of Information] "Damn, this is some serious futuristic machinery," Delplimented. "What do you mean?" Cole asked. Del peeked again into the cryogenic pod, "I meant, look at how many catheters are connected to her body." There was a venttor mask on Lize''s face. A catheter was attached to something below her underwear. A bigger pipe was attached to her hands'' artery and it sucked the blood out of her body and recing it with a brighter red liquid that was definitely wasn''t blood. There was some kind of device attached to her head. All of it was done automatically by the cryo pod itself. "Damn, those are so many pipes," Cole said. "Yeah, anyway, let''s see our spoils of war," Del looked at Lize''s clothing that was on the side of the cryo pod. Del searched that clothing for money and he found a pouch filled with money, a lot of money, heck, shitton of money. Cole also wanted to know the amount of money inside, he peeked into the pouch, "Holy shit, that''s a lot of money." Inside of that pouch was more than ten white gold coins. Del didn''t need to count it, there was indeed a lot of money inside of it. Although his journey of rescuing the adventurer ended up in failure, he still managed to secure himself a healthy amount of cash. "Let''s return to the camp, shall we?" ================================= "You boys¡­" Cassandra was putting one of her hands on top of Del''s head while he put the other on top of Cole''s chest. "What did you two encounter? More bounty hunters, or something far more dangerous." She wondered because she was aware that Cole and Del could actually hold themselves against a lot of bounty hunters. "I don''t know how to exin it," Del said, and then he continued, "Maybe I can say it as an ancient site." "Ancient site? Are you fucking serious? And you two live to tell the tale about it???" Cassandra red at him in disbelief. She then took a deep breath, "Alright, calm down, all that matters are that you two survive." "Truth to be told, I really want an alcohol right now, hahaha," Delughed. "You''re too young for alcohol, don''t you know that?" Cassandramented as an health expert. "Does that rule exist in here?" Del replied. "I meant, your poor liver will be suffering from it, don''t you think?" Cassandra said. "I know that." "Anyway, I want to ask you something, were you aware about the kind of danger that you and Cole just encountered?" Cassandra asked. "No, we didn''t." "Allow me to exin then, ancient site is a ce that is build by ancient demons around thousands of years ago. The reason of their disappearance was still undiscovered until now. Ilbistirum managed to take over some of the ancient sites, but it really cost us our manpower," Cassandra exined. "How much?" Del asked. "Like, three thousands demons per site, I think?" Cassandramented. "That''s the amount of personnel that dies when Ilbistirum decides to take over an ancient site. Ilbistirum usually sends one division of demon army to capture an ancient site. A division is about 25 thousands personnel that includes logistic, support, andbat unit," Cassandra said. "I see, still, that''s not really my business as of now, anyway, since we have gotten our money, why don''t we go home?" Del asked. "Sure, I think we can pack things up tomorrow, what do you say?" "Let''s go then." Chapter 58 - Intermission Back at home, it seemed nothing had changed even though it had been more than four days. The house was still neat as they were only gone for a while. Del ced his backpack right next to the couch as usual. He sat himself down on the couch, "Damn, I miss this damn couch." He put his M240 on the couch and he got a notification on his tablet that told him that the weapon customization for G3 had been finished. Del pressed the notification and a G3 appeared on the coffee table in front of the couch. "Del, what is that thing that you always hold?" Cassandra asked since Del always held the tablet ever since he found it on the ancient site. "This?" Del showed his tablet, "It''s called a tablet, a rugged one on that." "I see, does it have any special feature?" Cassandra asked. "Well, more or less, at the very least, this thing has a map of the entire region so I shouldn''t get lost anytime soon," Del said. "That''s quite a convenience, don''t you think?" Cassandra asked. Suddenly, Cole interrupted, "You know, Del acted as if he understood everything about the ancient tech when he was in the ancient site. It seems his knowledge of another world really helped when traveling on the ancient site." "Another world?" Cassandra was curious. Del just realized that Cassandra was not aware of his origin. Even if every single thing that Del used was not from that world, it seemed that no one really batted an eye. It might be because there might be something stranger than that. "Yeah, Del hasn''t told you about that?" Cole asked. "No, he never told me about that. Is that true?" Cassandra asked. "More or less, yeah," Del replied. Cassandra hummed, "So, Elbanian is going into war again, huh? I will bet next year will be quite hectic for me. You know, Del, what did those cousin fuckers tell you when you arrived at this world? I really want to know." Del exined that he and his ssmates were summoned by the court magicians of that country to fight the demon lords. Del told Cassandra that he didn''t believe in the bullshit that the king uttered to him and the ssmates. He also mentioned that he was banished from the party of the heroes. "Ah, the ssic method of manipting the youth, I see," Cassandra nodded. She understood something. "What do you mean by that?" Del asked. Cassandra sat down on the couch, "Now I understand why you are so friendly with Cole and me. People of this world won''t even be nice to a demon most of the time. Anyway, I think Elbanian summoned you and your ssmates because thest time Elbanian summoned adults, it didn''t end too well." "Huh? How so?" Del asked. "Well, at first, they exined about the cruelties of the demon lord and all. However, it didn''t take too long until they saw through Elbanian''s lies. At first, the heroes questioned the Elbanian about their objective, they didn''t get their answer. After that, it revolted into defiance. Reian Genocide was thest nail in the coffin before the heroes started a full-blown rebellion against Elbanian itself," Cassandra exined. "How did it work out?" Del asked. "It failed catastrophically. The heroes were just a mascot for their cause. At the end of the day, it was Elbanian that did all of the heavy liftings such as bombarding the Reian with their airship or fighting the demons. Bounty hunters came after them as hard as they could and they died," Cassandra said. "That''s quite¡­ surprising," Del said. He always thought that the heroes were the strongest people in Elbanian. It turned out that it was a lie, huh? He was not surprised about that. Cole had told him about the heroes were only a mascot, but he didn''t know that the heroes used to be an adult. "For me, it''s not that surprising. I keep some information that I learned from IS anyway," Cassandra said. "What''s IS?" Del asked. "It stands for Internal Security. Cassandra worked for Internal Security for a while after she joined her volunteer organization, or that was what she told me," Cole answered, but he was doubtful with his own answer. So, the woman that identally killed him was personnel from an intelligence agency, huh? So that was the main reason why she was quite powerful. It also meant that Cassandra was quite an important person in Ilbistirum. "Tell me again, who are you?" Del asked. "Do you really need to know?" Cassandra asked. "Yeah, after all, we need to trust each other, right?" Del asked. "Alright, I think I won''t keep any secret from you. My name is Cassandra Gable. I''m a general surgeon at Heria Hospital. Currently, I''m studying at Southview Medical University. I''m taking my master''s degree as we speak. On the side, I''m Group C leader of MVSI and a frence contractor of IIS." "I¡­ see," Del said. "Do you have any questions for me?" Cassandra asked. "I have a lot, but I want to ask some questions that I think are important. One, does the demon lord or Reian really have a spell that can make us return to our own world?" Del asked. "I didn''t remember whether there was something such as that in our world. Even though I know that Elbanian is the only country capable of bringing someone from outside of this realm," Cassandra exined. "So all of it is lies," Del said. "Most of it, yeah," Cassandra answered. "Anyway, where is Ilbistirum?" Del asked. "Ilbistirum is a country located three weeks away from Elbanian. You need ship to get there and it will take a very long time. Still, if you want to go there, we can take you there," Cassandra said. "How?" Del asked. "There''s a smuggler ship on the north, in the border region between Elbanian and Irium. You can take that ship to go to Ilbistirum. Still, going there is quite a challenge if you are wanted by the Elbanian. Don''t worry though, we know some secret routes," Cassandra said. "I''ll keep that in mind. Still, I want to bring my sister first," Del said. "Your sister? Did Elbanian even bring a person younger than you?" Cassandra asked. "Nah, she is my twin sister. She''s still with the heroes, but she will eventually meet me again, sooner orter," Del exined. "Ah, I see. Well, what happened between you all anyway?" Cassandra asked. "Well, I was kicked out of the heroes party because I was too weak which I admit that I was. Still, the thing that I disliked is that the Elbanians threw me into the middle of nowhere with nothing and I''m not even from this world," Del said. "Ah, it must have been tough for several months. Still, you''re not weak. Heck, I can say that you should be ranked C at the very least," Cassandra said. "Maybeter, right now, I just want to rest here for a while. Still, Cassandra, thanks for taking care of both of us," Del said. "Hey, no problem. If you''re Cole''s friend, you''re my friend too. Maybe we have few disagreements, but I don''t have any bad opinion of you, I''m honest," Cassandra said. "Thanks, it means a loting from you," Del said. "It''s my pleasure." "Anyway, can you let me sleep for a while?" Del asked. "Sure," Cassandra left Del in the living room. Del closed his eyes. Wolfie was sleeping right beside him. Life was going all well for him. He just needed to wait for his twin sister to visit him. However, Del really doubted that their reunion would be easy.. He still had a lot of things going between them. Chapter 59 - Emergency!!! "You''re pleaded guilty for treason, murder, and attempt of sabotage." Not understanding why the ck-haired girl was even there, Anna Moore kept herself calm even though her feet were shackled and her hands were chained. She was standing in the middle of a court with ragged clothing. The other members of the heroes team were participating in the court as a jury alongside the other member of Elbanian societies. Anna understood the situation that she was in. She had been put in prison for thest few days. One of the members of the heroes'' party had been suffering in bed ever since Anna gave him her care. Eventually, the boy died due toplications that Anna didn''t understand. It didn''t stop there though, Anna had been treating many people of the heroes party alongside the other members of the heroes party who were blessed with healing skills. Somehow, Anna was med for all of the fevers, all of theplications, and all of the things that the heroes party got under her care. Anna did her best to treat theplications using her skill, but it didn''t always end sessfully. Sometimes, it could get worse, oftentimes, it got better. However, in this particr case, it ended up getting her friend killed due toplications. Anna, unlike Del, didn''t have even the basic expertise in medicine, and yet, the Elbanian still forced her to be the head of the heroes healers party. It also meant that any fault was hers. Eric was among the jurors that pleaded Anna guilty. Anna was not shocked, she didn''t even blink when Eric led the rest of the heroes team to judge Anna as guilty. Unlike the situation in which his brother was in, everything was hidden. It was all maniption that the Elbanian used to make Anna guilty. It had been two weeks since Harry died in bed fromplications in his wound. Anna was taken to prison for treachery against the royalty. Harry was one of the skillful mages in the heroes party and he contributed a lot during the training and extermination of demons inside of Elbanian. After the arrest, Anna was sent to prison with nothing but ragged clothing. All of her shiny equipment was stripped out of her possession and she was left with nothing but a magical restrain cor on her neck. Basically, stripping all of her possession. "The guilty, Anna Moore, will be faced with a death sentence. The guilty will be burned alive in Westwend Valley." The judge hit the hammer. Anna didn''t flinch. She didn''t cry. She just red at Eric sharply. Her eyes said what she wanted. She only wanted one thing and that thing was the dead body of Eric. Every single trouble that Anna faced was because of Eric. The banishment of her brother was because of Eric. Now, even her own death was because of Eric. The guard took Anna outside of the court. Anna just sighed, knowing that she would be burned alive. ==================================== Del was cleaning his M240 while rxing on the couch. It had been four months ever since Cassandra lived with him. Together, they had amassed a fair amount of money and Del had leveled up quite significantly. Even though it had been four months since Cassandra joined his team, Del hadn''t let her touch his firearm even one bit for one particr reason. He didn''t want an overpowered vampire that could resist his bullet to have guns. Although, Cassandra''s other weapon than her magic weapon was actually a crossbow. Del also had ranked up from F to D. His constant contribution to the guild resulted in him getting promoted without taking anybat test. It was actually quite convenient for him. He didn''t want to involve himself in meleebat either. After his promotion, he expected that the king took notice of him and tried to remove him from existence. Luckily, it didn''t happen. Maybe it was because the king had a bigger business to take care of. Well, it was not like the capital wasn''t far enough. Del had also bought upgrades for himself, in particr, a new PASGT helmet, an M81 Woond uniform, and new night-vision goggles, AN/PVS-7. He also bought a high-profile purchase which was a Humvee. At first, Del thought he would catch a lot of attention, but it didn''t. Maybe the people of that world only red for a while, after that, they continued with their business. Cole had previously mentioned the existence of flying airship, maybe that kind of thing would actually surprise the Elbanians instead of just a vehicle that could move faster than a horse carriage. Still, it increased his mobility from one ce to another. Plus, people couldn''t steal a car, they could only steal a horse. For a mere 22 white gold coins, Del bought a new vehicle for increased mobility. It was well worth it because a car could run day and night non-stop. A horse required sleep and food while a car only required petrol and a driver. Still, the only driver was Del since he was the only one in that group that had a driving license. "Yo, what''re we going to do today?" Cole asked. "Well, we can rx in our home all day or we can go to Alder to get some quest, again," Delmented. "In this past few months, you''ve been quitezy, haven''t you?" Colemented. "Well, what can I say? I''m financially secure right now, I have friends that I can trust, and the king isn''t looking for my head. Isn''t life great?" "Haha, yeah, the first time I saw you, you look like a beggar. Now, you just look like an average adventurer. Damn, how far have wee?" Colemented on his adventure with Del. "Anyway, how''s your research? Is it progressing quickly?" Del asked. "It progresses quite rapidly, I have written most if not all of the data in my logbook. I just have to write my thesis in Ilbistirum and I will be gold," Colemented. "For a research, that''s quite short," Del said. "Yeah," Cole nodded. Cassandra was back in the kitchen, cooking for breakfast. Wolfie was sitting on the couch right beside Del. Del hadn''t bought any tactical armor for Wolfie yet, mainly because Wolfie was able to tank gunshot alone with his own skin. [EMERGENCY QUEST!!! EMERGENCY QUEST!!! EMERGENCY QUEST!!!] It was umon for Pidma to give a quest, much less an emergency one, It only made Del wondered what was going on. Del grabbed his tablet from the side of the couch and opened Pidma''s menu. He didn''t quite understand the concept of an emergency quest. Pidma had only given a quest once, and that was when he met it for the first time. It might be something important, but Del couldn''t figure out what the important thing was. "What''s the matter, Pidma?" Del asked. [Something happens on the other side of the country. This is something, I''m not sure about it, but I think it might be best for you to divert all of your attention towards this problem.] "Why do you sound so uncertain about this issue? Moreover, how could you even know this?" Del scratched his head, "I don''t remember that you have any prediction functionality." [Actually, I do have prediction functionality, but it''s not urate. Maybe I can say that I''m 20% urate. Still, I think this is quite important. I conclude all of this from the data that I retrieved by overhearing things using your ear] "Important, well, everything seems to be important, right? Still, if you want to ask me, I want to hear about what do you have to offer to me?" [Ok, Disying Emergency Quest] ?????? [Rescuing the Unknown] [Emergency Quest] [Risk ss: High-End B] [72:00:00] I''m not sure whether my data is suggesting something urate or not. However, some of the conversations that I overheard suggest that the heroes party is having trouble because one of their members is having some sort of mutiny. I''m not sure who is it, but I think it might be a good idea to rescue him/her. Mutiny in Elbanian is oftentimes punished with a death sentence. The death sentence is usually carried out in Westwend Valley. The punishment usually varies based on the degree of punishment that the judges gave. Requirement: [Heavy Trauma Injury Kit] [Cassandra Gable] [Car with a Roof] [Bolt Cutter] Task: Rescue [?] Reward: [1 Ally] Failure Reward: [Death of Someone] ?????? "What???" Del didn''t want to be in contact with the member of the heroes party, much less rescuing them from a death sentence. They were still the people that threw himself out of the pce and sent him to misery. The only reason that he was livingvishly was because of Pidma''s existence. It was a hard judgment for Del.. He didn''t want to rescue his former friend, but he also feared that the person that started the mutiny could be none other than his own sister, Anna Moore. Chapter 60 - Preparation For Rescuing That Someone The dining room was usually used for eating, just like any ordinary household. However, due to the recent change of event, Del gathered everyone at that dining table after the recent emergency quest that Pidma gave to him. "So, you are telling me to follow you in a journey that your spirit gave? I meant, after everything that you have given, I''m not really in the position to refuse. After all, you did give me food, a ce to sleep, and some extra," Cassandra licked her mouth. "Yeah, blood," Del held his neck. Cole was eating and not listening. "Cole, could you stop munching for a while?" Del said. "Oh, sorry, sorry," Cole stopped eating. "About this thing that my spirit told me, I have to rescue the member of the heroes party. Now, as you guys know, I think I have said many times that I don''t want to be in contact with the heroes party, much less rescuing them. Still, all things considered, I have a feeling that this is Anna that we are talking about." "Anna? Anna as in your twin sister, Anna?" Cassandra asked. Del nodded. "Well, I will say that we shall rescue her, or anyone that we encountered in Westwend Valley. After all, the person that we rescued will thank us for saving our lives. Still, I understand that it''s really against your principle, Del. Cole, what is your political insight on this one?" Cassandra said. "Why do you even ask me that?" Cole said. "Unlike you, I know politics but I don''t care a single bit about it, I just help who I can help even though I work with Internal Security," Cassandra said. Cole sighed, "Fine. First of all, if what you said were true, then the crumbling of the heroes'' party mighte sooner than previously expected. However, it doesn''t mean that the heroes'' party is crumbling. Second, that person that you rescued might be able to give an insider insight into the whole situation. Third, the person that you rescue might have some use for our team." "I hope so. If we want to rescue him/her, we might as well go now since we only have 72 hours before someone dies," Del said. "By someone, I presume that you meant the person that you''re going to rescue, right?" "Right." "Let me exin something first," Cassandra said. Westwend valley was a dangerous ce, mainly because a huge concentration of monsters could be found in the region. It was also the ce where the Elbanian kingdom orchestrated all of its execution from being thrown by rocks to being burned alive. The victim was usually left in that Valley and the monsters would take care of the rest. The monsters inside of the valley varied from ordinary wolf to giant lizard defending their territory. There was also a myth that a serpent actually stayed in Westwend Valey, but a myth was just a myth. It also meant that they needed some serious weaponry just for the sake of going there. That valley also didn''t have any town nearby so there was no stopping by for rest in a town. It also meant that they had to endure non-stop ride inside of their car which was not a big problem, but Del also needed his own rest from driving non-stop. "In conclusion, we need a lot of nning before we are able to go rescuing your friend which may or may not be dead," Colemented. "The way that you put it makes me really question my judgement," Del said. Cassandra just shrugged, "C''mon, Cole, I think it''s a good opportunity to repay Del for what he had been doing for us. Just think about it, if it weren''t for Del, I doubt you can do your research peacefully in this continent." Cole just nodded, "Well, you have a point." Del needed to think about every single posibbility. The humvee had a M2 Browning heavy machine gun turret on top of it, but would it be enough to kill a giant snake that basically wanted to kill him the moment he saw him? Then again, he could just put a BGM-71 TOW missile to rece the M2, but it would also create another problem. His ability to engage multiple target would be severely reduced. "Cassandra, about this serpent, is it real or is it a myth?" Del was unsure. "Hmm, it might be real, it might not be real. Heck, I don''t know. That ce is one of the ces I will avoid during my visit in this continent. Sure, the humans somehow have a way to deal with therge concentration of monsters there, but I don''t." "How so?" "The Elbanian somehow had a way to keep the monsters at bay while doing the execution. However, I also know that they usually left their victim half-dead to let the monsters finish the victim off." Del thought, "That sounds¡­ inhumane." "It is." Cassandra little details added something to Del''s judgement about the quest. It meant that the victim of the execution would be highly likely to remain alive for a little amount of time until the monsters finished them. Maybe it was why there was a timer on that quest. "Well, Cassandra, do you have any spell that might be able to kill a serpent?" Del asked. "No. I don''t have a spell that could kill something as big as that serpent. I meant, sure, my magic is strong enough for this continent standard, but I doubt that it would be powerful enough to kill a mystical creature like that." "Ok, ok," Del nodded. It meant he really needed something powerful to kill a serpent if the serpent appeared. Maybe he could buy a powerful anti-tank guided missile or something like that. What kind of weapon that he should buy though? Maybe he could buy the ssic RPG-7 to deal with the serpent. Well, it was quite an easy and cheap solution, but again, there was one problem with that choice. He couldn''t engage the serpent from a distance. He needed TOW to do that. Compared to the mere effective range of 330 meters that the RPG-7 had, a BGM-71E could be fired from 3,000 meters. Then again, he was only dealing with a risk that might or might not exist. Well, at the very least, he knew that he had two options for dealing with the mysterious serpent. Still, the other problem would be the lizard monsters defending their territory. Maybe the M2 Browning would help him deal with it most of the time, but once Del disembarked from his car, he might need something else than his own M240. Well, he might be able to use improved ammunition to pull that off. "Still, Del, you did mention that you need me, how so?" Cassandra asked. "Maybe because you are the only one among all of us that have a certified medical skill. Cole might be good enough, but I doubt he is capable of dealing with massive trauma," Del said. "I agree." "Anyway, since it looks like that we are going to rescue my friend, I think it''s a good idea for us to pack our stuff into the car, is that clear enough?" Del asked. "That''s clear enough for me, but I don''t know about Cole," Cassandra chuckled. "Hey, I''m listening, don''t worry about it. You just prepare your stuffs and we will prepare ours," Cole said. "Thanks guys." =============================== "Pidma, show me avable 7.62 ammunition." ???????????? [Showing Avable 7.62x51 Ammunition] [Ammunition Level: 1] [Tech Level: 5] [Total Bnce: 404,500$] [7.62x51 FMJ] [10x] [25$] [7.62x51 HP] [10x] [50$] [7.62x51 AP] [10x] [80$] [7.62x51 API] [10x] [100$] [7.62x51 APS] [10x] [120$] [7.62x51 HE] [10x] [150$] [7.62x51 HEAP] [10x] [200$] [7.62x51 IHEAP] [10x] [300$] [7.62x51 AM-AP] [10x] [350$] [7.62x51 AM-HEAP] [10x] [400$] [7.62x51 AM-IHEAP] [10x] [420$] [7.62x51 AM-APDS] [10x] [450$] [7.62x51 IAM-TAPFSDS] [10x] [1000$] [7.62x51 IAM-FGTAPDS] [10x] [2000$] [Laser Scope Required] [Locked] ???????????? "I want to buy 800 rounds of belted AM-IHEAP ammunition," Del said. [Sure] Four ammo cans containing 7.62 ammunitions appeared beside the couch. All of it contained the Anti-Material Improved High Explosive Armor Piercing ammunition. It should be enough to kill any moving things. "Pidma, give me a list of avable reusable non-guided anti-tankuncher." ???????????? [Showing Avable Reusable Unguided Anti-Tank Weaponry] [Ammunition Level: 1] [Tech Level: 5] [Total Bnce: 370,900$] [RPG-7] [2000$] [Carl Gustav] [2500$] [SMAW] [3000$] ???????????? "Hmm, can I buy an RPG-7 with Tandem munition?" Del asked. [Sure. How much do you need?] "8." [Price of one PG-7VR Ammo is 1200$, are you sure?] "Yeah." [Dispensing Item. Remaining Bnce: 359,300$] Eight rockets appeared right beside of eight ammo cans alongside with one RPG-7. Del lifted up the RPG from the floor andmented, "Damn, this is quite heavy." Still, Del would keep his RPG inside of the car most of the time. If he wanted to disembark, he would bring his M240 on his back. Nevertheless, it looked like that it was all that he had to prepare before the journey. Chapter 61 - Journey [66:42:34] Six hours had passed since the timer begun, Del and the others had loaded all of the luggage into the car. Del also checked how many rounds of ammunition were left inside of the car and inside of the machine gun. There was enough ammunition, around 1,000 .50 BMG rounds inside of the car. Fuel for the car could be purchased in the middle of their journey so there would be no problem about fuel shortage either. Cassandra also told Del that the journey might take two days using a horse. After a little bit of calction, it was around three hundred miles away from his current position. The sky had turned dark, people had fallen asleep. Yet, Del was preparing for a long journey into the east. For someone like Del, it might be idiotic to travel closer to the people that actually wanted him to be gone. As usual, Del wore his new helmet alongside the FLAK jacket that had been apanying him for the past three months. He put his NVG on the dashboard of the car. His H&K G3 was in the backseat. On the shotgun, Cassandra was sitting. Del and Wolfie were in the backseat. He was taking care of Wolfie while caressing him. Cole''s equipment had been upgraded as well. To cut expenses, Del bought Cole an inexpensive 6B3 body armor. He also bought him the same PASGT helmet. He also held a new weapon, an MP5SD. "Anyway, if you don''t mind me asking, are you really going to drive all the way to a ce only God knows where it is?" Cole asked. Del turned the ignition for the car, "Yeah, I think I will." Del drove the car out of his front yard. Maybe the journey wouldn''t be that boring, but the driving was certainly going to be exhausting. After all, only he could drive the car. Cassandra couldn''t drive, much less Cole, and Wolfie was out of the question. "Cole, get on top of the turret, I need your eyes," Del said as he grabbed the NVG from the dashboard and gave it to Cole. Cole wore it and he opened the hatch of the car. A Browning M2 was attached to the roof of the vehicle. Cole was the regr user of the machine gun on top of that vehicle. The machine gun had saved him and Del multiple times. For example, Del and Cole rammed through an armored carriage barricade. If not for the heavy machine gun, Cole wouldn''t be able to kill the mage that kept firing at the car using their spell from thefort of their armored carriage. "So far so good, Del," Cole observed the road around him. "Alright, well, keep me updated, alright?" Del asked. "Copy that, boss." =================================================== Anna was sitting inside of a wooden carriage with her hands tied up to the chair of the carriage itself. She was on her way towards Westwend Valley. She was on one of the carriages on the convoy of carriages. Her carriage was no different than an ordinary wagon, it was not even fancy. Inside of that carriage, there were two guards, herself, and one other person, Eric. Eric was there, not for rescuing her, but for talking with her. She was no longer wearing a shackle and chain, but she still wore her magical restrain cor. "Why did you kill Harry?" Eric asked. "Who? Me? I didn''t kill Harry. Complications did," Anna said. "Complications? I know the fact that Harry was the most supportive person among all of us in the banishment of your brother. Not stopping there, I know Harry always harassing you for loving your brother too much. All of the evidence points that you were the culprit, Anna," Eric said. "What evidences? Assumptions that the elitists make just for the sake of preventing mutiny inside of our party? The assumptions that the other healers outside of the heroes party made to corner me? Or are you talking about the fake witnesses that I haven''t even seen in the medical tent? Which evidences that you''re talking about???" Anna shouted. Eric sighed, "Anna, you''re guilty. The autopsy also suggested that there was a sabotage attempt on Harry''s body. There is a magical stone attached to the hand of heavily injured Harry. As we know, you are the only person that has ess to Harry''s tent." Anna couldn''t believe it. What the heck was wrong with Eric? Why he believed that evidence that came out of nowhere. The evidence was made by the kingdom authorities and Anna wasn''t a person that was able to imnt something inside of Harry''s body. Just think about it, how a high-school student had the nerve to do surgery even though it was only a minor one? "Magical stone? Are you crazy? Are you guys really thinking that I am able to pull something like that?" Anna asked. "Did I also have to mention that you have refused more than once to treat Harry? You have the tendency to tell the other healers to treat him. AND, when you treated him, he died. What makes us think that you don''t kill him?" Eric said. Anna thought for a moment, "Do you really think I am capable of killing Harry?" "You used to be not capable, four months have passed, do you really think I believe that you are not capable of killing a person?" Eric asked. "No, I don''t need you to believe it but I know that you are a snake, always have been," Anna said. Eric pped her face, "I''M NOT A SNAKE. I HAVE NEVER BEEN A SNAKE. Some information is better be unknown. You don''t need to know everything. Knowing is not something that you want." Anna just smiled, "See, I know you don''t want your true face to be exposed to the others. I thought my brother is only paranoid about you. It turned out, he was right." Without any hesitation, Eric stood up from the ground and kicked Anna with his steel boots. Blood came out of her own nose, but it was not that lethal. "You bitch, why do you have to keep mentioning your brother? I''M SUPERIOR. YOUR BROTHER IS DEAD NOW! STOP MENTIONING HIM!" "Superior? Is that why you keep downying my brother, even in school? Is that why the 2nd ce in our ss looks like the 1st ce in our ss? Is that what you meant by superior? Face it, you just want to be better than my brother, but you can''t," Anna smiled. "Whatever, you''re going to be burned anyway," Eric said. "Do you think I can''t survive being burned alive?" Anna asked. "No, I don''t think you can." "Are you sure?" Anna mocked. "Quiet." "You''re stupid, you know? Well, I''ll say that you be stupid. I am not surprised at how easy you were indoctrinated with the propaganda that the king made. After all, you immediately rose up into powers and I do aware that more than five girls want to be with you." "Propaganda? Anna, the king is telling us the truth. The demons are evil and you have seen it with your own eyes. Remember back when we were strolling around the viges and there were demons that were attacking the vige," Eric exined. Anna smirked, "Which demon? The demons that we attack as a pre-emptive strike because they might pose a threat although they were clearly unarmed? Or are we talking about the different demon?" Eric grumbled, "You fucker, the king was right to punish you to death. You''re really evil and cruel. How can you say they were unarmed? They are walking to the vige." Anna smirked, "You are really indoctrinated. That''s fine, I''m not going to cure your stupidity anyway. It''s clear that you''re really consumed with your own power. You know, this is a betrayal, but I am not surprised." "Damn, woman, even after bing closer to death, you''re persistent, aren''t you?" "You know, I can count with my hands how close I am to my own demise, why should I even spent my time griefing when I can mock you for your foolishness. Don''t get me wrong, but I''m in this exact situation because of your judgement," Anna said. Eric kicked Anna in the crotch with his steel boots, Anna growled in pain, "Bitch, I never thought you would be like this. I thought we can solve Del''s problem together, but you just decide to fuck it and kill Harry. He''s my best friend!" While still holding her painful crotch, Anna said, "It was not my fucking fault. Harry died ofplication you motherfucker." "Complication that you made, now shut up!" Eric shouted. Insulting Eric wasn''t helping, like it or not, Anna was still a girl. She immediately cried after sumbing to her pain. Eric smiled after sessfully made Anna stopped talking about him. He felt superior to be able to make Anna stopped resisting and cried. However, little did he know, his action wouldter have a consequence. Chapter 62 - Going Into Westwend Valley [53:09:21] Westwend Valley was just like an ordinary valley, beautiful, and filled with greeneries such as trees and grasses. However, they only arrived at the edge of the Westwend Valley. They arrived from the west side while their target would most likely arrive from the east side. Del was sleeping in the car while Cassandra and Cole were walking around the car, setting up a temporary ce to stay. Del packed quite a lot of canned foods on the back of the car. It was not like Cassandra and Cole were cavemen that couldn''t open a can like that. In fact, Cassandra mentioned once that they had something like that back in Ilbistirum. Cole was heating up the can with the heating magic that he used to heat up beaker sses, "Hey, here you go." He gave the heated-up can to Cassandra. Cassandra grabbed the can, "Ouch, it''s quite hot." "Sorry, I think I turn up the heat too much," Cole giggled. "That''s fine. [Utility Mode: Cool Breeze]." A white wind filled with cold air appeared from Cassandra''s hand and it flew to the can, cooling the content and the can into a cold enough temperature. While eating and sitting down on the grass, they were talking about their circumstances. After all, both Cole and Cassandra had finished their purpose of staying inside of Elbanian. It was time for them to go home, but there was something that couldn''t let them leave the continent. Del was the main reason why they couldn''t leave the continent. Even though Cole and Del had a rough start in their friendship, it turned out to be beneficial for both of them. Cassandra enjoyed her rxing time in Del''s house. Maybe it was the feeling that she indirectly became Del''s mother in that short period. Cassandra sighed, "You know, something is bothering me." "What''s bothering you?" Cole kept eating his food from the can. "You know, Del''s a nice kid, I''m not going to lie. I don''t want to leave him alone, but we also have our own business, don''t we? I meant, we still have to finish our education in Ilbistirum, but still, it left a bad taste in my mouth to leave him here." Cole put his can on the ground and put his hand on his chin, and he said, "Yeah, I agree with that. The kid is surely helpful to both of us. He even gave me this weapon," Cole showed his MP5SD, "Who even gave this kind of weapon to a mere researcher like us?" "Haha, I think Del has given all sorts of powerful weapons to you," Cassandramented on Cole''s heavy usage of the M2 Browning on top of the humvee. Even inparison to Del, Cole used that machine gun more often than Del. "I know that," Cole said. "Anyway, I''m thinking of bringing Del to Ilbistirum, what do you say about that?" Cassandra asked. "That''s a sound idea. Still, how can we bring them to Ilbistirum? We still have to cross a sea," Cole said. "Well, I think he might be enticed to join us if he is cornered in a situation where the only option is to run away from this continent. Besides, I think I still want to stay here, we''re not really in rush, are we?" Cassandra said. "Still, I don''t think Del would want to swim all the way to the demon continent." "Of course he won''t, you idiot. He will get on the ship with us. Don''t worry, I can convince the captain that will take us there to let him and whoever he rescues today onboard." "I hope so." Del got out of the car with eye bags still in his eyes. Driving all night long was exhausting for him who was basically still a human. Cassandra had the benefits of being a vampire which meant she was quite nocturnal. As he wiped his eyes, he said, "Morning guys." "Morning bro." "Morning Del." Del grabbed a can of food from the back of the car and ate it up without warming it up first. For him, some meals were better to be eaten cold than warm. It was not like he had the time to heat up the meals. Time wasn''t his friend and he only had been through the easy part of the journey. He grabbed a ss and poured a cup of water alongside powdered coffee. He asked Cole to heat it up so he could have a nice cup of coffee when driving the car towards the more treacherous region of Westwend Valley. "You ate so fast," Colemented as he gave the heated cup of coffee to Del. Del retrieved the cup, he replied, "Well, it''s not like we have a lot of time, do we?" "Yeah, you''re right. How much time do we have?" Cole asked. "Two more days." Cassandra mumbled, "Two more days, huh? It''s going to be difficult. Not to mention that we have to move through some of the dangerous territories of this ce. Anyway, don''t worry, as long as we keep working together, it''s not going to be that bad." "I hope so. I meant, we do have a lot of weaponry, but if we don''t use it efficiently, we are as good as wasting our time," Del said. "Correct. Anyway, here''s what I have gathered, I want every single one of you to listen carefully because this information is rather questionable," Cassandra said. Cassandra got the information from some back alley merchant that he met in Alder. The valley itself could be entered from two directions, it could be entered from the east and from the west. North and south were out of the question due to the rough terrain that it had. There was only one road stretching from the east to the west. From the east, they first must go through the Linum Forest. This forest was the home for goblins so they had to be careful and kept an eye for a possible ambush. It was only the start, Del has encountered goblins before, they were dangerous in a group, but one goblin didn''t really pose a big threat. The next location that they would have to go through was Nean Cliff. It was no ordinary cliff by any means, in fact, it was the ce where they had to deal with the lizardmen at the very least. It was also the ce where the myth of the serpent wasing from. In short, it could be just an easy trip or it could be the most dangerous ce of them all. After that ce with the serpent, they would arrive at Duliare Hill. It was the only peaceful ce of them all and it was located in the middle of Westwend Valley. It was said to be the most beautiful ce of them all. However, the ce was also the execution ground for Elbanian. Below the hill was the ce that called Valley of the Death. "So¡­ we still have a long way to go then," Delmented. "Yeah." "Alright, let''s go then," Del entered the car. Del continued driving the car again through the gravel road of that valley. Cole was on the machine gun turret as usual while Cassandra was holding the map as usual. Del was thinking about dealing with the ambush that the goblins might have prepared for him. Goblin wasn''t exactly a stupid creature, sure, they were not able to study science, but underestimating theirbat knowledge usually proved to be very fatal. They were still able to usebat magic and basicbat tactics. Inside of the car, Del was mostly protected from that all, but Cole wasn''t. In fact, he was the most exposed person on that whole car thanks to his responsibility of manning the heavy machine gun turret. "Cole, do you need a better armor? We are getting closer to the forest, you know?" Delmented as the forest was right in front of their eyes. "Armor? Armor like yours? Wouldn''t it be so bulky?" Cole asked. "Are you sure you won''t be getting any armor?" Del asked. "I''m sure, don''t worry, I have casted material field all over my body. I''m safe for now. You just be careful in driving while we are entering the forest, alright?" Cole said. "Sure, if you suspect anyone, just push the trigger, is that clear?" Del said. "Clear." Chapter 63 - Into The Forest The journey through the forest was rather¡­ peaceful if Del had to say. So far, there wasn''t any ambush from goblins or any dangerous forest creatures. Still, it might take a long time to go through the forest since the road was rather bumpy. "Holy damn it, what a bad road this is," Cassandramented as her body bounced up and down on the chair of the car. "Well, yeah, I feel bad for Cole, though," Delmented to Cole which had to keep his bnce while standing on the car. "Nah, mate, I''m fine," Cole said. "Alright, if you say so, still, keep an eye, alright? Don''t be distracted with the bumps," Del said. "Sure, don''t worry about me," Cole answered. The car didn''t have any hard time traversing the bumpy road though. It might move up and down, but it was still rather manageable. There wasn''t any mud hole on the road since the bumpy road itself was actually a gravel road instead of a dirt road. Looking left and right, there wasn''t any goblin in that forest, or they were there but their green skin hid them among the greeneries on the forest. Del had no idea, but it would be good if Del could find one of them. "Cassandra, about goblin, do you have any tips and tricks about dealing with them?" Del asked. "Well, kill them all," Cassandra said. "Kill them all? You sure that''s a tip?" Del asked. "On a more serious note, a horde of goblins is the most dangerous type of goblin if you don''t have any crowd control spell. Thinking about it, fifty goblins at once are really the most usual number of goblin crowds," Cassandra said. "FIFTY???" Del responded in surprise. "Yup, they will usually attack in a horde, that''s why they are dangerous. One goblin is very easy, two of them are a joke, fifty of them? You better be casting your spell or you run," Cassandra exined. "Damn, well, luckily, I have my machine gun," Del said. "Yeah, your machine gun is both a crowd control weapon and an armor buster," Cassandra said. "I agree with that," Del said. Del looked at the road in front of him. Suddenly, there was one goblin in front of him. Logically speaking, Del would run over him. However, there was a way better solution than just running the goblin with his own car. The solution was on the roof of the car. "Cole, shoot that goblin!" Del shouted. "Roger that! Eat this!" Cole pressed the trigger of his machine gun and the goblin''s exploded into small pieces just power of that barrage of .50 BMG rounds. The goblin disappeared and Del continued driving through the forest. However, as he drove, he could hear a bunch of footsteps from the back of the car. Cole turned the turret around and he immediately started firing his machine gun. Del looked at the side mirror of the car and he found that goblins were running after them. Del hit the gas even harder once he noticed those goblins. Cole continued firing his machine gun until it drained all of the ammo inside of the ammo box next to the machine gun. However, Del suddenly pushed the brake pedal of his car as there was a boulder that was blocking the road. In front of the boulder was another horde of goblins. Del was looking back and forth, there was no way out, and squashing the goblins wasn''t an option to be entirely honest since the car was a car, not a tank. "Ah, fuck," Del said as he grabbed his machine gun and opened the door of the car. Del switched the safety of his machine gun off and he fired it at the goblin horde in front of him. Cassandra got out of the car as well and fired a barrage of ice spikes in the direction of the goblin. Del shredded the goblins with his machine gun. "Damn, where are theying from?" Del asked as he fired his machine gun. "We are literally entering a goblin''sir so goblins are expected," Cassandra said calmly as she fired a barrage of ice spikes at the iing goblin. The barrage killed ten goblins at once. However, the goblin retaliated. The archers on the back of each goblin''s horde were firing their bow in their direction. Del took cover by entering the car again while Cole ducked from the turret. Cassandra cast another spell, "[Group Strike Mode: Blizzard]!" A bunch of ice spikes flew in the direction of the goblins, killing them instantly. The arrows flew to the car and bounced off from the metal ting of the car. Cole peeked out of the turret again and he started shooting his heavy machine gun again. Del got out of the car. He grabbed a package of C4, opened it, and attached a sting cap to it. He threw it in the direction of the goblin. The C4 attached to the boulder and Del blew the boulder up. The fragmentations from the boulder also killed the goblins in front of them, but one of the fragments also wounded Del''s legs. "Ah, shit, my legs," Del looked at several scratches on his legs. "Mate, are you ok?" Cole asked. "Yeah, yeah, I''m fine, just keep shooting them," Del said. Del didn''t bother to check his wound. It did hurt, but if it didn''t limit his mobility then it was most likely to be a non-lethal wound. He reloaded his machine gun with fresh ammunition. He continued engaging the goblins. "DEL! COVER ME, I WILL PREPARE SOMETHING!" Cassandra said as she dashed back into the car. "Prepare what?" Del asked. "Just do you thing, rx," Cassandra said. Cassandra opened her grimoire. She began chanting multiple spells at once. [Progressive Mode: Condensing] [Progressive Mode: Subzero] [Progressive Mode: Depressurization]." Suddenly, the temperature around them got colder. "Oy, Del, get inside the car!" Cassandra shouted. Den ran inside of the car and Del closed the door of the car. Cole had dropped down from the turret of the machine gun. Five minutester, he suddenly saw that the ss in front of him started to freeze. The temperature around them started to drop as well. Right now, the inside of the car was as cold as Aldea Mountain. "Damn it, what kind of thing that you used? [Magical Program: Local Thermal Maniption]." The air inside of the car got a little bit warmer. "Now, let''s wait until the effect of the spell to subside. You could freeze to death outside." "What the hell did you do anyway?" Del asked. "Well, I freeze the air around us, practically, making an artificial blizzard. Still, this spell is really costly in terms of magical energy," Cassandra exined. "How much magical energy does that spell consume?" Del asked. "Around 100,000 Magical Energy, I think," Cassandra said. "100,000??? That is like ten times my total magical energy," Del said. "I''m called the Ice Queen for a reason," Cassandra said. Del nodded, "I see." That would exin why Cassandra always used an ice magic spell or anything that was rted to something cold. It was her expertise after all. However, there was something that bothered Del, something about her affair with Internal Security. "As expected as a contract worker of Internal Security," Del said. "Well, I won''t talk about what I did with IS, but let''s check the situation outside," Cassandra said as she opened the door and let the cold air entered the car. The forest was dark for some unknown reason, maybe because of the clouds that Cassandra formed to make a localized blizzard. However, the goblin was allying on the ground from the extreme drop of temperature. All that was left was to kill them all. "Alright, let''s finish them [Offensive Spell: Superheated Fireball]." Del made arge fireball and threw it in the direction of the goblin. The fireball that Del threw was hot enough to melt something with a low boiling point. Once he threw that fireball, the body of the goblin that had been frozen immediately shattered from the extreme change of temperature. Del continued chanting his fireball until all that was left were fragments from the bodies of the goblins. He felt aplished after he killed all of the goblins that ambushed them. Still, it left him questioning, why goblins ambushed them? It was something unusual even though they were literally inside of a goblin''sir. However, the question was answered quickly enough by the appearance of those people that were standing right where the boulder was before. Chapter 64 - Elbanian SSU "Who are these guys? Why the fuck are they here?" Del asked himself as he still regained hisposure from thest massive wave of goblin ambush. Ten people were standing in front of him. All of them were wearing the same ck clothing with a ck hood. None of their faces could be seen. All of them were uniform in their equipment. Everyone carried a sword and dagger alongside a book in their hand. "Shit..." Cassandra murmured. The ten people jump in different directions and they disappeared. Cassandra prepared herbat stance again by preparing her material shield. Suddenly, one of them jumped from the bushed, charging Del with his sword. Del dodged it by getting down on the ground. He countered the attack with a burst from his machine gun. "Who are these guys? Why are they so fast?" Del asked again while keeping his ears open for any ambush. Cassandra threw and one of her ice spikes into the bush and a figure jumped out of it, "These are Elbanian Special Security Unit. SSU. Be careful, Del, these are not your ordinary goons." The way that they attacked them was abnormal. Usually, a standard bounty hunter would just charge in his direction, but these people were different. They hid in the bush of the forest while waiting for him to drop his guard down. Del shot a barrage of bullets into the bush in hoping that one of them came out from the bush and Del could score a headshot with his machine gun. However, the moment he did that, someone threw a dagger at his legs. The dagger attached to his leg, but it was pulled out again. It was a throwing dagger with a string. "Got you!" Cole shot the M2 browning from the top of the humvee and it hit one of the security units. A loud scream could be heard. It seemed that one of the .50 bullets had sessfully killed one of them. It made him wondered how Cole managed to do that. "Bro, can you see the rest of them?" Del asked. "What do you mean? I can see most of them clearly, but they keep moving!" Cole shouted back. After taking a look at Cole, Del noticed that he was actually wearing his night vision goggles. Well, the forest was quite dim, but it wasn''t that big of a necessity to wear night-vision goggles. "Attack them then!" Del shouted. "Don''t be in rush, we must preserve ammo and reloading also means that I''m vulnerable," Cole replied as he fired another burst from his heavy machine gun. A rustle came from the tree up above Cole. He aimed his machine gun in that direction. It didn''t take a split second before one of them attempted to stab him by jumping from the top of the tree. He pulled the trigger of his machine gun and pumped the body of that SSU personnel full of lead. The SSU personnel fell to the ground afterward. Cole got down from the turret as he screamed in pain. He got shed in his shoulder and he was holding his shoulder in pain now. "Shit, he got me." Everyone has been bleeding from the previous battle with the goblins, and now, they had to suffer more bleeding from the battle with only God knew who they were. Cassandra also struggled to fight them. Mainly because her ice spike wasn''t fast enough to get the SSU personnel that ran erratically from one direction to another. "Damn it, how the hell they are moving this fast?" Cassandra asked herself as he continued throwing the barrage of ice spears. Del couldn''t care less any longer. He ran to the car and opened the backdoor of the car. He grabbed the G3 that wasying on the floor. He switched the safety so semi-auto and shouted, "Cassandra! Catch this!" He threw the G3 at her. "What the hell is this?" Cassandra asked. "Just use it like you use a crossbow!" Del shouted. "Alright, alright," Cassandra replied as she aimed down the scope of that rifle. She pulled the trigger of the rifle and she managed to kill one of the SSU personnel. It made Del wondered how these two people from Ilbistirum managed to hold themselves against the elites SSU personnel of Elbanian. Cassandra was somehow more effective with her G3 than her spell in this situation. It made Del thought why would Cassandra use her spells instead of her crossbow. Maybe the reload time of a crossbow, but Del had no idea. "Cassandra, that thing only has thirty shots, make all of it counts!" Del shouted. "Sure," Cassandra replied. One of the SSU personnel ambushed Del from one of the bushes, Del immediately pulled the trigger of his machine gun to kill him. 7.62 rounds shredded the head of the SSU personnel, turning it into nothing but red paste. Del turned his attention back to Cole who was bleeding on his shoulder. There was quite arge incision on his shoulder. Blood wasing from that big incision. It didn''t spurt out like crazy, but it certainly wet his left shoulder, "Mate, are you ok?" "Do I look like I''m okay?" Cole asked as he held his shoulder firmly. "Damn, hold on, alright?" Del asked. Del could treat Cole''s wound as fast as he could, but considering the situation where he was, it was simply unfeasible. Del continued providing suppressing fire from his machine gun while Cassandra provided more urate fire with her G3. "And, fuck this shit," Del attached C4 to a sting cap and he threw it in the direction where he suspected an SSU personnel was hiding. He pressed the detonator and the C4 immediately exploded and threw two SSU personnel at once. Del cheered as those SSU personnel dropped dead. Still, Cole''s painful groan really worried him. Del grabbed the NVG from Cole''s head and he reced his helmet with AN-PVS 7 from his head. Del climbed to the top of the turret. Cole wasn''t lying, the SSU personnel from SSU was visible thanks to the NVG. Their ck coat somehow stood out, maybe it was reflective because the generation 3 NVG that he used, but he didn''t know. He pulled the charging handle of the Browning M2. He aimed the heavy machine gun at the direction of the SSU personnel. He pressed the trigger of the heavy machine gun and sprayed the rest of the SSU personnel full of lead. One of the SSU personnel threw a dagger at his chest. The dagger pierced through the vest easily and it stabbed Del''s chest, but not to the point where he required a serious treatment. Del noticed the origin of the thrower and filled him full of lead. "Del! That dagger on your chest, try not to pull it, alright?" Cassandra shouted as she jumped into one of the bushes. From the bush, Cassandra beated down one of the SSU personnel until he became incapacitated. She then finished it off by shooting the head of that SSU personnel with the G3. Suddenly, two of them jumped on Cassandra and Cassandra dodged their attack. One of them threw a small ball into the ground. The small ball exploded and it dissipated a lot of smoke. "I see you two! EAT THIS!" Del pressed the trigger of his heavy machine gun and those two SSU personnel groaned in pain before the heavy machine gun shredded them in half. "How many enemies do we have?" Del asked Cassandra from the machine gun turret. "Not many, they''re all dead," Cassandra replied. Del got out of the turret with knife was still attached to his chest. However, before Del crawled to the back of the car, Cassandra stopped him. "Sit the fuck down! Let me handle you two. Del, are you bleeding as bad as he did?" Cassandra pointed at Cole''s wound. "No, I don''t think I am," Del said as he observed the opening on his chest. It was not pouring out of his body like Cole''s incision, but it was still quite a bleeding. "Shit, it hurts like fucker," Colemented. Cassandra shushed him, he grabbed the trauma bag that Del put inside of his car. With a little bit of mix and match, Cassandra was able to identify what wasmon on Earth and on Ilbistirum. So far, Cassandra was able to identify painkiller from Earth with Ilbistirum painkiller. Betadine was also something on Ilbistirum, it was something that surprised Del. It seemed that their medical knowledge wasn''t that different. The only thing that seemed to be strange for her was stic. Cassandra was somehow very mesmerized with stic packaging, stic container, stic syringe, and everything else that was generally used ss as its container. "Alright, rx, you''ll be fine," Cassandra stuffed bunch of sterile gauzes inside of Cole''s wound to stop the bleeding. "You sure, it burns like fire and stings like killer bee," Cole replied. "Rx, if you still can talk, you''re probably fine. If you can''t talk, I will have to start worrying about you," Cassandra said as shepressed the wound with sterile gauzes. The idea was, Cassandra would first stop the bleeding using thebination of the sterile gauze and her healing spell. After that, Cassandra would be free to do anything that she wanted to do with the wound. "Cassandra, what the hell are those people doing in here? I thought this was a goblin''s headquarter, not SSU," Del asked. "Probably because this valley turns into an execution zone, but they should be the only SSU unit in here," Cassandra continued pressing the wound on Cole''s arm. "I''m d to hear that," Del said as he observed the knife that went up and down as he breathed. It kinda made him nervous, but he trusted Cassandra for whatever judgement that she had in mind. Chapter 65 - Healing Spell And Elbanian Military "Hey, Del, wanna hear some facts about healing spell while I''m fixing his wound?" Cassandra asked. "Sure, I will hear your story telling," Del replied as he kept looking at the dagger that moved up and down on his chest. He felt rather ok, but he was nervous at the same time. "C''mon, don''t keep looking at your chest, you''re fine, believe me," Cassandra replied. "Alright," Del sighed as the pain on his chest started radiating. "Healing spell works by elerating the process of wound healing for most of the part. However, physicians like me oftentimes separate the eleration into multiple different process. I will exin it inyman''s term so you are not confused. Wound healing can be separated into three different parts. The first is stopping the bleeding itself. The second is the wound healing process itself and the third is the fixing of the skin," Cassandra said. "Ok, I think I get what you meant," Del nodded. Cassandra pressed the gauze even harder, "You see, Cole would probably use the most generic healing spell which incorporates all of the three processes at once which is quite convenient for the most cases, but we aren''t dealing with most cases, right?" "What do you mean?" Del asked. Cassandra lifted her hands up the gauze for a while and leaving it on the wound. "Wait, alright?" Cassandra said as she wore gloves on her hands. She then grabbed an antiseptic swab and rub it on the area around Cole''s wound. She grabbed one of the reusable stic syringe and filled the syringe with that Lidocaine. Cassandra lifted up the gauze from Cole''s wound and blood had stopped flowing like a river. Instead it only dripped a little bit every time Cassandra moved her finger inside of theceration. She injected the anesthetic on multiple spots in thatceration. Del didn''t know how much Cassandra put in Cole''s wound, but it was definitely a lot. "Using a separate process for healing spell usually gives us much more control in how we are going to treat the wound itself. Maybe a cut won''t need separate process or even stitches, but something like Cole''s wound right here really requires advanced process," Cassandra exined. "Why?" Del asked. "His wound is quite deep, you see. It almost gets to the Periosteum," Cassandra said "Perios¡ª what?" Del asked. "The bone. His wound is almost deep enough to touch his bone," Cassandra said as she continued to inject Cole with local anasthetic. "Is it that bad?" Del asked. "Usually, yeah, it''s quite bad. I''m not saying that you can''t use regr healing spell to fix it and be done with it, but damn, this kind of wound will promote ugly scarring and infection if you improperly uses a healing spell," Cassandra exined. "How so?" Del asked. "Well, first of all, although healing spell can heal any wound, it doesn''t exactly heal without anyplications. Due to its reliance on elerating wound closure by applying all the steps at once, the wound healing can be uneven resulting in a gap between the wound which will usually be filled with liquid, and liquid invites¡­?" Cassandra asked Del. "Infection???" Del answered. "Correct. That''s why some abroad students usually feel fever-ish. It''s because of the infection that they created on themselves for the most part. Still, oftentimes, due to the training that we got, we rarely got a serious infection," Cassandra said. Cole added, "So that''s why I get fever after I patch myself up, right? You guys never tell me this on the military training." "Well, Cole, suturing your wound isn''t enough to heal yourself. You need to keep it clean and sterile for the most part," Cassandra said. "I do it, but damn, I still get fever," Cole said. "Anyway, Cole, is it numb yet?" Cassandra asked as she really put her finger deep inside Cole''s wound. "Yeah, I can''t feel anything," Cole said. "Good," Cassandra said as he grabbed a bottle of saline from the trauma bag. She mixed the saline with iodine, turning it brown and Cassandra started pouring it into the wound. She was disinfecting the wound because that kind of wound could easily promote an infection if treated in a wrong way. After cleaning, Cassandra grabbed a package of absorbable suture and started suturing Cole''s wound. "You see, his wound isn''t exactly easy to fix, this thing both needs a deep and superficial suture." "Superficial?" Del asked. "You can say that it''s the outer part of the skin while deep is deep," Cassandra said. "I see," Del replied. Cassandra continued suturing the wound until it closed tightly. After it, Cassandra applied an antibiotic ointment on top of the wound that she just treated and wrapped it tightly with bandages. "That should be all done," Cassandra then applied her healing spell to apply the second stage of healing. "Can I take off the bandage now?" Cole asked. "Heck no, don''t do that, I only help your wound to reconnect its blood vessel, not fixing the wound itself. Rx, maybe tomorrow I will take off some of the sutures, but it''s just maybe," Cassandra said as he looked at Del''s clothing. The first thing that Cassandra did was taking off Del''s FLAK jacket and his shirt. As she previously had expected, Del''s wound wasn''t even big. Cassandra just cleaned it up with the previous saline and iodine mixture and stitched it with stitches. She then put a bandage around his torso to cover that wound. "There, now it''s done," Cassandra said. "Thanks," Del said. "Should we stay here? Or should we get out of here as soon as possible?" Cole asked. "Well, we should be getting out of here as soon as possible," Del said as he moved to the driver seat of the car and restarted the engine of the car. Del continued driving with the wound on his chest. Cole wasn''t in the turret anymore since he was too wounded to do that and Cassandra was applying healing spell on his shoulder. Del drove the car while keeping his machine gun between the steering wheel and his body. Eventually, they got out of the forest in one piece and arrived at a grasnd. Del parked his car in the middle of the grasnd. He got out of the car and breathed in the fresh air of the grasnd. "Finally, fresh air, why the fuck SSU was there anyway?" Del asked. The others got out of the car, including Wolfie. Cassandra stood right next to Del. She heard the rhetorical question and she replied, "Probably they were only securing the whole region from any intrusion. Or perhaps they were looking for us?" "Looking for us???" "It''s a possibility although highly unlikely," Cassandra said. "Who are those guys anyway? They''re elite. They use throwing daggers, move among the shadows, and use ambush strategy instead of charging us. They''re not even conventional by any mean," Del exined. "Well, Elbanian SSU usually consists of B-rank soldiers, usually. Still, they might not be the most elite of Elbanian special unit, but they''re quite deadly. If we weren''t careful, we could easily be killed, especially after the exhaustion from fighting with the goblins." "Can you exin more about this SSU? You''re with the Internal Security after all," Del said. "Hmm, SSU, they''re the unit that the Elbanian used when they needed to have something guarded. They were one step above your ordinary grunts. They''re deadly and able to use throwing daggers. I don''t know where the unit was originated," Cassandra said. "There are many branches?" Del asked. "Well, for example, Eastern Region is under Elbanian 5th Army and Elbanian Navy. In one army, there were usually two divisions of SSU in one army. These people are tasked to guard a high-priority target," Cassandra exined. "Hmm, is there an even more elite unit?" Del asked. "Well, I heard about this Golden Arrow Squadron that works in tandem with the air force of Elbanian empire, but I really never encountered them," Cassandra said. "Airforce? Like what? A ne?" Del asked. "I don''t know what a ne is, but I know what an airship is. They''re basically a ship that flies. They usually rain heavy projectiles from afar and couldn''t be attacked by any conventional magic, and even a wyvern unit can''t make a dent on the airship," Cassandra said. "What? Really?" Del wasn''t sure about the capability of an airship. He knew that several ships on Alder harbor had cannons, but he never saw a ship fired a cannon. "Yeah, they''re deadly. On battlefield, destroying an airship can only be done by using another airship for the most part. There''s also the fact that an ancient site is a no-fly zone," Cassandra said. Del hummed after listening all of the descriptions. He realized that the warfare on that world wasn''t as backward as he thought. He initially thought that the warfare on that world consisted of fighting some duded with sword, but it was much moreplex but now he knew. He was dealing with something dangerous. Chapter 66 - Going To Nean Cliff After staying in that grasnd for a quick sleep, the trio continued their journey into the territory of the lizardmen after dealing with that sudden ambushes. Del looked at the time limit on his tablet. [38:09:20] He only had less than two days to reach the valley of death, and he even hadn''t entered the most dangerous territory of them all. It was the ce where the serpent might or might not live. So, why Del considered the serpent to be a dangerous creature even though that was only a myth? It was mainly because he considered two factors. One, the serpent was really a myth and the myth about the serpent originated from the lizardmen themselves. Or two, the most dangerous probability of them all, the serpent was real and no one was alive to tell the tale about it. Del was packing his belonging into the car. He was also preparing himself for any future battle with the lizardmen. He hade to the conclusion that he needed to prepare himself to face the worst which was the serpent. Del feared the serpent so much was not because he was afraid of snakes in general, but a snake whose mouth was as big as a humvee really needed a precaution to handle. Hell, that serpent might be as long as a regr train for what he knew. "Cassandra, about lizardmen, what do you know about them?" Del asked as he put his bag in the car. "Lizardmen, huh? Well, for starters, I think that the lizardmen in Ilbistirum and Elbanian are way too different. In ilbistirum, lizardmen are literally only a lizard with humanoid features, they can talk, they can learn, they can study in college, etc. However, the lizardmen in here are more tribal-ish. They are no different than goblins in this continent," Cassandra said. "Hmm, I wonder how Ilbistirum looks like, it must be very technologically advanced, right?" Del asked. Cassandraughed, "Hahaha, that''s a good joke Del. Listen, it''s not all sunshine and rainbows there. However, it''s way better than what Elbanian is." Cole approached them, "Yo, bro, are we going to continue our journey or what?" "Ah, sorry, let''s go, we don''t have much time left after all," Del said. Del entered the car and Cole manned the heavy machine gun turret as usual. Del gave a quick course to Cassandra on the usage of the G3. At the very least, Cassandra was able to put the magazine inside of the rifle and used it effectively. However, Del didn''t rmend Cassandra to use the full-auto mode of the G3. Wolfie was just being Wolfie, he sat down on the backseat. Del started the engine of the car and he began driving towards Nean Cliff. The road was bumpy as usual, but it wasn''t as bad as the road in the forest before. At the very least, it didn''t have as manyrge rocks as the previous road. Truth to be told, he wished that he could take a helicopter if Pidma provided him. Then again, he wasn''t a person that could operate a flying vehicle, let alone a helicopter. He was barely able to drive the Humvee just because he had a driving license that he got so he could take the car that his parents left after their passing. "What''s the n in dealing with the lizardmen?" Del asked as he drove. "Well¡­ I am suggesting that we just drove through the cliff as quickly as possible. However, it''s really up to you," Cassandra said. "Well, I''m more inclined about the serpent rather than those lizardmen, they weren''t even a threat, to begin with," Del said. Cassandra sighed, "If a serpent attacks us, let''s just say that I have some pretty good time with you and I''m happy to meet you." "C''mon, don''t be that negative, I have prepared for any possibility," Del said. Del''s n with dealing with the serpent was rather simple. If he saw the serpent, the Tandem Charge of the RPG-7 would be fired to the head of the serpent in hoping that it would kill the serpent in one shot. If one shot wasn''t enough, he would fire another shot at the serpent. If two shots weren''t enough, he would fire another one. Basically, he would keep firing his RPG. If the serpent somehow ate them, well, Del also had a backup n as long as the digestive system of the serpent wasn''t too aggressive. A snake couldn''t chew anything, they would let their stomach do all the work. Del would use a bunch of satchel charges to blow the head of the serpent. Maybe forty kilograms of C4 charges would blow the head of the snake open. Eventually, they arrived at Nean Cliff. To pass through the cliff, there was only one way, and that one way was through the road between two cliffs that were practically unclimbable. The only road was through that road that was practically a perfect ce to set up an ambush. Why? Lizardmen were living in the cave systems above on the cliffs and they usually showed up to ambush any unwanted visitor and it could be deadly. Because of that, Del took safety precautions to make sure that Cole was safe. "Cole, I don''t think I need you to be on the turret, for now, this is too risky and you''re too prone to ambush," Del said. Cole got down from the turret as Del approached the cliff. His first impression of the cliff wasn''t that bad. There wasn''t anything that resembled a lizardman or a serpent. He continued driving through the valley, He could have sworn that the road quality was downright awful. "Damn, it is rather¡­ peaceful, isn''t it?" Del said. "Yeah, perhaps¡­" Cassandramented just before everything went dark so suddenly. "Great, who turned off the goddamn light?" Cole asked. "Ah¡­ I don''t think we''re even in a cliff anymore," Del uttered as he turned on the light of the humvee. The lights shone the fleshy red part of something''s inside. "I think we''re inside of the serpent." Chapter 67 - Getting Out Of The Serpent "Wait, so we have been eaten by that gigantic snake???" Cassandra asked. Cold sweat immediately flowed from her body. It was like facing the impending doom for her. Del calmed himself down. He knew he couldn''t panic since being panic wouldn''t get him out of the stomach of the serpent. However, he didn''t have any idea how to get out of here. Del got out of the car and went to the backseat of the car. He grabbed his RPG-7 and its ammunition. He put the ammunition into his RPG and he fired it into the darkness. He pulled the trigger. The warhead flew very far until it hit the abdominal wall of the serpent. Once it hit the abdominal wall of the serpent, the serpent suddenly moved, throwing Del around its innards. If not for the helmet that Del wore, he could have a head injury, "You two, are you alright?" "NO!" Cassandra shouted. A liquid dripped right into Del''s face. Once the liquid touched his skin, it immediately burned it. The serpent had started ingesting them all. He also noticed that a yellowish puddle appeared in some area of the serpent. "Ah, fuck me!" Del said as he stood up and picked up his RPG. He really rethought his decision at that moment. Did he really waste his time by going to a region well-known for its dangerous monsters just for the sake of rescuing someone that had thrown him out of the hero''s party? He knew the person could be Anna, but if it weren''t Anna, Del really regretteding into that area. After being injured by SSU and now being digested by a gigantic snake, he really wondered what made him want to go there. He returned to the car that had been flipped upside down and noticed that there was a hissing noiseing from the darkness. Del grabbed the night vision goggles from the car and he wore the straps and reced the helmet with the night vision goggles. He immediately noticed snakes, a bunch of them. They wereing in their direction, what would they do? Del had an idea and they must be killed immediately. Del climbed to the top of the machine gun and started firing the heavy machine gun at those snakes that started crawling in their direction. While firing his machine gun in one hand, he also threw fireballs at the approaching snakes. Those snakes weren''t small by any means, no, they were as big as an adult hand and very long. Blood was sttering from the carcasses of the dead snakes. "What are you firing at?" Cassandra was confused. "LOOK IN THE DIRECTION WHERE I AM SHOOTING!" Del shouted. Cassandra threw a bulb of light in the direction where Del was shooting from. There were indeed a lot of snakes charging in their direction. "What the¡­ [Group Strike Mode: Icicle Barrage]." A bunch of ice spikes formed around Cassandra and the ice spikes flew toward the snakes. "COLE! REPLACE ME!" Del shouted. Del got out of the machine gun turret and Del grabbed all the satchels charges he had prepared on the back of the car. All of it should be enough to blow the snake open. However, he must be careful or the acid of the innards might prematurely blow the C4 off. However, before that, he reloaded another round of tandem warheads and fired it toward the snakes. The serpent created another thundering shriek, and it even shook him more violently. The shook threw Del from the ground. Hended with his head first and his RPG mming his stomach. "Ah, bloody hell," Del stood up from the ground and he ran back to the car to pick up the satchel charges he was supposed to be picking up if he wasn''t thrown away from the car. He picked up four bags of satchel charge that weighed around ten kilograms each. It might be heavy, but not that different from carrying his own M240 and 800 rounds of ammunition. Del threw ran towards the mouth of the serpent because there was no way the car could drive through the slippery part of the serpent without making the serpent shook its own body. "Del! Where these bloody snakes areing from?" Cole asked as he kept shooting the heavy machine gun turret. "Just keep shooting!" Del shouted. With the help of his night vision goggles, Del arrived at the end of the tunnel. Del threw four satchel charges at once to the tongue of the serpent and he ran as fast as he could. He didn''t want the st from the C4 to kill him. He knew that there was no way he could survive a st from forty kilograms of C4. Del ran far enough, but as he came closer to the car, he noticed that the hissing sound became louder and louder. After gaining more distance towards the car, he noticed Cassandra could barely keep the snakes away from the car and Cole''s machine gun was having a problem. Del pressed the detonator of the C4 and an enormous boom could be heard from the other direction. A shock wave came in his direction alongside mist and droplets of blood that came out from the blown-off head of the serpent. One of therger blobs of bloodnded right on Del''s face. It was sticky. "Damn," Del wiped his eyes from the blood that sttered his entire body. "They''re down! Those snakes are down! And Cole, did you bleed out or something?" Cassandra asked as she wiped off the blood from her face. "No, I don''t, this is not my blood, Del, are you ok?" Cole asked. "No, this is the blood from the serpent, the serpent is dead now," Del said. "The serpent is dead???" Cassandra really doubted that statement. "Yeah, the serpent is dead," Del said. There was a lighting from the ce where Del ced the C4. Del got inside the car. Cassandra entered the car as well. Del drove out of the serpent through the opening that Del created with his C4. Del drove through the hole that he created. He then saw the dead body of the serpent. It was, in fact, arge white snake. The head of the serpent was barely recognizable, most likely because of the amount of explosive that Del used. Del stopped his car in front of the head of the serpent. He got out of the car to observe the dead body of that serpent. "Holy fuck, where the fuck this snake came from?" Del asked himself as he observed the dead carcass of the serpent. It turned out that the serpent came out of arge cave and it immediately swallowed the car once it crossed the front part of the cave. Well, it was not surprising. It also meant that the threat of the serpent was no more. "Dude, do you realize that you just kill a mystical creature?" Colemented. "Well, it means that we will have a much easier time," Delmented. Cassandra''s reaction wasn''t that different from Cole. She knew she was a good mage, but she didn''t realize that Del could kill a creature that was mythical. Then again, she also knew that Wolfie was a mythical creature as well. "Holy¡­ Del, I really hope we don''t cross paths in the future," Cassandra said. "Yeah, I hope so," Del entered the car again. He drove away from the dead body of that serpent. He grabbed a clean towel from the back of the car and wiped his face. He wiped off the blood and put it away on the dashboard of the car. The blood wasn''t stinky, but it was just inconvenient to have it on his face. "Del! Look!" Cassandra pointed her hand at the lizard men that were blocking the way. All of those lizard men were holding a spear, and they were blocking the road. There was no way to get past them without shooting them or running them off. Del was confused about whether to engage those lizard men or just get past them. However, the lizard men soon gave their answer as they threw a spear toward Del''s car. "Cole! Engage them all!" Del shouted and Cole got on top of the turret and shot all the lizard men that were blocking the road. Del drove through the dead bodies of the lizard men. After that fiasco, he drove as fast as he could to get through the cliff. It was enough for him. He never ever wanted to get through that cliff ever again. The serpent was scary, especially since he had experienced being eaten by it. Maybe, on the way back, he might choose a way better route than going through that cliff region. Still, he needed to focus now. He needed to prepare himself for a search operation and possibly, a hostile opposition that wanted him to be dead. Chapter 68 - Lets Take A Break Del and his team set up a camp near a riverbank on Duliare Hill. He had washed himself using the water from the river. He changed his clothes to a new one since the old one was all stained with blood. He also didn''t want to attract predators when he slept. He was sitting down near the campfire while looking at his tablet. The map on his tablet showed that the predicted area where the person that he was going to rescue was five miles north of his location. After that, he grabbed his status te to check whether he had leveled up or not from killing a mystical creature. In theory, he should level up a lot since killing one was practically impossible ording to Cassandra, and yet, Del managed to kill it. ???????????? [Del Moore] [Level: 52] Strength: 123 Agility: 120 Vitality: 120 Aptitude: 92 Perception: 109 Skills: Language Understanding | Firearm Comprehension LVL.45 | Marksmanship LVL.48 | me Maniption LVL.10 | Field Maniption LVL.9 | Demolition Expert LVL.11 Magical Energy: 19136/19136 Health Point: 62400/62400 ???????????? "Damn, this is quite a lot," he thought. It meant two things. First, Del was getting stronger, but that wasn''t the main point of leveling up for him. The main prospect of leveling up for Del was the ability to upgrade his tech level. If he had leveled up to level 50, he could upgrade his weapon to 90s weaponry. He opened his tablet. Several unread notifications showed up. All of them were Pidma informing him of his new tech level. He had several new features on his system as well. Most of them were his system upgrade. [Tech Level Has Leveled Up] [Automated Targeting Has Been Added] [Remote Targeting Has Been Added] [Advanced Weapon Customization Has Been Unlocked] [Advanced Weapon Upgrade Has Been Unlocked] "Nice, very nice," Del giggled. "Why are you giggling?" Cole asked. "Well, if you ask me, it''s because I have an upgrade, other than that, it''s just usual," Del said. "How much time that we have left by the way?" Cole nodded. [30:02:09] "Thirty hours, huh? Well, I think we should have enough time for sleeping. Still, looking for people being executed would be challenging, especially since Westwend Valley holds some religious sentiment," Cole said. "What do you mean?" Del asked. "The execution ground was called "Valley of Death" for a reason. Westwend Valley is also known as the ce that eats people. Most of the time, the people that are executed here or going in here won''t return alive unless they were blessed," Cole said. "I think I can see the truth of that sentiment," Del said. "Well, I think all of them are bullshits though. Because, for the most part, the people that entered from the west, like us, often die. The "blessed" people were the people that entered this valley from the east which is guarded by the Elbanian soldiers," Cole said. "I see, it makes sense, you can reinforce some beliefs by doing that," Del said. "Yeah, anyway, what would you think will happenter?" Cole asked. "Don''t ask me, I''m not a fortune teller, I can''t guess what would happen next," Del said. "Haha, I know," Cole said. They spent the rest of the night quietly. Del spent the night quietly browsing through the upgrade that he got and Cole spent the rest of the night sleeping near the campfire. Little did they know, the other side of the hill wasn''t that quiet. ============================= "Prisoner, keep moving!" The soldier pushed Anna to walk barefooted. Since the carriage wasn''t able to move through the rough terrain, everyone was forced on foot or on horse to go to the execution ground. Eric was walking right beside of her, mocking her. Did she feel disgraced? Yes, she did. She acted though, but she couldn''t keep that up for long. She used to be respected by those soldiers who were pushing her, but now, they didn''t even differentiate her from animal. When she was too tired to move, the soldiers didn''t even hesitate to whip her feet to make her move. When the soldiers ate, they told Anna to eat the grass on the ground like some kettle. At first, Anna was sure as hell she wasn''t going to eat the grasses like those soldiers told him to, but her stomach got the better of her. She eventually ate the grasses and she threw it up immediately. The grass was poisonous. As a result, she marched towards the execution ground with horrible stomachache that could only be described as knives stabbing her own innards. The soldiers didn''t even give a fuck. If Anna couldn''t move, they would tie her up to a horse and drag her along. If not for her own healing spell, she couldn''t have survived. She kept walking and walking with one thousands n to kill Eric in the most gruesome way. It wouldn''t give her the satisfaction, but it was all that she could do. She really wondered what his brother was doing in heaven, he was probably having a dinner with her parents or something. "How does it feel, have to walk barefooted to your own death?" Eric said. "Fuck you!'' Anna said. "It must feel unreal to walk into your own death, isn''t it? You''re going to be covered in pitch and burned alive, a pretty horrifying way to death, isn''t it?" Eric said. "I really can''t believe it, where is your humanity? Why are you turning insane?" Anna said. "You will create mutiny in our party and it''s my job as the leader of the party to solve any problem," Eric said, proudly knowing that he was killing his own friend. Anna didn''t even start a mutiny in the heroes party. She was only keep asking what would happen if his brother was still around. She only said that she might be able to work more effectively with her brother instead of working alone due to Del''s basic medical knowledge. She did hold a grudge against the king or any of her friend in general for voting to banish his brother out of the party. But now, he really wanted to kill them all, no matter how innocent they proved to be. All of them voted that she was guilty as charged for absolutely no reason. It was simply uneptable. "Eric, just¡­ why?" Anna said. "Why? Why are you keep asking why? It''s clear that my action has its own reasonings. We threw your brother out because he was an inability and we agreed that you were guilty because you killed one of my friends," Eric said. "Eric, do you even realize that you''re being yed?" Anna asked him back. "Shut up!" Eric kicked Anna to the ground and the rope that was tied to Anna dragged her on the ground before she struggled to stand up on her own. Eric justughed as the horse dragged Anna and made her bleed. Anna held the bleeding firmly with her hand. She cast her healing spell, but she forgot that it wouldn''t work because of her magical restrain cor, "Damn," Anna held her wound firmly, "the healing spell doesn''t work." "Why did you forget that we put that cor on you? Hahahaha," Ericughed. Anna sighed as he continued walking down the sharp gravel road. Her feet were bleeding badly ever since she began walking. Eric kept smiling as he kept looking at Anna''s suffering. Eric was insane, and Anna knew it. "Eric, you''re sick, power has corrupted you so much," Anna said. "Shut up, I use my power sparingly and when I need it. You are a disgrace to us all, just like your brother. You should be ashamed of yourself, Anna. Nobody is useful in your family. Your brother is weak and you''re nothing but a little bitch and a betrayer," Eric said. "And you''re one hell of a delusional teenager with his own little kingdom!" Anna shouted. "I''m not delusional!" Eric kicked her again. Anna was all thrown on the ground again as the horse dragged her along on the ground again. She bleed again from the wound that she got from the sharp stones on the road. Anna desperately stood up from the ground again, "Del will kill you if he founds you!" Anna shouted. "Listen here, you little¡­, Del is dead. HE IS DEAD. WHY ARE YOU KEEP SAYING DEL, DEL, AND DEL! That name disgusts me!" Eric shouted. "He is alive and I know it!" Anna shouted. "Shut up!" Eric punched Anna in the face. Anna held her bleeding nose. She cried. Ericughed again. For Eric, he really felt superior for wounding Anna and keep his dominant role over Anna. Little did he know, he was really ying with his own life. Sooner orter, his action would result in severe consequences for Elbanian, Heroes Party, and himself. Chapter 69 - New Tool For Cassandra [12:00:00] Twelve hours left. Del must hurry himself up or he wouldn''t be able to rescue whoever he wanted to rescue. Del gave Cassandra a crash course on her G3. She was a capable marksman, but she couldn''t reload the G3. They had a briefing first before going into the unknown. To make matters worse, if they couldn''t reach the target before afternoon, he/she might die. "Listen carefully, alright," Cassandra pointed to the area on Del''s map. Elbanian threw the dead bodies of execution into the valley of death. It was also the ce where they would most likely find their intended target. However, the road to the valley wasn''t that smooth. It was made of huge rocks and gravel as well. In the valley, there should be a river called the Indio River. Indio River was located close, right next to the execution ground. It was only separated by a thinyer of a forest. The forest was well-known to be the ce where elves live, but it was only an unconfirmed myth. The n was to park the car near the Indio River. Cassandra would hide in the forest as a marksman holding a DMR while Cole, Wolfie, and Del would do a head-on-assault on the execution ground. Hopefully, they were able to rescue the victim way before the execution started. Still, the road towards the valley was rough enough that it would take them hours just to reach that position. Still, twelve hours should be more than enough. "Hmm, the route seems safe enough, is there any chance that we will encounter Elbanian soldiers?" Del asked. "Well¡­ yes, there''s the chance of it happening, but what will you do to them? Do you want to kill them or something?" Cassandra asked. "Is there anything else to do besides killing them if we notice them? We have killed one of their special units, we might as well go all in and kill anyone that obstructed our way," Del said. "I see," Cassandra nodded. Cassandra then pointed to one area on the map. The map showed an area located very close to the execution area. What was so special about the area? Del had no idea about it, but Cassandra might be able to tell Del why the area was so special. It was only a formation of tall rocks located next to the river. "What''s so special about this area?" Del asked. "I think I can set myself up as a marksman from this position, it might provide less concealment for me, but I don''t think a regr marksman would be able to hit me from that area," Cassandra said. True enough, that area, in particr, had a higher elevation than the area surrounding it, the execution zone included. Still, Del doubted that the area was safe enough for Cassandra to stay without any armor. They were going to fight a security detail only equivalent to regr special security on Earth. It would be risky not to pack any protection. "Are you sure that you can keep yourself safe inside of that area? I meant, even though we would face them upfront, the moment they found you, all hell would be thrown at you," Del churned his face, doubting that this vampire would be able to pull that off. "C''mon, don''t underestimate me that much, I might be not as powerful as you, but I am still strong," Cassandra said. She then showed her G3 to Del, "Besides, you give me this thing, what was it called? A rifle, right?" "Yeah, I think so. Well, do you mind if I give you armor or something? I''m really worried about your safety, especially since you will be married soon enough, to be honest," Del said. "Sure, what do you have in mind for me?" Cassandra asked. Del picked up his tablet and he started opening the shop menu. He browsed all body armor of that area and he found one that would be suitable. Del didn''t have any interest in giving Cassandra a cheap soviet armor like what Cole was wearing. ???????????? [Showing Avable Body Armor] [Tech Level: 6] [Total Bnce: 359,300$] [6B3] [800$] [PASGT] [1600$] [6B5-15] [2000$] [Ranger Body Armor] [2200$] [Customizable] [Fort Defender 2] [4000$] [Customizable] [Fort Defender 2 Light] [5000$] [Customizable] [Fort Defender 2 Heavy] [12000$] [Customizable] ???????????? "Hmm, what should I even buy for you?" Del asked himself. "I''m happy with anything," Cassandra added. Del thought about the option that he had. He could buy Cassandra a better version of his armor which was the ranger body armor aka the te carrier. However, he also knew that Cassandra would be under the heaviest fire if she got spotted. It was a tough decision. He eventually came to the conclusion that he should buy her the heaviest armor. [Fort Defender 2 Heavy Has Been Purchased] [Remaining Bnce: 347,300$] A wooden create appeared in front of him. Del opened the wooden crate up and it contained the heaviest armor that he had ever seen. The armor was thick, like really thick. Del would describe it as holding his heavy textbook. "What in the bloody heck is this armor made of?" Del lifted up the armor from the crate. He felt that armor alone was as heavy as his machine gun with its ammunitionbined, maybe heavier. [Permission to answer. Fort Defender 2 armor is an armor created to respond to the need for a more durable and more protective armor for the Russian military. A regr defender 2 armor uses thebination of steel tes and Aramid fiber to achieve better protection than regr 6B5-15 armor. This experimental variant uses a thicker Aramid fiber inbination with thick titanium tes instead of steel tes. This experimental version is designed specifically for the Russian Heavy Gunner and Russian Explosive Ordinance Disposal Team.] "So¡­ this is a heavy armor, huh?" Del held the armor firmly in his hand. "What''s even that contraption that you''re holding, is that the armor for me?" Cassandra asked. "More or less," Del said. "That doesn''t look like an armor for me, hell, all of the vests that you all are wearing look more like a regr vest than an armor, are you sure that thing could stop the arrow that would be thrown at me or any fragmentations from those rocks?" Cassandra asked. "Believe me or not, Cassandra, I think you can judge by yourself," Del said. Del had been shot by arrows more than once. The PASGT vest was somehow effective at stopping arrows at a distance. But well, it was kinda hit-and-miss for the most part. Sometimes it prated, oftentimes, it didn''t. But for close range, it usually resulted in pration. However, it was very effective against an explosive spell that threw fragmentations in his direction. "Alright, alright, how do I wear it?" Cassandra asked. "Well, first," Del opened the Velcro that secured the vest. He put the vest on Cassandra''s body and secured it tightly. "Alright, that should be done." "Damn, what kind of thick vest is this? This also feels way bulkier than what I previously expected. Still, overall, I think I can trust my life on this vest," Cassandramented on the olive bulletproof drab vest that she wore. "Yeah, this vest is surely overengineered," Delmented. Del put four magazines inside of Cassandra''s pants pocket. 120 rounds of 7.62 NATO rounds should be enough to kill anything that moved. Besides, Cassandra was quite skillful as a sniper, maybe it was because of her familiarity with a crossbow. "Anything else that you have in mind besides of this bulky vest?" Cassandra asked. "Well¡­" Del opened his tablet again and browsed for a ballistic helmet. ???????????? [Showing Avable Ballistic Helmet] [Tech Level: 6] [Total Bnce: 347,300$] [SSH-68] [500$] [6B7] [800$] [PASGT] [1000$] [MASKA] [1300$] [Visor Included] [Altyn] [1600$] [Visor Included] ???????????? Del purchased a Altyn helmet for her. Not because PASGT helmet was more than enough, but more because it would be a good match with the bulky Defender 2 armor that she wore. Another crate appeared and Del opened it. "This is a helmet, pure and simple," Del gave Cassandra the helmet. "I think this is the only piece of equipment that makes sense to me, I''m not going to lie about it," Cassandra said as she wore the helmet. "Well, this is just a titanium helmet," Del said. "Titanium? What is titanium?" Cassandra asked. "Some sort of heavy metal," Del said. "I see," Cassandra said. "Anyway, that should be enough for the briefing, we shall go now," Del said. All of them entered the car and Del started driving away from the campsite. He couldn''t wait to meet whoever he would rescue. Hopefully, the person that they rescued could be extracted for some information about the current conflict. He really wondered whether he/she would be cooperative or not. Chapter 70 - Entering The Execution Ground Anna was standing in the execution zone while the guards were preparing for her execution. Eric was long gone, he told the guards that he didn''t have time to watch the traitor''s death, but he did keep a message to make sure that Anna''s death was as miserable as possible. The soldiers had poured pitch all over her body, turning her into a mmable piece of meat. All they had to do was to light Anna up and burn her up. Anna was tied up on a rope that would burn as she would be burned alive. "Sir, preparationplete," one of the soldiers saluted the superior officer who was holding Anna with a rope. The pitch that covered her body should keep Anna burn long enough. That ck tar would make sure that the me stuck to Anna and would only be extinguished if someone deliberately extinguished it. The only thing left was to burn her. "You traitor, do you realize that death isn''t enough for you?" The soldier asked. Anna stayed quiet. All that she knew was she was going to be burned alive and that was it. The details didn''t really matter for her. Unless someone was going to rescue her, her chance of surviving was quite little. One of the soldiers throw a fireball at Anna and burned her alive. Anna screamed in pain as the fire started engulfing her. The soldier kicked her to the ground and left her to her demise. All of them walked away from that execution ground. They were all sure that Anna would be dead. Anna immediately rolled over the ground to extinguish her me, but it failed. The pitch stuck the me onto her skin and she felt as if someone was peeling her skin while a thousand needles were stuck on his skin. Anna screamed. The soldiers just smiled in satisfaction, looking at the traitor that fell to her own demise. Anna didn''t give up yet. There was something that suddenly appeared. The cor that kept her in restrain fell off. She could buy herself some time by applying healing spells to herself. Hopefully, it would be enough. ================== [00:30:20] "So, it took us eleven hours just to reach this ce, huh?" Delmented. "Yeah, more or less," Colemented. The road was bumpy, consisted ofrge rocks and boulders that oftentimes needed to be moved or blown up to let the car get past. Overall, it was really a hard drive and not a smooth one. Still, they managed to arrive there. They were on the road located on the sides of Indio River, on one of its river banks to be exact. In front of them was the forest bordering between the river itself and the execution ground. The forest should be infested with Elbanian soldiers at that point. One wrong move and they could encounter one of those SSU on their way to the execution zone. "What''s the n?" Cole asked. "Cole, you and I will go to the execution ground quietly, making sure that no Elbanian soldier notices us. Cassandra, I think you can head to that area that you point on my map, do you have any map with you?" Del asked. Cassandra showed Del her map, "Sure, I have one, that''s why I pointed the location to you in the first ce." "Alright, you should be safe then, you can go now. Don''t fire a shot until Cole and I get out of the forest, understand?" Del said. If everything went ording to n, all of them should be able to pull a surprise attack against the Elbanian soldiers and rescue the victim unharmed. "Be careful, alright?" Cassandra walked away from the car. Now, the challenge was to get pass a forest filled with soldiers that would kill anyone on sight without any hesitation. There was no way that Cole and Del could get past all of them without any help from their good old friend, technology. Del opened his tablet and he browsed [Killstreak] menu. There was something that could help both Del and Cole to get through the forest undetected. Del only needed to search for it first and he would find it. ???????????? [Killstreak Menu] [Tech Level: 6] [Total Bnce: 345,700$] [Sentry Gun] [5,000$] [Precision UAV] [20,000$] [Precision Airstrike] [50,000$] [Juggernaut Suit] [60,000$] [Cluster Strike] [80,000$] [Cruise Missile] [120,000$] [Chopper Gunner] [150,000$] [Escort Helicopter] [180,000$] [Gunship] [120,000$/Hour] ???????????? "I thought some of these Killstreaks are free, right? Well, I remember AC-130 was not this expensive" Del asked. [The previously told price that I told to you around four months ago is the price of calling it. The price of logistic and ammunition was not included on that one.] "I see," Del nodded, "Call an UAV then, I need to know the position of the current enemy." [Precision UAV Has Been Called. Open Map To Disy Enemies. Remaining Bnce: 325,700$] Del observed the map and several red dots appeared on the map. There were indeed a lot of soldiers. There were several groups of them scattered around the entire forest. The UAV was flying high so the range of that killstreak was quiterge as well. It covered the area of the entire forest. [Predicted Number of Hostiles: 89] [Predicted Number of Friendlies: 5] [Terrain Difficulty Rating: D] [Predicted Combat Chance: 75%] "Cole, Wolfie, follow me, ok? If one of you get lost, I don''t know what I will do," Del said as he entered the forest quietly. "Sure thing boss, we will stick to you like a glue," Cole said. "Ok, follow me," Del said as he entered the forest while looking at his tablet. Thick bushes and the abundant amount of trees in that forest made the infiltration to the execution ground way easier than Del previously expected. As long as Del could keep crawling on the ground, he was safe for the most part. He made sure that he wouldn''t cross path with any soldiers that was patrolling the forest by keeping at least a distance of fifty meters away from the patrolling soldiers. The tablet really helped Del in measuring the distance to the nearest soldier. "Damn, this is some next-level infiltration bullshit, this is way above my paycheck as a chemical engineer," Cole whispered. Des shushed him, "Quiet, if anyone hears us while we are in this forest, we''ll be dead." Cole replied with a nod. Del wasn''t lying though. The SSU was specialized in guarding a high-value-target and their way of attacking was usually ambushing their enemies. Although Del had taken off their element of surprise, he still had to be careful since SSU was still dangerous with their throwing knifes and their ambush tactics. "Is rescuing whoever we are going to rescue is trully worth it?" Cole asked. "I think so," Del said. "You think?" "Well, yeah, I really can''t say. Let''s just get to the execution ground, I really have a bad feeling about this forest," Del said. "Well¡­" BANG Suddenly, the dots on the map went awry after that gunfire. The dots moved from one ce to another rapidly. The soldiers were put on high alert after hearing that gunfire. It looked like that gunfire really alerted them. "Damn, Cassandra, what has gotten into you?" Del asked himself, "Change into n B!" Chapter 71 - Fighting Through The Forest In under a minute, the stealth infiltration turned into a battlefield filled with explosions, arrows, and magical spells flying in Cassandra''s direction. Well, that was quite a distraction to be entirely honest. The moment Del took a peek at the vantage point where Cassandra was hiding, he saw multiple explosions. "Damn, I meant, I know that''s the highest spot, but still, for her to take that kind of risk, that''s quite unpredictable," Colemented. "Let''s make sure that her sacrifice won''t be wasted then," Del said as he stood up from his hiding ground and aimed his M240 at the running SSU personnel. He pulled the trigger of his M240 and a stream of bullets flew in the enemy''s general direction. "CONTACT! MULTIPLE DIRECTIONS!" One of the SSU personnel shouted. Contact? So they were quite modernized, eh? Del used to think that SSU personnel was not radically different from regr soldiers who were practically cannon fodder for the mages. However, now he knew why they were different. "Cole, Wolfie, take care of the enemy on the right, I will take care of the enemy on the left," Del observed his tablet, "And Wolfie, help Cole, alright?" Wolfie replied with a bark. Del ran while gunning down the opposition with his machine gun. Bullet kept pouring out every time Del observed that he came close to a dot on his tablet. If he noticed a dot, he fired his machine gun in the general direction of the SSU personnel. It wasn''t hard to pinpoint where Del''s gunfire wasing from since his gun was not suppressed like Cole''s MP5SD. However, it was not really a sound that anyone sane enough would approach. He then noticed that one of the SSU personnel was on top of a tree. "DON''T YOU EVEN THINK YOU CAN PULL THE SAME TRICK TWICE!" Del fired his machine gun in the direction of that SSU personnel. He fell off the tree. He then hear a whisper, "How can he notice us?" He replied with another stream of bullet from his machine gun. "Well, I won''t fall into the same trap twice," Delmented afterward. Looking at the other side, Del noticed that several people with ck robes running straight in Cole''s direction. He fired his machine gun to shoot them all down. All of them fell to the ground. Del dashed through the forest to get to the execution ground quicker. As he ran, he looked at his tablet again. A group of SSU was in his way. He pulled a brick of C4 from his pocket and threw it in the direction of the SSU personnel. He ducked and he pressed the detonator. The explosion threw the bodies of the SSU personnel. One of themnded right at Del. Del fell to the ground from the inertia of that flying body. He threw away the body, but not before identally looking at the face of that body. Its face was unrecognizable and all of the eyes were gone from the explosion. "Ah, bloody hell," Del stood up and picked up his machine gun. "Who are these guys?" "Are we dealing with mercenaries?" "Are you nuts? Mercenaries aren''t going to mess with us." Del heard voicesing out of the bushes, but he couldn''t figure out where they wereing from. He opened the tablet and noticed that three SSU personnel were waiting right next to him. He shot his machine gun in their general direction and three dead bodies appeared in the bushes. "Damn, this UAV is sure as hell overpowered against them," Delmented. "DEL!" Cole shouted. Del looked in his direction in response. He saw Cole was surrounded. The tablet told him that there was at least ten SSU personnel surrounding him. Del aimed his machine gun and shouted, "COLE, GET DOWN!" Del pulled the trigger of his machine gun and filled the rest of the SSU personnel full of bullets. He then ran towards Cole''s position to check on him. Cole was injured, not badly injured, but still injured. His hand was bleeding from a throwing knife. Luckily, it wasn''t a poisoned knife. "Hey, you ok?" Del asked. "I''m fine, bandage would fix this easily, now, let''s get out of this forest," Cole said. "You''re right." The strategy of getting out of the forest was ratherplicated. First, if they didn''t kill all of the SSU personnel before getting out, they would be in big trouble since the SSU archers would easily pick them as a target once they got out of the forest. The only thing that kept them from firing their bows was the thick trees with branches that would easily snatch their arrows. Or second, they would kill all of the SSU personnel on that forest which would risk them arriving at the execution ground toote, but at the same time, it would also mean that they would have an easier time on the battle in the execution ground. "How many enemies left?" Cole asked, thinking that Del might know. [Predicted Number of Hostiles: 43] [Predicted Number of Friendlies: 5] [Terrain Difficulty Rating: D] [Predicted Combat Difficulty: C] [Chance of Escaping: 60%] "We 43 more enemies, but well, if we work together, we will get through this rather easily," Delmented. "Alright partner, I think we should stick together," Cole said. They stuck together to hunt down the remaining SSU personnel. Now, the hunters had be the hunted. "If you see anyone wearing a ck robe, just shoot it, don''t doubt yourself," Del said. "Aye, Del," Cole said. Cole pulled the trigger of his SMG. The bullet flew in the direction of one SSU personnel. Del observed his tablet for any sudden enemy movements. The enemies beyond their area weren''t moving too frantically inparison to the enemies inside of the forest. It might be the tactics of SSU to continuously move. "THERE!" Del shouted and pulled the trigger of his machine gun. An SSU personnel was hiding in the bushes again. "It will take us a very long time to kill them all, right?" Cole asked. "Rx, we''ll get through it," Del said. =================== After spending their time clearing the whole forest, Cole and Del finally arrived at the execution ground. There were several dead bodies on that execution ground. It was not that hard to guess where the dead bodies wereing from. After all, Cassandra was sniping them from a spot that stuck out like a sore thumb. "Well, it looks like my senior has done some good job," Colemented on the number of dead bodies in the execution ground. "Yeah, but look, there are still several enemies that we have to take care of," Del pointed his hand at four remaining enemies on that grasnd. "Well, we can shoot them up!" Cole aimed his SMG in their direction and fired it. The bullet bounced off the armor of one of the SSU personnel while the rest of the bullet killed three SSU personnel at once. The person''s armor was different, it was certainly not steel, but it wasn''t Mithril either. So, what was it? "What the hell?" Del shot his machine gun at him. The 7.62 Anti-Material Incendiary High-Explosive Armor Piercing bullet prated the armor easily and turned the armored person into nothing but a red grotesque mess. "Well, it looks like your bullet isn''t powerful enough," Delmented. "I think¡­ so," Cole said. "Now, where is the victim, I can''t see him or her," Del said as he looked around. There was simply no sign of someone was burned, but there was indeed the smell of human BBQ. "Let''s search for it, I think Cassandra will join us soon enough," Cole pointed his hand at the vantage point where Cassandra was. She was climbing down the huge rock formation to join them. "Alright, Wolfie, do you think you can smell where the smell wasing from?" Del asked. "Sure," Wolfie barked back. Wolfie led them through the grasnd. Del and Cole followed him from behind. Del expected that Wolfie would find them faster than any ordinary dog. But well, it looked like he simply put too much expectation on him. It took him so long that Cassandra had joined them but they hadn''t found the victim of the execution yet. "Hey, back then, why were you firing the gun even though we haven''t gotten out of the forest?" Del asked. "Well, it turns out that an SSU personnel was using that vantage point as well. I tried to kill him with my spell, but I was spotted by a spotter on the execution ground. Everything went awry once they began throwing the explosive spells at me," Cassandra said. "Ah, I see, well, that kind of thing is expected, isn''t it?" Del asked. Cassandra shrugged, "Nevertheless, your armor protected me, so there was that," Cassandra said. All of them continued trying to find the victim of the execution. Hopefully, they weren''t toote because the timer really had hit zero. Chapter 72 - Searching For That Someone Even with a dog, searching for the victim wasn''t easy. However, the pungent smell of human BBQ was getting stronger and stronger as Wolfie led them closer and closer to the victim of the execution. "Wolfie, are you sure that we are heading in the right direction? We are in the forest, again!" Del said. "Don''t be angry, master, but the person is reallying through here," Wolfie said. "Are you sure that even a person that is burned alive can walk this far? I meant, the person should have died some times ago," Del said. "Well, the person surely came here," Cassandra touched one of the burned leaves on the tree. "We must be rescuing one of the strongest people in heroes party then because there is no way that an ordinary person would survive this. Wait, don''t tell me," Del gulped, "Eric is executed." "No way. There is no way that the leader of the hero''s party is executed. That doesn''t make any sense at all. It differs too much from basic guidelines of Elbanian Kingdom," Colemented. "I swear, if Ie this far just to rescue that snake Eric, I would kill him on the spot," Del said. "Damn, I''ll say that we interrogate him first, but with this kind of burn, I really doubt that he can survive," Cassandramented on the burning duration. "Well, let''s see what we can do to him or her," Del said. Although Del felt a little bit d that he was out of the heroes party, he was surprised that the Elbanian dared to execute one of their mascots in the most painful way to die ever known to mankind. Even chopping would be way humane than burning a person alive. What were they thinking? "Don''t worry though, if I say that I''m able to save the victim, I''d do my best," Cassandra said. "Thanks, that means a loting from you, I''m not going to lie about it," Del said. "Well, I just hope that the tar doesn''t stick that much, it''s hard to be cleaned and it needs to be removed," Cassandra said. Eventually, they got out of the forest and arrived at the road where they parked the road. Their car was located close to their exit point. It can be concluded that whoever the victim was, he or she managed to run through the forest amid the chaos. That was quite smart. "Look, a smoke!" Cole pointed his hand at something steaming on the side of the river. "Yeah, and it does smell like a human barbeque," Delmented. "What''s barbeque?" Cole asked. "Anyway, let''s get to her. I will bring the trauma kit from the car, Cassandra, I think you and Cole can give him/her proper care while waiting for me," Del said. "Sure thing," Cassandra nodded as she ran in the direction of that smoke. Del ran in the direction of his car. He opened the backdoor and grabbed Cassandra''s bag that contained the heavy trauma kit. He always brought the bag to the car in case something suddenly needed surgical intervention. However, it was quite rare to be entirely honest. "COLE! BE FUCKING CAREFUL! SHE''S BRITTLE AS FUCK!" Cassandra shouted. "Sorry, sorry," Cole lifted the body from the water. The river was shallow, nothing would get submerged in that. She? The victim was a woman? Well, that was interesting. Del ran towards the burn victim. Del put the trauma kit on the ground and he opened the stretcher to make it easier to transport the victim. Cole and Cassandra put the body on the stretcher. Del was speechless, the whole body was simply burnt, including the clothing and everything surrounding it. "Damn, how the hell did the person manage to survive this?" Del asked himself. "Give me the bag! Quickly!" Cassandra shouted. Del gave the bag to Cassandra and she rapidly opened it. "God damn it, where''s the bloody fucking IV?" Cassandra gritted her teeth. "Ah, there you are, damn! Phew, this quite one of the miraculous cases." Cassandra put the IV bag on the patient''s arm. "Lucky case? What do you mean?" Del asked. "Somehow, yes, somehow, the patient passed ABCDE, although not wlessly, well, still, the river water is a source of bacteria. Hey, you there, hold the pain, ok?" Cassandra shouted. Suddenly, two ck triangr horns appeared on Cassandra''s head. She then begun casting several magical programs at the body. Del couldn''t find out what the program was, but the girl groaned in pain. Damn, who burned her so bad? Her face was barely recognizable. "Alright, that should be it, Cole, give me the bandages, let''s start wrapping her up," Cassandra said. "Del¡­ is that you?" A soft voice came out the mouth of that girl whose face was unrecognizable. Suddenly, everything went silent. Del recognized that voice, anywhere. The voice of someone that he held dearly. He hesitated just to look at his sister''s face who was barely recognizable from both the burn injury and the pitch that covered her face. Del felt pain in his chest, he tried holding back his tear, "Don''t tell me¡­ Anna¡­" He couldn''t hold back his tear. He started crying once he held the face of her own sister. The face that used to be so smooth now felt oily and brittle from the burns. Now, he couldn''t even look at his own sister. "Del, I''m d to see you," Anna said, softly. "WAIT, THIS IS YOUR SISTER???" Cole opened his eyes widely from the surprise. Del couldn''t get himself to open his mouth, let alone saying a few words. His chest felt heavy. He should have gone there way earlier. He shouldn''t even sleep during the way. He shouldn''t even neglect the rescue request. He shouldn''t even have any thought that the rescue was meaningless. Del dropped a tear from his eyes, "If¡­ I were notte¡­" He sighed. He then sobbed very loudly. He couldn''t control his own breathing. He sobbed as he grabbed the sterile bandage from the trauma kit and wrapped the bandage around her entire body. "I''m sorry, I am really sorry." Del sobbed. "It''s not your fault," Anna tried to lift her own hand, but Del stopped it. "No¡­" Del put Anna''s hand back on the stretcher. "It truly isn''t, I''m d you''re alive," Anna whispered as tears dropped from her eyes. "It''s been so long, you know." "I know," Del held Anna''s arm firmly as he bandaged it with tears still falling from his eyes. "C''mon, Del, stop crying," Anna said. "I can''t" Del said, sofly. "Del, do you think you need some time alone? Cole and I can handle this," Cassandra said as he continued wrapping the bandages. "Nah," Del wiped his tear, "I''m fine. It just feels¡­plicated." "I understand, take your time," Cassandra said as she continuously applying magical spell on Anna''s body. "Yeah," Del wiped his eyes, "Let''s focus. Sorry, if I''m not as focused as usual." "Mate, if someone burned my sister like this I would definitely kill anyone who has done this, but I don''t even think it would be enough," Cole said. "Yeah, I know," Del couldn''t give a proper response to that statement. It was too heartbreaking for him to see Anna at this state. "I¡­ can''t think." Suddenly, everything felt wobbly. The world felt like spinning around him. His vision suddenly darkened. "Del, are you ok?" Cassandra asked. Del couldn''t keep his bnce and he fell to the ground. Del had passed out from the shock. ======== "DEL! DEL! DEL!" Someone was pping his face continuously. The hand that was pping him moved back and forth from the right to the left. Del opened his eyes. Cole was the person that was pping him to make him wake up from the shock. He opened his eyes and the sunny sky had gone dark. How long he had been passing out. Never mind about that, but why there was an IV bag attached to his arm? Moreover, who moved him so he slept right under a tree? "Wait, how long have I passed out?" Del asked himself. "Long enough that Cassandra has to attach an IV on your arm," Cole pointed at the IV bag that was hanging on a tree branch. "How''s my sister?" Del hastily stood up, but Cole pushed him back so he returned to his sitting down position. "Rx, your sister is stable, but Cassandra said that we need to bring her back home," Cole said. "I see, what did she say?" Del asked. "His burn is quite severe, but most of her internal organ isn''t suffering from any damage. Even her lung was normal for the most part. Her skin, on the other hand, was beyond repair," Cole said. "What did she suggest?" Del asked. "We should return home. This area isn''t safe for treating a wounded person like that. I agree with her, I think transporting her shouldn''t be an issue considering that we have cleared the road, right?" Cole asked. "Yeah," Del sighed. Del couldn''t get his mind straight. His sister safety was all that was on his mind. He would need to drive them back to his house immediately. It was not safe to stay there after all. They might encounter more SSU personnel there. Chapter 73 - Reunion A shot of Modafinil and after some long drive, they finally arrived at home. Del was sitting in front of the house with his best friend during sad times, alcohol. The bottle of alcohol was apanying him while he was sitting down on the terrace of the house. Cassandra was taking care of Anna upstairs. "Hey, dude, why are you so sad?" Cole asked. "I''ll kill them, I''ll kill them all," Del rumbled. "Well, I agree with you, but Del, killing them won''t satisfy your desire, don''t you think?" Cole said. "Shut up, I don''t want to hear a lecture about getting revenge will only make you feel empty. I don''t have time for listening to that shit," Del said. "Damn, I''m not going to give you a lecture, rx, I''m here to help you," Cole added. Del sighed, he then gazed toward the night sky, "Cole, you know, have you ever felt this powerless before. You want to do something but you really can''t do anything. I meant, I am thinking of doing a series of destruction in Elbanian to what they had done, but thinking about it, where am I supposed to be getting the money to do it? Doing that will alsopromise the safety of you all. God, this is a headache." "Yeah, it means that you have to take it one step at a time," Cole said. "One step, huh?" Del asked. "Yeah, one step, if you want to ruin Elbanian, ruin their economy first, then their morale, then their people, after that, you can go straight to the heart," Cole said. "Damn, you''re a genius, the question is, how?" Del asked. "For now, you can start by getting enough funds. At the very least , you can defend yourself in case Elbanian throws everything at you. I meant, if this situation is as dire as I expected, then you don''t have much time in Elbanian. It''s not going to be long until everyone in Elbanian wants your head," Cole exined. "Want my head? How so? Well, I have to admit that I have killed too many SSU personnel in this short period of time, there''s that, but logically speaking, if I were hunted down, why am I not even killed at this point?" Del asked. "I¡­ have no clue, but you really didn''t leave any witnesses as far as I can tell," Cole said. "Well, if we can make Elbanian burn, I will be happy to do anything that it takes. However, we''re going to need some serious hardware, not some machine gun and a car. We need ballistic missiles, jets, bombs, tanks, nukes, and anything that will kill," Del said. "I don''t know what you''re talking about, but sure, I think I will help," Cole said. Del sighed, "Still, I wonder what Cassandra was doing upstairs with Anna. She said that she needed to do a debridement on her, but I''m not really sure what she meant by that," Del said. "Well, if she has finished taking care of your sister, she will give her diagnose, right now, all you can do is to pray for the best," Cole said. "Yeah, I agree with that," Del said. After some shotster and some timeter. Cassandra finally came to the terrace dressed in something that could only be described as her sterile gown. Blood was still in her gloves and she looked really exhausted. "How did it go?" Del asked. "For the most part, it''s sessful, but too bad for her, she would be deemed to wear bandage for the rest of her life. I think I need to consult with the dermatologistter in Ilbistirum, but I don''t think her skin can heal, no matter how much effort I put into fixing her skin," Cassandra said. "What happened to be honest? I don''t even know," Del said. "Well, I can say that the whole fire burn through the superficial part of the skin very quickly since I noticed that most of the dead part that I remove ising the deeper part of the skin. However, I''m also d that your sister is smart enough to actually use her own healing spell to regenerate her deeper part of the skin so the burn doesn''t go too deep although now I have to peel it all off since it''s bad for healing," Cassandra said. "Say what? Dude, I don''t understand medical terms," Del said. "To put it simply, your sister is smart enough that she managed to survive thatrge burn, but it was also toote that her skin couldn''t be saved," Cassandra said. "I see, so she has to wear bandage even though she has stabilized, right?" Del said. "And Del, I also have to take half of your sister''s magical energy reservoir for making ayer of antimicrobial field on top of her skin as a recement for her skin," Cassandra said. "Sure, I think that''s necessary too," Del said. "Anyway, if your sister is way grumpier than usual, that''s not your fault, alright? Please keep in mind that she is under constant pain, she will get used to it," Cassandra said. "Sure, I understand," Del said. "You cane upstairs if you want to, I think your sister should have woken up at this point," Cassandra said. "Ah, I see, well, we have a lot to talk about to be entirely honest," Del stood up from the terrace and left the bottle of alcohol there, "The rest is for you, happy drinking," Del entered the house. Del headed upstairs. He had a lot to talk with his sister and he really couldn''t wait. There should be a shitton of intelligenceing from his sister and he didn''t even have to do any interrogation first before getting the information itself. Del entered the room and he saw his sister wasying down in the bed. There was a steel bucket located next to the door. Looking at it, the bucket was filled with some dead skins and used bandages. Her sister''s body was all wrapped in bandage. "Hey, how''re you doing, sis?" Del asked. "It''s painful all around, but well, I''m alive," Anna said. "Yeah, that''s all that matters," Del said. "Still, I''m quite surprised that you''re alive. Everyone said that you were dead, I''m d that they''re wrong. Anyway, I''m also surprised that you have guns in this world, where did you get that?" Anna asked. "Well, to be honest, I have some sort of special ability to get modern weaponry, it might be the reason why my stats are so bad, it''s just that I kill in an entirely different way," Del said. "Well, yeah, it makes sense, I don''t think you''re that weak anyway," Anna said. "I can''t say that I''m weak, but I''m pretty much mediocre in terms of strength in this world, probably right above average. I''m still able to kill every single SSU personnel that was guarding you, that should count for something," Del said. "Well, yeah, that''s impressive, even that SOB Eric had a hard time against the petty SSU at his first training, still, even a holy sword from the kingdom''s personal armory didn''t make a dent on his skin," Anna exined. "Holy sword? What kind of contraption is that?" Del asked. "Well, the court magician told us about it. It was a sword forged from the heart of the demonic king and the strongest steel in the world. Thest hero used it to in the demon lord," Anna said. "I''m not going to buy that bullshit, but that''s probably a good sword. You know, thest time Elbanian summoned heroes, it didn''t end too well. They do a mutiny and they got put down immediately by the bounty hunters," Del exined. "I never heard that," Anna said. "It''s expected. You''re the mascot of their kingdom, it''s really necessary to keep you docile to the king, but it''s really weird that they decide to execute you, what was the reason?" Del asked. "I don''t know, they said that I killed Harry. Truth is, Harry died because ofplications that I can''t treat, but well, past is past to be honest, I''m not going to cry over spilled milk," Anna said. "Yeah, I know that. Still, when can you start to move again, ording to Cassandra?" Del asked. "Who was that doctor? Cassandra, right? She said that I can participate with you in a week, still, is it safe?" Anna asked. "Well, considering that I didn''t recognize you at first, I don''t think anyone would be the wiser, but still, I have to prepare a contingency n. If they found out that you''re alive, they''re going to find both me and you. We need to prepare for that," Del said. "Yeah, I agree. With that snake Eric wants both of us dead, I can say that the Elbanian wille after us, hard," Anna said. "As long as we''re together, we can go against the world," Del said. Chapter 74 - Warming Up "Ouch, ouch, can you please be more careful?" Anna asked. "Sorry, sorry," Del helped Anna applying the bandage on her back. One week has passed. Anna was able to stand up on her own now, thanks to the magic of the healing spell. She could stand up, but it didn''t mean that the pain didn''t linger all over her entire body. Even a single poke to her arm would make her scream. One thing that Del noticed, Anna''s skin wasn''t pitch ck anymore, but more¡­ reddish. "It looks like I have to endure this every single day, huh?" Anna asked. "More or less, well, we really can''t do anything, sorry," Del said. "I''m grateful enough that I''m alive, but I admit that the pain kept me focused, I know who did this and who will pay for this," Annamented. Del finished wrapping Anna''s torso with bandages. "Alright, that should do it, you do the crotch part yourself, alright?" "Why won''t you do that? Don''t tell me¡­" "Nah, I just don''t feelfortable doing it," "Oh, yeah, sure, sure," Anna said. Del left the room. In front of that room was the equipment that Del purchased specifically for Anna. Cassandra said that it would be a good idea to give a trial run for Anna to see whether she wasbat-capable or not. Del bought the weapon that she was most familiar with. Laying on the wall was an M16A4 with all of its attachments and essories. Del customized it so it looked and felt really simr to their father''s AR-15 that they kept in the house as a memento. Anna used that gun very often in the range, that was one of the reasons why Del decided that giving Anna an M16 would be a good idea. It was only an M4 with an ACOG sight and a foregrip. Other than that, everything was pretty much default except for a suppressor on the end of the barrel. It was colored in ck as usual since Del didn''t rece any internal part of the gun. Anna got out of the room. She wore the woond fatigue that Del gave to her. The bandage weirdly enough also acted as a bva that pretty much concealed her identity from anyone that wanted to kill her. "Hmm, the fatigue feels odd, well, I think the Elbanian had given me too many kinds of weird armor that the concept of normal clothing feels awkward." "Ah, I see, well, truth to be told, I never see your healer armor," Del said. "It''s kinda a nuisance to move in that armor, but it does give me some sort of power enhancement," Anna said. "What do you mean?" Del asked. "It is armor, but I just feel that the armor won''t protect me from conventional damage. It just feels too exposing. It''s really that kind of armor that you would expect from a fantasy-ish world. Anyway, you said you have a ballistic armor for me, right?" Anna asked. "Yeah, this is for you," Del gave Anna an Interceptor Body Armor and helped her to wear it. "Hmm, the old U.S armor, eh? Well, that''s not too bad," Annamented. "Yeah, I''m thinking of modernizing all of our equipment. For example, I reced Cole''s 6B3 armor with a Defender 2 normal variant, and I bought myself the same armor that you are wearing right now," Del said. "Ah, I see," Anna nodded. Anna''s armor had been fitted with several magazine pouches and other pouches for miscelennaous items. One of the example of the misc items was the first aid kit that every single one of them should bring after some decision from Cassandra. Well, it was not much, but it would certainly help. Del gave Anna the M16, "Here''s your weapon, I think you''re familiar enough with this, right?" Anna held the M16 with her hands, "Isn''t this our father''s rifle? Where did you get this?" Anna asked. "I make it, it''s not our father''s rifle, but I make try to make it as simr as possible to our father''s rifle. Besides, you use our father''s rifle very often, don''t you?" Del asked. "Yeah, it just felt nostalgic when I hold this rifle. I''m not weird, but I just feel that our father is actually holding me when I hold this rifle," Anna said. "Well, I have no idea," Del said. "Anyway, anything else you have in mind for me?" Anna asked. "Here," Del gave Anna a helmet, "A PASGT helmet, it isn''t as heavy as Cassandra''s helmet, but it''s still enough for this world," Del said. "Ah, I see," Anna said as she wore the helmet. "Today, we shall do a test run on yourbat ability, nothing beats hunting down some bandits as a fresh start, but that is not what we''re going to do today. Besides, the assignment was quite special for today," Del said. "Well, how so?" Anna asked. "Right now, Cassandra is in the guild building in Alder, looking for a quest suitable enough for you. I''ll say, it would be a good warming up for you, besides, you need to be able to fight through the Elbanian when the timees," Del added. "Yeah, I know. Anyway, we only need to wait, right?" Anna asked. "Right, you better get used to the rifle, the armor, and the pain," Del said. Anna just replied with a sigh, "Thanks for reminding me, Del." She didn''t sound too happy of being reminded of her pain. ===== Del was driving his car through the road between Alder and Liverley. Cassandra, Cole, and Wolfie were in the backseat while Anna was in the front seat. Anna was holding the tablet that contained the map and gave Del the direction. Del was reading the quest direction while driving. ???????????? [Rogue Unit] [Difficulty: B] A rogue unit from the Elbanian military had killed three people from Midham. Your job is to destroy the rogue military unit and report it back to the guildmaster in Alder. A proof of extermination is required. Preferably, bring the ledger that this unit took from the Elbanian armory. This unit isst spotted in Liverley. The unit is from 25th Patrol Group, 6th toon. Threat Details: 30 Elbanian Soldiers consisted of 15 swordman, 5 mages, and 5 archers. Reward: 20 White Gold Coins. Loot. ???????????? "Well, this is quite a lot for just killing some rogue unit, what do you say?" Del asked. "Well, white gold coins are surely a lot, but Irina te worth more, and Husnael te is surely the most expensive thing out there," Anna said. "I see," Del nodded. During the way between Alder and Liverley, Del noticed that the road had some degree of security. For example, Del noticed that there were several group of Elbanian soldiers patrolling. It was weird, the road was usually empty. Heck, it was thest ce where Del would meet an Elbanian soldier. Still, they were not hostile to him. He even greeted them, and they greeted back with a smile. However, Anna really held herself back not to kill any non-hostile Elbanian soldiers along the way. Del was d that the road finally had some degree of security. "Cole, do you notice something?" Cassandra asked. "Yeah," Cole nodded. "There are too many soldiers around here. I really don''t feel too good about this. Still, it''s only my guts since I also belong to the demon''s side. Well, I might be feeling too paranoid about this. After all, I am used to avoiding any encounter with any military personnel," Cassandra said. "Yeah, me too. Still, think it this way, if they really knew about Del and his doings back in Westwend valley, would it be logical just to kill him now, I meant, he isn''t exactly a hard target, don''t you think?" Cole asked. "You know, you two got me thinking, what will happen if I escape to Ilbistirum, it would be the best choice if Anna and I arepromised," Del said. "Well, at least, with that kind of money, you and Anna should be able to live normaly there. However, I don''t know whether our culture will fit you or not," Cassandra said. "Anything is better than this godforsaken country," Del said. "After this quest, I think we should get out here while we still can, don''t you agree?" Anna asked. "Yeah, I also had that in mind. It''s better for us to get out before everything gets out of my control," Delmented. "Don''t worry you two, Cole and I are onlymenting about the amount of soldiers around here. You two don''t need to be that cautious, rx, as long as we are together, everything is fine for the most part, right, Cole?" Cassandra said. "Hahaha, yeah, I meant, we were only talking about this because we are bored," Cole said. "I see," Del responded tly. Del didn''t care about whatever Cassandra and Cole had in mind. But the amount of soldiers in this past one week was certainly suspicious.. Del really hoped that they were here just to provide security and nothing else. Chapter 75 - Assault On Encampment The trip that would take more than six hours by horse only took thirty minutes by car. They finally arrived at Liverley. It looked like that the whole vige was normal aka business as usual. However, there was something new on the side of the town. There was an encampment that pretty much looked militaristic. "That should be the military camp for our targets," Del stopped his car right before he entered the vige. "What''s the n, Del?" Anna asked. "Alright, team leader, it''s your turn now," Cole said. "Well, let me think, Anna, give me the tablet, and show me the map of this entire Liverley region," Del asked Anna to give him his tablet. Interesting¡­ Liverley wasn''t as t as Del previously expected. There were two hills on the west and on the east side. The camp was located on the north side of the vige so it would prove to be an advantageous vantage point for any marksman in their team. They could probably put Cassandra on one of the hills. It also looked like that there was only one entrance to the vige from that military camp itself. There was arge gap, probably as wide as two hundred meters between the military camp and the vige that would serve as a kill zone. Cole probably would be able to hold them off from entering the vige and making the vigers hostage. After all, he had a .50 BMG turret that could kill anything except for some creatures, such as the serpent. The rest were Wolfie, Del, and Anna. Sure, they could attack the camp from multiple directions, but leaving Anna alone was certainly not an option. After all, Del couldn''t leave someone who could barely hold the pain of sitting down on the chair of the car. Del decided that Anna and he would do an attack from the west side. "Alright, here''s the n. Cassandra, you go to the hill on the east. Your job is to provide long-range assistance for all of us. You have to deal with the high-value target, or should I say, anyone that wore the shiniest armor. Cole, I''ll park the car between the vige and the military camp, your job is to make sure that nobody, absolutely nobody, gets inside the vige. Anna and I would attack from the west side," Del said. "Ah, clever. Anyone who ran to the north will be shot by me," Cassandramented. "Precisely, now, Cole, I will ce the car around one hundred meters from the military camp. Your job is to shoot at anyone that runs at you, don''t even shoot at the camp without my permission, alright? We don''t want to risk any friendly fire here," Del exined. "So my job is to guard the entrance to the vige?" Cole sighed, "Fine¡­" "Not so interesting, but it''s quite important, in fact, you are the decisive factor whether this assault will turn sour or not, because, as far as I''m concerned, everyone on that camp could be killed," Del said. "Yeah, time for a little payback," Anna put a magazine into her M16. "Cassandra, you better walk since this car sticks out like a sore thumb. Anna, you and Wolfie better start walking, I will go to your positionter. When you hear gunfire, start engaging, alright?" Del said. "Ok," Cassandra walked out of the car, followed by Anna and Wolfie. All of them started moving towards their designated position. Del waited around five minutes so he wouldn''t identallypromise the safety of Cassandra and Anna. Truth be told, if the presence of that car somehow started abat alert in that military camp, Del wouldn''t be surprised. It meant that it was n B and they had to use a more direct approach. It didn''t take too long until everyone arrived at their staged position. Cassandra''s scope re was very much indicating that she had arrived at the hill where she was supposed to be staying. Anna had arrived at the other side of the camp. It was all left to Del to drive to the gap between the vige and the military camp. "Cole, you need to remember something, if you think you''re overwhelmed, just abandon the car, alright?" Del reminded Cole of that. "Sure, sure, don''t worry about it," Cole said. "Alright, I''ll have to go, take care, alright?" Del asked as he got out of the car with a machine gun in his hands. Del circled around the military encampment while maintaining a wide enough distance from the encampment to make sure that no one took notice of him. Even if they did, he would look too small to be a threat for them all. Del walked slowly in order not to get the attention of the rogue Elbanian soldiers. To be honest, some of them had begun looking at Cole and Del needed to hurry up or it would be dangerous for Cole. He eventually ran and arrived at Anna''s position. Anna was looking through the sight of her assault rifle. "Hmm, it looks like the security is not as tight as I expected. But well, I''m getting used to hero''s party security so I can say that the security on this camp is prettyx inparison." Well, let''s see, two soldiers were patrolling around the north side of the camp. At least one archer was on each corner of the camp. Mages were basically circling the entire camp while looking for any hostile. Why would these people make a camp in broad daylight when they were hunted down by the Elbanian? Del had no clue, but money was still money. "Look, Anna, see that soldier over there, I want you to kill him," Del pointed his hand at one of the soldiers that didn''t wear any helmet. Anna put her eye closer to the scope, "Consider it done." She pulled the trigger of her M16. 5.56 bullet flew to the head of that soldier, killing it instantly. The whole camp was immediately went on high alert. Soldiers were running out of their tents with their undergarments. They were scattering to wear their armor. "Hmm, magic doesn''t slow you, even one bit," Delmented. "C''mon, marksmanship is the only thing I remembered from our pa, do you think I will forget it?" Anna asked. "Let''s move, Anna, I will provide suppressing fire while you pick at any target that you like," Del said as hey himself down on the ground and deployed the bipod of his machine gun. "Sure, fire away," Anna replied. Del pulled the trigger of his machine gun. A stream of bullets immediately flew in the direction of that encampment, causing mass hysteria. Mages were shooting their fireball in the north direction, but they were too far away from Del. "Del, 3 o''clock, an armored man with Mithril armor, engage him!" Anna pointed out the target for him. "Alright, I will kill him," Del moved his machine gun in the right direction and he sprayed the man with the leftover AM-IHEAP ammunition from the rescue operation, turning the man into red mist. Suddenly, an arrownded right in front of his machine gun. Del didn''t know who fired that arrow, however, Anna was useful. "Del, look at your 12, there''s an archer located next to that red-striped tent, kill her!" "Alright, got you!" Del said as he pulled the trigger. The archer fell to the ground immediately after Del literally exploded her body with the rounds that he fired. Among her were also dead bodies, Cassandra seemed had picked some of her targets well. Evidently, some of the enemies that were running to the east side immediately had its head blown off. One really shouldn''t underestimate that vampire sniper. "Let''s take a closer look at that camp," Del said as he stood up. "Yeah, I agree with you," Anna said. Both of them walked closer to the camp. Del led the way while Anna watched his nk. Their objective was the most obvious looking tent in that encampment. It should house the most important person in that military camp. "Hmm, there''s not enough blood here," Annamented on theck of personnel that she killed. "Well, I do admit that this is nothing inparison to the advanced tactics that the SSU used against us, still, this was a good warming up, don''t you think?" Del asked. "I have to admit it, it''s fun," Anna replied. Normally, if this was a normal condition, Del would be terrified by that statement. However, this was another world where her sister was burned alive, Del understood that more than anyone. "Yeah, killing Elbanian is fun." Suddenly, footsteps could be heard from besides him. Suddenly, someone charged Anna with full force. Anna fell to the ground and the soldier tried to stab her in the chest. In split second, Anna pulled herbat knife and stabbed that soldier in the eye. Del responded with a quick burst from his machine gun. "That was¡­ rather close," Annamented as she wiped the blood that dirtied her knife. "Well, yeah, please be more careful," Delmented. "How was my knife skill? Was that good enough?" Anna asked. "That was impressive," Del said. Anna kicked the body on top of her body and she stood up. "Damn, now my whole back felt the pain from being mmed to the ground. Bloody hell¡­" Anna kicked the soldier as far as she could from her feet. He then entered the biggest tent on that encampment. Once he entered, he was greeted by someone none other than themander of that unit. "So, you are the person that ughtered my entire unit, did the military send you?" the person asked. Themander was standing in front of a table with a map. He was a bearded man wearing a gold armor. Even from a nce, Del could tell that he was not someone to be messed with. "Military? Please, I hate the military." "I don''t care," themander pulled his sword from his sheathe, "Even if you''re not from the military, I will still kill you." Del shot the sword with his machine gun, shattering it to pieces. "You know, my sister here has a little bit of grudge to the Elbanian. I think you''ll be a good example," Del nodded while smirking. Themander didn''t fear, instead, heughed, "That little girl? What can that bandaged girl do to me?" Anna responded by shooting two bullets from her M16 to the feet of thatmander. Themander groaned in pain as he fell to the ground. Anna put her rifle on her back, "So,mander, what do you think of this little girl?" She unsheathed herbat knife. Without any hesitation, she immediately stabbed thatmander in the eyes, multiple times. Themander groaned in pain, but Anna kicked his mouth with herbat boots, "Shut up, you have a way easier way to die than me!" She continued stabbing themander until her hands were drenched in blood. Del was too busy to help, he was searching for a ledger. She then wiped the dirty de on the map on the table. "That was satisfying, anyway, what do we have?" Anna asked. "Well, this book, and this ledger that the guild master wants us to find," Del said. "Nothing else?" Anna asked. "Well, nothing else, maybe we can loot off the bodies of the soldiers in this area, but we will need Cole and Cassandra to help us," Del said. "Fair enough," Anna nodded. "Yeah, we need money to kill Eric, after all," Del said. "Correct." Chapter 76 - Trap Del parked his car in front of the guild building. The street of Alder was awfully quiet today, Cassandra didn''t tell Del about this. Nevertheless, it was probably only his guts telling something wasn''t right, or out of the ordinary. "Anna, do you want toe with me?" Del asked. "Sure," Anna nodded as she followed him from behind. Cole and Cassandra would be waiting near the car. It was not like there was someone that was going to steal the car anyway, but the car still contained all of their gold coins and all of their money. If someone stole it, it would be problematic. Del entered the guild building. The receptionist was as friendly as usual. However, it seemed that the activity on that guild building was lesser than usual. Del approached that receptionist''s table. He asked the guild secretary, "Excuse me, I''m here to give this ledger to the guild master." "Ah, who are you?" The secretary asked. "My name? I''m Del Moore," Del said. "Ah, you''re the usual person, hahaha, sorry, I''m new here, and who''s that person beside you?" The secretary asked. "She''s a friend of mine from a ce very far away," Del said. "Ah, I see, well, you can follow me." The guild secretary left her desk. She walked upstairs. Del and Anna followed her to the main office of the guild which was located on the second floor. He walked through the hallway of that guild building until he arrived in front of arge white wooden door with a namete on it. It was the room for the guild master. The secretary opened the door, revealing a room full of bookshelves filled with books of unknown origin. There was also an empty desk in the middle of the room. There were also two chairs in that room, it looked like someone was nning to greet them indeed. Del and Anna entered that room. "Please wait, the guild master wille soon," the secretary smiled and closed the door. Del sat down on one of the chairs. It wasfy. The room was showing the status of the guild master. There was an armor stand with a full set of Mithril armor. Del was captivated by the amazing aura of the room that he forgot to notice his surrounding. Suddenly, someone locked the door of the room. "Weird, why would they lock the door of the room? That''s pretty rude," Delmented. "Should we blow the door off?" Anna asked. "No, don''t do that yet," Del wasn''t sure what was going on, but he was as sure as heck didn''t like it. Then, Del heard a bunch of carriages from outside. He wondered what happened. He immediately went for the window to peek at what was going on. The whole city was under lockdown in just a little amount of time. The car was also gone, who moved it? Cassandra and Cole were also gone. What the hell was going on? There were also a bunch of footstepsing from downstairs. Suddenly, an arrow flew straight through the window, only bouncing off from his helmet. "What the fuck?" Del ducked from the window as a barrage of arrows was flying to the window. "Del, what should we do? Should we fight our way out?" Anna asked. "Wait, there could be a bunch of A-rank adventurers out there," Del said. "Damn, shit, what should we do then? We are as sure as hell won''t be sitting ducks in here," Anna said. "For now, barricade the door, that should stop the adventurer for a while, right now, we need to think," Del shouted. A-rank adventurer was very strong. One of them could easily beat Del in a one-on-one battle. Heck, if they didn''t think fast enough, the door would act as nothing other than a thin barrier between them and their death. Del needed to act as quickly as he could. There was an option to blow the floor beneath them, but they were on the fourth floor. There was only one solution that would prove to be the cheapest, but the most effective as well. Any cheaper than that option and it would be very ineffective in their effort of getting out of there alive. Del opened his tablet. ???????????? [Killstreak Menu] [Tech Level: 6] [Total Bnce: 312,000$] [Sentry Gun] [5,000$] [Precision UAV] [20,000$] [Precision Airstrike] [50,000$] [Juggernaut Suit] [60,000$] [Cluster Strike] [80,000$] [Cruise Missile] [120,000$] [Chopper Gunner] [150,000$] [Escort Helicopter] [180,000$] [Gunship] [120,000$/Hour] ???????????? Del pressed [Juggernaut Suit]. At the very least, they could get out of that building without destroying the guild building and risking a friendly fire on themselves. Anna probably could take cover right behind Del. [Juggernaut Suit Has Been Delivered. Remaining Bnce: 252,000$] Two crates appeared right in front of him. Del opened one of the big crates and he was surprised on what the content. There was an M134 Minigun inside of that crate alongside the armor itself, and a storage backpack. There was also an instruction on how to put the thing on. Del read that instruction quickly and followed the instruction. He put his Interceptor Body Armor inside of that backpack. Del put the pieces of armor one by one including recing his helmet with the one included inside of that juggernaut suit. "Del, what in the bloody fuck is that???" Anna was shocked to see the thick armor that Del wore. Juggernaut suit was an EOD suit covered in thick armor tings. Probably, it should be able to stop a direct hit from explosive weaponry. His helmet was also made from a very durable material alongside a tank-grade bulletproof ss visor. "This is a juggernaut armor. Anna, that M16 wouldn''t do shit to any A-ranked adventurers, use this!" Del said as he gave Anna his M240 picked up the minigun and connected it to the ammo bag on his back. "Ok, ok, I understand," Anna said as she looked at the machine gun that she held with her hands. "How to even operate this darn thing? Just pull the trigger and hope for the best?" Anna asked. "Sort of, do you think we have to talk about that?" Del asked. "I¡­" Before Anna managed to say any word, one of the adventurers had started broken through that wooden door. They fired everything that they had to that door. Even blowing that door off alongside the table that barricaded it. Two adventurers appeared right in front of him. All of them were wearing heavy Mithril armor and holding a sword. The sword emitted some sort of otherworldly aura. The aura covered the sword in some sort of blue mist. "It''s too bad that a newbie like you has some expensive price on your head, now, prepare to die!" Del pushed the trigger of his minigun and a mist of bullet was fired at those two adventurers. The stream of bullets shredded their armor and their body in half, leaving their upper torso separated from their legs. "PUSHING THROUGH!" Del shouted as he kept pushing the trigger of his minigun. "WHAT THE FUCK? [Energy Barrier]!" an adventurer shouted. An energy field protected the adventurer, but not for long, the rate of fire of the M134 minigun shredded that shield quickly. The rate of fire on that minigun was maximized so it spitted six hundred rounds of 7.62 Bullets at the shield per second from the ammo backpack that seemed to be bottomless. Archers were shooting their steel arrows to the armor that Del wore. The arrows simply bounced off and Del retaliated by continuing shooting his minigun. Anna watched his back and she fired her machine gun every once in a while if she saw an enemy. "God damn it, Eric wants both of us dead." "This is Eric''s doings? How???" Del asked. "Hell, I don''t know, this is only my assumption, but as far as I''m concerned, we''re fucked," Annamented. Suddenly, a person appeared. That person was very tall, very buffed, and d in heavy armor. He also held a very big sword. Del was probably only half of his height. "You little pest, and that traitor, you two should die now!" Del pulled the trigger of his minigun, "Eat this!" Del shouted. Another stream of bullets flew in that person''s direction. That person also dropped dead to the ground once the stream of bullets split his body in half. Del walked in his direction with his heavy armor, "So, what do you think?" Del asked the person. "Impossible¡­ a mere C-rank¡­" The person died. "Alright, let''s proceed to the first floor," Del walked slowly to the staircase. Del went downstairs to the first floor. The first thing that greeted him was an explosion that would almost certainly kill him if it was not for the juggernaut suit that he wore. The explosion also produced a me trap that started burning the staircase. "Damn it," Del pulled the trigger of his minigun and sprayed the whole room full of lead. He made sure nobody stood up again after being shot by him. He continued shooting his minigun at anything that moved, even if it was only a slight movement from the dead bodies on the ground. Anna jumped through the fire pit and shended immediately on the first floor. "Alright, the whole floor should have been cleared, I think," Anna looked around the whole room. "EVERYONE! FIRE!" Suddenly, a bunch of explosions destroyed the entrance to the guild building, then followed by a bunch of fireballs that burned the floor of that guild building. "Anna, get down! Find somewhere to hide!" "Sure." Anna crawled to the far corner of the guild building''s first floor. Del fired his minigun at that crowd, however, some of them were hiding behind the armored carriages that protected them from standard 7.62 rounds easily. "Damn it, where''s Cole and Cassandra when you needed them?" Suddenly, a chugging of a heavy machine gun could be heard from a distance. Cole was firing the heavy machine gun at the cowards that were hiding behind those armored carriages. The car headed in their direction and stopped right in front of the ruins of the guild entrance. "Damn, what took you two so long?" Del lowered his minigun, "And how the hell Cassandra is driving?" "You know, to see is to learn, so yeah," Cassandra shrugged. Cassandra moved out of the driver''s seat and she went to the backseat. Del entered the car driver''s seat. Anna went to the front passenger''s seat. After that, Del drove out of Alder without looking back. Cole kept shooting his machine gun to make sure that no armored carriage followed them from behind. "Damn it, sorry, Del, it''s my fault," Anna said. "Hey, Eric wille after me sooner orter," Del said. "We need to retrieve something important from the house," Cassandra mumbled. "Research, how about your research?" Del asked. "Yeah, that''s why we need to get back to our house," Cassandra said. "Let''s go, before the military mobilizes its unit, we better get there right now!" Del hit the gas even harder. Del drove to the region where his house was located. He hoped that he arrived there in time before the whole military of the East region mobilized itself and searched the whole region for them.. Del didn''t doubt that they hadn''t seen the worst of it. Chapter 77 - Preparing To Run In the house, the air was tense. Why? There were doing everything that they could. Anna and Del were preparing to destroy the house by cing C4 and pouring petrol on the house while Cassandra and Cole saved their research that they had started from scratch. Del had his own reasonings to destroy the house. One of the main reasons was because of the fact that there were some bullet casings and other things that Del didn''t want Elbanian to find if Del left that country. Del made sure that he left absolutely anything for Elbanian to salvage. "Why don''t you wear that juggernaut suit?" Anna asked. Del replied as he ced a C4 charge on the pir of the house, "It''s heavy, bulky, and limits my movement, don''t worry, the price to order that thing has dropped down to a mere 100$." "Ah, nice," Anna nodded. "Hey, are you bleeding somewhere, that was quite a heavy battle," Del said. "Nah, I''m fine, thanks to you, every single attack was directed to you," Anna continued pouring the gasoline on the couch. "Cassandra and Cole have suggested that we go to Ilbistirum, we have to take that offer, like it or not," Del said. "I agree," Anna nodded. Cassandra and Cole went upstairs and downstairs back and forth with a stack of paper. That stack of paper was put inside of Cassandra''srge backpack that had magical storage on it. It should be able to contain all of the papers that those duos had written during their time in Elbanian. They would need to go home either way, whether Del was attacked or not. The thing was, how would Cassandra or Cole contact the ship when the whole docks and the whole shoreline were literally blocked with battleships? The smuggler would either need to be very skillful or Del needed a way to destroy the blockade. Maybe RPG would do the trick, or even better, a thermobaric rocketuncher. Still, Del needed a way better solution than just a mere missile since he knew that the whole East Elbanian Army woulde after him. He was also aware that he was not only going to fight the SSU, but also other special units that only God knew what their special ability was. Not to mention that airship was also a threat that needed to be dealt with. "Damn, this whole house reeks of gasoline," Cassandramented. "Well, we need to torch this whole ce up anyway," Del said. "Still, Del, how can we get out of this country? I meant, we won''t leave you, but we better have a solid n or we will have a very miserable time," Cassandra said. "Don''t worry, I have a backup n, we need to torch this ce up first," Del said. "Ah, good idea, I don''t want to leave any trace here either, well, let''s see, I think we can head to the north. I think security shouldxer there since mobilizing an army to the north would be as same as challenging the neighboring country to war and Elbanian wouldn''t want that. Still, it doesn''t mean it will be any easier though," Cassandra said. "Ah, I see where you are getting. We will outrun the Elbanian by getting closer to the other country''s border and we can get to the smuggler''s ship there, is that your n?" Del asked. "Yup. We will need to travel as north as possible before we would be able to embark the ship to Ilbistirum," Cassandra said. "Well, that''s good to hear," Del said. All of them left the house and they gave their final respect to the house that had sheltered them for more than four months. Del smiled when he looked at the house for thest time. "It''s a shame that we have to burn this house to the ground." "Yeah, we get it with our hands, right?" Cole said. "It''s time to say goodbye," Cassandramented. They entered the car to gain a safe enough distance from the house. Del pressed the detonator of the C4. The explosion blew the house up and demolished it to the ground and the fire from the petrol burned the destroyed logs to ashes. Del felt unease looking at it, but it was necessary. "Goodbye, house," Del said. Del then drove his car mindlessly in the north direction while following the map on the tablet. However, just as Del drove out of that housingplex, he was immediately greeted by a convoy of armored carriages that headed in his direction. However, that convoy hadn''t seen him yet. Del decided that it would be best to go off-road rather than using the ordinary road since it would be way too risky. Moreover, Del believed that engagement was not rmended since it would reveal his location. Additionally, that house was a perfect decoy. It would take them a long time to notice that Del had disappeared. "Holy¡­ fuck¡­" Cole muttered. "What''s wrong, Cole?" Del asked. "Look at the sky on the west," Cole said. Del peeked at the sky on the west. There was nothing out of the ordinary. However, there was a ck dot in the sky that appeared from the west. Del had no idea what it was, but if Cole said that, it couldn''t be a good thing. "A ck dot? Is that some sort of magical spell or something?" Del asked. "Well, no, worse, that''s an airship, but I''m not sure what''s the type," Cole said. "What an airship can do?" Del asked. "Well, it''s armored to the teeth, that''s for sure. Usually, an airship will act as the eyes in the sky or as a bomber. It''s also escorted by either a flying mage or a wyvern knight. It would need a lot of effort just to take one down from the sky," Cole said. "Hmm, we really need to get out of here, like as soon as possible," Del said. "Yeah, but how, we still have two towns to go through, and don''t get me started that we literally have the whole Elbanian East Armying after us," Cassandra said. Despite his desire to contact the AC-130, Del was afraid that it would be shot down if it flew during the daylight. He had to hide until nighttime. However, where could he hide? The whole town around him was under lockdown. Maybe, he could hide somewhere in the wilderness. "Forest should be a good option to hide, but the question is, how can we get out of the forest if our car is discovered?" Cassandra asked herself. "Simple, we can use the darkness of the night to hide, and then, we can retrieve the car, we have night vision goggles, right?" Del asked. Del had modernized all equipment for all of the members of his team. Everyone, at the very least, had one night-vision goggles, a gas mask, and other things. They should be able to get through the soldiers at night time. Del headed for the forest near Midham. He could hide there since that forest there was quite dense and known to be dangerous. "I think we can temporarily hide at the forest until night time, do you all agree?" "I agree," Cassandra said. "Yeah, anything is better than being shot by the Elbanian at this point," Colemented. "There is an camouge on the backseat, I think I can cover the car with that and we can hide it temporarily," Del said. Del drove to the direction of the forest. He parked the car deep inside of the forest and covered it with camouge that should conceal that car a bit inside of the forest. Cassandra picked up the backpack that contained all of her research paper and all of them got out of the car. They headed for the deeper part of the forest to hide. Del setted up a temporary ce inside of the forest for them to take a rest. They weren''t allowed to start a fire or they would have a harder time evading the Elbanian soldiers. Hopefully, the night would be dark enough to cover their escape.. Well, hopefully. Chapter 78 - AC130 Staying still in the forest for six hours or more while making sure that nobody spotted them was a hard task, but they managed to pull that off, somehow. However, it had to be admitted that it was extremely tense with the amount of Elbanian soldiers that were patrolling outside of the forest. Del grabbed his tablet and whispered to Anna, "We should be safe now, let''s move." With the night vision goggles on his head, he began to move slowly towards the car. It was a good thing that the Elbanian didn''t spot the car. The camouge simply worked. Del took off the from the car while the others entered the car. "Del, what''s your n now?" Cassandra asked. "Well, let''s see," Del opened the menu on his tablet. ???????????? [Killstreak Menu] [Tech Level: 6] [Total Bnce: 252,000$] [Sentry Gun] [5,000$] [Precision UAV] [20,000$] [Precision Airstrike] [50,000$] [Juggernaut Suit] [60,000$] [Cluster Strike] [80,000$] [Cruise Missile] [120,000$] [Chopper Gunner] [150,000$] [Escort Helicopter] [180,000$] [Gunship] [120,000$/Hour] ???????????? "Bombardier 3-4 is arriving on station. Standing by for orders," A voice came out of the tablet. ???????????? [Current Order: Protect Ground Unit] [Protect Ground Unit] [Eliminate High-Value Targets] [Clear an Area] [Manual Fire Control] ???????????? The tablet disyed the camera that was attached to the AC-130 and tagged every single enemy on the map. The enemies were glowing in white. Twenty armored carriages were surrounding the entire forest. Unless they were destroyed, there would be no way of getting out of there undetected. Del changed the order of the gunship from [Protect Ground Unit] to [Eliminate High-Value Target]. He waited a while until there was a confirmation from the gunship itself. "Bombardier 3-4 copy. Prioritizing elimination of High-Value-Targets" The gunship fired its howitzer from the sky. The round hit one of the armored carriages, creating arge explosion bigger than any explosion spell they had ever seen. Del started driving the car out of the forest. "What kind of explosion was that???" Cassandra asked. "Probably a 105mm howitzer," Del answered. "I see, damn, you''re terrifying," Cassandra said. Things turned south pretty quickly as the rest of the armored carriages moved towards the position of the exploded carriage. Arrows and magical spells were also thrown at their car, luckily, they didn''t prate. The soldiers must have known that they were in the forest and they were just waiting until Del came out of the forest. Del stopped his car before he collided with one of the armored carriages. 25 mm rounds immediately greeted the armored carriages and shredded them all. One soldier was still alive and Del could hear what he was screaming. "Where are theying from? Show yourself, coward! I''m not afraid!" "Cole, get that bastard!" Del instructed. "Roger that," Cole shot his heavy machine gun at thatst man. Del continued driving again through the night. He eventually arrived at the road again. He then continued driving in the north direction. However, the gunship alerted him of a threat. "This is Bombardier 3-4. Be advised, we detect another enemy gunship twenty kilometers in the north direction." Enemy gunship could mean that an airship was actually floating in the north direction and it was waiting for Del toe closer to its weapon firing range. It was not good. They needed to destroy that airship. The tablet disyed what the airship looked like. Rather than looking like a battleship that sailed the ocean, Del had an impression that the airship looked more simr to a wooden spaceship. Yeah, that was one way to describe it. It was rather rectangr with some sort of cannons on the sides and on the upper deck. It needed to be destroyed. Del stopped his car, "Damn, we can''t proceed to the north. An airship is guarding that area, what should we do?" Anna gave her opinion, "if that''s the case, we should destroy that airship, otherwise, we can''t proceed." "Ok, let me ask the gunship first. Bombardier 3-4, what''s the altitude of that gunship?" "Altitude is around 10,000 Feet with the speed of 0. The gunship isn''t moving and simply floating above the sky," the gunship replied. Well, it meant that the airship was way lower than the gunship, but they really needed to know the weak points of the airship or they would only be wasting ammunition on that thing. Luckily, there was an engineer in the car. "Why are you looking at me like that, Del?" Cole asked. "Cole, do you know where is the weak point of the gunship?" Del asked. "Dude, seriously? I''m a chemical engineer, not a mechanical engineer, what makes you think that I know that kind of thing? Ask someone who works in the Internal Security," Colemented. "Me? I''m a surgeon, but well, I think I know. I heard some talks and rumors about the technology used in an airship, it used some sort of generator to produce a gravitational force in the opposite direction. Usually, it''s located in the middle of the ship, I guess? What ss is that airship anyway?" Cassandra asked. "See this by yourself," Del showed the tablet to Cassandra. "Ah, that''s a corvette, well, I won''t say it''s weak, but it''s the weakest among the airship out there. Still, that thing could destroy a whole battalion of hardened veterans. Anyway, the weak point is usually in the middle of the ship, but Del, I think you need more than one hit to destroy an airship," Cassandra exined. "Bombardier 3-4, can you fly above the airship?" Del asked. "We can." "Do it then," Del said. He then changed the order of the AC-130 to [Manual Fire Control] so he could engage the target manually. Meanwhile, Cole would keep an eye on the area surrounding him in case something decided to attack them. "Bombardier 3-4, transferring fire control to you," the gunship said. The camera now disyed a reticle in the middle of it alongside a selection of weaponry. The weapons were a GAU-12/U 25mm Gatling gun, L60 Bofors 40mm autocannon, and a 105mm M102 Howitzer. Del had various weaponry to take that airship down. Del pressed the M102 Howitzer first and he clicked on the screen. Arge explosion appeared on the airship and Del switched to the 40mm autocannon. He fired several rounds to the middle of the ship. On the horizon, Del could see a little firework that his weapon just created. He then continued firing all of the weapons on his arsenal, including the 25mm Gatling gun. The personnel on the upper deck of the airship looked like an ant and Del''s finger was squashing them using the weaponry from the AC-130. "SHIT!" Cole shouted. He shot his machine gun at the approaching enemies. "We should move, Del!" Del gave the tablet to Anna, "Anna, attack the middle portion of the airship, we need it to be destroyed or we wouldn''t be able to get out of this godforsaken country." "On it!" Anna said as she pressed the screen. Del drove the car to the north, he didn''t care whether that airship had been destroyed or not. Armored convoys consisted of multiple armored carriages wereing after them and no matter how many weapons that they had right now, there was no way to deal with them without the AC-130. "Anna, is it shot down yet?" Del asked. "Not yet, but it is sure as hell burning," Anna showed Del the screen. Anna had made a hole in the middle of the airship. It was burning, but it hadn''t fallen to the ground yet. Anna kept focusing the weapons of the AC-130 to the weapon system of the ship such as the magical cannons and artilleries. "Bombardier 3-4, target is confirmed as no factor," the gunship said. "It''s down now," Anna muttered. The burning airship came crashing to the ground, producing arge explosion that could be seen, even from Del''s position. "That was arge firework," Delmented at the big explosion in the north. The "Anna, change the target priority to the carriages that are chasing us," Del said. "Alright," Anna said. Anna pressed the screen and arge explosion appeared behind them. One of the carriages was thrown away from the road from that explosion while the other two were destroyed into scrap metals. 25mm rounds followed after that 105mm round and finished off the remaining pursuers. "Look at the area in front of us, Are there any enemies?" Del asked. "Yeah, there''s an encampment filled with them, hell, maybe a whole division stayed there," Anna replied. "Destroy them!" "Aye, aye," Anna replied. The gunship''s guns fired at the encampment. 25mm rounds ughtered them all from the sky and the howitzer destroyed therge targets of that encampment. It could be said that it was a genocide on the Elbanian, but it was the retribution for attacking him out of nowhere. Once the camp was destroyed, they moved further to the north direction. "Hey, can your weapon destroy those warships on the northern shoreline? it should make our life easier," Cassandra suggested. "Anna, you hear what she said," Del said. "Alright, I''m on it," Anna said. A bunch of explosions appeared on the shoreline. That explosion immediately destroyed the battleship that was blockading the shoreline. That should be all of the high-priority targets that required them to use a heavy bombardment such as the AC-130. "Phew, we''re safe now, I think we should dismiss the gunship or we will go absolutely bankrupt," Del said. "I don''t like your idea, but having no money at all is surely more miserable," Cole added. Del pressed the [Dismiss Gunship] button to let the gunship fly away from their location. The fund for that gunship was immediately taken from his coins. He had enough bnce for now, at least, until they arrived at Ilbistirum. [Gunship Has Left Area of Operation. Remaining Bnce: 132,000$] "I think we''re in the clear," Cole said. "Yeah, what should we do now? I think everything is a no factor," Del said. "I think we can call the ship near the northern shoreline, but I want to create some distraction first. Del, I think this car is the only reason why the Elbanian managed to find us, after all, it sticks out like a sore thumb," Cassandramented. "What? What do you want me to do?" Del asked. "I''m saying that we should use this car, rig it up with a bunch of C4 charges," Cassandra said. "You''re saying that we should destroy this car? That''s absurd, how are we supposed to go to the north?" Del asked. "We can walk along the shoreline, it''s safer and we have cliffs in the north that need to be climbed down first before arriving at the shoreline. The Elbanian won''t even think to go climbing down if they even find us," Cassandra exined. "It''s a hard choice, but I have to agree. Del, let''s just let the car go," Anna said. Del sighed, "Fine¡­ bring what matters first, leave everything else behind. Del got out of the car and grabbed the backpack that contained most of his belonging which was clothing and coins. Inside of his magical backpack was the juggernaut suit, but minus the minigun, he decided to leave it in the car. Cassandra brought her backpack and her gun. Del bought two hundred kilograms of C4 charges and crammed it all up inside of the car. He also rigged a trap on that car. If someone tried to open the door of the car, the C4 would explode and produced a catastrophic explosion. "That should be all, let''s get to the shoreline," Del felt sad to leave his car, but it was necessary for his safety. Chapter 79 - Lets Get Out Of Here Walking through the shoreline was certainly not the thing that Del ever wanted when he arrived in another world, but it seemed that something that could be his dream turned into a nightmare since the beginning. But well, it happened, there was no need to cry over a spilled milk after all. "It seems that we have walked for miles, right?" Cole asked. Del looked at his tablet, "Not really, we only have walked for thirty miles, why do you ask?" "Thirty miles??? I thought we have walked farther than that," Colemented. "Rx, I don''t know where we are heading, but I am trusting Cassandra on this one," Del said. It was almost midnight ording to the watch on the tablet. They relied on their night-vision goggles to traverse through the shoreline without grabbing too much attention. Luckily, the sand of that shoreline was dark so it blended perfectly with their current camouge. The enemies shouldn''t have any night-vision device so they were safe for the most part. "Cassandra, by the way, how will we call the ship? Do you use a re or something?" Del asked. "What''s a re? No, we don''t use that, instead, I will throw an illumination ball at the sky to a certain distance. At least, one transport ship always roams around the shoreline of Elbanian to carry us, it''s one of the perks of living in Ilbistirum," Cassandra said. "Damn, that''s clever, you can find out the information about the enemies and transport the scientist when they need to evacuate," Del said. "Yeah, hahaha, well, it was a decision made by DEAFI," Cassandra said. "DEAFI? What the hell is DEAFI?" Del asked. "DEAFI stands for Department of External Affair and Foreign Intelligence, cool name, huh?" Cassandra said. "Wait, they''re not IS?" Del asked. "Nah, they aren''t. They''re different although serve the same purpose for the most part," Cassandra said. "I see, well, what will the ship do once you do throw the illumination balls to the sky?" Del asked. "They will usually send a small boat to pick us up to the ship, it''s simple, right? Anyway, Del, I think we have arrived at the designated position, I feel that we have walked long enough," Cassandra said. "Sure, do your thing," Del said. "Alright, [Utility Mode: Illumination Ball]!" Cassandra created six orbs of light and threw them into the night sky. The orbs glowed brightly in the night sky. If Del hadn''t ughtered the soldiers in the northern area, they should have been spotted at this point. However, they weren''t avable at the moment since most of their dead bodies were lying on the ground. Del sat down on the sand for a while. He was putting his hands around his head while thinking about what he would doter in Ilbistirum because he didn''t even know the culture there. Cassandra and Cole were certainly good people, but they never see humans in a good light as far as Del could tell. Cole certainly wasn''t excited to see him for the first time and Cassandra literally tried to kill him at their first meet. He didn''t even know whether Ilbistirum would allow a human to stay. Heck, he didn''t even know where he could get funds there, Cole once told that there was a guild too in Ilbistirum, but did it work in the same way as the guild in Elbanian? Well, there was a lot of way to find out about that. "Cole, once I get to Ilbistirum, do you have any idea on what I can do?" Del asked. "What can you do? Well, Cassandra and I can figure it out, but for now, I think I''ll allow you to stay in my house with my sister, you two aren''t that far different in terms of age with my sister. Well, maybe two years gap won''t feel that different, I guess?" Cole said. "Ah, thanks, but where do you live?" Del asked. "Well, I live in afy area located close to the city. It''s kinda rural, but definitely morefortable than living in Alder since our country actually properly nned everything," Cole said. "I am really excited about it," Del said. "Don''t worry, Del. I think Internal Security will ept you with open hands if they hear my rmendation. After all, you aren''t the type that doesn''t want to get your hands dirty, right?" Cassandra asked. "Well, kinda, but I''m not sure," Del said. "Hey, it''s not wrong to be patriotic, alright?" Cassandra said. "Patriotic, huh?" Del asked. A boat finally arrived at the shoreline. It was big enough to carry the four of them and there was someone paddling it to the shore. He was holding antern. "Are you four are the one that call me?" "Yeah," Cassandra answered. "Those two seems to be human, what''s the reason you bring them? They''re not ve, are they?" the person asked. "Nah, both of them are my friends that need to take refugee in Ilbistirum, they will be under my responsibility. Do you need me to identify myself?" Cassandra asked. "Well, yeah, I mean, it''s on the standard operational guidelines. So, who are you?" "I''m Captain Cassandra Gable, do you need anything else?" Cassandra asked. "Oh, and who''s the other demon?" The person asked. "Me?" Cole asked. "Yeah, you of course, who are you?" The person asked. "I''m Corporal Cole Aguirre," Del said. "I see, and those two, who are they?" The person asked. "They''re twins, one is called Del Moore and Anna Moore," Del said. "Ah, alright, I see, well, I think you both can assign them to their respective assignment, now get on the boat, hurry, if the Elbanian saw us, we''re done for," the person said. Del and Anna got on the boat alongside with the others. They would be leaving Elbanian for good and it was the no point of return. It meant that he would be leaving everything.. It was not an advisory action, it was a necessity. Chapter 80 - Technology Revelation The wooden boat moved towards the dark part of the ocean. In the distance, Del could see a ship. The ship was painted in white, and it wasn''t made of wooden either. It was made entirely of iron or steel, Del had no idea. There was no sail to be seen either. "Emm, Cassandra, who should I call this dude?" Del asked. "Ah, this person? Well, what''s your name, young man?" Cassandra asked. "My name? Well, ma''am, you can call me Andrew," Andrew answered. "I see, what are you doing in the military anyway?" Cassandra asked. "Well, the usual ma''am, trying to get funds to enter college while getting the license to do research in human continent. Basically, getting two birds with one stone," Andrew answered. Cole asked, "Well, dude, do you have a girlfriend or something in the continent?" Andrew answered, "Nah, I don''t have one yet, maybe I will have er, but not now." They finally arrived at the ship. It was a small ship, way smaller than an airship, but it was still big. The appearance reminded him of the early battleship of the 20th century, maybe before world war one and after the age of sail. "Holy¡­ dude, you never said that your country is this technologically advanced," Delmented. "Wait, I never told you about this?" Cole said. "Yeah, you never told me about this," Delmented. A hook was attacked on each end of the boat and it lifted the wooden boat up from the ocean. All of them disembarked from the boat and they stepped their feet at the deck of the ship. Del couldn''t believe what he was seeing, a bloody warship in a fantasy world. Was he dreaming? He wasn''t sure about it. But it was a warship no matter how he looked at it with cannons and other weapons. How the hell Elbanian didn''t notice this kind of firepower being ced right next to their shoreline? Why would they not notice this kind of thing? Heck, even the question changed to how in the bloody heck Ilbistirum had this kind of tech? Could it be that they also had someone with the same ability as Del? But at the same time, Del realized that some of the techs that he saw on that ship wasn''t originated from earth. "Surprised, huh?" Cassandra said. "Saying that I''m surprised is a massive understatement, you can say that I''m very amazed by the construction of this ship," Del said as he gazed at every part of the ship. "Well, this is a new model, to be honest, thest generation of battleship still uses sail, now they are phased out for the newly discovered mana engine, it''s quite convenient knowing that you don''t have to depend on wind to travel," Cassandramented. "Well, how long is the trip used to be before this kind of ship is invented?" Del asked. "Well, you can expect more than three months of travel time, however, now, it only took merely two weeks," Cassandra said. "So¡­ what''s the distance to Ilbistirum, again?" Del asked. "The distance? Well, maybe around 9,000 miles from here, you won''t feel the distance though. Staying in the ship is quite fun, a little bit better than staying in Elbanian, but you still have to do the assignments that themanding officer gave though," Cassandra said. "Better? What do you mean? I thought our living condition is rather fine," Delmented. "Well, in a ship, at the very least, you will always have a warm meal with the addition of a warm shower and for us, demons, we don''t have to fear that we will be killed. At the very least, I know that it''s better to some extend," Cassandra said. "I see, well, let''s just see¡­" Del muttered. Andrew looked at him as if Del was really a human from that world. For Andrew, most of the humans that saw the technology in that ship would have the same reaction as Del since they never saw that kind of technology before, but for Del, his reason was that he was surprised to see something as advanced as an engine powered battleship to exist. "Ehh, your name is Del, right?" Andrew asked. Del replied, "Yes, my name is Del. The girl next to me is my sister, Anna." "Ah, I see, wee aboard to our ship, Del. Do you mind if I give you both a quick little tour to the section of the ship that you can ess while we wait until the administrative process is over?" Andrew offered. "Ah, thanks, sure, please, lead the way," Del said. "Follow me," Andrew said. First of all, Andrew took them inside of the ship. To enter the ship, he had to open arge metal door. Andrew opened the metal door by spinning the wheel that was attached to the door. Andrew let them in and they were greeted by a really modernyout. The white light on the ship also revealed that Andrew was wearing a navy blue sailor uniform. The whole ship was painted in white and its floor was made from painted green steel. Andrew introduced the ship to them, "Wee to our ship. This is a Frigate-ss ship designed for patrolling near the coastline of any area or participating in a small-scale conflict. I hope you two can enjoy your stay in our humble ship." "No need to be that humble, alright? We''re the same age, right?" Del asked. "Really? You''re 18 as well?" Andrew asked. "No, I''m 17, it was only four months ago I turned 17, hahaha," Del said. Andrew nodded, "I see. Right now, we are in the cabin area. This is the section where you will be sleeping, currently, we will be searching for a ce for you two can sleep. I think there''s an empty bunk bed somewhere around here." Del peeked into one of the cabins In that ship. Each cabin had four bunk beds that were filled with four different sailors. It also seemed that female and male cabins were separated. Well, it was not like his sister needed to sleep with him either. Andrew went downstairs of the ship interior and Del followed him. The next stop was a ce where many foods could be found ranging from basic soup to something asplex as a cake. There were also many steel tables ced around the entire room. That room was big enough to amodate the whole ship. "This is the cafeteria, meals are avable from 06:00-08:00, 11:00-13:00, and 17:00-19:00. Come during that time to get your meal, alright?" Andrew reminded. "Sure, no problem, if I may ask, do you know where the medical section is?" Anna asked. "Medical section?" Andrew looked at Anna''s face and skins that were covered in bandages, "Ah, I see, so you have some sort of injuries, huh? Well, follow me," Andrew said. Del and Anna walked outside of therge room and they headed for another hallway. It looked like they had moved to the other side of the ship. Andrew led them to a room. The room seemed cleaner than the other room and the reek of antiseptic was filling the whole room. "This is the medical section, there''s our doctor, doctor Vine." Vine was wearing a doctor coat on top of her navy blue working shirt. She was treating someone who was bleeding in the head. Del had no idea how he got that, but he might smack his head against the pipes that were on top of the hallways. "Andrew, hey, what are you looking for in here?" Vine asked. "I''m just taking refugees for a quick tour, ma''am," Andrew replied. "I see, I am Doctor Vine, if you feel sick or you suddenly cut your finger off, juste here, ok?" Vine asked. "Oh, sure, sure," Del nodded. "Awesome, Captain Gable was running here, she said that one of the refugees had a special condition, right? I think it is you, correct?" Vine pointed her hand at Anna. "Yeah, she said my skin won''t heal, she also said that I need to wear bandages every single day and I have to rece it every single day," Anna muttered. "I see,e here tomorrow, alright? I need to rece your bandage," Vine said. "Sure ma''am, I wille here, don''t worry about it," Anna said. "Great, that''s awesome, anyway, have fun in our ship," Vine smiled before she continuing healing the injured sailor. "Anyway, that''s all area that you two can visit," Andrew looked around and found a female technician holding a wrench and he shouted, "LISA! Come here!" Lisa walked in his direction. She was holding a wrench in one hand and a toolbox in another. "Ah, wee aboard you two, I also heard about the two refugees. It must be you two, right?" Lisa asked. "Yeah," Anna shrugged. "Hey, what''s wrong? Are you a knight or something? You look way armored than an average refugee," Lisamented. "I don''t know, but I think we will find out moreter, right now, Lisa, can you do me a favor and get Anna to her cabin? You know that female cabin is a restricted area for males, right?" Andrew asked while smirking. "Of course I know that, your name is Anna, right? Just call me Lisa, I''m as old as Andrew here, hahaha" Lisa said. "They''re actually younger," Andrew added. "Oh, is that so? Well, you two look like someone that had seen too many fightings, especially you," Lisa smiled at Del''s direction, "What did you two go through?" "Me? I''m just trying to live," Del replied with that simple answer. "I see, anyway, I need to take her to the cabin first, see you at the end of the shift," Lisa said. Lisa walked away from both of them. Del and Andrew went to the cabin where they would be staying. Del put his belongings inside of the cabin and he sat down in one of the bunk beds inside of the cabin. "Alright, this is the ce where we will be staying. It looks like both you and I are going to be in the same cabin. Anyway, Del, if you need anything, don''t afraid to ask, alright?" "Sure," Del replied. Andrew seemed to be friendly, he wasn''t exactly an ass either.. Well, it looked like he would be enjoying his time in that ship. Chapter 81 - More Revelation Del and Andrew chatted for a while until an order came for Andrew. The order stated that Del must be wearing the sailor uniform during his time on the ship and he must work at the ship with Andrew as a supervisor. "Well, I bet Cassandra is the one that gives the order, isn''t she?" Del asked. "Yeah, she made some adjustment to our captain, I bet," Andrew said. "The captain of this ship has the same rank as Cassandra?" Del asked. "Well, not really, Captain Gable is two ranks lower than our ship captain. But still, I think she can be a bit persuasive, but I really can''t judge, this is the first time I met her, what are you expecting from me?" Andrewmented. "Nothing, to be honest," Del smiled. "Anyway, I usually spent my time patrolling the ship," Andrew said. "Really, well, let''s go then," Del said. Andrew held Del back, "Wait, put on the uniform first, alright? I don''t want any random person to restrict ess to some essential areas of this ship to you, after all, I don''t want to get in trouble to get a stranger to walk around the ship." "What? Do you want me to change here?" Del asked. "Yeah, why not? We''re both men, don''t you think? Well, on second thought, it might be a good idea for you to clean yourself first, there''s a shower in this section, after all, I think it''s not a good idea to get your new uniform sweaty and dirty. Besides, I get thirty minutes break," Andrew said. Del left his helmet and his other belongings in the cabin. Del brought the uniform with him and Andrew led him to the shower section. Del took a quick shower to get the dirt and grime off his body. After that, he put on the sailor uniform that Andrew gave for him. It was not the best uniform around, but it was certainly something better than wearing dirty clothing. "Damn, now you look like a sailor, anyway, I''m on the night shift, for the most part, our job is to pick up any scientist, to look around for any signal on the sky, and to guard the ship from any threat. It should be brief enough, I think. Anyway, I''m d to have you onboard," Andrew exined. "Sure, do we have any standard-issue weaponry or something?" Del asked. "Standard-issue weaponry, huh? Maybe our grimoire is our standard-issue weaponry, but some of us are equipped with an optical rifle if you ask me," Andrew said. "Optical rifle? What the hell is that? Cassandra never told me about that. Heck, she never ever said that she ever used a gun before," Delmented. "Gun? Oh, I see," Andrew thenughed, "It looks like those two lied to you, or they don''t want to tell their secret. We do have guns, but it''s not exactly something that every single one of us uses. Still, Del, what''s the big thing that you carry on your back, is that also a gun?" "Yeah, more or less, but first, I want to hear your side of things first, your revtion shocked me," Delmented. Andrew furtherughed, "Hahahahahaha, well, all humans are like that, don''t they? Well, to be honest, Ilbistirum always faced a rather unconventional threat inparison to other kingdoms so we''re pretty much always on high alert." "How so?" "You see, I am one of those people in Ilbistirum that would say that our technological advancement is because we are always under the threat of those ancient sites scattered around the country," Andrew further exined. "Ah, I have entered that site before, it was very dangerous, wasn''t it?" Del said. "Are you lying?" Andrew asked. "No, I am not," Del said. Andrew stopped walking. He frowned when he looked at Del in disbelief. Maybe Del has forgotten that ancient sites still required a lot of demons to take over, but Del still managed to survive. It was simply something that Andrew never heard before. "Out of all people, the one that survived entering an ancient site is a human?" Andrewmented. "What''s wrong with being a person that survived an ancient site?" Del asked. "I don''t know whether you are being ignorant right now, or simply don''t know. Man, those robots, they literally rip and tear the strongest of demons," Andrew then showed Del a picture, it was in ck and white, "This is one of the documentations that I could get when I was little, this is the Automata War. I bought this picture from a war museum." The picture showed a bunch of dead bodies on the ground and there was one single entity that was still standing. The entity was mechanical. It had robotic arms, but it also looked pretty much humanoid. It was holding a rifle and the robot looked in the direction of the camera. Del believed that the photographer died taking that picture. "Wow¡­ I have noment," Del said. "Gruesome, isn''t it? A battalion of battle-hardened soldiers got beaten down by a group of ten robots. We prefer to call it robots, but the real military designation for them is automata. So you can say them as automata," Andrew said. "I see," Del nodded. Andrew and Del headed back to their cabin. Del picked up his machine gun and carried it on his back. He wore his tactical rig, although Andrew said that it was unnecessary to carry that thing. Del refused to leave the machine gun there and saying that it was rather important if they were going to do a patrol on the ship. "Dude, that thing is as big as heck," Andrew said. "But hey, it still helps me in my fight against the automata," Del said. Andrew sighed, "Fine, but please, be careful alright?" "Don''t worry, I will be very careful not to bump my machine gun into anyone," Del said. "Good, now let''s get out of this ship," Andrew said. Del followed Andrew to the same door where he entered. The night breeze of the sea air hit their faces immediately. It was very cold. The sailor uniform protected him from the cold breeze of the night somehow. There were other sailors around the ship as well. Maybe there were around thirty of them on the top deck. "These are the night shifts people, my group. We know each other, anyway, if you have any questions, just ask away, alright?" Andrew said. "Sure," Del uttered. They walked alongside the upper deck of the ship. Some of the crews were maintaining the ship cannons while the others were looking at the horizon. There were smaller turrets on the ship it seemed. The turret had a resemnce to a heavy machine gun turret on a ship. "Don''t tell me that''s an¡­" Del muttered. "Ah, that thing is an A3 Heavy Repeater, it shots a metal bolt at quick session," Andrew exined. "It''s very powerful, capable of prating even the heaviest of armor, it''s too bad that it requires a lot of magical energy to operate." "I see," Del observed that heavy repeater. It looked like an M2 Browning, but instead of belts of bullets, it has belts of bolts. That bolts were feed into the heavy repeater. Del thought that it would propel the bolt at great velocity and destroy anything on its path. It was quite a genius invention. "What? You haven''t seen any heavy repeater before?" Andrew asked. "Yeah, its working mechanism is weird for me," Del said. "Well, I will exin it in a very simple term, the bolt moves into the gun, then magical energy propels it forward, is that clear enough?" Andrew asked. Del nodded, then he realized something. There was simply no propent in that gun and Del wouldn''t think that it would be possible for someone such as Andrew to make a precision explosion inside of a gun barrel and Del really doubted that the energy of a fireball explosion would be enough to propel that bolt. It looked heavy. There was only one exnation about it. "The energy maniptes the maic field in the gun barrel and it propels the bolt forward? Or does the heavy repeater is using a precision magical formation that is embedded in the repeater itself?" Del observed the heavy repeated. "Damn, you are smart, yup, thetter is correct. The explosion will appear at the end of the gun and propel the bolt forward towards your target. However, the former is also not wrong since some of the heavier heavy repeaters do use maic field maniption to fire," Andrew exined. "Damn¡­" Del was speechless. Although it looked very conventional, the heavy repeater had the same mechanism as abustion gun with the technology of a coil gun or a rail gun.. These were some high-tech bullshits. Who the hell did Ilbistirum have? Was there someone with tech knowledge there? If there was, who? Chapter 82 - End Of A Cruise "Del, here''s your coffee," rk gave the cup of coffee from his hands to Del. "Thanks, sir," Del retrieved the coffee. rk was hismanding officer. Although his rank was way higher than Del, he still pretty much respected and, for military standard, spoiled his own men. Del also didn''t know why, but it was probably because most of his rk''s men were only six years younger than him, but well, Del had no idea about it. They were sitting on the starboard side of the ship alongside with other six men who were serving the same night shift. They were sipping on their coffee together as the battleship sailed through the dark night. Del hadn''t seen Anna, Cassandra, nor Cole since he had been onboard that ship for straight sixteen days. Maybe because he worked on the night shift. "Well, for a kid originated without any military background, you''re doing good so far," rkplimented. "Thanks, sir," Del said. "I meant, even this boy right here, Andrew, needs me to shout right on his ear right every afternoon just to wake him up," rk said. "Well, I have to admit that it takes time to get used to it," Del said. "Boy, I think you''ve done enough for someone whom I expected to be a refugee that would only stick to us as a parasyte. Look, don''t get me wrong, being nice to civilian is a responsibility of a military personnel, but liking someone is not. I can give you smile even though I despise you," rk said. "I see," Del nodded. "Is that right, boys?" rk asked. Lenz added, "Well, truth to be told, Del had helped me cleaning the guns during his free time or cleaning the upper deck. Overall, he''s quite dilligent. Mate, if you want to visit my house in Ilbistirum, go ahead." "Thanks, Lenz," Del said. These six guys, rk included, was the people that stayed in the same cabin as Del. To put it simply, there was simply no secret between those six people. The only privacy that they had was the curtain that covered their bunk bed when they were asleep and nothing more. Del was the most junior among them all. As a result of that, he was the most spoiled one among them all for a good reason. He wasn''t exactly a military personnel, but he wasn''t a full civilian either. He was still the person that crushed the Elbanian military with his own gunship. "Del, thinking about it, where were youing from?" rk asked. "I don''t want to talk about it to be honest," Del answered. "I will just assume that you''re formerly Elbanian then. Anyway, Del, when you arrived in Ilbistirum, what would you do? You want to enter an academy or something? Or do you want to enter the military service?" rk asked. "I think I will work at the guild or something, honestly speaking, I don''t really know," Del answered. "That''s some hardcore jobs that you''re going to take. I heard that it''s quite a dangerous job. Still, it''s not like that we are not doing anything dangerous. Del, be careful if you really want to do that," rkmented. Andrew looked at the watch on his hand. "Well, I think it''s time for me and Del to go back walking around, see you allter." "Hahaha, alright, see you allter," rk said. ==================== Del and Andrew was on guard duty on the back side of the ship. They had gone to the open ocean now. Their duty shifted radically from watching the shoreline for any scientists that looked for a ride to Ilbistirum to keeping an eye out for a pirate or separatist force. It raised another question for Del. That battleship was still vulnerable to pirates? Well, the pirates could be stronger, or they might have some sort of strong ships. Well, Del couldn''t find out. About the separatist force, Andrew was the one that told him about the current state of Ilbistirum. "Andrew, can you tell me more about the separatist force? I meant, Cole only told me about the current politic of Elbanian but he never once told me the current affair of Ilbistirum." "Basically, Ilbistirum underwent a very radical change about sixty or seventy years ago. It was a revolution to abolish the absolute monarchy. You know, Ilbistirum used to be a country that was just like any other country, under the rule of monarchy and authoritarian government," Andrew exined. "And people weren''t satisfied by their own freedom?" Del asked. "It was not that simple. There were two groups, the side that wanted the abolishment of monarchy, and the side that wanted to keep the monarchy," Andrew exined. "Why do they want to keep the monarchy?" Del asked. "Well, for the most part, it''s the people that used to be in a higher strata of society. However, now, with the establishment of Constitutional Monarchy, the higher strata of society is gone. You can''t get something just because you are a duke''s son, you need money for that," Andrew said. "It seems like that you have reced something bad with another bad thing," Del said. "Hey, if I were born seventy years ago, I won''t even have a chance to enter school, much less the military," Andrew said. "I see," Del nodded, "So you are saying that your country is under a civil war and a threat from the automata?" "Yeah, but don''t worry, you''ll find living in here way easier than living in Elbanian. Heck, not many people can enjoy the samefort as our military in Elbanian. Believe it or not, a warm shower is not something that any average Elbanian could have." "I see," Del nodded. Del and Andrew continued walking around the ship. The freezing breeze of the night hit them right on their faces as the ship sailed to Ilbistirum. Their short cruise wasing to an end.. It was the time for a whole new life for Del. Chapter 83 - Welcome To Ilbistirum Del finally arrived at the shoreline of Ilbistirum, its naval base to be exact. Even from afar, it really reminded him of the 1930s or the early period of the 20th century. It didn''t look like a fantasy world at all. It looked like an entirely different society from the other countries in that world. Horses were carrying ammunition into the ships alongside some trains. Yeah, there was a train that came in and out of the naval base. Del was speechless, this country had its own industrial revolution way before the other countries. It was simply astonishing. However, Ilbistirum was 9,000 miles away from Elbanian or any other country in general. But well, now he was here. Andrew was waiting on the edge of the ship for Del. He wanted to say goodbye to his friend. Del was still in the cabin, packing up his things and finishing up the administration for refugees. It would take him long enough before he could get naturalized to Ilbistirum. For now, he was only filling the documents to show his identity as a refugee and a foreign citizen. After all, Elbanian didn''t exactly issue an ID for him except the status te. Del got out of the cabin and greeted Andrew, "Hey, what are you doing here?" "I''m just looking at the port while waiting for you toe out. You are going to leave, huh?" Andrew asked. "Yeah, I think so. My sister and I will have to leave, for now, don''t worry though, if there''s an opportunity, I will join the military, but well, we just have to see," Del said. Anna, Cassandra, and Cole walked out of the cabin. Cole and Cassandra were in their Ilbistirum formal military uniform while Anna was in more casual clothing, a white shirt and ck pants with bandages covering her entire body as usual. Del was also the same, he dressed more casually as well. They dressed in a more civilian look as per the advice from Cole. "Cole, I will leave Del and Anna to you. I doubt my fiance will let both of them stay," Cassandra said. "Ah, don''t worry about that, I think my sister and I will wee them with an open hand," Cole said. Cole led the way and Del followed him from behind. The gate to get out of the military base was located on the north side. Soldiers were patrolling the base with a rifle in their hand, probably a bolt-action one. They were looking really simr to a first world war soldier with their brown uniform. Some of them were transporting munitions to the ship while others were being trained by theirmanding officers. Some horse carriages were also there to transport cargo from one ce to another. "Cole, do you want to introduce Ilbistirum to us?" Del asked. "Later, my way of introduction isn''t really fitting to be done inside of a military base," Cole said. "I see, well, the more I look around, the more that I wonder what kind of technology that made this happen. After all, as far as I know, I haven''t seen any country in this world with this kind of technological advancement," Del said. "Technology here, technology there, damn, Del, could you rx and chill for a while? Whoever is hunting you down won''t go thousands of miles away just to look for you," Cole said. "Are you sure about that?" Del asked. "I''m 100 percent sure about that," Cole said. "Knowing Eric, I think he will have a way to annoy us, even here, don''t get me wrong, but Elbanian is more resourceful than you think," Annamented. "If that''s the case, I also don''t know what to do. Maybe, you can take refugees in one of the protection programs, but that''s for intelligence workers for the most part," Cole gave a solution. "So, you are saying that I have to work for the intelligence to get into the protection programs, well, to be honest, that''s not really a bad idea. However, Cole, you need to remember that I''m only 17, do you really think something as delicate as intelligence will recruit a 17-year-old boy?" Del asked. "Well, to be honest, if you catch their attention, they might have an interest in recruiting you, and if not, killing you. Still, Del, attention is something that you will always get, especially with your tendency in taking a high-risk job with the guild," Colemented. "High-risk job, huh?" Del asked. "Assassination, destruction of automata squad, you name it. If it''s highly likely to get you killed, the job is going to attract some attention," Cole said. "I see, basically, any hard job is a good job, eh?" Annamented. "Correct," Del said. They eventually got out of the military base and arrived at the small town near the military base. There was a port with a lot of ships. Some of them were engine-powered ships while some of them were sailing ships. They were unloading their cargo in the port. Unknowingly to Del, the sail ships were way smaller than even the smallest of warships, such as the frigate that Del boarded. Immediately after getting out of the military base, Cole started his introduction to Ilbistirum. "Del, wee to Ilbistirum. The home of cheap booze and most importantly, HOOKERS!!!" BONK Someone smacked Cole''s head from behind, it was another demon, but it was a woman. Looking at it, they looked somewhat simr. It could be said that the woman was Cole''s female version. She had long braided hair, a slender figure, and quite an attractive look. Somehow, Del felt a strong secretary aura from the sses that she wore. "Shhh, bro, what kind of introduction is that?" She asked. "Ah, it''s your sister, I see," Delmented. "Oh, you must be the refugee that he was talking about on the telegraph. Nice to meet you, Del, my name is Alina Aguirre, call me Alina if you want," Alina said. "Ah, nice to meet you, Alina. I''m Del Moore and this other person is Anna Moore, my sister," Del said. Alina shook her hands, "Nice to meet you, Anna. I heard what you have been through, it must be hard, eh?" "Hard is an understatement, but I appreciate your concern. By the way, Alina, would you kindly introduce yourself, please? We really don''t know about you," Anna said. "Oh, sorry. My name is Alina Aguirre. I''m 19 years old. Currently, I''m studying at Lullin State University in the medical major. What else do you want to know about me?" Alina asked. Del was surprised, "You''re a medical student? Would you mind telling me how to enroll in the university? One of the reasons why I want to move here is because education is far more guaranteed here." "Well, first of all, you need a high-school diploma or any equivalent diploma. You also need some funds to enter medical university since it''s one of the most expensive universities around. After that, you need to pass the examination consisted of written test, background test, andstly, an interview," Alina exined. "How do I even enter the high-school?" Del asked. "Easy, you just have to enroll and pass the examination. If you know basic sciences, you should be able to pass it quite easily. There is also an aptitude test to test how much magical knowledge that you have. To put it simply, the bigger your spell, the better," Alina said. Cole coughed, "Enough introduction, do you buy enough train tickets for us all?" "I did," Alina showed four pieces of tickets. "Don''t worry, dog is allowed to enter as long as you keep him from shitting." "Hey, this dog has manner," Delmented. "I''m d to hear that," Alina said. They walked to the train station. The town that they were staying was called Aister. Lullin was located two hundred kilometers north of Aister. It would be a long ride with a train, but it wouldn''t be a tiring one. Del was waiting for the train in the tform. The train came from the west direction. It was a steam-powered train, not diesel. Well, just as he expected to be honest. The culture in Ilbistirum was in the early of 20th century. For example, men were wearing suit and shirt with a tie maybe with the exception of blue cor worker. It was really the roaring 20s in Ilbistirum. Heck, maybe Del could find some good establishment around there. "Train to Lullin is arriving at tform 2. Train to Lullin is arriving at tform 2" Once the train stopped in front of the tform, Del went onboard of the train. He sat down on the chair near the aisle. It was blistering hot there. However, the window could be opened to let some fresh air in. "How long will this train take?" Del asked. "Three hours, at most, if we count the dys and all," Alina answered. "I see," Del said. "You better spend your time sleeping, Del," Alina said. "Right¡­" Chapter 84 - Lullin The train ride was rather uneventful. It was basically a sleeping session along the way. However, now they finally arrived at Lullin, a rather quiet town in the middle of Ilbistirum. Not much could be said about that ce. It was a small town with grasnd surrounding it after all. There might not be a lot of attractions in that town. However, three major locations on the sides of the city caught his attention from the tform of the train station. The first one was located on the east side of the city. It looked like a pce, or a castle, well, Del had no idea that it was neither. It was surrounded by a bunch of simr-looking buildings albeit smaller. A bunch of people was roaming around the entireplex either carrying books or wearingb coats. "What''s that building on the east? It looks so majestic," Delmented. "That''s Lullin State University, my campus, it''s still holiday though, the students that were there would be most likelyst-year students doing their research, or structuring their data like my brother," Alinamented. "That seems to be a pretty good university, what are the other buildings though?" Del asked. "They''re the intelligence buildings, the DEAFI and IBISDA. The one on the south is DEAFI and the one on the north is IBISDA. Both of those organizations keep this country safe from foreign threats before the threat exists," Alina said. "And they recruit from nearby university?" Del asked. "Sometimes, but the high hierarchy of the organization usually recruits their agents with, let''s say, unconventional ways. You don''t look for them, they look for you," Alina exined. "I see," Del nodded. They walked out of the small train station. The first thing that caught his attention was the park in front of the train station. It was sorge with many people in it. Some of them were sitting down on the benches while reading newspapers. Kids were ying while some adults were having a date under the trees. "Beautiful, isn''t it? Lillun Central Park, the ce where most university students find their first love," Alinemented. Surrounding the parks were multiple small buildings ranging from pharmaceutical stores to hardware stores. There was also a gun store and a weapon store located right next to each other. There was also a cksmith, oddly enough. Police with ck uniforms were patrolling around the station. One of them approached Del, "Excuse me, young man, could I see your ID?" "ID?" Del grabbed his refugee document from his back and gave it to the police officer, "Here you go, sir." The policeman read Del''s ID and gave it back to him, "Wee to Ilbistirum, Mr. Moore." They eventually walked away from Del. Looking at it, the policeman was armed with a gun and a book. This was the country where a book was one of the strongest weapons after all. Still, how the gun works were still something that Del couldn''t figure. Alina sighed, "Since the bombing ident, the police is rather tense." "Bombing ident?" "Yeah, a bomber exploded a massive amount of magical stones right below the national monument in the capital. Thousands of people died and it all could be med on the separatists," Alina said. "Ah, I see," Del said. "That''s one of the reasons the western part of the country is hard to ess. It''s simply because of those damn separatists," Alina said. "I see," Del nodded. They were on the streets of the town. People were filling up the stores to buy groceries ranging from meat. Some of them were buying furniture from the store and put it in their carriage. Overall, it was quite a lively town for what it was. It seemed that the street was way cleaner than the street of Alder. The public service must be working very hard to keep the street clean. They further walked in the north direction. They arrived at Cole''s house. It was no different from a regr modern house in the suburban area. There was something in the garage, a car. That''s goddamn right, a car, right in Cole''s garage. Del dropped his jaw. "Seriously, Cole, what do I know is wrong and what do I know is right?" Del asked. "Huh, what are you even asking?" Cole asked. "You said that you don''t know how to use a gun, but it turned out that your country also used guns as its weaponry. You said that you can''t drive, but there''s a goddamn car in your garage, Cole, what the hell?" Del asked. "Military-wise, I was told to act as if I know nothing about Ilbistirum''s technological advancement," Cole replied. "So, everything was an act?" Del asked. "Yeah, we were prohibited to bring guns and all to Elbanian, do you really think that I use swords that often?" Cole asked. "Yes?" Del asked. "Well, nope, I use a machete and I use a rifle," Cole said. "Machete???" Del asked. "Yeah, I often use a machete," Cole said. "I see, is a car thatmon in this world?" Del nodded. "Yes and no, the car itself was something that I got from helping someone in their research a long time ago. Medium-ie people and the military are the main users of a car. Did you notice that several military trucks were roaming around the base?" Cole asked. "Nah, I was amazed by other things," Del said. "Hahahahaha, I see," Coleughed. Aline opened the door of the house and let Dele inside. The house wasfy, there was no doubt about it. There was a couch in the living room. There was something that looked like a radio in the living room. It was big. There was a vase on top of that radio that was as big as a regr table. "Is that a radio?" Del asked. Alina interrupted, "Did you tell them about our technology, Cole?" "No, I didn''t do that, well, it''splicated, sis," Cole answered. Anna, on the other hand, turned on the radio with her own hands. Immediately, a sound that seemed to be so jazzy came out of the radio. Del, without any doubt, set the stone of what tech age of this world. The tech of this world would be between post-WW1 and pre-WW2. It would be safe to say that this world was probably in around the 1930s or early 1940s. "Damn, this is some nostalgic music," Annamented as she turned on the radio. "She can turn on the radio???" Alina scratched her head. "Alina, I''m not a caveman," Anna replied. "Oh, sorry, I''m just too surprised at how tech-savvy you are," Alina said. "I see," Del nodded. "You three, treat this as your own home, alright? Just don''t forget to help my sister with her housekeeping," Del said. Del put his backpack near the couch. Alina went for the kitchen and started cooking foods for all of them. The sky outside had turned orange. It was time for dinner after all. Del sat down on the couch while listening to the smooth jazz. It really reminded Del of what live would be if all of that he had been through never happened. Live would be just between him and her sister enjoying live and education on Earth. Maybe, they would get separated eventually, but it was way better than shooting your way through just to get some cash. "Alina, I have to ask, I''m not exactly fond of entering high-school, and I heard that this country provides money for those who want to do their, let''s say, wet work," Del said. Alina gasped, "Oh my, how was your life in Elbanian? Why are you resorting to killing people for money?" "Because I have no alternatives, that''s all," Del said. "No alternatives? How about now? I meant, you''re in the age to enter high-school, why don''t you join high-school, I meant, it''s not that profitable, but I''m sure that you''ll be less likely to get killed when you enter high-school," Alina said. "I can''t. School doesn''t really suit my purpose right now," Del said. "What''s your purpose right now, to be honest?" Alina asked. "Kill Eric." Alina gasped, but Cole immediately whispered at her ears. She then nodded and nodded. It looked like Cole understood what he should do at that situation. Alina looked shock, but she understood what Cole had told him since she gazed strongly at Anna. "I understand," Alina said, "but, Del, don''t get killed, alright? Tomorrow, I''ll be free, do you need an introduction to the guild? I think I can get you there." "Thanks, Alina." Chapter 85 - First Quest With the car, Alina took Del and Anna to the guild building while leaving Wolfie at home. Alina decided that he would be a great guard dog to guard the house. Del agreed to leave Wolfie there, after all, he really didn''t want to bring that dog to a building that didn''t allow a dog to enter. Alina parked her car right beside the guild building. The guild building looked simr to a government building with itsrge pirs and its white paint. Several people were entering and exiting the guild buildings. All of them were wearing either armor or a military uniform. However, all of them had a simrity. All of them had a military-style name patch on their clothes that read [ICMWI]. "What does ICMWI stands for?" Del asked. "It stands for Independence Contracted Military Worker of Ilbistirum," Alina answered. "So, we just register in the front door and that''s it?" Del asked. "Well, it''s not that simple, but follow me," Alina answered. Alina led them to one of the receptionists'' desks. She asked the receptionist whether she could enroll the youngsters in the guild or not. However, it seemed that anyone working with the guild wasn''t called an adventurer or a mercenary. They were simply called¡­ "So, can I register these two as new contractors?" Alina asked. "Sure, no problem, have they met the required age?" The secretary asked. "Yeah, they have," Alina answered. "Could you two show me your ID, please?" The secretary asked as she put documents on top of the table. "Anyway, fill these up, alright?" The documents contained several nks that they needed to fill such as their full name, their address, their ID number, their location of birth, their date of birth, their domicile, etc. Del used the refugee document that he got from the military ship to fill the documents. It didn''t take too long and Del gave his form and Anna''s form to the receptionist. The guild secretary gave them two patches. It was the same patch that everyone had. The guild secretary also gave them a pocketbook that contained all of the basic regtions of working with the guild. Unlike the guild in Elbanian, Ilbistirum was more rxed and didn''t restrict contractors by their rank. Instead, everyone was free to take whatever avable jobs. However, it was not like Del was free from any rules despite he was working as a contractor. The pocketbook itself contained many rules, but several rules were in bold. It was the rule that every single contractor must follow. [ICMWI Basic Guidelines] 1. Any military contractors are not allowed to attack; destroy; sabotage; or cause any damage to the Ilbistirum military unless specified. 2. Capturedbatants and civilians under the authority of an adverse party are entitled to respect for their lives, dignity, personal rights, and convictions. They shall be protected against all acts of violence and reprisals. They shall have the right to correspond with their families and to receive relief. 3. Every surrendering targets benefit from fundamental judicial guarantees. No one shall be subjected to physical or mental torture, corporal punishment, or cruel or degrading treatment unless specified. 4. Contractors are not allowed to employ any weapons that have the risk of inflicting unnecessary suffering to civilians. Contractors must respect the life of civilians and any nonbatants. 5. Contractors must be identifiable by their patch. Contractors must not imitate or duplicate the appearance of the Ilbistirum military. Any imitation of the Ilbistirum military will be punished severely. "Hmm, the rules seem to be very simple, I''m surprised that Elbanian didn''t have this kind of rules," Del said. "You don''t exactly expect regtion from Elbanian, don''t you think?" Anna asked. "Well, you have a good point, sis," Del replied. "You two are allowed to take jobs when you have the necessary equipment and necessary gears. Return tomorrow orter with your gear and your clothing must have the patch that I gave to you, do you understand?" the receptionist asked. "Yes," Del answered. "I''m d to hear that. Wee to the business, youngsters," the receptionist said. Del and Anna immediately went back home to sew the patch into the upper right arm part of theirbat shirt. After that, they picked up their weapons and wore their armor and helmet. After that, they went back to the guild building to pick up their jobs from the job board. Many jobs were ranging from a request for destruction of automata to a search and rescue operation. "Hmm, thinking about it, I think an assassination job will fit us just fine, what do you think?" Del asked. "Well, I agree, but what''s the target?" Anna asked. "A person, of course, do you think it''s safe to go after automata which take one block of C4 just to kill it?" Del asked. "Ah, yeah, it makes sense," Anna said. Del grabbed one of the papers that were attached to the board. It was a request of assassination for a suspected sympathizer of the separatist movement. The person was hiding in a town called Landville. ???????????? [Assassination of Symphatizer] [Difficulty: A] An arms dealer smuggled weapons and ammo from the Ilbistirum military to the separatist force. His operation was blown by thew enforcement unit three weeks ago. This arms dealer is escorted with security details withbat experience. They participated in the first civil war as special units. Treat with caution. Threat Details: 5 ranged personnel, 10 assault personnel, 5 support personnel. [Warning: Security Details Are Former Special Unit Soldiers] Reward: 50 White Gold Coin ???????????? "Hmm, an A difficulty job, huh? It should be the hardest job I have taken so far," Delmented. "Well, I''ve been through a near-death experience before, what makes you think that this will be hard?" Anna asked. "I don''t know, maybe it''s because of the fact that they were former special units. That just bothers me since the military in Ilbistirum used a gun instead of swords and arrows. I meant, we do have body armors, but that''s not really a guarantee that we will survive their bullets," Del said. "Well, if you ask me, we''ll never know if we don''t even try," Annamented. "You have a good point, Anna," Del said. They took the piece of paper from the quest board and Del put it inside of his pocket. He then opened the map on his tablet and he searched for a town called Landville and set a waypoint there. ording to the map, the location was around twenty miles away from Lullin. They would need a carriage to go there, or a car. "Where can I find a carriage to Landville?" Del asked the receptionist. "You can take the train, it will only take you half hour to reach there," the receptionist answered. Taking a train would be a good idea it seemed. It would cut their travel time and it was definitely morefortable than taking a carriage. It was not prohibited to take guns to the train after all. It would be a good thing to learn the transportation method in this world after all. Del and Anna walked to the train station. Del purchased the ticket for both of them. It cost them ten silver coins each with the extra cost of five silver coins since they were carrying weapons on board. In total, it was all thirty silver coins for both of them. "Damn, 30$ for only a twenty miles train ride," Del said. "Hey, it''s the usual price on Earth, right?" Anna asked. "Yeah, correct," Del said. Del gave one of the tickets to Anna. They waited on the first tform for the train. The train woulde from the south, as expected. The steaming from the steam engine was filling the sky. The train eventually stopped right in front of Del. Del boarded the train after the officer checked his ticket. He sat down near the aisle while Anna sat down near the window. On that train, there were also a lot of people holding a guns, but many of them weren''t wearing armor. They were either the military personnel walking in the train to guard it or they were the contractors like Del and Anna. Del opened his tablet and he bought two things for himself and Anna. He bought a tactical headset alongside a radio tomunicate with each other. It didn''t fit him too much to deal with special forces soldiers while shouting and giving out his own position. He wore the headset and helped Anna to wear it. "With this, we canmunicate together, change the frequency to 462.3412, that channel is clear." Anna rotated the knob on top of the radio until he could hear Del''s voice. "Hello, hello, do you hear me?" Anna asked. "Loud and clear," Del raised his thumb. They enjoyed the train ride to Landville. Hopefully, the security details wouldn''t kill them before they even arrive on the spot. Del wouldn''t be too careless on killing these guys.. It would require him to take the advantage of his equipment. Chapter 86 - Landville Landville. First impression? It was the city of mansions. It just looked right Del had just entered another high-end area that only the richest would be able to afford. Even the smaller houses had cars parked in front of those houses. Not to mention that the number of security details that patrolled the entire region was quiterge. "Damn, I think we just enter Alendale, again," Delmented. "Alendale? The city of nobles? I never entered that town before, but people talked about it a lot. I heard it is a very majestic city, isn''t it?" Anna asked. "Majestic isn''t the correct word, I''d say it''s a city of overspending. That bloody darn city had gold covering its entire street," Del said. "Really?" . "Well, Nah, it was an exaggeration, but you get my point, right?" "Yup," Anna nodded. They got off the train and walked out of the train station. Different from other towns they had been in, Landville had more cars than carriages. Even then, the carriage was pretty much decorated in either gold or any expensive jewelry. To be entirely honest, Del felt out of ce with his operator look when everyone was literally wearing a suit or a dress. "Damn, that woman looked so¡­ elegant," Anna looked at one of the women that got off of her car. The woman was apanied by a very handsome butler. She was wearing a clean white dress and wore a fancy hat on her head. "No shit, yeah," Del also looked at the same woman. The woman looked at both of them with disgust. Maybe it was because Del and Anna were literally gazing at her like they were savoring something. Del gazed at her simply because she was too invaluable to be missed while Anna envied the way the woman dressed. It would be reasonable for the woman to look at them with disgust. "Mmm, let''s get out of here before the woman calls us a stalker," Del muttered. "Yeah, it''s better for us," Anna said. Del and Anna walked away further away from the train station. They looked for the nearest pub or any ce to n. However, it was also a major risk trying to discuss a n inside of a public area. Special forces wouldn''t be stupid enough not to put a spy inside of the nearest pub. "Should we look for the nearest hotel or motel? I don''t think we would be able to discuss our n inside of a pub," Del said. "Well, that''s a good idea, but what kind of hotel that we should be staying in? I doubt any rich hotel would ept contractors like us," Annamented. "Well, we can sleep on the grass if you want to, but it was simply looking for attention. I think we can stay inside of a cheaper hotel or something, it should be a good idea to formte our n there, after all, the spec-ops might not be able to differentiate us from any ordinary contractors," Del said. To find a hotel in that ce was easy. Every single hotel in that ce would have arge sign that could be read from afar. It was also the ce where one rich person would visit another rich person so a hotel would be pretty much expected in Landville. They walked deeper into the center of the town. Mansions filled the hills surrounding the town. The town itself wasn''t exactly the main attraction of Landville. It might be either because of the town''s beautifulndscape or the fact that the town was just strategically positioned. Eventually, after they walked for a while, they found a hotel on the side of the main road. It didn''t look too expensive for what it looked, but it was definitely a hotel that would cost him one gold coin per night at the very least. Del entered that hotel, with hisbat boots andbat gears which were really out of ce. One of the bell boys approached him, "Excuse me, what are you doing in here? Are you here to kill someone?" "Emm, no, I''m just here to stay," Del said. "Oh, you''re a guest?" The bell boy asked. "Yes, I am," Del was disappointed with that question. Del was not even looking like someone that was a plebeian. He still had more than enough money inside of his pocket. He was basically rich enough to pay for anything expensive so far. It was just that he looked like a regr grunt too much that definitely didn''t have too much money. "Oh, I apologize, sir, please, this way," the bell boy said. The bell boy led Del to the receptionist''s table. Del ordered the cheapest room with a double bed so he and his sister would have enough space to sleep inparison to a single bedroom. The price for the cheapest room was three gold coins. It was expected. "Your room is on the 5th floor. You can take the elevator to the left. Our bell boy can help you to carry your luggage, the room is 123," the receptionist gave Del the key and the bell boy tried to take Del''s machine gun from his hand. "This thing is mine, sorry, but I''d rather hold it with my hands," Del said as he kept holding his machine gun tightly. "I''m sorry," the bel boy said. They head to the elevator. The bell boy opened the door to the elevator and all of them entered the elevator. The bell boy pressed the button on the elevator and the elevator lifted up from the ground. The elevator had music on it, most likelying from a radio. After they waited for a while, the elevator stopped and the bell boy opened the door of the elevator. The bell boy carried their luggage and their backpack until they reached their hotel room. The bell boy opened the hotel door and Del entered the hotel room alongside Anna. "Tips, sir?" The bell boy asked. "With your kind of introduction, I''m afraid a silver will be enough," Del gave the bell boy a silver coin and he closed the door. Del put his backpack near the bed and opened his tablet again. Inside of the quest paper, there was an envelope that Del hadn''t opened, but it was very thick. The content of that envelope was pictures, a bunch of them. All of them were in ck and white. It was mostly intel, to be honest. It was the picture of the location where the arms dealer was staying alongside the picture of the arms dealer himself. There was also the fact that there were also pictures of the bodyguard of that arms dealer. It also had several documents that showed what the security details were. They were all former special forces groups ranging from the 23rd Special Recon Battalion, 24th Special Engineering Squadron, and 105th Special Assault Detachment. All of them were dangerous. "They could fly?" Anna showed a picture of them floating in the sky while holding their rifle. "Damn, it will make things moreplicated," Delmented. "I''ll say we should attack them at night, we have the advantage of our NVG," Anna said. "Hmm, yeah, but night assault and machine gun don''t connect, your weapon has a suppressor, I don''t. This machine gun will light up like a firework, and don''t get me wrong, any suppressor would either glow brightly or melt after a sustained fire from the M240," Del said. "You can buy a new gun on the move, right? Just buy something that can be attached with a suppressor, I think you might want to buy an M16 with a silencer or an M4, whatever works, I guess?" Annamented. ???????????? [Showing Avable Assault Rifle] [Tech Level: 56] [Total Bnce: 131,870$] [AK-74M] [800$] [AK-107] [1,000$] [FNC] [1,200$] [AUG] [1,600$] [FAMAS] [1,700$] [SAR-21] [1,750$] [M-16A4] [1,800$] [SA80] [1,900$] [G36] [2,000$] [Tavor] [2,050$] [AS VAL] [2,300$] [AEK-971] [2,500$] [AN-94] [2,800$] [G11] [4,000$] ???????????? "Where are the cheap stuff?" Del asked himself. [The "cheap stuff" that you mentioned has been phased out for a more recent weapon] "Ok, can you give me the same as what my sister has?" Del asked Pidma. [Certainly. All will be 4,000$, attachment included. With 4 magazines loaded with 5.56 AP] "I see, well, get me that gun then," Del said. A crate appeared on top of the bed. Del opened that metal crate and it contained the same exact weaponry as the one that Anna was currently holding. It was a heavily modified M16A4 with ACOG sight, silencer, and a vertical foregrip. Maybe he could attach new things to that rifle, but it was more than enough for now. "Sweet," Del muttered as he picked up that rifle. "Dad''s old rifle, isn''t it?" Anna asked. "Yeah, I rarely used it though," Del said as he checked the magazine of that rifle. The magazine of that rifle was filled with ck-tipped bullets. It was a bullet with a tungsten core and it would prate any light or medium armor. From the picture, it looked like that the security details wore some sort of armor. It could be bulletproof as far as Del was concerned. "Alright, since the weapon issue is solved, how about tactics?" Anna asked. "Well, we will brief about it now," Del said. Chapter 87 - Ilbistirum S.F Del and Anna were looking at the pictures of the security details thoroughly to assess what kind of strengths and weaknesses that they had. One of the major advantages that those security details had while Del and Anna didn''t have was their ability to hover or fly in the sky. It might be the basic skill of being a special force soldier. "It looks like they use a regr rifle, but I wonder why they''d need a cable attached to the back of the rifle," Anna wondered. Del looked at the picture. The special security details were wearing backpacks on their back with a cable attached to the stock of their rifle. There was no scope on their rifle so Del suspected that it might not be an illumination device. What was it then? "I really wished we can call Cassandra right now," Del scratched his head to figure what the cable would do. "Del, do you think this is some sort of magical rifle?" Anna asked. "I''ve never seen magically enchanted rifle, but it might be possible," Delmented.. The cable might be used to transfer magical energy from the backpack into the rifle itself. However, what would the effect be to the projectile? If the projectile turned somewhat explosive, then Del would have a big problem. If the projectile had an armor-piercing ability, it would be bad for his armor. The interceptor armor might be able to block a regr bulleting from 7.62x51mm NATO, but not some sort of magical hibbie jibbies rifle. Right now, stealth would be the most efficient choice. "Del, thinking about it, do you know what a magical device or a magical staff would do to a magical spell?" Anna asked. "It is basically a magical amplifier, making you able to use a magical spell with more strength with less magical energy cost," Del answered. "Yeah. It also means that the magic spell would be more powerful with less magical energy. Now, what if that rifle can both aim magical spells more urately and to enhance its peformance?" Anna asked. "Thinking about it, it might be some sort of special force weaponry, but to be honest, I don''t know the exact mechanism of it, moreover, an air-to-air battle is not going to be as convenient as we think," Del said. "Yeah, I think so, I''m not going to lie, warfare in this world isn''t exactly something that I can get my head around with," Anna said. "You can say that again." For Del, conventional warfare consisted of ordinary things that he expected from what warfare would be on Earth. However, airships, flying soldiers, magical spells, and everything that Del had seen so far was not conventional and he was still surprised why he hadn''t died yet? Sheer luck, perhaps? PIDMA yed a huge part in this. However, it seemed that not many people were able to fly while shooting their rifles. So far, neither Cole nor Cassandra had shown their flying skill. It was the first time that he saw a flying soldier after all. It looked like the advantage of special force was in their flying ability. "Does Elbanian has something like this, Anna?" Del asked. "No, well, as far as I''m aware of, there is none. Perhaps, there''s something that I don''t know at all. You know how many lies that Elbanian had spewed out, right?" Anna asked. "Well, they were burning you, so I''d say yes. Anyway, back to the topic, we should assault them at night. We''ll use our NVG, judging from the look of the mansion, we can easily stay in the darkness," Del said. "I agree with your n, we should kill the patrolling flying soldiers first, to be honest, we are really charging blindly here, but I don''t care, we''ll get this job done, don''t worry, any wound that you have, I''ll heal them," Anna said. "Thanks, but I''m not exactly positive about your spell would be able to fix internal injury which is the thing that I fear the most," Del said. "If we are careful and don''t make any stupid mistake, we might be able to pull the job off, don''t you think?" Anna asked. "Well, we are just high-school kids suddenly turned intobatants and they are hardenedbat veterans that had gone through so many battles that my fingers wouldn''t be able to count. What could possibly go wrong?" Delmented on his situation. "I should have taken an easier quest." Annamented, "C''mon, you have always been through several dangerous situations, you can handle this, Del." "I can, but can you?" Del smirked. "Ah, you dummy." Anna just shrugged. "Anyway, we need a n in case everything went haywire and we need to get the f out of there, what do you have in mind?" Del asked. "We need some distraction, do you think a smoke grenade will work?" Anna asked. "It will work to distract them, but we still need a way to deal with them in case they turned out to be stronger than we expected. We need something that will surely kill them while we can run as fast as we can, I''m thinking of buying a SAMuncher in that regard," Delmented. "SAM? Surface-to-air missile?" Anna asked. "Yeah, a stinger missile, at the very least, it would hit one of those pesky flying soldiers and killed them," Del said. "Fair enough, it should be able to kill a flying soldier at the very least, but how much is it? A stinger is a missile with a lot ofplicated parts, the sensor on the missile alone would cost more than a grand, how much would it cost for the whole missile?" Anna asked. "Wait, let me browse for it first," Del said as he opened his tablet. ???????????? [Showing Avable Surface-to-Air Missile] [Tech Level: 56] [Total Bnce: 127,870$] [9K18 I] [40,000$] [Mistral] [45,000$] [FIM-92 Stinger] [50,000$] ???????????? "Well, fifty grand, I think it will be worth it though," Del said as he pressed the button to buy the FIM-92 Stinger. [Purchase Confirmed. Remaining Bnce: 77,870$] The missileuncher appeared on top of the bed. The missileuncher was huge, probably only a little bit shorter than Anna. The missileuncher itself was unique, Del didn''t know whether it was intended or not, but there was writing on it. "Shipped to Afghanistan?" Del read the writing. "Ah, it''s probably just a unique touch, don''t you think?" Anna asked. "Well, yeah. Anna, can you carry my machine gun? You can use it, and I am sure as hell can''t bring the missileuncher with the machine gun, don''t you think?" Del said. "Yeah, sure, it means that I will also carry all of the box magazines that you always brought, right?" Anna asked. "Correct." "Anyway, do you need anything else that we might needter?" Del asked. "Nothing, I guess?" Anna said. "Alright, let''s talk about the operation." Del showed the location surrounding the mansion. There was a forest on the west and the north side. It might be a good blind spot to start the assault from. It might also be the most heavily guarded area. Still, it was better than assaulting from the open ground. ============= Under the night light, they began crawling to the mansion with their heavy gear. They used the cover of the bushes and the trees from the flying soldiers. As far as his NVG could see, right now, there were four flying soldiers. All four of them were holding a tube. It was a shlight, they immediately shined their shlight at anything suspicious. However, they were not actively using their shlight either. It wouldn''t be easy. It seems even a slight movement would catch their attention. Even the military has set up a checkpoint around the road going to that mansion to keep civilians out of that ce. The security details were ordered to anyone on sight. That was what the soldiers told them when they went through the security checkpoints. Even from afar, Del could see a bunch of dead bodies from the previous assault to that mansion. "I have a visual on a bunch of dead bodies, some of them were rotten. Interrogative, how should we proceed? Over." Anna asked. "Stick to the n, out," Del said. Del and Anna were separated for a good reason. If one of them got spotted, the other could deal with the spotter if everything went to n. However, they were dealing with special forces here, it would be hard. "Del, I see a patrol, should I engage, over?" Anna asked. "Could you profile the target, over?" Del asked. "Target is on the west side of the mountain and moving towards the north. I have ten seconds, should I engage or not?" Anna asked. Del spotted the flying soldier, he was hovering above the ground while looking at the forest. He "Wait until ites to the north section and I will engage him, out." Del aimed his rifle at the flying soldier. He then pulled the trigger of his M16. The bullet hit an energy field and created a spark, but the flying soldier immediately held his chest once Del managed to shoot him. Something dripped out of his chest. "CONTACT! NORTH DIRECTION! COMMENCE BOMBARDMENT!" Del sighed, "Shit¡­" Chapter 88 - Mission Failed Once Del heard that he didn''t move an inch. He didn''t move because he was not stupid enough to expose his exact position to the security details. These guys were professionals, they would immediately aim at Del once he made a sudden movement. They were more armed than Del had previously expected. "Del, they''ve spotted you, should I engage?" Anna asked via the radio. "Shoot at anyone that you can get, but be careful, alright?" Del said via the audio. "Solid copy," Anna said. Del cast a material barrier right around his body to protect himself from whatever they were going to fire. It was better to be safe than to be sorry. Anna fired her gun from the west direction.. Hitting one of the security details on its head and killed him. The energy shield protected him from the whole bullet, but not from the tungsten prator that the copper jacket covered. Headshot turned out to be the only way to kill them. "FIRE!!!" Three security details came out of the windows. They aimed their rifle in the north direction. The security details fired their rifle. The bullets flew in Del''s direction. Once the bullet hit the ground, the bullet created arge fireball explosion that covered a small area. That kind of explosion was dangerous, no wonder many people died when trying to assault this mansion. A barrage of explosions appeared in front of Del. ''Damn it, they have a mobile fireballuncher, what in the actual heck do they have? They''re scary.'' BOOM One of the explosionsnded right beside Del. Throwing him away and hended on one of the trees. The flying dirt dirtied his clothes and the stones created fragmentations that wounded him. A bunch of stones flew to his head, creating many small wounds. ''Damn it, I hope they didn''t break the stinger,'' Del wiped the blood from his face. "Del, do you copy?" Anna asked, her tone was worried. She wondered whether Del got killed or not. "Loud and clear, but I think we have beenpromised," Del said. "Should I use your machine gun?" Anna asked. "No, don''t. It willpromise your position, I will get out of here as soon as possible, but if I am sure that they have found me, all hell break loose. You''re free to do anything," Del said. "Solid copy," Anna said. Del dragged his body behind a tree and he peeked. Ten security details came out of the mansion and the three that were flyingnded on the ground. Two new security details flew to the sky and the three security details reported their current situation. Del didn''t have any directional microphone, but he was sure that he had pissed them all. "Del, there''s a lot of them, are you sure you don''t need any backup?" Anna asked via the radio. "No, if they catch your attention, it would be way more dangerous," Del said. Del checked his body for any injury. Blood wasing out all over many holes inside of his body. Before he knew it, pains wereing out all over his body. He didn''t feel fatigued yet, but his blood loss worried him. If he started to feel fatigued all over his body, it would be game over. Too much blood loss and he would lose his body function. He thought of stopping the bleeding, but did he have enough time to do that? The security details had begun to move towards the north direction. If he didn''t move, he would get spotted. He put his assault rifle on his back. He started crawling on the ground to get away from the security details that begun to search for him. Underestimating the security details was his biggest mistake, he should have used something else, such as a tank if he could afford one. "Del, do you hear me, one of the people ising in my direction, should I engage?" Anna asked. Del looked around him. There was no way he could get out of that forest alive, it was better if Anna distracted them. Anna still could move freely, but Del couldn''t. He might be wearing camouge, but it didn''t mean that he would be invisible. It meant that he would need to be moving from that area. "Engage," Del whispered to the microphone. Anna aimed at one of the security details on the sky. She fired her M16 in a burst towards the direction of the flying security details to wound them. The two security details that hovered on top of the forest dropped dead and fell to the ground and made a loud noise. "WE HAVE A SECOND SHOOTER! ECHELON A! MOVE TO THE WEST!" Del had no idea what Echelon A was, but eight security details flew to the sky and aimed their rifle in the west direction. They bombarded the west forest mercilessly even worse than before. This time, one of the smaller trees even fell to the ground from the fireball explosion. ''How strong are these guys?'' Del wondered. So far, these security details had a weapon that had the same strength as a mobile automatic grenadeuncher. Even though the fireball didn''t spit out metal fragmentations like real grenadeunchers, they were still very dangerous. These veterans really wanted to kill him because Del and Anna had killed three of their buddies. Del threw one of the smoke grenades in the middle of confusion. He threw the smoke grenade in the direction of the security detail that came after him. The smoke popped off and covered the area with thick white smoke. Del used that opportunity to get out of that area. The security details were coughing from the smokes, and Del tried hard to make sure that he didn''t cough. "SMOKE! TIGHTEN YOUR POSITION!" ''If this assault happened at daylight, I would be dead a long time ago,'' Del looked at the security details that kept searching for him, even in the thick smoke. Del continued crawling on the ground to move out of the forest. He hoped that his blood didn''t leave too much trace, but he would be damned if they noticed the dark blood on the dark forest. It meant that these veterans would be harder to shake than he expected. He worried about Anna, "Anna, do you copy?" "I''m fine, Del, I''m getting out of the A.O. This is too hot for me," Anna said. "Get out while you still can, over," Del replied. "Anna out." Del continued to crawl and crawl. At first, it was easy, but it became harder and harder and those veterans weren''t exactly giving up in searching for him. They were searching by kicking or opening any bushes with the tip of their rifle. It was simply terrifying. They seemed to be more disciplined than the Elbanian SF too, maybe because they relied on firearms that forced them to be more tactical. Del looked behind him, then he saw one of them, smiling and grinning while aiming his rifle in his direction. Del gave a quick response by shooting his M16 at the direction of that personnel. The person flinched after Del fired ten rounds at that person''s torso. The rifle that the person held identally shot him in the leg. "CONTACT! 10 O''CLOCK!" One of them shouted. "[Defensive Spell: Material Field] [Force Field Modifier +10,000]," Del chanted his spell as he injected a syringe filled with painkillers on his injured foot. It was no time to be stealthy anymore. Del immediately dashed for the end of the forest to lost his pursuer. They wouldn''t get too far from the mansion since they didn''t want to risk losing their employer. Once he got out of the forest, he would be safe. Suddenly, explosions started appearing left and right as Del ran as fast as he could while firing his M16 at the enemies behind him aimlessly. Del felt that bullet was able to prate his material wall and hit him in the body armor and his legs but the painkiller kept his body from passing out from the pain. "Del, where are you? I''m out of the forest," Anna asked from the radio. "I''m on the edge of the forest, prepare yourself in a defensive position with your machine gun, I will get out of the forest shortly with God knows how many security details are behind me," Del said. Del looked at the sky, one of the flying security details was flying high on top of him. He was the one that bombarded the area around Del. There was no way a 5.56 round would be able to reach that altitude, but the forest also prevented him from acquiring the target while running. Unless he could get out of that forest, he would be trapped. He kept running and running until eventually, he got out of the forest. He saw Anna wasying down with his machine gun. She was aiming at the forest and eventually pulled the trigger of his machine gun and sprayed the whole forest with bullets. Del continued dashing until he reached Anna''s position. He opened the antenna of the stinger and fired it at one of the flying security details and blew him off the sky. The rest of the security details retreated back to the forest. "We did it, you managed to get out, bro," Annamented. Del felt wobbly. His vision was blurred. He dropped the stinger to the ground. He then muttered, "Mission¡­ Failed." His body fell to the ground from the loss of blood. Chapter 89 - Hospital "Del, good morning," a voice could be heard from the left of him. Del opened his eyes. He nodded to the left, his sister was waiting for him. He felt so sleepy. Thefy bed where he was sleeping made his sleepiness much more intense. Thinking about it, how could he end up there? That question was soon answered with the person on his right. "Wee to the hospital, Del," a woman said. That woman was none other than their usual friendly female vampire surgeon, Cassandra Gable. She was holding a clipboard, wearing a white doctor coat, and having a stethoscope right around her neck. "Cassandra, what happened?" Del asked. . "You were rescued, that is the short story. To be honest, I''m more impressed by your sister''s strength. She carried you all the way from the edge of the Landville Forest to Landville General Hospital. I''m just happened to be in the right ce and at the right time," Cassandra said. "You worked here?" Del asked. "Nope, I''m just here because I''m still taking samples, and no, I am not really sucking anyone here, I''m just here to run a few tests and I will leave," Cassandra said and she opened her clipboard, "Anyway, you have around 55 fragmentations in your body that I managed to pull out, the rest of them are either located too deep inside of your body or located too close to vital organs. Fragments consisted of stones, and tree branches." Del observed his entire body. His chest was fine, there was no bandage and he was wearing the hospital scrub. However, his entire legs and arms were covered in bandages and there was an IV attached to both of his hands and his legs. Something also covered his entire "55? How did I survive that?" Del asked. "Your chest is clean from fragments, it''s one of the key factors, and the fragments around your face aren''t deep enough to cause any brain injury," Cassandra said. Del nodded, "I see. But still, Cassandra, who the heck was those guys? They can fly, they can do crazy shits, and they shot fireballs like no tomorrow." "They are special forces. Of course, they can do that, it''s one of the requirements of entering the special units of Ilbistirum. You must be able to use an enchanted magical rifle and you must be able to fly," Cassandra said. "Ok, I see, so basically, you''re saying that kind of thing is regr in the military, how the hell the ground troops are supposed to be countering that? They''re fast and they fly high," Del asked. "You use a weapon with enough fire rate to fill the sky with leads," Cassandra said. "Well, it makes sense," Del said. "Anyway, Del, if you see any job that requires you to fight special force soldiers, you are better off not taking it, it''s not worth the risk and it''s very dangerous, to be honest. Unless you are very armored or very skillful, I don''t rmend you fighting them," Cassandramented. "Yeah, I get your point," Del answered. "Thanks for being my test subject again, Del," Cassandra said. "Test subject? A test subject for what?" Del asked. "Synthetic blood. Yeah, it was a little bit hard to find human blood around here, as you can guess, more than 90% of our poption has a demonic gene at the very least, and injecting their blood into your bloodstream is as same as a death sentence. You will have kidney failure and eventually, total organ failure, and the next thing you know, you will have a funeral," Cassandra said. "So, about this synthetic blood, how do you even make it, what makes it unique?" Del asked. "Well, saying that the thing is 100% synthetic isn''t true either, but this is simr to a bacterial culture you see. I only need a droplet of any blood, put it inside of a liquid culture that has a specialized chemical mixture, and then, drop the blood sample and apply a magical program to that thing. In 24 hours, all of the cultures will be turned into fresh red blood to drink, sorry, I meant to be transfused," Cassandra said. "Old habit, isn''t it?" Del smiled. "Not habit, but a necessity," Cassandra replied. "So, you are taking down two birds with one stone, huh? That''s quite impressive if you ask me," Del smiled. "Research is quite fun too. If the culture fails, I can drink it, and let me tell you, it can taste as delicious as the most expensive cocktail you can get in this town to the taste of sewage water of Elbanian," Cassandra said. "Blood has a different taste?" Del asked. "Yeah, even the type of food that you always eat will define how your blood tastes like. For example, your blood tastes nd, not too sweet, but not too sharp either, it was just like drinking vored water. Cole''s blood tastes funny, maybe because he ate something odd back then," Cassandramented. "I think I get your point, the taste of blood is defined by the diet and the activity of the user, but don''t you think this kind of information is a little bit irrelevant for me?" Del asked. "Ah yes, sorry, the bottom line is, you have your blood and you''re fine now. You just need to take a rest while your sister right there will apply a healing spell for you while the doctors monitor your status," Cassandra said. "I see," Del said. "I''m impressed by the effectivity of your sister''s healing spell, it''s quite rare to see someone able to close a big wound in under two days," Cassandra said. "Two days? How long have I stayed in this hospital?" Del asked. "Five days, your sister volunteered to help me and I dly epted that," Cassandra said. Anna just shrugged. She then showed a pouch to Del. She opened it and showed five white gold coins. Del didn''t get it. What did he do? He failed the mission and yet, he still got a payment for it. Was it real or was it just a donation from Cassandra? "Anyway, the guild heard about the report of the assault. You managed to kill four of them, if you have killed more, it''s unconfirmed. The target is still standing so you don''t get the full reward for it," Cassandra said. "I see," Del nodded. "Anyway, see youter, I still have several patients to take care of," Cassandra walked away from the bed and Anna waved her hand at her. It got him thinking about something though. Where did Anna put all of his equipment? The guns, the NVG, the uniform, the backpack, where did Anna put it? Del looked around the room and he found his guns and ammunition. "Looking for your guns?" Anna asked. Del nodded. "It''s there, don''t worry, I won''t drop our equipment in the middle of nowhere," Anna said. "Thanks, if it fell to the wrong hand, we''ll be fucked," Del said. "I agree," Anna nodded. Anna put a nket on top of Del''s body. Del felt sleepy again, it might be because of the number of wounds on his body. He then slept again to let Anna apply her healing spell and to make his recovery way faster. He still needed to make more money. Chapter 90 - Working For MVSI Del was discharged from the hospital eventually with 50,000$ in his hands. It wasn''t as good as he expected, but it was more than enough since he could break even since the stinger costs that much. Del got his lesson about warfare in that world and that was enough for him. He needed to be careful and he would ask if he was unsure about something. "Let''s return to Lullin, I think we''re ready for next quest," Del said. "Sure, let''s go to the train station," Anna said. ============================. The moment Del got off the train, he looked around the train station, nothing has changed both for the worse or for the better. It was just a regr train station in the middle of a small town. "We should visit Cole, don''t you think?" Anna asked. "Of course, Alina might worry about us to be entirely honest," Del said. "Yeah, I agree," Del said. Del and Anna walked to the direction of Cole''s house. It wasn''t far, but it wasn''t close either. Del continued walking until he arrived at the front porch of the house. Cole was enjoying a cup of coffee in the terrace while reading a newspaper like an old man. He then saw Del from the terrace and he ran as fast as he could to Del. He immediately touched him with his hands. Cole was worried sick for Del since he hadn''t returned for straight one week to his house. It was justified. "Hey, damn, I am worried sick about you, Cassandra called me four days ago and she told me that you''re in the hospital," Cole said. "Ah, sorry for not contacting, but I don''t know how to contact you to be honest," Del said. "Anyway, since you''re in the hospital, Anna, I heard that you went to the dermatologist, what did you get from the doctor? Is there any possibility to fix your skin or something or are you doomed for the most part?" Cole asked. "Thetter, the doctor said it was toote to graft the skin and she also said that the amount of wound in my entire body would make grafting entirely impossible," Anna answered. "I see," Cole nodded. He didn''t know what to say about that situation. He wished he could help, but that kind of thing was really outside of his territory as a chemical engineer. Never mind Cole, Cassandra wasn''t able to help. Cole invited Del and Anna to enter his house. Alina was in the kitchen as usual. She was cooking dinner on top of the stove. There wasn''t anything interesting so far. Del, as usual, put his backpack near the couch and sat down on the couch. Anna turned on the radio. "It''s another cold Sunday afternoon here and here''s another trip down the ssyne with Dan Howartz here, Cooltown radio. Before our usual music program, we have a breaking news here. The arms dealer in the town of Landville have been taken down by the military forces from the 36th Battalion. Our reports said that the assants gave quite a resistance before the tanks went storming into the mansion. Themander suggested that the military should tighten their logistic division. It was quite an interesting news, don''t you think, dear listener? This next song is for you, cool people. Cozy Autumn Beginning by Thomas Garrett. Enjoy it folks," The broadcast stopped before another jazz song yed on the background. Anna crossed her hands right below of her chin. She had something inside of her mind. Del also thought about the recent news broadcast. If even a battalion said that they were having a hard time in taking down the arms dealer then they must have been so lucky to survive the encounter with the special force soldiers. The radio broadcast also mentioned the usage of a tank. It was expected since this world had known the concept of modern warfare. Maybe they used magic shell or something, but he didn''t know either. The tank must have been heavily armored as well. "What are you thinking now, Del?" Cole asked. "Something about the tanks and the flying soldiers or anything that I hadn''t known about this world. We really need to learn about how warfare works in this country or we''re pretty much doomed," Del exined. "Oh, you need some sort of guidelines, huh?" Cole asked. "Yeah, do you happen to have any?" Del asked. "I have one, do you want my old military textbook?" Cole asked. "Sure, why not? What is its content?" Del asked. "Basicl survival training,bat guide, etc. Anything that you might need to deal with in the future is inside of that book. It helps me differentiate when I should fight and when I shouldn''t fight at all," Cole answered. "Yeah, I can use that thing," Del said. "Wait, alright, I have a copy of it somewhere from my friend that unfortunately died during the civil war," Cole said as he headed for his room. Del could hear Cole was opening something inside of his room. He must be throwing stuffs around just for the sake of searching for that military handbook. He eventually came back to the living room and gave the military handbook to Del. Del retrieved that book and opened it. It literally gave everything that Del might need in the future ranging from enemy types to what kind of thing that would kill him as an infantry alongside with standard operation procedure as an infantry. Almost all of the thing such as keep your hands on the rifle, have knowledge of gun safety, keep the end of the barrel far away from anyone''s head, and so on and so on. However, there was one thing that Del didn''t do. He didn''t apply magical field to himself. "So, energy field is a necessity, huh?" Del asked. "Yes, don''t tell me that you enterbat without any protective field," Colemented. "Well¡­" Del just smiled. "Damn, you really want to get killed, huh?" Cole asked. "Not exactly, but I just think that my armor would be more than enough for the current threat of this world, but it seems that I''ve been proven wrong. Shit¡­" Del uttered. Suddenly, Alina offered Del something that was quite profitable, "You two are quite skillful inbat, right? Why don''t you work as an escort for MVSI? I think we have some leftover money to pay you and your sister. I meant, we have our advantages as well." Anna refuted, "Such as? You''re just an university organization as far as I''m concerned, how could you have enough funds to rent contractors?" "We''re not that kind of organization that just helped people, no, the government usually gives us some hefty bonus to help people in the border region. We will help anyone without any consideration to race, nationality, or ethnic groups," Alina exined. "So?" Cole suddenly added, "I heard that Del wanted to be a doctor. If you have a certificate from MVSI, you''ll have a way easier time to enter the medical school, what do you say, Del?" Del was enticed by that proposal. This might be the only chance for Del to be a doctor. It didn''t matter whether he became a doctor on Earth or on another world. If he became a doctor, then he would fulfill his mother''s wish. He really wanted to be a surgeon. "That''s a good proposal, I have to admit, so, Anna, do you agree with her idea?" Del asked. "Well¡­" Anna thought for a while then she gave her answer, "I will follow whatever you''ll do, brother." "That''s great," Del replied. "Anyway, since that''s your decision, MVSI needs an escort in about three days to the border region. It would be a very long journey so prepare yourself, alright?" Alina said. "Sure, can you give us a briefing about where we are actually heading?" Del asked. Alina put the pot aside from the stove and she went to her bedroom. She brought arge map of Ilbistirum. She then put the map on top of the coffee table so Anna and Del could see it. She then pointed her finger at a town called "Halivaara". It was a town on the edge of Ilbistirum. "Last week attack from the separatist has crippled the medical facility in the region around this town, we will go there by train and provide medical assistance around the region," Alina exined. Del nodded. He scanned the map using his tablet to decide what kind of terrain was in there. The terrain around Halivaara was t with the average temperature of fifty Fahrenheit. Del concluded that it was a rather cold town. "I see, and I will assume that we need thick clothing, right?" Del asked. "Yeah, but not really, you will move a lot so you will also produce body heat," Alina said. "We will start moving in three days, right?" Del asked. "Yup, do you need anything else?" Alina asked. "No, I don''t need anything else, thanks for the briefing," Del said. Now, he just needed to prepare his equipment for cold weather. Del wouldn''t need the stinger missile anymore so he could sell its casings back to Pidma. He just needed a better backpack to carry more equipment and a thicker clothing. With a better backpack, he would be able to carry more stuff inside of his backpack and carry more weapons as well. With more weapons, he could be more versatile in engaging his enemies. Maybe a visit to the equipment store on downtown would help him and Anna. This time, he might also need to bring the juggernaut suit just for safety measure. Chapter 91 - Enhancement And Girl Del went downtown, he didn''t need to buy a new backpack from that world after all. He could modify his current rucksack to carry more things by bringing it to an item enchanter. It would pretty much result in the same exact thing as he wanted. He could bring stingers inside of his backpack and all with the new modifications that he would purchase for his MOLLE rucksack. "Alina, what''s item enchanter? I know the basics, but I really don''t know much about it," Del asked. "Item enchanter is the ce where you can get your equipment improved whether its your weapon or your clothing. For example, if you need a waterproof backpack, youe to the item enchanter," Alina said. "How can you even enchant a gun?" Del asked. Cole was carrying his gun on his back. He said he wanted to enchant his gun as well. His gun was a bolt-action rifle that was given by the military for him.. Although Cole wasn''t exactly an active member of the military, he was on the reserve and he must immediately report once he was called. About his gun, Cole said that he wanted to add enhancement that would increase the velocity of his bullet. It would be advantageous for him if he had to fight an armored target. Del didn''t exactly know how the enchanter would be able to do that, but he would find out soon enough. The item enchanter had a store located on the west side of the Lullin Central Park. The store was no different than any ordinary store with the exception that there were many counters with people. It seemed that there were five people at the very least at the store. Del opened the door of the store. One of the people greeted them. "Wee to Nito Enhancement Store. Do you have anything to enchant young man?" It turned out that he was asking Del. Del asked him back, "Do you provide enhancement to items?" "For sure, sir, we provide enhancement from your rifle to your clothing. You only need to tell us and we will do it for you, sir. Of course, one enhancement is more expensive than the others, just tell us what you want and we will try to do it," the person said. "Well, I want a backpack enhancement," Del ced the empty rucksack on top of the enchanter''s table. The enchanter looked at the backpack throughly. He seemed never see that kind of backpack before. For example, he wondered what was the purpose of the webbing attached to his backpack. However, the enchanter kept hisposure not to ask any question to Del. "This is quite a unique backpack, sir, what kind of enhancement that you need, sir? Do you need weight reduction enhancement or dimension increasing enhancement, or both?" The enchanter asked. "What''s the difference?" Del asked. "Basically, dimension increasing enhancement will make your backpack way bigger to the point that inserting your head to the backpack is the only way to see what you''re looking for, the weight reduction enhancement is basically reducing the weight of the thing that you carry inside of your backpack," the enchanter said. "I see," Del said. "So, what kind of enhancement that you want, sir?" The enchanter asked. "I want the dimensional increasing enhancement," Del said. Del didn''t need the weight reduction enhancement. He only needed to erge his backpack. He had no problem to carry more than one thousand rounds of ammunition, but there weren''t enough pockets to store all of those ammunitions. He needed that to carry more missiles. "Ah, good choice, sir, what is the dimension that you need?" The enchanter asked. "I think I need the room to be 100 cm vertically and 160 cm horizontally. Maybe if you have any enhancement that will help me to grab the items inside of the backpack more easily," Del said. "Ah, you might need dimensional separator, basically, putting magical program that separates your dimensional storage into many different categories. For example, if you want to ask dimensional storage for a certain category, you only can only see items from that category, am I clear enough, or do I need to demonstrate it to you?" The enchanter asked. "A demonstration will be appreciated," Del said. "Wait a minute," the enchanter walked to the back. Del and the others waited for a while and the enchanter came out with a leather backpack on his hands. The enchanter put his backpack on the table and said a phrase. "[Storage: Food]" The enchanter then grabbed a canned food from the backpack. "Ah, so it uses a magical program," Del said. "Correct, you will also have an easier time in finding your item," the enchanter said. The possibility was quite endless. It meant that he could have multiple different storages. He could carry six FGM-148 Anti-Tank Guided Missile Launchers inside of his backpack. Del also knew that he needed to carry as much as he could in certain operations. "Cool, but is there any way to activate the storage without saying anything?" Del asked. "Well, you can put a contact point on the specific part of the backpack, my suggestion is to create some sort of shortcuts in your grimoire," the enchanter said. "I see, basically, putting a contact point in the grimoire, right? It seems to be a good idea," Del said. "Alright, you will be able to customize itter, I will give the magical program to you so you can customize it if you want it," the enchanter said. "Thanks, when will I be getting the backpack back?" Del asked. "Tomorrow, and I also need your grimoire," the enchanter said. "How much do I need to put?" Del asked. "50 gold coins," the enchanter said. "Okay," Del put fifty gold coins on top of the table alongside with his grimoire. After it, it was Cole''s turn to enchant his gun, but Del didn''t want to stay in the store for too long. Besides, his business inside of the store was over and he wanted to go into the park. It must be nice to sit down there and meet some new people. Anna stayed to apany Cole and Alina. It was already noon so a lot of children hade to y in the park since school was over. There were also several university students having a date on that park. They were flirting each other in the park by giving flowers or giving chocte. There was a girl on one of the benches. He decided that it might be a good idea to sit there and get to know her. The girl was beautiful, she had a long silk hair and she was reading a book with a quite heavy topic. The title of the book itself was "Geopolitical and Strategical Decision on Governmental Organization". Del sat down right next to her and enjoyed both the view of the park and the view of that beautiful girl next to him. Ideally, this was the situation that he wanted to be in, not killing people left and right. Maybe he could get to know her better. "Hi, what are you doing in here?" Del asked the girl. "Nothing, just studying while enjoying the breeze," the girl answered. "Are you from a political major?" Del asked. "Hahaha, yeah, I used to study there, but now, I''m just working with the government," the girl answered. "Your book is so cool. What''s the book is all about anyway?" Del asked. "This book?" the girl lifted the book with her hands. "This book tells me the effects of any strategical decision that our government will take in the future. Why do you ask? It''s rare to see people notice what others are reading, where did youe from? You''re not a demon after all." "I''m from somewhere," Del answered. "Secret, huh? Well, my name is Kira, what''s your name?" Kira asked. "My name is Del, nice to meet you, Kira," Del said. "Del, that''s quite a nice name. How long have you been in here? How is Ilbistirum? Do you like it or not?" Kira asked. "Well, Kira, truth to be told, I like Ilbistirum, but I''m a contractor so I really have to risk my life every day just for the sake of getting enough money to buy some foods. Still, for the most part, I think Ilbistirum is a pretty good country to live in, what do you think?" Del asked. "I couldn''t agree more. Even though I''m not from Ilbistirum myself, I have to admit that Ilbistirum has more freedom than the country I am originated from. At the very least, in here, it''s not as cold as my former country," Kira smiled. "Ah, you''re from a cold country, what made you move here?" Del asked. "Opportunity, I guess? He who doesn''t take risks doesn''t drink champagne," Kira said. "Hmm, that''s quite a good quote, I will keep that in mind," Del said. "You seem to be a nice guy, Del. Let me tell you something, do you want to go out for a coffee or something? There''s a good coffee shop that I know, do you want to go there sometimes?" Kira asked. "I''d love to, but sadly, I have a contract with the MSVI to guard them to the border region. They want contractors to guard them while they provide medical assistant, maybe I will contact you sooner orter," Del said. "Do you need my phone number?" Kira asked. "Sure," Del answered. "It''s 555-2313-431, you can call meter if you want an appointment with me, I will wait in this park as usual," Kira said. Del noted that number in his notebook. Anna shouted from the enhancement store and Del said his goodbye to Kira. Kira waved her hand and she continued reading her book. Del just smiled as he got his first phone number in another world. Chapter 92 - MSVI Del was waiting in the courtyard of Lullin State University. He was there while looking at his tablet and assault rifle in his hands. Inside of his backpack was his clothing, a tent, personal medkit, RPG-7 with a tandem warhead, his M240, MREs, and ammunition consisted of bullets and rockets. It was heavy, yes, but due to his increased strength, Del really didn''t feel that the weight on his shoulder which would be very heavy for a regr soldier, but for Del, it didn''t feel that radically different from the weight of his backpack when he was still studying. Different from what he previously expected, Del didn''t get too much attention even though he used military-ish uniforms with helmets and armor. Maybe it was because of the fact that several students wore the military uniform of Ilbistirum. Del might be able to ask them, but Del assumed that they were also working with the military alongside finishing their education. Anna wasing along with Alina to meet with the other members of MSVI. Alina would introduce Anna to the members of MSVI that would participate in the medical assistance mission. Del wanted to wait for them instead ofing for them. Eventually, after waiting for a while, Anna came to Del alongside a group of medical students.. The medical students that were following Anna were wearing the same exact clothing, the difference between them was their physical appearance and that was all. All of them were wearing a tucked tan cargo shirt, ck pants, ck military boots, and tan Boonie hat. Why they looked so military even though they were basically medical students? "These are our escorts, doc," Alina introduced someone to Del. A man shook his hand. He was a tall man with quite a buff build and he was carrying a bolt-action rifle on his back. "Nice to meet you, I''m Doctor Hubert Houle, please call me Doctor Hubert, alright? I''m the person in charge of these medical students." "Nice to meet you, Doctor Hubert, my name is Del Moore," Del said. "Nice to meet you, it''s a pleasure to be guarded with someone that managed to take out special force soldiers," Hubert said. "The pleasure is all mine sir," Del said. "C''mon, you don''t have to be that formal, just call me Hubert or doc," Hubert said. "I''ll just call you doc, sir," Del said. "Anyway, thanks to Alina that we can get security details for cheap, but I still have to write something for youter. Del, should we introduce you to our team?" Hubert said. "Please," Del said. Hubert introduced the students that he brought to provide medical assistance. Six students participated in that operation. Two were from the 1st year, three were from the 2nd year, and one was from the 3rd year. The 1st year was Alina and one other male student. The 2nd year students were all male and the 3rd year student was female. "Introduce my friend, his name is Aiden," Alina said. "Nice to meet you, my name is Aiden," Aiden said. "My name is Leinz, these are my bros, Terry and Shawn," Leinz said. "I''m Sharon, I''m the leader of this team, only seconded by Doctor Hubert," Sharon said. Sharon was a third-year student. Leinz was the second year alongside Terry and Shawn while Aiden and Alina were the first-year students. Well, it was a good teambination. All of them were carrying backpacks on their back with the "+" symbol. On their left hand, there was a patch of MSVI itself. "Anyway, Del, nice to meet you, it''s good to be working with you," Sharon said. "Thanks." "Del, do you know what MSVI is?" Leinz asked. "Nope, I don''t know," Del said. Leinz poked Terry, "Bro, exin to our little brother what MSVI is." Terry replied, "Sure bro, Medical Volunteer Student for Ilbistirum is a non-profit, quasi-military, and independent organization that is affiliated with the Ilbistirum Medical Students Association and the Ilbistirum Military with the aim of providing medical assistance to those in need." "Excellent answer," Hubert raised his thumb. "Quasi-military? You guys work with the military in one way or another?" Del asked. "Sort of, we are providing assistance to civilians in warzone based on the information given from the military. We also provide medical assistance to hard-to-reach areas and disaster zone," Hubert exined. "Still, why do you need quasi-military?" Del asked. "Because you really can''t expect desk-nerd to go into the jungle and expect that he wille out alive. We have our own basic training, it''s not much, but it''s still important for the task that we will face," Hubert said. "Yeah, I used to participate in a simr organization before too, I get your point," Del said. "Awesome, then, shall we go to the train station then?" Hubert asked. "Sure, please, lead the way," Del said. As a formation, Del stayed in the back while watching their nk while Anna was in the front while watching the front. Tomunicate, they used their radio transmitter minus the headset. It was not because they didn''t want to wear theirtac, but if they wore it, the MSVI would be thinking that they couldn''t hear them at all which would hindermunication. In the train station, Hubert paid for their train tickets and they waited for the train toe to the tform. As usual, Del was excited toe on board the train, and Anna was too. Thinking about it, Del wanted to buy a car for his usage in Ilbistirum. It would be very cool and it would also reduce his transport time if he needed to walk. "I really wish I have much money," Del sighed. "Rx, you''ll get muchter," Anna patted Del. "I hope so," Del said. Del and the rest of the medical teams entered the train once it arrived at the station. Del and Anna took a seat in front of Aiden and Alina while the rest of them sat on the other seats. Del put his rucksack right below his seat. The train started moving away from Lullin. The stewardess had begun offering drinks and small beverages for the passengers of the train. Once the stewardess arrived at Del''s seat. Since Aiden and Alina were literally sitting down right in front of him, Aiden ordered Del a cup of coffee. "This is a treat from me, you still my junior after all," Aiden said. "Thanks, Aiden," Del said as he retrieved the cup from the stewardess. "Don''t mention it, do you want the cake too?" Aiden asked. "Nah, it''s not necessary," Del said. "Alina spoke so highly of you and so did her brother. If what he said were true, you were surviving on your own, alone? Man, if you ask me, I won''t be able to pull that off myself," Aiden said. "Thanks for thepliment, but past is past, right now, we see the future, right?" Del said. "Yeah, and Anna, sorry for your loss," Aiden looked at Anna. Anna shrugged, "I really don''t think too much about it. The pain keeps me focused on what I should do next and what I should have done earlier. The me burned through my skin and marked the end of my past." "Emm, Anna, are you ok?" Del was worried by Anna''s statement. "I understood what she has gone through," Aiden nodded. Del sipped his coffee as he looked at the view of grasnd through the window. Many people were living on the grasnd in small houses connected to a concrete road that led to the main road that was made of asphalt. However, all roads seem to be connected to one big road system that looked like an interstate. No carriage could be found there, it might be because of safety reasons. It seemed that Ilbistirum had begun recing animals with machines for the most part which was good. "Amazing, isn''t it? This was our wet dream one hundred years ago, but now, look how modernization affects society for the better," Aidenmented. "Sorry?" Del didn''t understand. "Those damn separatists prioritize their culture over modernization. As far as I know, it is all of those royalty bastards who want their privileges back. Their privileges and their authority were strongly against the modernization of society, but look where we are now," Aiden sighed. "I''m d to hear that Ilbistirum has changed for the better," Del said. "I meant, look at us, we improve our healthcare system, our food system, our transportation system, our warfare system, and even our society. One hundred years ago, Ilbistirum is just another country filled with a bunch of books that were only essible by the royalties and their pesky children. Now? Anyone smart enough to read can get an education, and eventually, improving society," Aiden exined. "In short, this was the work of your grandfathers and ancestors?" Del asked. "More or less, yeah," Aiden said. Anna asked another question, "How was the revolution?" "It was bloody. It was the schrs and the working ss versus the royalties. I meant, we were throwing a bunch of bodies to the royalties just to abolish them, and we raised our arms and our guns against the royalties. It was horrifying, but it was worth it," Alina answered. "Ah, the Bourgeois revolution, so that what happened here," Anna said. "Bour¡ª what?" Alina asked. "Just some fancy terms that my sister uses, haha," Delughed. They all discussed politics and a bunch of stuff that happened in Ilbistirum. Eventually, they were bored and enjoyed the ride by looking out at the window. The train trip would take around twelve hours so they decided that sleeping was a good idea. Chapter 93 - A Military Blockade "Damn, why are we stopping in the middle of nowhere?" Alina looked around. It was nighttime, and it was only one hour away from their destination. Del would suspect that there was a mechanical issue, but his guts were telling him a different thing. He was only one hour away from a town that had been attacked by a separatist group. It could be sabotage, or worse, highjacking. Del shook Anna to wake her up, "Anna, grab your 16, wear your helmet andtac, we might have an emergency here." Anna barely opened her eyes as Del grabbed his M16 and Anna''s M16. He opened his helmet and attached the straps to help him wear the night vision goggles. He checked everything, including the radio with Anna. "Test, test, is everything clear?" Del asked. "Loud and clear, bro," Anna said.. "Let''s move," Del said. They began moving towards the front of the train. Hubert was in the front car, he should have known what happened, but if it was a highjacking, then they shouldn''t even bother toe to the front wagon. One of the passengers asked them, "Boy, is there anything happening?" "Nothing, ma''am, I''m just checking my friend in the front wagon," Del smiled as he walked to the door of his train car. He opened the door to see what was going on outside. Del peeked, but it was dark, he put his NVG on top of his eyes. He then saw what was blocking the way. In front of them was a tank. However, its turret wasn''t exactly pointing to their train. Three people were arguing near the lotive of the train. One was the train operator, one was an Ilbistirum military officer, and the other was Doctor Hubert. It was suspicious but wasn''t dangerous either. Del got off the train and started walking in the direction of those three. "[Defensive Spell: Material Field] [Force Modifier +20,000]," Del activated a material spell on his body. He continued walking until one of those three greeted him with a pistol aimed at him. The one that aimed his pistol was none other than the military officer. However, Del immediately shed his patch that read "ICMWI" and he lowered his pistol. Del lifted his night-vision goggles so his face became much more recognizable. Del approached the military officer to know what was going on and why there was a bloody tank in front of the train. "Excuse me, sir, what''s going on?" Del asked. "Ah, Del, we have a problem, it looks like we can''t go to Halivaara," Hubert said. "Has the separatist taken over that town?" Del asked. "Not quite, but they have cut the supply lines, two kilometers in front of us is the 4th Armored Cavalry Squadron and they were charging here, I suggest you leave right now unless you can help me, we only have four operational tanks right now. The other tanks are too broken to be operational," the officer said. "How many tanks do they have?" Del asked. "Nine light tanks, and four medium tanks," the officer said. Well, Del had the right tool to open those tanks. He just needed enough reasons to do it. If themander is willing to put a price for each tank that he destroyed, he would be more than willing to take the risk of doing it. He had the advantages after all. His woond camouge would certainly help him in hiding against the tank and since this section of railroad wasn''t exactly surrounded by grasnd, but also the forest. He could go to the forest, hide among the thick greeneries and fire his RPG one by one at those tanks. It would be easy, but quite risky if someone managed to lob a tank shell in his direction. "Say, what if I destroy those tanks for you, how much can you afford?" Del asked. "Well, I have five white gold coins if you can destroy one tank, ten if you can destroy two tanks, and so on," the officer said. "What if I destroy at least, ten of them," Del asked. "Boy, you must be very drunk, but sure, I''ll give you 100 white gold coins if you manage to pull that off. I meant, even losing one tank on our side is a loss of more than 100 white gold coins, so yeah," the officer said. "Ok, I will take that offer, you just watch and see," Del said. Hubert suddenly intervened, "Kid, do you have a death wish or something? Those are thirteen tanks and you''re alone, what makes you think that you can destroy at least one of them?" "I don''t think, doc, I just act," Del replied as he and Anna walked back to the train. Del had noment about what he would do, he knew it was risky, but one million dors was one million dors. The cost of one rocket for RPG was very cheap after all and Del happened to have twenty of them inside of his backpack. How did Del store them all? Well, he just stacked the rockets on top of each other. That was the main function of having dimensional storage inside of the backpack. Del grabbed his backpack and wore it on his back. "Del, you are not nuts, right? Spec-op is one thing, but a tank is another, do you really think you can take them all down?" Anna asked. "I don''t think I can, but I''ll try, besides, what to lose? I''m not underestimating my enemy and right now, our technology really has an edge over them," Del said. The eyes of a tank would be the infantry around it. Without the help from the infantry, they wouldn''t be able to spot Del. He just needed to move every time he fired his RPG so the soldier would have a hard time in spotting him. Besides, it was night time, the soldiers didn''t have NVG while Del and Anna had one. Still, a distraction would be appreciated. If themander of the tank could be convinced tounch an assault, it would be rather helpful, but Del really doubted that themander would want to sacrifice more tanks. It was just him vs the tanks. Chapter 94 - Tanks "Del, are you sure we are going to do this?" Anna asked. "Yeah, it''s quick money, and it''s definitely way easier than fighting special forces, and Anna, don''t forget, their eyes aren''t as sharp as those spec-ops boys that we saw," Del said. "They''re tanks, but I get your point, we can use range to our advantage, such as shooting them from half a kilometer away," Annamented. "Exactly, that''s why I have a scope on this RPG, it''s to help us to acquire the targets," Del said. "Well, good luck to us all, have you observed the terrain or something?" Anna asked. "Yeah, as far as I can see, we can hide in the forest encircling this railroad. The tanks would be outside of the forest. There was no way the tank would be able to enter the forest," Del said. "The gap between the trees is not big enough?" Anna asked.. "Yeah," Del said. "So, we will have tanks spreading out in open grasnd. If you ask me, that''s quite hard for them to spot us, so yeah, I think you have a good n there, but now, let''s ask the military officer for more intel first, don''t you think?" Anna asked. "Yeah, I agree with that, let''s ask him first about that," Del said. Del picked up his backpack and he headed outside again. This time, he wanted more intel from the military officer. He needed to know what kind of tank he would be facing. If he didn''t know, he wouldn''t know what kind of threat he would face. First of all, Del had to decide what type of light tanks or medium tanks that he would be destroying. After all, a T-XX tank was different from an A-XX tank. The former was slower than thetter, but ording to the manual that Cole gave to him, it packed a heavier 75mm gun. Thetter was faster, but it was equipped with a lighter cannon, 40mm one to be exact. "Sir, what type of tanks that thepany ahead pack?" Del asked the military officer. "As far as I know, they are packing with T-35 medium tank and A-25 light tank. Do you think you can handle that?" The officer asked. "Well, leave it to me, sir," Del just smiled. "I will count the destroyed tanks by the number of explosions that I see, alright? The T-35 weak point is right below the turret, it''s where they store the ammunition. You blow it up, the rest of the tank will go kaboom," the officer said. "Thanks for the information, sir," Del said. Del then opened the military handbook and searched for the T-35 tank specification. T-35 tank was a tank designed around ten years ago by the separatist military and it was the backbone of their armored units. It was cheap to produce and easy to procure. Its 75mm gun could prate any Ilbistirum''s light tank or armored car. However, like any cheap stuff, this tank was well-known to be unreliable and quite a death trap for the soldiers inside of it due to the cement of the ammunition racks that were close to the crew. The tank was also prone to fire. The A-25 light tank, on the other hand, was agile and carry enough firepower to harass Ilbistirum''s light tank. However, it was easy to prate its armor with even a 30mm gun. The tank was only rated for protecting againstrge-caliber round, but not tank rounds. It could be said that it was a cheap vehicle for harassing the infantry. "Well, we can go through the forest to approach them," Del said. "That''s a good idea, they are blind as bats right now, however, even I wouldn''t be too naive and let enemy soldiers encircle me," the officer said. "What are you trying to tell me, officer?" Del asked. "There should be troops in that forest, making sure that nobody sneaks on them, that alone should deter you from going there. Still, if you somehow manage to navigate your way in that forest without any light source, you''ll be fine," the officermented. "That''s what I''m nning to do, sir," Del said. "Well then, good luck," the officer saluted. Del saluted back and he dashed for the forest. The officer just put his hat down and Doctor Rubert was cold sweating. The train operator was equally confused. It was not the first time for them to see an idiot contractor going after impossible targets just for some money. "That boy is reckless," the officermented. "Yeah, couldn''t agree more," Hubert said. Del didn''t hear them though, the sound of money was much more enticing than the fear of facing the death. Anna wasn''t different either, with more money, she would be able to get back to Eric as fast as she could. They dashed into the darkness of the forest while keeping an eye out for someone with the separatist uniform. The separatist used a dark blue uniform instead of a dark green uniform that the Ilbistirum military used. Overall, it wouldn''t be hard to spot them. They run to the forest while Del looked at his position on his tablet. Once he was close enough to the enemy''s predicted location. He immediately stopped running and begun to walk, once he became closer, he begun to crouch, every inch mattered because one wrong move would result in his death. "Anna, do you think we make the right move?" Del asked. "I think we make a right move, the tanks cane to the train faster than the train can retreat, we can serve as a good dy for them. Still, Del, thinking about it, can we have enough money to get back at Eric?" Anna asked. "Well, if we work hard, they will pay us hard, so, let''s be positive, ok?" Del asked. "Yeah, I agree with you." "Now be quiet, let''s initiate militarymunication procedure," Del peeked from behind the bushes as saw one of the separatist soldiers walking in front of him, however, the soldier didn''t notice due to Del''s camouge. Chapter 95 - Fighting The Tanks ''Am I scared? Yes. Do I think that I am crazy? Absolutely. Is what I am doing will be worth it? No question should be asked about it.'' Del was hiding behind one of the bushes while waiting for the separatist soldiers to move out. Del could identify one of the patches that the soldier wore. It was the symbol of their country. The country was called the "Ilbistirum Empire" which made sense since they were still under feudal rule. Thinking about it, the handbook that Cole gave had "The Federal Republic of Ilbistirum" written under it. "I have a visual of six soldiers in front of me, should I engage?" Anna asked. "Negative, let them pass, and Anna, move to the west direction to spread our search position, over," Del said. "Copy that, Anna out," Anna replied.. Del waited until the group of patrol moved away from his position. Del wanted to shoot them, but it would probably not be a good idea. If they had an energy field, it would be hard to kill them with only one shot. It would be pretty much a hit-and-miss situation. A headshot would probably be lethal, but a body shot wouldn''t be that lethal inparison. Six headshots would be very difficult if not downright impossible. The six people eventually walked past them and Del moved out of the bushes. He then looked left and right to make sure that nobody was there and he continued moving towards the edge of the forest so he could have a clear shot to the tanks. PG-7VR was designed to prate 750mm of RHA armor which was very overkilling to the light tanks that had less than 100mm of RHA. Del also thought that the tandem charge would help him in damaging the material shield of the tank if there was any. Del crouched and crawl with his backpack until he arrived at the edge of the forest. The view was as same as what he expected. Three tanks were moving towards the railroad while the remaining tanks were setting up a temporary camp. Nighttime was an enemy for them, so it was expected. They didn''t have any night fighting equipment after all. It seemed that the Ilbistirum Empire put the Ilbistirum Republic''s retreating tanks under a siege, or they were putting Halivaara under a siege by cutting its supply lines. Either way, the oue wouldn''t be good for the Ilbistirum Republic. This felt too much like a blitzkrieg attack, to be honest. It was so fast. "Anna, I have visual on 9 light tanks, three are guarding the railroad and the rest of them are guarding the nks, do you have any visual on the other tanks, over?" Del asked. "I can ID 4 medium tanks on the back part of the unit. Other than that, I have negative visual, over," Anna answered. All of them were there. Del just had to pick his priority target. The priority target should be the infantry around the tanks and the tanks that could lob shells at him. So far, two tanks gave the most significant threat, mostly because their turrets were pointing at the forest and straight into his head. Del put his backpack down and he grabbed the RPG from his backpack. He also grabbed one PG-7VR warhead from the backpack and put it inside of the RPG itself. He lifted up his night-vision goggles and put his eyes right on the scope of the RPG. He adjusted the zoom level of the scope and aimed his RPG to the tank. He put the cross-hair to the tank and aimed it at the center of the turret. Del released the safety cap from the tip of the RPG and pulled the trigger of his RPG. BOOM! The turret of the tank was blown off from the tank. It hit the critical part of the tank which was the ammunition storage. The infantry surrounding it was also dead from the secondary explosioning from the blown-off tank. Del immediately grabbed another round of RPG from his backpack and put it into theuncher before someone noticed where he was firing his gun from. Del aimed at the second tank that aimed its cannon in his direction and fired his RPG. "Del, be advised, I have visual on a patrol approaching your position, should I engage?" Anna asked. "You have the permission to engage, I will change position," Del said. Anna aimed at the head of those soldiers and switched the mode of her rifle to semi-auto. She aimed carefully and blew his head off with his rifle. It had the same reaction as the flying soldiers before. The copper jacket was deflected by the shield, but the tungsten projectile passed through sessfully. "Take cover everyone!" One of them shouted. Anna rustled slowly behind the trees while making sure that nobody actually saw her. The soldiers were holding a shlight, but they could easily light up illumination spells. It would reduce the effectiveness of her camouge, but it would also reduce the likelihood of someone firing a tank shell in her direction. "Shit, we have a sniper," One of them muttered. "Yeah, but where is the sniper, can you see it?" One of the soldiers asked back. "No, sir, negative, I have no visual," someone replied. Anna whispered, "[Cursed Auberium Spear]" Anna threw a ck spear in the direction of the soldier and pierced two soldiers at once. She then continued by wasting the rest of the soldiers using her M16 assault rifle except for one soldier. The soldier wore a radio backpack and wore a headset. "Federal bastard! DIE!!!" He charged his bay at Anna, but Anna shot the legs of that soldier first. Anna approached the soldier and kicked his rifle away from his body. The shout would be more than enough to alert the tank troops below, especially since gunfire also gave a clear situational awareness to the soldiers outside of the forest. "Del, I found a federation soldier here, should I interrogate him, over?" Anna asked. "Bring him to a safe ce first," Del said. "Copy that," Anna said. With the patrolling soldiers out of the picture, Del moved from his position to another position with the backpack on his back again. He put another rocket into his RPG and fired it again at the light tank. The tank blew up again, leaving most of the infantry surrounding it dead. "Nice shot, Del. This radiomunication officer seems to know everything," Annamented. "Interrogative. What do you mean by everything?" Del asked. "He said that Halivaara is under a siege. Enemies have cut all of the supply lines but this one. He said that hismander wouldmence an assault on our train tomorrow. It seems that we are in the right time and the right ces," Annamented. "Can he tell the rest of his buddies that he is still alive and support isn''t necessary, over?" Del said. "I can try, Anna out." Del looked at the tank that guarded the railway started retreating backward. They were covering their nks from Del''s attack. Before he knew it, one of the tanks started lobbing rounds into his direction. The roundnded around one hundred meters away from him, but the st radius could be felt from afar. "Anna, do you copy? They start bombarding us! What did the radiomunication officer say to them?" Del asked from the radio. "Bad news, Del. I just shot him. The son of a bitch told the tankpany to bombard his position in a suicide attack," Anna replied. "Bloody hell¡­" Del ran away as tank shellsnded left and right of his direction. All of the tanks simultaneously pointed their turrets in Del''s direction. Del ran as fast as he could to dodge the barrage of tank shells that were fired at him while reloading his RPG with new rockets. Del fired another round at the tanks. One of the shellsnded close to Del and it threw him to a tree. If not for the dimensional storage in his backpack, the rockets would explode and kill him and his sister in an instant. Del checked his body as he was thrown to the tree. The material field also yed arge part in saving him. The field immediately shattered once the tank cannon threw him to the tree. "They got me good..." Del muttered. Anna ran to Del''s direction to check on him. It was not good. A fragmentation from the tank round shed right into his left shoulder and cause quite a bleeding. It was quite fatal, and would end up disabling him if not treated. "Del, hold on [Heali¡ª]" Del shushed Anna before she applied her healing spell. It would worsen the situation although it was a quick solution. It might be a temporal solution, but it would probably give the MSVI a harder case to treat such as sepsis, or worse. "Grab the first aid kit, stuff the wound with gauze, and then you inject the painkiller into the wound," Del gave her the instruction as Anna cut the upper left hand part of his clothing to expose the wound. Anna grabbed the first aid kit and he followed Del''s instruction carefully. He opened the stic packaging inside one of the gauzes and stuffed it up into his wound. Anna thought that it was unnecessary since she had an advanced healing magic, but Del wouldn''t trust it too much. Del felt the stinging pain as Anna pushed the gauze into the deeper part of his wound, it must have touched the deeper part of his body. She then grabbed a morphine auto injector and injected it to the surrounding part of his skin. As Anna continued her treatment, Del could hear footsteps approaching him. Using his NVG, he could see that people with dark blue uniform were approaching him as the bombardment stopped. "You got to be kidding me," Del sighed. Chapter 96 - A10 Anna carried Del and his backpack on her back as she tried to avoid being spotted by the Imperial soldiers. Del held his M16 with the only hand that was still functional. He needed to destroy the tanks with the resources that he had. RPG was no longer an option. Now, he needed a much more expensive option. "Anna, open the tablet on my backpack and call in an airstrike using the killstreak menu," Del said as he held his M16 on his right hand firmly. Anna was holding Del with one hand so it wasn''t a big issue to grab the tablet on the outermostyer of the backpack as she ran while carrying his own brother. He opened the tablet and enter the search bar for the killstreak menu. "THOSE ARE THE FEDERALS!" One of the soldiers shouted. Anna peeked and six soldiers were chasing her. Anna ran faster as she tried to choose the menu with only one hand.. She managed to open the menu and she didn''t have any idea what option he should choose, but she had an idea on what she should call. ???????????? [Killstreak Menu] [Tech Level: 6] [Total Bnce: 127,870$] [Sentry Gun] [5,000$] [Precision UAV] [20,000$] [Precision Airstrike] [50,000$] [Juggernaut Suit] [60,000$] [Cluster Strike] [80,000$] [Cruise Missile] [120,000$] [Chopper Gunner] [150,000$] [Escort Helicopter] [180,000$] [Gunship] [120,000$/Hour] ???????????? Anna chose the [Precision Airstrike] option. ???????????? [Precision Airstrike] has been purchased. Remaining Bnce: 77,870$ ???????????? "Alpha 1-2, standing by for targets," someone said on the radio. "Do you have aser pointer or something? We need to mark the targets for them," Anna asked as she kept running. "I have one in my back pocket, grab that and shine the tank with that," Del said. Anna put her hands in Del''s back pocket and found theser pointer. It was like a shlight, but it was for pointing theser. Anna pointed theser at the general location of the tanks to give the attacker ne a target to attack. Anna shook her hand as she marked her target, "C''mon, c''mon, drop the bombs already." "Alpha 1-2, the target is marked. CAS inbound." The sound of a jet engine roaring from the distance became louder and louder. The soldiers that were chasing them stopped once they heard the noise they never heard before. Del aimed his rifle at them and shoot them all. He spent all of the rounds left in his M16 and they dropped dead. "Anna, let me down, they''re gone," Del said. "Alpha 1-2, dropping bomb." One bomb exploded and destroyed two light tanks at once. The soldiers were running in disarray as the bomb exploded around them. The machine gunner on top of the tank started raining the ne with the rounds from their heavy machine guns. "Alpha 1-2, two targets are down, will return for another sweep." The jet took a very steep climb to the sky and Del caught a glimpse of it. The attack jet was none other than the A-10 ground attack jet. It was the main aircraft that the air force used to help the ground troops. "Who''s smiling now, huh?" Anna leaned to the tree and looked at the fireworks created by the aircraft. "Alpha 1-2, doing another strafe." The jet flew right past the tanks and fire its GAU-8 cannons at the tankpany. The gun produced its iconic sounds as a bunch of sparks appeared from the tanks and destroying it. The armor of those tanks wasn''t hard enough to deflect the power of DU 30mm rounds. The small explosions produced by the 30mm cannons killed the infantry surrounding the tanks alongside the tents that they had ced earlier to stay in that position until the sun came up again. The A-10 fired its AGM-114 missiles at the medium tanks and destroyed it all. The remaining targets were two light tanks remaining. The A-10 needed to make a turn first before it could engage the target again. Del observed that the Imperial soldiers were running away from the open ground and started entering the forest. Del put another fresh magazine into his M16 and he shot at anyone that came close to his direction. However, Anna seemed to be the one that got the most kill thanks to her mostly unscratched condition. Anna leaned his back on the tree while she took most of the approaching soldier with her silenced M16. "They are running away like ants, don''t you think?" Anna asked. "Yeah," Delmented. "Alpha 1-2, firing missiles." The missiles flew in the direction of thest tanks and destroyed them. The whole grasnd in front of him had turned into a fireworks disy from the burning tanks. Dead bodies were everywhere. Insides were scattered throughout the grasnd thanks to the power of 30mm rounds. "Alpha 1-2. CAS ispleted. RTB." "Wish I can smoke something now," Anna muttered as she enjoyed the view of burning tanks. "You are smoking? I never know about that," Del said. "And you''re alcoholic, both of us are no better, right?" Anna said. "Where did you find out my secret hobby here? Never mind that, hey, at least, we survive, right?" Del asked. "Should we report to the officer?" Anna asked. "Not yet, let''s take a rest here," Del said. Anna sat down right next to Del and she put the backpack on the ground. The enemies were retreating from that location and they rxed on that forest although with a rifle in their hands. It should be a lesson from both of them that they shouldn''t underestimate a regr unit. Still, no one fell into aa unlike thest time so the mission was sessful for the most part. Del and Anna lifted their night vision goggles from their head. Del looked at his own injury and tried to assess the condition of his shoulder. The cut was deep, but it didn''t end up touching one of the bones in his shoulder. Besides, he had medical volunteers that would mend him at the end. Anna grabbed the canteen on her belt and opened the mouth part of her bandage. She drank the water and he offered Del, "Want some?" "Sure," Del retrieved the canteen. "Why do you think these two are fighting? Was it truely because of political reasons?" "Yeah, I think so. Ilbistirum Imperial wanted to keep the monarchy while the Federal Republic of Ilbistirum wanted to abolish them. It''s just the fight of principle, but I understand that it''s also a fight for their ways of life," Delmented. "How so?" Anna asked. "Simple, with royalties, not every people can have education, without royalties, everyone can have ess to education. They simply didn''t want to be kept in the dark for long. Not only that, without royalties, everyone has the chance to reach a higher social status," Del said. "I see your point, Del, you''re always interested in politics and medicine too much, don''t you think?" Anna asked. "What makes you say that?" Del asked. "I meant, a year ago, you have a debate with Hannah about federal government versus unitary government. After that, you also have debate with another medical volunteer on the infirmary because she gave Eric Tylenol instead of Ibuprofen," Annamented. "Let''s just say that Hannah and I arrived at a conclusion. About Eric, he was having an inmation on his right leg so I decided to give him Ibuprofen instead of Paracetamol, but Indy didn''t approve it by saying that Ibuprofen was an overkill," Del said. "Alright, enough of the exnation, yes yes, I know you''re right," Anna nodded. "And you''re clumsy, remember the axe that you dropped on my feet, or the knife that you identally stabbed on my arm?" Del asked. "C''mon, Del, the axe was slippery because someone, which is you, decided that oiling the wooden handle without wiping the excess oil was a good idea. About the knife, I think it was my bad, sorry," Anna shrugged. "Alright, alright, I get that point," Del said. Del and Anna leaned on the same tree. Two of them took a break. So far, Del had nearly been killed twice and Anna had outsmarted her grim reaper once. Overall, life in another world wasn''t as beautiful as they previously dreamed of. Del eventually went to sleep in that forest and Anna kept her eyes opened for any approaching Imperial soldiers. Chapter 97 - Payday "That was a magnificent firework show," the officermented. "Thanks, sir," Del was sitting down on the ground while being treated. Terry was treating Del''s wound by sewing it with a sterile suture. Terry was a second-year student that participated in MSVI. His distinguishing feature was his bald face, his thin mustache, and his tanned skin. "Dude, you''re fucking mental, I meant, 14 tanks at once, seriously, how talented are you?" Terry asked as he sewed Del''s wound. Hubert approached Del. He took off his Bonnie hat and put it on his hands. He smiled when he looked at him. He was just amazed by Del''s performance. "So, you''re Del Moore, huh? My fiancee said that she met a certain kid with a greatbat talent, I will assume that it''s you.." "Your fiancee, do you mean Mrs. Gable?" Del asked. "Oh, so it is indeed confirmed. It''s a pleasure to meet you, Del, I''m Major Hubert Houle, part of the 24th Rapid-Response Task Force. It''s been a pleasure to meet you, perhaps, do you need a letter of rmendation from me or something?" Hubert asked. "Oh, you''re a military officer? It''s been a pleasure to meet you, sir," Del said. "Thanks, I assume that you have met Captain Gable, how was she there?" Hubert asked. "It seems that you chose the perfect woman, sir," Del said. "Ah please, stop calling me sir, just call me Hubert or doc," Hubert said. "Alright, Doc, can I call your wife Cassie?" Del asked. "No, don''t do that," Hubert said. The military officer gave Del ten white gold coins for the initial payment. "The rest will be given by the guild, I have contacted the guild at Halivaara for your work. You''ll get the rest 140 white gold coins by tomorrow." "Thanks,mander," Del said. With 100,000$ in his pocket, it should be enough to provide him some healthy funds for the next operation. Halivaara was a town under a siege, there should be enough jobs for him to take as a contractor. Overall, he needed to get as much money as possible from the war economy. He knew his limit and he had known what he was incapable of. Right now, he had the resource to destroy tanks more efficiently. He brought RPG because he already had an RPG and because he only expected tank in a self-defense situation. He didn''t expect a mission to destroy a damn tank. "Moore, why are you smiling?" Hubert asked. "Nothing, doc, I''m just thinking of something," Del answered. "Something good?" Hubert asked. "Perhaps?" Del said. "Anyway, let''s continue the journey towards Halivaara," Hubert said as he got inside the train. ============================== Ilbistirum could be split in half and Halivaara was in the middle of it. Since the civil war, the used-to-be prospering town turned into a battlefield between the Federation and the Empire that often ended in a stalemate. The citizen of the town had got used to living in that situation. The moment the train arrived at the town, Del knew that the town was barely functional. The train station wasn''t a station. It was just a bunch of tforms set up in the middle of a railway so people would be able to embark and disembark from the train. The military must have used that train station a lot. The buildings in that town were mostly in ruins. Many buildings had turned into rubbles. Del could count how many building that was still standing just by using his own hands. The town was just a shadow of its former glory to the point that Del wondered why Ilbistirum Federal Government still defended that town. "Ah, Halivaara, the main supply lines," Hubert said. That was fast. The main supply lines, huh? Del opened his tablet to see the exact location of Halivaara and measured its distance to another town. It turned out that the distance to each town surrounding it was less than twenty miles. Strategically, it was an advantage. Anyone that held that town would have an advantage. Unfortunately, right now, the town was under a siege which meant supply would be stopped entirely. Field guns and artillery were scattered around the town to deal with the iing infantry and armored vehicles that would be attacking the premise. There were also several k cannons to deal with any air forces from bombers to flying soldiers. Overall, it was a heavily defended position. It was no surprise if a siege was required to take over the town. However, the situation wasn''t as good as expected. If they even epted medical students to bring in supplies, the situation must have been pretty bad, right? "Town is heavily defended, don''t you think?" Del asked. "Yeah, I agree with you, the town is pretty much filled with heavy immovable weapons with a very thick air defense, if you ask me, this town is practically imprable by any conventional means of this era," Annamented. "What if an F-15 jet decides to strike here?" Del asked. "The whole town would be destroyed before they knew what hit them," Anna sighed, "Del, I said conventional means of this era, not our era." "Let''s say if you''re an enemy, what will you do to destroy this town?" Del asked. "Me? Well, I will put it under siege, after that, I will cut it off from the remaining support. So, I will probably attack the weaker cities first and destroy their railwork and cut off their ess from the capital," Annamented. "Ah, I see," Del said, "If I were the enemy, I will send my special forces first to disable their air defenses and send in the heavy bombers to tten out the city." Hubert and the rest of MSVI were looking at them in confusion, especially Hubert. Hubert was still a major in the military and hearing their independent military contractors nning to destroy the major supply lines was simply unnerving and insightful at the same time. It meant that the contractors that they hired weren''t just some muscle-for-brain types. "Emm, guys, you two aren''t nning to attack this town, right?" Hubert asked. "No, we are assessing the situation," Annamented. "For?" "So we know what is the high-priority targets for the enemy," Del said. "Ah, you are assessing, huh? Good," Hubertmented. "Anyway, Sir, if you don''t mind, do you need my assistance further, or can I take a walk around the town with my sister?" Del asked. "Sure, sure, you may take a walk," Hubert said. "Thanks, doc," Del said. Del and Anna took a walk around the town. The town was pretty quiet. There were no civilians in that town, it was all soldiers ranging from male to female. They were either patrolling the town, manning the weapons, or moving boxes from one ce to another. Del took the initiative to ask one of the soldiers, "Sir, where are the civilians?" "Civilians? They are evacuated from this town a long time ago, this is practically a military base and supply point at this moment," the soldier answered. "Thanks for the answer," Del replied. A town turned into a temporary base, well, it wasn''t weird. Anyone with a sane mind wouldn''t even think to stay in a town whose permanent structure was less than ten with most structures being tents with military colors. There was a tent with a red cross on top of it. It must have been the medical tent. Del would enter the tentter. He wanted to search for the guild office first. They should have the money for Del. However, which one was them? Del asked the same soldier again, "Sir, excuse me, but where''s the guild building?" The soldier pointed his hand at a white building with a radio antenna on top of it, "That''s the guild building." "Thanks." "No problem." Del and Anna walked to the building. The guild building there looked more simr to amand room than a usual guild building. For example, instead of the usual guild secretary wearing a ck skirt and ck vest with a white shirt, all Del could see people, whether it was women or men, in green military uniforms. Del approached one of the desks, "Excuse me, can I retrieve rewards for a certain favor here?" The female soldier answered, "Yes, what''s your name?" "Del Moore." The female soldier looked at him in amazement, "Del Moore? The tank destroyer? It''s an honor to meet you, I heard that you destroy the tankpany attacking from the East. Good job, Moore," the female soldier said as she ced something on the table. It was a ck metal te and forty white gold coins. The ck te was heavy, it was heavier than even gold. Was it a form of payment? Or was it something else? To be honest, Del had no idea. "Husnael te," Anna grabbed the te from Del''s hand, "One of this worth at around one hundred white gold coins. The only people that have this in Elbanian are the rich and famous, and yet, you manage to procure one, bro." "This shit worth 1,000,000$," Del added. "Wow," Anna didn''t know about the conversion rate from coins to dors. "Yeah, with this, we can buy some expensive military hardware, like the Javelin," Del said. "It will be great to destroy a tank with a Javelin," Annamented. "Nah, it will be too expensive, I will vote either using TOW or Ko missiles. It is way cheaper than a Javelin missile," Delmented. "Ah, I see, but now, what will we do with all of these money?" Anna asked. "Well, let''s think about thatter," Delmented. Del opened his tablet to check his bnce. He put the money inside of his backpack and opened his tablet for his bnce. He wasn''t surprised, but he was certainly ecstatic. It was more than enough to purchase something fancy. [Bnce: 1,577,870$] Chapter 98 - Argument About Nukes Anna and Del were walking in Halivaara. They were heading for the medical tent to report to Hubert. With one million dors in their hand, it might be a good idea to buy something good. Sadly, Tank or APC wasn''t an option because neither of them had ever used them. Right now, a better infantry weapon would be the best choice for them. Besides, there was something that Del hadn''t checked out in quite a long time. He wanted to check his status te. He had killed some special force soldiers, apany of tanks, and enough soldiers for leveling up. ???????????? [Del Moore] [Level: 60] Strength: 142 Agility: 132 Vitality: 146. Aptitude: 105 Perception: 119 Skills: Language Understanding | Firearm Comprehension LVL.57 | Marksmanship LVL.55 | me Maniption LVL.10 | Field Maniption LVL.18 | Demolition Expert LVL.11 Magical Energy: 25200/25200 Health Point: 87600/87600 ???????????? [Tech Level: 7][System Upgrade Avable] [Vehicle][Weapons][Ammo][Amenities][Building][Gear & Items] "Another upgrade, what could it be this time?" Del asked Pidma. [Disying 3.0 Patch Note][Cost: 500,000$] -Removal of outdated items -Experimental weapon is now avable & Avable experimental weapon is more reliable -Ability to use custom material in armor and weapon -Ability to sell items -Ability to insert custom blueprint -Storage bes avable "For a patch, this is not bad, especially the ability to sell items, but well, to be honest, I wonder what we would be able to do with this much amount of money," Del showed the tablet to Anna. Anna was intrigued by the proposal. It meant that they would be able to plunder the enemies more efficiently which meant that she could make much more money which meant that they could get back to Eric faster. Anna didn''t care about what would he do to Eric, she just wanted her to die. "Del, do you mind browsing nukes?" Anna asked. "Nukes? How are we supposed to be using them? Just press the button and wish for the best?" Del was surprised by that statement. "Just browse ICBM for me, will you?" Anna asked. "Sure." ???????????? [Showing Avable ICBM] [Tech Level: 7] [Total Bnce: 1,577,870$] [LGM-25C Titan II] [6,500,000$] [LGM-30 Minuteman] [7,000,000$] [R-36/SS-18 Satan] [8,500,000$] [LGM-118 Peacekeeper] [10,000,000$] ???????????? "Damn, we still have a long way to go, don''t you think?" Del asked. "Well, not too long, but we need a nuke sooner orter," Annamented. "I''m not exactly wanting to have a weapon of mass destruction, but it would be necessary for the future. Still, is it that simple as pushing a button and the missile will go to our target?" Del asked. "Well, yeah, I meant, if we want to crush Elbanian, we must destroy their economy and nothing is better than a bunch of multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles with the strength of ten bombs in Hiroshima. Just imagine all capitals in Elbanian destroyed at once," Anna said. "Jeez, Anna¡­" Del muttered. "What? It''s not like those dudes will retaliate with us?" Anna said as she grabbed the tablet. She was looking at the specification of his ICBM. Her eyes were glued to the screen. The fire that burned through her skin, turning it into nothing but charcoal, Anna wanted that in Eric. The nuclear weapon was no different than fire, it was more destructive, more impressive, more lethal, and most importantly, more practical. She just wanted Eric to be dead. Del tried epting the real fact that his sister had changed, but it was not that easy. His sister used to be the type that stayed in the kitchen while listening to popr music while cutting vegetables with her knife. Now, she turned into someone who would chop someone''s private part while gunning down thousand of soldiersing after her with a machine gun. "Yes, but still¡­ nuke is just too much," Del uttered. "What do you mean?" Anna crossed her hands, her eyes were piercing him with one thousand reasons why nuke was pretty much needed. Del sighed as the two sides inside of his brain had a match on the ring with one side wanting as much revenge as it could and the other wanting to minimize as much civilian loss as possible. The fight inside of his head really gave him the headache of the century. It was between integrity or morality, "I want to kill Eric as much as you do, but is it necessary to kill thousands of people that don''t even know what the hell was going on?" "You know nothing about Elbanian, Del. They do know about the genocide!" Anna screamed. A glimpse on Anna''s face would show that the veins around her eyes would pop sooner orter. Del just gave her a big no about the nuke and now he regretted it. She got the point that Del had little to no interaction to the regr people around him, especially since he didn''t have any interest to know people''s opinion about the current situation. That didn''t meant that he would have to kill all of the women and children just for the sake of hunting down Eric. "What are you implying now, huh? You are suggesting that we should kill hundreds thousands of people just because of one single guy? What made you better than the Elbanianitting mass-genocide in Reian then? I''m asking you now!" Del shouted back. "I¡ª" Anna opened her mouth, then tears started running in her eyes. "Anna?" Del walked closer to her, trying to calm her down. Suddenly, Anna clenched her hands and threw a punch right into Del''s face. Del readied himself to parry the punches that Anna threw at him. A lot of them were parried by Del, but some of them hit Del in his eyes, in his nose, and in his mouth. He could have clenched his fists back and threw a devastating punch to Anna, but there was something that stop him from doing that. Anna kept punching Del until his nose started to bleed and his face turned ck and blue. She kept throwing her punches to Del''s face until Del fell to the ground from one of the punches that Anna threw at him. Del fell to the ground. Anna immediately came to him and clenched her fist again, but Del just smiled, "If a regr person tried to do that, I''d immediately shoot him or her with my rifle." With his strength, Del held Anna''s arms in ce so she didn''t try to punch him anymore. "I thought you were better than this, it turned out that I was wrong." Del then mmed Anna to the ground and pressed her body against the ground so she wouldn''t move anywhere, "You know, I really wish that meeting you would turn into a happy family reunion, I really wished that it were that simple, but it turned out that things are moreplicated than that." Anna just sobbed as Del put him in the ground. Del took away Anna''s rifle and her pistol. "Meet me at the medical tentter after you cool your head down, we need to talk, face to face. I''m not in the mood of giving you any lecture." Del then released his sister and he walked away from her, leaving his sister sobbing in the ground. Del wasn''t particrly wanting to do that, but he had no choice. A simple argument had turned into a fist fight and Del wouldn''t want to bother fighting his own sister. Chapter 99 - New Mission "Did you two just have a fight?" Alina asked as she treated the bruises on Del''s face. "Sort of," Del just smiled as Alina put the disinfectant-soaked cotton balls on his bruises. "Well, it looks like you just pissed your sister badly. Will shee back though?" Alina asked. "She wille back, it''s not like it''s the first time it happens," Del said. Brother and sister quarrel was not something umon, but punching your brother until his face was filled with bruises was umon in any world. Thinking about it, Del hadn''t gone through a near-death experience, much less being burned to crisp like Anna. He felt that he should have not said that earlier. It was understandable why she would need those nukes, but Del just felt that killing too many civilians would be bad for both themselves and the country they were staying in right now. If they did an unprecedented nuclear strike on Elbanian, it could spark further conflicts.. Elbanian might not be as resourceful as Ilbistirum, but they weren''t stupid enough to not know who bombarded them. Worst-case scenario, Elbanian would be ming Ilbistirum Federal Government for the nuking of their capitals and it would mean war for Ilbistirum. Even though Elbanian was against the Reian, they would have an easier time proving that demons were evil by showing the other human kingdoms the atrocities that the Ilbistirum had done. It would be only a matter of time before Ilbistirum fought the whole human race because of atrocities that they didn''t do. Not to mention that intelligence agencies in Ilbistirum were sophisticated enough to actually track him down. If that were the case, the whole Ilbistirum would be hunting them down and it would be catastrophic because they would have to fight a country with the strength of the first world war German Empire all by themselves. They would send in their flying soldiers after them and it wouldn''t be the ordinary flying soldiers that would be sent after them. Del would bet that Ilbistirum would send their most elite flying soldiers toe after him. It was kinda like being hunted down by the United States with a bounty of ten million dors on his head. Everyone woulde after him for that kind of money since he was sure that he didn''t have that many friends in Ilbistirum and Cole and Cassandra would being after him as well since they were from the military. "Are you Del Moore? Someone is looking for you," A soldier asked. Del stood up from the chair inside of that medical tent. He then walked out of the tent and he looked at Anna. She was waiting in front of the tent. Her eyes were red and the bandage right below of her eyes looked soaked. Could it be that she has been crying ever since Del entered the medical tent? Del had been staying in the medical tent for around three hours. Del opened his hands, "Need a hug?" Del smirked. "Yes," Anna hugged Del. "Sorry if I was too rough," Del said. "Nah, it was me that was too selfish, you''re right, I don''t think about this thoroughly," Anna said. "That''s ok, I meant, I used to be the naive young boy believing that I had the chance to redeem myself back then, but well, maybe the others don''t want me to die or something. It turns out that politics are alwaysplicated, don''t you think?" Del said. "What happened, happened," Anna said. "Well, are you ready for another job?" Del asked. "Lead the way, bro," Anna said. Anna entered the medical tent alongside Del. The reeks of antibiotics were filling the air. The tent smelled like a bottle of brand-new isopropyl alcohol. Screaming and crying were thundering on both sides of their ears. Looking at the left, Anna saw a patient screaming from the wound in his abdomen. Looking at his right, another patient was screaming as a doctor pulled a fragment from his leg. "Is it this bad?" Anna asked. "I''ve only entered here three hours ago, ask Hubert," Delmented. "Where is he?" Anna asked. "He''s probably opening someone''s head," Del said. "You meant patching them up, right?" "Yeah." They walked around the medical tent and eventually they found Hubert. He was briefing his team. The MSVI members were wearing their backpacks again. Alina was holding a map, Terry was carrying a backpack with a radio, and the rest were wearing backpacks with a red cross. "Listen up, team, we are going to the town of Moruguri. This town was recently attacked by the Imperial Soldiers and a lot of casualties can be expected. Our job is to help the medical personnel there to treat the wounded, are we clear?" "Yes, sir." "The remnants of the Imperial forces are still surrounding the town. Apany of armored cavalry has been dispatched to that location. We will follow the armored cavalry from behind. Our security details will protect our nk, is that clear?" "Yes, sir." "With that in mind, I want every single one of you to be careful, keep an eye out for mines or traps, got it?" "Yes sir." Del grabbed his backpack and gave Anna''s rifle back to her. Anna grabbed the rifle and she checked it. The magazines were loaded into the rifle. There were only two magazines left from the four magazines that Anna packed inside of his chest tactical rig. The rest were empty and they would need to be filled up again. "I think I will be carrying the backpack, I feel bad for you to have to carry it all day long," Anna grabbed the backpack from Del''s back. Del gave Anna the backpack, "Sure." Del then asked Hubert about the operation. As far as Del knew, he would be staying in the back, would it mean that he followed them from behind, or did he mean that he would be sticking with the group while staying on the back section of the group. "Doc, may I ask something?" "Sure." Hubert smiled. "Are we supposed to be following you from behind while maintaining distance or are we supposed to be following you right from the back?" Del asked. "I heard from Alina that you can drive so you''ll follow us from behind with a vehicle carrying our medical supplies," Hubert said. "I understand, sir," Del said. "Your vehicle should be ready on the side of the tent. The MSVI members and I will be in the truck. Your call sign will be Hitman 11 and my call sign will be Hitman 2, do you need any radio or do you have anything that can call me on the frequency?" Hubert asked. "I have one," Del showed his tactical radio, "What''s the frequency?" "35.920. That''s the frequency. You might need to reprogram your radio first to register the frequency. This is the code, just reprogram the radio," Hubert said as he gave Del a piece of paper with codes. Del grabbed the tablet from his backpack and plugged his radio and Anna''s radio into the tablet. He then inputted the code inside of that piece of paper and he test the radio transmission. "Hitman 2, this is Hitman 11, radio check, over." "Loud and clear, Hitman 11." Del put his and his sister''s radio back into their pocket. "So, Hubert, do you want anyone besides us to guard the medical supplies?" Del asked. "Sharon will apany you," Hubert said. "I see, well, if that''s the case, where''s Sharon?" Del asked. "She''s putting the medical supplies to the vehicle," Hubert said. "I see," Del nodded. "See youter, Del, I have to prepare my group as well," Hubert said. Del and Anna walked to the side of the medical tent. Sharon was putting boxes into the backseat of the jeep. The cardboard boxes were filled with syringes, medicine, bandages, and many other medical supplies. "Hey, need a hand?" Del asked. "No, thanks," Sharon said. There might be around six cardboard boxes inside of the vehicle. The vehicle itself was not different from a jeep from his world. Driving it wouldn''t be difficult, he just needed to coordinate with the other people in the convoy so he knew the direction towards the town he was heading for. "Sharon, do you mind if I ce my backpack next to the medical supply?" Anna asked. "No problem," Sharon said. Del entered the driving seat of the vehicle and started the engine of that car. Sharon covered the supplies with a tarp and she sat down right next to the medical supply. Anna rode shotgun alongside Del. Del held the steering wheel firmly as he waited for the convoy on his left to begin moving towards Moruguri. Six tanks were spearheading the convoy while trucks were behind them. it didn''t look like a medical convoy, it looked more like an offensive unit. "Hitman 11, this is Hitman 2, the convoy will begin to move, over" "Hitman 11 copy. We will follow thest truck, over." "Keep your ears open on the radio, Hitman 2 out." Chapter 100 - Convoy To Moruguri "Hitman 2, this is Hitman 11. The backside looks clear, no visual of enemies, reportplete, over." "Hitman 2 copy. Stand by for orders, over?" "Hitman 11 copy. Hitman 11 out." Del put his radio receiver back into his pocket. The convoy moved through the concrete road connecting Halivaara to Moruguri. Grasnd surrounded the entire road. Wreckage of tanks, armored vehicles, and aircraft was amon sight. All of them had rusted away from the constant environmental deterioration. The grasses weren''t always green, some of them were charred, others were buried below a pile of earth that had been turned upside down.. The craters on that grasnd suggested that a bombing campaign had happened in that area. There were also several trenches on the grasnd with dead bodies sometimes pilling up. "Battle of Borders," Sharon muttered. "Imperial forcesmenced arge-scale offensive on the Federation around ten years ago, we got pushed back and we ended up in here and in this stalemate. Right now, we''re trying our best to fight the little skirmishes," Sharon exined. "I don''t get it." "What do you mean?" Sharon asked. "Ilbistirum Federation has more manpower than the Empire, why would we even struggle against them?" Del asked. "First, we have rules in warfare while they don''t. Second, they dare to attack the civilians because rights are not really a thing there. Third, our military is spread thinly because terrorism is one of their main tactics," Sharon exined. "I see," Del nodded. "The recent terrorist ident is the worst. The explosion is so big. Bodies were burning, and people were¡­ I''d rather not talk about it." Sharon held her mouth with her hand. Suddenly, she threw up on the road. Del offered her his handkerchief. She took it, "Sorry, it was just nauseating." "I get it," Del nodded. Del had an idea how a bomb victim would look like. Their arms could be separated miles away from their body. Their soulless eyes would be looking at the sky. Blood was scattered everywhere. Intestines would be scattered on the floor with their brown abdomen content. Del had an idea how bad it was at the very least. He recalled that the bomb managed to kill thousands of people, it must have been a prettyrge bomb or it wouldn''t be able to kill that many people. It seemed that this bomb and terrorist ident would need to be investigated in the future. It might be worth noting about that. "Hitman 11, this is Hitman 2, I have visual on possible adversaries on three o''clock, stand by, over," Del responded by looking at the right direction for anything suspicious or out of the ordinary. Anna readied her rifle and aimed it at the right direction. Del pulled his pistol out of the holster and held it with his left hand. "Hitman 2, we have no visual on possible adversaries on three o''clock. Interrogative, can you be more precise, over?" Del asked. "Hitman 11, possible adversaries werest seen in one of the trenches, do you have visual, over?" Hubert asked. Del looked at the trenches. A dark blue uniform sticked out of the trench. It didn''t move, nor show any sign of movement. It might be a good idea to put a bullet on his head. However, he needed to have a permission to engage the enemy. "Hitman 2, I have visual on the possible adversary, do I have the permission to engage?" Del asked. "Copy that, Hitman 11, you have my permission to engage. Everyone, be advised, prepare for enemy ambush," Hubert said. Del patted Anna''s back. Anna nodded and she sprayed the body of that Imperial soldier with her assault rifle. 5.56 bullets flew at the direction of that soldier. The Imperial soldier dropped dead on the ground. Del felt that cold sweat started running down his face. It could be a sign of ambush or it could be the sign of someone actually hiding from the convoy. "Hitman 2, this is Hitman 11, target has been neutralized, standing by for further orders, over," Del said over the radio. "Hitman 11, no more orders for you, out." Del''s palms were sweating as he held his pistol with his light hand tightly. What If the Imperial soldiers set up an anti-tank mines in front of him. If that were the case, Del could die quite easily. But again, he was in a jeep and the tank would probably be the biggest threat that the Imperial soldiers had to face. "Del," Anna held his hand, "Rx, we''re in this together. Besides, if someone is going to ambush us, we''re not even a high-priority target." "You don''t make this any easier, don''t you think?" Del just smiled. "Why didn''t the Hubert told the machine gunner to kill the Imperial soldier?" Sharon asked. "No idea," Del answered. Anna grabbed put the M16 on the back alongside with the medicine supply and she grabbed the RPG from Del''s backpack and attached the tandem warhead into that RPG. She then put the RPG on top of her thighs. It was not like there was anything to shoot, Anna just worried about another tanking at their direction and shooting them without giving any chance for them to shoot back. "Is that the tool that you two use to kill those tanks that blockaded our way?" Sharon asked. "Yeah," Del answered. "Neat, you two are really the perfect security details for all of us. Alina did a really good job rmending you two. At first, I was skeptical, but now, I am confident that you two will keep us safe from those imperial soldiers," Sharon said. "It was just our luck," Annamented. "Nah, it was skill, I saw it from afar. You two cast a very powerful magical spell that managed to destroy a lot of tanks at once. A mage like that would get drafted to special units in no time," Sharon said. Del stopped Sharon from talking. Del asked her to be quiet. There was a transmissioning from the radio and Del listened to it. The news wasn''t good at all. "All units, be advises, we have a report of a tank tooning our way." Chapter 101 - Trenches A tankpany? No, Del had no time to deal with that kind of threat again. He immediately grabbed his tablet and searched for any kill streak that he could use. He wanted to ask for help from his dear friend Pidma. ???????????? [Killstreak Menu] [Tech Level: 7] [Total Bnce: 1,577,870$] [Sentry Gun] [5,000$] [Precision UAV] [20,000$] [Precision Airstrike] [144:00:00 Cooldown] [Juggernaut Suit] [60,000$] [Cluster Strike] [80,000$] [Cruise Missile] [120,000$] [Chopper Gunner] [150,000$] [Escort Helicopter] [180,000$]. [Gunship] [120,000$/Hour] ???????????? "144 hours cooldown?" Delmented as he looked at the cooldown period for the precision airstrike. Thinking about it again, if he could call in an airstrike without any cooldown, it would be too good to be true because was well-aware that bomb would be much more than fifty grand and it was simply too illogical that it would only cost him right around fifty grand to call an airstrike. Well, there were more options, but Del bet that it would have a much longer cooldown period. "What is that thing?" Sharon asked as she pointed her finger at the tablet. Her eyes were glued at Del''s delicate movement of touching the screen. Sharon had never seen images moving so spontaneously before. She even went as far as putting his face right beside Del''s shoulder to look at that delicate movement of the screen. "Eh, Sharon, what are you doing?" Del felt annoyed by the pressure put on his left shoulder. He shrugged his left shoulder and Sharon moved his face away, "this is called a tablet, why do you ask?" "That kind of technology must be hell darn expensive, isn''t it? I only found those being owned by those who have ventured into the ancient sites," Sharon said. "Ohh, ok," Del nodded. Considering that Del found the tablet after he fought through several security turrets and several security robots that were practically immune to standard full-length rifle rounds, it would be no wonder why the ancient tech was considered to be very expensive. Del snapped back to the main topic. How would she protect the MSVI and the medical supplies withoutpromising too many resources on his side? AC-130 might be a good idea, but an AC-130 would be way too overpowered to deal with a mere tankpany. It was only twelve tanks and it was not like he had no support at his end. The spearhead of the convoy was six tanks followed by trucks and light utility vehicles. There were also several federal soldiers inside each truck that carried weapons and heavy weapons. In short, Del wouldn''t be working alone either, but he might have a chance to legitimately show his own power to the federal soldiers so he would get more jobs in the future. The convoy suddenly stopped. The six tanks scattered to the grasnd to deal with the approaching tankpany while the truck stopped and parked right behind the tanks. The soldiers disembarked from their vehicles with weapons on their hands whether it was an ordinary rifle or the big anti-materiel rifle to disable the light tanks. Del followed suit by driving the car right beside one of the trenches. He turned off the car engine and grabbed his M240B. Anna carried the backpack alongside the RPG while Sharon grabbed her bolt-action rifle. All of them dived to the trench and waited for furthermand. "Anna, give me the RPG," Del said. Anna gave Del the RPG and Anna retrieved the M240B in return. Looking far ahead, small dots were approaching their position from afar. Looking through the scope of his RPG, there were indeed fourteen tanks going after them followed by enemy infantries. "Is there a way that we can deal with them normally?" Del asked Sharon. "We usually call an artillery strike. These are retreating enemies, Moruguri itself is located in a river valley with one ess point. With artillery support from Halivaara, taking out Moruguri itself would be quite a task for the imperial soldiers," Sharonmented. "Why were Moruguri was attacked then?" Del asked. "It was a surprise attack in the middle of the night ording to Hubert and there was arge bombardment in Halivaara two days ago that set the artilleries out of service, luckily, it didn''t take too long for the military in Halivaara to repair it, otherwise, Halivaara would fall," Sharon said. "So, being put under the siege is quite a usual routine here?" Del asked. "Yep," Sharon said. "And you all let me destroy the tanks even though you guys will know that they will eventually be pulled back in the next day?" "Yep." "Well, I still get a lot of gold coins, so there''s that," Del said. "Yeah, good for you," Sharon said. A whistling could be heard from above and then arge explosion followed after that whistle. Del peeked out of the trenches and saw therge hole made right in front of the Imperial tanks. After that, another whistling came from the sky and arge explosion followed after that. Dust flew across the battlefield, followed by rocks and fragmentations. Del immediately ducked deeper inside the trenches as the artillery continued its bombardment on the imperial tanks. Del felt that it would be another huge battle and he would be a part of it. The battlefield turned white just from the earth turned from the bombardment alone. The artillery bombardment eventually stopped and differentiating enemies from hostiles became more challenging. Del could see Sharon and Anna, but seeing the vehicles beyond them was out of the question. "Wait for the dust to settle down, the artillery unit also includes smoke round to help us," Sharon said. Sharon must have been through this kind of situation a lot. She knew too much for a mere medical student. However, considering that the battlefield was the main activity location for MSVI, it was rather expected. Usually, the thing that happened after artillery bombardment was none other than shooting. The shooting immediately started. The federal soldiers exchanged fire with the imperial soldiers. Bullets were flying in both directions. Del, Anna, and Sharon were in the far back, but bullets still reached their direction. It might be what they called suppressing fire considering the number of bullets flying in his direction. The artillery didn''t kill them all. Most of them immediately took cover in the nearby trenches. The ce was indeed filled with trenches and moving from one trench to another was indeed easier than moving the whole convoy. "Hitman 11, this is Hitman 2, do you copy, over?" Hubert shouted through the radio. "This is Hitman 11, standing by for orders." "We have casualties here, numbers are unknown, but it will increase, I request immediate transport of emergency medical supplies to my position, over," Hubert said. "This is Hitman 11, roger. Where''s your current position, over?" "Six trenches in front of your location, Hitman 11," Hubert said. "Copy that, Hitman 11 is on the way." Del sighed after he listened to the order. He feltzy to move out of his rather safe trench and into the vehicle on top that might have been shot by the imperial soldiers. "Hubert told me to move six trenches in front of us." "SIX TRENCHES?" "Yes." All they had was a machine gun, an RPG, Del''s backpack, and whatever was avable in Del''s tablet. As much as Del wanted to go cheap, he didn''t want to risk his life too much this time. It might be the time to actually use something much more expensive. ???????????? [Killstreak Menu] [Tech Level: 7] [Total Bnce: 1,577,870$] [Sentry Gun] [5,000$] [Precision UAV] [20,000$] [Precision Airstrike] [144:00:00 Cooldown] [Juggernaut Suit] [60,000$] [Cluster Strike] [80,000$] [Cruise Missile] [120,000$] [Chopper Gunner] [150,000$] [Escort Helicopter] [180,000$] [Gunship] [120,000$/Hour] ???????????? Del bought the chopper gunner option. ???????????? [Chopper Gunner] Order Has Been Confirmed. Remaining Bnce: 1,397,870$] ???????????? "Hitman 11, this is Delta 1-3. Transferring fire control to you." The tablet screen turned into the infrared camera of the helicopter. Looking up, a helicopter flew right on top of his head and that helicopter was an AH-64 attack helicopter. Using the control in his tablet, he gained the altitude of that helicopter and scanned the area in front of him. Six tanks were remaining alongside infantry scattered on the trenches in front of him. There was no counter on how many enemy infantries were left, but the hostile had their body painted in bright red instead of bright white color. Del moved the cross-hair to the tank and he pressed the fire button. A loud bang came from the sky and followed by a barrage of smaller explosion sound in front of him. The 30mm cannon of the apache helicopter made quick work of that small light tank with its 30mm bullets. "Good kill, good kill." "Hitman team, this is Hitman 7, interrogative, did someone call for a bombardment or special units?" The team leader, Hitman 7, was confused on why the tank in front of him suddenly exploded without any reason at all. Maybe the concept of close air support didn''t exist in this world yet, or it was just afort affordable by the special units only. "Negative." Del gave Anna the tablet and told her to shoot at the tanks. He put his RPG back into his backpack since his hand would be filled. He wanted to take the opportunity from the chaos to grab the medical supplies. The thing was, what was the box that contained the medical supplies for injury? "Sharon, do you know the box that contains the medical supplies?" Del asked. "Search for the box with "Trauma" written on it," Sharon said. Del jumped out of the trenches and immediately rushed to the vehicle to search for the small box that he would need to treat the injured soldiers. He opened the tarp and revealed bunch of small boxes. Which one was the right box? He read the description of each box one by one. "Medicine? Nope. Disease prevention? Nope. Survival medicine? Nope. Trauma? Yup, here it is." Del picked up the box and he immediately jumped back to the trench with the box still in his hands. "Alright, I got it, Anna, how many tanks left?" Del asked. Anna just showed the infrared camera on the tablet. There were only burning wreckages between the sea of dead bodies on the screen. Del was surprised, he hadn''t gone for a long time and the tanks had all been destroyed. "None. All of them had been eliminated. Apache helicopter is stupidly overpowered," Annamented. "Anna, please provide supressing fire as I move, alright?" Del asked as he readied to climb out of the trench. "Copy that. Go Del! Be careful, alright." Chapter 102 - Running To 6th Trench Del jumped out of his trench and ran across the battlefield. The federal tanks were shooting their cannons at the imperial soldiers that hid in the trench. Thebination of artillery strike and apache helicopter managed to turn the table for the convoy. Although thest one was rather unknown since it attacked from an altitude far above the ground and far beyond the range of human vision. "Woah, contractor?" A soldier aimed his rifle at Del. He red at Del before he lowered his own rifle. "Rx. I''m friendly, could you help me get to the trenches in front of me?" Del asked as he showed the medical supply to the soldier. "As in providing covering fire for you? Yeah, sure, we can do it," the soldier said. "Great, I''m ready when you give me the signal," Del peeked out of the trench. . The soldier reloaded his rifle and the other soldiers checked on the remaining ammo on their machine guns. "Volley fire! Watch out for friendlies!" The soldier shouted and the other soldiers started shooting their rifles in barrage again. Del climbed out of the second trench as he ran as the federal soldiers covered his back. Bullets were flying both from the back and the front while smoke was covering his vision as far as his eyes would go. Del continued running. He didn''t care about the bullet flying back and forth. His utmost priority was to get the medical supply to the people in the sixth trench. As Del approached the third trench, he fell to the trench as bullet his chest. Del fell to the muddy trench alongside the box with the trauma kit. One of the soldiers noticed him and helped him to stand up. Del checked his chest, the bullet didn''t prate, but it definitely made a bulge on his ballistic te. "Damn, running from trench to trench, are you looking to get killed, kid?" The soldiermented. He then noticed that Del wasn''t even bleeding, "Son, are you used to be the part of a special unit or something? Or are you just talented?" "Maybe thest part," Del picked up the box from the ground. "Talented, huh? Well, you''ll make more money as a contractor anyway, kid, are you going to transport that med kit?" The soldier pointed his hand at the box. "Yes," Del nodded. "Why don''t you take the trench connecting one trench to another? It will take a much longer time, but it''s definitely safer although you have to be careful of enemy soldiers," the soldier said. "Don''t worry," Del carried the box with one hand and pulled the pistol out of his holster, "I''m not exactly unprepared." His pistol was the Five-seveN, chambered in 5.7x28mm bullet. He bought that pistol because he was afraid that an ordinary pistol wouldn''t be able to pierce the regr material field that soldiers usually used. The bullet inside of his pistol was the armor-piercing variant of the 5.7 bullets. "Good luck, kid, go to the left and immediately turn left again," the soldier said as he shot his rifle again. Del ran in that direction while moving around the federal soldiers that fought back at the imperial soldiers. He ran across the trenches as he held the pistol firmly with his right hand. Del continued running and running while putting the sight of the pistol in front of his face. The adrenaline was rushing through his blood, pushing his body through his limit as bullets were flying on top of his head. It was not his instinct to survive, it was his instinct to help the people that need that trauma kit. He heard the chatter on his radio. It was the main reason. "HITMAN 2, HITMAN 2, WHERE''S THE SUPPLY, OVER?" "HITMAN 2, THIS IS HITMAN 4, WE HAVE HEAVY CASUALTIES, REQUESTING IMMEDIATE MEDICAL ATTENTION, OVER!" "HITMAN 2, WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU ALL? WE HAVE BODIES HERE." Over thems, everyone was looking for Hubert, mainly because he was the only certified doctor there. The rest of them were just thebat medics that were taught basic first-aid. However, it was reasonable since Hubert was the only one that got a call sign beside the other doctors. Del only got a call sign because he was considered to be an outside contractor. "CONTACT!" An imperial soldier noticed Del running and shot his bolt-action rifle at him. Del pulled the trigger of his pistol and shot the running imperial soldiers in his direction. Del put his index finger on the trigger and pulled the trigger. One bullet flew to the head of that imperial soldier that ran in his direction. "Damn, that was one hell of a brave runner," Delmented. Only one imperial soldier was charging that far. What kind of bravery did that soldier have? It was idiot rather than brave. Del continued running afterward. His boots sshed against the liquid on the trench. The liquid stained his pants in dark brown with a little bit of red. Soldiers'' screams came from both left and right sides of his ears. Some were cursing. Some were screaming for their mothers while others were givingmands to other soldiers by using their shout. Suddenly, Del tripped on something on the trench. He quickly stood up and noticed that he had tripped on a dead body. A hole dripped blood out of his head. "HITMAN 11, THIS IS HITMAN 2, WHERE THE HELL IS MY MEDICAL SUPPLY?" Hubert shouted. Del was too busy running, but he connected the radio to Anna so she was the one that replied immediately, "Hitman 2, this is Hitman 11, we are en route to your position, over." "GOOD, BE QUICK ABOUT IT!" "Yes, sir." Del ran as fast as he could to the sixth trench. Once he arrived, what a scene was there. Soldiers were looking more like a pile of meat sack than a living being. Some had their head perforated by the tank rounds. A fragment as big as their own head ripped their heads apart. Hubert was tying someone''s hand by a makeshift tourniquet created from the pieces of clothing that he ripped from one of the dead soldiers. "Hold on, alright? Apply healing spell while I treat the other patients." Del put the box right beside Hubert, "Doc, I have your supplies." "Good gracious lord, thank you. Del, if you don''t mind, how much medical training that you have?" Hubert asked as he opened the box with a knife. "Only basic first-aid, sir," Del said. "Good, that''s more than good in this situation, grab some bandages and help some of these soldiers, MSVI and I will handle the harder case." Del helped Hubert and the rest of MSVI in treating the other wounded soldiers in the front line. His job was to stop the bleeding using the avable gauzes and bandages while the other more certified medical professionals were handling a more severe case such as fragmentations to chest or other internal injury. "Hitman 11, this is Delta 1-3. All target is neutralized. RTB." That radiomunication ended the fire fight between the imperial soldiers and the federal soldiers. Everyone cheered in victory, but the medical staffs still had some heavy jobs to do. Hopefully, they would still have enough personnel in the convoy. Chapter 103 - Moruguri Moruguri. They said it was a beautiful town. They said it was a town of heavens created right beside a river. All of the things that they said and none of them were true. All Del saw were carcasses of buildings from a dead town with all of the buildings littered with holes. The convoy was moving to that town. Surprisingly, there was enough personnel as a reinforcement for that town. ording to the battle report, there were sixty casualties. Ten people were dead. Twenty were sustaining a major injury, and the rest had a minor injury. Del himself only had a bruise on his chest from the bullet that failed to prate his ballistic vest. "We were lucky," Del muttered. Considering that his helicopter was actually the one that destroy all of the tanks. It could be said that he was singlehandedly handling apany of tanks, again. However, this time, nobody would appreciate him nor his effort. Anyway, all that mattered was that they arrived at Moruguri. Truth to be told, he was rather disappointed about theck of knowledge of apany of tanksing at their direction. It was not like the tank was a small object. Was intelligence about that really that hard or was it because the federation just underestimated the empire? An entire tank toon should be noticeable, or was the Federation that desperate to send reinforcement to Moruguri? "Hitman 11, this is Hitman 2, park your car near the medical tent, over." "Hitman 11 copy." "Hitman 11, the payment for today is on the guild office. You''ve done great kid, Hitman 2 out." Del parked his car beside the medical tent and helped Sharon to unload the box from the car and into the tent. The tent was more horrendous than the tent in the Halivaara. In Moruguri, the tent was literally a ughterhouse with some soldiers even having their innards dripping into the ground as theyid down in bed. "HEY! HELP ME WITH THIS PATIENT!" "HE''S UNSTABLE. GIVE ME THE INJECTION!" "HEY! DON''T PUT HIS INNARDS BACK!" The doctors there were also working non-stop. After they have done with one patient, they only changed their gloves and move to another patient that needed treatment. It was really a gore fest with blood spurting out of everyone''s body from the bleeding alone. "ARE YOU THE COURIER?" One of the doctors asked Del. "Yes?" Del replied as he ced the box. "Thank you so much," the doctor nodded. Del immediately got out of the tent so as not to disturb them. Anna was waiting near the car while carrying the backpack on her back. She also held a piece of paper that looked like a note that had been torn hastily from a notebook alongside two white gold coins. "Did they just give us two white gold coins?" Del asked. "Yeah, well, what can I say, they''re just medical students, they won''t have the resource to actually pay us decently," Anna said. "This won''t cut it, to be honest, maybe we can break off from this contract," Delmented. "What contract? Did we even sign anything? All we did was we agreed to help them and that''s it. There was no term, and there was no condition either," Anna said. "Anyway, where will we be sleeping?" Del asked. As far as he was concerned, Del practically would be able to sleep in the empty barrack since like it or not, he was still a part of the military and the military had to be willing to provide him and his sister a ce to sleep. He just needed to ask and he might get a ce to sleep. Like people always said, all you need was to ask. Del and Anna walked to themand center. To find amand center inside of a federal military base, all he needed to do was to find the most obvious-looking building or tent with a radio antenna. That would usually be themand center aka the guild. It didn''t take too long until they reached themand center which was the only standing building. The building seemed to be one of the residential buildings in that town that had been turned into amand center for the soldier. Truth be told, it was rather convenient. As they approached the door of thatmand center, "Military personnel only, can I see your ID?" Del gave him his ID alongside Anna''s ID. The soldier nodded as he checked his ID alongside Anna''s ID. "Sorry for the interruption, but can you give me your weapons before I search you?" The soldier asked as he gave Del their IDs back. "Sure." Del gave the soldier his M240B, his Five-Seven, his M16, his de, and the rest was on Anna''s backpack. The soldier patted Del''s body as he searched Del for hidden weapons. Once he was cleared, the soldier let Del enter the building. Inside of the building, it was no different than the medical tent. "YOU SAID THERE WOULDN''T BE THIS MANY TANKS! DUMBASS!" The officer mmed the telephone to the tablet. "General, we have a report that the strength of the enemies is predicted at around one regiment." "ONE REGIMENT? WERE THOSE SCOUT BOYS BLIND ENOUGH? THEY SAID IT WAS ONLY A BATTALION!" The general shouted at the officer that just given the information. Something definitely had happened here. Del wasn''t sure about it, but something definitely wasn''t adding up in here. The general was boiling red. Everyone that he met got quite a mouth from that general. "Sir, twenty T-45 tanks were spotted near the line just now," an officer said. "TWENTY??? HOW THE HELL DID THEY MOBILIZE IT SO FAST?" The general asked. "Sir, it''s Brigadier General Aubert''s regiment," the officer said. "AUBERT? THAT DAMN GENERAL," the general said. Del entered the building at the wrongest time. It would be better if he left immediately. However, it was toote too. One of the female soldiers approached him and apologized, "Sorry for the ruckus, what can I do for you?" "I wanted to ask whether I can get a ce to sleep, but after looking at the ordeal, I''d rather askter, now, if you excuse me," Del wanted to leave, but suddenly the general shouted at him. Del shuddered from that shout alone. "YOU THERE! COME OVER HERE, SON!" "Me?" Del pointed his hand at himself. "YES, YOU! NOW GET OVER HERE, SON." With no choice left, Del approached that army general. "Good lord, were you the one that destroy a tankpany on your own? Answer me, son." "Yes, sir." He then whispered, "Meet me at my office, 1900 hours, I have a job for you, got it? Del then just nodded. He was in a position to refuse, but getting into the general''s good side was quite a priority for him. Besides, maybe getting close to the general would be his ticket to the intelligence that he really wanted to know. Del nodded. "Good boy," the general said. The general walked back to his office and Del walked back to the female soldier that greeted him. The female soldier was wondering what just happened. The unknown stranger suddenly got called by her general and the general whispered something to him. "Anyway, ma''am, do you know where the barrack is?" "Oh, sorry, from here, you go straight, search for a tent with "6" written on top of it, it should be your barrack," the female soldier said. Del walked out of that building alongside Anna after he picked up his belongings from the soldier that took away his equipment for a while. Del wondered how the general noticed his appearance. Well, it was quite true that he wore woond, but it wasn''t particrly standing out since the other soldiers were also wearing dark green uniforms in that area for obvious reason. Thinking about it again, the white bandages covering Anna''s entire face really stood out. It was rare to see someone covered in that much by a bandage and the bandage was white so it particrly stood out. Del walked along with the ruined city while keeping himself away from the building because some of the buildings were shelled so badly that they might fall down at any minute. There were also some broken field guns scattered around the town. The town fought so badly against the sudden attack from the imperial armored regiment. The tent was located right next to a destroyed building. Del entered that tent only to find soldiers and someone with a white scrub alongside a white medical mask which was none other than Sharon. It was no different than the medical tent, albeit it was a little bit more cleaner and the amount of blood on the floor wasn''t as much as the blood in the medical tent. "Ah, wee," Sharon said as she sewed the wound of a soldier. "Was the attack that bad?" Del asked. "Well, if you got shot, you''ll be treated in your own barracks. If you got punctured lungs, punctured abdomen, shed intestines, etc, you''ll be treated in the medical tent," Sharon answered. "Damn, that''s quite mental, I''m not going to lie about it," Del said. "You better get some sleep, Del. I have several soldiers left to go through, hopefully, they can walk again tomorrow," Sharon said. "Thanks. Anna, would you mind waking me up at six?" Del searched for any empty cot bed that didn''t have personal belonging next to it. Del put his machine gun and rifle next to it after he put his body armor and his helmet down.. He then closed his eyes and went to sleep. Chapter 104 - Order And Upgrade Del and Anna were standing right in front of the general''s desk. The general himself was reading a file while looking at both of them. Del had a theory that the general would give them some sort of impossible task. It wasn''t baseless, they had done an impossible task before and he would probably do it again if he was paid for the right amount. "Del Moore, huh?" The general puffed his cigar. "A refugee from the Elbanian Kingdom from the east,ing here to get a better life and future. You also have the experience in dealing with warfare in general, now son, tell me, what keeps you going?" "Just pure ambition, sir," Del answered. "Good, I hope more guys will sacrifice their life for the federation. Anyway, do you have any idea what is going on, or should I personally give you a quick debriefing?" The general asked. "I''d prefer the debriefing, sir," Del answered since he wanted to know the reasons behind all of the abnormal amount of tanks in the entire region. The general then exined the whole situation by introducing who was Brigadier General Aubert. Brigadier General Aubert used to be a member of the federal military until he changed side around ten years ago. Aubert was a goodmander with a very genius brain in armored warfare. The general also exined that he was in the same ss as Aubert back when he was still inside of the military academy. He described Aubert as secretive and everything that the person said was filled with enigmas. He wasn''t surprised that Aubert betrayed the federal military. He rose up through the ranks very quickly as he gained several victories against the federal military. His skill with armored warfare was so good that he was one of the aces that the imperial military put on their sleeves. He described Aubert as a person that could turn the tide of the battle with only one single tank due to his skill inmanding an armored unit. It was impossible, but it was the saying that went around both the federal military and the imperial military. Now, due to either an unreliable intelligence from his scouts or a counter-intelligence effort by the enemy, the general failed to realize that the amount of force attacking him was not a battalion, but one regiment of an armored unit which meant that the whole area was literally under a threat of a hostile takeover. "I''m not going to ask you to destroy the whole armored regiment, no, I won''t, it will be too risky and I doubt you can pull that off." Del sighed in relief that the general was not that crazy by telling the two to destroy the whole armored regiment. It would be impossible and dangerous to say at least. One regiment would have more than one hundred tanks. "However, I will ask you to stall their advance," the general said. That was a little bit manageable, but how would they prevent the advancement of a regiment of the armored unit. They might have an AC-130, but would it be enough to prevent their advance towards the federal position? Del doubted that unless he had some sort of crazy idea. "Sir, respectfully, how?" Del asked. "I want you two to kill General Aubert. I will reward you with five Husnael tes, what do you say?" The general asked. Five Husnael tes were equal to 5,000,000$. It was a lot of money, but thinking about it again, losing a general as skillful as Aubert would do much more damage than a mere five Husnael te. It would prevent them from advancing and making sure that their strategic nning would go back to the drawing board. "General, I''m afraid five Husnael tes wouldn''t cut it. I want fifteen Husnael te," Del said. "Ten, that''s all I can do," the general said. "Twelve?" "Fine, twelve." "Ok, twelve. So, general, where is this General Aubert that you are looking for, sir?" Del asked. "That''s the problem, I want you to find him and kill him. The methods are up to you and I want this thing to be out of the book. Let''s say that we don''t have this discussion," the general said. "What discussion?" Del asked. The general smiled at Del, "Dismissed." ================================ In the barrack, Anna was questioning Del''s sanity of epting that mission. How would they be able to assassinate a general whose whereabouts were unknown and were probably highly ssified? To top it all off, Anna doubted that even with a high-tech sniper rifle, he would be able to pull a very long-range shot. "Del, this is pure nuts," Annamented. "Since when our n is not crazy?" Del asked while sitting down on his bed. "Let''s just assume that we will be able to find out where the colonel is, what would we do with him? Sniper attack is out of the question even if you give me a highly precise rifle," Anna said. "Who said we''re going to use bullets? We will use a 9M113 Ko missileuncher that can kill him from 5,000 meters away. It''s less risky and we will have a higher chance for a confirmed kill," Del said. "Ok, how about the location of the general, what would you do?" Anna asked. "Well¡­" Del thought for a while. He could go to a nearby enemy encampment and capture any stationed soldier there. However, he needed something to deal with the person that he would be capturing. Maybe a tranquilizer round would be a good option. However, it wasn''t even sold at Pidma, but Del remembered that he hadn''t even upgraded both Pidma and the ammunition level. Del opened his tablet and upgraded both Pidma and the ammunition level that he had. [Confirmed Upgrade Purchases] [Remaining Bnce: 977,870$] [Disying 3.0 Patch Note] -Removal of outdated items -Experimental weapon is now avable & Avable experimental weapon is more reliable -Ability to use custom material in armor and weapon -Ability to sell items -Ability to insert custom blueprint -Storage bes avable Del then purchased something new. He purchased a Remington 700 rifle for tranquilizing purposes. That rifle was fitted with a high-powered scope, aser sight, a bipod, and a suppressor. All of those were for 3,000$. It was less risky to tranquilize people from distance than from close range. He then browsed the ammo for it. ???????????? [Showing Avable 7.62x51 Ammunition] [Ammunition Level: 2] [Tech Level: 7] [Total Bnce: 974,870$] [Lethal] [7.62x51 FMJ] [10x] [25$] [7.62x51 AM-AP] [10x] [350$] [7.62x51 AM-HEAP] [10x] [400$] [7.62x51 AM-IHEAP] [10x] [420$] [7.62x51 AM-APDS] [10x] [450$] [7.62x51 IAM-TAPFSDS] [10x] [1000$] [7.62x51 IAM-TAPFGDS] [10x] [2000$] [Laser Sight Required] [7.62x51 ST-TAPFGDS] [10x] [2500$] [Laser Sight Required] ???????????? He then switched the lethal to less lethal. ???????????? [Showing Avable 7.62x51 Ammunition] [Ammunition Level: 2] [Tech Level: 7] [Total Bnce: 974,870$] [Less-Lethal] [7.62x51 Tranquillizer] [10x] [25$] [7.62x51 Large Target Tranquillizer] [10x] [350$] [7.62x51 Fin-Guided Improved Tranquillizer] [10x] [2000$] [Laser Sight Required] [7.62x51 Special-Threat-FGBL Tranquillizer] [10x] [2500$] [Laser Sight Required] ???????????? Making sure that he wouldn''t take any risk with this mission. Del put the most expensive ammunition inside of the tranquilizer rifle. To be exact, he bought twenty rounds of the FGBL tranquilizer round. "What is FGBL?" [Fin-Guided Borderline Lethal] "Borderline lethal?" Anna was also reading the exnation. [It contains a high dosage of tranquilizing agent that is on the edge of the maximum safe dosage] "Oh¡­" Anna retrieved the sniper rifle from Del''s hand. She checked the rifle and chambered a bullet into that rifle. "This should be good enough, I think?" "I''m d that you like it, is there anything else?" Del asked. "About storage, what can it do? I look at the patch note in the tablet and it clearly said that," Anna said. Del opened the [Storage] menu on his tablet to discover more on what he could store inside of that tablet. The thing would be massive, right? As far as he knew, his backpack was his ammunition depot as of now. He carried so many things. For example, two M16s, one M240B, one RPG, twenty PG-7VR tandem warhead rounds, thousands of ammunition, and his own clothing. The backpack itself would be close to two hundred kilograms or something. ???????????? [Storage] [Vehicle: 2 Slot Avable for Ground Vehicles | 1 Slot Avable for Air Vehicles | 0 Slot Avable for Ground Vehicles] [Storage: 0/70 Item slots filled] ???????????? "Interesting¡­" Del muttered. "How so?" Anna asked. "There are two slots for ground vehicles. I think we should buy a car so we can be more mobile, what do you think?" Del asked. "And where should we even store it?" Anna asked. "This storage, of course," Del showed the tablet screen to Anna then she replied with a nod. "What should we buy? A car just like in Elbanian?" Anna asked. "We''ll think about thatter, we should disembark tomorrow, prepare yourself.. This map that the general gave to us better be worth it or we will spend months just trying to find this mysterious general." Chapter 105 - Searching For An Outpost In the darkness of the night, Anna and Del walked away from the town of Moruguri with night vision goggles helping them to traverse the darkness of the night. They would be heading straight to the front line. Was it risky? Yeah, for the most part, the answer was yes. Was it worth it? Definitely. It was 12,000,000$ for just killing one single general. However, first thing first, they needed to interrogate an officer from the enemy side or they wouldn''t be able to find the general in the first ce. The target would be an outpost that had little to no tanks, but at least, had one officer. "Nighttime is the best time, don''t you agree?" Anna asked. "Yeah, it''s dark and it''s rtively cold," Del said. "I agree. There is less sweat and there''s less chance of being spotted by the enemy," Anna said. "Correct, so, ording to the intelligence that the general gave to us, it seems that most of the outpost that doesn''t have any tank guarding is located on the back of the front line. This is not good," Del said as he opened his tablet. The tablet disyed the map of the entire region. Del ced two markers, one at Moruguri while the other marker was for the town of Halivaara. The map disyed three more areas filled with buildings in the west. It had been bothering his mind for a while, but how did the map disy the region with such uracy even though the tablet probably had been abandoned for a very long time. This might have artificial satellites orbiting it. It was a sensible theory made by Del himself. Maybe, he could discover more about ancient technologyter. Back to the topic of finding the outpost. It looked like finding one would be rather hard. There might be more than one structure that looked like an enemy outpost and charging in blindly would rather be suicidal. The map also couldn''t differentiate between what was a tank and what was an ordinary dark building. Anna whispered, "Hey, look." Look at what? Del thought. A light, no, two lights were shining on the horizon. It might be a vehicle. Any military vehicle would be bad news no matter whether it was Federal or Imperial. Del jumped to the trench alongside Anna. The rumble of the vehicle could be felt from afar. The two lights transformed into multiple lights heading in their direction. From the sound of the tracks, Del concluded that it was another convoy of tanks. He wondered how many tanks the imperial government had. They seemed to be resourceful. Del peeked at the road right next to the trench. The convoy consisted of heavy trucks and tanks and they were heading in the east direction. Were they heading for Moruguri or were they heading for Halivaara? Del had no idea, but well, at least the artillery in Halivaara should help Moruguri this time. It was none of their concern right now. Del and Annaid themselves on the ground as they waited for the convoy to go past them. They waited until the rumble of the engine went away. Del peeked out of the trench and observed that the convoy had gone from their sight. Del climbed out of that trench with Anna following him from behind. "Phew, we''re lucky you put that backpack away in your magical storage," Annamented. "Yeah," Del said. Without the backpack, they didn''t have any obstruction or any limit in movement. They also could move faster and use their camouge more effectively. The backpack also filled only one slot inside of the storage. To put it more bluntly, it was like having a chest inside of a chest on a video game. ???????????? [Storage] [Vehicle: 2 Slot Avable for Ground Vehicles | 1 Slot Avable for Air Vehicles | 0 Slot Avable for Ground Vehicles] [Storage: 3/70 Item slots filled] [Military Backpack] [1x] [RPG-7] [1x] [M240B] [1x] ???????????? "Del, don''t you think we can buy a vehicle?" Anna asked. "Not now." Del felt that any vehicle would be a massive fat target for anything that the imperial would be throwing at him. It had to be remembered that Del only could drive something that had a steering wheel and looked conventional. Because of that, a tank wasn''t one of the vehicle options for him. It wasplicated, it was heavy, and Del was sure that he wouldn''t be able to drive it. "When?" Anna asked. "When we need it," Del said. "When will it be?" Anna asked again. "Let''s see, I don''t even think bringing something as big as a car or an MRAP to the back of the front line to be a good idea at all. The only vehicle that we can use in the back line would be a tank and you know that I can''t drive a tank," Delmented. "I see," Anna answered. As they walked through the darkness of the night, a thought entered Del''s head. Something was bothering him. He was afraid that he was being lied to again by everyone. The source of conflict that he had been previously told by everyone didn''t match with the current situation on the ground. First, the imperial was modernizing as rapidly as the federal government. It meant that the old saying that the imperial was against modernization was entirely untrue right now since they had tanks and other modern technologies that most likely were reverse-engineered from federal technologies. Second andstly, who was lying, and why? Every government would do all kinds of evil things to keep itself from disintegrating and Del was more than aware of it. There was a reason why some activists were silenced and keeping the integrity of an organization or a country was the main reason for that. It was cruel, but it was a necessity in the perspective of those who wanted to maintain the status quo. It seemed that Anna was also reading his mind, "Are you thinking about the current conflict, again?" "Yeah," Del answered, knowing that a "no" wouldn''t be an option for his sister. She was the only person that could see whether Del was lying or not. Still, it was not a win-win situation for Del, it was quite the opposite. His sister would keep nagging him if he said "no" or he would need to exin what was inside of his mind to his sister. "Listen¡­" Del briefly exined what was inside of his mind. "Ah, I understand what is inside of your head now. Well, to be honest, everyone is evil, us included. I won''t deny how many people I have killed, but it is what it is," Annamented. "So, you are saying that neither of us is as good as we thought?" Del asked. "I never see myself as the good guy. I see myself as a person that does anything that needs to be done," Anna said. "Well, we are the same then," Delmented. "Anyway, let''s just find the outpost and be done with it." "Right¡­" ============================== After some painful searching in the back of the front line, they finally found an outpost that had an enemy officer but no tanks. It would be the perfect ce to start. As of now, they wereying down on the ground while Anna had the scope on her rifle aimed at the imperial soldiers. The goal was to capture the officer and extract the information about the target general from him. Sure, it was easier said than done, but any other option wasn''t exactly fitting either from the perspective of time efficiency or the perspective of survivability. Del doubted that any federal scout would dare to stray that far into the backline. "Take it easy, sis," Del said as he observed the outpost using the binocr. Five guards were guarding one officer. The most dangerous weapon in that outpost was a radio located in the middle of the outpost. The outpost itself looked more like a checkpoint. It might be there to make sure that nobody managed to smuggle a federal vehicle to the back of the front line. Anna and Del were lying down around five hundred meters away from that outpost. "Rx, I know what I am doing," Anna replied as she adjusted the magnification on her scope. ording to the guide that Pidma gave, the tranquilizer was a self-acting drug that could put its target to sleep instantaneously ording to the dosage put inside each tranquilizing round. Overall, it was a perfect tool for the job. "Take the shot when you''re ready," Del whispered. Anna pulled the trigger of her rifle. One guard dropped to the ground as Anna pulled the charging handle of her bolt-action rifle and shot at another guard. Slowly, the guard dropped dead one by one without them noticing who was shooting at them. Anna was skillful with a rifle after all. Anna pulled the magazine out of her rifle, "Reloading." She put another fresh magazine inside of her rifle and pulled the trigger to neutralize the officer. The officer dropped to the ground just in time before he reached for the radio. "All targets are neutralized, good job, sis." Del stood up from the ground and he walked towards the direction of the outpost alongside with Anna. There should be the enemy''s officer ready to be interrogated. However, it might be a better idea to check the outpost for any information in the form of documents. Documents would be way better than an officer to be entirely honest.. It might expose a weak point that the imperial military had or the location of the general himself. Chapter 106 - Intel And The General Del searched the outpost for anything important. He searched for the tents and found nothing. He searched the bodies of the soldier and found nothing of importance. Instead of something important, he found something that was ridiculous. Let''s just say, he found a male contraceptive tool. Delmented as he searched the body of the soldier, "Where do they find a woman around here?" The abundant number of the "thing" found inside of the body of the soldier was staggering. One person could carry up to six of those "things" at the very least. "Well¡­" Anna was hesitant toment about it. "Anyway." Del walked towards the table where the radio was. "I think this map should be important, and these files too." The table was filled with multiple documents filled with military markings alongside a map with many symbols. Some of them are X''s, most were lines on the entire road system. It must be the route of the military convoy. "Well, it looks like they want to initiate a full-blown invasion sooner orter, but what do these circles on this map do?" The center of those circles was the center of the town on the federal side. It must have shown the radius of weaponry, but why did the circles be so big? Regr artillery wouldn''t have that kind of radius as if one shell would be able to destroy the entire town. Anna peeked on the circle, "A secret weaponry, maybe?" Del looked back at Anna with such confusion, "Secret weapon how?" Anna shrugged and smile, "Maybe nukes?" "Nukes?" "Yeah, nukes. I don''t know if there is any other weaponry that has this kind of explosive radius," Anna said. It made sense though. A regr shell wouldn''t be able to create an explosion that big. Maybe the Imperial military had a giant prototype weapon aimed at the federal military, but who knew? The military always hid a secret that was oftentimes dangerous. However, why nuke? It wouldpletely vaporize the town. Del stopped thinking about the nuke to return to his main goal. "Enough nuke talk, the colonel should be in here." Del pointed at the location where most of the armored convoy wasing from. It was a location around twenty kilometers west of that checkpoint. Going there wouldn''t be easy. They only could move during the nighttime and they must evade all of the patrols that the imperial soldiers were going to throw at him and Anna. Overall, it was rather treacherous. They must look at the clock to make sure that they reached a forest before the sun rose up. Besides that, there was also the difficulty in assassinating the general himself. "Hmm, thepound is quite big and I don''t think I will be able to assassinate the general, even using a Ko ATGM," Delmented. "What''s on your mind then?" Anna asked. "A kill streak, there is no other option," Del said. "I agree, but which one? I doubt that a gunship would be a good option. We might need a jet bomber of some sort, but I want to listen to you first," Annamented. "Cruise missile. To be precise, a precision cruise missile aimed straight at the tent of our target general," Del said. "So, if that''s the case, why are we even have to approach the main headquarter first?" Anna asked. "We don''t even know which one is the tent of the said general. We need to assess our target first before weunch a cruise missile in his direction," Del said. "I agree to that, anyway, are we good to go, or do you want to kidnap an officer first?" Anna asked. "Wait a minute." Del pulled his tablet from his storage and took photographs of every single piece of data that he could gather from that small outpost. He photographed every single paper and every single map on that outpost. "Alright, we''re done." Anna put her sniper rifle on her back and pulled her M16 instead. She then put the end of the barrel of the rifle on the head of one of the imperial soldiers head. "Shall we finish the job?" Anna put her hand right on the trigger. Del put his tablet back on the storage and walked right to Anna''s direction and pushed the rifle away from the head of that imperial soldier. "We are tranquilizing them for a reason. The main reason is to reduce the risk of raising too much attention. Sure, we had to tranquilize them, but six dead bodies would be sure as hell giving much more alertness to the imperial military." "I see where you''re getting now," Anna nodded as she put her rifle away. Killing six men would result in the imperial military sending much more patrol in their area and a much more intense offensive on the federal military knowing that there were several infiltrators inside of their territory, she thought. Del and Anna continued walking through the darkness of the night. Their ears were as sharp as bats. Even a slight rustle of the grass would raise their attention. Anything wanted and would kill them if there was a chance. As long as both of them didn''t destroy any strategic asset, they wouldn''t be on the list of high-priority targets. They might only be two people, but they were the two people that destroyed an entirepany of tanks only by themselves ording to the military of both sides. The report of that kind of thing could be exaggerated and resulted in them being seen as a very dangerous threat. The imperial military would simply throw everything that they had on them and it would be bad. ============ Four hourster, they finally arrived at a forest located around three kilometers away from the edge of the enemy''s main headquarter. The headquarter itself was basically a freshly established forward operating base that was still under construction. However, it didn''t mean that its defense was any less than an ordinary base. For example, there were more than six anti-aircraft cannons aimed at the sky and it was only the middle part of the base itself. The big AA gun that had the same appearance as the k cannon was ced a little bit far away from the center of the base. On the far west side of the base was a bunch of artillery aimed at the east to harass the federal military to push deeply into the imperial territory. In conclusion, it would be hard for a conventional force to push deep into the imperial territory. However, Anna and Del weren''t considered to be conventional. All in all, it would be a good idea to first scout the base from afar. The section of the base could be separated into five different sections. There was the west section, the east section, the north section, the south section, and the middle section. The middle section was the most important part of the base. It was the part of the base with the most amount of permanent structures. Maybe throwing a cruise missile at the middle section would be enough. However, would it kill the general though? The general could be anywhere as far as Del was concerned. Unless the cruise missile would be big enough to kill everyone in the middle section of the base, it would be unwise to call the kill streak right now. Anna whispered as she showed the picture of the general from her pocket, "This is the general, isn''t it?" She questioned her own judgment as she put her eyes on the thermal binocr. Finding an old man with a highly decorated military uniform inside of a military base was quite a challenge, especially since more than two people looked exactly like the person in the photograph. "Yeah, he is. The middle section is filled with the same kind of men. Where the hell is he?" Del reacted with his rigorous searching using his thermal binocr. "Let''s just drop the bomb and be done with it." Anna was impatient. "Rx, we have all day," Del said. "Is there a nuclear option on your killstreak?" Anna asked. "No, there isn''t. Why are you even asking about that?" Del asked back. "Perhaps, we can cripple the entirety of imperial highmands with one swift nuclear strike. It would really put their n back on the drawing table," Anna said. Del didn''t react to Anna as he saw someone with the same exact appearance as the man in the picture. It might be the general that they were looking for. He was located in the middle section of the base and he was walking from one building to another. He was the target indeed since everyone saluted at him every time he walked past. "I have the visual on the target, prepare yourself to mark the target," Del said. Anna pulled out herser pointer and Del pulled out his tablet from his storage.. Hopefully, one cruise missile would be enough to destroy the entirety of the middle section. Chapter 107 - Cruise Missile ???????????? [Killstreak Menu] [Tech Level: 7] [Total Bnce: 969,870$] [Sentry Gun] [5,000$] [Precision UAV] [20,000$] [Precision Airstrike] [144:00:00 Cooldown] [Juggernaut Suit] [60,000$] [Cluster Strike] [80,000$] [Cruise Missile] [120,000$] [Chopper Gunner] [150,000$] [Escort Helicopter] [180,000$] [Gunship] [120,000$/Hour] ???????????? "Lase it," Del muttered as Anna shined the middle section of the headquarters with her high-poweredser pointer. Del pressed the button to order the cruise missile. As the menu opened, he was surprised that there were several options for a cruise missile. He thought that there would only be one type of warhead for the cruise missile, but he was d that he was wrong about that. ???????????? [Killstreak Menu] [Tech Level: 7] [Total Bnce: 969,870$] [Cruise Missile Warhead Option] [Cruise Missile HE Warhead] [120,000$] [Cruise Missile Thermobaric Warhead] [200,000$] [Cruise Missile Cluster Warhead] [250,000$] [Cruise Missile W80 Nuclear Warhead] [2,000,000$] ???????????? Del pressed the Thermobaric Warhead option since his target was mostly inside of a structure. The st wave should be more than enough to kill the general and all of the middle section with only one single missile. "Bombardier 3-4 is arriving at the firing range. Firing cruise missile, good hunt guys." The cruise missile followed the guidance of theser pointer. There was no further interface on the tablet, but it was preferred to aim it usingser guidance instead of just using the visual assistant. One of the good reasons was because the camera on the cruise missile was below average and it wouldn''t produce a clear enough image. Heck, most cruise missiles wouldn''t have a camera. "Count to 3 and watch the firework, Bombardier 3-4 is leaving the area of operation." Del observed the middle section of the headquarter and he started counting, "3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­" The cruise missile exploded on the middle section of the headquarter. The hot st from the thermobaric warhead could be felt as far as their current position which was quite far enough from ground zero. The explosion left nothing but rubbles and dead bodies on the middle section of the headquarters. What followed next was the loud ringing from the rm and the roar of the tank engine that started mobilizing to figure out where were the attackers that managed to destroy the entire middle section of the headquarter. "Targets are down, no building in sight, the mission is sessful," Del observed the remains of the middle section. He searched for the dead body of the general, but there was no way anyone would survive that kind of attack. He eventually found the head of that general. It was severed from his own body. "Damn, that''s grotesque," Annamented. The chaos on that military base was unimaginable. To be honest, the base was practically imprable if not for the cruise missile. Each side of the base was patrolled by tanks so there would be no way for Del to sneak inside of the encampment undetected. The ess to the middle section was guarded with soldiers. Those soldiers were checking any soldier that wanted to enter the middle section and the middle section itself was surrounded by a thick concrete wall. "Well, you know, it might be better for us to move away from this ce before the soldiers search this forest." Del put his binocr back into his pocket and he started running away from the observing spot. The darkness of the night and the chaos in the headquarter should cover his escape from the forest. The dry leaves rustled as Del and Anna ran as fast as they could from the previous spot. If they stopped running, it would jeopardize their stealth mission and it would mean that the whole western part of the imperial military would be hunting them down mercilessly. They shouldn''t get out of the forest now since the imperial military would be on high alert and every single road would be blockaded, making sure that nobody would get past. ording to the map that the tablet showed, the forest would stretch as far as the imperial border. However, the forest wasn''t stretching long enough for them so they could enter the federal territory rtively unharmed. "How long have we run?" Anna kept running while peeking at the back. She feared that the imperial military has found her position. "Three minutes. If they spot us, they will bombard the entire forest mercilessly," Del replied. Del had no idea how many officers he had killed, but he knew that it was a lot. The imperial military wouldn''t only shoot them, they would want to kill them by any mean necessary. Anything would be thrown at them as long as it would kill them. However, it would set a major setback on the imperial military. It would put them back to the drawing board and the general would not be able to use its armored unit to its full potential because he was dead. Moruguri and Halivaara would be safe for now. Del predicted that they would retreat for a while or move on the more defensive position than before and it meant that it would be a down-time for both of them since there wouldn''t be any attack on the federal military. "Where is our destination?" Anna asked. "The south of this giant forest. There is little military presence on that side and it would be easy for us to get back to the federal side by using that side of the forest," Del said. "I see," Anna nodded. ================================== The sun almost rose from the ground and they had been running for a solid two hours. Sweat drenched their clothing and their breath was almost uncontrolled and they did it all for the sake of running away from the imperial military. They arrived at their destination faster than previously expected. "Damn, how far have we run?" Anna fell to the ground from exhaustion. Del looked at the tablet and he was more than surprised "Seventy kilometers?" "Seventy? We are running that fast???" Anna was surprised by that statement too. "Yeah, I also don''t believe it. I have done several dashes, but not for as long as two hours," Delmented on the distance. "How far are we from Moruguri?" Anna asked. "Forty kilometers south of Moruguri and thirty kilometers west of Moruguri," Del said. Anna tried to stood up from the ground, but her legs were giving up on her from the exhaustion alone. Her face was facing the ground and she mumbled, "Are we far enough from the imperial military?" "I think so," Del said. The clock showed that it was six in the morning. However, the canopy of the forest blocked some of the sunlight so it looked as if it was still dawn. The ce they were in was a good ce to wait until nighttime again. "Let''s set camp here, we would be safe," Del sat down near the tree. "Yeah, I agree." Anna took off her helmet and she flipped her body so her face wouldn''t face the ground. She gazed at the morning sky. "Ah, the sun has risen." The sun begun to shine the entire forest. Del flipped his night-vision goggles since the daylight had begun prating the canopy of the forest. The forest was quiet. The only sound was bird chirping and wind passing through their tired body. It was a bliss. "What should we do with all of the money that we would get?" Anna asked. "We should buy ourself some more high-tech weapons and a vehicle. Overall, we are rich," Del sighed as he took a deep breath from under the tree. "Do you want to purchase those experimental weapons?" Anna asked. "Yeah, we might also need to upgrade our armor, our helmet, and some other things," Del said. "Good idea, may I suggest that we should immediately buy a car once we reach federal territory?" Anna asked. "That''s a splendid idea, I agree with that," Del said. It might only be a car that Del would purchase, but it would take them one step closer towards the main goal of taking out Eric without the usage of a nuclear weapon. Nuclear weapon would only be used as theirst option if anything else couldn''t be achieved. Nuclear weapon would kill too many innocent people and it would definitely get Elbanian attention of the Ilbistirum. Elbanian might join the war against the federal government and it would sour their situation further. Del wanted to kill someone without ruining anyone''s future. A nuke would also get the attention of the Ilbistirum intelligences that would result in them being hunted down by practically everyone. It was not an ideal situation since it would be both of them against the world. Nobody would help them if they used the nuclear option just because of one single boy. Truth to be told, Del wasn''t confident in his ability on getting revenge on Eric. Sure, he had modern weapons. However, one thing that he didn''t have was the skill to operate some of the advanced military hardwares such as the fighter jets. It would take far longer than he expected to bring Eric down. He was ready for it.. He just needed to be patient. Chapter 108 - Chlorine Gas Del and Anna stayed in that forest for about a week. They didn''t want to get out too soon since the imperial military would be thoroughly patrolling the area. It wasn''t very wise to get out of the forest until the patrol numbers had begun to die down. Del noticed something weird. Although there were a significant increase in foot patrol, the number of armored unit entering the federal military was little to none for some unknown reasons. Maybe the sudden removal of imperial chain ofmands had reduced the amount of attack to the federal territory. It was time to go back to Moruguri to report back to the general. They should get the 12,000,000$ from the general for destroying the chain ofmand that the imperial had. The n was to make a quick dash to the federal territory before the sun rose up. Anna and Del had observed that the soldiers were mostx during the dawn. Basically, they only had two hours to get out of the forest and made a quick run to the front line. It was risky, but it was more risky to stay in the forest. Del flipped the NVG on his helmet, "Let''s go, those imperial soldiers shouldn''t notice us with this setup." He started walking towards the east with Anna watching his back. Hopefully, no imperial soldier would notice them. As far as Del knew, he didn''t lit a fire the entirety of the time he was in the forest. He also didn''t litter since the trash was ced inside of a stic bag that was currently stored inside of the storage. He didn''t even establish a tent in that forest. They just slept on the ground. Basically, they left no trace in that forest. After walking for a while, he arrived at the edge of the forest. The edge of the forest was close to a trench. They needed to cross the trench before they reached the no man''snd. The no man''snd was much more popted than a week ago. Damn, those imperial soldiers were really eager to find them, weren''t they? Del thought. Crossing the trench would be risky. It was better to enter the trench while avoiding the detection of the imperial soldiers than going to the federal front line by crossing the front line. Like it or not, they was still a huge figure that could stand out in the middle of the grasnd. Considering the current situation, the imperial military would shoot first then ask questionter. Plus, floodlights were shining the grasnd and making crossing impossible. Trench was really the only option at that point and the other option wasn''t avable unless they were willing to wait for another week inside of the forest. Del and Anna jumped into the trench. They started progressing towards the east direction of the trench. Del put his supressed M16 right in front of his shoulders. His palm was sweating as he focused his vision at the trench in front of him. If a soldier appeared, he would shoot him with his supressed assault rifle. However, if soldiers appeared, it would be a bit more difficult. Reaction time would be their priority. Toote and they would have to face the whole imperial military stationed at that area. "Stop," Del whispered to his headset. He heard footsteps in front of him. He immediately aimed his rifle to the junction in front of him. The footsteps were getting closer and closer. Del''s palm became more sweaty as the footsteps came closer and closer. The soldier finally walked through the junction, not noticing that Del and Anna were in that trench. Del sighed in relief as the soldier continued walking away from that junction. "Move," He whispered to his headset. They continued walking to the east direction. As they continued walking, a thought crossed Del''s mind. Would he be able to cross the no man''snd safely without any inconventional help, or would he need some major distraction? Both options were reasonable. He wouldn''t need any distraction because any distraction would immediately give attention to the federal front line which was their destination. However, a distraction was like a gamble. He could bet that the imperial soldier would check any distraction that he would make. Del decided that he would just risk it by entering the federal military territory without any distraction. He kept walking until he finally reached the end of the imperial trench. There was no trench connecting between the imperial and the federal territory. "Prepare yourself, we''re going for a dash," he whispered to Anna and Anna nodded. Del climbed out of the trench and immediately dashed towards the trench in front of him. He jumped to the trench and he waited for Anna to cross the grasnd. Anna jumped down to the dirty trench and mud sshed around him. "Great, we''re safe now," Del said. However, he sniffed something weird on that trench. The smell was pretty much simr to the bleach the he used to wash his white clothes back on earth. It made him feel unease. "Do you smell bleach?" Del asked. Anna then sniffed too, "Yeah, I smell bleach too." She then came to the realization on what kind of situation that she was in. Anna took off her helmet and immediately undo the bandage that covered her own face. She undo all of the bandage on her face and threw it away. Del threw her a gas mask and she wore it. "Chlorine gas, isn''t it?" Del checked the seal on his gas mask. "Yeah, Chlorine gas." He then wore his helmet again and continued his journey into the federal trench. It didn''t take too long until Del found the evidence of the usage of Chlorine gas in that trench. Dead bodies were piling up on that trench. It could be said that the whole trench was poisoned by Chlorine gas. There was no gas mask in that trench or in any dead bodies. Could it be that the federal military don''t equip their soldiers to counter chemical warfare? What happened there? "Are they dead?" Anna asked. "Yeah, it looks like we only smell the residue of the gas. The attack was pretty recent too. The imperial military must have thrown artillery gas shell into these trenches and killed all of the soldiers here," Del said. "From tanks to gas, why their tactics shift so radically?" Anna asked. "I don''t know, but I do want to find out about that," Del said. Del stepped on some of the dead bodies in that trench since the trench was literally littered by dead bodies. The deeper they went to the trench, the more dead bodies that they found. The soldiers must have been running from the unknown gas attack, but failed due to the area of effect that the gas had. "Why do they do things like this?" Annamented. Del looked at one of the dead bodies and searched for a gas mask. "I don''t know. Gas is an area denial weapon. However, in this case, it seems that the federal military was caught with its pants down. It''s clear that they aren''t equipped for chemical warfare," hemented on the equipment that the federal soldier had in him. "Chlorine gas, huh? It seems the war has escted," Anna said. "Absolutely. This is a weapon of mass destruction. If this thing is deployed to the front line, the imperial military has begun to be more serious in this civil war," Del said. "We''re fucked." "No, we don''t. Unlike them, we are very familiar with chemical warfare. Don''t worry, we''ll survive this war, I guarantee you," Del said. "Thanks for the reassurance, it helps. Anyway, that''s the end of this trench," Anna pointed at the dead end of the trench. Del climbed out of the trench. He helped Anna to get out of the trench and they looked around for any sign of activity. There wasn''t any activity in that area. It was awfully and eerily quiet. The gas must have killed the wild life as well. There was no sound, even the chirping of the bird couldn''t be heard. "How big is the shell that they lob here? I doubt this is a standard artillery shell. It must have been bigger than that," Del wondered. The radius of the gas was simply too big to be achieved with a basic artillery shell. The imperial military must have used some sort of powerful altilerry to deliver shells big enough topare the entire area. "No idea, but we should go to Moruguri as fast as we could," Annamented. "Why?" Del asked. "Why do you even ask? They might be in grave danger of being bombarded with gas. We must hurry or that town will bepromised with gas," Anna shouted, telling the urgency of that information. "Yes, you''re right. Let''s go to that town. Damn, I hope the MSVI is alright.. Cole would be furious if anything happens to his sister." Chapter 109 - Mustard Gas Anna and Del were inside a car. They needed to go as fast as they could. They needed to warn them about the gas attack. There should be time left since Moruguri was around fifty kilometers away from their location. They had driven for a while and the remaining distance was only five kilometers. Del bought a half-million-dor MRAP, to be precise, a Cougar 6x6 MRAP. Del wanted an upgrade from the Humvee so he bought an MRAP which had more protection than the previously owned vehicle and he also upgraded the vehicle with an add-on NBC filtering system and armor due to the current circumstances. There was also a .50 BMG turret on the roof, but it was sealed for now. The sun had risen. However, things weren''t looking good from afar. Dead bodies were littering the street left and right. Del doubted that it was only Chlorine gas that poisoned the entire area. There could be an even more lethal gas that they didn''t know. At worst, there could be nerve gas out there and they didn''t know about it. "Did Cassandra give you clearance to take off your bandage, or is it just your guts to take it all off?" Del looked at the face of his sister as he drove. Since she didn''t wear her gas mask, It was horrifying. It was thebination of charred skin and muscles. Del wouldn''t even think that it was his sister at first. "Well, she gave me permission to take off my bandage, but not for long. She said that the limit is twelve hours. The spell would fight the bacteria, but it would be overwhelmed if I don''t wear any bandage in twelve hours," Anna said. "I see¡­" Del nodded. "Anyway, be careful on the road, you''ll hit something sooner orter. This is the first time you drive this vehicle, right?" Anna said. "The steering wheel is heavier than our sedan, but well, it''s manageable," Del said. As they drove, a yellow thick cloud appeared in the distance. It was still far away from them. It was covering an entire town. Del presumed that it was Moruguri. Yellow gas was never something good. It would be something bad. However, what could that gas be? Del stopped the car, "Damn¡­ those imperial bastards¡­" He didn''t want to approach the town. That thing could be something more dangerous than a mere Chlorine gas. "What gas is that? Is it Chlorine, again?" "No, it could be worse, should we wear a MOPP suit?" Anna asked. "Yeah," Del said. They got out of the car to put on the suit first. There was no space to put on the suit inside of the car. MOPP suit or Mission Oriented Protective Posture was a protective gear used to protect military personnel from an attack from a chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear weapon. In this case, the attack wasing from chemical weapons. They wore it in fear that the chemical weapons used in Moruguri were a blister agent. If that was the case, the gas mask wouldn''t be enough to protect them. What was a blister agent? Blister agent was a weapon that caused severe irritation to the epidermis part of the body. They could cause chemical burn just by touching the agent itself, resulting in painful water blister which would lead to a much moreplicated disease to the body such as infection. Del wore the overgarments alongside the rubber gloves and the rubber shoes. He made sure that there was no exposed part of his skin. He was aware that even a single gap would decide whether he lived or die. One might wonder why Del could put on the military equipment. Well, the answer was simple. It was because of his medical volunteering experience. He was once sent to a conflict zone for some easy jobs, but one of the requirements was the ability to wear a Hazmat suit, or in this case, the MOPP suit. Of course, he passed the training, but he never thought it would be useful in another world. "Anna, are you done?" Del said as he tightened the cuffs on his legs. "Wait a minute," Anna replied. Del walked to Anna''s direction. "Oh my, why don''t you tell me that you can''t put it on?" He looked at Anna that had difficulties in putting the whole suit on. One of the difficulties was due to the amount of straps inside of that suit. Del eventually helped her to put on the suit correctly. Del tested the seal on his gas mask again to make sure that the seal was tight. Anna did the same thing then she raised her thumb. They entered the car again and continued their journey towards Moruguri. The yellow cloud covered a radius bigger than the town itself. If the soldiers there didn''t have any CRBN protection, they would be as good as dead. Even they had begun entering the yellow cloud zone three kilometers away from the town. The imperial military didn''t want anyone to leave that town. "Damn, the gas is quite thick," Delmented as he drove through the thick yellow cloud. "Yeah, no shit, what are we doing in here?" Anna asked. "Well, at first, I just want to visit this town to get my reward, but now, I think it''s a good opportunity to get secret information. I doubt anyone would stay in this town," Del said as he parked his car near themand center of the town. Del got out of the car and he tested the air using the strip that was included with the MOPP suit. The strip showed a red color. The gas was a blister agent, otherwise known as the mustard gas. If not for the mop suit, they would get irritation now. "Yup, this is mustard gas," Delmented. "Mustard gas? Was that the gas the German used in the first world war?" Anna asked. "Yeah, anyway, we might find the forbidden apple in here." Del slowly walked towards themand center of the town with his rifle in front of his shoulder. He opened the door slowly and aimed his rifle left and right. Themand center was abandoned abruptly. Once Del closed the door, he noticed that he just stepped on a pool of blood. Following the flow of blood, it came out from the body of a soldier. A rifle wasying down next to him and his head was blown off. All that was left was the stem of his head. There were also blisters on his hands. "Damn, what happened in here?" Many soldiers were killing themselves in the same manner. All of them weren''t wearing gas mask. They must have breathed the mustard gas and suffocated. However, they put themselves out of misery. Mustard gas didn''t work that quickly though. It was too quick for the gas to take effect. Was it an instant effect mustard gas? Del wondered. He then headed for the general''s office. In there, he didn''t find the general which was quite a shame. However, the general left the ce hastily too. There were several military documents inside of that desk too. Maybe the moment the gas hit the town, the general was evacuated immediately. Del put all of the military documents into a thick stack of paper and put it all inside of his storage to be analyzedter. The documents consisted of maps, written letters, and orders from the higher-ups. There was no sign of money though. "Damn, that sneaky general brought nothing but his money." The Intel would be useful, but for what? Del needed money and he had been ripped off by that general. "That damn greedy old man!" Del kicked the table. The table fell to the ground and revealed something. There was a secret storage located right below of the table. The door of the storage identally opened from the shakeing from the table. There were Husnael tes and a document inside of that secret storage. It looked like he just found the general''s secret storage. That was fortunate. He picked up all of the Husnael tes inside of the safe and put it inside of his storage. He then picked up the document, "Ah, what''s this?" It was a document that reported the recent terrorist ident that killed thousands of people. There were many redacted parts inside of that documents. He only found that most of the victim that located close to the explosion had the appearance of being burned alive. However, most of the victims came from surrounding area of the terrorist ident. The report said that the victim reported heavy nausea followed vomiting blood. The victim usually died in the duration of six days after staying inside of the hospital. It must have been a gas attack, but some of the symptoms didn''t make any sense. Other than those parts, most of the documents were redacted. "Is there any other intelligence around here?" The whole office had been stripped out of documents by Del. However, he hadn''t searched for more documents in the other room of themand center. He might be able to find more reasons on why the soldiers were left to die without a gas mask. This number of casualty was simply uneptable. How did apetent military unit end up like this? There was simply no clue. Did the federal military have a budget problem that they didn''t equip their soldiers with gas masks, or was it because of other reasons. All of those thinking got cut once he heard a transmission from Anna. "Del,e near the medical tent. It''s¡­ juste here." "I''m on my way." Chapter 110 - Carcasses Of A Dead City Del walked to the medical tent, wondering what had happened there. The answer came quickly when he saw Anna was standing next to a cylindrical tube as big as herself. The cylindrical tube was still dispensing high amount of yellow gas. The tube seemed to be pressurized as well. Anna touched the tube with her hands, "I think this is the root of our problem, I find ten of these scattered around the entire town." The tube itself looked like an ergened altilerry shell which was terrifying. The imperial military had some sort of super artillery in their arsenal. The artillery was able to strike targets this far into the federal territory. This would be troubles for federal military. "Those bastards gassed these people, damn¡­ why?" Del asked himself. "I think imperial military is desperate, we need to retaliate," Anna said. "How? We can''t use nukes. Nukes are for our targets only. We don''t use nukes just because of petty revenge. That thing is a weapon of mass destruction," Del said. Anna looked annoyed, "How did you read my mind?" "I have the feeling, I''m your brother, after all," Del said. "What did you get at themand center?" Anna asked. "Documents and Husnael tes," Del answered. "Damn, how many tes were there?" Anna asked. "Around twenty tes. In total, there is around 20,000,000$ for us. Overall, although the general is gone, we still have our payment," Del said. "Nice, it looks like we manage to get the general''s retirement funds," Anna said. "Anyway," Del gazed the tube that dispensed the gas, "Is there any way to disable this gas dispersing device without blowing it up?" Del asked as he poked at the tube using his finger. Looking at it again, the tube didn''t have any valve or something, there would be no way to disable that thing. Blowing it up would just risk them all of being exposed to an even bigger concentration of mustard gas. It was better to leave it untouched. "Nope, I can''t think of a way to disable it. I shook the container earlier and I concluded that the content of this container is liquid. I don''t know the exact content, but it could either be the material for mustard gas or a concentrated mustard gas in the form of liquid. Either way, any tampering to this tube will result in more gas exposed in the air, and perhaps, spreading the gas much further," Anna exined. Del nodded. He decided not to tamper the tube. He continued his looting. The next stop would be the medical tent. If there weren''t any dead bodies of the MSVI, it would be safe to say that they managed to escape the hell that imperial soldiers had just created. Del opened the p of the medical tent. The tent was¡­ empty. There was no medical equipment. All that were left inside of the tent were several IV bottles and beds. There were nothing salvageable from that medical tent. Everything had been contaminated by the mustard gas. However, it also meant that the MSVI managed to escape Moruguri. Where were they? Del had no idea. "They must have retreated, huh?" Anna grabbed a cupboard that wasying on the ground. The ce was left hastily. Bandages and supplies wereying on the ground alongside with other medical items such as bandages and syringes. "Yeah, I think the officers of the medical unit had basicmon sense that it was the time to move away from Moruguri with their patients. Anyway, I don''t think there''s anything salvageable in this town," Del said as he immediately left the tent. Moruguri had been turned into a ghost town. There was nothing that could be done to the ruined town. It was time to leave the town. Del climbed to the car, but as he wanted to open the door, his ears noticed something. It was a knocking sound. To be precise, it was a knocking sound that was usually produced when someone banged wood with their hands. Wait, was there any survivor of this attack? Del thought as he aborted his intention to enter his car. He immediately disembarked form his car and ran towards the direction of the knocking sound. The knocking sound turned into loud banging. As Del ran, Anna was wondering why his brother suddenly dashed to the direction of one of the ruined buildings. Nevertheless, she followed him by walking instead of running. Del searched through the rubble for the source of that loud banging. "Anna, get another gas mask! There should be one inside of the car," Del said. Del immediately dashed towards one of the ruined buildings that he suspected housed a survivor. He walked around the building while keeping his ears sharp. Eventually, he managed to find the source of that loud banging noise. The source of that loud banging noise wasing from a ce none other than a cer. Del banged the wooden door of the cer with his foot, "DON''T OPEN THE DOOR! THERE''S A GAS ATTACK!" A voice replied, "Who are you? Are you from the federal military?" "YES! WHO ARE YOU? ARE YOU FROM THE MILITARY?" Del shouted back. "No, I''m just a civilian, please help me¡­ the door is stuck¡­" The voice became weaker and it made him worry. Anna eventually came to him with a gas mask that was put inside of its sealed carrier. Del gave amand to the civilian, "Hold on, I will open this wooden door. Hold your breath! The gas will kill you if you don''t do that! STAND AWAY FROM THE DOOR!" "I under¡ª" The voice was cut off. Del immediately grabbed the handle of the door to that cer. Oh boy, the door was very heavy. Del put all of his effort and the door didn''t even bulge. Who would put a heavy-ass door inside of a cer? The person was just insane. The door was reinforced with an abundant amount of steel. No wonder why it was so heavy. "Anna, I need a hand," Del said. Anna helped Del to open that heavy cer door. They immediately came inside of the cer and searched for the survivor. The survivor wasying down on the ground, probably weak from the gas exposure. Del approached the survivor and he immediately put the gas mask on the survivor''s face. That moment, he noticed the person that he just rescued. It was none other than Alina, Cole''s sister. What did she do inside of this cer? He could ask those questionster, it was better to carry her to the MRAP immediately and get out of the town as soon as possible. They needed to wash Alina from the contaminant too. Time was not their friend. Del carried Alina on his back and he immediately dashed out of the cer. "Anna, open the back of the MRAP, this girl must be transported immediately," Del said as he ran towards the car. Anna ran faster than Del and she opened the back door of the MRAP. Del immediately put Alina''s body on the back of the MRAP and he immediately closed the door. He then climbed to the driver''s seat of the MRAP and waited for Anna to enter the MRAP. He then turned on the NBC feature of the car and drove away from the town. The mustard gas became thicker and thicker instead of dissipating. The tube that the Imperial military threw at them must have been the perpetrator of the thickening. Meanwhile, he was worried about Alina''s condition. If Cole lost his sister, it would be catastrophic. Cole was no different than him. He also loved his sister because there was no one else left in his family. Cole was also in the military, he had an idea on the amount of rampage that he would do if his sister got killed. With Alina on his hand, Del had the chance of preventing that from happening. "What should we do with Cole''s sister? I don''t have any idea on treating a person after being attacked by a chemical weapon," Annamented as she looked behind at Alina. "Well, first of all, we must clean all of the contaminants inside of her body which meant we must strip all of her clothing, rinse her eyes, etc. Well, I think you get my idea. My point is that she shouldn''t have any trace of mustard gas or blisters would appear," Del answered. Anna didn''t know where Del had that kind of knowledge, she didn''t recall that Del had an experience against a chemical attack, "Where did you learn all of this? I am sure as hell that school doesn''t teach us this kind of things." "Well, if you ask me, I was taught by our science teacher. The main reason is because students can experiment with dangerous things that might kill them. And as you know, I''m also one of the people that you can find in the infirmary, so¡­ yeah," Del said. After the exnation, Del focused his attention of getting out of the yellow cloud. Chapter 111 - Escape From Moruguri Del bought an oxygen tank alongside an oxygen mask for Alina. They put the oxygen tank in the back of the MRAP which half of the seats had been removed. Even from the start, Del had suspected that Alina was having trouble breathing. Anna was currently driving the car, Del just told her to drive slowly and hit the gas pedal gently. Del didn''t trust her driving, but he didn''t trust her medical attention either. The NBC system in that car had pumped all of the mustard gas out, but Del and Anna didn''t take off their MOPP suit yet. They needed to wash off the MOPP suit with decontamination solution first before they could take it off. However, to decontaminate themselves, they needed to get out of the yellow cloud for now. For now, the first priority was to take care of Alina first. There was one problem though, the gloves. The gloves must have been heavily contaminated with mustard gas. The solution was to wash the gloves off using a decontamination solution to take the mustard gas off his gloves. Del washed his gloves alongside the cuffs of his suit before taking care of Alina. Alina was still weak while sitting down on the back of the MRAP. After washing his hand from the mustard gas, Delid Alina on the floor of the MRAP to make sure that none of the mustard gas fell from her own hair, into her eyes, it would be troubling. Del took off the gas mask slowly and reced it with the oxygen mask. He then opened the valve of the oxygen tank slowly. "Ok, she should be safe for now. Did they use something other than mustard though?" Del suspected that the imperial military was not only using mustard gas. The effect of the mustard gas wasn''t that instantaneously, but other gas such as Chlorine gas had a much more instantaneous effect. Well, for now, the airway would be the top priority. The others could wait. If Alina didn''t breathe, they might need a more aggressive method to treat the oxygen deficiency. The gas tank inside of the car shouldst for around ten hours, but Del doubted that Alina needed more than one hour of oxygen. She was just weak with the uncontroble breath, it wouldn''t take too long until she became fully aware again. Del sat down on the seat on the back of the MRAP as he waited for Anna to drive out of the contaminated area. He kept his eyes and his ears to Alina''s condition. One wrong move and he would risk losing her. ================================= They got out of the contaminated area. Anna parked the car in a safe ce near a river around forty kilometers east of Moruguri. First and foremost, Del and Annaid Alina down on a tarp to wash her from the mustard gas. Del took off all of her clothing, underwear included while making sure that Alina''s oxygen mask was still on. Alina was weakly resisting by struggling herself at first, but Del used force to take off all of her clothing. The girl might not know what she had gotten herself into. Del removed the clothing under the assumption that every single cloth was contaminated by the mustard gas and every single part of her skin must have been contaminated. It must be washed with saline waterbined with 0,1% NaClO to neutralize the mustard gas. "Sorry for the unfortunate measurement, but you have been poisoned by a mustard gas," Del said as he wiped Alina''s skin with a wet sponge and saline irrigation. "Long story short, the imperial has used gas on Moruguri and poisoned everyone." Alina just nodded weakly. She was pretty much defenseless. But well, in a medical situation, anything that needed to be done must be done. Del washed all of the parts of the body beforeplications started in her body. Mustard gas took two hours at the very least before theplication started. Chlorine gas, on the other hand, worked pretty much instantaneously. That might be the main reason why Alina''s breathing was pretty muchpromised by the Chlorine gas. Anna was standing guard while looking at the surrounding grasnd. "I don''t know what happened in Moruguri. However, I would be happy to know." Del opened another bottle of saline water mixed with 0,1% NaClO. He then continued pouring it down the skin since there was no visible wound in Alina''s skin. Sure, pouring down bleach into the skin was not always a good idea, but this was a special circumstance. Del continued cleaning Alina''s body then he wrapped Alina in a heat retention nket. In the meantime, it would be a good opportunity to decontaminate the MOPP suit. They could use theke water to clean the clothing. They also could use a decontamination solution to clean the suit. ======================= One hourter, Del and Anna finished cleaning up the MOPP suit and they put it into a sterilized container to be usedter. Alina had been put inside of the MRAP and she had stabilized for now. At least, she didn''t need as much oxygen as before for now. However, her ability to conversate was still questionable. She only can say a few short words which meant that it was up to Del and his judgment to decide what Alina was talking about. Alina and Del had a basic knowledge of medicine. For now, the temporary treatment was antibiotic, painkiller, and anti-inmmatory drug. It should be enough to deter any unwanted side effects for now. However, right now, Del wanted to extract as much information as he could from Alina. "So, Alina, what happened? Are you feeling a little bit better now?" Del asked. "Yes." Alina nodded. "If that''s the case, can you tell me what happened in Moruguri? You can use the note if you want to," Del offered his notebook. "Yeah, I think I can." Alina grabbed the note book and she started writing what had happened at Moruguri. The town was bombarded with artillery shells at Dawn. Alina was still helping the patient when the bombardment happened. The first bombardment made the air stink. However, there was no blister or anything. The sickly started having problems breathing, and the doctors thought that it was a sudden shock. It didn''t take them too long to realize that the gas was poisonous. Some of them immediately suffocated. She realized that she needed to hold her breath and find a ce to take shelter. The tents in Moruguri weren''t airtight so the gas could easily enter from the ps and the gaps. She told that she wanted to run away but the gas spread across the entire town very rapidly and the shells were scattered into multiple different locations. At first, Alina ran towards themand center, but the people from themand center were also running outside. In that desperate moment, Alina found a cer and she immediately jumped down to the cer and closed the hatch. She thought that it was safe at first before she realized that the gas could seep through too, albeit at a much slower rate. At first, it was still bearable. The symptom was rather mild at first. It only consisted of mild coughing and a smell that stank like a needle into the top of your nose. However, she described that it got worse over time. At first, it took a lot of effort to breathe, but it immediately transform into an absolute hell just to breathe. She was desperate for help. She banged the door for someone to help her, but nobody answered. She cried and she shouted, but nobody answered. Eventually, she sumbed to her fate before she heard an engine sound. In conclusion, the desperate attempt saved her from sudden death. However, it didn''t exin too much about what was going on inside of Moruguri. Was the general got caught by surprise, or was it just because the federal troops weren''t equipped with a gas mask? It kept raising questions on Del''s mind. "Del, rx, let Alina take a deep breath, ok? For now, let''s just assume that the rest of MSVI are dead or missing, that way, we can say that we are not responsible for all of these things. We are doing our job, but the gas attack suddenly killed them all, what do you say?" Anna asked. "I agree with that n. Sorry, Alina, but I can''t waste any time finding your friend, it''s just too risky for me to go back into that town to find your friends. We did search for them, but the yellow cloud is simply too thick," Del said. Alina nodded. She understood the circumstances, "I see, well, if that''s the case. I really can''t do anything about that. You two have done your best. It''s just disheartening, you know? I meant, my seniors and my teacher areying on the ground as far as I''m concerned." She then sighed.. "What should I tell Mrs. Gable about her husband?" Chapter 112 - Rushing To Halivaara Del was shocked by that statement. If Hubert died, it would be catastrophic for Cassandra. The n was to escape to Lullin as fast as possible, but they wouldn''t do that n if it meant that Hubert would die, right? It meant a sudden change of n. "Wait, wait, wait, before you tell me everything, let me say something. I didn''t find any dead body of MSVI members. Where are they?" Del asked. "They were heading to Halivaara," Alina answered. "The HQ?" "Yeah, they wanted to grab more medical supplies first. I don''t know about their fate though. Halivaara will suffer the same fate if my observation is correct. The imperial always sticks to the same one tactic on a single area of operation," Alina said. "Shit¡­" Del muttered. If they had to enter Halivaara again, it meant they had to put on a new clean MOPP suit which was not really a big deal, but the risk was rather questionable. At one side, Del wanted to search for Hubert so Cassandra wouldn''t enter a state of revengeance against the imperial military. It would cloud her judgement too much. At another, either Del or Anna would have to enter the primary target of imperial military just for the sake of rescuing one single guy that might or might not have any significance importance for the federal military. There was also the risk that one of them would have to fight the imperial military alone. "Anna, can you go to Halivaara, alone?" Del asked Anna. Anna was surprised. "What? Why would I go to that town?" "You need to search for Hubert. One of us has to take care of Alina since she is still unstable. For that matter, I will take care of Alina. You will go to Halivaara now. What do you need? Do you need an upgrade?" Del said. "Upgrade, huh? Nah, I think I don''t need anything for now. However, any antidote for nerve gas will be appreciated," Anna said. Del grabbed the medic bag from the backpack inside of the storage. She then gave the medic bag to Anna. "This should have whatever you need. Don''t forget the MOPP suit! There is no antidote for mustard gas. Ah, don''t forget to bring one or two gas masks! I think that''s all that you need." "Ok, do you have anything else to tell me?" Anna asked. "Nothing else, I will drop you three miles south of Halivaara. Approach the city carefully, if you find Hubert, immediately call me using the radio. I will bring the MRAP there as soon as possible, got it?" Del asked. Anna nodded in understatement. Something concerned her. If a tank unit came to Halivaara, it would be disastrous. Usually, those who attacked using a chemical weapon would be equipped to counter the same weapons. In short, they would take the risk to attack the gassed Halivaara. "How will you protect me from afar?" "I will use the Ko missile to protect you from afar," Del said. "Ah, it gives me a slight convenience." Anna said. With that, the brief finished. Anna would be sent into Halivaara while Del watched her from afar. The ATGM would make sure that any tank approaching Halivaara would be dealt swiftly by Del from afar. However, any tank unit that entered the town would be the signal for Anna to start retreating due to the dangerous circumstance. Still, it was not like the imperial military would be crazy enough to do that. Del only gave that idea as a contingency n. There was no guarantee that the n would work, but hey, it was the best n for now. The other n was unfeasible. Del moved to the driver''s seat and he drove to the direction of Halivaara. With time against them, would they be able to reach Halivaara before everything went worse? Del was confident about his abilit to drive fast enough to reach the outskirt of Moruguri, would Anna be enough to infiltrate the town though? =========== Del set up the Ko missile near on top of the hill. The hill was located on the east of Halivaara and it gave a clear view to the west of Halivaara. Anyone that attempted to enter Halivaara would be intercepted by Del first. The truck was parked close to the Ko missile tripod. It was a huge target, but Del would be able to shoot farther than anything that the imperial military had to throw at him. The town wasn''t gassed yet which was quite fortunate. Anna rushed towards the town alone to alert Hubert and the others to escape the town. They sticked to the first n since positioning Alina in a dangerous position such as in Halivaara would be unwise. "Missile is ready to be fired," Del reported through the radio. "Copy that, I''ll search the town for Hubert." Del observed the town from the scope of his Ko missile. Alina wasying down next to Del so Del could response to any emergency immediately. If Alina had anyplication, he could help Alina immediately without having to run towards the truck first. "Hey, don''t tell my brother about this, do you understand?" Alina gave Del a request. "Why?" Del questioned that decision. Del immediately wanted to tell Cole about the circumstances that happened to his little sister. Why would Alina want Del not telling Cole about the ident? "Cole doesn''t exactly approve my current activity. He said that the activity is too dangerous for a little girl like me." Cole wasn''t exactly wrong about that. If it were on Earth, Del would be terrified too if he knew that he would be sent into a war zone where everything could happen without any preparation to deal with unconventional threat. Was it because the military keep everything so secretive to the MSVI, or was it because the military was too ipetent to give everyone a gas mask? "I see why he said that. I meant, I also don''t want Anna to enter circumstances like that unless it''s absolutely necessary," Del said. "It''s ironic to hear that from a person that just sent his own sister into a danger zone alone." Alina giggled. "Well, Cassandra and her have some sort of rtionship. Let''s just say that Cassandra gave her another chance to live," Del replied. "Ah, that''s Mrs. Gable for you. She is one of the most skillful surgeons in the university. Although her specialty is general surgery, she pretty much could do anything as long as it doesn''t involve opening the brain or the thorax," Alina said. "Ohhh," Del said. Where did Anna go? Del couldn''t see where she was from the scope of the missile. Del rotated the scope left and right to find Anna. He found her arguing with one of the soldiers. The soldiers were guarding the medical tent. Anna was indeed looking suspicious with the MOPP suit and theck of contractor''s patch. "Anna, what happens there?" Del asked through the radio. "The soldiers don''t let me to enter the medical tent. The guard said that a surgery was underway and they couldn''t be disturbed," Anna replied. "Isn''t there any way to warn them about the iing gas attack?" Del asked. "I''ll try," Anna answered. Del eavesdrop the converstation between Anna and the guards guarding the tent. She warned them that the imperial military would attack them using a gas artillery shell. However, the soldierughed it off. Their reasoning was because there wasn''t any artillery that was capable of reaching Halivaara. It was also Del''s first thought before he knew that Moruguri got attacked by the exact same gas. Why would they be so ignorant? Thinking about it, there was almost no survivor in Moruguri. It was expected for the intel to arrive sote to Halivaara. "But sir, we are under the threat of being taken over by the imperial military using a weapon of mass destruction," Anna said to the soldiers. "Kid, take a hike. Like I said before, there is no artillery that is capable of attacking this town. Our scout doesn''t report anything suspicious from the imperial borders either but therge explosion that almost wiped off the upper chain ofmand of imperial military." Anna grumbled as she walked away from the medical tent. Del told Anna not to give up, btu she said that the soldiers had begun aiming their rifle at Anna which she didn''t like. Anna just waited for the surgery to finish by standing up across that medical tent. "Anna, what''re you doing? You need to inform Hubert asap!" Del shouted. "I can''t. I don''t want our attempt to turn into a friendly fire ident," Anna replied. Del sighed in disappointment. All he could do was not different from Anna. All he could do was to wait and see what would happen. However, it was immediately interrupted by a loud whistling from the sky. It was a very familiar sound.. It was an artillery being fired at Halivaara. Chapter 113 - Nerve Gas Del watched the artillery strike the city from afar. The artillery blew up into a thick white cloud of gas. Chlorine or Mustard gas would have a disnctinctive yellow color. However, the smokeing from the artillery shells were white and it was almost invisible the moment it went out of the shells. Del got the conclusion that the gas was neither, but it was far more worse. "ANNA! GET HUBERT OUT OF THERE! THAT DAMN GAS IS A NERVE GAS! KILL THE GUARDS IN FRONT OF THE TENTS! QUICKLY!" Del shouted to the radio. He immediately evacuated Alina back to the MRAP since it was the only ce that had an NBC protection. Del put Alina inside of the MRAP and told her to stay inside of the MRAP. He closed the door of the MRAP and lock it tightly. He then dashed back to the Ko missile to observe where Anna was. Anna was gone. In front of the medical tent were two dead bodies of the soldiers that kept Anna from entering the tent. All of them died from gunshots to the head. It seemed that Anna followed the instruction well enough. Multiple whistling came from the sky and it begun to bombard Halivaara. Nerve gas started spreading in Halivaara. People that touched that gas immediately suffered from seizures and immediate suffocation. The gas was effective at killing people, unlike the previous two. Del was worried that Anna couldn''t save Hubert in time. If Hubert couldn''t be saved, he would risk himself and Anna. Cassandra was working with the intelligence agencies and Del feared that they would connect the dots. The gas attack only happened after Del wiped out the uppermand of imperial military. The intelligence agencies could be convinced by Cassandra that Del and Anna were behind of the attack. "Anna, do you find him?" Del shouted to the radio. "Negative, I''d keep looking." Gunshots could be heard from the background. It wouldn''t mean anything good. It was either Anna was shooting her gun or there was someone else. "Don''t worry, situation is still under control." "I hope¡ª" Tanks were moving towards Halivaara. Del counted the amount of tank that headed for Halivaara. Six tanks were rolling towards Halivaara. "THERE''S A TANK UNIT COMING YOUR WAY! HURRY UP!" Del shouted as he aimed the Ko missile at the tank. Del pulled the trigger of that anti-tank guided missileuncher and a missile flew to the direction of the tank. The missile flew in circle as Del tried to keep the cross hair of the missile centered at the tank. The missile blew up alongside with the tank. Del threw the empty tube and reced it with another fresh ATGM. In the midst of the confusioning from the tank unit, Del fired another missile at another tank. Del kept his sight centered at the tank and the blew up. "Two tanks are down. Anna, do you find Hubert?" Del asked as he reced the empty tube with a new one. "Negative, I''ll keep looking," Anna replied. "Hurry up, we don''t have much time," Del said. Del fired another missile at the tank. The tank noticed him and fired at his direction. However, too bad for the tank, Del put himself far away from the range of the tank gun. The tank gun wouldn''t be able to reach him. Del was more than 8,000 meters away from the possible entry location for any imperial military unit. He knew that no tank gun would be able to reach him. Although artillery would be particrly dangerous for him. "I FOUND HIM!" Anna shouted from the radio. "Great, but you need to get out of there on your own, I will hold the tank off first," Del said. Del reced the empty tube on top of theuncher and fired an ATGM at one of the tanks. The tank blew up again. He kept repeating the same thing until there was only one tank left. Del pulled the trigger while aiming the sight at the center of the tank. The tank blew off. Del sighed in relief as all of the tanks were destroyed. The gas bombardment continued in Halivaara. The people on that town were no different that moisquitoes when they got gassed with pesticide. All of them just dropped dead in the ground while some were drying. However, in the midst of it all was a girl carrying a man with a gas mask. From the looks of it, Hubert wasn''t able to walk anymore so Anna carried him. Still, all that mattered to him was Hubert getting out of the town alive. All of the tanks were dead so Del could drive the MRAP safely into the town. Del entered the MRAP and closed the door. He wore his gas mask and he went to the backseat. Del put a gas mask to Alina''s face, but he reced the filter inside of the gas mask with a hose that was connected to the oxygen tank and opened the valve. Alina was barely able to breathe normally, putting on a gas mask on her face would be an unwise decision. "Don''t take off the mask, alright?" Del asked. Alina just nodded. Del started driving towards the poisoned town. As he drove, the horror of chemical attack became much more horrifying. The soldiers were holding their neck, trying to breathe from their copsed lungs. Some hadmitted suicide by putting shooting themselves in the head using a pistol. Anna was walking towards the MRAP with Hubert on her back. "Del, open the back of the MRAP, I''ll being in." Del went to the back of the MRAP and open the backdoor using his hand. Anna was waiting and she immediately put Hubert inside of the vehicle once she arrived at the back of the vehicle. Anna entered the MRAP and closed the back door. Del drove away from that poisoned town as quickly as he could. ============ Thirty kilometers east of Halivaara, Del begun the cleanup procedure on Hubert. As usual, he took off all of the exposed clothing and threw it away inside of a sealed stic bag, underwear included. Anna had injected the antidote for the nerve gas as soon as she found Hubert so he had stabilized. Right now, they were sitting down in the grasnd with Hubert wrapped in a heat-retention nket. "Thank you, Del, Anna," Hubert said as he drunk the coffee that Del made. "It''s a responsibility for us, don''t think too much about it," Del replied. "So, I guess that''s why fiancee kept telling me not to go to Halivaara. I should have listened to her. Now, I have to report that four of my students die. God damn it, I shouldn''t have brought them here," Hubert said. Del and Anna were looking at Hubert. They were surprised that Hubert knew about the risk of gas attack. Wait, Cassandra knew about this potential bullshit too? Why didn''t Cassandra tell him about the risk of gas attack. "So, you know about the gas attack?" Del asked. "No, I don''t know about whatever gas that was. However, I heard about the development of secret weapons that imperial military used in this frontline. I''m just a doctor. I never delve myself too deeply inside of the military intelligence," Hubert answered. "So, Aiden is dead?" Alina asked. "I''m afraid so," Hubert answered. Alina sighed. "This is war, we are here to kill and we are here to die. Still, I don''t know¡­ I need some time alone. Sir, if you excuse me." She stood up and walked away from Del, Anna, and Hubert. She sat down in the grasnd while hugging her knees. She immediately sobbed. Hubert sighed, "This is why I don''t like the intelligence in the federal military. They either kept everything too secretive that any officer in the field won''t be able to react to the military situation or they give information toote that it became obsolete for us. This is why we''re always in a stalemate with the imperial military." "Did your fiancee keep a secret from you?" Del asked. "No, she told all that she knew. I know if she kept something from me. He just told me to stay away from Halivaara because of a secretive weaponry that the Imperial military is developing, but I never thought it would be a weapon of mass destruction," Hubert answered. Del sighed. "Damn, would this mean that the federal military would be under full-retreat from Halivaara?" "I think so. I think I am the only one that survived that gas attack. The imperial military had known our weakness and they will keep attacking relentlessly without giving the federal military any time to take a break. Del, you and Anna better report to my fiancee about the situation. Hopefully, she could tell her higher-ups about the information." "We will tell Cassandra about that. Don''t worry too much about it.. I will assure you that the information will arrive at your fiancee," Del replied. Chapter 114 - Debriefing In Cole''s house, the situation was tense. Del and Anna were sitting down at the dining table. Across them were Hubert and Cassandra. Cole and Alina were in the kitchen, cooking dinner. It had been two weeks since the ident in Halivaara''s front line. The dinner was a celebration for both Hubert and Alina''s discharge from the hospital. However, due to Del''s responsibility to report back to Cassandra about the current situation, it was better to report to her about the gas attack. Cassandra should have had the idea about what gas was there, but she might want to know about the event preceding the gas attack. "So, Del, do you have something to tell me about the gas attack?" Cassandra asked. "Yes. I have some questions first, would you mind answering the questions?" Del asked. "Go ahead." "Do you have any information about any imperial experimental weapon?" Del asked. "I don''t. I only heard rumors about it." "Do you have any idea that the imperial military has any chemical weapons in their arsenal?" Del asked. "Yeah, Chlorine and Mustard Gas. Though, I heard about the experimental gas that the Imperial used in Halivaara. The codename is "NGF-21". Other than that, I don''t know much about it, sorry," Cassandra said. "Why didn''t the military warn us about the possible gas attack?" Del asked. "Because it was once thought to be impossible. If we know that there is artillery capable of shooting straight into Halivaara, we would have informed you. The thing was, no known artillery was capable of attacking Halivaara, not until a week ago anyway," Cassandra exined. "Basically, there''s no weapon capable of attacking Halivaara until a week ago?" Del asked. "Yeah, even though Halivaara is close enough to the frontline, there is no artillery capable of reaching it. The closest artillery unit to Halivaara is around thirty miles away from Halivaara. I think the imperial military has super artillery at this point," Cassandra said. "Well, this is quite a shitty situation we are in then, but tell me, where would you think a super artillery will be stationed?" Del asked. "Maybe in the northern region, the elevation should increase the range of even regr artillery. That region is treacherous though, the only thing that can enter the region is a ne and a bomber. The imperial military controls most, if not all of the northern region," Cassandra said. "Wait, what? How''s the federal military status right now?" Del asked. "Not good, we have a shitton of problem. The intelligence agencies aren''t listened to by the generals. The generals are too stubborn to listen to the intelligence agencies and it resulted in the ident in Halivaara. The intelligence agencies aren''t really appreciating the treatment so they aren''t so keen on looking for information," Cassandra exined. "I see, how much territory did we lose?" Del asked. "We have lost more than 30% of our former territory sincest year. More than twenty of our generals have been killed, and the "Opera House" incident damaged the military reputation even more," Cassandra exined. "Opera House incident?" Del asked. "Yeah, that incident that killed thousands of people," Cassandra said. "What happened?" "I''d rather not talk about that," Cassandra said. Then a voice came from the kitchen. "Dinner''s ready." Cole came to the dining table with a pot filled with and Alina was carrying a big bowl containing the mashed potato. They put the dishes on the table and they sat down. The aroma of the stew filled the whole room immediately. The aroma interrupted the conversation. It was time to eat the food. It was a celebration, after all, maybe a little bit of rxing moment was rather needed. "Ah, the food hase," Anna said. Alina grabbed her a te and a scoop of mashed potato alongside the stew. She then gave the te to Anna. "Here you go, Anna." "Thanks, Alina," Anna retrieved the te. Del grabbed a te for himself and he started eating. Suddenly, he felt the warmth inside of his heart. It was indescribable, but it had been a very long time ever since he ate with something called a family. Cassandra and Hubert were the parents while the rests were the kids. Del would say that it was rather pleasant. They were eating and drinking. Del brought expensive alcohol from the liquor store down the road. The alcohol itself was an expensive red wine that he bought for ten gold coins. At first, the others were reluctant to drink it, but they eventually drank it. After dinner, Anna and Alina went to the kitchen to wash the dishes while Cassandra, Cole, Hubert, and Del were in the living room while listening to the radio. The tragedy that the gas attacks created was broadcast nationwide. People were questioning thepetency of the military. "I fear that we will have a coup d''etat inside of a coup d''etat," Cassandramented to the news broadcast. The formation of the Ilbistirum Federal Government was a product of a coup d''etat against the royalty. Cassandra''s fear was justified. If the military couldn''t show any progress, there could be a risk of another coup inside of the federal government. If that happened, it would be disastrous for the current war. The federal government would certainly lose in the war against the imperial government and it would mean that they would return to monarchy. Well, it was not really an expected oue to be entirely honest. It could mean that only the privileged people could have educations and public services. It was the opposite goal of the previous revolution. "What can we even do? We''re just ordinary people with various backgrounds, there is no way we can do anything that will change the course of this war," Delmented. "To be honest, Del, there''s something that we can do. You know, if you can destroy several high-value targets, we might have a chance to strike back. Right now, it''s just what it is. Still, I heard that one of the oligarchs is looking for personnel for his private security," Cassandra said. "Oligarch?" Del asked. "You know, the powerful people. They are the ones who have a lot of power in the government. If you want to work with one of the oligarchs, I can hook you up with one of the owners of an investmentpany, do you want to?" Cassandra said. "How does working with an investmentpany and turning the tide of this war connects?" Del asked. "It doesn''t. However, this person, in particr, owns private security which takes part in this war against the imperial military," Cassandra exined. "Oh yeah?" Del said. "Yeah, they are a special security unit that also participates in special operations in the Imperial Military area of operation. These guys are former special force units or veteran military contractors that have seen and gone through multiplebat operations. Long story short, these guys are the elites," Cassandra said. "Elites? If they are the elites, how can you convince him to let me enter his "club" consisting of military personnel and contractors?" Del asked. "Easy, they are looking for a reckless person and you fit the proposition. It was not like I am the only one that can vouch for you. You are still the person that destroyed an entirepany of tanks," Cassandra said. "Why should I even join that private security? What will be waiting for me at the end of my career?" Del asked. "Well, first of all, that private securitypany is connected with the intelligence agencies, and unlike the military, they actually follow the directives that the agencies give to them. As a result, most of their military operation ends up in total sess. Second, with that kind of connection, you will have an upper hand in this world, especially if you''re looking for work in the future," Cassandra said. Well, if Del needed wet work to be done, he might be able to use the private security ordingly. After all, any allies that could hold a gun would change the overall tactics that Del could adopt in that world. Right now, most of his problems were caused by theck of personnel in the field. The personnel that he had in his group were himself and Anna only. Wolfie was also counted, but he was more of a support unit rather than the mainbat unit. In short, if he could create a connection with the private security, he might be able to gain a leverage in the future against his own enemies. "I understand. So you want me to work for them so I can use their services in the future?" "Exactly, and with you onboard, the rtion between the private security and the intelligence agencies will increase exponentially. You''re close to them and I''m close to the intelligence agencies. With taht kind ofbination, we can easily help the intelligence agencies to convince the military to actually listen to them," Cassandra said. "Sign me up then," Del answered. Chapter 115 - Meeting With The Boss "Thanks for the coffee," Del said to the stewardess as he retrieved his coffee. "You''re wee." The stewardess pushed the cart away from their seats. Anna and Del were apanied by Cassandra. They were boarding the train towards Stamford, a city located near Ilbistirum Federal Government capital. It was located north of Lullin, around three hours worth of train ride. All of them were in civilian clothing. Del and Anna were wearing shirts while Cassandra wore a dress. They were wearing formal clothing because they were heading for the financial city of Ilbistirum. Formal clothing would be required to meet such important people. "You know, the amount of money inside of your suitcase is equivalent to the amount that medium-end stockbroker will have. In short, you''re quite rich for their standard," Cassandra said. "Hahaha, I might invest in the future," Delmented. Cassandra arranged a meeting with the investmentpany owner in a luxury hotel located in the middle of the city. To gain more leverage, Cassandra convinced Del to invest two Husnael tes in hispany. It might not be much, but it was still a lot for a beginner investor. With that kind of leverage, Del would be able to enter the private security more easily. After all, he was a shareholder in thatpany. It would also mean that he also had an interest inside thepany. To be honest, Del just wanted to join the private security, not the investmentpany. However, there was also something else that he must do to stay inside the securitypany. He was recruited because of his recklessness. He must do a dangerous job for the securitypany. In return, he would be able tomand his own units. ording to the contract, he couldmand two people, but it would grow as time went by. Even before that, Del still had to pass training for the securitypany, which involved flying training,bat training, magic training, etc. Basically, if he wanted to work with the elites, he must be an elite. It wouldn''t be easy, but it would be worth it. It would be one hell of a week with the private securitypany. Maybe there would be an examination first to decide whether he could enter private security or not. Hopefully, Cassandra''s rmendation and his initial investment in the investmentpany would be enough to gain him ess to thatpany. "Tell me something, will I meet someone that I know in thepany?" Del asked. "I don''t think you will find anyone that you know. Cole was pretty much disgusted with finance and Alina is too busy to even invest," Cassandra said. "Basically, once you''re gone, I''m on my own?" Del asked. "Pretty much it," Cassandra said. Del just smiled and nodded as he understood what he must do. Overall, his primary goal was to get a good rtionship with private security. He also wanted to get enough leverage to get the private security to do his own wet work. He immediately formted a n on what he would do. With his skill right now, he might be able to pull a covert, ndestine operation in Elbanian. It would also mean that he would be able to get his revenge on Eric sooner than expected. ===== Stamford. The first impression came from arge number of skyscrapers inside of that city. It just felt different from the majorly suburban area of Lullin. The area really felt like an area for trading stocks. The train station was located close to the hotel that they would be staying in. Del observed the entire city in awe. It had been a very long time ever since he looked at a very tall building. Overall, it was rather a pleasant surprise for both Anna and Del. Especially Anna, she was just gazing at the buildings in that town. "Wow... This is just something," Delmented. "Yeah, I never expect seeing skyscrapers in this world, but this is just insane," Annamented. The tallest building in that city might reach as high as one hundred floors tall. There might be a dozen of those buildings. Overall, it really symbolized the modernization that Ilbistirum had gone through. Del remembered that the empire state building was built around one year. Maybe the need for the financial building was so immense that skyscrapers were a lot more than 1930s earth. Maybe the town was New York of Ilbistirum. The town was pretty much focused on its financial aspect after all. There might be a trade center around the region. It really made him forget that the country was under a civil war. Del stepped out of the train station. He wondered how Ilbistirum was able to build that kind of structure even under a war. It looked like the air defense was still working as intended. The big and tall building was like a big giant mark for the flying bombers. "Cassandra, how do these buildings are still standing tall even in the middle of a war?" Del asked. "Easy, this town is located very far from the front line. No enemy bomber would be able toe here, no matter how many blunders the Ilbistirum military has made," Cassandra said. If that was the case, then the sess of Stamford had little to zero rtionships to the Ilbistirum Federal Military since the biggest factor was the distance from the front line. It made full sense, to be honest. "So, this town is pretty much independent about its security?" Del asked. "Pretty much it, most of the security forces in this region are former contractors that entered the police forces or private securities that the rich people rent for their safety. It could be said that this town is the safest in the whole Ilbistirum, so, Del, do you have any questions before we check-in at the hotel?" Cassandra asked. "Yeah, I have one question. Is this clothing alright, or should I wear a suit?" Del asked. "Suit." ============ The dining area of that hotel looked rather majestic. Beautifulmps were hanging on the ceiling. Everyone was wearing fancy clothing. With the soft jazz ying from the band at the stage, the aura of luxury was literally coating the entire room. Del and Cassandra were waiting for the guest. Cassandra was wearing a formal white dress, and Del was wearing a ck three-piece suit. They were waiting for the head of the investment group that they were going to meet. The person that was going to meet them from thepany was called Linda ke. She was looking for a personal bodyguard that would be willing to act as a meat shield. She was the chief executive officer, after all. "Salve Group, huh? What''s the name of their private security? Salve Security?" Del asked as he sipped on his wine. "More or less, there she is," Cassandra said. A man and a woman were walking towards their table. The man was bald and tall. He was walking right behind the woman. There was no doubt about it. The woman was Linda ke. Del prepared himself. He must act calmly. A blunder would be very damaging to his chance of being epted. The bald man pulled up a chair on Del''s table, and Linda sat down on the chair that the bodyguard had pulled. Linda was wearing a ck dress, and her hair was styled. Overall, she was quite a respectful woman. "Mrs. ke, it''s nice to meet you," Cassandra greeted. "Nice to meet you too, Doctor Gable," Linda said. "Please, just call me Cassandra, ma''am," Cassandra replied. From that conversation alone, Del concluded that Cassandra respected Linda. Maybe it was because of her social status, but Del wasn''t sure about it. Linda wasn''t the type that would look down on people. She even called Cassandra using her back name, which Del hadn''t done ever since he met her. Linda gazed at Del. He was looking at his body, his posture, and his gaze. Del felt really ufortable, "You know what my father says, you should always trust your feeling. Truth be told, I agree. So kid, tell me, why should I recruit you as my bodyguard?" That was quite a hard question. "Ma''am, I think I am capable of protecting a VIP. My military experience is being an adventurer in Elbanian and a contractor that destroys a tankpany on his own." Linda smiled at Del. She looked doubtful about Del''s answer. "Your name''s Del, correct?" "Yes ma''am," Del answered. "So Del, you have quite an experiences, and those are good experiences too. However, have you ever escorted a VIP before? I have dozen of people wanting to be my personal bodyguard and most of them have experiences in guarding a VIP. What''s so special about you, Del?" Linda asked. It was a hard question. Del could answer that he could purchase weapons far more superior than anything this world could offer, but would it be wise to tell Linda that? Chapter 116 - Terms & Conditions Del''s mind was spinning around as he tried to look for an answer that didn''t expose too much of his secret while making sure that it would end up impressing him. Truth be told, impressing the demonic elf in front of him was rather difficult. Mostly because Del never had any conversation with an executive, and this executive also owned a military force. "I also have an interest in yourpany and we can be mutually beneficial to each other," Del said in his own opinion. The woman giggled, "I appreciate your honesty, Del, but five Husnael tes are peanuts for me. You have to try harder than that. So, why should I let you in?" Was this woman ying with him, or was this just an ordinary behavior of anyone with a corporate background? If it was a little bit of reassurance on her part, Del understood that, but it was just something he had never had before. One thing for sure, though, it was something Del didn''t have any interest in. Del was thinking hard, "Emmmm¡ª" Cassandra cut him, "I think what this kid has told you would be more than enough to recruit him as a beginner in your securitypany. You still owe me a favor, don''t you think?" Cassandra just smiled. Linda smiled back at her, "You know how to y your cards well, don''t you, Doctor Gable?" "I do," Cassandra replied. "Very well." Linda then looked at Del, who was still clueless about what was going on. "Rx kid, I was just ying with you. If I don''t want you, you won''t be here in the first ce. Why would I invite a random kid to an expensive hotel?" Del finally breathed in relief. If he got admitted to private security, it would mean that he would have an easier time in that world. Thinking about it, it was an outstanding deal. After all, Linda would be quite resourceful as a person. "Cassandra has sent your file, and your sister''s file. There''s one thing that I dislike though, you both only have junior high school diploma. That thing is not something I can tolerate, per se. I want both of you to get educated. That responsibility will also be included in the contract, what do you say?" "Well, ma''am, if you ask me honestly, I''m up for it, but I''m not sure how the curiculum works in Ilbistirum," Del said. "Well, Del, let''s just say that I know everything." Everything? So, Cassandra spilled all of the beans? What the hell? What was her intention? Del looked at her in suspicion. He wasn''t sure what this woman was trying to do. Did she try to sell Del''s soul to Linda, or did she have something else in her mind? "Everything?" Del wanted to confirm first. "More or less, I know you''re not from around here and I know you''re a refugee. Cassandra did say that you have a connection to an arms manufacturer," Linda said. Great, so she told something that Del didn''t want Linda to know with bullshit. Thank you, Cassandra. The situation would be much moreplicated. Well, at the very least, Cassandra didn''t tell Linda his true origin. "If it''s written in the file, it''s mostly true," Del decided to y along. "Ok, awesome. Well, if that''s the case, I''m looking forward to working with you, boy. Now, let me introduce you to the one that will personally train you." She then looked at the bodyguard that apanied him. "This is Walter, this is the person that will train you both inbat and in academic." The bald and muscr man was going to train them? Del wouldn''t lie that the man looked more muscle than brain. How could he help Del academically? That dude was literally the perfect bodyguard stereotype instead of a mentor or a teacher. "Nice to meet you, Del Moore. I''m Walter, we will be spending our next two years together," Walter said. "Two years?" Del was surprised again. "Mrs. ke, I think it''s a good idea if you give Del the contract that you keep referring to," Cassandra said. "Very well, Walter, can you give Del his contract?" Linda asked. Walter grabbed a briefcase that was put below the table. He then put a thick file on the dining table. "Please, read it, Del." He presented the file to Del, and Del picked that file up. The document was the contract. The contract was an agreement between Anna, Him, and Salve Group. It contained all of the things he and his sister needed to do. He opened the first page of the document. The first page only told him about the parties involved inside of the contract. There wasn''t anything too critical on the first page. Del then opened the second page. It was filled with a bunch of financial terms that Del didn''t even understand. However, the gobbledygook could be simplified into what Salve Group could do with the initial Husnael tes. They really covered their backs by ensuring that there would be severe consequences if Del double-crossed thepany. Del was eligible for 80% of the profit that his money got. Salve Group would only be liable if the funds that Del invested lost 60% in value. It was not that bad. From an analytical perspective, Salve Group was a defense contractor. With Ilbistirum under a civil war, it would mean that thepany would keep growing as long as Ilbistirum Federal Government had enough money to pay Salve Group. Those uses about his finances got cleared out of his mind. He then moved on to the next group of uses. The next group of uses was about Del''s responsibility as a junior member of the private security. It was told that he and Anna would be under the supervision of a more senior member. In this case, the senior member was Walter. Walter would be responsible for training those two. "Mrs. ke, do you often recruit contractors for your private security?" Del asked since it seemed that one senior for two juniors was pretty generous for a securitypany. "Well, we do get a lot of applications, but we turn it down for the most part. Why? Are you wondering why I put you two under him?" Linda asked. "Yes, more or less." "It''s because Walter is a jack-of-all-trades. He isn''t exactly the best of everything, but he is certainly capable of almost everything. So, he will be a good mentor for you two," Linda said. "Ah, I see." Del continued reading the contract. The contract signified that he would have to work under Walter for around two years. Thinking about it, it was rtively reasonable. Del wouldn''t even recruit some random teenagers that suddenly rose to the top before further training. It was too risky, and recruiting big shots without training beforehand would be a recipe for disaster. Continuing from there, there was an agreement that Del and Anna must finish their education. It really came out of nowhere. The intention was good, but how did it be included in the contract in the first ce? It was a contract for bing a member of private security, not some sort of tuition contract. Thinking about it again, the contract might be custom-made to fit Del and Anna''s needs and background. Del doubted that any elite contractor or soldier would need that use about education. But well, it was not like there was anything to lose if he joined an academy in Ilbistirum. Their culture didn''t differ too radically after all. Moving on from that part, Del noticed the consequences of breaching the contract. This part would be the most important part for him. He must have a backup n in case everything went wrong. He must have a way to get out of Salve Group. One of the penalties was the total confiscation of any stored assets. All of the money that Del had invested would be owned entirely by Salve Group. Well, it was not bad. It wasn''t like Del didn''t have any savings inside of his ount. If he got out before the two years'' end, Del and Anna would have to pay a penalty of twenty Husnael tes. It wasn''t too bad. Most of the fines were money-based. They could get out of there quite easily. Thest part was amenities. This part described the facility that Del and Anna would get once they entered Salve Group. They would have ess to their own house and several benefits of being an employee with Salve Group. He would be eligible for free health care and free education. He would also be given funds at the beginning of each month topensate for his living expenses. "So, I just have to sign here?" Del asked. "Yes," Walter gave his pen to Del. Del signed that piece of paper, and the deal was closed. He would be working with Salve Group from now on.. Hopefully, the most dangerous kind of job was not entering another poisoned town. Chapter 117 - Introduction To Walter After dinner, Del went back to his room. Anna had been waiting inside of the room since the meeting with Linda and Walter began. She didn''t want toe, mainly due to herck of understanding about the situation and her tendency to follow Del''s decision at the end of the day. Del hung the jacket of his suit in the hotel room and turned on the air conditioner. "How did it go?" Anna asked. She was recing her bandages for the day. "Well," Del sat down on the bed. He was both confused and surprised. The deal was good, but how would he exin it to Anna? No matter how he would sugarcoat it, it was still a dy for the revenge. "It was a good deal, but we are put under a leash." "Leash?" "We are binded for two years under a trainer named Walter." Anna''s reaction was different from what he had previously expected. Judging from what happened around a week ago or so, Del would expect Anna to protest that he would stop her scheme of killing Eric. Still, if Anna agreed, it would be way easier. Del wouldn''t protest about that in any way. "I guess that''s the risk of working with a bigpany, I guess?" Anna shrugged, epting thepromises that Del had made. "Yeah,promises andpromises. Anyway, there''s a copy of the contract inside of my tablet. I photographed it before we left, I think you might want to see it first," Del said. Anna retrieved the tablet, "Ok." Anna read the whole contract using the tablet. Del waited until Anna finished reading the contract. From his observation, Anna wasn''t exactly unsatisfied or satisfied. She was somewhere in between. The eye expression suggested that she did not understand what the contract was all about. It was the same as Del''s expression when he initially read the contract. She would probably follow the same route as Del when she read the contract with meant she would be more focused on the consequences of the termination of the contract itself. "Termination, huh?" Del''s guess was correct. Anna jumped all the tricky sections and read the uses that contained the consequences of terminating the contract. "Yeah, it doesn''t look too bad, does it?" Del asked. "Yeah, it doesn''t. However, do you think we are really able to put enough funds in case we want to terminate the contract between thepany and us?" Anna said. "We won''t break the contract. Just read the amenities, Anna." Her eyes looked brighter as she read the amenities. A house, a guarantee of a better life, and a promise of better education were convincing enough for Anna. Anna gave the tablet in satisfaction. "I see where you''re going. I agree with whatever you want to do, Del. I don''t think that going against you will end up well for me." Del agreed with her statement. The nuke that Anna wanted to send to Elbanian territory was too much for just an act of mere revenge. Eric was just Eric. They didn''t need too many people to die because of an act of sheer vengeance. It was just inhumane and against basic morality. Truth be told, though, Del wasn''t sure whether he had any morality left. Sure, he helped people, but he also killed people. Everything was based on money for him, and Del never regretted doing it. He did all to make sure that he could live for another day and eat for another day. "I agree with you. Anyway, where can I meet this Walter?" Anna asked. "Walter is still on the dining room. We left sooner than Linda. However, I think Linda and him are going to the lounge for a drink, do you want toe there?" Del asked. "Sure, I think meeting our mentor would be a great introduction. Introduction is the key of all interaction," Anna said. "Let''s go then." ============= The lounge was a ce to drink. However, they couldn''t find Linda. There was only one person there, and that person was none other than Walter. Walter himself was sitting on the barstool with something that looked like a bottle of whiskey and a shot ss. Del wanted to find Linda first. The ce seemed nice enough for an executive, so there would be no reason for Linda not toe here. Everyone in that room seemed to be an executive, so this lounge was a ce for them. Those men in suits were drinking while handing a piece of the file left and right. Since he couldn''t find Linda, Del decided to approach Walter and ask where Linda was. Del walked to the bar and sat down right next to Walter. Walter took notice of him. He pushed the ss and the bottle of alcohol away from Del. "Kid, what are you doing in here? This is an adult zone, you shouldn''t be in here," Walter said. "Sorry, but I don''t see an 18+ sign around here. It means that I can enter whenever I want, right?" Del asked. "Alright, you have a point. What do you want? Don''t tell me you want an alcohol," Walter said. Del shook his head. Anna sat down right beside Walter. She introduced herself to Walter, "Walter, my name is Anna, I''m Del''s sister, nice to meet you." Walter was surprised. That bald guy gave a strong gaze to Anna, especially since her face was really out of the ordinary. There was no way that a normal person would wear bandages all the time. He once thought that Anna was just a girl who wore a bandage for concealment, but Walter understood why after seeing her. "So, you are Anna, the wounded girl?" Walter asked. "Wounded girl? When did I have that nickname?" Anna asked back. "I read your files. So, you''re the one that is very reckless, huh? Sorry for you loss, by the way. I can''t imagine if my loved ones are also burnt alive by some random kingdom just because of something," Walter replied. "Don''t feel too bad about it, Walter, it''s not really your fault." They got along surprisingly well, maybe because Anna kept herself friendly or maybe because Anna was a woman. Well, Del couldn''t care less. If they got along, it would be way easier for him to condition both of them. Walter could be a great mentor. After all, the person had very impressive records in special operations. "So, Walter, if you don''t mind, can you tell us about your past experience?" Del wanted to dig more about Walter. "Sure, I don''t think I should keep it as a secret to both of you. Long story short, I was part of the special forces in Ilbistirum Federal Government. My task was toemmence illegitimate operation that Ilbistitrum wanted me to do. To be honest, the reason why I quitted was because the amount ofrades. Those ipetent generals never listen to intelligence agencies so they are always caught with their pants down," Walter ranted. "Is it that bad?" Del asked. "You damn right it is." Walter poured the alcohol into his shot ss, and he drank it. "The ident that kill thousands of people? That''s because of our failure in intercepting the package that contained the bomb. We fall for the decoy for fuck sake," Walter ranted more. The ident kept bothering Del''s mind. First, Alina mentioned it to him, but it didn''t get too much attention due to Del''sck of awareness about the information. After it, Del found a document about the ident itself, but it didn''t describe any meaningful information about the thing that killed so many people itself. Cassandra didn''t want to talk about it. And now, Walter spoke about the ident caused by a bomb. "Bomb? Can you tell me more about it?" Del asked. "Yeah, the bomb that killed thousands of people and poisoned more. That thing is a weapon that no one should ever use. Too many innocent people die just because the imperial wanted to send a message to us." Walter gulped down another shot of hard alcohol. "It''s not your fault, Walter. This is the higher-ups'' fault. You don''t know anything, neither does your unit. They only know what they must do to get their job done and you know it. Theck of awareness that the general had was on them, not you. You were just another soldier, right?" Anna asked. Walter just nodded. Del became concerned. The bomb seemed to be very dangerous, but what kind of bomb could be fitted in a box and kill thousands of people. The worst possibility wouldn''t be possible. This world wasn''t advanced enough to produce that thing. His best guess, for now, was that the bomb was a chemical bomb or a magical one. There was no other exnation. This ident. Del wanted to investigate it more. It could be something that threatened his safety and his sister safety. This bomb could be a danger that was beyond their ability to intervene. Maybe, in the future, the stake would be way higher. Everything would be crucial.. One wrong decision, and someone would die. Chapter 118 - The Cabin "How many hours left?" "Probably two." The location of the house and town that they would be staying in was around six hours from Lullin. They had gone through half of the journey, and they would probably arrive sooner orter. The town itself was called Sneggor. ording to Walter, the city was filled with snow all year long. Needless to say, the town would be freezing. Del was sitting in the backseat alongside Anna while Walter drove. The car was something that one would expecting from the 1930s or 1940s era. It was pretty much a ssic car without any air conditioning or anything that resembled modern tech. Del could use the MRAP, but he thought it wouldn''t be a good idea to introduce their ability too soon to Walter. All that was inside Walter''s mind now was probably his responsibility to babysit the children sitting in the back. He didn''t look too satisfied with whatever setup Linda gave to him. All in all, Del hoped that the bald man wouldn''t go far beyond what the contract told him to do. There was also another question on why they chose Sneggor out of all the avable towns inside Ilbistirum. Was it because the city was located in a remote area? If that was the case, then many more towns were located far more remotely than Sneggor. Why would Linda keep children in a city with a cold climate? It was just odd. The fact that there was an academy there made the town feel way bizarre. "Walter, can I ask something?" Del asked. "Throw away," Walter said. "Why are we going to Sneggor? Isn''t there any better ce for us than Sneggor?" "The town is one of the ces where Salve Group has a training ground. Although that training ground was rarely used by us, it could prove to be useful for both of you. We also have a cabin that we can use to stay. Lastly, there is an academy there for you two to get your high-school diploma," Walter exined. Del nodded. Basically, because Sneggor was an all-in-one package for them, Linda decided to send them to Sneggor. Still, that town would be as cold as the arctic. They needed warmer clothing for that town. Their shirt or standardbat uniform wouldn''t cut it. There was also the fact that some of their weapons might have reliability issues in the snow. He always cleaned his weapons, so they rarely jammed. Still, there would be a possibility for them to leave their guns in snow only toe back finding out that the weapons were jammed. And unlike mud, snow or ice was way harder to be dealt with. They needed more force to break the ice, and running water through it wouldn''t be the solution, unlike mud. "Walter, what will we do once we arrive at Sneggor?" Del asked. "For starter, we should clean the cabin first. There''s a huge chance that the cabin would be very dusty and almost unliveable. After that, we can start unpacking our baggages. Maybe, if we have enough time, we can go around the town for a while," Walter answered. "That''s a good idea," Del said. "Yeah, but kids, if you don''t mind me asking, what happens with your parents?" Walter asked. "They died." "Do you want to tell me about it?" Walter asked. "No thanks. We''d rather not talk about it." Anna crossed her hands. She rejected Walter''s request. The death of their parents wasn''t something that they wanted to discuss for now. Maybe if Walter could get more friendly to them, he might be able to dig more about the past of those two kids. The rest of the journey was rtively uneventful, mainly because neither Del nor Anna wanted to open their mouth. The question about their parents alone sparked disinterest in Walter. It was an honest mistake, but still, one wouldn''t ask something too personal to a person that they barely knew. ============== Del cleaned up the snow that fell on top of the head. It was snowing outside, and the temperature was really made them shudder. Who would build a town in a ce with such a cold climate? It wouldn''t end well for them unless the city had a particr resource. Walter wasn''t lying about the cabin either. The cabin was dirty. It probably had been years since thest person visited the cabin. Dust was literally everywhere. In fact, Del and Anna were wearing their gas mask. Even a slight touch on any object in that cabin would reveal that the cabin was dirty. "Damn, we have to clean the cabin? How? Water will freeze at this temperature," Delmented. "Del, help me light up the fire," Walter said as he picked up the wooden logs and threw them into the firece. Del helped him set up the firece by tossing dry branches into it and igniting it with a fireball. The warmth from the firece immediately radiated all over the cabin. There should be amp inside of that cabin, but where? Del looked for a switch, and he found one. He switched on the light. "Wow, it''s better than I expected," Annamented. The light revealed the living room of the cabin itself. The cabin did look big from the outside, but she didn''t expect it to be that big. There were like three couches surrounding a big table in that living room. There was also a dusty radio on the corner of the room. Wait, since when a cabin designed for military training could be thisfy? "Very nice, huh? This is a cabin for our Stockholders or our VIP. For now, this will be the ce for you two to stay, it doesn''t look so bad, does it?" Walter asked as he put his hands in front of the firece. "It''s¡­ amazing," Anna replied. Maybe a little bit of cleaning here and there and the cabin would feel more like home. The cabin was perhaps three times bigger than the house that Del previously owned in Elbanian. It would serve to be the perfect ce for their base of operation. "There should be a mop in the storage room, anyone can bring it?" Walter asked. "I''d go there." Del walked to the front door and got out of the cabin. The cabin itself was located on the west part of Sneggor. It was very remote, and it was located next to the training ground. The academy was in the northern part of Sneggor. The academy looked more like a castle than a school from afar. It was a majestic building covered in a thinyer of snow. In the middle was Sneggor itself. The town looked lively, with many vehicles moved back and forth, whether a carriage or a car. There was no train station in that town, though. Maybe it was because the road to Sneggor wasn''t as good as connecting Lullin and its surrounding region. The storage room should be on the side of the cabin. Del searched for the storage room, and he found it. He opened the storage room, but he couldn''t. The door was locked, and the lock was rusty and freezing. Well, if that was the case, there was no purpose in asking for the key. It might be better to just shoot the lock and be done with it. Del pulled out his pistol from his holster and aimed it at the lock. He shot his gun, and the lock broke open. Del threw away the lock, and he opened the storage room. The room itself felt more like an armory than a storage room. Rifles were lying down on the floors. Wrenches and gears were lying down on the table alongside several other tools. There was a mop and a bucket, though, on the corner of that storage room. Del grabbed it, and he headed inside the cabin again. Anna had started dusting the whole ce up since she wanted to take a rest as quickly as possible. Walter had begun to do the same thing. Del wondered where he could get the water. He hadn''t seen any bathroom in that cabin. It might be a good idea to ask Walter. "Walter, where can I get water to fill the bucket?" "Go to the end of the hallway, you''ll find a bathroom." "Thanks." Del walked through the hallway. He went right past the kitchen, the dining room, the bedroom, and other areas. He eventually reached the bathroom and started filling the bucket up with water. He also washed the mop first before he started cleaning the house up. After the bucket was filled, he returned to the living room and began cleaning the floor. The amenities turned out to be more than enough for them. The sooner they cleaned the cabin, the better it would be.. After all, who didn''t want a good sleep after a six-hour-long journey? Del didn''t know who didn''t wish to sleep, but he definitely hoped for some rest after the trip. Chapter 119 - Upgrade After cleaning the house, it didn''t mean that the task wasplete. Walter didn''t tell him that there were more tasks for him, even after cleaning the whole cabin, which consisted of two floors that couldn''t be said as a small space. The cabin wasrge, reallyrge. There was no doubt about that. Anna was cooking in the kitchen using the ingredients that Walter had previously bought on the way. Meanwhile, Del was filling documents on the table. It was the enrollment document to enrol into the academy. He needed to fill in his name, identity, birthday, and everything else that needed to be filled on the form. Somehow, there was also a test about the amount of magical energy that they had. The test was just to drip blood into the paper. Overall, there was nothing wrong with that method. It was just that Del was too tired to do one thing after another. Before he signed everything, he checked his status te first. ???????????? [Del Moore] [Level: 73] Strength: 152 Agility: 142 Vitality: 216 Aptitude: 135 Perception: 129 Skills: Language Understanding | Firearm Comprehension LVL.67 | Marksmanship LVL.65 | me Maniption LVL.10 | Field Maniption LVL.23 | Demolition Expert LVL.25 Magical Energy: 39420/39420 Health Point: 157680/157680 ???????????? The amount of levelling up was not too great, but it was not too bad either. Del expected that he hit level 80 or higher. Maybe as they levelled up more, it became harder for them to raise their level up. Del put poke his finger and dripped the blood into a special slot on the paper that Walter gave. The blood disintegrated once it touched the paper. It turned into a set of numbers that disyed the same value as total magical energy in the status te. It was creepy at first, but it was rather revolutionary too for him. From blood alone, a paper was able to detect someone''s magical energy. Truth be told, it opened a whole new set of possibilities. The blood could be used to monitor a patient''s vital or to monitor a group. It was endless. Del continued filling the form, not letting himself to lost in thoughts. The end result of the form was pretty much Del''s forged information. The only thing that was truthful in that form was his name and the magical energy he had. He faked his birthday since Del didn''t even know whether the world had or had not stepped into the same timeline of the earth or not. His birthce was also modified, so it showed that he was born and raised in Elbanian. He didn''t want to spoil that he was from another world. It would simply jeopardize his n to stay below the radars of the students. All in all, he would be better off using the fake identities that he had forged by himself. He eventually finished filling up the documents both for himself and his own sister. He immediately gave the document back to Walter. Walter might want to check it first. There would be no way that Walter would provide the documents to the academy without checking it out first. His trust in the kids wasn''t that big, to begin with. "Hmm, I see, I see. so both of you have the same birthday, huh? I''ll keep that in mind," Walter nodded as he kept checking the documents. He just nodded to confirm whether something was valid or invalid. He would give the documents to school tomorrow, but not before he started asking both of them questions. "So, Del, how was your time in Elbanian?" "Walter, truthfully, it was nightmare-ish," Del replied. "How so?" "In Elbanian, I was hunted down by the kind and his allies while making sure that I have enough money to survive. In here, at the very least, I chose to enter the danger on my own ord, not because of circumstances." He exined what was inside of his mind to Walter. Walter just nodded. Why was the bald guy have such a t expression? He didn''t show any happiness or any sadness at anything that Del had said so far. The only time that bald dude showed any emotion was when he was under the influence of alcohol. And it was because Del asked about the ''ident''. "Well, if that''s the case. I will say that you two will be weed in Ilbistirum. Don''t worry too much about it." Walter put all of the documents inside of a small briefcase. Someone came from the kitchen with three tes in her hands. "Dinner''s ready!" ============================ The storage room, aka the makeshift armoury, would be a great ce to store any weapons that they wouldn''t be using. The ce was warm from the instion that covered the entire room. Del had put away the broken rifles and the tools in its ce. He would use that ce as his man cave or his armoury. He would store ammunition and anything that he wouldn''t be used inside of that storage room. The storage room was big, after all. Heck, there was probably enough space to park two of his MRAPs if he had any or one main battle tank. Too bad the door would fit neither of those vehicles. However, for now, it would just serve the purpose of a makeshift armoury. Del put his M240B and his M16 inside of the storage alongside the leftover 5.56 or 7.62 ammunition that he had left inside of his storage. He put that ammunition on the table, and he put the guns on the rack. Those weapons had served their purpose, but Sneggor wasn''t friendly with that weapon. Sneggor was always below zero. It would be unwise to use something that could jam easily if frozen. He decided to change the paradigm into the weapons that could withstand the harsh, non-stop winter of Sneggor. ???????????? [Showing Avable Assault Rifle] [Tech Level: 8] [Total Bnce: 15,769,870$] [AK-74M] [800$] [AK-107] [1,000$] [FNC] [1,200$] [AUG] [1,600$] [FAMAS] [1,700$] [SAR-21] [1,750$] [M-16A4] [1,800$] [SA80] [1,900$] [G36] [2,000$] [Tavor] [2,050$] [AS VAL] [2,300$] [AEK-971] [2,500$] [AN-94] [2,800$] [G11] [4,000$] ???????????? Del bought AK-74M alongside many customizations. He modified almost everything on that rifle, almost recing every piece of furniture of that rifle. He attached a muzzle device on that AK that would bepatible with any suppressor. He also bought the suppressor that could be connected at any time necessary. He changed the handguard from the standard one to a full-length quad-rail handguard attached with essories. He attached an LEDbo on the side of the rifle alongside a foregrip. He changed the dust cover of the AK-74M to the one that had rails so he could attach a scope on it. He chose Holosight alongside its magnifier. He reced the standard stock of the AK with a custom one that had much better ergonomics. The stock was much morefortable to be used in aiming than a standard one. He also used a 6L31 60-round magazine for maximum ammo capacity. All in all, it was a general deviation from traditional AK-74M that relied on simplicity. There was nothing simple from Del''s rifle except the mechanism. It was just what it was, a good rifle. Someone opened the door storage room and came inside. She held hot choctes in both of her hands. One was for herself, and the other was for Del. Anna gave one of the cups to Del. "This ce is quite nice, what did you do to it?" Anna asked. "I just cleaned it up and that''s all," Del answered as he sipped on the hot chocte. The ce could serve as theirmand centre, while the MRAP would be their mobilemand centre. Walter might need to be consulted first, but Del thought that there would be no reason for him to refuse. He had thought about what he would do with that room. There would be a table in the middle of the room filled with maps and objectives. There would also be a modern encryption radio terminal in that storage room. There would be no way an ordinary radio would intercept whatever they were going to send out of that room. If the contract was correct, Del could do anything that he wanted as long as Walter approved it. Amand centre would be something that Walter would agree with since he could contact them from there. Themand center would be a ce of importance for their operations in the future. "What can we do to this room? This room is humongous. Will you turn this room into something, Del?" Anna asked. "Yeah, I will turn this room into amand center. This room will be our base of operation. Walter will coordinate us from this room using a radio that we will buy for him. Other than that, I''m still epting ideas," Del said. Anna shook her head. She didn''t have any idea on what she should do next with the room.. All that was left to do was to report back to Walter about their proposal and they could start working with that storage room. Chapter 120 - Walkaround For Walter In the storage room, Del gave the idea to Walter about what Del was about to do to that storage room. Walter just nodded in satisfaction as he heard Del''s ideas one by one. He was impressed, nheless. It just felt that Del knew what Walter wanted once he arrived at Sneggor. "That''s a good idea, I want to give you a few suggestion though." Walter looked at the windows on the roof of the storage room. "You don''t want anyone to peek, right? If I were you, I would seal those windows. Let''s see." Walter continued observing the storage room. "You did say something about radio, right? We can''t have radio antennae on top of this building. I suggest you conceal it among the trees, making people harder spotting it." Del wrote those suggestions into his tablet. Walter was a military expert, after all. Sometimes, he needed to ask about his experience in operating. Oftentimes, it would give an insight into what enemies they would face. So far, Del knew that the enemies weren''t afraid of doing any war crimes to their enemies. The imperial military was as ruthless as possible. Yet, Del only had seen their weapons of mass destruction, not their elite soldiers. He really didn''t want to meet them. If the military doctrine was consistent, the imperial military special forces would dare to use more chemical weapons in reaching their goal and objectives. Back to the ordeal, Walter didn''t have more suggestions for them. Even from a positional perspective, the storage room soon-turned-into-amand-center was remote from any major settlement. Even Sneggor was around six miles away from their position. The academy was three miles away from that remote cabin. "So, Del, I noticed that you''re an arms dealer ording to the report given to me, if you don''t mind, can you give me more details about that?" Walter was curious about that. However, Del didn''t have any idea how much knowledge that Walter knew about him. It was safe to assume that he would need to give Walter his technology. "Well, I''m more experienced in creating advanced weapons." "If that''s the case, can you show me one? I want something good." Walter demanded any item. One way or another, he might require something powerful. Del doubted that an AK would be enough to satisfy him. He might want something as advanced as Anna''s Remington sniper rifle equipped with thermal sight and self-guided bullet. What would satisfy Walter? Would a regr FGM-148 Javelin be enough to satisfy him? Del doubted it. A Javelin missileuncher might be sophisticated, but it wouldn''t be shiny enough. He might appreciate its ability to lock into the enemy tank without seeing it first. However, Del doubted that the beeping and the ability to destroy a tank would be appreciated. However, exining the ability of the missile to Walter would be very hard. Heck, Del didn''t even know what to say if Walter asked how the rocket worked. "Hmm, Anna, get him your rifle. That thing should be enough," Del said. Anna ran back to Walter''s car to pick up her rifle. The rifle would be more than enough to show her. The high-powered scope and the self-guided ability of the bullet would be more than enough to convince him. It wasn''t hard either. Anna returned to the storage room with a rifle in her hands. "Anna, can you give Walter a demonstration of what you weapon is capable of while I think on what I should add to this room?" "Sure, Del," Anna nodded as he pulled Walter away from that storage room. Del was now alone with whatever the storage room. The first thing that they needed was a whiteboard with an eraser. It would be a great ce to n something in the future. There might want to n a breakout from prison or any government facility. After all, Salve group was an elite security contractor serving the federal government. He bought a whiteboard in the room. He put a ck marker near the whiteboard so someone could use it immediately if they nned for doing something. The next thing on his order was aputer and a printer. Why? So he could put an image on the whiteboard and start connecting the dots. It would also serve as their main tool for documenting something. The next thing on the list was amand table. Basically, any table would do, but it must be big and fit in the center of the room. That table would be used to ce the maps, predict enemies'' area of movement, directmands in real-time, etc. In case the member of their group grew for some reasons. He bought everything that he needed and put it inside the room. Del plugged theputer and the printer into the power outlet, and it turned on. Lastly, he bought a radio and put it on themand table. The radio was using heavy encryption, so nobody but any authorized personnel would listen to it. Overall, it was their most important tool. For the strategic side, those objects should be enough. The next thing that they needed was the logistics, aka the equipment. It would include gun lockers, equipment storage, and everything else. Del would ce the tools that he needed inside of the room. Del could easily buy equipment on the spot. The others? Not too much. Maybe setting up a terminal where any authorized person could buy something would be a good idea. Del browsed all of the objects that he needed and bought them. He then ced those items in that storage room, including Pidma''s terminal, which had the same appearance as a regr vending machine but could be opened and closed like a fridge. There was also aputer screen at the door of the terminal. "Ok, that should be more than enough, I think?" There might be something else that he needed. The storage where he should put the equipment and gadgets such as the guns and the armors were still empty. Still, it could be filledter. Maybe they needed something for R&R in that storage room. The room was meant for nning, but it didn''t mean that it was supposed to be entirely focused on that. Maybe a coffee maker or something simr would cut it. Del bought a coffee maker and ced it on one of the tables in that storage area. He also bought several cups to serve the coffee. He made a cup while waiting for Anna and Walter to return to the storage room. And speak of the devil. Suddenly, Anna and Walter barged through the door. "I was only leaving you for less than ten minutes and this is how much stuffs you have bought? What are you nning to do? Assassinations?" "Del, are you really this eager to work with us?" Walter was also astonished by the change that had happened in that storage room. "I haven''t even given any of you training yet." "Well, it''s better to prepare soon thanter," Delmented. "I agree. What''s the weapon that you keep carrying on your shoulder though? It looks simr to the weapon that Anna demonstrated to me. I can''t say I''m not impressed by its peformance inparison to the army''s standard bolt-action rifle." "You meant this? It''s an AK-74M, a rifle." Del pointed at the rifle on his shoulder. "Is it an ordinary rifle? Or is it another special weapon?" "It''s just an ordinary rifle with an ordinary performance. What matters most inside of abat situation is the skills of thebatant, right?" "Right, but with that kind of unfair advantage, I think you can match any elite with ease." Walter probably referred to the bolt-action rifle that Anna used to tranquilize people. Its main purpose was to score a headshot from a great distance, after all. Del just nodded. The rifle was enough to impress Walter, after all. They needed more advanced weaponry in the future. Would the cabin need some sort kind of defense in the future, though? Del doubted it. The imperial military wouldn''t be able to strike that deep into federal territory. About the contract with Walter, Del thought of something. Walter hadn''t tasked him with something yet, so it was safe to assume they weren''t working with him yet. However, Del thought that he needed to do something first before he could do his job. Maybe, just maybe, Walter had extra training from his special forces background. After all, those guys were the elite of the elites. "Walter, do you have anything else to say for us? Is there anything that we can do for you?" "I think we shouldn''t rush things too much. I haven''t enrolled you into the academy and I haven''t even trained you for anything that would help you two in your future jobs. Tomorrow agenda is to visit the academy and give your documents. After that, we can start the training that you two should do." "What kind of training though?" Walter looked unusually excited about that. Del had a bad feeling, "Can you both fly?" Chapter 121 - Flying Spell "Can we both what???" Del was not sure how he reacted to that question. He couldn''t fly. Even with a helicopter, he wouldn''t be able to fly since he didn''t have the ability to pilot one. A fighter jet was definitely out of the question. Unless¡­ "Ah, so you can''t fly. That''s rather surprising. How did you survive that kind of operation in imperial terittory?" For Walter, the ability to fly was very critical in a covert operation. When Del said that he couldn''t fly, it made him wonder how the kids could survive. Or was the report that Salve group gave to him was forged? "Well, I think it was just skills and luck if you ask me," Del answered. "Skills and luck? I see. Well, if that was the case, we can''t count on it too many times, right?" Believing in luck wouldn''t end well for the most part. They needed to learn to fly. "Listen, if you don''t mind, can we train today?" Del was hesitant about that. They had cleaned the cabin, furnished the storage room, and gone through a very long car ride. It might be a good idea to sleep, but Del doubted that Walter would agree with that idea. It was still daylight outside, although it was cool as hell. If not for the storage room''s instion or the firece heat that radiated into the storage room, that room would be freezing. Even with thick clothing, Del still felt like he was putting his whole body into a freezer. Maybe a heater would be necessary for that room. Anna was making a mug of hot coffee for both Walter and him. "So, Del, you and Anna are going to learn to fly right now. Let''s get outside, I''ll teach you. It''s fairly easy, but the skill has some steep learning curve." Walter walked out of the storage room with Anna following him from behind. Del just shrugged after knowing that the type of training sparked some interest in his sister. Well, if that was the case, he must follow the training too. Del got outside, and the gushed of cold windbined with some snowkes made him want toe inside again. Anna was waiting in front of the cabin alongside Walter. Walter was exining the mechanism of a flying spell to Anna. Del immediately listened. "Essentially, flying spell is a force maniption spell. The first part is to make sure that you can float above the ground and adjusting your direction while thetter is more for moving your body forward or backward. To put it more simple, one is for generating lift and maneuvering while thetter is to adjust your speed," Walter exined. "For example¡­" Walter lifted from the ground. He just floated above the snowy ground. Del was astonished. "How???" It was not the first time he saw a flying person, but still, looking at it clearly with his own eyes was rather interesting. "I embedded the flying spell into my head. Basically, themand that you always say with your mouth, I do it with my thoughts. It''s very effective to be honest, now, watch this!" Walter lifted from the ground rapidly like a helicopter. Then, he elerated away from the cabin with fast velocity. He immediately went away from the cabin. After that, he dived down in their direction. He then felt a gush of wind passing by them. How the hell did he move that fast? Was it because of this spell? It just looked as if a fast-moving object going past them. It was just like a jet aircraft flew past them. After that, hended right in front of them. "Now that''s how you use a flying spell. Can you do that trick that I just show you though?" Del dropped his jaw. Could he do that? Heck, lifting himself up from the ground was something hard. Hoping him to do a maneuver was insane. However, he would need to try it. But before he tried it, he should copy the spell first into his grimoire. Del asked for Walter''s grimoire, and he gave it to him. Del copied that spell, but in English. He wrote it down on his tablet for convenience purposes. He only used his grimoire for formal reasons. Other than that, he''d instead write every single thing on his tablet than on his grimoire. It had a theoretically unlimited battery, durability that would put a Nokia to shame, and extra reliability that shouldn''t be possible on an electric device. He copied all of the spells down, and he put his tablet back into its ce. The spell sequence was simple. The phrase "Levitatum" would lift him up from the ground and initiate the flight. To stop the flight, Del just needed to say "Fallium". Del tried it up by saying "Levitatum" without any voice. He immediately floated in the air without any apparent reason. There was no air thrusting from his body. No force pushed him upward. It just felt as if he was kept at a distance from the ground. He tried to change his posture by trying to crouch midair. It worked. How was that even possible? "Ok, Del, first and foremost, try to maintain your stance while in flight mode. If you do that incorrectly, it would be disastrous." Walter made Del stand up straightly. The purpose was to make him get used to the stance if he flew. "If you are creating too much drag, you will reduce your speed and potentially, kill yourself by identally changing direction." "Ok, ok, I get your point." Del chanted "Fallium", and he dropped to the ground. In the beginning, that was not even hard. In fact, it was easier than expected. He didn''t have to bnce himself too much when he levitated above the ground. However, it seemed that the spell also locked him in his ce. He couldn''t move, even when he moved his feet. It might be because of theck of thrust. "That should be it for now, I only want to introduce you anyway. I don''t think it''s a good idea to train you when you''re dead tired. Perhaps, it''s best for you two to get back to the cabin and enjoy something warm, what do you two say?" Walter asked. "Sure, I''d love something warm. The weather is killing me," Anna shivered due to the cold weather. Snow had begun falling down. The temperature would get colder sooner orter. They walked back to the cabin. The cabin was warmer, maybe because of the burning fire in the firece. Well, it was definitely not something that Del didn''t like. He sat down on the couch and put his AK-74M on the side after releasing its magazine and clearing its chamber from any leftover 5.45 bullets. The living room of the cabin was rtivelyfortable. There was a radio on the cabin. Del turned the radio on so he could listen to music while enjoying the warmth of the cabin. Walter was smoking in the cabin. Anna might join with him sooner orter, but Del doubted that Walter would let either Anna smoke or Del drink. Anna was in the kitchen, preparing something to drink for both of them. It could be coffee or hot chocte, but it would certainly be "Hey, Walter, do you have any child or something?" Del asked. "No, I don''t even have a wife, why do you ask?" Walter asked back. "Do you have any girlfriend?" Del asked. "Yeah, she died. Why are you asking this question?" Walter asked. "Nah, I''m just wanting some small talks." "Oh, I see. Well, is there something that I don''t know about you. Let''s just put it this way, I give you a secret, and you''ll give me your secret. Is that cool with you?" Walter asked. "Ok, I''m cool with that. Ok, should I tell you my secret?" "Yeah, but a serious one please. I''m not interested about your snoring, your secret hobby, yada yada yada. So, what do you want to trade with me?" "Let''s see. My father and my mother died, but the two separate idents in which they were involved with were suspicious. That''s all, I think?" "Suspicious how?" Walter wanted to know further. "I don''t think I will go that far, I just feel that they were murdered. Nevertheless, I think you''re right. We need more time together so we can get closer," Del said. "Yeah, I agree with that. Look, no offense, but for me, I''m still a babysitter for you two. Maybe, time will tell in the future. However, Del, don''t get me wrong, I see you as an equal," Walter said. The conversation closed abruptly once Anna returned to the living room with three mugs on a tray that she carried in her hands. It was filled with hot choctes and coffee. The steam from the cups filled their living room with warmth.. Del picked up the coffee and Walter too. Chapter 122 - Lumbart Academy Lumbart Academy. It really reminded Del of his old school. If life turned out normal, he might still study at the same institution instead of killing people left and right. Well, at least, now, he had one extra assignment besides killing people left and right. The different assignments would be reading books left and right like he used to be doing when he was still on Earth. From the admin office, he could see several people of his age were studying or training theirbat ability in the courtyard of that academy. For the record, there was almost no snow in the yard of that academy. It was because the academy had an integrated heating magical program that would heat up the entire academy. It was rather convenient, but the only downside was the amount of energy that the spell required. The only reason why there was an academy in the middle of a snowy region was because of the magical vein that stretched below Sneggor that supplied the academy with a massive amount of magical energy. He and Anna were waiting in the administration office while Hubert was at the headmaster office to negotiate. It was a major implication that the dealing between the Salve Group and Lumbart Academy was actually off the record. Still, if Walter could pull it off, it didn''t matter too much for him. Several students that walked past the admin office were looking at him and Anna. Mainly because they were humans who were very rare in Ilbistirum. Hell, as far as Del knew, there was no human in Ilbistirum. Those who looked like humans were vampires. They do have the same appearance as humans, after all. Anna was standing out in particr. The appearance of the bandages covering her entire body caught the attention of most of the students. There was also a stain of blood that she got from training this morning. She fell down when she tried to fly, and the wound had been healed. However, Del hadn''t reced the bandage that covered her face. Walter peeked out of the headmaster''s office, and he told Del and Anna to enter the office. Del and Anna stood out from the chairs, and they walked into the headmaster''s office. Walter was sitting down right in front of the headmaster''s table. The headmaster herself was an old woman, probably in her 20s or 30s. She was wearing formal attire. She was filling the paper that Walter gave to both Del and Anna. Maybe it was one of the entrance requirements. Nevertheless, if someone as privileged as a headmaster signed it, their entrance was mostly legal. "So you both are from the same family? Nice to meet you, call me Principal Greenwood. It''s a pleasure to meet a hero for our country." Greenwood praised them for some unknown reason. Yeah, Del knew that he still had some reputation, but was it really relevant that it got mentioned even in an academic setting like that. "The pleasure is mine, ma''am," Del replied. "Anyway, I have assessed your file. It might be average, but your track record was too good to be refused. You''ll begin attending this school tomorrow, is that clear enough?" Greenwood smiled. Her smile was warm, very warm. It didn''t radiate any malicious intent at all. It was just a smileing from a warm heart of a teacher. "I understand." Del nodded. That was rather sooner than expected. He expected that he would start attending school the day after tomorrow. Still, since he would begin to participate from tomorrow, it might be a good idea to take a quick tour around the school. First, he could waste so much time just to find his ssroom if he took a tour tomorrow. Second, he might be able to meet some of his ssmates. Third, he wanted to familiarize himself with the avable curriculum that Lumbart academy offered. All in all, he wanted to have a n. It was not a n for abat operation, but it still needed to be taken seriously. "Oh, and Anna, about the bandages, you are permitted to go to the infirmary at any time to change it. After all, you have some sort of skin conditions, right?" Greenwood asked for confirmation. Anna just nodded up and down, which meant that she understood. "By the way, your uniforms and other utensils would be deliveredter to your home." "Much appreciated, ma''am." "Do you two want to take a walk around the academy first? Walter still needed to finish your administration." "Sure, if that''s the case, we''ll see youter, Walter." Del stood up from the chair and walked outside of the headmaster''s office, followed by Anna from behind. They walked out of the admin room into the hallway. The hallway was still empty, mainly because the students were still in the middle of their lessons. He sometimes took a nce at the ssroom from the hallway. The way of teaching wasn''t that different from his old school. The students would be sitting down in their chairs while taking notes. The teachers will teach them about the material that they need to remember and master. Sometimes, a student would be called to the front of the ss to demonstrate a magical spell that the teacher had taught. It looked fun. They continued walking around the hallway. On their way, they met two people along the way. One was a teacher, and the other was a female student. This female student was carrying books, a lot of them. Those books were probably as tall as herself in a stack. Del really feared that it would fall. If those books fell, it would be more than a hassle to pick all of those books. Del approached the female student. "Excuse me, do you need any help?" The female student looked at him in confusion. "Excuse me, but who are you?" They might look simr, but Del didn''t wear any uniform and Anna''s appearance was certainly not helping. Del understood her action, though. She wouldn''t trust any stranger, much less a stranger apanied by someone stained with blood. "Oh, my name is Del Moore, I''m a transfer student." "Ah, so you''re that guy. I see, I see, then this girl must be your sister, correct?" The female student asked. Wait, wait, wait, there had been rumours about them? Even before they entered the academy? Why did the students want to put their ears on something that was still rather unconfirmed? Did someone actually tell those students the tale about the contractor that wiped out apany of tanks all by himself? "Yes, this is my sister, her name is Anna Moore." Del observed the hands of the girl that had begun to shake greatly. "Are you sure that you don''t need any hands with those books?" It might fall any time soon. "Sure, sure, just pick six to ten books if you can." Del picked up ten books from that stack, and he began walking alongside the female student. With the books out of the way, he could get more glimpse of her facial features. Two triangr horns were protruding among the long silky ck hairs that she had. She was beautiful, ording to Del''s standard. "What''s your name?" "My name? Just call me Aveline. I''m the ss representative from 12-C." the girl replied. "Ah, nice to meet you Aveline. So I can say that you''re our leader?" Del asked. "More or less. We are equals anyway, don''t need to look at me as if I hold a higher position that you two. There are eighteen students in our ssroom, twenty including you two. Twelve are females, while the eight are males." Del nodded. She knew the rumour because she was the ss representative. The teachers must have told her earlier inparison with the other students. They walked to the ssroom. Aveline opened the door to the ssroom, and she entered the ssroom. Del wondered whether he should enter or not since he was not officially a student yet. However, Aveline forced him to enter since he was carrying the books. Although he was hesitating at first, he entered the ssroom. He put the books on one of the tables, and he took a closer look at the students inside of that ssroom. The students were looking just like ordinary students. However, the exception was a thick book on their tables which was their grimoire. That was not the thing that caught most of his attention, though. The thing that caught most of his attention was the presence of rifles on the side of their table. The weapons besides their tables ranged from SMG to a shotgun. Why would a regr school need that kind of thing? Wait, thinking about it again, it made sense.. The students were also trained inbat. Why wouldn''t the students be equipped with guns in the first ce ifbat was one of the curric of that school? Chapter 123 - 12-C "Attention please, guys, I have some news to say." Aveline was presenting Del and Anna, who were in the front of the ssroom. She wanted to introduce the Moore siblings to the entire ss. "These are the students that will transfer to this ssroom. They are the Moore siblings." The whole ssroom immediately directed their attention the Del and Anna''s direction. Well, Del expectation was wrong. It seemed that the gossip had been spreading left and right about their arrival. It made things easier then. The ss wouldn''t be so surprised about their arrival, and an extra introduction wouldn''t be necessary. Without any hesitation, one of the male students pulled Del toward their desk. There was no teacher in that ssroom, that kind of situation was rather expected. The male student was another demon, probably another mischievous type. "Yo, sup bro? Wee to our ss. Name''s Adam, what''s yours?" Adam asked. "Del. Just call me Del. Nice to meet you, Adam," Del said. "No sweat, bro. We dudes must stick together among this sea of women. Anyway, I heard you wereing from the war zone, how was it there?" How much information had leaked about him? Maybe a leak about his age or a leak about his rtionship with his sister was understandable, but why would a student know a reputation about him? Did Walter tell them about it? Or was it because his reputation was that good that it became pretty much well-known? "How did you know about me?" Del asked. "Aveline told us." Aveline? How the hell did she know? Was she someone important, or was she someone who knew every gossip that went around the entire school? Well, either way, Del wouldn''t know better unless he asked. Still, the only person that would be asking was Anna since both of them were women. "Aveline?" "Yeah, she told us about you. You were a war veteran and shits. Overall, we envy you, but my expectation is certainly too high. You don''t look like a war hero." Adam observed him. "And you certainly don''t look like a high-school kid." A student holding gun was not a high-school kid. It was the basicmon sense of Earth. However, the basicmon sense of that world was different. Still, why would they supply high-school students with guns? Would they be a member of the self-defence forces? "What is normal to you?" Adam asked. "Studying, studying, and studying. Those are the norms for me. Or is the culture here different from what my culture used to be?" Del wondered. "It''s different, Del. Everyone is expected to defend themselves from possible threats thate from the surrounding region. I''m talking about the likes of automatas, monsters, and imperial soldiers. The first two is moremon around here, especially the monsters. That''s one of the reasons why we always bring guns," Adam answered. "I see," Del nodded. His focus changed to Aveline. She was talking with Anna and the other girls. The content of their conversation was probably the same, but with a little bit of female talk. Anyhow, Del made a quick observation. Maybe bringing his AK-74M into the academy would be necessary. And perhaps, wearing a te carrier below the jacket would be rather wise. He didn''t know what they were capable of, but he certainly knew that a bulleting from any of those students would kill him. Well, the silver lining was he could bring his rifle to the academy. It wasn''t much, but defending himself wouldn''t be hard if that were the case. He could immediately pull his rifle and shoot at any attackers. However, he felt a little bit sorry for the other students if Anna used her high-tech rifle. She would ace any marksmanship exam easily. "Anyway, Del, when did you move in?" Adam asked. "Around yesterday, why do you ask?" "Your face just feels unfamiliar for me. So it seems to me that you''re a neer and it is true." "Understandable. So, why are there more boys than girls here?" Del asked. "I don''t know, probably because of the arrangements. Anyway, is there anything that you want to know about us? Aveline told us that both of you haven''t attended a educational instititution for a long time." Del thought for a while. "When will the school usually start? At what time will it finish? And what you all usually do once the ss ends?" Getting insight into their activity was rather important for him. It would give him insight into the usual activity in that ce. "We usually enter at seven and go home at two. After school, there are some extracurricr activities. Some are more focused on physical activites while the others are more focused on academical activities or thebination of both." "Is there any medical volunteer activity around here?" Del asked. "Yes, there is one. Why do you ask?" Adam asked back. "Because I have more experience with them per se. I used to be with MSVI months ago before I went to Ilbistirum." "Ohhh. So you want to be a doctor in the future? Well, good luck with that then." Adam inferred that Del wanted to be a doctor because of his choice with a medical organization. He wasn''t wrong though, Del indeed wanted to be a doctor, and he had no objection about it. "Yeah. Is the school finished yet?" Del asked. "It has finished, the teacher left earlier. Do you want a tour around the school with us, or not?" Adam asked. "Damn, you are able to read my mind," Delmented. "C''mon boys, let''s walk. Del wants to have a tour of our school, and it might be a good idea to give one to him." The others stood up from their desks and followed Adam from behind. Del walked alongside him and left Anna with the other students. Del walked towards the hallway. Most of the students hade out of their sses with their weapons and their backpacks on their backs. After all, the bell has rung beforehand. Adam and the others led them back to the admin office. "This is the admin office, if you have any admin problem, you go there. This includes tuition problem, money problem, document problem, etc. If it has documents on it, you go to admin," Adam exined as they walked past the admin room. After the admin room, they came to a much bigger hallway. That hallway contained many ss cabs that had the trophies that the school had achieved. The school seemed to be rather prestigious, considering the number of trophies disyed there. "Did the academy win this manypetitions?" Del asked. "Yeah. Our academy won marksmanshippetitionst semester. When we were still in the 11th grade, our senior won a chemistrypetition at the capital. Etcetera, etcetera," Adam exined. "I see," Del nodded. "Anyway, let''s continue our tour," Adam said. They walked in the direction of the yard. Many hay bales were used as target practice, and several round metal tes were used by the marksman of that academy to train. Overall, it was not any ordinary school after all. There were also several small buildings. Adam said that they were club buildings. Del continued walking, eventually, he arrived at the special ce, the canteen. "Here''s the canteen. We usually hang around here during break times. However, the food here is quite, bad. Still, it''s better than nothing," Adam said. It was true, many people were indeed hanging out in that canteen. Some were having a date, some were eating, but most were just talking like Adam and Del. There was nothing out of the ordinary to be honest. It was just what it was, canteen. "That concludes our tour, so Del, what''s your first impression?" Adam asked. "The school is better than I expected. Anyway, do you have any special information that I need to know?" Del asked. "I don''t think I have. Where do you live?" Adam asked. "A cabin, not too far from here." Adam just nodded. "I think we might swing by sooner orter, what do you think, fes?" "Absolutely." "Up to you, boss." "Maybeter, I don''t think my sister would want a lot of boys entering the cabin at the same time without her knowing anything. I got to go, someone is waiting for me," Del said. "See ya." =================== Secret Intention. Of course, there was a reason why they were enrolled in that school. There were many more schools in Ilbistirum, why would Lumbart Academy be chosen if there was no secret intention? Walter was exining the secret reason to both Del and Anna in themand center. He had drawn a rough sketch and taping many pictures into the white board. "Lost documents? What kind of documents?" "Documents about intelligence on imperial''s side. One of the students is the children of a government authority in the imperial government. I want both of you to demand information from this unknown individual." Del and Anna was equally surprised. Did Walter just told them to kidnap a teenager? Chapter 124 - Secret Mission "Wait, let me reiterate something? You lost a document, and somehow, the document ended up in the hands of a teenager? How is that even possible? That sounds like a terrible joke," Delmented. "Listen, here''s the thing. Your eyes won''t look at some hiding ces that shouldn''t even be possible. In this case, the document is in the hand of a student whose identity is not known right now. The problem is that neither the military nor the intelligence agencies can infiltrate a magical academy. That''s where youe in. "You two will search where the document is and give us back both the responsible teenager that was hiding it and the document itself. Do you have any question before I go into the details of things and operational procedure?" Walter asked. It made sense, though. The idea of hiding a secret document on your own child was insane. However, the craziest idea had the chance to work, especially when the opponent was too rational or too naive to think that the enemy would do something like that. All in all, this n was in favor of the imperial government. "What''s the intel is all about?" Del asked. "The document is intelligence containing an unknown magical program and information about imperial military current objective. With this document, we might be able to turn the tides of the war." "Unknown magical program? Can you please be more specific about that?" "It''s a magical program for psychic-type program. What can it do? I don''t know. Just treat the teenager carefully. I heard its telekinesis, but I''m not so sure about that. The only evidence is the fact that some telekinesis idents have happened often in here. Telekinesis is a rare magical program in the first ce and the only people that would do mistakes like that are amateurs, get it?" Walter asked. No, Del didn''t get it at all. He hadn''t been too long both in this world and in Ilbistirum. When he got bombarded with information like that, Del couldn''t help but scratch his head with his hand. It was not something that he could understand easily. He needed more exnation about the threat that he would face. "Telekinesis? You want us to walk into our death trap?" "No, we choose you because you two are capable of it. If you two aren''t capable of it, Salve Group won''t even choose you in the first ce," Walter exined his intention. While Del was thinking about how he could deal with an enemy that could use telekinesis, Anna was making a cup of coffee using the coffee maker. It was not annoying, but it was definitely felt as if she didn''t even care about that. Telekinesis was an ability to move an object without any physical interaction, which meant that his enemy could attack him without even him knowing. Imagining it gave a chill to Del''s mind. This teenager could be tenfold stronger than Eric. Eric had a non-supernatural advantage while his current enemy had one, which was the telekinesis ability. How could he appear as an ally instead of an enemy to the person that he was searching for without him knowing where he should start searching in the first ce. He didn''t have too much intel about it. "What is our target? Is it a she or a he? Is the target on the 10th grade or 12th grade? You are really glossing over the details here, Walter," Del protested. "Well, the target is the same age as you, that''s for sure. The kid is on the 12th grade and you will have a hard time to find her without any backup. There''s a teacher, you can call him Elliot. He''s a spy from the intelligence, just say to him that you need a private course with magical programming," Walter said. "Alright, Elliot, huh?" Then Elliot was really his only source for information. There was no credible source left but Elliot. First thing first, he needed to meet him tomorrow and started asking for information about the teenager in particr. Sure, Del could get the wanted teenager easily by putting everyone under pressure by faking a terrorist incident. Still, considering that ce wasn''t even a regr academy where the students held guns, the coteral damage would be too high for Salve Group. Besides, the wanted student could escape easily in the middle of the chaos. "Yeah, Elliot, he''s specialized in healing magic. You might like him, but his teaching method was a little bit out of the box if you force him to teach using his own method. Just remember this Del, if Elliot wants to teach you using his own ''method'', just say no, got it?" Del nodded in understatement. Healing magic, huh? Could it be that Elliot was also a doctor? It was possible since Cassandra was also an expert in healing magic. However, it was expected since Cassandra was a general surgeon instead of a regr doctor. He couldn''t wait to meet Elliot. He might be the person that would be his best friend in the future, although he was way older. Either way, the wanted teenager that he would be looking for could be his enemy or his friend. Thetter option was preferred. He didn''t feel too good about attacking someone with a telekinesis ability. Anna sipped on her coffee, "Damn, this is one hell of a good coffee." Del smiled in annoyance, "While I am thinking about avoiding ourselves from getting killed, you still have time to make coffee?" "Yes." "Ok, Anna, do you have any suggestion or revision for our n? Or do you think our n about hunting down this one special student is wed?" "Time will tell," Anna sipped on her coffee. "That''s quite a fancy way of saying ''I don''t know''," Delmented. "Yup." Anna nodded. "That''s all for me. The methods are up to you two, but don''t screw this up, alright?" Walter put the marker on the whiteboard, and he walked out of themand center. Now, it was time to decide what kind of equipment that could be brought to the academy. There were two kinds of uniforms that the school provided for both of them. One was a military uniform painted in white camouge which was basically a white shirt and white pants. It was used for marksmanship tests,bat tests, or any physical test in particr. The other was an ordinary school uniform. Overall, both were rather useful in their own regard. The rules on that academy about firearms were prettyx. In fact, it was toox. No rule prohibited him from bringing something like a Barrett M107 as long as the magazine was kept inside his backpack or pocket. Hell, he had an idea to bring a machine gun for the sake of intimidation. Still, perhaps, for now, an AK-74M would be more than enough to do its job. The next stop was the body armor. A fully kitted body armor was certainly not an option since concealment was also necessary. He might be able to wear a te carrier right beneath his shirt, and that would probably be it. Hopefully, no one would have to shoot him. For sidearm, his Five-seveN was more than enough. The preparation was all done, he needed to get to the school tomorrow and that would be it. It was too early to formte a n about searching for the student. For now, he would just rx and enjoy the facility that themand center had to offer for him. Anna was preparing all of the text books for her to bring tomorrow. She packed all of those text books into her backpack alongside with writing utensil such as a pencil and a pen. Other than that, nothing was out of the ordinary. "Del, do you think your n will work? I meant, we are depending on one man which was only a teacher in that academy? Would he be dependable enough for us so we can catch whoever we want to catch and bring him or her back to Walter?" Anna asked. "I thought you didn''t care at the n." "I do care, but not when Walter is around. I don''t feelfortable with him yet, the dude feels off, I''m not going to lie. He smells of deception," Anna said. "He was a former special force operator, of course he would smell like deception. Anna, he is a trusted person, don''t you worry too much about him. He was just an ordinary soldier from the Salve Group, so far, his treatment is better than what I previously expected." "Yeah, he treats us that way because we pay Salve Group with Husnael tes. We are VIP." "Ok, Anna, that''s enough.. Walter might smell fishy, but he is definitely our only ally in this region. Without him, where can we ask for intelligence or anything else? For now, let''s just do what he wants us to do and we will decide what to do next, ok?" Chapter 125 - Preparation For School Del had finished packing up the note books and the utensils inside of his backpack. Besides of his backpack was an AK-74M to fulfill the school regtion that required him to bring firearms. There was a pistol concealed behind his shirt alongside with a te carrier that should be able to protect him from any rifle round that would be fired at him as long as he used an material shield around him. That was not all though. Del only brought the necessary thing outside of the storage that Pidma provided. Inside of his storage was a whole different story. The storage contained everything that he would need to wear in case he needed to participate in a heavybat. If condition arose where he needed to defend himself from multiple attacks, he wanted to be ready. Inside of his storage were two loadouts consisted of a PKP Pecheneg-SP GPMG, 800 rounds of armor-piercing high-explosive rounds, heavy body armor with extra protectors, a FAST ballistic helmet alongside with a ballistic face shield, an FGM-148 Javelin, and a FIM-92 Stinger for safekeeping. Long story short, if there was any low-level threat, they would have a chance to use the loadout. As for Anna, Del provided an M107 anti-materiel rifle as an add-on to her loadout due to her skill in marksmanship. He also packed some medicinal items on the storage. He included six packages of hemostatic gauzes alongside with two hemostatic injections to promote faster blood clotting. There were also several other medicinal items such as wound staplers, sterilized bandages, wound-washing solution that he bought earlier. There were also some painkillers for pain management in case one of them got shot. Hopefully, he didn''t need to use it. He really wished that were the case. Considering the fact that everyone always brought weapons, he really doubted that he wouldn''t face any conflict when he entered the academy. Sure, he would face the conflict of academic struggle as usual, but the other threat about the student that was able to do a telekinesis? Del doubted he would be able to face him or her alone. "Kids, have you two finished packing your stuffs?" Walter peeked from the bathroom as he brushed his teeth. His mouth was still foamy from the toothpaste on his mouth. He was in rush since he woke up a little bitter than both Del and Anna. "Yeah, more or less," Del picked up the rifle and the backpack from the top of his bed. He carried his rifle right besides of his backpack. He felt weird bringing those two things that weren''t supposed to be ced right next to each other. In his old school, he couldn''t bring a knife into the school, but now, he was required to bring a rifle. He walked out of the room. Anna got out of the room. Del was wearing academy uniform while Anna was wearing the pseudo-military uniform that the school gave to her. She got the privilege since Walter registered her as abat-oriented student which meant that she would get more training onbat than most of the students. Thinking about it, he saw one or two students that wore the same snow camouge uniform. They were the minority of the school, but it didn''t make them look weak. In fact, they could establish more power inbat than regr students. Del didn''t participate. He wanted to have some normality in the academy. The different between Anna and Del in the curriculum was simple. Anna should attend post-school marksmanship andbat training while Del didn''t have to. Did it mean that Del was free from any training after school? Not exactly. Unlike Anna, Del would be directly trained by Walter. Basically, he separated his life as a student and his life as an employee and investor of Salve Group. Still, unlike Anna who would be able to return home before dusk, Del would be subjected to Walter''s training right after his extracurricr activity was over. It was not cruel, but it was definitely a burden that he would have to carry. "Have you two eaten your breakfast?" Walter asked. "We have, you woke up a little bit toote," Del replied. "When did you two wake up? This is only half past five in the morning." "Three, we woke up at three." "And you two don''t feel sleepy at all? That''s amazing. I should be more diligentter. Damn, you two are quite something aren''t you?" Waltermented. "Perhaps?" Del just shrugged as he smiled. He put his bag on the couch of that living room and held his rifle with his hands. He checked his rifle for any dirt or grime. It was a new rifle, there was none, but there was some condensation on the handguard of the rifle itself. It was probably from the cold temperature in that cabin. He just wiped it all off with his own hand and it was all clean again. There was no magazine on that rifle to follow the school regtion. The high-tech rifle would help him ace any examination that involved marksmanship easily. Anna brought a rifle too. The rifle was another AK-74M, but she modified it using the same essories on her M16 to the rifle. She only included thepatible attachment though, she bought a new suppressor for the AK-74M, but anything else was pretty much standard. It was practical for her. She bought a new scope to rece the ACOG sight though. He wanted a more modr one. "Anna, what will you do with the rifle?" Del asked. "I don''t know. After school, I will have an introductory course with the marksmanship ss. I think this thing will prove to be useful in that ss. AK might not be the most urate rifle around, but it will serve its purpose as a killing weapon. If I need to deal someone with a longer range, I would use my Remington," Anna replied. Del nodded. He understood. He turned on the radio to hear about morning news while waiting. The morning news was not good at all. Federal military was losing the fight against the imperial military due to the gas attack and the secret weaponries that were ssified. Just¡­ why? Del''s dream about peaceful life would be shattered sooner orter if this continued. The federal government must improve its military or their freedom would bepromised by those imperial people that want to restore their monarchy. He wasfortable with life now, he didn''t want it to change. After the clock went to six o''clock, the went into Walter''s car and they went to the academy. There were several students walking with jackets to protect them from the cold weather. They would usually put the jacket away once they entered the warm atmosphere of the academy that used heating magic. Walter parked his car in front of the academy. Both Del and Anna got out of the car and walked towards the gate of the academy. They entered in the midst of fifth semester, there would be no introduction for them. However, two people had been waiting for them in front of the school. Those two people were none other than Adam and Aveline. Adam approached Del and shook his hand. "Wee to the academy, Del. By the way, that''s a nice rifle you got there." Adam was looking at the rifle with awe. It looked pretty much out of that world. "Shall we go to the ss then?" Adam asked. Del nodded and he followed Adam from behind. Anna was talking with Aveline first before she even walked to the main building of the academy. The academy were separated into three separate buildings. The biggest building was the main building which contained the ssrooms, the admin office, the library, etc. The secondrgest building contained the teacher''s office and thebs. Thest building was the main club building. If a club didn''t require a building to fully operate, they would be given a room inside of the main club building. If they required a building, they would be give smaller buildings that were scattered in the inner yard of the school. Del peeked behind and he caught a nce of multiple students looking at both Anna and Aveline. Anna was standing out due to her bandage, but why? Was a bandaged girl that interesting? Or was there something that Del had no idea about. Adam soon exined the reason. "Aveline is grabbing attention as usual, huh? Well, she''s one of the elite mages of the school, I have no doubt about it." "Is she a good magician?" "She is a good magician. In fact, she is a very good magician in offensive magic that some students were categorizing her as the demon lord. It was only an idiom though, truth be told, she was just very good inbat. She is unbeatable inbat as long as it involves magic. Overall, you don''t want to be on her bad side at all.. You''ll most likely to be injured, or worse, killed." Chapter 126 - First Class It was not even a day, and Del had gotten something unpleasant in his ears. For him, a rumor about a student capable of killing anyone with a rifle was bad news. Aveline was the ss representative, and she was indeed quite reputable, but he didn''t think she would be ''that'' reputable. "Has Aveline killed someone before?" Del wanted to confirm his suspicion. "She has, why do you ask?" "SHE WHAT?" Del might have destroyed apany of tanks, eliminating the chain ofmands in the Federal front, and retrieving several documents from a poisoned gassed town, but this was a regr school setting. He wanted every single bit of normality that he could get in Lumbart Academy. He knew it would be thest chance for him. "Yeah, I remember she ughtered an entire wave of monster with her magic and her rifle. It was a long time ago though, but it still sticks with her until now. If you consider this a plus point, she has wiped out an entire opponent from another academy on her own once," Adam exined. "Say what?" Del couldn''t believe it. "Yeah, there was a tournament once every one year. She aced it when we fought another academy from another town. I have to say that she is more than capable of bing a one-man-army." It must be noted down. Aveline was a potential hazardous threat that needed to be put down if the need arose. She might be equal in fighting power to Anna, if not more. Both were girls who were involved in conflicts of some sort. Though, Anna has definitely had an edge in the term of insanity. Del didn''t know Aveline, but Anna could be the craziest bloodthirsty bounty hunter that had ever lived in certain situations that involved getting money or getting closer to Eric. He still remembered the demand for a nuke. It was how far Anna would go to waste her own enemy. Del was certain both of them would be a great team. One was insane, while the other was reputable. Del peeked at Anna again. "Holy¡­" People were following Anna and Aveline from behind like a pack of surrounding ants. Anna got the spare attention from Aveline as well, especially since her appearance quite stood out too. Del wouldn''t lie, but Anna''s bandage definitely gave a "don''t mess with me" vibe to anyone that saw her. It really inferred that she had gone through battlefields on her entire life. It was only less than a year, but they felt that they have changed a lot. Several boys were shuddering when Anna looked at threm through the slit on her bandage that exposed her eyes and the charred ck skin between those eyes. If it wasn''t his own sister, Del would be very afraid as well. It was very unusual for a person to see someone with her own body covered entirely with white bandages. Still, Aveline seemed really happy with the ordeal. After all, once Anna nced at a boy, the boy would immediately run away from her. Even, Adammented, "Dude, is your sister that intimidating, or is it just me?" "Nah, it''s probably just you. I really don''t feel anything about her because I have seen an even scarier look from her. Let''s just say that I know what you don''t know about her because I''m her brother." "I see," Adam nodded. "Anyway, Adam, about Aveline, is she a daughter of someone of importance? I get a vibe that is telling me that she is one of the daughters of the government officials. Is my feeling true?" Del wanted to confirm that. "Yes and No. She was not from around here, but she entered the academy at rtively the same time as I did. There was nothing special about her. She was just an ordinary girl living with her parents that own a restaurant on the city. She''s just as normal as you or me," Adam exined. Del just nodded as they walked faster to the ssroom. The clock showed that it was fifteen minutes left until the first ss started. He didn''t want to gette to his first ss after all. The ss was on the second floor, thankfully. He didn''t have to climb the stairs just to reach the ss. He put his backpack on the chair and his rifle on the side of the chair. There was a small ce to store his rifle magazines right below of the table. He put two magazines of 5.45 rounds on that ce so he could immediately used the rifle once the need arose. He sat down right next to Adam. While waiting for the bell to ring and the next teacher to enter, Del prepared himself to introduce himself. If it was earth, he didn''t need any preparation, he could just throw his birthday date, his hobby, his former school, his origin, etc. But now, several details were better left unknown. He could say his name, but he certainly couldn''t mention his birthce on earth. He might only be able to exin his status as a refugee by saying that he wasing from Elbanian. He should manipte his birthday too, this world wouldn''t have reached the 21st century. He couldn''t say his real birth age. "Yo man, what are you thinking about?" Adam asked, politely. "Something about introducing myself, I''m kinda nervous, you know?" Delmented. "Don''t be nervous, we have your back," a student behind him replied. He just rose his thumb to Del. He looked not that different from Adam, with the exception of his brown hair. Could it be that this person was Adam''s brother. "Yeah, rx," Adam said. Del turned his head around to get a better look at the brown-haired guy that just supported him. "What''s your name? You look so simr to Adam, I''m not going to lie," Delmented. He wasn''t wrong though, he looked really simr. "My name is Lenz, I''m Adam''s friend. What else? I''m a smart troublemaker and a little bit of smooth talker," Lenz said. "This is Lenz, he is our womanizer. Basically, we call him the harem king due to the amount of girls that he has. And yet, she never want to share his girls to us, poor peasant." Adam put a fake sad emotion to mock Lenz. Lenz justughed. "Nice to meet you Lenz, my name''s Del." The bell eventually rang. The students that were hanging outside of the ssroom entered the ssroom again and sit down while waiting for the first teacher toe. The first subject was none other than magical engineering, it wouldn''t be too boring with Del since he never ever saw magic in his previous life. The teacher knocked on the door and entered the room. The teacher was old, really old, the very old kind of old. He was the absolute stereotype of a wizard could be. His hair was all white, he had a long white beard, and he was holding a grimoire alongside with a staff. "Good morning everyone, may I get your attention please?" He said. His voice was rather smooth, much like when someone grandfather was talking to their grandson, Del felt like that about the teacher. The teacher continued by exining to the ss that they would have two new transfer students. Of course, the students had already known that, the teacher only said so just for the sake of formality. The first student that was called to introduce himself was none other than Del. The students pped their hands once Del walked to the front of the ssroom. HE was thinking before introducing his own life. He couldn''t screw this up, or he would be questioned many times by the other students about his origin. "Hello, my name is Del Moore, I was born in 1928. My hobby is shooting and drinking hot coffee. I am 17 at the moment, just the same as my sister right there. I was originated from Elbanian Kingdom and moved here as a refugee, I think that''s all for me." The students pped their hands again and Del returned to his chair and took a deep breath. He managed to seed, hopefully, Anna managed to do the same thing. The introduction was more or less the same as Del, but her hobby was much more, let''s say, crazier. Nah, she didn''t tell the ss that she liked killing people, but she told the ss that she loved military exercise that involved live rounds. The whole ss dropped their jaws while Del just smiled in both dissapointment and confusion on why Anna introduced herself like that. The grandpa didn''t bother too much about it though. He let Anna to sit down again and they continued their magical lesson. Since Anna and Del didn''t know too much about magical programming, they were inept at first.. However, they picked up the pace quite quicker than the other since they had used their magical programs in the battlefield where every second mattered. Chapter 127 - TMV The day was rtively uneventful, just as expected. No extraordinary things were happening. The special things that happened were the regr shenanigans that anyone would see in a high-school student. Adam was pranking Aveline. Aveline retaliated by ''identally'' scratching her pen on Adam''s shirt. Everyone had a goodugh. The teachers were¡­ okay? Del wasn''t sure. There were some strict teachers, but there were also some unusually nice ones. Both were okay though, there have been no physical abuses so far. If there was one thing that bothered him, Aveline and Anna''s rtionship developed so quickly in just one day. Del eavesdropped on their conversation once. He deduced that they were matching. One was insane and driven by her own pain and her own desire for revenge, while the other was rather ambitious and famous. Del would put it this way, Anna was Aveline''s bodyguard while Aveline would be Anna''s primary weapon. They synced, somehow. "Is that so? That''s quite impressive, Aveline," Annamented. "You''re much more impressive. No wonder you enroll into thebat-oriented ss, Anna." Yeah, it was not even one day, and they had developed their rtionship that much. They would be a good friend, Del was sure about that. They would perhaps form a mutually beneficial symbiosis. Still, Del wanted to know more about Aveline''s background. She was suspicious. As Del got lost in his thought, the bell finally rang. The school was finally over. The students packed their notebooks into their backpacks and stayed inside the ssroom for a while. Some were cleaning the ckboard while the other was sweeping the floor with broom and mop. After this would be the extracurricr activity, he still had to decide what club he would join. His primary club would be the medical volunteer club, as usual. However, the other club that he would join was still decided. Would he join the student council? But for what? He didn''t want too many jobs. A disciplinarymittee wasn''t his forte. He was not really fond of establishing rules inside of an environment. "Adam, do you have any suggestion about the club that I should join?" Del asked. "Club? Well, I am the member of the marksmanship club and the member of the student council. Aveline is our president at the moment. She is quite a good leader for what it counts, but I am not sure whether it will be suitable for you or not," Adam answered. "Why do you say that?" Del asked. "Let''s just say that Aveline can be quite demanding at times. However, if you meet her goals, you''ll usually be rewarded with something. Still, if you have any other activities, she will usually tolerate it," Adam said. Thinking about it again, joining one club might be the best decision for now. Anna would be free to do whatever she wanted since she didn''t have any responsibility to train with Walter after school while Del had that responsibility. Anna might want to join the student council as a member. She was close with Aveline, after all. He would just head to the medical volunteer club and ask for a membership. It would remind him of the good old times when everything hadn''t happened yet. His qualification as a former active contractor might be enough to convince the students to join the medical volunteer organization. He had the feeling that the more senior member of the medical volunteer would like to test him first before he could be admitted to the club. He was prepared for that. He would prove that more than six months ofbat experience would be helpful for the club. They might want him to rescue someone from the forest. They might wish Del to retrieve a weird herb. Anything could happen. It could be ssified as an initiation ritual, Del thought. First of all, though, he needed to know where the medical volunteer club building was. He needed to ask Adam first. He was a member of the student council. It could be said that he was the eyes and ears of Aveline in the student council. There was no way he wouldn''t know where the building was. "Adam, do you know where I can find the medical volunteer building?" Del asked. "Ah, you want to join that club? It''s easy to spot them to be honest, just look for a building with a a lot of people wearing tan colored shirt with plus patch on their hand. It would be the medical volunteer organization building, I think?" Adam said, but he sounded not sure about it. "Why are you not so sure about it?" Del asked. "Because I''m not one of them, why don''t you ask Mira?" Adam asked. "Who is Mira?" Del asked. "Another member of the medical volunteer organization." Speak of the devil, a girl stood right next to Adam and Del''s desk. The girl was mopping the floor, but she stopped right when Del talked about the medical organization. The girl''s hair was short. She looked more like the outdoor type, especially with something simr to a foldable knife sticking out of her pocket. "Did you say something about TMV?" Mira intervened. "Yeah, we were just talking about it. Del, this is Mira Reeve. She is the co-leader of Lumbart Academy TMV. Mira, Del said that she wanted to join TMV, you might want to give him your sponsorship, right?" Adam smiled. "Sure, if you want to increase our budget by 10%?" "Mira¡­ we have talked about this," Adam said. "I''m kidding, but still, think about it, ok?" Mira then shifted her look to Del. "So, you are Del Moore, Anna spoke so highly about you. I don''t think you will disappoint." "I''m sure as hell I won''t, Mira." "Good, I''m d to hear that. Our leader would be furious if I invite someone to our organization without any initiation process first. Well, to be honest, we don''t really ept new member from the 12th grade, but since you''re a special case, I think Joshua will have a proposal for you," Del said. "Proposal?" "Odd jobs for our greater cause, I think," Mira said. "Greater cause? Why are you putting yourself that high?" Del asked. "Anyway, if you want toe with me, let''s go then. There is an usual briefing before we start training. However, I think our leader will want to talk with you first," Mira said. "Sure." Mira walked to the front of the ssroom, and she put the mop and bucket. She then picked up her backpack and asked Del to follow her from behind. Del nodded, and he followed her. They went downstairs and walked out into the yard. They eventually walked to a small building, where around seven students were waiting. All of those students were wearing tan coloured shirts and ck cargo pants. Their appearance was quite simr to a member of the MSVI, but their insignia was yellow instead of orange. "Finally, youe. It''s been six minutes," A boy said "me my cleaning duty for that," Mira answered. The boy was as tall as Del. He also carried a rifle on his back but loaded. There was a pen on his left shirt pocket and a foldable knife on his right pocket. There was a bag located near him. The bag might be a first-aid kit, but it looked more like a trauma kit, truth to be told. "Ah, who''s this? I''ve never seen him around here before, are you a new student? What''s your name?" The boy asked. "I''m Del, what''s your name?" "My name is Daniel, I''m the leader of this academy TMV. If I may ask, what brought you here, Del? I don''t think a new student will visit us in the first ce," Daniel said. "I''m interested in joining your organization." "Ah, quite frankly, we don''t ept any 12th grade students, I''m sorry." Daniel got interrupted by Mira who was whispering right next to his ear. "Ah, you''re one of those special circumstances, huh? Fine, listen, are you willing to do something for us? To be honest, we are running out of painkiller." "Count me in. What do you need?" "I want you to retrieve a nt for me. The n can be found in the great snond north of this ce. However, it is quite cold there, are you sure you got what it takes?" Daniel asked. "I think I have." "Great, if that was the case, then I will give you the name of the n, alright? The nt that you''re looking for is called Absyntia. This nt usually grows there, if you bring one for me, I will immediately invite you to our organization, what do you say?" "Sure, as long as you give me the details about what I should search. Is there anything else that I should know? Or is that all?" Del asked. "I think that''s all. You can give that nt to me tomorrow. Here''s the book about herbs and nts," Daniel gave Del a pocket book. "Here''s my pocket book, you should be able to find the picture of the nt there.. Good luck, Del." Chapter 128 - Walter After School "Absyntia, huh?" Waltermented as he flew above the great snownd. Del was flying alongside him too, albeit slower than what Walter usually flew with. He was just learning after all. He was only moving as fast as a slow moving car. The regr speed that Walter would be flying with was around 300 MPH. Del was only flying at probably 30 MPH, and that was with certain struggles of maintaining his altitude from the ground. The coordination of using gravity magic and wind magic was easier said than done. Nevertheless, his knowledge of knowing how airne generated its lift and thrust helped him a lot. Absyntia was a gray flower that grew on the great snownd. It had a characteristic of being a strong painkiller, probably because 60% of its mass could be converted into Isobutylphenylpropionic-acid when boiled. Yeah, that mysterious grey flower was a source of organic Ibuprofen. The other 40% was impurities that wasn''t poisonous at all, but it had a strong bitter taste. Del used ibuprofen so many times, mainly for people who had injuries. When hiking, someone would be injured pretty often, oftentimes, the wound would be swollen, so giving ibuprofen waspletely reasonable. Of course, there were other medicines that needed to be administered such as antibiotic and all, but painkiller usually got the priority. Fracture was umon, but it did happen. "Yeah, I think they want to manufacture a painkiller or something, is that illegal though?" Del wasn''t sure about drug being manufactured by high-school students. They might overdose on it if there was no supervition on its consumption. "I don''t think so. MSVI and TMV are rted. Usually, the supervisor of a high-school TMV is a freshly graduated medical student that just got MD that used to participate in the MSVI. I don''t think that''s illegal, in fact, I think it''s something that their supervisor tasked for them," Walter said. "Really?" Del doubted that. "Yeah, it''s true," Walter said. "Anyway, Del, remember our priority task, alright? We are here to do a favor for the town and Salve Group. We are tasked to hunt down the snow wolves pack." They have been roaming around the southern part of the snownd. Due to the whiteness of the snow, it was no wonder why the snow wolves pack would be quite a threat, Del thought. About great snownd itself, it was a tnd covered in ayer of snow. The snow wasn''t that thick, but it wasn''t that thin either. However, one thing for sure, it was white as far as the eyes could see. Thebination of white wolves and white snow would be devastating for any unaware person. They could die, or worse. "Sure, search for them, shoot them, and be done with it, correct?" Del asked. "Yeah, but remember to use the st spell that I gave to you. You should familiarize yourself with that spell. It''s the main weapon of a flying soldier," Walter said. The st spell, or the projectile-effect-maniption spell, was a spell used by the flying soldiers to convert their bullet into a grenade like projectile that would explode on a certain distance to kill another flying soldier. The area of effect of the explosion produced depended on the size of the bullet, the velocity of the bullet, and the amount of magical energy put inside of the bullet. Luckily, it waspatible with any weapon so AK-74M could also be used for the st spell. The high fire rate inparison to a bolt-action rifle would certainly give him an edge on battle. Walter was using a bolt-action rifle, sure, it had a bigger bullet, but Del had full-auto on his side while still having arge enough projectile inparison with a regr SMG. "Del, do you find the pack that we''re looking for?" Walter asked. "I don''t know, I don''t see anything that is white and moving very fast, how about you?" Del asked back. "Negative, I have no visual as well. Do you find Absyntia yet?" Walter asked. "No, I haven''t found any. Should we begin walking, Walter?" Del asked. "Good idea, you can walk while I watch you from the sky." Del descended from the sky and hended on top of theyer of snow. It was very cold, really cold. If not for the cold-weather clothing that he wore, he would be freezing to death right now. Why would they give him a close to impossible task just for the sake of entering? Were they insane? Del stepped on the snow, it seemed solid. His feet wouldn''t suddenly sink into the bottom of the snow. Overall, it was safe to walk on top of it. He begun walking while looking left and right for any possible target. It could be a flower, or a pack of snow wolves. Both needed to be found first, though. Del continued walking, then he found one of the thing that he was looking for. He looked at the Absyntia in awe. One thing was extraordinary about this flower, it didn''t really grow on dirt. This flower literally only grew on top of ice or snow. That was one of the reasons why great snownd was the perfect ce to look for that flower. "Ah, finally, the flower," Del pulled hisbat knife and cut the flower from its root and put it inside of hisbat pack. Now, he only needed to find the snow wolves. How would he search them though? Wolfie wasn''t exactly there so it wasn''t an option. Del lifted up from the ground again and reached the same altitude as before. He waited on that altitude for Walter. He didn''t want to search for them, he would waste his reserve magical energy if he did that. He would just observe the snownd from the sky. Walter would be most focused on finding the wolves, he wouldn''t search for Absyntia. If there was an explosion, there would be Walter. And explosion happened soon enough. A loud boom could be heard from the south. Del immediately flew to the south direction to search for the explosion. He flew lower to get a better look on the snow and the source of the explosion. And he found the explosion, or the remnants of it. The dead wolves were scattered on the ground. Blood was also spread thinly on the snownd, turning the white sheet of snow sheet. Del noticed where the explosion wasing from and he flew towards that direction. Walter was standing in mid-air while her rifle was aimed at the ground. "Subjugationpleted," He said. "That was quick," Delmented. "Yeah, you''rete, kiddo, anyway, since you''re flying, it''s enough for me. Still, Del, do a target practice back in the cabin, I don''t want your aim to go all over the ce when you meet the student that will want you deadter," he said. "Why are you so sure that there will be a student that want to kill me? I meant, so far, there was nobody too suspicious to even be considered to be a threat." "You''ve only been there for a day. Don''t be too hasty, when the timees, she will ambush you and kill you and your sister. It''s better for you to pull the trigger first before someone pulled their trigger and kill you. That''s the golden rule of being a contractor, it''s better to kill than better to be killed," Walter exined. "How long have you worked as a contractor?" Del asked. "Me? I''ve worked on this thing for like twenty years. To be honest, I really feel nothing when I pull the trigger, whether it''s children or enemies, it''s just nd. That''s what contractor''s life will turn you into, a husk of your former self, only motivated by sole greed." Del nodded. Had he gone that far? His motivation was indeed money, but he needed those money to get back at Eric as soon as he could. He would get every single money that he could get just for the sake of getting back at the person that hurt his sister the most. Still, the way of doing it, was it right, or was it wrong? Sure, stopping the heroes would stop the war effort in Elbanian and making sure that Reian was safe. However, would it be enough to keep Reian no to attack Elbanian in retaliatory strike? After all, Reian was a victim of a genocideitted by Elbanian. What would be the reason that Reian wouldn''t fight back against Elbanian? It was just simr to recing one evil with another evil? What was the bright side of that? He got his petty revenge, that was for sure, but would it be enough to keep the world stable? Del really doubted that to be entirely honest. All he knew was to kill Eric, and be done with it. Sadly, reality was not as simple as that.. Action would always have its consequences. Chapter 129 - Mira, TMV, And Anna Back in Lumbart Academy, Del gave the requested item back to Mira, the co-leader of TMV. She was pleased when she retrieved the flower. The expression signified more that she was surprised instead of pleased. She put the flower below her desk. She just smiled while scratching her head. "You know, Del, I did go to the great snownd to observe you since Daniel was extremely worried about his decision. Still, I don''t know how you got this nt, but thank you so much," Mira said. Aveline was also there, surrounding Adam and Del''s table. She wasn''t sure about what had happened. Still, it was definitely interesting enough to keep two members of the student council to join in the conversation. Anna was also there. She was also listening. "I''ll assume that you went there with Walter," Annamented. "Yeah." Aveline was intrigued, "Who is Walter?" It was a rather simple question. Of course, Del wouldn''t answer. It was better to stay silent unless Anna wanted to answer with an equally secretive answer. Keeping one mouth shut was the best way to keep a secret. Opening it required much more effort than that. "Walter is our foster parent." "Ohhh," Aveline just nodded. "So, did I get admitted or not?" Del asked Mira. "Of course, don''t you worry about it. Getting this flower alone is quite a feat that can''t be ignored. You might think this is a small favor, but this is quite an important task. You can join us as a honorary member. We usually have an initiation, but after some discussion with the others, you can just join straightly. Besides, your sister and I have a little bit of conversation after school." "Oh, what did she tell?" Del was intrigued about the topic that both of them talked about behind him. He was suspicious about Anna. Del wasn''t going to lie. He didn''t trust Anna about a secretive agenda. "She said the thing that we know. More or less, she was praising you all along. Still, when I arrived at the great snownd, I was disappointed when I didn''t see you. Still, what matters is that you get the flower for us." "That''s all?" Del asked. "That''s all." Anna could keep a secret then. It was good. She was more reliable than what Del previously expected, especially after the nuke incident. If this continued, his sister might be much more stable, and as a result, would be much controble in the future. Everything needed assessment first though. "TMV, what is TMV?" Del asked Mira. "Teenage Medical Volunteer. We are an organization established to help the youth in understanding more about the importance of voluntary medical service to the society while providing medical service to those who are in need," Mira exined the long exnation for Del although he preferred a short one to be entirely honest. "So, you guys are doing the same thing as MSVI?" Del asked. "Sort of. Unlike MSVI, we are not allowed to participate in volunteering in conflict zone or any dangerous zone in particr. We are only allowed to volunteer in poor zone, crime invested zone, or anything else that doesn''t require us to be on stand by all the time with our rifle," Mira said. "Long story short, they''re a lesser version of their parental organization." Aveline cut the story short. Del didn''t know why, he''d like to hear Mira''s story. Or perhaps, there was another reason on why Aveline intervened. Mira might not stop once she told a story about TMV, but Del had no idea. It didn''t matter though. As long as he became the member of TMV, he had an extracurricr activity on that school that should be enough to expand his friendship circle further. Anna already had her own circle in the post-schoolbat ss while Del didn''t have one. Even though there were only there for three days, Del had heard the rumor about her sister. Her sister was a fresh gossip in that school, mainly because she somehow became very close to Aveline. So close in fact, that someone had created a rumor that Anna was Aveline''s long lost rtive. The worst gossip was his sister was a bastard daughter of Aveline''s parents. How could Anna be Aveline''s rtive, she was not even born in that world. Well, it was just rumors. It only needed to be corrected once it went too far. The good news was Anna was appointed to be a member of the student council in the security division alongside with several member of thebat-oriented ss. Del knew it because Anna told him once he got back from the great snownd with the white flower. She told Del that Aveline invited her to the security division. Of course, Walter immediately gave his approval since any investigation wouldn''t be questioned by anyone since Anna would be the part of security division. Del was skeptical though. What was the job of the security division in the first ce? Was that the ce where the brutes and the talented mages gathered to handle the security inside of the school? It made sense though. Del doubted that a regr police force would have an easy time against mages and riflemen that wanted to eliminate any threat in any way possible. There might be a special unit standing by in case the academy got attacked, but as for the internal security, the security division and the teachers might be arger part inparison to the police force in Sneggor. After all, they had a more direct connection to the students inparison to the regr police force. Intelligence was their advantage after all. Think about it this way, the police force was like the battering ram and the troublemakers were the doors. The police wouldn''t have too much idea on who the troublemakers were, but the security division and the teachers would be able to do that easily. Overall, it was just another symbiosis. "By the way, Aveline, I heard rumors about my sister and you. We''ve only been here for three days, and that was included the first day we entered the school not as a student, but as a mere visitor. Are we really that interesting to be talked about?" Del asked. "Well¡­ the rumor about you and your sister have spread even before you twoe to Lumbart Academy. You see, some students from the other sses noticed that a transfer student wille to our school. At first, we were disinterested about the issue, but your background was certainly intriguing." "Intriguing? How so?" Del asked. "You see, the son of the principal can''t keep his mouth shut about any secret that he heard. He heard from the principal that the two transfer students are former contractors for Ilbistirum Military. Of course, thebat-oriented students were the most ecstatic about it. They finally had more friends to join their little gang." "Go on." "However, since Anna was the only one that entered thebat-oriented ss, she almost became the prima-donna of thebat-oriented ss. She has great marksmanship, credible experiences, and scary aspects. All in all, she was perfect for thebat ss," Aveline exined. "Basically, you''re telling me that my sister bes some sort of idol in just three days?" Del asked. "I don''t like it if you put it that way, but yeah, that''s the real case. There are only twentybat-oriented students in the whole academy and only three of them are girls, including your sister. Ites with an advantage though, your sister and the other two girls have bodyguards consisted of seventeen people who had their own fair share ofbat training." Anna just smirked when she heard Aveline''s exnation. That smirk felt mocking him. It was like she showed him that she stole the spotlight again from Del. It was no big deal though. Del didn''t want to be the center of the attention. Just let Anna get most of the attention, it was better for him. "Damn, sis, they don''t even know your face, and yet, they treat you like some kind of princess," Del said. "I smell some jealousy here," Adammented. Del just pinched him in annoyance. "Anyway, about TMV, what is the usual agenda?" Del asked. "We usually train. Thrice a week, we usually volunteer to help the slumps of Sneggor by cooking food and providing medical attention," Mira answered. "What''s today''s agenda?" Del asked. "It''s volunteering. We will go to the town at three. You should join us, it should be very fun. Do you want to tag along, Del?" Mira asked. "Sure, I''d love to do that. Is there anything that I must prepare before I participate? Or I can just go to the TMV building once the after-school bell rang?" "You can just wait there once the bell rang, but I suggest for you to go home first and get a shirt that you can sacrifice. We usually get dirty in the slump.. Anyway, that''s all from me, I''ll see youter on the TMV building." Chapter 130 - The Slump The slump, or Sneggor Southern District, was rather a sad location to visit and see. Del was no longer in his school uniform. He was back in wearing hisbat gear minus the helmet and the backpack. Other than that, he was pretty much in the same attire as when he was in the front line. Maybe the other difference was the colour of the camouge. He wore his cold-weather gear with snow camouge and his half-face bva. It kept him warm as he ventured into the slump. The slump was rather untreated. The street was filled with holes, and those holes were filled with mud. The mud was cold but not frozen. People were walking in that slump in tattered clothing, regardless of the weather. It looked like that the entire slump had ack of connection with the rest of the city, which was quite, to be frankly, illogical. Ilbistirum Federation had a much better social program than Elbanian. Why would an extreme like that exist in the first ce? "You know, Mira, I feel like I''m out of ce here," Del said. While Del was wearing a pseudo-military uniform, the others were wearing the standard TMV uniform, simr to the standard MSVI uniform. It might not feel like it, but he did look like a special security detail for the TMV. There were ten people dispatched to the slum. Three of them were from the 12th grade. Del was included alongside Mira and Daniel. The rest were either from the 10th grade or the 11th grade. All of them carried a rifle on their backs, and all carried medical supplies in their backpack. "Out of ce? Dude, you are a contractor, as far as I know, you''re still wearing the contractor patch on your clothing." Mira put her finger at the patch on the left side of his shirt. "True, but walking around with all of you, I''m feeling out of ce here," Del said. "I don''t see any problem to be honest, Del. Still, your skill sets are versatile. You can participate in anybat operation or help people in the volunteering. You are both our bodyguards and medical volunteer," Daniel added. "Bodyguards? How dangerous is the slump?" "Let''s just say, if not for the rifle on our backs, we are pretty much soft targets for the muggers. You also act as an intimidating purpose, Del Moore. So far, I see some suspicious people left and right, but it seems that you manage to scare them off." "Really? I''m not even that intimidating." "But you certainly look out of ce," Daniel just smiled, proving Del''s previous point. Del grumped in eptance. Well, he admitted Del''s previous point, which was good for him. They continued walking until they arrived at the previously designated point. The point where they would be giving medical help was a tent located in the centre of the slump. The supervising doctor had been waiting for them. The doctor wasn''t Cassandra, that was for sure. It was just another doctor whom he didn''t know. The students put their medical equipment on the provided tables. The students were not only bringing medical equipment but also cooking equipment, somehow. The idea was to entice the citizen to grab food. The medical volunteer would give them basic medical diagnoses first before letting the citizen grab the food. Of course, that method was not really foolproof. The citizen wasn''t alwaysw-abiding. Oftentimes, they went straight for the food before getting the medical checkup. IF that was the case, Del would intervene since his job was to provide security. He would pull the person away from the line because the person didn''t fulfil the criteria yet. Of course, the security wouldn''t be alone. Del had Mira apanying him. Two people were better than one, after all. Their job was to keep order in the volunteering activity. If someone acted disorderly, Mira and Del would intervene. It might note as a surprise, but even something as noble as medical volunteering activity would get attacked by those who didn''t want them to even exist in the first ce. They would extort for drugs, food, or worse, person. It was one of the reasons why the volunteer was armed to the teeth. Mira had exined that TMV had spent so much money to pay for the ransom in case someone got kidnapped before they were allowed to bring guns to the volunteering. If converted, they probably had spent more than ten Husnael tes for thest twenty years. It was dangerous. Some people had tried to stop their effort. Still, TMV had prioritized helping humanity first than their own safety, which was kinda insane considering their age. Eventually, the guns did help them in fighting the kidnapping efforts and other damages. It didn''t mean that the damage disappeared fully, though. Sometimes, bigger fish wanted to eat their parts too. The worst that happened to them was around two years ago when Mira and Daniel were still junior members of the TMV. Nobody died, but everyone got a bullet scar from that ident. A group of criminal organizations attacked the medical volunteer group to steal the medicine that the volunteer was distributing, a shipment of painkillers that they brought that, if mixed with chemical substances, could produce a strong hallucinogen. They came in hard, with their rifles and guns, shooting their way towards the medical shipment. The TMV fought fiercely, using every resource they had to protect the medical shipment from the criminals. One by one, everyone got shot and injured until the police force helped them. The police force was not really that ipetent. It wasn''t their fault. It was just the criminal attack was too sudden and too nned out. It was a possibility, but attacking teenagers distributing medicine for a noble cause was believed to be a bad omen for everyone. However, grenades, rifles, and machine guns were used to attack those under-equipped teenagers. If not for the rapid response from both the police force and the military, all of them would be dead. Even with that rapid response, everyone got shot. Mira got a bullet stuck five centimetres beside her heart. Yup, she was really close to being dead. After intensive surgery and therapies, she continued her activity as TMV. Still, she stuck to the security-intensive role rather than the medical role. She had medical experience, but she only participated in doing the medical check-up twice a week or less. Instead, she was more intensive in greeting people, smiling at people, and intimidating people. Basically, she was more specialized in social engineering. She must look intimidating enough to push the criminal from doing any activity, and she must be friendly enough. Hence, people actually came to that ce. "Del, remember to smile, alright?" Mira was chambering bullets into her SMG. She checked the condition of her SMG and held it with her hands. "Sure," Del nodded as he held his AK-74M in his hands. The medical volunteer started their volunteer service. They started distributing food and medicines to those who were in need. Those diagnosed as sick were sent immediately to the supervising doctor to be given a more specific medicine. The medical volunteer was giving vitamins and other boosters to prevent the slums from bing a disease zone. The hard medicines were given by the supervising doctor since some of the substances could be easily abused by them if given without any supervision. A boy was pulling on Del''s shirt. "Sir, sir, do you see my mom?" Del crouched on the ground to match the boy''s height. "I don''t think I have, but how may I help you? Maybe you can spot her from a higher position." Del offered his hand to carry the boy with his hands. Del lifted up the boy, and he pointed her hand at one woman. Del walked to that one woman in particr and gave her child back. "Ma''am, I think your kid is missing." "Oh, my, thank you so much, boy," his mother said. Del returned to his post and continued watching the line. Damn, he would be lying if it weren''t boring, but it was indeed a necessity. He watched the people left and right. There were no suspicious people in the vicinity. It was either that, or everyone looked suspicious in his standard that nobody stood out in particr. "What was theotion all about?" Mira asked. "A mother lost her child, nothing too serious to be honest," Del said. "Good work, you handle your first case of security anomaly rather wisely. Some people will ntantly refuse, or they would waste too much time in finding the mother. I''m quite impressed, Del," Mira said. "Well, that''s our duty, right? We must not disappoint them, after all. Anyway, we should be focused on our duty again. The supply will run out soon, right? It only has been two hours, or less, haha," Del said. "Yeah, you have your point.." They continued their duty. Chapter 131 - Danger In The Slump [Pirate Decoy Chapter. is Reced] The slump, or Sneggor Southern District, was rather a sad location to visit and see. Del was no longer in his school uniform. He was back in wearing hisbat gear minus the helmet and the backpack. Other than that, he was pretty much in the same attire as when he was in the front line. Maybe the other difference was the colour of the camouge. He wore his cold-weather gear with snow camouge and his half-face bva. It kept him warm as he ventured into the slump. The slump was rather untreated. The street was filled with holes, and those holes were filled with mud. The mud was cold but not frozen. People were walking in that slump in tattered clothing, regardless of the weather. It looked like that the entire slump had ack of connection with the rest of the city, which was quite, to be frankly, illogical. Ilbistirum Federation had a much better social program than Elbanian. Why would an extreme like that exist in the first ce? "You know, Mira, I feel like I''m out of ce here," Del said. While Del was wearing a pseudo-military uniform, the others were wearing the standard TMV uniform, simr to the standard MSVI uniform. It might not feel like it, but he did look like a special security detail for the TMV. There were ten people dispatched to the slum. Three of them were from the 12th grade. Del was included alongside Mira and Daniel. The rest were either from the 10th grade or the 11th grade. All of them carried a rifle on their backs, and all carried medical supplies in their backpack. "Out of ce? Dude, you are a contractor, as far as I know, you''re still wearing the contractor patch on your clothing." Mira put her finger at the patch on the left side of his shirt. "True, but walking around with all of you, I''m feeling out of ce here," Del said. "I don''t see any problem to be honest, Del. Still, your skill sets are versatile. You can participate in anybat operation or help people in the volunteering. You are both our bodyguards and medical volunteer," Daniel added. "Bodyguards? How dangerous is the slump?" "Let''s just say, if not for the rifle on our backs, we are pretty much soft targets for the muggers. You also act as an intimidating purpose, Del Moore. So far, I see some suspicious people left and right, but it seems that you manage to scare them off." "Really? I''m not even that intimidating." "But you certainly look out of ce," Daniel just smiled, proving Del''s previous point. Del grumped in eptance. Well, he admitted Del''s previous point, which was good for him. They continued walking until they arrived at the previously designated point. The point where they would be giving medical help was a tent located in the centre of the slump. The supervising doctor had been waiting for them. The doctor wasn''t Cassandra, that was for sure. It was just another doctor whom he didn''t know. The students put their medical equipment on the provided tables. The students were not only bringing medical equipment but also cooking equipment, somehow. The idea was to entice the citizen to grab food. The medical volunteer would give them basic medical diagnoses first before letting the citizen grab the food. Of course, that method was not really foolproof. The citizen wasn''t alwaysw-abiding. Oftentimes, they went straight for the food before getting the medical checkup. IF that was the case, Del would intervene since his job was to provide security. He would pull the person away from the line because the person didn''t fulfil the criteria yet. Of course, the security wouldn''t be alone. Del had Mira apanying him. Two people were better than one, after all. Their job was to keep order in the volunteering activity. If someone acted disorderly, Mira and Del would intervene. It might note as a surprise, but even something as noble as medical volunteering activity would get attacked by those who didn''t want them to even exist in the first ce. They would extort for drugs, food, or worse, person. It was one of the reasons why the volunteer was armed to the teeth. Mira had exined that TMV had spent so much money to pay for the ransom in case someone got kidnapped before they were allowed to bring guns to the volunteering. If converted, they probably had spent more than ten Husnael tes for thest twenty years. It was dangerous. Some people had tried to stop their effort. Still, TMV had prioritized helping humanity first than their own safety, which was kinda insane considering their age. Eventually, the guns did help them in fighting the kidnapping efforts and other damages. It didn''t mean that the damage disappeared fully, though. Sometimes, bigger fish wanted to eat their parts too. The worst that happened to them was around two years ago when Mira and Daniel were still junior members of the TMV. Nobody died, but everyone got a bullet scar from that ident. A group of criminal organizations attacked the medical volunteer group to steal the medicine that the volunteer was distributing, a shipment of painkillers that they brought that, if mixed with chemical substances, could produce a strong hallucinogen. They came in hard, with their rifles and guns, shooting their way towards the medical shipment. The TMV fought fiercely, using every resource they had to protect the medical shipment from the criminals. One by one, everyone got shot and injured until the police force helped them. The police force was not really that ipetent. It wasn''t their fault. It was just the criminal attack was too sudden and too nned out. It was a possibility, but attacking teenagers distributing medicine for a noble cause was believed to be a bad omen for everyone. However, grenades, rifles, and machine guns were used to attack those under-equipped teenagers. If not for the rapid response from both the police force and the military, all of them would be dead. Even with that rapid response, everyone got shot. Mira got a bullet stuck five centimetres beside her heart. Yup, she was really close to being dead. After intensive surgery and therapies, she continued her activity as TMV. Still, she stuck to the security-intensive role rather than the medical role. She had medical experience, but she only participated in doing the medical check-up twice a week or less. Instead, she was more intensive in greeting people, smiling at people, and intimidating people. Basically, she was more specialized in social engineering. She must look intimidating enough to push the criminal from doing any activity, and she must be friendly enough. Hence, people actually came to that ce. "Del, remember to smile, alright?" Mira was chambering bullets into her SMG. She checked the condition of her SMG and held it with her hands. "Sure," Del nodded as he held his AK-74M in his hands. The medical volunteer started their volunteer service. They started distributing food and medicines to those who were in need. Those diagnosed as sick were sent immediately to the supervising doctor to be given a more specific medicine. The medical volunteer was giving vitamins and other boosters to prevent the slums from bing a disease zone. The hard medicines were given by the supervising doctor since some of the substances could be easily abused by them if given without any supervision. A boy was pulling on Del''s shirt. "Sir, sir, do you see my mom?" Del crouched on the ground to match the boy''s height. "I don''t think I have, but how may I help you? Maybe you can spot her from a higher position." Del offered his hand to carry the boy with his hands. Del lifted up the boy, and he pointed her hand at one woman. Del walked to that one woman in particr and gave her child back. "Ma''am, I think your kid is missing." "Oh, my, thank you so much, boy," his mother said. Del returned to his post and continued watching the line. Damn, he would be lying if it weren''t boring, but it was indeed a necessity. He watched the people left and right. There were no suspicious people in the vicinity. It was either that, or everyone looked suspicious in his standard that nobody stood out in particr. "What was theotion all about?" Mira asked. "A mother lost her child, nothing too serious to be honest," Del said. "Good work, you handle your first case of security anomaly rather wisely. Some people will ntantly refuse, or they would waste too much time in finding the mother. I''m quite impressed, Del," Mira said. "Well, that''s our duty, right? We must not disappoint them, after all. Anyway, we should be focused on our duty again. The supply will run out soon, right? It only has been two hours, or less, haha," Del said. "Yeah, you have your point.." They continued their duty. Chapter 132 - Got Kidnapped Del''d be lying if he didn''t think that it was boring to work as security. Maybe there would be something interesting such as someone suddenly punching him in the face, and he got into a fight, but something like that didn''t happen. Instead, he was just there for an intimidating purpose. The service was over, finally. The bottom of the pot was clean. It felt as if they had just fed the entire slump. The truth was too far from the expectation, though they might only provide two hundred or less from two thousand people or so. The supervising doctor briefed them first. The doctor asked Del, "Del Moore, is that your name?" "Yes, sir. That''s my name." "So you''re that kid. Cassandra and Hubert told me a lot about you in thest meeting. I''m impressed about what you''ve done in the front line. You''re pretty selfless, aren''t you?" The doctor, whose name was still unknown, said. "Excuse me, doc, but who are you, if I may ask?" Del asked. "Me? Oh, my name is Joshua Bet. But most of these people here call me Joshua. I''m Hubert''s junior, if you ask. Anyway, guys, let''s start the debriefing, I want to hear the reports from all of the starts, let''s start from the cooking team. Emir, would you kindly exin?" "Thank you doc. We have served around 187 tes. Most of the feedbacks are good. For further assessment, we might need a bigger potter to feed more people, doc." He showed the bottom of the pot that had been scraped clean of food. Emir was a 10th-grade student. He was the youngest of them all. "Great, I give the 10th grade an appreciation for doing its job nicely. Now, I want to hear the reports from the medicine team. Daniel, can you give me the debrief?" "We have given the same amount of supplements as usual. Twenty boxes of supplements were donated and six boxes of medicines were also used too. I think we had enough, but the overall condition of the slump begins to improve, that''s all." "Good. Lastly, security team, how''s the situation, Mira?" Del asked. "Nothing out of the ordinary. Del helped a lost child, and that''s all," Mira said. "Ok, great. I''m d to hear that. Del had proved to be useful, and I like it. Anyway, is that all, or is there anything that you want to add for evaluation in this volunteering session?" Joshua asked. "Yeah, when will Del get his TMV uniform? He looked out of ce with us, I''m not going to lie," Daniel suggested. "Next Monday. We will need to order one from the regional HQ first. And Del, don''t worry too much about it, Cassandra has filled in the details about you. Overall, we are expecting you, Del," Joshua added. Del just nodded. He expected this kind of treatment, especially since he was working with Salve Group. Why would a corporate entity not provide the best for its shareholder? Del wasn''t a tiny shareholder either. He might be the moderate kind of shareholder, not too high, but not too low. Sadly, not everyone had the same reaction as Del did. Daniel rubbed his head in confusion. Mira dropped her jaw, and the other students looked suspiciously at Del. Del had faced so much that the kind of reaction wasn''t too surprising for him. "How¡ª?" Mira still couldn''t believe it. She knew that Del was a contractor and all, but expecting her supervising doctor to know him was not something that Mira expected. She only expected Del to be someone that used to be working as a contractor, not someone that important that her supervising doctor would know from his senior. "Dude¡­ who are you?" Daniel asked. "Me? I''m just a contractor, that''s all. Well, used to be, to be exact." "I meant, Mrs. Gable isn''t exactly someone that you can meet every once in a while, much less having her introducing you. That woman is a high-ranked member in MSVI, how could she possibly know you?" "Excuse me?" "She''s a surgeon, medical volunteer, researcher,batant, former special force personnel, and a member of a prestigious family. How could a person like you know her?" "She''s that prestigious?" Del asked. "Yeah." The volunteering activity stopped, and they packed their equipment back into their backpacks. Del checked whether there was something that he left or not. There wasn''t any, so he carried his bag on his back and walked alongside the others back to the academy. However, just before he was going to leave his tent, a disturbance happened. One of his juniors was searching for something, Del wasn''t sure what he was searching for, but his cold sweat told him loudly that the student was missing something very important. "Is there anything wrong?" Del approached him. "Yes, did you see my friend? She was going to the toilet, but it has been a while," the boy answered. "Is that something that is wrong? She might take her time," Del said. "No, she said she only wanted to pee, but it has been too long," the boy said. Del decided to calm the boy down by helping him to find his friend. "Alright, where was thest time you see her? Do you have any idea where she might have gone?" Del asked. "Follow me." The boy led Del to an alleyway located right behind the volunteering tent. The mud in that alleyway smelled like piss. The people also smelled like rotten rats. The house smelled like damp wood and fungus. There was no public toilet either. Did she just piss in the ground or something? The boy continued walking, and Del followed him from behind. Eventually, the boy led him to a small building which was the public toilet. He would lie if he said that the public toilet didn''t stink like hell. "This is the ce, but I didn''t find her. Do you have any suggestion on where I should look next?" Del observed the perimeter. The same rule was applied, which made things harder. Everyone looked suspicious by his standard. The homeless people were smoking on the side of the road with their dirty clothes. The women were looking like a mugger, and so on. How could he find anything suspicious? "Do you think something happened to her?" Del wanted to confirm something. "I think so? Slum is shit. All sorts of criminals are nesting in here," the boy said. "Let''s start asking around, then." Del approached the people on the alleyway one by one. He asked whether they saw a girl wearing the same clothing as the boy, which was the TMV uniform. Most of them answered by saying that they didn''t know the girl. He didn''t give up on trying, though. He kept searching for any sign of that girl whose face she didn''t even know. He was looking for a sign of violence, blood, or anything that resembled any criminal activity. For what he understood, the slum had a big chance of kidnapping. "Why would you leave a girl alone in this slump? Goddamn it," Del said. "I was packing the medical equipment, but she insisted to go there alone," the boy protested. "Damn, she''s an idiot." In the midst of confusion, Del finally gave up. He didn''t find any sign of violence. The girl must have gone somewhere else that the boy didn''t even know. However, he suddenly found something suspicious. Two men were walking alongside with a girl, the girl looked scared and she was wearing ragged clothing, but Del didn''t think the girl matched the description. "Is that our girl?" Del asked while pointing his hand at the girl. "YES, THAT''S HER! LISA!!!" The boy shouted. It wasn''t a wise move, those men panicked and they ran away. Del and the boy ran after those two men. Del was furious. Why would his junior shout? Now he had to run after the girl alongside with him. He could just put two on the back of their head and be done with it, but that option became unavable now. One of the men pulled a pistol out of his pocket and began shooting at Del and the boy. "WATCH OUT!" Del acted as a meat shield for the boy and protected him from the gunfire. Two bullets struck his ballistic shield spell. "Are you ok?" Del asked the boy. "I''m fine, dude, we''re going to lose her, they''re getting away!" the boy shouted. Del casted a flying spell and he flew towards the direction of those men, leaving the boy behind. He shot his AK-74M towards the direction of those men while avoiding any friendly fire with the girl. Those men were also using the same ballistic spell as Del did. "You got to be kidding me¡­" Del continued following those men until they arrived at an entrance to a some kind of building. Del got bombarded with rounds and he took cover behind one of the buildings.. "I''m going to need heavier weapons here." Chapter 133 - Breaching! Bullets were flying in his direction. It was all fired from one single building, the building which they took the girl into. All of them fired their guns at Del, who was hiding right behind a chimney. He returned fire with his AK-74M, but the number of rifles inside of that house beat Del''s suppressing fire. "Damn it, how many people are inside that building?" Del peeked from the big chimney, but he couldn''t observe. The amount of gunfireing from that house was staggering. Each window felt like turrets all aiming at his head. Del grabbed the equipment from his storage. He threw his AK-74M into the storage and grabbed his PKP machine gun alongside several cans of magazine. He also grabbed a FAST helmet and put the visor down. It wasn''t an ordinary FAST helmet either. It was a modified FAST helmet that had a thicker Aramidyer alongside extra ballistic tes. He put on the extra armors on his legs and his arms. It was a part of the juggernaut outfit, but Del didn''t bring the torso part of the juggernaut suit. Del opened the dust cover of his PKP machine gun and put the bullets inside of the machine gun. Del opened a smoke grenade, and he threw it in the direction of the house. The smoke wasn''t the poisonous kind, but it would certainly help him mask his movement. He threw around three smoke grenades towards that direction of that house. Once they stopped shooting to the chimney, Del crawled away from that chimney while avoiding the rifle rounds fired at him. The windows where the gunmen were firing at him had been all covered with white smokes. It should provide enough cover for him to fly above the ground. He flew above the ground andnded on the roof of the building quietly. There was an opportunity for the forced entrance there. He could easily use C4 to create an entrance to that building. He put two blocks of C4 on the roof and took cover behind the chimney. He blew the section of the roof and jumped into the hole. It indeed served well as an element of surprise. His heavy footsteps immediately surprised the whole building. A bunch of heavy footsteps wasing up the stairs. The stairs were at the end of the hallway. Del shot his machine gun in that direction. The armor-piercing high-explosive round immediately turned the bodies of his enemies into shredded meat. 7.62x54 mmR rounds were more violent than he initially thought. He immediately kicked one of the doors on the hallway of that floor. He opened that door and found one girl who was chained into the bed. She was only wearing underwear that was tattered. In that cold kind of weather, Del felt sorry for her. "Girl, are you ok?" Del grabbed a bolt cutter from his backpack and cut the chain. "Stay here. I''lle backter." The girl just replied with a nod as he left that room. He deduced immediately that this building was some sort of trafficking building to sell girls and women. Damn, what the hell was going on in here? Del thought that Ilbistirum was free from this kind of shit. It turned out that he was dead wrong about it. Del kicked another door, and this time, one of the vers took one of the ves as a hostage. "Stand back, or she dies!" Del aimed his machine gun at the head of the ver and pulled the trigger. Blood sttered across the entire room. She then approached the girl. "Stay here. I''ll be back soon." Where was the girl that Del was looking for? Was she in the cer or something? Del continued heading towards the second floor of the building by going down the stairs. As he went down, the concentration of enemies was getting thicker and thicker. From every room, one enemy wasing out at the very least. It made him think that there was a spawner inside of each room that spawned vers protecting their merchandise. Del continued searching for that girl. "Damn it, where is she? Why would she go to the toilet alone?" He kicked one of the doors. He killed the ver in that room and searched for a girl. There was no girl. There was only one dead body with a bullet hole in her head. Del was toote to save that girl. He left the room immediately and continued clearing the room. "I''m from TMV, girl. Where the hell are you?" Del shouted. A ver appeared, and he immediately shot the ver. This ve operation might be a part of arger criminal organization in the slump. Del would investigate it furtherter. Right now, the prioritizing should be put to that missing girl. The wooden floor suddenly crumbled below him, and he fell to the first floor. And oh boy, saying that he wasn''t surprised was an understatement. Enemies immediately surrounded him and started shooting at him. Del grabbed his machine gun that fell over and shot back at the enemies. "How¡ª?" It was thest word that came out of the ver''s mouth as his bullet didn''t manage to prate Del''s ballistic armor. Del stood up from the ground, and he took cover behind one of the walls. Del immediately ran to the nearest door. "I''m from the TMV. Where the hell are you, girl?" Del heard a mumbling sound from the nearest room. He immediately opened that room and found the girl that he was looking for. The girl had been cuffed to the bed, but she was fine for the most part. It was just that most of her clothing had been stripped. She was also gagged on her mouth. Del opened the gag and asked her, "Are you from the TMV? I''m Moore, from the 12th grade. Do you need any medical attention?" Del asked. The girl just shook her head and looked at the cuff, instructing Del to cut open the cuff. Del grabbed his bolt cutter, and he cut open the cuff with it. "Stay here. I''ll be back." Del wanted to get out of there asap, but as long as there was someone alive, he couldn''t leave yet. Del wasn''t exactly bringing any radio transmitter. This could be an assessment for him for the future. With a radio transmitter, he would be able to request support from either Anna or Walter. Both would be good, but one of them would be really appreciated right now. Del went back to the second floor to kill the rest of the vers. He opened every single room and killed every single ver that he could see. After that, he returned to the girl he was searching for and asked her, "Where is your clothing? Did they take it away from you?" The girl looked at the footlocker in front of her bed. The footlocker was locked. She might want Del to shoot the footlocker. Del shot the footlocker with his PKP and opened it. Inside, there was the TMV clothing that the girl previously wore. Why would the ver put those clothes there? Del had zero ideas. "Wear the clothes. We should be getting out of here soon," Del said. The girl just nodded, and Del walked out of the room to give the girl some privacy. Del put his machine gun on his shoulder and waited until the girl came out of the room. Now, he was thinking about what he should do with the other girls upstairs. They were also a victim, but they weren''t a part of TMV or academy. Still, Del wanted to rescue them. Perhaps, calling the authorities would be a great idea, but where''s the phone he could use? As he was thinking, the girl came out of the room with her uniform back in her body. Del asked her, "Do you know where I can ask for the police?" "Just use the telephone at the entrance. I think I find one there." Del walked to the telephone that was located right next to the entrance door. Del picked up the telephone and put it on his ears. He put his finger on the dial and rotated it to the emergency number. But as he rotated the dial, a shout came from the door. "ONE TWO THREE BREACH!" The door fell to the ground, followed by many military-looking people holding SMG and aimed it at Del. Who were they? Were they with the military? Or were they from the academy? Del didn''t know. "Get down on the ground!" Del got down on the ground to avoid getting in trouble. As he expected, the military immediately cuffed him, but it was definitely better than getting shot. Del heard heavy footsteps of peopleing in. He took a peek at those iing soldiers. Some of them were from the academybat-oriented ss.. One of them was Anna holding her AK-74M. Chapter 134 - Debriefing Bullets were flying in his direction. It was all fired from one single building, the building which they took the girl into. All of them fired their guns at Del, who was hiding right behind a chimney. He returned fire with his AK-74M, but the number of rifles inside of that house beat Del''s suppressing fire. "Damn it, how many people are inside that building?" Del peeked from the big chimney, but he couldn''t observe. The amount of gunfireing from that house was staggering. Each window felt like turrets all aiming at his head. Del grabbed the equipment from his storage. He threw his AK-74M into the storage and grabbed his PKP machine gun alongside several cans of magazine. He also grabbed a FAST helmet and put the visor down. It wasn''t an ordinary FAST helmet either. It was a modified FAST helmet that had a thicker Aramidyer alongside extra ballistic tes. He put on the extra armors on his legs and his arms. It was a part of the juggernaut outfit, but Del didn''t bring the torso part of the juggernaut suit. Del opened the dust cover of his PKP machine gun and put the bullets inside of the machine gun. Del opened a smoke grenade, and he threw it in the direction of the house. The smoke wasn''t the poisonous kind, but it would certainly help him mask his movement. He threw around three smoke grenades towards that direction of that house. Once they stopped shooting to the chimney, Del crawled away from that chimney while avoiding the rifle rounds fired at him. The windows where the gunmen were firing at him had been all covered with white smokes. It should provide enough cover for him to fly above the ground. He flew above the ground andnded on the roof of the building quietly. There was an opportunity for the forced entrance there. He could easily use C4 to create an entrance to that building. He put two blocks of C4 on the roof and took cover behind the chimney. He blew the section of the roof and jumped into the hole. It indeed served well as an element of surprise. His heavy footsteps immediately surprised the whole building. A bunch of heavy footsteps wasing up the stairs. The stairs were at the end of the hallway. Del shot his machine gun in that direction. The armor-piercing high-explosive round immediately turned the bodies of his enemies into shredded meat. 7.62x54 mmR rounds were more violent than he initially thought. He immediately kicked one of the doors on the hallway of that floor. He opened that door and found one girl who was chained into the bed. She was only wearing underwear that was tattered. In that cold kind of weather, Del felt sorry for her. "Girl, are you ok?" Del grabbed a bolt cutter from his backpack and cut the chain. "Stay here. I''lle backter." The girl just replied with a nod as he left that room. He deduced immediately that this building was some sort of trafficking building to sell girls and women. Damn, what the hell was going on in here? Del thought that Ilbistirum was free from this kind of shit. It turned out that he was dead wrong about it. Del kicked another door, and this time, one of the vers took one of the ves as a hostage. "Stand back, or she dies!" Del aimed his machine gun at the head of the ver and pulled the trigger. Blood sttered across the entire room. She then approached the girl. "Stay here. I''ll be back soon." Where was the girl that Del was looking for? Was she in the cer or something? Del continued heading towards the second floor of the building by going down the stairs. As he went down, the concentration of enemies was getting thicker and thicker. From every room, one enemy wasing out at the very least. It made him think that there was a spawner inside of each room that spawned vers protecting their merchandise. Del continued searching for that girl. "Damn it, where is she? Why would she go to the toilet alone?" He kicked one of the doors. He killed the ver in that room and searched for a girl. There was no girl. There was only one dead body with a bullet hole in her head. Del was toote to save that girl. He left the room immediately and continued clearing the room. "I''m from TMV, girl. Where the hell are you?" Del shouted. A ver appeared, and he immediately shot the ver. This ve operation might be a part of arger criminal organization in the slump. Del would investigate it furtherter. Right now, the prioritizing should be put to that missing girl. The wooden floor suddenly crumbled below him, and he fell to the first floor. And oh boy, saying that he wasn''t surprised was an understatement. Enemies immediately surrounded him and started shooting at him. Del grabbed his machine gun that fell over and shot back at the enemies. "How¡ª?" It was thest word that came out of the ver''s mouth as his bullet didn''t manage to prate Del''s ballistic armor. Del stood up from the ground, and he took cover behind one of the walls. Del immediately ran to the nearest door. "I''m from the TMV. Where the hell are you, girl?" Del heard a mumbling sound from the nearest room. He immediately opened that room and found the girl that he was looking for. The girl had been cuffed to the bed, but she was fine for the most part. It was just that most of her clothing had been stripped. She was also gagged on her mouth. Del opened the gag and asked her, "Are you from the TMV? I''m Moore, from the 12th grade. Do you need any medical attention?" Del asked. The girl just shook her head and looked at the cuff, instructing Del to cut open the cuff. Del grabbed his bolt cutter, and he cut open the cuff with it. "Stay here. I''ll be back." Del wanted to get out of there asap, but as long as there was someone alive, he couldn''t leave yet. Del wasn''t exactly bringing any radio transmitter. This could be an assessment for him for the future. With a radio transmitter, he would be able to request support from either Anna or Walter. Both would be good, but one of them would be really appreciated right now. Del went back to the second floor to kill the rest of the vers. He opened every single room and killed every single ver that he could see. After that, he returned to the girl he was searching for and asked her, "Where is your clothing? Did they take it away from you?" The girl looked at the footlocker in front of her bed. The footlocker was locked. She might want Del to shoot the footlocker. Del shot the footlocker with his PKP and opened it. Inside, there was the TMV clothing that the girl previously wore. Why would the ver put those clothes there? Del had zero ideas. "Wear the clothes. We should be getting out of here soon," Del said. The girl just nodded, and Del walked out of the room to give the girl some privacy. Del put his machine gun on his shoulder and waited until the girl came out of the room. Now, he was thinking about what he should do with the other girls upstairs. They were also a victim, but they weren''t a part of TMV or academy. Still, Del wanted to rescue them. Perhaps, calling the authorities would be a great idea, but where''s the phone he could use? As he was thinking, the girl came out of the room with her uniform back in her body. Del asked her, "Do you know where I can ask for the police?" "Just use the telephone at the entrance. I think I find one there." Del walked to the telephone that was located right next to the entrance door. Del picked up the telephone and put it on his ears. He put his finger on the dial and rotated it to the emergency number. But as he rotated the dial, a shout came from the door. "ONE TWO THREE BREACH!" The door fell to the ground, followed by many military-looking people holding SMG and aimed it at Del. Who were they? Were they with the military? Or were they from the academy? Del didn''t know. "Get down on the ground!" Del got down on the ground to avoid getting in trouble. As he expected, the military immediately cuffed him, but it was definitely better than getting shot. Del heard heavy footsteps of peopleing in. He took a peek at those iing soldiers. Some of them were from the academybat-oriented ss.. One of them was Anna holding her AK-74M. It was rather surprising Chapter 135 - Debriefing "You are really expecting me to believe that you just identally shut down a trafficking ring? To be frank, I do believe it, but the incident is too suddenly that to believe that it was an ident is rather hard, if you get my drift." Anna, Del, and Aveline were in the student council office. Anna sat down on the chair in front of Aveline''s desk. The desk was big and filled with files that stacked very high. Aveline was holding a pen while writing on a piece of paper. Many papers were waiting for her pen to write upon. Most of them were proposals. Others were reports from the security division. Anna and Del were there to present the case as witnesses, and Aveline''s job was to listen to his exnation, especially Del''s exnation. After all, Del was the person that figured what was happening and the person that took action. "More or less, that''s what happened." "I see, it looks like your skills are more useful than I previously expected, Del Moore." "Hey, what can I do? It''s not like I can leave the girl alone and let her disappear next week, it''s just not my style," Del said. "Still, it meant that you are very capable of dealing with tasks at hand. For that regard, don''t you think that the security division would be perfect for you?" "No." Del refused straightly. Security division would be too much for him. Mainly because he knew that he would be told to do wet work for free and that was not something that he wanted to do all along. If it was morally unquestionable wet work, he would have done it for free anyhow, even if he wasn''t a part of the security division. Of course, the next question that came out of Aveline''s mouth would be, "Why?" "I know what you want, but I''m not sure whether I want to do what you want," Del said. "Can you even read my mind?" "Why would you need me in the security division in the first ce? I meant Anna is adequate for the current situation unless you have something else in your mind. In that case, I''d rather not join the security division." Del insisted. "Interesting..." Aveline sipped her tea, thinking about what she should do. She then gave Del a file, a file containing multiple pictures in ck and white. The pictures spoke many words, those who were preferred not to be said. The folder had ssified stamped on top of it, alongside with a logo of intelligence agencies, the internal security, to be exact. Now, why would a file like that end up in Aveline''s hand, Del had no idea, but it might be useful. The file was the report of the human trafficking in slumps. Several pictures suggested that some of the victims were students of that academy. Del had an idea that this was something that he needed to solve. The pictures were gruesome as well. A girlid down on the ground with a knife slitted on her neck. The body was found in the sewer with rats eating it. There was another picture, a picture of a window. Behind the window was a girl, seemingly screaming for help as several men were approaching him from behind. The rest was more or less the same. The content of the file was obvious. The fact that it was given to him was obvious too. Aveline wanted Del to solve the problem, or at least, find the root cause of the problem. "You want me to do this wet work? I''ll be willing to do it myself, but again, why?" "One person will get less attention than a group, a group will get less attention than two groups, and so on. Do you get my point, Del?" "Do you really think that I can pull this off without getting any meaningful attention? How? I''m just a teenager, same as you, same as Anna, same as the rest of the students. You shouldn''t overestimate the realm of my ability." "Yes," she said, "But again, you''re better than the security division in this regard." It was true, he was better than the security division. Still, he needed resources to search for clues and leads. Del doubted that Walter would be enough, he needed an ally from the intelligence services to get to the root of this problem. "I need backup on this one, do you have any contact in the intelligence?" "I have some. Who do you need?" "Someone that is rtively open. I want someone who doesn''t keep too many secrets from me," Del said. "Why don''t you use your contact?" Aveline didn''t have any idea on what kind of contact that Del had, but Del response was rather expected, "No, she can''t use her power like that. She might work with intelligences, but she isn''t that generous with me." Aveline just nodded. Anna just sat down in the chair, quietly, as if she was invisible. There was a degree of truth there, it was useful to get Information from two people talking without any interference. She was busy with writing her report for the head of the security division about the trafficking ring that Del just identally destroyed with his own hands. A report was a fully written document filled with the details of the operation and the possible motive of the operation. Basically, she assessed the amount of dead bodies, the amount of possible hostages, and so on, and so on. To make it worse, all of it should be handwritten with a pen rather than typed with a typewriter. Not a waste of time, but it was rather a formality. It required to be handwritten so anyone that wrote it would be responsible for any disinformation written on it. Basically, it was an attempt to minimize report forgery using the same temte signature from one person. A good approach, to be honest. "Anna, are you there?" Del waved his hand in front of her face, "I want to ask something about security division." "Shoot." "Say, if I call you using my radio transceiver, will your groupe to help me?" "Perhaps? If you have enough trust with them, I think convincing them won''t be an issue. Do they trust you, though?" "That''s quite hard. Did you say something nice about me?" Del asked. "I have, but some of them were saying you are too entitled to enroll into the program." "Say what they want, it''s not like I give a damn to them." "Anyway, if it''s school rted, I think I can convince them," Anna said. "That''s logistic side solved." Aveline crossed her hands, knowing that one thing had been solved. The next thing that needed to be solved was the intelligence side of the n which needed to be evaluated as soon as possible. "Intelligence is still a problem, huh?" "Yeah. C''mon, convince your contact to help. We don''t need too much info. We''re taking down criminal organization here, not a terrorist organization." "Fair enough. I''ll call her and see what I can find about the slump. In the meantime, I want ess to all of the files that the security division keeps." "It can be set up fairly easy. Anything else, Del?" "Yeah, I also need Anna if I need her, do you mind?" "Nah, I don''t mind. In fact, it''s better for her to apany you if the need arises." "Good, is there anything else that I can do for you?" "Nah," Del stood up from the chair, "I don''t think I need anything else." He picked up the file from the table. He would take a better look at itter when he had the chance. For now, he just wanted to go home and consult Walter for his next move. After all, anything required Walter''s agreement, even a basic action like that would require an agreement. Nevertheless, it made full sense. Del was practically owned by him and any demand from Walter should be prioritized. The question was, would he be able to convince him that his task was important or not? "And Del!" Aveline stopped her just when Del touched the door know with his hand. Why would she need to stop him in the first ce? It was not even a necessity for him. "What?" Del asked her. "Be careful, ok?" Aveline said. "Why would you need to tell me that? Of course I''ll be careful. If not, I wouldn''t even be in here, don''t you think?" Del opened the door and left the room. Anna was still have to finish her report before she could leave the room. Nevertheless, Anna could finish it up by herself. She only needed a little push from Aveline and she would be done in no time. For Del though, it meant he would need to endure a long investigation into the trafficking ring.. Hopefully, it would be worth it at the end of the day. Chapter 136 - Updated Later {Updated Later} "You are really expecting me to believe that you just identally shut down a trafficking ring? To be frank, I do believe it, but the incident is too suddenly that to believe that it was an ident is rather hard, if you get my drift." Anna, Del, and Aveline were in the student council office. Anna sat down on the chair in front of Aveline''s desk. The desk was big and filled with files that stacked very high. Aveline was holding a pen while writing on a piece of paper. Many papers were waiting for her pen to write upon. Most of them were proposals. Others were reports from the security division. Anna and Del were there to present the case as witnesses, and Aveline''s job was to listen to his exnation, especially Del''s exnation. After all, Del was the person that figured what was happening and the person that took action. "More or less, that''s what happened." "I see, it looks like your skills are more useful than I previously expected, Del Moore." "Hey, what can I do? It''s not like I can leave the girl alone and let her disappear next week, it''s just not my style," Del said. "Still, it meant that you are very capable of dealing with tasks at hand. For that regard, don''t you think that the security division would be perfect for you?" "No." Del refused straightly. Security division would be too much for him. Mainly because he knew that he would be told to do wet work for free and that was not something that he wanted to do all along. If it was morally unquestionable wet work, he would have done it for free anyhow, even if he wasn''t a part of the security division. Of course, the next question that came out of Aveline''s mouth would be, "Why?" "I know what you want, but I''m not sure whether I want to do what you want," Del said. "Can you even read my mind?" "Why would you need me in the security division in the first ce? I meant Anna is adequate for the current situation unless you have something else in your mind. In that case, I''d rather not join the security division." Del insisted. "Interesting..." Aveline sipped her tea, thinking about what she should do. She then gave Del a file, a file containing multiple pictures in ck and white. The pictures spoke many words, those who were preferred not to be said. The folder had ssified stamped on top of it, alongside with a logo of intelligence agencies, the internal security, to be exact. Now, why would a file like that end up in Aveline''s hand, Del had no idea, but it might be useful. The file was the report of the human trafficking in slumps. Several pictures suggested that some of the victims were students of that academy. Del had an idea that this was something that he needed to solve. The pictures were gruesome as well. A girlid down on the ground with a knife slitted on her neck. The body was found in the sewer with rats eating it. There was another picture, a picture of a window. Behind the window was a girl, seemingly screaming for help as several men were approaching him from behind. The rest was more or less the same. The content of the file was obvious. The fact that it was given to him was obvious too. Aveline wanted Del to solve the problem, or at least, find the root cause of the problem. "You want me to do this wet work? I''ll be willing to do it myself, but again, why?" "One person will get less attention than a group, a group will get less attention than two groups, and so on. Do you get my point, Del?" "Do you really think that I can pull this off without getting any meaningful attention? How? I''m just a teenager, same as you, same as Anna, same as the rest of the students. You shouldn''t overestimate the realm of my ability." "Yes," she said, "But again, you''re better than the security division in this regard." It was true, he was better than the security division. Still, he needed resources to search for clues and leads. Del doubted that Walter would be enough, he needed an ally from the intelligence services to get to the root of this problem. "I need backup on this one, do you have any contact in the intelligence?" "I have some. Who do you need?" "Someone that is rtively open. I want someone who doesn''t keep too many secrets from me," Del said. "Why don''t you use your contact?" Aveline didn''t have any idea on what kind of contact that Del had, but Del response was rather expected, "No, she can''t use her power like that. She might work with intelligences, but she isn''t that generous with me." Aveline just nodded. Anna just sat down in the chair, quietly, as if she was invisible. There was a degree of truth there, it was useful to get Information from two people talking without any interference. She was busy with writing her report for the head of the security division about the trafficking ring that Del just identally destroyed with his own hands. A report was a fully written document filled with the details of the operation and the possible motive of the operation. Basically, she assessed the amount of dead bodies, the amount of possible hostages, and so on, and so on. To make it worse, all of it should be handwritten with a pen rather than typed with a typewriter. Not a waste of time, but it was rather a formality. It required to be handwritten so anyone that wrote it would be responsible for any disinformation written on it. Basically, it was an attempt to minimize report forgery using the same temte signature from one person. A good approach, to be honest. "Anna, are you there?" Del waved his hand in front of her face, "I want to ask something about security division." "Shoot." "Say, if I call you using my radio transceiver, will your groupe to help me?" "Perhaps? If you have enough trust with them, I think convincing them won''t be an issue. Do they trust you, though?" "That''s quite hard. Did you say something nice about me?" Del asked. "I have, but some of them were saying you are too entitled to enroll into the program." "Say what they want, it''s not like I give a damn to them." "Anyway, if it''s school rted, I think I can convince them," Anna said. "That''s logistic side solved." Aveline crossed her hands, knowing that one thing had been solved. The next thing that needed to be solved was the intelligence side of the n which needed to be evaluated as soon as possible. "Intelligence is still a problem, huh?" "Yeah. C''mon, convince your contact to help. We don''t need too much info. We''re taking down criminal organization here, not a terrorist organization." "Fair enough. I''ll call her and see what I can find about the slump. In the meantime, I want ess to all of the files that the security division keeps." "It can be set up fairly easy. Anything else, Del?" "Yeah, I also need Anna if I need her, do you mind?" "Nah, I don''t mind. In fact, it''s better for her to apany you if the need arises." "Good, is there anything else that I can do for you?" "Nah," Del stood up from the chair, "I don''t think I need anything else." He picked up the file from the table. He would take a better look at itter when he had the chance. For now, he just wanted to go home and consult Walter for his next move. After all, anything required Walter''s agreement, even a basic action like that would require an agreement. Nevertheless, it made full sense. Del was practically owned by him and any demand from Walter should be prioritized. The question was, would he be able to convince him that his task was important or not? "And Del!" Aveline stopped her just when Del touched the door know with his hand. Why would she need to stop him in the first ce? It was not even a necessity for him. "What?" Del asked her. "Be careful, ok?" Aveline said. "Why would you need to tell me that? Of course I''ll be careful. If not, I wouldn''t even be in here, don''t you think?" Del opened the door and left the room. Anna was still have to finish her report before she could leave the room. Nevertheless, Anna could finish it up by herself. She only needed a little push from Aveline and she would be done in no time. For Del though, it meant he would need to endure a long investigation into the trafficking ring.. Hopefully, it would be worth it at the end of the day. Chapter 137 - Intel "You''ve been busy, I guess?" The entiremand table was littered with pictures that were interconnected to each other using tape. Those pictures were the pictures taken from the reconnaissance that Del previously did in the slum. The day was getting darker. Anna had missed the early party. Walter and Del had surrounded themand table. They were connecting the dots, or rather, they were observing the pictures and saw every single possible opportunity. "These are some nice pictures. What did you use to take these? A high-tech camera?" "Kinda, anyway, tell me something about these pictures. All of these are the pictures that I took from any building that looked suspicious to me. Anything that caught your attention? Do you think there is something suspicious? Tell me." "You know what they said Del, if everything looks suspicious, you''ll think everyone is a viin. What is the empire doing in here, by the way?" "Huh?" Del took pictures of buildings, not imperial soldiers. But hold on, if Walter said something, he must had known something, right? He was a part of the special force, after all, information was his main tool, and his skill as amando. "This man." Walter pointed at one of the pictures, a picture in which there was a building with windows. However, a person was standing in the window, he was smoking a cigarette. It was a rtively young demon. He didn''t look important at all. "Who is this man?" "Bakker Van Bosch, otherwise known as Recker in the underground world. His track record is rather questionable, mainly because there is no evidence of his doings with the imperial government. The traces either had gone cold or became too insignificant to be a reliable source." "Such as?" "The sources that we found are either dead or missing. Bottom line is, this guy is a snake. DO you want to know what we suspect him of doing?" "Sure." "He is mainly known as a smuggler, mainly smuggling people, drugs, bombs, you name it. Anything that can ruin the federal government, this guy has it. Imperial can be med for everything. This guy smuggles schrs that tricks university students to create protest against the government, chaos in the government, basically, one of the well-known troublemaker." "Can we kill him?" "Ah, that''s the hard part. One thing for sure, he''s one of the protected kinds. You know what they call him, the anti-war activist. Getting killed is one of his goals, he wants instabilities or anything that will lower public support for the military. As you know, we are pretty much having trouble in that regard." "Ok, so the troublemaker can''t be killed. What is he doing in here, though? You said he is mainly an anti-war activist, but why would he visit a town in the middle of nowhere?" "Probably smuggling something important, or looking for something important, I don''t know. Del, be careful with this guy, this person might be looking like an angel, but he is really an evil within. He might preach about the evil that the military had done, but don''t be fooled, this guy only wants less and less support on the military." "Won''t everyone mark him as a traitor if he does that?" "You don''t get it, do you? Del, students are idealists for most of the time, maybe some of them aren''t, but most of them are. Their goal is good, wanting to advocate for peace and all, but this man will use that view to manipte the young people," "Rotting from the inside¡­" "Exactly." Ok, so there was an inside agent inside of the suspected trafficking ring, but why he be relevant? If he got caught, it would be a thrust to the chest to the imperial side. He would be smart enough not to involve himself in something like that, unless¡­ "This man has a hidden agenda. I''m sure of it, but what is the agenda? What is he trying to achieve?" "I''m not so sure about this too, Del. This is your job to investigate it. Make sure that you don''t expose yourself too much. Remember Del, this man won''t get his hands dirty, you can''t catch him without any reason." "I can do anything as long as I don''t kill him, right?" "Wrong, I don''t want you toy your hand in this guy. I don''t even want you to touch him, even slight harm will get you in trouble. Best to stay away, this person in untouchable, just investigate what you need to investigate and be done with it." "Aren''t we trying to kill two birds with one stone?" "Not really, this is your idea. I''m just telling you what I know. Remember, Del, your main goal is the informant from the imperial that somehow stuck on your academy. Retrieve the spell, and make the informant disappear." "Got it, but I want the archive from the council and the security division. That thing might lead me to anything suspicious." "If you think it will help, so be it. I don''t care. Just don''t get caught. This informant will kill you if there''s an opportunity. Remember, Del, the only reason why she hadn''t killed you is that there isn''t an opportunity yet." "Basically, I to our informant is like Recker to us." "True." "Well, we have a lot of work then," Del said. "Anna,e over here, I want to task you with something." "What''s the task?" "Snoop around for a bit. I want you to read the archive." Anna''s expression immediately showed dissatisfaction. "And who am I should be looking for, to be precise?" "Anyone that sounds suspicious. You just have to photograph it to me, and we''ll be done with it." "Anything in particr that I should be looking for?" "Anyone that isn''t from Ilbistirum Federation. You need to look for students like that. And also, you might want to look for students whose archive has gone missing. We are not sure about what we should be looking for, to be honest, we''re going to take the risk on this one." "I see." Anna went for the coffee machine. Walter went out of the building, he felt that he had told everything he had known. Now, it was Del''s job to figure our their next action. He could start by asking for more information. However, doing that without raising any attention would be rather difficult. That would need a very abnormal approach on this one. "You know, should we buy someone?" Anna red at Del. "You nuts/" "No, I''m not nuts. We''re freeing those people their captives by buying them. We would also get closer to the vers." "But where should we put them? Forget that idea, Del. It''s too hard." "What we should do then? Ask everyone around for intel and information, you know it doesn''t work like that. We need to be sophisticated, and so far, everything that we have done only given us more and more attention." "What''s on your mind, then?" "Put a tracker one every single trafficker that we can find. We will ambush themter. This is the safest method so far. No one will miss them, but we need to be incognito on this one." "Which means?" "No trace. No bullet. Every single kidnapping must be quiet and randomized. We won''t use our regr military uniform either. We''ll just use a ck shirt and ck clothing while concealing our face with a bva. It should work just fine." "Great idea. That should be working better. Recker wouldn''t mess with us either if he doesn''t know who is kidnapping his men. However, we also need to be more randomized with our methods. We can''t interrogate them here, nor lead them here. Any solution for that?" "The mountain in the north might have a solution for us. There might be a cave or something that we can use. There is also a forest, right? We can use that ce to interrogate our prisoners. After that, we can kill him." "Anna, I have a suggestion." "What''s the suggestion?" "Let''s use an insignia of a rival group when kidnapping them. They can be tricked to believe that theirpetitors are attacking them. With that, we can create chaos in the trafficking ring, and hid our identity at once." "That''s a great idea, Del. But I will leave that to you, it''s your suggestion which means that it''s your job. Anyway, Del, you need to be careful." Anna sipped on her coffee. Del just nodded. He might have something that he could use in that picture. There might be an insignia of a group or something. Anything that will point their doings to another criminal group would be great. They couldn''t act as a contractor since it would immediately expose them. Del kept searching the pictures and he found one symbol that might help him. The symbol of a criminal organization, most likely. Heck, if it was a symbol of a cake store, he wouldn''t care either.. As long as it didn''t point back to them, it would be fine. Chapter 138 - Moving [Changed Later} "You''ve been busy, I guess?" The entiremand table was littered with pictures that were interconnected to each other using tape. Those pictures were the pictures taken from the reconneissance that Del previously did in the slum. The day was getting darker. Anna had missed the early party. Walter and Del had surrounded themand table. They were connecting the dots, or rather, they were observing the pictures and saw every single possible opportunity. "These are some nice pictures, what did you use to take these? A high-tech camera?" "Kinda, anyway, tell me something about these pictures. All of these are the pictures that I took from any building that looked suspicious to me. Anything that caught any attention? Do you think there is something suspicious? Tell me." "You know what they said Del, if everything looks suspicious, you''ll thing everyone is a viin. What is the empire doing in here by the way?" "Huh?" Del took pictures of building, not imperial soldiers? But hold on, if Walter said something, he must had known something, right? He was a part of the special force, after all, information was his main tool, and his skill as amando. "This man." Walter pointed at one of the pictures, a pictures in which there was a building with windows. However, a person was standing in the window, he was smoking a cigarette. It was a rtively young demon. He didn''t look important at all. "Who is this man?" "Bakker Van Bosch, otherwise known as Recker in the underground world. His track record is rather questionable, mainly because there is no evidence of his doings with the imperial government. The traces either had gone cold, or became too insignificant to be a reliable source." "Such as?" "The sources that we found are either dead or missing. Bottom line is, this guy is a snake. DO you want to know what we suspect him of doing?" "Sure." "He is mainly known as a smuggler, mainly smuggling people, drugs, bombs, you name it. Anything that can ruin the federal government, this guy has it. Imperial can be med for everything. This guy smuggles schors that tricks university students to create protest against the government, chaos in the government, basically, one of the well-known troublemaker." "Can we kill him?" "Ah, that''s the hard part. One thing for sure, he''s one of the protected kinds. You know what they call him, the anti-war activist. Getting killed is one of his goals, he wants instabilities, or anything that will lower public support for the military. As you know, we are pretty much having trouble in that regards." "Ok, so the troublemaker can''t be killed. What is he doing in here, though? You said he is mainly an anti-war acitivist, but why would he visit a town in the middle of nowhere?" "Probably smuggling something important, or looking for something important, I don''t know. Del, be careful with this guy, this person might be looking like an angel, but he is really an evil within. He might preach about the evil that the military had done, but don''t be fooled, this guy only wants less and less support on the military." "Won''t everyone mark him as a traitor if he does that?" "You don''t get it, do you? Del, students are idealists for most of the time, maybe some of them aren''t, but most of them are. Their goal is good, wanting to advocate for peace and all, but this man will use that view to manipte the young people," "Rotting from the inside¡­" "Exactly." Ok, so there was an inside agent inside of the suspected trafficking ring, but why he be relevant? If he got caught, it would be a thrust to the chest to the imperial side. He would be smart enough not to involve himself in something like that, unless¡­ "This man has a hidden agenda. I''m sure of it, but what is agenda? What is he trying to achieve?" "I''m not so sure about this too, Del. This is your job to investigate about it. Make sure that you don''t expose yourself too much. Remember Del, this man won''t get his hands dirty, you can''t catch him without any reason." "I can do anything as long as I don''t kill him, right?" "Wrong, I don''t want you toy your hand in this guy. I don''t even want you to touch him, even a slight harm will get you in trouble. Best to stay away, this person in untouchable, just investigate what you need to investigate and be done with it." "Aren''t we trying to kill two birds with one stone?" "Not really, this is your idea. I''m just telling what I know. Remember, Del, your main goal is the informant from the imperial that somehow stuck on your academy. Retrieve the spell, and make the informant disappear." "Got it, but I want the archive from the council and the security division. That thing might lead me to anything suspicious." "If you think it will help, so be it. I don''t care. Just don''t get caught. This informant will kill you if there''s an opporunity. Remember, Del, the only reason why she hadn''t killed you is because there isn''t an opportunity yet." "Basically, me to our informant is like Recker to us." "True." "Well, we have a lot of work then," Del said. "Anna,e over here, I want to task you with something." "What''s the task?" "Snoop around for a bit. I want you to read the archive." Anna''s expression immediately showed dssatisfaction. "And who am I should be loooking for, to be precise?" "Anyone that sounds suspicious. You just have to photograph it to me, and we''ll be done with it." "Anything in particr that I should be looking for?" "Anyone that isn''t from Ilbistirum Federation. You need to look for students like that. And also, you might want to look for students whose archive has gone missing. We are not sure about what we should be looking for, to be honest, we''re going to take the risk on this one." "I see." Anna went for the coffee machine. Walter went out of the building, he felt that he had told everything he had known. Now, it was Del''s job to figure our their next action. He could start by asking for more informations. However, doing that without raising any attention would be rather difficult. That would need a very abnormal approach on this one. "You know, should we buy someone?" Anna red at Del. "You nuts/" "No, I''m not nuts. We''re freeing those people their captives by buying them. We would also get closer to the vers." "But where should we put them? Forget that idea, Del. It''s too hard." "What we should do then? Ask everyone around for intel and information, you know it doesn''t work like that. We need to be sophisticated, and so far, everything that we have done only given us more and more attention." "What''s on your mind, then?" "Put a tracker one every single trafficker that we can find. We will ambush themter. This is the safest method so far. No one will miss them, but we need to be incognito on this one." "Which means?" "No trace. No bullet. Every single kidnapping must be quiet and randomized. We won''t use our regr military uniform either. We''ll just use ck shirt and ck clothing while concealing our face with bva. It should work just fine." "Great idea. That should be working better. Recker wouldn''t mess with us either if he doesn''t know who is kidnapping his men. However, we also need to be more randomized with our methods. We can''t interrogate them here, nor leading them here. Any solution for that?" "The mountain in the north might have a solution for us. There might be a cave or something that we can use. There is also a forest, right? We can use that ce to interrogate our prisoner. After that, we can kill him." "Anna, I have a suggestion." "What''s the suggestion?" "Let''s use an insignia of a rival group when kidnapping them. They can be tricked to believe that theirpetitors are attacking them. With that, we can create chaos in the trafficking ring, and hid our identity at once." "That''s a great idea, Del. But I will leave that to you, it''s your suggestion which means that it''s your job. Anyway, Del, you need to be careful." Anna sipped on her coffee. Del just nodded. He might have something that he could use in that picture. There might be an insignia of a group or something. Anything that will point their doings to another criminal group would be great. They couldn''t act as a contractor since it would immediately expose them. Del kept searching the pictures and he found one symbol that might help him. The symbol of a criminal organization, most likely. Heck, if it was a symbol of a cake store, he wouldn''t care either.. As long as it didn''t point back to them, it would be fine. Chapter 139 - Options Cassandra sipped on her coffee. Walter was outside of the cabin, smoking. Cassandra came there as fast as he could with the help of Hubert. He was alive, unsurprisingly, but well, Del wouldn''t ask about that. He was skillful, after all. He was d that Cassandra came to the "So, you wanted information about Van Bosch? Why? Do you want to assassinate him or something?" "No, more like, I want to know how to cause a massive amount of damage to his operation and destroy his reputation. Walter has filled me with its minor details, but I need more about it. He is an anti-war activist, and that was it, I need more. Do you have anything in particr that will piss him off without touching even an inch of his hair?" "There are a lot of options. Which one that you want to choose?" "Excuse me? Options? What did I miss?" "Well, Del, sometimes, us, intelligence agencies, keeps three of four archives about someone. This person, Van Bosch aka Recker, has been under our microscope for a while. Of course, we have our own n for him. Don''t worry, we have calcted the n that will cause the least coteral damage." "Coteral damage, huh?" "Yeah." "Can we just nuke them?" Anna said from across the room. "NO!" Del shouted back. "What is nuke?" Cassandra asked, but she continued where she left off, "Anyway, which one that you want to choose first? There are a lot of options. Each of the option is equally difficult, but the order of doing it is up to you. It will also get progressively hard since Van Bosch will bolster his security more and more." "Let''s start with removal. Do you have anyone that can be removed?" "In fact, I do." Cassandra opened her briefcase and gave Del a file containing the details of the target. He opened the file. The first description was the picture of the target, as usual, and the routines. His name was Andrea. The next page contained the rtives and connections that this person had. He was the current representative in the town''s council right now. In fact, he was the leader of this town council. No wonder why Van Bosch was able to move around so freely without any care in the world. His ally was pretty much controlling the government. Cassandra was wise, or rather, the intelligence agencies were wise to target this person first before going for the main deal. Even if Del managed to arrest him, it wouldn''t matter, Andrea would immediately release him back to the street and Del would be put under a forged case. If this was how deep the federal intelligence could dig up, why didn''t the military seed against the imperial military in the first ce? Was it really because the military was so ignorant about the fact that intelligence was the key to winning a war? "So, this Andrea, what''s the connection with Van Bosch?" "Van Bosch is doing wet work for Andrea. In this regard, Van Bosch is the arms and legs of Andrea in this town. Basically, if Andrea doesn''t like you, Van Bosch and his goons would be happy to remove you from existence. Still, everyone, with the exception of intelligence agencies, sees you as a non-existent threat." "So, intelligence agencies have caught its nce at me?" "Of course, the moment you stepped into this country, we have eyes on you. The thing is, you are on our side so we don''t have to worry too much about you. If not, I think someone would have killed you the moment you step into this country." "Ok, ok, let''s get back to the point, I ain''t going to talk about the sixty-nine different ways to kill me. I want the details about Andrea. So, this is his routine, huh? It''s very linear, to be honest, I''m surprised that none has tried to take his life." "None has tried because we have bigger concerns right now. Anyway, if you choose to ept this job, please be careful, if you fail, the consequence will be way too much for you to handle. I suggest you use something explosive. Something that will kill him in one shot." "For that, I have a lot of tools." "NUKE!" "NO!" "Again, what is a nuke?" "Irrelevant. About Andrea, I want to know who will avenge his death. As you know, there aren''t that many people around here that own something that can go boom boom. We need a distraction, a major one, I want something that can be connected." "You need to raid the military armory, Del. Still, you might want to reconsider that n first. I suggest that you don''t do that in this n," Cassandra said. "Military armory? What? Do you want me to be on the top of the most-wanted list or something? That would be a distraction, but I''m not going to do it. I will shoot him away from several kilometers away," Del said. "Ok, that''s quite a good n. Do you want to hear the other options first, though?" "Sure, throw it away, I''ll be happy to listen." "Ok. First is a destruction of a criminal organization headquarter, you need heavy armor and heavy weapons to pull this off. I''ll suggest the thing that you use to escape the guild office in Elbanian." "How much will we find? Will we find a lot of criminals?" "Well, I suppose? Maybe you''ll find fifty to seventeen of them. They usually have a monthly meeting in a mansion north of here. You''ll need a backup too, you can''t do this with just the two of you." "I''ll consider it. Do you have anything else besides those two?" "For now, no." "Why?" "You don''t have enough allies. Still, I heard that our particr friends want to meet you, sooner orter. A little bit of tip though, they usuallye at the most unexpected times, and for the most part, they won''t be nice." "I get it. Still, I prefer if they don''t harm anyone." "Nobody will be harmed but yourself." "Pretty¡­ chilling." "Yeah, don''t worry too much about it though. It''s not like I don''t get anything from them." "Alright. That should be all, I think? Do you want to stay for dinner or do you want to go somewhere?" Del asked. "I''ll leave, for now, I''ll leave the briefcase here, in case you need more details about whatever you want to know. I will return to my hospital," Cassandra put the empty cup on the table. "NIce coffee, by the way." "Thanks." =========================== Back in themand room, they were nning for two things. One was the search of the mysterious person in the academy. The second was the n to kill Andrea, which was quite simple. They only needed to think about what kind of thing that they needed. The option was varied. They could try the ordinary Ko missile for attacking from a stand-off distance, but RPG would also suffice if they wanted to get close and personal to the target. Thinking about it again, perhaps, the best option at this point was an FGM-148 Javelin missileuncher. Albeit expensive, it would be able to punch through an armored vehicle from five kilometers away. They might need more than one of it to make sure that Andrea would be gone forever. Andrea would most likely be in a convoy. Coteral damage would be inexcusable, even from the backing of Salve Group and intelligence agencies to cover their backs. There would be a limit on what was eptable or not. For that, Del would need to assault the convoy in a quiet street. "This should do it." Del marked a road on the edge of the town. "What makes you think this is a perfect road for ambush?" "This is a road to the high-end residential area. Consequentially, this road was also one of the quietest roads that the car mighte through. This is the perfect ambush position, we can wait for them and boom. Everyone would be dead and all would be happy." "Maybe not all, but I get your point," Anna nodded. "Good, if that''s the case, what should we wear? Anything that matches our profile will immediately attract Recker''s attention. We need something that has simrities to this town''s criminal. I''m thinking of robbing one of their uniforms, are you in?" "Sure, but we must look insuspicious, they would be able to tell if we''re fake," Anna said. "We are going to wear face concealment, I''m thinking of a scarf. Perhaps, we also should wear regr clothing," Del suggested. "I agree with that." "Do you have another suggestion?" "Yeah, let me bring something big and powerful." "What do you mean?" "I want to bring an M107 or anything with big caliber." "Hmm, TAC-50, do you like that?" "Sure, although that''s a bolt-action rifle, that should do the job nicely.. And Del, before you ask me, I want to let you know that I think I have a lead on our suspect." Chapter 140 - Suspects Del became intrigued. The suspect should be one of his friends, hopefully. It would make things way easier. However, it would make the risk bigger if he chose the wrong person. It would mean that the end result would be more than awkward. "Tell me more about it." "All of them are currently living on the school dormitory." "Hmm," Del mumbled. It made things a little bit easier, but also increase the stake if thing didn''t go as well as previously nned. "Who are the lucky people? I bet that there is more than one person." "All of the suspects are in the 12th grade." "Go on." "Adam, Aveline, Mira, and Daniel are on the top of the list." "So, the joker, the president, the smooth guy, the brute, and the medic are the suspected people. I''m not going to lie, I''m not surprised. After all, a cave is usually hiding behind a very obvious waterfall. So, what can you tell about these people? Why do you suspect them?" "First of all, Adam, or your desk mate. He and his family are expats from Ilbistirum Empire. The reason why they are moving is because their family is under the threat of closing down theirpany in the empire. They moved here to expand their capital and eventually, decided to stay here." As far as his perspective, the family did have a motive to go to the federation. They escaped from the Ilbistirum government. Still, why Adam of all people? The secret document was telekinesis spell, not exactly something that Adam would be able to use. What if he acted stupid just for the sake of hiding that secret though? Intelligence might underestimate him since it didn''t match the profile about the target, but what if it all were an act? "Adam¡­ Not really the person that I expected, but ok, what''s next?" "Aveline. The student council president. As you know, she is quite talented in magic, which put her under the spotlight for our suspect list. She is also has records in attacking people with magic tracing back all the way to three years ago. Her record was mostly missing for the most part which is why I suspect her." "Did she have a dark past or something?" "I don''t know. It''s up to you to decide, but I''m not sure. This is an abuse of power, but what was the main reason? Does she fear of someone knowing her past?" "Technically, one or two people have its archives hidden deep inside of the security division office. Maybe Aveline is a very high-profile person that even a little leak on her identity would put her under the crosshair of someone else." "I meant, everything that we heard about her is mostly positive. I don''t know what kind of thing that would put that girl under danger. Let''s just say, how strong is she? She was rumored to beat down a gang headquarter on her own, right?" Del asked for confirmation. "Perhaps?" "Ok, ok, the reason why you put her as a suspect is because she doesn''t have any archive for her past. Alright, that should be reasonable enough for me. I''ll investigate herter, but for now, I want to hear the other suspects." "Mira. She is the member of TMV, right? Here''s the caveat, she used to work as a contractor, just like both of us. However, her record isn''t that clean either. ording to this report that the security division kept, she has done several vitions to the terms of services of being a contractor." "Such as?" "Killing of unarmedbatants. One of the reports in 5th of June 1943 suggested that Mira killed a surrenderingbatant due to the dispute with the other contractors. Not stopping there, in 1942, she participated in a militant group before she left." "Former criminal, huh? It looks like some of the things that she said to me isn''t true after all. Anything else that is important, or that was it?" "She was a refugeeing to Ilbistirum Federation in 1940. She worked as a contractor to fulfill her needs before he fully retired in 1944. Basically, she was still a contractor until she left the 11th grade, crazy huh?" "Not as crazy as us, that is for sure, anything else that I should know?" "She scored 10/10 in her marksmanship ss, but she didn''t take the military ss for ''personal'' reasons. I don''t buy into that crap, she has a reason or an enemy in the military ss, but I can''t figure out who it is." "And¡­?" "Did I mention that his parents used to be the part of Ilbistirum Imperial government. Yup, Baron Albert was his father. Her parents were hunted down by the Ilbistirum Imperial government for treasons. All of them are killed, but Mira herself." "Basically, Mira is you?" Both of them had their parents killed. Of course, Anna''s parents were killed by natural cause, idents that were still questioned by Del until this exact moment due to its absurdity. Her father was killed during her duty and somehow, her mother was killed in a traffic ident not so long after. He''d love to call that those things weren''t interconnected, but with only six days of gap between the death of their parents, Del found it hard to believe that it was a mere ident. In fact, it could be a deliberate act of assassination for something that both Anna and Del had no idea about. "Perhaps? I won''t say it." "Alright, Anna, let''s move on to the least expected person, Daniel. Anna, the boy is a true pacifist. He is literally an angel, the leader of TMV. Are you really serious when you said that he is one of our suspects?" "Well, I also thought that at first, but oh boy, his family tree is not really angelic. His father is a traitor from the Ilbistirum Imperial that moved here as a refugee. His mother was killed during his escape. His uncle is searching for his head, his auntie took over his father''s empire." "And the kid himself?" "Used to be smuggling drugs with the help of his uncle. Basically, he''s pretty fucked up." "Alright? Why was his father betraying the Ilbistirum Imperial government? Was it because some dispute?" "No, his father leaked a document containing the secret weapon that the empire is currently developing. I got to say that this weapon itself shouldn''t be taken lightly. The weapon is some type of giant cannon, but I can''t say for sure. The warhead of the cannon is something very explosive." "Gas?" "I don''t know, there isn''t much details." All in all, everyone had their own motivation. The question was, which one of them that had the information that Del was looking for. Adam wasn''t a strong suspect, but he might put up an act to fool everyone, including the intelligence agencies. Aveline was as mysterious as she could be. She didn''t have any history stored in the security division archive and she was one of the mostbat-capable students in that school. The possibbility that she was the one hiding the document was very possible as well. Mira was a former contractor with morally questionable past actions. She also had ties with the imperial government, something that Del didn''t really expect. One thing for sure, though, she wasn''t ying around. She wasbat capable, and her background proved that. She could be the person that hided the document. Andstly, Daniel. The boy was broken. He had a bad past, and he might be in Lumbart Academy to forget all of his past and start a new life. Of course, his past wouldn''t leave him, especially knowing the fact that his uncle was hunting him down. He might be the person that Del was looking for, but he wouldn''t draw the line. Del sighed. Everyone that was close to him had some sort of dark background. He wouldn''t want to destroy his friendship with them, but investigation must be done too. He needed to find more information. Attacking on the wrong person would be severely hazardous. "Damn, this is hard, but well, these people are the potential targets. We will find the information soon, don''t worry about it. We just need to be patient. Perhaps, we can get more information after we take down Van Bosch." "Yeah, that person is connected to the underworld. He might know one thing or two. IF that''s the case, we shouldn''t kill him. We should capture him and interrogate him to demand information. If he didn''t talk, then we make him talk. It''s a sensible n." "I like that, Anna. Anyway, about the assassination. We will be assassinating the Andrea next week. I think we have to give him a time-window first. If we assassinate him now, Van Bosch will be connecting the dots too soon and he willy his eyes upon us. We really don''t want that, right?" "Yeah. I agree.. Don''t worry, I got your back, bro," Anna said. Chapter 141 - News And Gossips News, or rather, gossips. Those were spreading quickly. What kind of gossips though? Well, the kind that Del expected, but he really didn''t expect to blow up that big. Hell, one or two people from thebat-ss starteding to him, giving him an appreciation. Yup, disruptiing a prostitution ring would make him famous. "Dude, you should enter the SD." "No thanks, I''d rather stick with TMV." "With Mira and her goons? Dude, you''ll be missing a lot of stuff." "I won''t. Anna''s still with you all." "Fine, still, our door remains open." And, he left the ssroom. Adam was still looking at him in confusion. Mainly because he expected Del to be an ordinary transfer student, but nope, the reality was far from that. Del had created a name for himself, mainly because of TMV. Well, he needed to postpone some of his n then, he needed to make sure that the news died down. Right now, everyone would have their eyes on him, not really something that he wanted. Especiall when Del was nning to assassinate a member of the government council. His positive reputation might be able to give him an alibi, but he needed to y safe. One wrong move, and it would be fatal. For example, what if Van Bosch decided to raid their house in the name of criminal activity? What if Van Bosch nted a bomb in Lumbart Academy just for the sake of killing them both. The possibbilites were endless here. He would do anything to make sure that Del and Anna disappear if they act too harshly. As a matter of fact, Aveline''s order to take down the trafficking ring would further worsen the situation. It was like putting salt on top of an open wound. It was like putting a bright yellow paint on their head. They just had to wait for someone to take the bounty on their head and call it a day. "Del, what the hell? It was not even a month, and you have taken up the spotlight. Damn, dude, you''re cool." "Thanks, Adam." "Why don''t youe to visit my room sometimes, after all, we''re friends. I might be able to give you something or serve you something." "Your dorm?" "Yup, my dorm. Do you want to visit me sometimes?" "Sure, I''d love to visit. Still, wouldn''t you feel disturbed by my presence, Adam?" "Not at all, man. In fact, I''d love if you visit." Hmm, one opportunity arose here. Investigating Adam room should be easier than investigating the other targets. One, Adam was his closest friend, he was like a brother to him, and vice versa. Maybe snooping around his personal stuff wouldn''t be as hazardous as snooping around Aveline''s personal stuff. Maybe he could do some reasonings if he got caught snooping around Adam''s personal belongings. As long as he didn''t hurt him, it wouldn''t be too serious. Well, let''s just see what Del could do. "I will drop by tomorrow, alright? I have some things to do with TMV after school." "Sure, no problem. Just don''t forget to visit, alright?" "Yeah. Now shut up, the teacher ising." The teacher was approaching from the hallway. The footstep became louder and louder. The first subject was math. Luckily, the teacher was fun, not really the type that would force Del to understand something in just five minutes, but not the type that would give him any leverage either. ============== After school, as usual, TMV was waiting for him to report for duty. He reported the yesterday ident and Daniel praised him, saying that he would be a perfect addition with Mira. Joshua was proud of it as well, knowing that one of the TMV in Lumbart was more than capable inbat. The senior staffs of TMV, Del included due to special circumstances, were having a briefing. The briefing was for deciding add-on rules during volunteering to prevent unexpected circumstances like what had happened previously. Del was there as an advisor. He would be the advisor forst-resort action. He would be the one nning what to do if circumstances like that happened again due to someone disobeying the rules. In that regards, Del agreed to participate in the briefing. "So, Moore, what do you think of yesterday? Anything that you can share with us?" "Thanks, Doc, now, as you all may know, the one that kidnapped one of juniors yesterday is one of the trafficking rings operating in the slums. As far as my assessment goes, these people are most likely to be ex-military. They weren''t bad, but weren''t good enough to be working as a contractor." "How did you manage to survive the ughter? I reckon that there were more than ten people inside of the building, right?" "I had no idea, doc. I didn''t count. They were armed with rifles and SMGs. They were funded by someone, but I had no idea. To break through them, I used heavy armor to repel the bullets and heavier weapon, a machine gun of big caliber." "I see," Joshua nodded, understanding what Del meant. If not for his equipment, he would have died, "Basically, it''s because of your equipment instead of your skill?" "I don''t like if you put it bluntly like that, but yes, I think so. Without the tool, I doubt I''d be able to pull that off, I''m not going to lie." "We might need more security than we previously expected, Doc." "I agree, can we borrow some of the students from thebat-ss, though? I think using a random student would result in more damage than advantages." "I agree," Daniel replied. Del nodded. He then suggested someone, "Can we use my sister? She is a former contractor, just like me and Mira. She might be able to provide an adequate security when we do our volunteering activity." "It sounds sensible. Well, if that''s the case, tell your sisterter then, I will tell her teacher," Joshua said. After briefing about the contingency n, they started thinking for the prevention n. The basic rule was improved. One of the add-on rules was to be apanied at all times when volunteering to prevent any unwanted idents. They volunteering students must also bring their rifles all the time to scare off any low-level criminals. Del agreed with that suggestion on a condition that TMV knew the risk of being attacked by high-level criminal organization. Well, it was not like it was the first time that TMV was attacked out of nowhere. Most of the time, TMV was attacked for its drugs. Yeah, TMV was providing painkillers that could be manufactured into one of the most poisonous substances that anyone could get in the ck market. It was one of the reasons why medicines were handled either by Joshua or by the seniors. "That should be all, I guess?" Danielmented on several new rules that had been created. "I think that should be enough. I can vouch for Del''s opinion as a member of the security." "One more thing, though. What if we suddenly piss someone off during our volunteering activity?" "What do you mean?" Del asked Daniel. "Well, slums are moreplicated than a mere poor area. The slum is territory to different criminal organizations. We always need their permission, of course, by giving tributes, or we will get attacked, again." "Wait, so the reason why TMV can''t do it routinely is because of that?" "Yeah, what do you think? I meant, we are pretty much backed by the government, but they were useless for the most part with the exception of providing funds for us. They didn''t solve the criminal problem, they didn''t solve the health issues, and so on," Danielmented. If they had known that the background of that situation was because of one of the council members in the government was actually one of the prominent members in the trafficking ring, they wouldn''t be that surprised. Still, it was better if they didn''t know about that. It would put them under unnecessary dangers that were certainly far from their caliber. Del would handle it by himself alongside with Anna. There would be no need for TMV to pay tribute anymore and Del would help improve the quality of life of the people in the slum. "Ah, the government isn''t thatpetent, that''s kind of unexpected," Del lied. So far, the only government institutions which hadn''t shed too much negative lights were the intelligence agencies, but there were really keeping their secrets behind of a locked door. Working with Salve Group was the key, but would it unlock the door, though? "Unexpected? Ah, yeah, I forgot that you''re not from around here. Well, they''re not the best people around, but they''re the lesser kind of evil inparison to the Imperial Government. They''re just worst." "I see," Del nodded. "That''s all for today. Thank you foring, I''ll see you all soon next week. Have a nice weekend," Joshua closed the meeting. Everyone left the TMV building. Chapter 142 - Updated Later Cassandra sipped on her coffee. Walter was outside of the cabin, smoking. Cassandra came there as fast as he could with the help of Hubert. He was alive, unsurprisingly, but well, Del wouldn''t ask about that. He was skillful, after all. He was d that Cassandra came to the "So, you wanted information about Van Bosch? Why? Do you want to assassinate him or something?" "No, more like, I want to know how to cause a massive amount of damage to his operation and destroy his reputation. Walter has filled me with its minor details, but I need more about it. He is an anti-war activist, and that was it, I need more. Do you have anything in particr that will piss him off without touching even an inch of his hair?" "There are a lot of options. Which one that you want to choose?" "Excuse me? Options? What did I miss?" "Well, Del, sometimes, us, intelligence agencies, keeps three of four archives about someone. This person, Van Bosch aka Recker, has been under our microscope for a while. Of course, we have our own n for him. Don''t worry, we have calcted the n that will cause the least ctteral damage." "Coteral damage, huh?" "Yeah." "Can we just nuke em?" Anna said from across the room. "NO!" Del shouted back. "What is nuke?" Cassandra asked, but she continued where she left off, "Anyway, which one that you want to choose first? There are a lot of options. Each of the option is equally difficult, but the order of doing it is up to you. It will also get progressively hard since Van Bosch will bolster his security more and more." "Let''s start with removal. Do you have anyone that can be removed?" "In fact, I do." Cassandra opened her briefcase and gave Del a file containing the details of the target. He opened the file. The first description was the picture of the target, as usual, and the routines. His name was Andrea. The next page contained the rtives and connections that this person had. He was the current representative in the town''s council right now. In fact, he was the leader of this town council. No wonder why Van Bosch was able to move around so freely without any care in the world. His ally was pretty much controlling the government. Cassandra was wise, or rather, the intelligence agencies were wise to target this person first before going for the main deal. Even if Del managed to arrest him, it wouldn''t matter, Andrea would immediately release him back to the street and Del would be put under a forged case. If this was how deep the federal intelligences could dig up, why didn''t the military seed against the imperial military in the first ce? Was it really because the military was so ignorant about the fact that intelligence was the key of winning a war? "So, this Andrea, what''s the connection with Van Bosch?" "Van Bosch is doing wet work for Andrea. In this regard, Van Bosch is the arms and legs of Andrea in this town. Basically, if Andrea doesn''t like you, Van Bosch and his goons would be happy to remove you from existence. Still, everyone, with the exception of intelligence agencies, see you as a non-existent threat." "So, intelligence agencies have caught its nce at me?" "Of course, the moment you stepped into this country, we have eyes on you. The thing is, you are on our side so we don''t have to worry too much about you. If not, I think someone would have killed you the moment you step into this country." "Ok, ok, let''s get back to the point, I ain''t going to talk about the sixty-nine different ways to kill me. I want the details about Andrea. So, this is his routine, huh? It''s very linear to be honest, I''m surprised that none has tried to take his life." "None has tried because we have bigger concerns right now. Anyway, if you choose to ept this job, please be careful, if you fail, the consequence will be way too much for you to handle. I suggest you use something explosive. Something that will kill him in one shot." "For that, I have a lot of tools." "NUKE!" "NO!" "Again, what is a nuke?" "Irrelevant. About Andrea, I want to know who will avenge for his death. As you know, there aren''t that many people around here that owns something that can go boom boom. We need a distraction, a major one, I want something that can be connected." "You need to raid the military armory, Del. Still, you might want to reconsider that n first. I suggest that you don''t do that in this n," Cassandra said. "Military armory? What? Do you want me to be on the top of most-wanted list or something? That would be a distraction, but I''m not going to do it. I will shoot him away from several kilometers away," Del said. "Ok, that''s quite a good n. Do you want to hear the other options first, though?" "Sure, throw it away, I''ll be happy to listen." "Ok. First is a destruction of a criminal organization headquarter, you need heavy armor and heavy weapons to pull this off. I''ll suggest the thing that you use to escape the guild office in Elbanian." "How much will we find? Will we find a lot of criminals?" "Well, I suppose? Maybe you''ll find fifty to seventeen of them. They usually have monthly meeting in a mansion north of here. You''ll need a backup too, you can''t do this with just the two of you." "I''ll consider it. Do you have anything else besides that two?" "For now, no." "Why?" "You don''t have enough allies. Still, I heard that our particr friends want to meet you, sooner orter. Little bit of tips though, they usuallye at the most unexpected times, and for the most part, they won''t be nice." "I get it. Still, I prefer if they don''t harm anyone." "Nobody will be harmed but yourself." "Pretty¡­ chilling." "Yeah, don''t worry too much about it though. It''s not like I don''t get anything from them." "Alright. That should be all, I think? Do you want to stay for dinner or do you want to go somewhere?" Del asked. "I''ll leave for now, I''ll leave the briefcase here, in case you need more details about whatever you want to know. I will return to my hospital," Cassandra put the empty cup on the table. "NIce coffee, by the way." "Thanks." =========================== Back in themand room, they were nning for two things. One was the search of the mysterious person in the academy. Second was the n to kill Andrea, which was quite simple. They only needed to think what kind of thing that they needed. Option was varied. They could try the ordinary Ko missile for attacking from a stand-off distance, but RPG would also suffice if they wanted to get close and personal to the target. Thinking about it again, perhaps, the best option at this point was an FGM-148 Javelin missileuncher. Albeit expensive, it would be able to punch through an armored vehicle from five kilometers away. They might need more than one of it to make sure that Andrea would be gone forever. Andrea would most likely be in a convoy. Coteral damage would be inexcuseable, even from the backing of Salve Group and intelligence agencies to cover their backs. There would be a limit on what was eptable or not. For that, Del would need to assault the convoy in a quiet street. "This should do it." Del marked a road on the edge of the town. "What makes you think this is a perfect road for ambush?" "This is a road to the high-end residential area. Consequentially, this road was also one of the quietest road that the car mighte through. This is the perfect ambush position, we can wait for them and boom. Everyone would be dead and all would be happy." "Maybe not all, but I get your point," Anna nodded. "Good, if that''s the case, what should we wear? Anything that matches our profile will immediately attract Recker''s attention. We need something that has simrities to this town''s criminal. I''m thinking of robbing one of their uniforms, are you in?" "Sure, but we must look inspucious, they would be able to tell if we''re fake," Anna said. "We are going to wear face concealment, I''m thinking of scarf. Perhaps, we also should wear regr clothing," Del suggested. "I agree with that." "Do you have another suggestion?" "Yeah, let me bring something big and powerful." "What do you mean?" "I want to bring an M107, or anything with big caliber." "Hmm, TAC-50, do you like that?" "Sure, although that''s a bolt-action rifle, that should do the job nicely.. And Del, before you ask me, I want to let you know that I think I have a lead on our suspect." Chapter 143 - Planning For Ambushing Andrea Back in themand room, Del wasying down on the ground from carrying the heavy archive from Adam''s room to themand room back and forth considering the amount of document stored there. The amount of document in that room was staggering that Del had no idea why Adam wanted to keep it even though it essentially filled his whole wardrobe. "Wrong rm, huh?" Anna teased Del for his failure. Well, not failure, but more like, a fortunate ident. "Not wrong, but it''s still something. It''s an archive filled with homeworks from our seniors. And possibly,st year exam paper. We can use this to study, don''t you think?" Del showed the archive on top of themand desk. Somehow, Adam let Del take all of the archives from his room, saying that it was from the previous owner of his dorm. Of course, Del dly took it since it was quite an important thing to have if he wanted to have an advantage academically over the others. "Alright, since Adam is a dud, should we continue with the assassinating Andrea?" Anna asked, eager to continue to the next phase of the n. "Yeah, I think that''s the best for both of us." He put the archive aside and put his hand back on the map. Anna did most of the reconeiisance. They would be able to ambush Andrea on the highway on its way to his house. The highway wasn''t exactly crowded and it was the perfect ambush spot with little to no room to escape for Andrea. The security details that were guarding him couldn''t be considered to be heavy. Well, not as heavy as Imperial military convoy, but not really consisted of one car either. The security was two cars filled with security details. "Here are the photographs of the security details." They were armed with rifles, shotguns, machine guns, and SMG. Some of them were wearing some sort of metal tes on their chest. It felt like as if Del was going to assassinate a mob boss considering how the security details dressed. How to deal with them? Well, Javelin would do the trick, he just needed three of them and it would be done. The thing was, they only needed some clothing that weren''t from Pidma or Lumbart Academy. They needed something from the slump. Something that the criminals there usually wore, but he wanted something that didn''t stand up above the rest of the townsfolk. Well, tattered clothing wasn''t an option. Perhaps, they only needed something simr to ordinary clothing, but worse. "About the concealment that I''m talking about, where do we get them, Del?" Anna asked about that clothing too. "The slump, of course. Why do you ask?" "I meant, what will you do to get them? Will you kill someone? Incapacitate someone, or else?" "I think I prefer to just incapacitate them, but I want them to be tranquilized from afar instead of me choking them. We can make sure that no one connects the dots if we use that method, especially since they will be awoken remembering nothing," Del exined. "So, it''s my job to incapacitate them?" "Correct." "Ok, I''ll need a vantage point then. Well, the rooftop is the best ce so far, I''ll incapacitate someone appropriate then I''ll contact you againter." "Good, good, as long as you keep your part of doing reconeiisance on Andra, I''d not have any hard time in tracking down our suspect." "Awesome. The sooner we get through this one, the faster we''ll get to our next goal. Damn, I can''t believe this is all because of my act." "What do you mean?" Anna asked. "Had I not rescue that dumb girl, I think we won''t be inside of this tangling mess of finding our suspect which happened to be our friends and the fact that the head of the student council wants me to destroy an entire trafficking ring while knowing that one of the key person is someone from Imperial government. Dang it." "Hey, you''ve done the right thing. I''ll do the same if I were you, I''m not going to lie. What Aveline offers to us is a very high request, but epting it would be good for us in the future since we would be known for our good reputation instead of his reputation as a money-thirsty contractor. Don''t you think?" Anna asked. "Yeah, the thing that Aveline wanted us to do is basically a moral question. If I refuse, it would be bad for my reputation. If I ept, well, wee to the personal hell that we just created." "C''mon, it''s not that bad. There is always a silver lining on a bad situation like this. Think about it, with this, you''ll have a valid enough reason to search your friend''s room. Just say that you suspect him or her and the security division wouldn''t mind you doing it." Yeah, Anna''s idea was genius, but also fundamentally wed if keeping friendship was something that Del still wanted to do. By pointing out someone, Del would put an assumption to an unaware student. The assumption would be damaging as well so he needed to abuse this power sparingly. To make matters worse, Del wasn''t sure that doing that to his closest friend in the academy would result in a good thing either. He wouldn''t use that idea, he would use another idea. That idea was wed. "I''ll just stick to my home visit, thank you." "Alright, alright, back to Andrea. How can you sure that the Javelin will kill him?" "Anna..." Del shook his head, almost not believing what his sister just said to him. "This thing is designed to kill a tank, a modern tank. What makes you think that a car from the 40s would be able to withstand that?" "I just want to be sure. We are ying with fire here. One wrong move and we''d be done for good." "Ah, yeah, I agree with you. Well, we''ll use three, not one. Don''t worry too much about it. It would be like beautiful fireworks," Del said. "Your definition of beauty is quite something, but yeah, it would be a hell of a fireworks on his car," Anna said. "I''ll use the top attack mode of the Javelin, just to be sure. It would be a massive boom and it would send a very strong message to anyone that understands." "Anyone that understands?" "The trafficking ring. This would make sure that they would tone down their operation a bit, keepying low, but we have to make sure that we keep giving them pressure so they wouldn''t have any time to connect the dots between the kidnapping and the fact that we enter this town." "Ah, yeah, sure. I feel ya," Anna said. "Oh, by the way, Anna, I want you to get some C4 as well. We''ll nt one or two bricks on the bridge above the highway, when the car go past it, it would go boom." "Explosives? Destroying infrastructure? Are you nuts? It will put a huge spotlight from the government." "Well, we do this as criminal, not as contractor. Rx, I''ve nned this out. All would be fine, don''t worry about it, alright?" Anna just nodded in understanding. She grabbed her bolt action rifle and walked outside. She immediately flew towards the town again to search for clothing that would fit them and their agenda. So far, everything was going ording to n. They just needed to make sure that nothing happened before the day. If something happened, they would have to get back to the drawing board again. Speaking about board, Del walked to the whiteboard and grabbed a marker. He wanted to formte the n for the assault first. He would start by blowing up a bridge while hiding. The convoy would stop, and then, he would fire his Javelin missile towards the convoy to blow them off. Del would be stationed much further than Anna due to the range of the missile. Anna would hide in a snow ghillie suit and picking up the remaining target one by one using his Tac-50. If Del was the main weapon, then Anna was just there as an insurance. If the Javelin didn''t manage to kill them all, then Anna rifle would do the job nicely. After that, Del would fly and rained the cars with his machine gun. Overall, it was a foolproof n involving a shitton of firepower. It would be a lot of explosions and a lot of bullets. It wouldn''t be surgical, but it would get the job done. Bottom point, as long as Andrea was dead, he didn''t care about the method. If Andrea was dead, then he could proceed to the next n that Cassandra coffered. One n at a time, and he would be able to shut down the ring for good.. Still, one thing was bothering him. Where was the intelligence agencies and what were they doing right now? They wanted to meet him, right? Or was it just Cassandra''s lies? Chapter 144 - Ambushing "Are you ready?" "All set." ======= Three cars were moving towards the highway. The cars were returning back to Andrea''s residence. Del was staying on top of a bridge, around two kilometres in front of the bridge that was going to be destroyed. Anna was staying on the grass on the side of the road, around five hundred meters away on the left side of the highway. "Del, target is two minutes from kill zone. Stand by." Del was crouching on top of one of the bridges on top of the highway, FGM-148 on his shoulder and two mores were standing by to be fired. On his left hand was the remote detonator for the C4. He had no doubt that he would kill innocent people today, but it would save a lot moreter. "Ny seconds." Anna was equipped with silenced Tac-50 with Anti-Materiel Improved High-Explosive armour-piercing .50 BMG rounds. It should kill anyone that tried to protect Andrea, no matter how armoured it could be. She also kept one magazine filled with Special-Threat Tungsten Armor-Piercing Fin-Guided Discarding Sabot round which was basically a 30mm AP cannon packed on a .50 BMG bullet. It was really powerful, even the fragmentation from that round was equivalent to a grenade. Del didn''t understand how the bullet worked, but it just somehow worked. Basically, she held a powerful tank cannon. The silencer was only there to hide the bullet sh. All of the attention would be directed to Del. Del himself was wearing the ragged clothing that Anna gave to him. Underneath his ragged clothing was the ordinary armour that he always wore, but covered and concealed. It should give anyone an impression that a criminal organization was the one that was doing that. "Sixty seconds, get ready." Three cars. All of them were filled with people. Most of them were holding guns. The extra detail was a person without any gun sitting down in the middle car. That man should be Andrea. The bomb wasn''t intended to kill him, but it was intended to keep him from running away. Del held the detonator on his left hand firmly. Hopefully, it wouldn''t fail him. The cars were getting closer. It was time to blow the bridge. "Ten seconds." "Five" "Four" "Three" "Two" Del pressed the detonator. Tworge explosions blew up the concrete bridge in front of the convoy. The car immediately stopped, even one of them flipped over due to how hard the driver stopped the car. Del pressed his detonator one more time. Another explosion destroyed the bridge behind the convoy. The bridge fell to the road and left a thin mist from the concrete dust. Del aimed the javelin at the car in the middle. He waited for the beep to turn into a long beep. He fired the javelin missile at the car. The javelin flew upward first then flew down, striking the car directly and blowing it up to smithereens. Of course, Del didn''t take any hesitation and grabbed another javelin and fired it at the direction of the car. The second missile hit the same car and threw it across the concrete barrier. It should do the job nicely. Del kept thest missile for safekeeping and threw all of the leftover canisters into his backpack. Del checked on Anna first, she had a better visual of the target inparison with Del. "I have visual on six people. I will engage." One person got out of the car, his head sttered on the window immediately by Anna''s anti-materiel rifle. They immediately scattered and took cover behind the cars and the wreckage. The road heading to the high-end residential area was practically empty. There were no civilians between them. After that, multiple whistles came from Anna''s direction and killed the rest of them. Del put thest javelin on his back and he grabbed the machine gun that wasying on the ground. He flew to the wreckage of the car to finish them off. Hended right next to the wreckage of the car. He put the muzzle of his machine gun at each car wreckage and filled the wreckage with lead, even the dead bodies. They didn''t have much time left. The security would respond to the attack sooner orter. The javelin missile was pretty loud. It wouldn''t take too much time for them to notice it, especially since it wasing from a highway heading to the high-end residential area. They needed to finish the job quickly. The wreckage of the car which he shot with missiles was almost unrecognizable, there wouldn''t be anything salvageable from that wreckage. Instead, searching the rest of the car would prove to be advantageous. "Three minutes." Del ran to one of the wreckage and opened the trunk. The trunk was filled with weapons. There was nothing suspicious for a suspicious person. Arms dealing was something pretty much expected. He closed the trunk after cing one block of C4 inside of it. He then moved to the next car. He opened the trunk. "Oh my god..." Hands. Not that he found a dead body, Andre must have mutted whoever was this person was. There were also several body parts such as feet and ribs. What the hell? Was he a member of some cannibalism society? Del didn''t bring his tablet, but he would note this down on his brain. This act was just insane and unprecedented, even by his standard. Considering the muscle mass, this must have been the body of a woman. "Two minutes left, Del." Del closed the trunk and he put six blocks of C4 into that trunk. Del flew away from that car and he pressed his detonator. He flew to the mountain where the weather was colder and less friendly for anyone that would follow him. "I will get out of the A.O. Anna, return to the cabin. We will have to talk about this." "Roger that, I''ll get out of here, good luck, brother." Del flew towards the north direction, into the mountainous region. It would be a suicide mission, but the content of his backpack should help him. It contained enough cold-weather meal and cold-weather clothing for him to wear. He grabbed an altimeter from his backpack and wore it in his hand. "5,000 meters" "8,000 meters." "10,000 meters." He increased his altitude higher, to an altitude that required extra tools. He wore his oxygen mask which was connected to a small tank inside of his backpack. He then started the timer before he froze to death or fell to his death. He had five minutes to get out of there without any trace. Using higher altitude would deter the reinforcement from the military special forces to spot him. Air resistance at higher altitudes was also less so he could fly at a much higher speed than usual. Even though he only could fly quite slow at below 5,000 meters, in a higher altitude, he could push it to 200 MPH. It should be enough to get him to the mountainous area of northern mountains. As he flew, he saw the town from above, it was beautiful. Still, the beautiful town held so many dirty secrets, trafficking, murder, and now, cannibalism. Del just sighed as he flew to the mountain. He conserved his magical energy to maintain the heat on his body. The temperature at that altitude was beyond minus. Heck, he should be freezing to death at this point if not for the heating spell that Walter taught him to keep himself warm in altitude. Still, even on his operational procedure, the maximal altitude was 5,000 meters, 10,000 meters were out of the question. "Five minutes." Del dived down towards the foot of the mountain. He put away all of his clothes and burn them to remove the evidence. He then started hiking towards the mountain with the cold-weatherbat gear that he packed inside of his backpack. The temperature at the foot of the mountain was around -15 degrees celsius. The mountain should be way colder than that. Still, it was not like it was his first time scaling into the mountain that high. His goal was to find a cave and stay put for one night before returning back to the cabin. It should give enough time to divert any unwanted attention from him or Anna. Although there were no witnesses, he still needed to be away from Anna or the crime scene. Del wore a thick bva and his ordinary headset as he climbed to the mountain. He switched the mode of his radio transceiver to the FM channel to hear the news report. There should be news about it right now. "Back to me with Rexford Ray with breaking news. A terrorist ident imed the life of our head councilman Andrea. More details will be broadcasted at the usual evening news. Now back to the music,dies and gentleman." Saxophone yed in the speaker as Del hiked to the mountain. It seemed that the intelligence agency would notice it sooner orter.. Well, the sooner they noticed him, the sooner he would get allies. Besides, what could go wrong? Chapter 145 - Jobs Done "That is hell of a job that you just pulled off, Del." Del was cooking MRE on a cave while listening to the iing radio transmission from Cassandra and Anna in the cabinmand centre. They reported back to Cassandra about the details and Cassandra was satisfied. "Thanks to my sister, to be honest. She did all of the preparations. I''m just the executioner." "Yeah, but still, you are the one that takes the most risk." Del just nodded, "Cassandra, anything that I should know?" "Well, they''reing." "Which one?" Del asked as he picked up the hot MRE from the Parafin stove. "Are you referring to the Salve Group or the intelligence agencies?" "Thetter." "I see." "You''ll be hurt, a lot." "I know," Del sighed. "No, I meant it." "I know." "You''ll be going through pain you''ll never imagine." "Really?" "Yeah, this is the ticket to the inner sanctum of intelligence that I''m not even a part of. I''m just the deliverer, after this, you''re on your own, Moore." "You make this sounds more serious that it is." "Del, choose the wrong step, and you''ll be dead." "Why?" "After this, nothing is a secret. You''ll know everything, even the secret that I don''t even know of. Let''s just say, they know everything. They know the things that you don''t want anyone to know. And they''reing for you." "Only me?" "Your sister too, to be honest." "What will they do to us, can you give us any spoiler?" "To be honest, Del, I have no idea. Listen, I don''t even know when they wille or what they would do. Look, if they wanted you to be dead, you''ll be dead for a long time. Truth be told, they areing and you can''t do anything about it." "Hmm, I see." "Anyway, Moore, have a good night. This might be thest time we all talk." The radio transmission was cut short. Del became worried. Wait, was this cave he was staying in was rigged to blow? Probably no, but it really sent a warning to him. He was looking forward to meet with someone who knew everything, every single thing that might exist or not in this country. He once thought that Cassandra knew everything, but once he heard that Cassandra feared the intelligence agencies, it really sent a statement for him. The intelligence agencies were not to be messed with. Once they put their cross-hair on top of his head, he would be dead. Of course, most of his tool were helping him to stay alive, but nopetent parties had ever tried to kill him before. Everyone who tried was either too obvious in their attempt or too disinterested in him. This time, it was different. Del couldn''t figure out the intention of the intelligence agencies. From the sound of it, it seemed that they wanted to take advantage of him. The question was, would they keep him alive or not? That was the main question. ======== "Hey, I heard from Anna that you went solo campingst Saturday, how was it?" Mira asked. Del didn''t want to answer. He was tense ever since he got the message from Cassandra. Even the moment he got out of his cabin, he felt eyes watching his back from every side. Anna wasn''t any better either. On one asion, she identally put her pistol on Adam''s head due to how paranoid she was. What followed was a long apology from both Del and Anna to Adam. He was lucky that Adam didn''t mind too much about it. He just said that he was lucky that the pistol was unloaded, on his perception that was. Truth be told, Anna''s and Del''s pistols were loaded with bullets and they would be ready to fire it at a moment notice. "Good, good, it was nothing special, but it was good," Del answered Mira, shortly. "Oh, I see. Well, Del, why don''t you train the juniors about solo biovuac, they would surely appreciate it, knowing that they would be taught by the so-called rescuer." "Ah, yes, the gossip slowly turning into legend. Mira, I''m just an ordinary boy, that''s all. You don''t have to inte my reputation that much." "Are you kidding? The school article literally put you on the headline." "The what?" "The school article. Just check the bulletin board. You have be famous in less than a week. Quite a reputation, if I may say," Del said. "WHAT?" Great, just great. The intelligence officers would have many different ways to capture him now. They could pull this and that in his school and no one would notice until it became toote and he had gone somewhere else. Now, he must be aware of any invitation to an interview. Anyone posing as someone from the newspaper club must be considered as hostile and Del had to refuse any offer from him/her. It was not like Del minded about the interview, it was just that it would be a perfect ambush time for him. Then again, hismon sense told him that they wouldn''t try to kidnap Del during school time. It was just insane if the intelligence agencies pulled up a trick like that. It would be way more than surprising for him. Still, these were the agencies that would do anything to get something. Del was sure that they would dare do something like that. He waited and waited until the school was over. He asionally nced at the window, being cautious whether there was a sniper aiming its rifle at him or not. Cassandra said that it would be thest time they talked to each other. It was an implied message that he wouldn''t be alive to tell the tale. Would wearing armour help? Perhaps? But they probably would have a different way to capture him. This was the world of infinite possibility. They might do this, they might do that, and so on, and so on. Even the ringing of a bell would immediately send Del''s right hand into the pistol on his jacket pocket. It was frustrating. Ignorance would probably a bliss in this situation. Just think about it, if someone would shoot him, it would be great not to live under this kind of immeasurable pressure. "Del, dear, can you help me bringing these notebooks to the teacher''s room?" The teacher called him, from the front of the ss. Another dilemma, way greater than before. If a student gave him a request, he could say no. If a teacher gave him a request, he wouldn''t be able to say no that easily. One, he couldn''t refuse outright, and two, it seemed that themand came at the wrongest of time. "Ma''am, I''m busy right now, I apologize," Del refused. "Busy of doing what? You are just sitting there without doing anything, would you kindly help me, please? These books are too heavy for my back. Or, I would be critical on your grade for this semester." Oh no. She used the ultimate weapon. The peer pressure was also building up around him. The others were looking at him as if he was some kind of degenerate or criminal for refusing his teacher. It seemed that there would only be one way out of this. He sighed, "Ok, I''ll do it." Del walked to the front of the ssroom. The teacher looked honest about it though, Del had no doubt about it. Still, looks could be deceiving. This teacher could be an intelligence officer as far as Del was concerned. Nevertheless, Del picked up the book from the teacher''s desk and he followed the teacher from behind. He looked around the hallway to notice whether there was someone different or not. There wasn''t anyone out of the ordinary yet. He then entered the teacher''s room after the teacher opened the door. Again, there was nothing out of the ordinary yet. The teachers were doing whatever they usually did in the teacher''s room. The thing was, Del didn''t know who was the usual teacher and who wasn''t any usual teacher. "Please, Del, put it right here." Del put the books on the table. Ok, so far was so good, nothing had happened to him. The teacher thanked him and he walked back to his ssroom. However, as he walked to the ssroom, he felt something odd was happening to his body. His eyes were getting heavy and his legs were wobbly. He slept wellst night, there was no reason for him to be sleepy. Unless¡­ that teacher poisoned him. But how, Del didn''t remember something pinched him. He must scream, but he couldn''t. His mouth became very heavy as well. What was going on? He felt more sleepy and tired and he fell to the ground. Nobody took care of him. Nobody cared. Nobody knew why he fell to the ground either. However, Del had known what would happen to him after this. It would be a nightmare. ==== "Wakey, wakey, Moore. How was the sleep?" He didn''t know how he ended up in there. It was a room where he was tied down to a chair, butt-naked. The people in front of them were wearing a bva. They looked pissed, and there was a desk.. And no, Del didn''t think they would be nice. Chapter 146 - Torture [Warning: Painful content. Continue at your discretion] "Who are you?" Del asked as he struggled himself to get out of the chair. "Who am I? They call me the executioner." He giggled. Del shivered as he heard the name. He needed to be careful. One, he could be from the intelligence agencies and this was all a test and Cassandra was bluffing. Or second, and much worse, this was actually Recker''s goon. The man stood there and walked to the desk. He picked up something silver, and it was big, very big. It was a heavy wrench. He held it firmly with his left hand and he swung it to Del''s face. His eyes were gouging out, his mouth was disfigured. His jaw was bleeding. "That''s for Andrea. Do you know who you are messing with, Moore?" Del just shook his head, pretending that he didn''t know. Truth be told, it was the least of his worry, his jaw was hanging on his mouth and blood had started pouring out of his mouth. One rule of interrogation, he shouldn''t say anything. "Look at me!" He held Del''s chin with his hand and red. "Who are you working for? Answer me, and you might get an easier way out." He then pped Del again with the wrench, this time, it was in the torso. CRACK. A rib must have been broken, it felt as if someone just stabbed him with a knife and moved it around, but the man seemed not to care. Suddenly, as he had contusion, a sudden loud female scream wasing from the left side. The scream was familiar, it was Anna. His pain went away for a second, he put his attention to the left. "Surprised, eh? Your sister is also here, let''s see how long you are going to stay quiet. C''mon, my offer is still standing. Do you want this to be easier? You just can tell me who gives you the n and I''ll probably let you go." Del wasn''t sure what to choose. If he told them the truth, it meant that he betrayed both Cassandra and the intelligence agencies which in turn woulde after him as well. If he lied, he probably could get away with it once, but it would put him in much bigger problem in the future. It was a lose-lose situation. Tell them and the intelligence agencies would kill him. Tell them lies, and they would probably kill himter. Stay silent and this would keep going on until they got answers from him. He decided to stay silent. "Oy, Borodina, pass me the bigger wrench, this boy wouldn''t talk." Borodina? Why was that name sounds familiar? Another person came, this time, he brought a bigger wrench, a pipe wrench as long as half of his body. The executioner held the pipe wrench and he looked right at his crotch. "Last chance, Moore." Del further shivered in fear, but he knew that he would be killed anyhow. He took a deep breath as the executioner swung the pipe wrench right to his crotch. Del threw up as he felt the most painful thing any man could experience. Blood came out of his crotch. A paining from a thousand knives could be felt from his crotch and a bone should have been broken there. At the same time, another scream wasing from the left side of the room. "How was that for a warming up? Let''s recall some event, shall we? Borodina, give me a chair." The executioner put the wrench away. He sat down on the chair while facing at Del''s direction. What did this man want? Del was sure as heck wouldn''t give it to them. Hopefully, Anna could stay silent as well. As long as she didn''t backstab him, it would be fine as in both of them would die without being anyone''s problem. "Alright, first of all, Del Moore, that''s your name, isn''t it?" Del didn''t give any answer to him. "Figure that you won''t answer anyway. So, Moore, you came to Sneggor alongside with your sister and a caretaker to do something. Who is this caretaker? Is he something important to you? Or is he working with our friends in the higher ce?" Answer or not. That was always the question. It came to him as natural dilemma. Answer with the truth and the Salve Group woulde after him alongside losing 5,000,000$ investment with them. Don''t answer him and he would probably be hit with a wrench, again. "Silent, huh? Well, that''s fine. We know the guy already, we just want to hear it more from you, Moore. Walter is your guy, am I right? Part of the 12th Special Brigade, your Walter is definitely a capable person. Such a shame that babysitting two people is much harder for him than actually fight us in the war zone." 12th Special Brigade. It seemed not to be too important, but he would keep that in mind. Van Bosch really knew this much? No wonder if he was still a serious threat to the government. This man somehow knew everything. "Moore, what are you looking for in Sneggor?" Del shook his head again. He wouldn''t answer that he was looking for a kid. It wouldpromise his entire n and it would be sure as hell idiotic. Again, it was better to shut his mouth up and answered nothing. "Silent, again? Moore, why don''t you value your life more, think about it again, you are still young, why don''t you just tell us everything and we''ll let you go." It was toote to get out of the crapsack world that he had entered. He had dug too deep into his grave and getting out wouldn''t be possible. The moment he got into this world, he knew that living a normal life wouldn''t be possible anymore. He epted his fate of working with the intelligence agencies and Salve Group. He didn''t regret it. "You¡­ Kid, this ain''t movie, I don''t care if you die, you have killed a lot of myrades and I want to give you a painful death, but my boss wanted me to get information. So please, Moore, tell me what you know." Del shook his head again. The executioner lost its patience. He kicked on the chair and walked to the desk. This time, he grabbed a plier. "You know, I''m a dentist myself, let''s get those teeth out of your mouth, shall we?" He put the plier on his mouth and pulled his front teeth slowly. He wiggled the plier as he pulled his tooth out. Del''s broken mouth now flooded with blood. The movement of the plier was giving him the headache of the century. "AH, finally," the executioner held the plier with a tooth on its tip. Del wanted to hold his mouth in pain, but his hands were tied down to the chair. Blood wasing out of his body, even his ears. It looked like the wrench broke his ears as well. Del started feeling sleepy, he might lose his consciusness. "Hey, hey, Moore, wake up, I''m not done with you yet. This is thest chance, Moore, before I enjoy killing you very slowly. What you two are looking for? What is your intention? And who told you to do this?" Del stayed silent. He doubted that any amount of medical attention would keep him alive at this point. He only could pray that it would be as painless as possible. It looked like the executioner wouldn''t let him to pass away quickly. Screw this executioner, Del would die and he knew it. He closed his mouth as the furious executioner red at him. He then sighed, "You know, Moore, you can be wiser, but no, you chose to remain silent." The executioner then grabbed the big pipe wrench. He then swung it to his head. The wrench broke his skull and his left ears. Del couldn''t say anything. His whole body felt very numb, it might broke something. Both of his ears were ringing very loudly. The executioner then swung the pipe wrench multiple times again. He smashed Del''s head as if he was a cockroach or a rat. Del couldn''t feel anything. His whole body felt numb and his vision became very blurry. He kept his mouth shut, but he saw something at the corner of his eyes. A dim white light appeared at the corner of his eyes. He didn''t know why, but it felt soothing. He felt that his whole body became very light and the pain decayed away. He lost his sense of his surrounding as the light became brighter. A white and very bright light wasing very slowly. It wasforting, and he felt as if he was floating. The executioner continued smashing his skull and Del finally lost his body. The bright light became brighter and he was gone from that room. His whole vision was white, very white. He felt as If he wasying down on a veryfy cloud.. He then came to a realization. "I just died, huh?" Chapter 147 - Reunion Del rested on thefy white cloud that was beneath his entire body. He never thought that dying would be thisfortable. He was just tired, it was time to take a rest. The cloud where he was resting felt like the mostfortable mattress he ever slept on. He didn''t want to wake up. He just wanted to stay there. He failed to get Anna her revenge, but he was also a bit d about his current fate. A dead person shouldn''t meddle with living people''s business. He just enjoyed the calming breeze of wind and the soft cloud mattress where he wasying down on. He had killed so many people and he had done so many crimes. He still couldn''t believe that he would rest in this kind of peace. Nothing was happening in that ce, but it was alright, even the soothing sound of the wind and the blue sky on top of him was more than enough. He just wanted to have a rest from the chaotic world. He wanted to move, but he preferred not to. It was just howfy the cloud was. He might not die in his best condition. He believed that his dead body wasying down in an underground cer with its skull smashed to bits. "Mmmmhhh," someone mumbled. The groan was very very familiar, Anna''s voice. He then asked, "Anna, where are you?" "Here!" Someone shouted from his right. Del nodded to his right as he wasying down on the cloud. Anna was pretty much the same. She wasying down on the cloud as well. This time, she didn''t have any trace of her burn injury or any trace of a wound in her body. Basically, it was Anna if she was normal. It seemed that she had died as well. This couldn''t be fake Anna, the response was exactly like her without any minus. Del stood up from thefy cloud and walked in her direction. He was barefooted, and his clothing was just a white shirt and ck pants. It just looked like a default view, to be honest and Anna was using the same clothing as well. Anna was also enjoying thefy clouds. Del sat down on thefy clouds and asked her, "Did you also die as well?" "Yeah." "How?" "They burned me alive after they waterboarded me with gasoline, long story short." "I see." "How about you, Del?" Anna asked. "They smashed my skull with a pipe wrench." "Ohh. Well, what should we do here? It seems that there are only both of us." Del shrugged, "I don''t know. Let''s just enjoy the moment." "Hmm, yeah." Del sat down on the cloud. He looked at his surrounding. It was not all clouds it seemed. There was something on the north side, there was a small ind surrounded by ake. In that small ind was a house, simr to their old house in the old world. Well, it was their house on Earth, more or less. "Anna, hey, is that our house?" Del shook Anna to wake her up. "What?" Anna sat down on the cloud and she looked at the direction he was pointing at. "Yeah, that''s our house, weird. Should we walk there?" "I think so. How can we die after we die?" Del and Anna stood up from the cloud and he walked towards the direction of that house. There was a concrete bridge connecting the clouds and the road towards the house. He and Anna crossed the bridge and they approached the house. Del put his hand on the door handle. He remembered the exact same feeling when he did that. Opening the door handle sent a feeling of emptiness. He just sighed, the house would be empty anyhow. He opened the door handle. He stepped his feet on the wooden tiles of the house. It had been so long. The house was still the same as when he and Anna left it. The TV was still turned off, but the house was suspiciously clean, just like when his mother still lived. "I don''t remember I cleaned the dishes before we left," Annamented. "Neither do I." Del scratched his head. "Ah, you two are back." A woman came back from a room that happened to be their parents'' bedroom. The woman''s hair was still wet. She was probably just returned from the bathroom. It was not the condition that made him care, but the person himself. Isabe Moore, or in short, his mother. Del was scratching his head, but Anna immediately hugged her. Although he felt wrong for asking it, but he asked, "Are you real?" Isabe didn''t answer, but Del got tapped on his shoulder, "Hey, how are you?" Del peeked back and he knew that person. It was basically Del''s body double, or rather, his own father. The killed-in-action special force soldier was walking right behind him. Captain Henry Moore, a former operator operating outside of legal jurisdiction. "Pa? You are alive? How? You got exploded in Dagestan, am I right?" "Are you alive?" Henry just asked him the same question. "I don''t think so." "That''s your answer." So, this was some sort of after-life reunion, huh? Del and Anna wouldn''t mind. At least, they wouldn''t be alone in that room. Still, they had a lot to ask and a lot to talk about. After all, their death was pretty much mysterious and covered in mystery. This afterworld was even questionable, why was his house, and why was his family? But Del wouldn''t worry too much about it. Del sat down on thefy couch of the house and he looked at the table. There were four cups of coffee. It looked like their parents were prepared for hising. "You two have an idea that we wille?" "Yeah, we have," Henry answered. "So, you two have predicted that we would die today?" Del asked. "It''s a long story, but yes. Let''s just say that we have a letter from above," Henry said. "Ok? I guess? Weird, but ok, I guess?" Annamented. "Yeah. Anyway, I think neither of you has eaten, I cooked something special for both of you," Isabelle said. "Sure, mom, I''ll get a te." Del grabbed tes from the dishwasher and put them on the table. He helped his father to clean the desk while Anna helped her mother to pick up and reheat the meal. Del sat down on the chair as Anna served him the meal. Del conversed with his father, and what his father said to him was a little bit shocking, "How''s another world?" "It''s filled with crap that is outside of my jurisdiction. Like, I''m now involved inside of a conspiracy bullshits between two countries because of what had happened. It''s been like a domino for me, to be honest," Del said. "Hahaha, well, it''s not like Earth is any better, son. If you mess with the wrong person, you''ll get killed. It''s the rules, isn''t it?" "Huh? What do you mean?" "I connected the story of your mother''s death with my death. While I die because of a gunshot wound while fighting in the enemy''s region, your mother was assassinated to make sure neither of us talks." "Wait, my mother was assassinated?" "Yeah, I think. I don''t know who did it, but your mother is definitely assassinated. She is probably assassinated by one of myrades. Well, you will understand it when the timees. After all, we really don''t expect you two to ept that your father works in a field that will make your mother assassinated." Del sighed. If this was a normal situation on Earth, he would probably have pped his father in the face, but again, this was the afterlife. He wouldn''t bother with the past, mainly because he had died and he didn''t care anymore. Anna also overheard the conversation, but her reaction was as t as Del. Probably working with intelligence agencies and an egomaniac king would turn people to be like them. They had seen too much on the dark side of the military. Right now, they just wanted to enjoy the reunion. "That''s quite a heavy statement, pa," Annamented. "Hey, what can I do? A dead person can''t manipte a living person''s business. I''m really sorry about it, but it might be a decision from the top to let your mother die." "It''s not like Anna hadn''t experienced her fair share of military cruelty," Del sighed. His father was both confused and surprised, "What do you mean? Did the government steal my daughter too? Or did they do something to her?" "Well, this sounds like a lie. Anyway, Anna and I were transported to another world. I was thrown away, and Anna was burned alive. I was lucky to find her just in the right time. If not, I don''t know what will happen to her. She''d probably be here sooner than me. But well, at least, we''re together now." "Not so fast." Chapter 148 - Decision Chapter 148 ¨C Decision "Not so fast?" Del asked his father for further confirmation. "Yeah, you aren''t supposed to be here, yet. But well, let''s just say that your life takes a little detour," Henry said. Anna and Del stopped eating. The reunion was over? Would they be sent somewhere else? Or would they be sent into a different vessel? As far as he was concerned, his own body was broken beyond recognition. Anna was no different either. Her body would probably be charred or turned into dust. "Detour? What do you mean?" Anna asked. "Let''s just say, even though you''re dead right now, you''ll be returned soon enough. Well, to be exact, when you two sleep, you''ll be returned," Henry exined. How did that work? Heck, how did he know about this in detail? It''s insightful, but also terrifying at the same time. How did he know about that? Did God tell him about something? Or was it just his prediction? "How much do you know?" Del asked. "Jeez, you be more and more like your father," Isabellemented as she giggled. "Am I?" Del asked. "Well, yeah, more or less. Your father''s approach to me was quite unusual if I have to say, probably boundary stalker-ish," Isabelle said. "Really?" Anna giggled. "Yeah, on one asion, he stalked me when I went on a holiday with my family for two months. The creepy part is that I only know that six months after our marriage," Isabelle said. Henry coughed, "Well, I was only concerned about her safety, that''s all." "Let''s not get too backtracked, where were we?" "Your death," Henry replied. "Ah yeah, that one, so, father, what''s your take on this one?" Del asked. "You haven''t told me anything, how can I give you my assessment? By the way, why don''t we eat first?" "Ah, yes, sorry," Del apologized. He grabbed the fork and knife and started eating the meal. The meal was quite delicious. It could be that the meal was really delicious or he really missed his mother''s own cooking. Del finished the meal as he talked with his father about his current affair. He told him everything that he hadn''t told him before. He told him about Pidma and his ability to order any modern weapons at his will in a world that could be considered a fantasy world. His father didn''t believe it at first, then again, Del convinced him that it was true. His mother listened to him in silence. "What did you do to survive in such an unknown world then?" He then exined about Cassandra and Cole, the two people that were basically helping him to work as a mercenary. His dad just listened to their back story and their background. It was intriguing, but his mother didn''t look very happy about it. She was a nurse, after all, she would be helping people, not taking their lives. Knowing that his son became a mercenary instead of what she had a vision for was more than heartbreaking for her. Henry was understanding though, mainly because he chose a simr path, but not the mercenary one. "So, you two were separated, and you were reunited because of an emergency quest from a voice-in-your-head which I don''t believe to exist at all. Ok, ok, I get it. What happened after that though?" Del then told everything starting from hising to Ilbistirum and working as a mercenary again. He then told his father about his reputation of wiping out a segment of the upper echelon in the Imperial Ilbistirum military with a cruise missile and bing quite a legend with those who knew about it. He also told him about his reputation of venturing into a ce filled with chemical gas. His father couldn''t understand that decision, but his mother really gave them a thumbs up for doing that. Still, the loot of war made his father understand why Del did it. He worked with Salve Group and intelligence agencies and was sent to the Lumbart Academy to find a student which happened to possess a secret document that needed to be retrieved. His father was captivated by that idea of hiding a document with a child, it was risky, but it might work. Then, he told what he was investigating at the moment and exined how both of them got killed. His father put his hand on his chin then he thought very hard. His mother immediatelymented about the whole fiasco. "So, all of this is because of the idea of revenge?" Isabelle asked. Del wasn''t sure on how to answer that question, "Perhaps?" "Sometimes, you need to let it go, Anna," Isabelle gave advice to her daughter. "Why should I give up on killing the person that almost killed me? Why would you say that even though you are my mother?" "Because he is irrelevant, listen, even basicmon sense told me that you are nothing but coteral for them. You have been forgotten for a long time, and I don''t think anyone would be sane enough to cross the ocean just to get you," Isabelle gave her opinion. "Strategically speaking, your mother is kinda right. Even I won''t kill a girl unless she really poses a threat to the government. And from hearing your exnation, I don''t think you''ll be hunted down that much. One, because you''re just coteral, and second, they would fear that it would ignite a bigger response from you." "What do you mean?" Del asked. "There isn''t enough reason to kill her, and the risk is too great." "Oh, I see," Del nodded. "What do you want me to do?" "What is your goal, at the moment? Killing whoever you want to kill without any reason? Or do you really want to secure a future for yourself?" "I¡­ don''t know," Del was not sure. "Look, Del, I get it that you''re pissed, but think about it. What makes you think that the Elbanian wille after you, especially since you will stay in Ilbistirum for now?" Del was silent. "Yeah, I assume that you also have no idea. With your country is under civil war and your idea of getting an act of revenge seems to be rather irrelevant, why don''t you protect your country, just like a true patriot?" "Why should I do that?" "Because Ilbistirum Federation is your home, Del. You should protect your home and everyone that you hold dearly, that''s including your sister, Cassandra, Cole, or anyone that you know. That''s your new home, and you''ll be having your future there." "Well, yeah, I get what you meant, but pa, what kind of future will await a killer like us?" "Who told you two that you two are killers? As far as I''m concerned, that''s just your inner perception. You''re just someone who is working as a mercenary as a side-job. Listen, finish your high school and do what your mother wants you two to do?" "And that is?" Anna asked. "Be a doctor," Del sighed. "Correct," Isabelle added. "How? We are involved in a fiasco that shouldn''t be possible for those who have the same age as us," Del said. "You will be surprised at how old the people our government actually use to reach their objectives. You are quite amon thing for me, to be honest. Hey, I''m just speaking based on my experience," Henry said. "I see," Anna said. "So, finish high school, be a doctor, and protect our homnd at the same time, those are what you want both of us to pull?" Del asked. "More or less, both of us have faith in you two, it''s better that you two don''t disappoint us. I know this is too much to ask, but let''s face it, this might be our only chance to meet before you return to the world of the living." Del and Anna nodded to their dead parents'' demand. It would be years before they would meet again. The best that they could do was to fulfill their parents'' expectations. Anna sighed after listening to her mother''s advice not to follow the path of revenge. Del wasn''t exactly agreeing with that, but it did make sense. Most of his problems were caused by his desire for revenge. He and his sister could live peacefully in Ilbistirum if not for his desire of revenge. Still, with the current state of affairs in Ilbistirum, it was not the time to rest, it was the time to act. Without peace, there wouldn''t be any bright future for them, especially since Imperial government wasn''t exactly fond of keeping things as equal as the Federal government. They finished the meal. They talked to make up for the lost time. It was the best moment ever since they were sent to another world. Still, it was just a break. They would return to their world soon and they would have to finish their job. Well, at least, right now, he would have an idea on what he should do and what he shouldn''t do.. Hopefully, whatever waiting for him wouldn''t be too hard for him to handle. Chapter 149 - Why Are They Here? Chapter 149 ¨C Why Are They Here? Del felt sleepy. He was sleeping on his bedst night, but as his father had predicted, he was returned to earth. The bed felt different from before, this one wasn''t as soft as the clouds, but still soft enough. The smells of antiseptic made way up to his nose. The bed seemed to be a hospital bed. Then, a familiar voice came out right at his left ear, "Del, hey, Del, are you awake?" He nodded to the left and opened his heavy eyes, slowly. His eyelids felt like it was glued shut, but he was aware of the figure beside him. "Cassandra?" He spurted out one word. "Hey, wee back to thend of the living," Cassandra said. "Did I really die?" Del asked. "Yeah, this is not exactly your body," Cassandramented. "Whose body is this then?" Del asked. "Yours, but a copy of it," Cassandra said. Del tried to move his hand, he felt no different sensation. He then lifted up his hand to his face, there were no significant visual differences. He then put his hands back at the bad, and he asked another obvious question. "How long have I stayed here?" "A day, probably? The soul transfer requires a day or two to stabilize the new host. It seems that you have passed the test. Sorry for the ruckus, but like what I said earlier, you''re about to enter the sanctum of something that I don''t even know at all," Cassandra said. "I see," Del nodded. "Anyway, our associates will meet youter after you''re discharged from the hospital. Your sister has woken up too. You''ll be given your clean clothes, to be exact, your school uniform. Anyway, good luck, Del." Cassandra walked out of his room and Del sighed. He wondered what kind of thing would be waiting for him. He observed his own body, he only hadn''t looked at himself in the mirror. So far, nothing was looking out of ce yet. He was wearing a hospital gown, but there was no sign of injury in his entire body. He checked his private part, and he didn''t see any sign of injury there. It seemed that this body was indeed a copy of his old body. To be precise, it was the exact same copy. There was a sign of an old scar on his body. The sample for the clone might be taken right before he was killed, but well, he had no idea. He looked around for Anna, but she couldn''t be found. Well, she might be in another room or something. There was no IV attached to his body. Why was that? Del tried to stand up from his bad. His body felt heavy as if someone put an elephant on top of his body. What was this? The sign that his nerve tried to connect his brain to his entire body? Del lifted up his heavy feet and he stepped to the floor. It felt wobbly, but it was still strong enough to support his body. He tried walking with his feet which were more simr to spaghetti than feet. He walked while holding the bed with his hands. He slowly regained the strength on his feet and began to walk normally. He felt no difference between his old body and his new body. It seemed that nothing was changed. He began to move his feet and his hands. It seemed normal. He then moved his jaw and moved his head. It didn''t feel painful at all, it just felt as same as before. Whoever did this know whatever they were doing. There was no significant difference in his body. He looked up and down with his eyes, and he looked left and right. His eyes coordination was good. His hearing wasn''t impaired either. Del epted that this body was indeed a copy that he resided in. Hopefully, it wasn''t the corpse of someone that got reanimated. A nurse came into his room, "Mr. Moore, I am here to discharge you." She smiled and he approached Del. =========== Walking back to the cabin with their new body, both Anna and Del were still dumbfounded that their body was an exact same replica. Anna was still had to wear bandages all the time due to his burn trauma. Anna also noticed nothing different from her body. Everything seemed to be awfully normal as well. They had been asleep for only a day after all. Nobody would miss their disappearance, Del would assume that intelligence agencies had taken care of that. He also noticed that the tablet that contained Pidma alongside his arms and his backpack had gone missing. He had a hunch that the intelligence agencies also took them. He just hoped that they hadn''t used it for something hazardous. Still, it was a little bit too much positivity on their side. If the intelligence was smart enough, they would have utilized Pidma as much as they wanted. Let''s just hope that they didn''t fiddle too much with it. If they did, no one would stop them. Del was unarmed at the moment, and the only thing that they had was Anna''s magic. Del only could use magic if he had his Grimoire with him which was his own tablet. When they arrived at the cabin, there was nothing different. Still, the lights on the cabin were turned off. Did Walter forget to turn it off or something? Del entered the cabin and looked around. "Where''s Walter?" Del asked as he looked around the entire house. The shoe rack didn''t have Walter''s shoes on it. He might have gone outside, but there was no trace of his belongings inside of the cabin either. Anna walked towards the coffee table and picked up a piece of letter. "Walter left us, he left because Salve Group needs him as security details. He said that the new caretakers would be waiting for us in ourmand center. " "Caretakers? So there are more than one of them?" Del asked. "Perhaps?" Anna shrugged and put the letter into her pocket. Both of them walked towards the storage barn and opened the small door leading towards it. The room was dark. The lights were turned off, but they hadn''t left for a long time. Suddenly, as Anna left, the door was shut and the room''s lights were turned on. Inside of the room were six different people. All of them were wearing military uniforms, a modern one, the one that originated back from earth. However, they could be differentiated into two different groups. One was the one wearing Multicam while the other was wearing a digital flora uniform. Although both of them were wearing a federation military patch on their left shoulder, the patch on their right hand was different. One was a United States g while the other was the g of the Russian Federation. Was this some sort of sick joke? Or was this the thing that Del had no idea about the intelligence that hid even more secret? "Hello, Moore." One of the Russians walked in his direction. His voice was cold. His footstep was heavy. He was also a demon. He probably had lived here for a long time. "Did you miss me?" It was the voice of the executioner. Del shrieked and took a step backward, slowly. "Petrov, you''re scaring our new associate," A woman intervened. The woman''s voice was also recognizable. The woman was Borodina, or what was her full name? "Name''s Lara, you might only know me as Borodina." "And you three?" Del pointed his hand at the Americans. "We''re from External Affairs. I''m amara. I''m the Director of Department of External Affairs and Foreign Intelligence." She then put his eye to the woman beside her."Her name Is rissa Heren, she is the Vice Director," amara said. "Nice to meet you, I''m rissa Heren, a former pilot turned into the head of the department," rissa said. "Nice to meet you, rissa," Del shook her hand. "What''s your story ending up in here?" Anna asked Lara, weirdly enough. She acted the same way to the Americans as Del to the Russians. It looked the people that killed Anna were the Americans. Well, both of them were equally scary and suspicious. However, Lara was holding Del''s tablet. "You forgot to lock the tablet, Moore. Why don''t you use the fingerprint scanner on this device?" "I forgot to do that," Del scratched his head. "Well, it''s not like anyone else is able to use this thing anyhow," Laramented. "Would you kindly answer my question?" Del asked. "Sure, but what do you want to know?" "How did you end up in here? I meant, there is no America nor Russia in here. How did you all end up in this world? Is it because of an ident? Or is it because of something else?" Del asked. "Well, it''s quite a long story involving a lot of abnormal phenomena. Are you sure you want to listen to that story?" Lara asked. "Yeah, to trust is to know, after all." "Very well then. Let me start from this¡­" Chapter 150 - Background Chapter 150 ¨C Background "So, around 90 years ago, both of us aren''t exactly set on the same path. Let''s just say that we''re enemies to each other. Our assignment is to retrieve Mayor Heren from the Ukraine border. Her ce crashed while carrying a ssified container codenamed ''Lobaev''. Remember this container, this wille upter," Lara said. "And our assignment is to retrieve Mayor Heren before the Russians found them and retrieve the ssified container. This Lobaev was a container attached to a pylon in a Su-27SM3 fighter jet," amara said. "Mrs. Heren is American, isn''t she?" Del asked. "Yes, but her alias is Zoya Orlova. Major Zoya Orlova to be exact," Laramented. "Have you gotten the idea where we areing from?" amara said. More or less, he had an idea. One was working for Russian Federation while the other was working for the United States. Both used to be enemies, but they worked together now. Still, it didn''t exin how they ended up in there. Still, it was safe to assume that one was from CIA Special Activities Division while the other was from FSB Spetsnaz. They were the field agents, judging from how they operated. Let''s just listen to what they had to say. "So, I will assume that you all met at the Ukraine border region. What happened then? You two broke inside of a firefight?" Del asked. "Correct, they shot us and we shot back," amara said. "Or vice versa," Laramented. "Whatever, so, this Lobaev thing. It burst open during the firefight," amara said. "And it created an energy field that teleported us all into this unknown ce. When I said all of us, I meant all of us, the whole two squads got teleported into the same ce. Now, imagine this, you have twenty-four people that were fighting to death previously and now just standing in the same ce in the middle of nowhere." "I can only imagine," Delmented. If he and Eric suddenly got teleported to nowhere, he would definitely end up in a fight against him. However, the situation might be much more conflict since it was between two countries that basically disliked each other. "Yeah, Lara put the tip of her pistol to my skull around that time," amara added. "After you put your pistol on Grekov''s head, of course, I''d do that," Lara said. "So, what makes you twoe into the realization that this wasn''t the time to argue or fight each other?" Del asked. "Automata, let''s just say, a creature of unusual anatomy. A bunch of them came in horde and we fought our ground together. They fought us with fireballs, electrical spears, but we managed to stand our ground. We don''t even know where they wereing from. We weren''t exactlynding on Ilbistirum territory," amara said. "Ah, so that''s how you ended up in here, huh? After that, what did you two do?" "After we formed a temporal truce, we realized that we were teleported into a ce which you''d call an ancient site. Of course, it was another long battle, and miraculously, we suffer zero casualties. As a result, we have partial control over the ancient site and use it to our advantage for five years," Lara exined. "Five years?" "Yeah, we grew our crops there, we use ammunition scattered around the armory of the site and use the technology scattered around that site. That ancient site became a joint self-sustainable base for both of us. Until¡­" "Until what?" "Until a ship approached our ind," amara said. "What kind of ship?" "Airship." "Ilbistirum Airship?" "Correct." "How did you all shoot it down? Thest time I tried to do that, I need a gunship to do that, and that''s to deal with a smaller one. What kind of weapon did you use to deal with it?" Del asked. "We don''t deal with it. The ancient site is equipped with a SAM site. So, the SAMs shot them all down and we captured those Ilbistirum people. Keep in mind though, Del, this is Ilbistirum before the revolution. Those soldiers were hungry soldiers and fighting just because they were told to fight, not because they really wanted to fight for their country," amara said. "What did they do?" "We put them inside of the prison, give them hot meals three times a day and afortable bed. Not long after that, they joined our ranks as maintenance staffs." "Maintenance staffs? How many of them were avable?" Del asked. "Let''s just say, enough. Maybe three or five survivors. There weren''t too many of them since the aircraft crash was catastrophic. Nevertheless, they told us the existence about this godforsaken country and we came here." "Ah, how did youe here?" "We salvage the parts of the airship that we can salvage and fly there. The airship didn''tst too long of course, that thing was a piece of crap," Herenmented. "It was not airworthy at all." "I see. What did you do here?" Del asked. "We started a revolution, long story short, we are basically the force that separated Ilbistirum in half. We just didn''t like how the current status quo manages its military and its people. So, we brought a revolution, and it worked so well." "Worked so well? You haven''t taken half of the other territory as far as I''m concerned. Why do you say that you have sessfully taken over Ilbistirum?" Del asked. "Because military-industrialplex simply works well. Look, Del, like it or not, this country is fueled by war. For every single tank destroyed, you need one more. To make a tank, you need a factory, a worker, an educated worker, and money. You created new jobs and new opportunities at the cost of peace, but you can''t argue that this was the main cause of the fast technological revolution in Ilbistirum." "I¡­ am speechless. Well, if that''s for the best, I think I won''tment, I guess?" Del wasn''t sure how to react to that statement. But yeah, Ilbistirum had been growing pretty rapidly as far as he was concerned. "About the gas attack, were you aware of that?" "We were aware of it. In fact, we warned the generals to be careful of it, but apparently, the department of defense ignored our warning and forgot to supply the troops with a gas mask," amaramented. "So, why would they employ ipetent generals?" Del asked. "Politics? Or the fact that we recruitpetent military personnel to our ranks that all that was left were the ipetent ones. Look, this war economy couldn''t continue withpetent generals." "How so?" "You might not believe it, but Ilbistirum Federation could steamroll the Ilbistirum Empire in less than two months, especially with our more advanced hardware. We have to keep the moneying," Laramented. "Ok, ok, I think that''s more than enough for me. So, what is your intention toe here? To recruit me, or what?" Del asked. "To recruit you, of course. We are interested in putting you into our emergency task force considering how you managed to pass the test and survive several encounters in your life. I''m talking about everything that you have done, including your experience outside of Ilbistirum," amara said. "How long have you all stalked me?" "Let''s say, ever since I have a report of guns users outside of Ilbistirum? Cassandra might not know it, but you have been put under our microscope for a very long time." "Why would you need me? You can manufacture ammunitions on your own, can''t you?" "Ammunition? Yes. Guns? No. nes? No. Helicopters? No. Cruise Missiles? I hope so, but no. The ancient site fabricator doesn''t allow us to produce anything more than foods,fort items, and other amenities." "Ah, you want me to be your arms dealer? Ok, I get it. Sure, I''ll join your group, I meant, why not? Having an ally or two won''t hurt, especially if your ally is the director of foreign intelligence." "And internal security," Lara added. "You''re the director?" Del asked. "No, I''m a vice director, Mikhail is the director." "Where''s he?" Del asked. "In the base, waiting for you." "Alright, shall we go there?" amara stood up from the desk he was sitting on and grabbed his M4. He looked at the watch in his hand. A hologram appeared from it and he disappeared into thin air. "Where did he go?" Del asked. "Was that a teleportation device?" "More or less?" Lara held Anna''s hand and she looked at her watch. She and Anna disappeared into thin air. The rest of them disappeared into thin air and all that was left was him and Heren. "C''mon, Del, let''s get to our base, you''ll love it there, I promise." She looked at her watch and they disappeared into thin air as well. The trip was weird. He felt as if he was moving towards the darkness and he suddenlynded on top of a concrete floor. He then realized where he was. He was standing on a tarmac. "Wee to the base.." Heren greeted him. Chapter 151 - Belgram Island AFB Chapter 151 ¨C Belgram Ind AFB Del stood in awe in the middle of the tarmac. It really looked like he was standing in the middle of an airfield. There were several empty hangars scattered around the ce alongside something that looked simr to an air traffic control channel. "What is this ce? Where the hell is this?" Del asked as he looked around his surrounding. "Is this the US? Or is this the RF?" "Belgram Ind AFB. Well, that''s the name that we got for this airbase," Heren said. "Belgram Ind Air Force Base, huh? Who owns it? Ilbistirum Federation as a whole or just the intelligence agencies?" Del asked. "What if I say that this is private property? This ind is located 1,000 miles off the southern coast of Ilbistirum Federation. This is not the territory of the Ilbistirum Federation. Let''s just say, this is owned by joint forces, how''s that for an exnation?" Heren asked. "Ah, I see. If that''s the case, then how''s this base is going to serve us any purpose when it''s located very far away from Ilbistirum?" Del asked. "This is a joint base so secretive that only select people have visited this ce. There are only thirty people stationed in thisrge base. Most of the maintenance here is automated by the tech from its former user," Heren said. "It looks like you need military hardware. This base is pretty empty, what are you proposing?" Del asked Heren. The base was truly empty. The hangars were empty, or was it because it was closed? But it seemed empty. The tarmac didn''t have any trace of any aircraft. The runway was empty and the only aircraft that was avable was only wreckage covered with a tarp. The base was pretty quiet as well. The only people that could be spotted were Anna and the others who were walking towards the main base building. And, one more thing, there were three people smoking on top of one of the buildings. The base was awkwardly quiet. "Let''s see. First of all, we need to figure your transport method in Ilbistirum. As far as I''m concerned, I don''t think a car would be a sensible option," Heren said. "What''s the sensible option then?" "Helicopter, a UH-60 ckhawk to be precise, but Lara suggested that we use Mil-24. I digress though, I prefer something versatile like ckhawk, if we need the armaments, we can attach it to that helicopter." "Oh, ok, how about the fuel? You know that this ind is located very far away from the maind. What''s the solution? A fueling station?" "We can use an extra attachment so the aircraft can use mana engine. That way, we can increase the range of the aircraft up to thirty times. Amazing, right?" Amazing was an understatement. It was insane. It meant that even a basic fighter jet without any drop tank would be able to cover a very long distance. For example, a basic F-15 would be able to travel up to 150,000 miles with its full tank and all, and it would also increase the duration of its afterburner. Sometimes, Del had to wonder what kind of engineering this world had. It was just nuts, or insane, whatever it was. "How is that even possible?" Del asked. "This site''s technology and engineering. It''s just possible. Best of all, it was the tech that we salvage from themon parts and blueprints scattered around this top site. Now, just imagine how much potential the ground below us hold to us?" Herenmented. Del only could imagine. He didn''t know the geography of this world as a whole. He only knew the basic geography of that world. He only knew that Ilbistirum and Elbanian were separated by an ocean stretching as long as 9,000 miles away. Now, there was a big ind located 1,000 miles away from Ilbistirum and every single aircraft that was modified would have its optimal range multiplied by thirty times. It was massive, it meant every single aircraft, even a transport helicopter, would have the same range as amercial jet. It was just insanity. "Alright, I think I get your point. You''ll provide us with the helicopter that would also act as an ersatz gunship, right?" Del asked. "Ah, I''m happy that we see eyes to eyes on things. Del, do you have any idea how big is Ilbistirum? If you know, you''d also think that traveling using a car wouldn''t be very sensible," Herenmented. "How big?" "Well, it stretches 15,000 miles from east to west and 2,000 miles from north to south." "Holy moly, that''s very big. Wait, why does the frontline is so close to the port? Are the military that idiotic, or am I not understanding something?" Del asked Heren. "Well, Del, if you ask me, the town which you were visiting was located on the northern region which means you''re literally on the border region. Sneggor is located on the border region although the very high mountain would deter any Imperial from invading using that area." "Oh, I see, please, go on." "Basically, we have most of the south and east while the imperial has most of the north and west. It''splicated, but you''ll be going through many ces once you work with us. We are fighting a long war, after all." "I only can imagine the logistical nightmare." "Nightmare is an understatement, it''s a cmity to be honest. Achieving all of this in under a century is a massive feat for all of us, to be honest," Herenmented. "I see." "Enough of the nonsense, since you have known what we need. You might as well start purchasing the hardware that we need. I will just make it short. Two F-15Es and three UH-60s are the necessaries. We''ll provide the funds for you." "Alright, where is it though? I brought my tablet, but where''s the fund?" Del asked. Heren led Del into the main building inside of that airbase. The building was empty of people. Both of them walked into an elevator. Heren put his hand on the elevator button. It read her fingerprint alongside with opening the elevator door. They stepped into the elevator and Heren pick a floor, the 3rd floor. "Del, don''t go beyond the 3rd floor, 4th floor, and below are still under the control of the automata. It''s dangerous to venture there alone." Del nodded in understanding as the elevator door closed. The elevator went downstairs into the 3rd floor and the elevator rang once it arrived. The elevator door opened and it revealed a floor with many hallways. Heren walked into one of the rooms and she opened it with a key card. The door to the room opened and Del didn''t believe what he saw in that room. There were a bunch of Husnael bars. Yes, bars, not tes. They were not the small bars that would fit inside of his pocket, these were bars. inside of that room, probably millions of dors were in there. Heck, those bars might be a hundred times worth more than Husnael tes. The floor alone was filled with those bars. Hell, how did she get all of these bars? Just, how? This was simply too many Husnael tes on "Cassandra told us that you needed money to use your tool, so we provide as much as we could provide to you at the moment," Herenmented as she presented therge sum of money inside of that room. Husnael bars were stacked so high inside of that room that it might be possible that the entire room was filled with Husnael bars. Del asked Heren, "What''s the catch of getting all of these funds, Heren?" Del asked. "Simple, share your tablet with us, and our funds are yours." "It''s a deal then." Del scanned all of the Husnael bars inside of that room using his tablet and he was more than shocked to see the amount of money that he got in dors. It was a lot, like really a lot. It was the amount of money that he would never imagine to be handling in his entire life. Heck, the amount of money inside might be more than enough to cover his entire military budget. There was just so much money inside of that room that the zeroes on his disy didn''t make any sense for him at the moment. [Total Bnce: 500,000,000,000$] "THIS IS LIKE¡­ HOLY SHIT." "Surprised yet?" Heren just smiled smugly. "How did you get all of this stuff?" Del asked. "Secret," Heren smiled. "Heren, with this, we can buy literally everything on my tablet." "If that''s the case, good. Oh yeah, Del, if you can, can you give us a copy of your tablet''s program. I think I''d need that too. We can grow our forces together while you focus on what you need to do." "Sure, I''ll give you a copyter. Right now, I have to think first about what we should do. Can you give me a space?" "Sure." Chapter 152 - Updated Later Chapter 152 ¨C Updated Later Del searched the outpost for anything important. He searched for the tents and found nothing. He searched the bodies of the soldier and found nothing of importance. Instead of something important, he found something that was ridiculous. Let''s just say, he found a male contraceptive tool. Delmented as he searched the body of the soldier, "Where do they find a woman around here?" The abundant number of the "thing" found inside of the body of the soldier was staggering. One person could carry up to six of those "things" at the very least. "Well¡­" Anna was hesitant toment about it. "Anyway." Del walked towards the table where the radio was. "I think this map should be important, and these files too." The table was filled with multiple documents filled with military markings alongside with a map with many symbols. Some of them are X''s, most were lines on the entire road system. It must be the route of the military convoy. "Well, it looks like they want to initiate a full-blown invasion sooner orter, but what does these circles on this map do?" The center of those circles were the center of the town in the federal side. It must have shown the radius of a weaponry, but why did the circles were so big? A regr artillery wouldn''t have that kind of radius as if one shell would be able to destroy the entire town. Anna peeked on the circle, "A secret weaponry, maybe?" Del looked back at Anna with such confusion, "Secret weapon how?" Anna shrugged and smile, "Maybe nukes?" "Nukes?" "Yeah, nukes. I don''t know if there is any other weaponry that has this kind of explosive radius," Anna said. It made sense though. A regr shell wouldn''t be able to create an explosion that big. Maybe the imperial military had a giant prototype weapon aimed at the federal military, but who knew? The military always hid a secret that was oftentimes dangerous. However, why nuke? It wouldpletely evaporize the town. Del stopped thinking about the nuke to return to his main goal. "Enough nuke talk, the colonel should be in here." Del pointed at the location where most of the armored convoy wasing from. It was a location around twenty kilometers west of that checkpoint. Going there wouldn''t be easy. They only could move during the nighttime and they must evade all of the patrols that the imperial soldiers were going to throw at him and Anna. Overall, it was rather treachrous. They must look at the clock to make sure that they reached a forest before the sun rose up. Besides that, there was also the difficulty in assassinating the general himself. "Hmm, thepound is quite big and I don''t think I will be able to assassinate the general, even using a Ko ATGM," Delmented. "What''s on your mind then?" Anna asked. "A kill streak, there is no other option," Del said. "I agree, but which one? I doubt that a gunship would be a good option. We might need a jet bomber of some sort, but I want to listen to you first," Annamented. "Cruise missile. To be precise, a precision cruise missile aimed straight at the tent of our target general," Del said. "So, if that''s the case, why are we even have to approach the main headquarter first?" Anna asked. "We don''t even know which one is the tent of the said general. We need to assess our target first before weunch a cruise missile at his direction," Del said. "I agree to that, anyway, are we good to go or do you want to kidnap an officer first?" Anna asked. "Wait a minute." Del pulled his tablet from his storage and took photographs of every single data that he could gather from that small outpost. He photographed every single paper and every single map on that outpost. "Alright, we''re done." Anna put her sniper rifle on her back and pulled her M16 instead. She then put the end of the barrel of the rifle on the head on one of the imperial soldiers head. "Shall we finish the job?" Anna put her hand right on the trigger. Del put his tablet back on the storage and walked right to Anna''s direction and pushed the rifle away from the head of that imperial soldier. "We are tranquillizing them for a reason. The main reason is to reduce the risk of raising too much attention. Sure, we had to tranquillize them, but six dead bodies would be sure as hell giving much more alertness to the imperial military." "I see where you''re getting now," Anna nodded as she put her rifle away. Killing six men would result in the imperial military sending much more patrol in their area and much more intense offensive on the federal military knowing that there were several infiltrators inside of their territory, she thought. Del and Anna continued walking through the darkness of the night. Their ears were as sharp as bats. Even a slight rustle of the grass would raise their attention. Anything wanted and would kill them if there was a chance. As long as both of them didn''t destroy any strategic asset, they wouldn''t be in the list of high-priority targets. They might only be two people, but they were the two people that destroyed an entirepany of tank only by themselves ording to the military of both sides. The report of that kind of thing could exaggerated and resulted in them being seen as a very dangerous threat. The imperial military would simply throw everything that they had on them and it would be bad. ============ Four hourster, they finally arrived at a forest located around three kilometers away from the edge of the enemy main headquarter. The headquarter itself was basically a freshly established forward operating base that was still under construction. However, it didn''t mean that its defense was any less than an ordinary base. For example, there were more than six anti-aircraft cannon aimed at the sky and it was only the middle part of the base itself. The big AA gun that had the same appearance as the k cannon was ced a little bit far away from the center of the base. On the far west side of the base was bunch of artillery aimed at the east to harass the federal military to push deeply into the imperial terittory. In conclusion, it would be hard for a conventional force to push deep into the imperial territory. However, Anna and Del weren''t considered to be conventional. All in all, it would be a good idea to first scout the base from afar. The section of the base could be separated into five different sections. There were the west section, the east section, the north section, the south section, and the middle section. The middle section was the most important part of the base. It was the part of the base with the most amount of permanent structures. Maybe throwing a cruise missile at the middle section would be enough. However, would it kill the general though? The general could be anywhere as far as Del was concerned. Unless the cruise missile would be big enough to kill everyone in the middle section of the base, it would be unwise to call the kill streak right now. Anna whispered as she showed the picture of the general from her pocket, "This is the general, isn''t it?" She questioned her own judgement as she put her eyes on the thermal binocr. Finding an old man with a highly decorated military uniform inside of a miilitary base was quite a challenge, especially since more than two people looked exactly like the person in the photograph. "Yeah, he is. The middle section is filled with the same kind of men. Where the hell is he?" Del reacted with his rigorous searching using his thermal binocr. "Let''s just drop the bomb and be done with it." Anna was impatient. "Rx, we have all day," Del said. "Is there a nuclear option on your kill streak?" Anna asked. "No, there isn''t. Why are you even asking about that?" Del asked back. "Perhaps, we can cripple the entirety of imperial highmands with one swift nuclear strike. It would really put their n back on the drawing table," Anna said. Del didn''t react to Anna as he saw someone with the same exact appearance with the man on the picture. It might be the general that they were looking for. He was located in the middle section of the base and he was walking from one building to another. He was the target indeed since everyone saluted at him every time he walked past. "I have the visual on the target, prepare yourself to mark the target," Del said. Anna pulled out herser pointer and Del pulled out his tablet from his storage.. Hopefully, one cruise missile would be enough to destroy the entirety of the middle section. Chapter 153 - Will Be Updated Chapter 153 ¨C Will Be Updated In Cole''s house, the situation was tense. Del and Anna were sitting down in the dining table. Across them were Hubert and Cassandra. Cole and Alina were in the kitchen, cooking dinner. It had been two weeks since the ident in Halivaara front line. The dinner was a celebration for both Hubert and Alina discharge from the hospital. However, due to Del''s responsibility to report back to Cassandra about the current situation, it was better to report to her about the gas attack. Cassandra should have the idea about what gas was there, but she might want to know about the event preceeding the gas attack. "So, Del, do you have something to tell me about the gas attack?" Cassandra asked. "Yes. I have some questions first, would you mind answering the questions?" Del asked. "Go ahead." "Do you have any information about any imperial experimental weapon?" Del asked. "I don''t. I only heard rumors about it." "Do you have any idea that the imperial military have any chemical weapons in their arsenal?" Del asked. "Yeah, Chlorine and Mustard Gas. Though, I heard about the experimental gas that the Imperial used in Halivaara. The codename is "NGF-21". Other than that, I don''t know much about it, sorry," Cassandra said. "Why didn''t the military warn us about the possible gas attack?" Del asked. "Because it was once thought to be impossible. If we know that there is an artillery capable of shooting straight into Halivaara, we would have informed you. The thing was, there was no known artillery that was capable of attacking Halivaara, not until a week ago anyway," Cassandra exined. "Basically, there''s no weapon capable of attacking Halivaara until a week ago?" Del asked. "Yeah, even though Halivaara is close enough to the frontline, there is no artillery capable of reaching it. The closest artillery unit to Halivaara is around thirty miles away from Halivaara. I think imperial military has a super artillery at this point," Cassandra said. "Well, this is quite a shitty situation we are in then, but tell me, where would you think a super artillery will be stationed?" Del asked. "Maybe in the northern region, the elevation should increase the range of even a regr artillery, that region is treachrous though, the only thing that can enter the region is a ne and a bomber. Imperial military controls most, if not all of the northern region," Cassandra said. "Wait, what? How''s federal military status right now?" Del asked. "Not good, we have a shitton of problem. The intelligences aren''t listened by the generals. The generals are too stubborn to listen to the intelligence agencies and it resulted in the ident in Halivaara. The intelligence agencies aren''t really appreciating the treatment so they aren''t so keen on looking for information," Cassandra exined. "I see, how much territory did we lost?" Del asked. "We have lost more than 30% of our former territory sincest year. More than twenty of our generals have been killed, and the "Opera House" incident damaged the military reputation even more," Cassandra exined. "Opera House incident?" Del asked. "Yeah, that incident that killed thousands of people," Cassandra said. "What happened?" "I''d rather not talk about that," Cassandra said. Then a voice came from the kitchen. "Dinner''s ready." Cole came to the dining table with a pot filled with and Alina was carrying a big bowl containing the mashed potato. They put the dishes into the table and they sat down. The aroma of the stew filled the whole room immediately. The aroma interrupted the conversation. It was the time to eat the food. It was a celebration after all, maybe a little bit of rxing moment was rather needed. "Ah, the food hase," Anna said. Alina grabbed her a te and a scoop of mashed potato alongside with the stew. She then gave the te to Anna. "Here you go, Anna." "Thanks, Alina," Anna retrieved the te. Del grabbed a te for himself and he started eating. Suddenly, he felt the warmth inside of his heart. It was undescribeable, but it had been a very long time ever since he ate with something called a family. Cassandra and Hubert were the parents while the rests were the kids. Del would say that it was rather pleasant. They were eating and drinking. Del brought an expensive alcohol from the liquor store down the road. The alcohol itself was an expensive red wine that he bought for ten gold coins. At first, the others were reluctant to drink it, but they eventually drank it. After the dinner, Anna and Alina went to the kitchen to wash the dishes while Cassandra, Cole, Hubert, and Del were in the living room while listening to the radio. The tragedy that the gas attacks created was broadcasted nation-wide. People were questioning thepetency of the military. "I fear that we will have a coup d''etat inside of a coup d''etat," Cassandramented to the news broadcast. The formation of Ilbistirum Federal Government was a product of a coup d''etat against the royalty. Cassandra''s fear was justified. If the military couldn''t show any progress, there could be a risk of another coup inside of the federal government. If that happened, it would be disastrous for the current war. The federal government would certainly lose in the war against the imperial government and it would mean that they would return to monarchy. Well, it was not really an expected oue to be entirely honest. It could mean that only the privileged people could have educations and public services. It was the opposite goal of the previous revolution. "What can we even do? We''re just ordinary people with various background, there are no way we can do anything that will change the course of this war," Delmented. "To be honest, Del, there''s something that we can do. You know, if you can destroy several high-value targets, we might have a chance to strike back. Right now, it''s just what it is. Still, I heard that one of the oligarchs is looking for personnel for his private security," Cassandra said. "Oligarch?" Del asked. "You know, the powerful people. They are the one who have a lot of power in the government. If you want to work with one of the oligarchs, I can hook you up with one of the owners of an investmentpany, do you want to?" Cassandra said. "How working with an investmentpany and turning the tide of this war connects?" Del asked. "It doesn''t. However, this person, in particr, owns a private security which takes part in this war against the imperial military," Cassandra exined. "Oh yeah?" Del said. "Yeah, they are a special security unit that also participate in special operation in the Imperial Military area of operation. These guys are former special force units or veteran military contractors that have seen and gone through multiplebat operations. Long story short, these guys are the elites," Cassandra said. "Elites? If they are the elites, how can you convince him to let me enter his "club" consisted of military personnel and contractors?" Del asked. "Easy, they are looking for a reckless person and you fit the proposition. It was not like I am the only one that can vouch for you. You are still the person that destroyed an entirepany of tanks," Cassandra said. "Why should I even join that private security? What will be waiting for me at the end of my career?" Del asked. "Well, first of all, that private securitypany is connected with the intelligence agencies, and unlike the military, they actually follow the directives that the agencies give to them. As a result, most of their military operation end up in a total sess. Second, with that kind of connection, you will have an upper hand in this world, especially if you''re working for work in the future," Cassandra said. Well, if Del needed a wet work to be done, he might be able to use the private security ordingly. After all, any allies that could hold a gun would change the overall tactics that Del could adopt in that world. Right now, most of his problems were caused by theck of personnel in the field. The personnel that he had in his group were himself and Anna only. Wolfie was also counted, but he was more of a support unit rather than a mainbat unit. In short, if he could create connection with the private security, he might be able to gain a leverage in the future against his own enemies. "I understand. So you want me to work for them so I can use their services in the future?" "Exactly, and with you onboard, the rtion between the private security and the intelligence agencies will increase exponentially. You''re close to them and I''m close to the intelligence agencies. With taht kind ofbination, we can easily help the intelligence agencies to convince the military to actually listen to them," Cassandra said. "Sign me up then," Del answered. Chapter 154 - Morris Chapter 154 ¨C Morris An MH-60 "ckhawk" helicopter flew away from Belgram airbase. On both sides of its stub wings were thebination of AGM-114 "Hellfire" missiles and M230 chainguns for a close-air-support role. It was the multipurpose helicopter assigned for Del and Anna toplete the rest of the mission from Salve Group. Del was sitting on the opened left door of the helicopter. Behind him were stacks of FIM-92 stingers and FGM-148unchers. All of those were provided to give him an edge and more leisure in attacking anyone that Van Bosch would send to him. The pilot was a man. His full name was Morris Osborne. They could call him Morris, but Del and Anna would have to call him sir or refer to him as Chief Osborne in a formal event. He seemed to be chill though. Heck, he wasxer than Walter by all ounts. "Did you two justnd here like us? Or did you two have spent quite some time in this ce?" Morris asked. "Well, I think we''re thetter. Morris, is it? Can I call you that?" Del asked. "Sure, just call me Morris. You two are the Moore siblings, am I right? Nice to meet you two." "Thanks," Anna replied. "Did Colonel tell you my role in this assignment, or not?" Anna shook her head, "Nope." "Ohhh, alright, I see. Well, I''ll just make it simple. If you have some enemies that need to be taken care of, just call me via the tablet interface. I woulde to help you two, but I won''t be avable instantaneously if you don''t tell me whether you''llmence an operation or not." "Huh? What do you mean?" Del asked. "If you two suddenly got intobat, I can''t guarantee that I''d arrive at your location in under five minutes. A helicopter is costing time to be maintained, you know? Flying magic is was simpler, but also less versatile." "I agree with that. You can''t carry shitton of missiles with a flying spell." "Anyway, back to the main point, I need twenty minutes if you call me so suddenly. Besides that, I can provide sniping support and distraction support. Oh, and I am also here to rece Walter''s role as your supposed caretaker." "Ah, yeah, by the way, were you a pilot before?" Del asked. "Yup, why do you think I end up in there with those CIAs and FSBs? Still, it was fun," Morrismented. "I don''t know whether being hunted down by several people and some enemies can be considered as a fun, Morris," Delmented on his experience for this past one year. The only normality that could be considered normal was his time at Lumbart Academy and that was it. Heck, he was even there for a mission, what was the fun in that? "It''s fun, trust me. Or the fact that I''m kinda insane, well, I''m open to interpretation." "I prefer thetter. Anyway, what''s with the loadout?" The helicopter was too well-armed for his standard. For instance, there were two M230 chainguns and eight AGM-114 missiles for the helicopter itself. It was simply overkilling for that world, not to mention the ammunition boxes that were linked to the chainguns. That thing could destroy an entire echelon as long as air defense wasn''t present. "An assignment, let''s just say, a contract from the government. Another tank echelon ismencing an assault towards Halivaara. A prototype one in fact, there''s a huge chance that our current weaponry in the federal army can''t prate it, so that''s where wee in." "What kind of prototype tank?" Del asked. "Those who can''t be prated by an ordinary 100mm cannon on all sides except the top. Well, the armor is not that thick, evenpared to a first-generation main battle tank, but it''s still thick for this age. You''ll need a concentrated artillery fire or autocannon on that thing which we can''t afford at the moment," Morris answered. "Ok, what should I do while you fire those missiles?" Del asked. "Well, for starter, you can prepare yourself with the machine gun and armor, considering your sister has taken the position on the right. After I destroy all of the tanks, I want you two to deal with the infantry escorting it." "What kind of infantry?" "Combination of flying one and standing one. There''s a reason why I told you to wear a fragmentation suit, don''t you think?" Morris asked. "Wait, flying one? Damn, they''re hard to be dealt with, don''t you think?" "Think again." "Wait, you want me to be a decoy?" "Exactly. You are wearing heavy armor, wielding a heavy weapon, and supported with heavy armaments. Just get them close to the helicopter and your sister''s GAU-21 would handle them. Careful though, don''t get to her line of fire." "And I risk my life, again," Delmented as he grabbed his PKP from the seat of the helicopter. The gun was loaded with 7.62x54mmR ammunition as usual. The armor-piercing version of the bullet was loaded into the machine gun. Del attached a new scope on that gun alongside with a vertical grip, but he doubted he would ever use the scope on that gun. There was also a LEDbo at the end of that gun. He checked the bullet on that gun and the gun seemed to be functioning as intended. He was aware that the other side might only use a bolt-action rifle or SMG against him, he needed to take advantage of his volume of fire and his range advantage against the flying enemies that would probably use their spell at him. "And take the oxygen tank on the back." There was an oxygen tank on the back of the helicopter attached to a half-face mask. "It should protect your lungs as long as you tighten into your face tightly. It''s the perfect counter to their Thermobaric spell. Don''t forget to wear goggles too, Del." "Alright." The distance to Halivaara was still far, probably more than two hundred miles away. They had arrived to the maind around two hours ago, but they still hadn''t encountered anyone trying to intercept them. There were two possibilities. The intelligence should have contacted the ground, or the helicopter wasn''t detectable. Del preferred the first option to thest option. The helicopter wasn''t exactly a stealth aircraft, and it was not exactly quiet either. "And Del, you might want to know, but our role is important. We are going tomence a counter-offensive to help the federal military." "Just both of us?" "Nah, there''s a reason why we told you to buy several F-15E and a B-1 bomber. The imperial military is going tounch arge-scale offensive on the federal military due to thest stunt that you pull. Our job is to create a significant dy on their n, giving the federal military a breathing room." "Ah, no wonder." "Yup, you might think we are insane, but this is the truth. Without this intervention, the bnce in war could be disturbed and we don''t want that. One F-15 and a B-1 bomber are flying towards the north to defend the north while another is patrolling the south sea to destroy the destroyers heading for Federal Ports." "Hahaha, I wish I can pilot one of those aircraft." "Perhaps?" Suddenly, from afar, a jet roar entered his nose. Suddenly, a gush of wind hit his face as an F-15 flew by helicopter at the same altitude. Del couldn''t see the aircraft, but he was sure that was an F-15 flying beside him. "Ah, that''s the one heading north. It will act as a decoy and protect us from iing air attack. I don''t remember who pilots it, but I think they will be a great distraction. Heck, I think they can take down an entire squadron with just its guns." "So, where''s the bomber?" "It might be flying above us. I don''t know. They would take down the flying airships with cruise missiles." "Ah, great, is that the reason why we can fly to Halivaara now?" "Yup, with most of the imperial air force focused on chasing the bomber, we wouldn''t have to worry about their air defense. Moreover, I don''t think the imperial air force would have the tech to counter our F-15," Morris said. "I think so." "Well, get ready, we''ll approach the tank unit in five minutes," Morris replied. The helicopter descended and Del could see the ground from above. Halivaara and its surrounding region had been turned into smithereens ruins. No wonder why the federal military had difficulty in defending it. It also seemed that the imperial military had begun moving towards Halivaara, judging from the looks of it. "Our job is to disable the heavy tanks. The small fries are up to the federal military to handle," Morris said. "Roger that." Del didn''t fire the gun on the helicopter yet. The tanks looked like small dots from the altitude he was flying in. He waited until Morris fired the first missile from the helicopter. WOOOSH. The missile flew from the pylons of the helicopter and flew to one of the heavy tanks. The autocannon started firing in the direction of the other heavy tanks. Del started firing his machine gun at the infantry raising from the ground and heading to his direction. "Commencing attack!" Chapter 155 - Updated Later Chapter 155 ¨C Updated Later "So, around 90 years ago, both of us aren''t exactly set on the same path. Let''s just say that we''re enemies to each other. Our assignment is to retrieve Mayor Heren from Ukraine border. Her ce crashed while carrying ssified container codenamed ''Lobaev''. Remember this container, this wille upter," Lara said. "And our assignment is to retrieve Mayor Heren before the Russians found them and retrieve the ssified container. This Lobaev was a container attached to a pylon in a Su-27SM3 fighter jet," amara said. "Mrs. Heren is American, isn''t she?" Del asked. "Yes, but her alias is Zoya Orlova. Major Zoya Orlova to be exact," Laramented. "Have you gotten the idea where we areing from?" amara said. More or less, he had an idea. One was working for Russian Federation while the other was working for United States. Both used to be enemies, but they worked together now. Still, it didn''t exin how they ended up in there. Still, it was safe to assume that one was from CIA Special Activities Division while the other was from FSB Spetsnaz. They were the field agents, judging from how they operated. Let''s just listen to what they had to say. "So, I will assume that you all met at the Ukraine border region. What happened then? You two broke inside of a firefight?" Del asked. "Correct, they shot us and we shot back," amara said. "Or vice versa," Laramented. "Whatever, so, this Lobaev thing. It bursted open during the fire fight," amara said. "And it created an energy field that teleported us all into this unknown ce. When I said all of us, I meant all of us, the whole two squad got teleported into the same ce. Now, imagine this, you have twenty four people that were fighting to death previously and now just standing in the same ce in the middle of nowhere." "I can only imagine," Delmented. If he and Eric suddenly got teleported to nowhere, he would definitely end up in a fight against him. However, the situation might be much more conflict since it was between two countries that basically disliked each other. "Yeah, Lara put the tip of her pistol to my skull around that time," amara added. "After you put your pistol on Grekov''s head, of course, I''d do that," Lara said. "So, what makes you twoe into realization that this wasn''t the time to argue or fight each other?" Del asked. "Automata, let''s just say, a creature of unusual anatomy. Bunch of them came in horde and we fought our ground together. They fought us with fireballs, electrical spear, but we managed to stand our ground. We don''t even know where they wereing from. We weren''t exactlynding on Ilbistirum terittory," amara said. "Ah, so that''s how you ended up in here, huh? After that, what did you two do?" "After we formed a temporal truce, we realized that we were teleported into a ce which you''d call an ancient site. Of course, it was another long battle, and miraclously, we suffer zero casualty. As a result, we have a partial control over the ancient site and uses it to our advantage for five years," Lara exined. "Five years?" "Yeah, we grew our crops there, we use ammunition scattered around the armory of the site and use the technology scattered around that site. That ancient site became a joint self-sustainable base for both of us. Until¡­" "Until what?" "Until a ship approached our ind," amara said. "What kind of ship?" "Airship." "Ilbistirum Airship?" "Correct." "How did you all shoot it down? Thest time I tried to do that, I need a gunship to do that, and that''s to deal a smaller one. What kind of weapon did you use to deal with it?" Del asked. "We don''t deal with it. The ancient site is equipped with a SAM site. So, the SAMs shot them all down and we captured those Ilbistirum people. Keep in mind though, Del, this is Ilbistirum before the revolution. Those soldiers were hungry soldiers and fighting just because they were told to fight, not because they really wanted to fight for their country," amara said. "What did they do?" "We put them inside of the prison, give them hot meals three times a day and afortable bed. Not long after that, they joined our ranks as maintenance staffs." "Maintenance staffs? How many of them were avable?" Del asked. "Let''s just say, enough. Maybe three or five survivors. There weren''t too many of them since the aircraft crash was catastrophic. Nevertheless, they told us the existence about this godforsaken country and we came here." "Ah, how did youe here?" "We salvage the parts of the airship that we can salvage and fly there. The airship didn''tst too long of course, that thing was a piece of crap," Herenmented. "It was not airworthy at all." "I see. What did you do here?" Del asked. "We started a revolution, long story short, we are basically the force that separated Ilbistirum in half. We just didn''t like how the current status quo manages its military and its people. So, we brought a revolution, and it worked so well." "Worked so well? You haven''t taken half of the other territory as far as I''m concerned. Why do you say that you have sessfully taken over Ilbistirum?" Del asked. "Because military industrialplex simply works well. Look, Del, like it or not, this country is fueled by war. For every single tank destroyed, you need one more. To make a tank, you need a factory, a worked, an educated worker, and money. You created new jobs and new opportunities at the cost of peace, but you can''t argue that this was the main cause of fast technological revolution in Ilbistirum." "I¡­ am speechless. Well, if that''s for the best, I think I won''tment, I guess?" Del wasn''t sure how to react to that statement. But yeah, Ilbistirum had been growing pretty rapidly as far as he was concerned. "About the gas attack, were you aware of that?" "We were aware of it. In fact, we warned the generals to be careful of it, but apparantely, the department of defense ignored our warning and forgot to supply the troops with gas mask," amaramented. "So, why would they employ ipetent generals?" Del asked. "Politics? Or the fact that we recruit thepetent military personnel to our ranks that all that were left were the ipetent one. Look, this war economy couldn''t continue withpetent generals." "How so?" "You might not believe it, but Ilbistirum Federation could steamroll the Ilbistirum Empire in less than two months, especially with our more advanced hardwares. We have to keep the moneying," Laramented. "Ok, ok, I think that''s more than enough for me. So, what is your intentioning here? To recruit me, or what?" Del asked. "To recruit you, of course. We are interested in putting you into our emergency task force considering how you managed to pass the test and survive several encounters in your life. I''m talking about everything that you have done, including your experience outside of Ilbistirum," amara said. "How long have you all stalked me?" "Let''s say, ever since I have a report of guns users outside of Ilbistirum? Cassandra might not know it, but you have been put under our microscope for a very long time." "Why would you need me? You can manufacture ammunitions on your own, can''t you?" "Ammunition? Yes. Guns? No. nes? No. Helicopters? No. Cruise Missiles? I hope so, but no. The ancient site fabricator doesn''t allow us to produce anything more than foods,fort items, and other amenities." "Ah, you want me to be your arms dealer? Ok, I get it. Sure, I''ll join your group, I meant, why not? Having an ally or two won''t hurt, especially if your ally is the director of foreign intelligence." "And internal security," Lara added. "You''re the director?" Del asked. "No, I''m a vice director, Mikhail is the director." "Where''s he?" Del asked. "In the base, waiting for you." "Alright, shall we go there?" amara stood up from the desk he was sitting on and grabbed his M4. He looked at the watch on his hand. A hologram appeared from it and he disappeared into thin air. "Where did he go?" Del asked. "Was that a teleportation device?" "More or less?" Lara held Anna''s hand and she looked at her watch. She and Anna disappeared into thin air. The rest of them disappeared into thin air and all that was left was him and Heren. "C''mon, Del, let''s get to our base, you''ll love it there, I promise." She looked at her watch and they disappeared into thin air as well. The trip was weird. He felt as if he was moving towards the darkness and he suddenlynded on top of a concrete floor. He then realized where he was. He was standing on a tarmac. "Wee to the base.." Heren greeted him. Chapter 156 - Assault On Imperial Military Chapter 156 ¨C Assault On Imperial Military Six, no, ten, no, twenty people from Imperial sides were flying towards his ckhawk. Del aimed the tip of his GAU-21 machine gun in their direction. A burst of heavy machine gun munition was fired in their direction. The energy shield they used wouldn''t be enough to protect them from a direct hit from a heavy machine gun. "Bravo 1-1 engaging targets," Morris reported the progress to Belgram airbase. Anna was Bravo 1-2 and Del was Bravo 1-3. If Del recalled correctly, the other squadron also had a simr codename. The F-15 that just flew past them was the Alpha squadron. The F-15 that patrolled the south coast was the Charlie squadron. It was a full-blown counter assault. After all, they had significant importance in that assault. Failure to do this would result in an imbnce of war on ater day. GAU-21 shredded those flying mages in second. They didn''t have enough time to climb to the high altitude the ckhawk was flying in. The helicopter was also flying at its maximum speed while firing Hellfire missiles at those heavy tanks. "Bravo 1-1, 20% of targets have been destroyed." The small explosion from the autocannons and the missiles from the helicopter. It halted the offensive, and the infantry was scattered to find the culprit of the attack, which was flying up high. It was up to Alpha squadron to distract the Imperial air force now. "Bravo 1-1, this is Alpha 1-1, air force is distracted, you have twenty minutes." The distraction n was simple. The F-15 would tease up the enemy propeller aircraft by making several passes and shoot some of them down with its Gatling gun. It was a simple n and quite foolproof. Like the ckhawk, the F-15E was equipped with a shield generator that could tank a farrger hit than the shield in ckhawk due to its more powerful engines. The twenty-minute time was probably given not because of the remaining fuel on the F-15 but because of the ammunition reserve that the F-15 had. It wouldn''t take too long before they= imperial military realized that the F-15 wasn''t exactly the main threat for them. They would only realize that by the time the B-1 had downed at least one airship. At that time, the ne from the imperial military would being after the bomber, and the F-15 wouldn''t let it happen. It would use all of its AMRAAM missiles to shoot the propeller nes down before reaching the bomber. Either way, one of the mission objectives would be fulfilled. "Del, I think you should go out," Morris said. Del picked up his PKP machine gun from the back helicopter and jumped out of the helicopter. He immediately dived down towards the flying soldiers and sprayed them with the general-purpose machine gun. With the help of an oxygen mask, he didn''t need to focus his spell on controlling his breathing. The oxygen mask helped him to supplement the much-needed oxygen. As the gush of cold wind hit his face and the soldiers were giving their attention to him, he started doing evasive maneuvers. Several flying soldiers were following him from behind and Del kept shooting his machine gun backwards as he tricked them to follow them to Anna''s side of the helicopter. "Bravo 1-3, engaging targets!" Del threw several fireballs at the pursuing enemies and he flew upwards in great velocity. The soldiers behind him were having trouble catching him, mainly because the air became thinner in Del''s altitude. Once he reached the peak altitude, Del dived down towards the ground and charged towards the flying soldiers with his machine gun on his shoulder. "Bravo 1-1, 50% of targets have been destroyed." Del distraction worked. As the ckhawk rained down high-explosive shells and missiles a the heavy tanks, he managed to distract the flying soldiers from actually actively attacking the helicopter. Anna was just manning her machine gun as insurance. "Copy that," Del replied. Perhaps, throwing grenades at the non-flying infantry would get the job done. Del carried several C4 charges inside of his pocket after all, it would be enough to destroy some of the heavier tanks alongside with several infantries. Del flew low, almost touching the ground as he charged through the heavy armor battalion. He prepared the C4 that he put on his magazine pocket by attaching detonator on the C4. He put his machine gun on his back and he started throwing the C4 at the heavier tanks. The C4 would be sticky enough to actually stick into the exterior of the tank. Del threw several bricks into the tanks and he gained altitude again. The tank heavy machine gun was aiming at him, but it was toote, Del already had his hand on the detonator. BOOM. The explosions destroyed several tanks at once and the flying soldiers following him was grazed. Del took that opportunity and he aimed his machine gun at the direction of those flying soldiers. Several bodies dropped from the sky, and Del flew upwards again to confuse the soldier. "Bravo 1-3, keep an eye on your oxygen level. 75% of targets have been destroyed." "Copy that, Bravo 1-1." It seemed that the attack mission would bepleted soon. So far, the advance of Imperial military had been halted, thanks to the sudden attack from the intelligence agencies. The tanks on the ground had mostly been turned into fiery wreckage and the infantry was nothing more than minced meat. Needless to say, the mission was a sess. Del flew back to the direction of the helicopter, to be precise, he flew back to Anna''s side. Anna was standing by with her heavy machine gun. "Bravo 1-2, I''ming in hot, watch my back!" Del took a steep climb towards the helicopter and he immediately climbed inside. Del sat down and he aimed his machine gun downwards as Morris started doing evasive maneuver using the helicopter. Maybe it would be a great time to use the stinger on the back of the helicopter. "All targets are down! No enemies in pursuit." Anna had finished thest of them. The helicopter flew away from the area of operation. It ended the operation sessfully. It was time to return home, and continue searching for the student that carried both the teleportation spell and the report from imperial military. ================ Del and Anna sat down on the living room of the cabin. Del was listening to the radio while Anna was sipping on her coffee. Morris was typing the report for themand and typing the result for both Del and Anna consumption. Del was sure that they caused some sort of massive destruction towards the imperial military. Morris came back into the cabin, holding a piece of paper. He gave the paper to Del and Del read the paper. The paper contained the damage report from themand to him. It was rather impressive, to be honest especially since Del knew what kind of targets they were attacking. [Operation Halt] [22/10/REDACTED] Imperial military offensive has been halted for an undefined amount of time thanks to the strike today. At least, it will put a dy for three weeks before the imperial military reinforced the front line again. The government would catch a glimpse of this operation, but it won''t be long until they realize what has happened. This is the damage report to the imperial military. The government is impressed with the performance of Salve Group security contractor that they will hire us again for any counteroffensive operation. [Alpha Team] 3x Corvette-ss Airships 2x Frigate-ss Airships 1x Cruiser-ss Airship 6x Fighter Aircrafts [Bravo Team] 20x H-Series tanks 10x Experimental Tanks 10x A-Series Tanks 20x Fighter-Type Special Forces Soldiers Undefined Amount of Regr Infantry [Charlie Team] 1x Battleship 3x Cruisers 5x Frigates This concludes the report. Any inquiry should be reported to Deputy Director of Internal Security. ======================== "I''m going to be honest, battleship is a pride of any nation, isn''t it? Destroying it would usually lower the morale of the enemy forces, right?" Del asked. "Yes. There''s nothing a heavy bomb can''t handle. The main target was the battleship, but we just happen to also destroy the other ships due to the remaining bombs that C-team carried. Well, all and all, it was sessful," Morris said. "So, will this put imperial military at a major setback?" Del asked. "Most likely. This will not only put them at a setback, this will put them at a stalemate to its former state before they destroy Halivaara and the surrounding city. The federal military will sweep them clean like a broom and it would be back into another stalemate," Morris said. Del just smirked, "Military-Industrialplex at its finest, huh? I''m quite impressed. What does this student that I am searching for have to do with maintaining the current status quo? I know she is one of the nobilities, but why would I need an information from her?" "A lot of things, Del. A lot of things. What do you want to know first?" "Everything." Chapter 157 - Revelation Chapter 157 ¨C Revtion "Fair enough, you''ve provided many military equipment for us, it''s time for us to repay, which information do you want to know first?" Morris asked. Del thought for a moment. He had a lot of questions ranging from the incident that killed thousands of people that kept brought out by Cassandra or anyone involved to the real reason why he would need the information from the student that he was looking for inside of Lumbart Academy. "I want to hear about the incident that people keep talking about, what do the intelligence know about it?" Del asked. "Ah, that incident. Opera House incident? That incident is a massive humiliation for the intelligence agencies or the military. To be precise, it was our fault, underestimating the capability of the imperial military technology," Morris exined. "Huh?" "Considering the fact that they managed to smuggle something like that under our nose and we didn''t even notice it one bit, it was humiliating. Even the fact that transporting that container had cost several lives and we don''t even notice it." "Morris, are you ok?" "Ah, sorry, I was carried away. So, you see, the imperial military smuggled a bomb to the opera house, we didn''t know it because the smuggler is too skilled and he managed to escape under our nose," Morris exined, but it really didn''t go anywhere. "Look, listen, this bomb kills a thousand people, and yet, it was ced inside of an opera house so I won''t even think this is some sort of conventional bomb. However, there is no mention of chemical warfare in that ident, and I heard that several people were burnt in that ident. So, what is that bomb?" "It''s a nuke." "A what?" Del couldn''t believe what he just listened. "A nuclear weapon. Yes, this is a huge threat for us, the main reason why we move several important operations to Belgram AFB. We simply don''t trust the security surrounding Lullin, it''s just too risky." Del was still stuttering from the statement. A nuclear weapon? In another world? What kind of business did he get into, again? He wanted to believe that, but he couldn''t. A nuclear bomb was a very advanced piece of technology that would require several engineers to produce. Why would Imperial military have that kind of weapon? "Nuclear bomb¡­ inside of this world¡­ how?" Somehow, it justified the reason why they would need an ICBM in the future. If the other side had nuke, the federal military would need to show that their military had the same capabilities as the imperial military. Or else, they would be put under the threat of being bombed into smithereens. "Military-Industrialplex creates jobs, money, and schrs, but also creates traitors and peace advocates. Now, a team with abination of both defected to the imperial side with the hope of putting this war into a halt," Morris exined. "HUH?" Del became more confused. "Long story short, the imperial military developed nuclear weapon and nuclear technology thanks to those traitors. With nuke, there would be a chance of putting the federal military into the negotiating table, but I don''t think the imperial military wants anything else than total annihtion of federal military," Morris answered. The civil war had turned into something that had much more simrity to a potential of third world war even though the country surrounding Ilbistirum still fought monsters with sword and spells. This country was indeed a gem of industrial and technological development, but the scale of war that this country faced was way moreplex and more dangerous than the other countries. If another nuke detonated, it would be a huge risk. The town Del currently resided in had little to zero strategical value for military. However, a town like Lullin would have a giant strategical value since both of the intelligence agencies had a headquarter in that town. Would it mean that Del would have to look for a nuke in that world? That was just insane, even by his standard. Looking for a weapon of mass destruction was just¡­ out of his current ability. Heck, he would need to know where the nuke was first, and that was something that easier said than done. "What should we do then?" Del asked. "We have lot of options, but our priority is to make sure that no nuke detonates on our soil again. To be honest, the intelligence agencies and its agents had done a good job keeping any nuclear from entering this region, but I can''t guarantee that it would always be sessful," Morris said. "So¡­?" "As much as we love to lengthen this military-industrial thing, we also need to secure the future of this whole country. We can''t develop anything if the other side turns everything that we have done into oblivion. So far, ording to our intelligence, there is only one nuke that has been developed," Morris said. "Ok, that''s a good news, I guess?" Del shrugged. "Not really. The scientist is still alive and we still need to retrieve them if not kill them so no nuke will ever be detonated again," Morris said. "Alright, fair point." "Still, Del, if you want to help us. You only need to find any gap in the imperial military and we will strike them at that gap and create an immense damage. If we want to finish this war, we need to make sure that it''s quick. Right now, the interest to finish this war among the politicians is at all time low, to be honest," Morrismented. Del just sighed. He knew that his idea of continuing his live normally was close to impossible right now. Perhaps, peace might only be achieved in twenty years or so. This had been a long tiring ride for him, he wouldn''t want to be in the position of the intelligence agencies at this moment. It would be too much of a hassle and no one would like their decision. "Alright, I think I had known enough about the nuke. Can you tell me about the student that I''m looking for?" Del asked. "Well, the student is unknown, but we heard about a heir got evacuated to this country due to a certain condition that we don''t even know anything about. This is an opportunity for us to know what kind of affair is happening on the other side," Morrismented. "Hmm, a heir, huh? Is there any chance that you know his/herst name?" Del asked. "Sadly, no. However, we know the teenager is sent to Lumbart Academy, but that was it. I don''t know more about it," Morris said. "Well, at least, I know what I''m going to be looking for beside the fact that the student had a telekinesis spell or something," Del said. "And Del,mand wouldn''t be happy if you kill the student. If you can, capture the student and we will ''retrieve'' him/her," Morris added. "Sure, I have no problem with that. After all, if he/she remains to be a threat to our country, a little bit of wrench to its head would clear their mind," Del said. "I like how you think," Morris added. "Well, if I had known that I would be revived, my reaction wouldn''t be that drastic. Anyway, I think we need to split our job. Anna, this is where youe into y," Del said. "Sure, Del, what do you need?" "I want you to figure out who our target is. I think everyone has put their eyes on me. There''s no way I can move undetected in the academy, but you, on the other hand, have more privilege than me, especially since you''re a part of the security division." "You want me to snoop around the academy?" Anna asked. "Yup, and I will snoop around Bosch and his allies. Meanwhile, you can snoop around some of our friends. First of all, you''re a girl so I don''t think you''ll have difficulty in approaching the boys, and second, you''re the SD, you won''t be questioned if you snoop around." "What will you do to Bosch?" "I''ll do what I can do. There''s still a list of things to do from our previous caretaker, right? I think I still need to do that one by one. However, in the meantime, it''s better for me to do nothing at all. The MSVI and the others will miss me and the SD will definitely miss you too, Anna," Del said. "Yeah, I don''t think being gone for a week won''t spark any worry in our friends'' mind. We just need to make that they don''t think that we''re dead. Although I have the feeling that Aveline had that thought." "Hahahaha, I know her well. That''s very much expected, Del. Especially since we are hunting down a ver and a important person. Anyway, Morris, what will you do when we go to school?" Del asked. "I''ll be your guardian angel or work in themand center. Is that ok?" "Sure, that''s great." Chapter 158 - Back To School Chapter 158 ¨C Back To School The ssroom was rather more chaotic than usual, most likely because of the sudden return of the Moore siblings from their long holidays. Calling it a holiday would be wrong too, mainly because of their unwarranted missing. Del wasn''t surprised by the weing party, and he expected that. However, one person seemed to put a very straight face about what happened earlier, particrly Aveline. She wasn''t surprised about their return. Heck, she acted as if nothing had happened. There was a justification for that act, but what was the right one? Was it because she knew? Or she just expected that they would return safely. "I almost worried that someone kidnapped your or something, Del. You haven''t returned for a week or so, what happened?" Adam asked with a worried tone. "Nothing happened, I just took a sick leave, what is so weird about that?" Del asked him back. "Nah, the ssroom feels different without you," Adam said. "How?" Del smiled. "I can''t joke around without you, haha." Adam gave a shortugh. "I''m d you''re back, Del." "The feeling is mutual, friend," Del replied. Anna and the other girls were back to their usual business, and Del returned to his usual business. He felt a little bit safe knowing that he had a guardian angel watching his back in the form of an intelligence agency agent with a .308 scoped bolt-action sniper rifle. How could he know that? Simple, Anna didn''t bring her bolt-action rifle. It was to be expected. She only brought her AK-74M. Morris was an invaluable ally, wasn''t he? He would do anything as long as it would support Del''s mission of finding the informant, aka the target. As long as he didn''t kill anyone identally, he would be one of the most useful allies in this operation besides the intelligence agencies. The teacher came inside the ssroom. The ss started as normal until the teacher exined the material to the students. However, the teacher immediately shifted her attention to Del. Maybe leaving the school for no reason would give this much attention. "Del, I heard you have fever, how are you now?" The teacher asked. "I''m fine, ma''am. Thanks for asking," Del replied. "Take care of your health, Del," the teacher said before she continued teaching the subject. Take care of your health, huh? He didn''t get any fever, to be honest, nor anymon disease. He only got his skull smashed into tiny bits, nothing too fancy. Most of his disease was physical anyway. The only medicine was to stop working for the intelligence agencies that had given him two hundred billion dors. The ss finished and continued with other subjects. Rinse and repeat until the school was over and the bell rang. Del didn''t pack his bag, of course. He still needed to talk with Mira. Yup, that former mercenary Mira was part of TMV. He still hadn''t gotten the clothing for TMV. Del walked towards her desk. Mira was cleaning her rifle with a rag. The rifle was covered in a thinyer of ice. The ssroom was cold but not that cold that ice would freeze. It might be because of other reasons. "Ey, Mira, sup?" Del greeted. "Good, I heard you were sick, huh?" Mira asked. She then continued, "I also snooped around the contractor HQ three days ago. You were involved in some sort of dangerous shits, were you?" Del kept his calm. "What are you trying to tell me?" "Did you get involved with any security contractor by any mean?" Mira asked back. Did this girl know this much? Or was she only bluffing? "I don''t have any idea what you''re talking about, Mira." "Really? People say you and Anna were staying with Walter, that special force soldier turned into security guard. Walter has a rtion with a security group, as far as I know," Mira answered. Del wouldn''t spill the secret to Mira. He would keep her wondering, "Walter? He''s my caretaker, but I don''t know about his rtion with the security group. And no, I''m a contractor, but I''m not involved with a security group." "Is that so?" Mira put her rifle beside her desk, "I might just make a wrong assumption. Sorry, Del. Anyway, Dr. Bet might want to see you." "Why?" "You are sick, Del. Everyone misses you, especially that girl that you rescued from the ver. Del, for a transfer student, you have quite a reputation. If I may ask, why?" Mira asked. "I don''t know. Maybe it''s because of my reckless act, or it''s because I just happened to be in the right time and the right ce," Del answered, and he asked Mira, "You know, Mira. What did you do in 1942?" Silence. It was an awkward and yet, intimidating silence. Mira stopped breathing, but she tried to keep her face t. Her left hand started trembling as she put her hand on top of her rifle. "What do you mean?" She looked at Del. The re was intense, but she looked more than surprised. "I''m just asking. What did you do in 1942?" Del asked. "I was a student, what do you mean?" Mira asked back with cold sweat on her palm. "Just a student, huh?" "Maybe I was also a contractor, but both of us were active contractors, right?" She sounded worried. "Did you get involved in something¡­ illegal?" Del asked her. Del smirked as he red at her. He wanted to put a very loud message by intensely ring at her, silently. He knew he had the backing of both intelligence agencies, and any rumor to discredit him would be diminished by them. Mira, on the other hand, relied on rumors and mouth-to-mouth information. In 1942, Mira participated in a rogue militant group. That alone would be enough to cause her to be expelled from school. Heck, expelled was the least worst thing that could happen to her. There might be a bounty on top of her head. Del kept ring at her. His re meant, ''don''t mess with me. I know what you don''t know and I''m not afraid to use that if you try to discredit me like what you did before.'' He then stopped ring at him and offered Mira a handkerchief. "Your palm looked sweaty." He then smiled. Mira grabbed the handkerchief from Del''s hand and wiped her sweaty palm. "Thanks," she returned the handkerchief, silently. She moved slowly, almost stuttering. Maybe Del had put too much shock on her. "Mira, are you there?" Del asked Mira as he waved his hand left and right. "Ah, sorry, I was daydreaming." "More like shocked, to be honest." Del crossed his hand. "Fine, you got me. I''ll forget what I know, happy now?" Mira said. "Very happy." "Dr. Bet was worried sick about you, you know? You sent your sick letter veryte so I begun snooping information of your whereabouts, if you want to know why I was snooping around in contractor HQ," Mira answered. "I appreciate your concern, but Mira, why would you snoop around like that? You don''t like if people also snoop around your information, don''t you think?" Del felt nauseous saying that. It was pure hypocrisy. "I think so. My bad, I won''t do that again," Mira said. "No problem, Mira," Del smirked again, giving her the impression that he was really the evil person she thought he was. It might put Mira under a leash for now. Del walked back to his desk to pick up his backpack and walked to TMV club building, leaving Mira behind. Joshua might want to talk about something actually important, instead of asking the same question as Mira. However, Del had his own worry about Joshua too. If Mira told whatever she knew, Joshua would be way bolder in his way of asking. He might need Morris'' help to take care of him. Nah, Del wouldn''t kill him, but a tranquillizer might be necessary to deal with Joshua. Del walked with his AK on his left hand and backpack on his back. In the TMV building, Joshua and Daniel had already been there. Del approached them and he greeted them. "Good Afternoon, fes." "Afternoon, Del." "Nice to see you, Del," Daniel replied. "How are you, Del? I heard you have typhoid fever," Joshua said. Typhoid fever, huh? Was it the content of the sick letter? Well, Del needed to y along. Any question was better than Mira''s question. He just wanted some peace in that school. He didn''t need another bullshit to hit him in the face. "Yeah, I''m fine now." "Great. We missed you. The girls are a little bit on the edge after the ident. Hopefully, your presence might calm them down during the next volunteer activity," Joshua answered. "Including Mira?" Del smirked. "Hahaha, nah, Mira has a reputation. Any random criminal wouldn''t want to kidnap a contractor. It would only cause problem for them, especially knowing that they are former merc," Joshua said. "Hahaha, I see." "Anyway, wee back to school, Del." Chapter 159 - Updated Later Chapter 159 ¨C Updated Later The day was rather uneventful, just as expected. There was no special things happening. The special things that happened were the regr shenanigans that anyone would see in a high-school student. Adam was pranking Aveline, Aveline retaliated by ''identally'' scratch her pen on Adam''s shirt. Everyone had a goodugh. The teachers were¡­ okay? Del wasn''t sure. There were some strict teachers, but there were also some unusually nice ones. Both were okay though, there were no physical abuses so far. If there was one thing that bothered him, it was Aveline and Anna''s rtionship that developed so quickly in just one day. Del eavesdropped on their conversation once. He deduced that they were matching. One was insane and driven by her own pain and her own desire for revenge while the other was rather ambitious and famous. Del would put it this way, Anna was Aveline''s bodyguard while Aveline would be Anna''s main weapon. They synced, somehow. "Is that so? That''s quite impressive, Aveline," Annamented. "You''re much more impressive. No wonder you enroll into thebat-oriented ss, Anna." Yeah, it was not even one day, and they had developed their rtionship that much. They would be a good friend, Del was sure about that. They would perhaps form a mutually beneficial symbiosis. Still, Del wanted to know more about Aveline''s background. She was suspicious. As Del got lost in his thought, the bell finally rang. The school was finally over. The students packed their note books into their backpack and stayed inside of the ssroom for a while. Some were cleaning the ckboard while the other was cleaning the floor with broom and mop. After this would be the extracurricr activity, he still had to decide what club he would join. His primary club would be the medical volunteer club as usual, but the other club that he would join was still decided. Would he join the student council? But for what? He didn''t want too many jobs. Disciplinarymitee wasn''t his forte, he was not really fond of establishing rules inside of an environment. "Adam, do you have any suggestion about the club that I should join?" Del asked. "Club? Well, I am the member of the marksmanship club and the member of the student council. Aveline is our president at the moment. She is quite a good leader for what it counts, but I am not sure whether it will be suitable for you or not," Adam answered. "Why do you say that?" Del asked. "Let''s just say that Aveline can be quite demanding at times. However, if you meet her goals, you''ll usually be rewarded with something. Still, if you have any other activities, she will usually tolerate it," Adam said. Thinking about it again, joining one club might be the best decision for now. Anna would be free to do whatever she wanted since she didn''t have any responsibility to train with Walter after school while Del had that responsibility. Anna might want to join the student council as a member, she was close with Aveline after all. He would just head to the medical volunteer club and asked for a membership. It would remind him of the good old times when everything hadn''t happened yet. His qualification as a former active contractor might be enough to convince the students to let them join the medical volunteer organization. He had the feeling that the more senior member of the medical volunteer would like to test him first before he could be admitted to the club. He was prepared for that. He would prove that more than six months ofbat experience would prove to be useful for the club. They might want him to rescue someone from the forest, they might want Del to retrieve a weird herb, anything could happen. It could be ssified as initiation ritual, Del thought. First of all though, he needed to know where the medical volunteer club building was. He needed to ask Adam first. He was a member of the student council, it could be said that eh was the eyes and ears of Aveline in the student council. There was no way he wouldn''t know where the building was. "Adam, do you know where I can find the medical volunteer building?" Del asked. "Ah, you want to join that club? It''s easy to spot them to be honest, just look for a building with a a lot of people wearing tan colored shirt with plus patch on their hand. It would be the medical volunteer organization building, I think?" Adam said, but he sounded not sure about it. "Why are you not so sure about it?" Del asked. "Because I''m not one of them, why don''t you ask Mira?" Adam asked. "Who is Mira?" Del asked. "Another member of the medical volunteer organization." Speak of the devil, a girl stood up right next to Adam and Del''s desk. The girl was mopping the floor, but she stopped right when Del was talking about the medical organization. The girl''s hair was short. She looked more like the outdoor type, especially with something simr to a foldable knife sticking out of her pocket. "Did you say something about TMV?" Mira intervened. "Yeah, we were just talking about it. Del, this is Mira Reeve. She is the co-leader of Lumbart Academy TMV. Mira, Del said that she wanted to join TMV, you might want to give him your sponsorship, right?" Adam smiled. "Sure, if you want to increase our budget by 10%?" "Mira¡­ we have talked about this," Adam said. "I''m kidding, but still, think about it, ok?" Mira then shifted her look to Del. "So, you are Del Moore, Anna spoke so highly about you. I don''t think you will disappoint." "I''m sure as hell I won''t, Mira." "Good, I''m d to hear that. Our leader would be furious if I invite someone to our organization without any initiation process first. Well, to be honest, we don''t really ept new member from the 12th grade, but since you''re a special case, I think Joshua will have a proposal for you," Del said. "Proposal?" "Odd jobs for our greater cause, I think," Mira said. "Greater cause? Why are you putting yourself that high?" Del asked. "Anyway, if you want toe with me, let''s go then. There is an usual briefing before we start training. However, I think our leader will want to talk with you first," Mira said. "Sure." Mira walked to the front of the ssroom and she put the mop and bucket. She then picked up her backpack and asked Del to follow her from behind. Del nodded and he followed her. They went downstairs and walked out into the yard. They eventually walked to one small building where around seven students were waiting. All of those students were wearing tan colored shirts and ck cargo pants. Their appearance was quite simr to a member of the MSVI, but their insignia was yellow instead of orange. "Finally, youe. It''s been six minutes," A boy said "me my cleaning duty for that," Mira answered. The boy was as tall as Del. He also carried a rifle on his back, but loaded. There was a pen on his left shirt pocket, and a foldable knife on his pocket. There was a bag located near him. The bag might be a first-aid kit, but it looked more like a trauma kit, truth to be told. "Ah, who''s this? I''ve never seen him around here before, are you a new student? What''s your name?" The boy asked. "I''m Del, what''s your name?" "My name is Daniel, I''m the leader of this academy TMV. If I may ask, what brought you here, Del? I don''t think a new student will visit us in the first ce," Daniel said. "I''m interested in joining your organization." "Ah, quite frankly, we don''t ept any 12th grade students, I''m sorry." Daniel got interrupted by Mira who was whispering right next to his ear. "Ah, you''re one of those special circumstances, huh? Fine, listen, are you willing to do something for us? To be honest, we are running out of painkiller." "Count me in. What do you need?" "I want you to retrieve a nt for me. The n can be found in the great snond north of this ce. However, it is quite cold there, are you sure you got what it takes?" Daniel asked. "I think I have." "Great, if that was the case, then I will give you the name of the n, alright? The nt that you''re looking for is called Absyntia. This nt usually grows there, if you bring one for me, I will immediately invite you to our organization, what do you say?" "Sure, as long as you give me the details about what I should search. Is there anything else that I should know? Or is that all?" Del asked. "I think that''s all. You can give that nt to me tomorrow. Here''s the book about herbs and nts," Daniel gave Del a pocket book. "Here''s my pocket book, you should be able to find the picture of the nt there.. Good luck, Del." Chapter 160 - Post School Briefing Chapter 160 ¨C Post School Briefing "Ah, so that''s the case, I see," Morris nodded his head several times. Del told him everything that happened in the school and his investigation. Anna also added some extra details that she knew, including the investigation on Adam. He also smiled when Del used Mira''s past to intimidate her. He onlymented, "You just used a nuclear bomb to kill a squirrel, don''t you know that?" Del just sighed. He knew he just spoke the secret that Mira would keep very deep inside of her own Pandora box. There were many more secrets, but 1942 would make her shudder. Well, as long as it put Mira under his leash, Del would be happy to manipte it. Both of them were mercenaries. He would be d to use her if it became necessary, especially if he wanted to do something that he was not supposed to be doing. The fate between life and death for Mira was in his hand. She would have no way to refuse his request. What a sinister and sick n, wasn''t it? Wait, that meant that Anna and her could work together in investigating our suspect with Anna keeping her in the dark about what they were searching for. Del felt sinister thinking about that, but he couldn''t help but to put a maniptive smile on his face. To be honest, it was rather a slight convenience on his part. Mira wasn''t exactly the best mercenary around, but Del was sure that a former militant would have a decent military experience. The potential was kinda endless for him. Poor Mira. "Still, Del, I don''t think Mira is the person you''re looking for. You scare her so much into submission, I don''t think she would pose a threat to you. Still, she''s a reasonable good ally, we can use her fear," Morris suggested. "What are you suggesting, Morris?" Del asked. "We scare her outside of public ce. You know, handing her some documents about her secret, making her delve deeper into her fear of being executed," Morris said. "You''re sick, Morris," Anna sipped on her coffee, "But I approve it. Mira is one of the feared students outside of thebat program. Keeping her on our side should prove to be advantageous." And she continued sipping on her coffee. "I''ll tell the boss about your n,ter. Anything else that I should know?" "Bosch. We still need to progress. Any n? Besides bombing him in secret," Del asked. "I like what you are thinking, Del. However, I want to know, what are you thinking right now?" What Del was thinking? Well, nothing. To be precise, so far, anything that had happened had been rather out of his expectation in both good ways and bad ways. In good ways because the intelligence agencies were in his side and in bad ways since everything became way moreplicated than it should have been. There was a nuke in Ilbistirum, one of his friends was his enemy, and this ver which happened to be a human-right activist must be eradicated as well. It couldn''t get any messier, right? As far as Del knew, it would get messier. Morris interrupted the silence, "About Bosch, we have an update that just came when you two were still in school." Morris opened his tablet and showed it on the table. The tablet disyed a picture. Three trucks were moving through a straight road. What was very fancy about this picture? There was nothing odd, to be honest. Further more, it was a military truck owned by the federal military with crates filling it. And Del wouldn''t even think about hitting a military convoy from the federal military. It would bring too much unnessary heat to him. If this convoy was somehow connected to Bosch, they would need a n to take it down. "Military transport trucks, anything special about these trucks?" Del asked. "These trucks are carrying small arms munition to this town," Morris said. "So¡­ what?" Del asked. "Wouldn''t the military in this town need reinforcement as well?" "Well, I meant, it''s logical. As far as we are concerned, there are no scheduled shipment heading for this town. This is something out of the ordinary and Mikhail wants us all to investigate it." "Remind me again, who''s Mikhail?" Del asked. "Director of Internal Security. What? You don''t remember him?" "No, I just want to make sure," Del lied. If even the director of internal security wanted them to investigate it, this shipment might be very serious. Serious in a way that it might be a threat to national security. Or it was just him overreacting about the current situation. Still, weapon shipment was a weapon shipment. Del wouldn''t want an more threat to his town. Even Bosch alone was enough, a weapon upgrade for the criminals would surely create a new threat and weaken the localw reinforcement force. "Ok, a weapon shipment. It''s clearly interesting, but what should we do with these trucks?" "We want your help to take them down. Considering how you two have prove yourself over time, we might need your expertise on this one," Morris said. "Sure, what can we do for you?" Del asked. "Great, I know I can count on you. Alright, here''s the deal. You will be apanies by four people from our side. Don''t worry, they will probably carry the whole operation, You''re just there to support them." "Anything else that I should know?" Del asked. "Yeah. We will also give you full air support so don''t worry about it. We''ll carry jamming pods on our aircraft as well so you don''t have to worry about iing reinforcement," Morris reassured him. "Does it include an airstrike?" Del asked. "Yup." "But we are under pressure not to shoot at the trucks. We were only allowed to stop it, kill the soldiers, inspect the cargo, and decide the next course of action whether to destroy it or to keep it," Morris said. "I see." "Mission details?" Anna asked. "This shipment would probably enter our region in Sunday which meant two days from now. I want you two to listen carefully. Alright?" Del and Anna nodded. Morris exined the possibility of the threat and the cargo that the military trucks might be carrying. He exined that they would probably need to wear their MOP suit back since the cargo could be another dangerous substance. He said that there might be a possibility that the cargo contained a chemical agent that could easily kill them if they weren''t careful. Del agreed with that statement. This convoy could be carrying a bomb as far as Del was concerned. If the bomb was a chemical one that was rigged to explode once tampered with, Del wouldn''t have any idea on how dangerous it could be. It could burn his skin, it could be a biological weapon, it could be anything and he wouldn''t know better. Morris also mentioned that the cargo might carry nukes. Now that was the terrifying part for him. He said that demon and vampires weren''t affected by radiation in a way that being exposed to radiation wouldn''t be cancerous for them, but it would still burn their skin. However, Del was still human and radiation would be death sentence for him. If it was a dirty bomb, it would be enough to kill him just by the radiation alone. The town that he currently resided in would be damaged enough that no one would upy it anymore and that was not a good thing. Bottom point was, the cargo was hazardous and must be approached with extreme caution even though it could be a false rm. The n would be given by the special force soldiers that would be protecting him during the operation. "So, this thing is a weapon of mass destruction, most likely?" Del asked. "Correct. You''re absolutely correct." Anna then asked, "What makes you think that the cargo might be carrying a weapon of mass destruction?" "Simple. If the imperial military is able to instill fears into the federal poption. The support for war would secede and we will be open to a peace talk. And no, I don''t think the peace talk will end up in our favor." If someone detonated another nuclear, the federal military would think twice before doing any action to Imperial military in fear of being nuked the second time. It would force the military to the negotiating table and the odds were against them. They might be told to give up some of their territories and some of their weapons. But it would be the start of something much more sinister. Slowly, it would give a breathing room for the imperial military to create more nukes. That breathing room would also be used by the federal military to make nukes. As a result, a cold war wouldmence between those two nations and escting it would result in a nuclear apocalypse between two countries.. It would be messy and it would be not good for the economy. Chapter 161 - Updated Later Chapter 161 ¨C Updated Later Six, no, ten, no, twenty people from Imperial sides were flying towards his ckhawk. Del aimed the tip of his GAU-21 machine gun at their direction. A burst of heavy machine gun munition was fired at their direction. The energy shield that they used wouldn''t be enough to protect them from a direct hit from a heavy machine gun. "Bravo 1-1 engaging targets." Morris reported the progress to Belgram air base. Anna was Bravo 1-2 and Del was Bravo 1-3. If Del recalled correctly, the other squadron had a simr codename as well. The F-15 that just flew past them was Alpha squadron, the F-15 that patrolled the south coast was Charlie squadron. It was a full-blown counter assault after all, they had a significance importance in that assault. Failure to do this would result in imbnce of war inter day. GAU-21 shredded those flying mages in second, they didn''t have enough time to climb to the high altitude the ckhawk was flying in. The helicopter was also flying at its maximum speed while firing Hellfire missiles at those heavy tanks. "Bravo 1-1, 20% of targets have been destroyed." The small explosion from the autocannons and the missiles from the helicopter. It halted the offensive and the infantry was scattered to find the culprit of the attack which was flying up high. It was up to Alpha squadron to distract the Imperial air force now. "Bravo 1-1, this is Alpha 1-1, air force is distracted, you have twenty minutes." Distraction n was simple. The F-15 would tease up the enemy propeller aircraft by making several pass and shoot some of them down with its gatling gun. It was a simple n, and quite foolproof. Just like the ckhawk, the F-15E was equipped with a shield generator that could tank a farrger hit than the shield in ckhawk due to its more powerful engines. The twenty minute time was probably given not because the remaining fuel on the F-15, but because of the ammunition reserve that the F-15 had. It wouldn''t take too long before they realized that the F-15 wasn''t exactly the main threat for them. They would only realize that by the time the B-1 had downed at least one airship. At that time, the ne from the imperial military would being after the bomber and the F-15 wouldn''t let it happen. It would use all of its AMRAAM missile to shoot the propeller nes down before it could reach the bomber. Either way, one of the mission objectives would be fulfilled. "Del, I think you should go out," Morris said. Del picked up his PKP machine gun from the back helicopter and jumped out of the helicopter. He immediately dived down towards the flying soldiers and sprayed them with the general purpose machine gun. With the help of oxygen mask, he didn''t need to focus his spell to control his breathing, the oxygen mask helped him to supplement the much needed oxygen. As the gush of cold wind hit his face and the soldiers were giving their attention to him, he started doing evasive maneuver. Several flying soldiers were following him from behind and Del kept shooting his machine gun backwards as he tricked them to follow them to Anna''s side of the helicopter. "Bravo 1-3, engaging targets!" Del threw several fireballs at the pursuing enemies and he flew upwards in great velocity. The soldiers behind him were having trouble catching him, mainly because the air became thinner in Del''s altitude. Once he reached the peak altitude, Del dived down towards the ground and charged towards the flying soldiers with his machine gun on his shoulder. "Bravo 1-1, 50% of targets have been destroyed." Del distraction worked. As the ckhawk rained down high-explosive shells and missiles a the heavy tanks, he managed to distract the flying soldiers from actually actively attacking the helicopter. Anna was just manning her machine gun as insurance. "Copy that," Del replied. Perhaps, throwing grenades at the non-flying infantry would get the job done. Del carried several C4 charges inside of his pocket after all, it would be enough to destroy some of the heavier tanks alongside with several infantries. Del flew low, almost touching the ground as he charged through the heavy armor battalion. He prepared the C4 that he put on his magazine pocket by attaching detonator on the C4. He put his machine gun on his back and he started throwing the C4 at the heavier tanks. The C4 would be sticky enough to actually stick into the exterior of the tank. Del threw several bricks into the tanks and he gained altitude again. The tank heavy machine gun was aiming at him, but it was toote, Del already had his hand on the detonator. BOOM. The explosions destroyed several tanks at once and the flying soldiers following him was grazed. Del took that opportunity and he aimed his machine gun at the direction of those flying soldiers. Several bodies dropped from the sky, and Del flew upwards again to confuse the soldier. "Bravo 1-3, keep an eye on your oxygen level. 75% of targets have been destroyed." "Copy that, Bravo 1-1." It seemed that the attack mission would bepleted soon. So far, the advance of Imperial military had been halted, thanks to the sudden attack from the intelligence agencies. The tanks on the ground had mostly been turned into fiery wreckage and the infantry was nothing more than minced meat. Needless to say, the mission was a sess. Del flew back to the direction of the helicopter, to be precise, he flew back to Anna''s side. Anna was standing by with her heavy machine gun. "Bravo 1-2, I''ming in hot, watch my back!" Del took a steep climb towards the helicopter and he immediately climbed inside. Del sat down and he aimed his machine gun downwards as Morris started doing evasive maneuver using the helicopter. Maybe it would be a great time to use the stinger on the back of the helicopter. "All targets are down! No enemies in pursuit." Anna had finished thest of them. The helicopter flew away from the area of operation. It ended the operation sessfully. It was time to return home, and continue searching for the student that carried both the teleportation spell and the report from imperial military. ================ Del and Anna sat down on the living room of the cabin. Del was listening to the radio while Anna was sipping on her coffee. Morris was typing the report for themand and typing the result for both Del and Anna consumption. Del was sure that they caused some sort of massive destruction towards the imperial military. Morris came back into the cabin, holding a piece of paper. He gave the paper to Del and Del read the paper. The paper contained the damage report from themand to him. It was rather impressive, to be honest especially since Del knew what kind of targets they were attacking. [Operation Halt] [22/10/REDACTED] Imperial military offensive has been halted for an undefined amount of time thanks to the strike today. At least, it will put a dy for three weeks before the imperial military reinforced the front line again. The government would catch a glimpse of this operation, but it won''t be long until they realize what has happened. This is the damage report to the imperial military. The government is impressed with the performance of Salve Group security contractor that they will hire us again for any counteroffensive operation. [Alpha Team] 3x Corvette-ss Airships 2x Frigate-ss Airships 1x Cruiser-ss Airship 6x Fighter Aircrafts [Bravo Team] 20x H-Series tanks 10x Experimental Tanks 10x A-Series Tanks 20x Fighter-Type Special Forces Soldiers Undefined Amount of Regr Infantry [Charlie Team] 1x Battleship 3x Cruisers 5x Frigates This concludes the report. Any inquiry should be reported to Deputy Director of Internal Security. ======================== "I''m going to be honest, battleship is a pride of any nation, isn''t it? Destroying it would usually lower the morale of the enemy forces, right?" Del asked. "Yes. There''s nothing a heavy bomb can''t handle. The main target was the battleship, but we just happen to also destroy the other ships due to the remaining bombs that C-team carried. Well, all and all, it was sessful," Morris said. "So, will this put imperial military at a major setback?" Del asked. "Most likely. This will not only put them at a setback, this will put them at a stalemate to its former state before they destroy Halivaara and the surrounding city. The federal military will sweep them clean like a broom and it would be back into another stalemate," Morris said. Del just smirked, "Military-Industrialplex at its finest, huh? I''m quite impressed. What does this student that I am searching for have to do with maintaining the current status quo? I know she is one of the nobilities, but why would I need an information from her?" "A lot of things, Del. A lot of things. What do you want to know first?" "Everything." Chapter 162 - Recruiting Mira Chapter 162 ¨C Recruiting Mira "Out of all girls in this academy, and out of all boys in this academy, why did you take me here?" Joel''s Bistro, it was one of the coffee shops in Sneggor. The girl in front of him was none other than Mira. Now, why would Del bring Mira here? Was he looking for a date? Of course not. It was more of a persuasive discussion for her, she just didn''t know yet. "Negotiation." "Negotiation?" Del brought a file out of his briefcase that Morris provided. It was only a fragment of documentation of Mira''s time working with the militant group. Del showed Mira his high card, hoping that Mira didn''t have any ace up on her sleeve, or he would need to use his own ace. Mira looked at the picture. Her mouth gasped. She red at Del widely, then she sighed and crossed her hands. She nodded her head left and right and looked at the ss window. On the rooftop, albeit hard to see, she saw a sniper. Those low resolution photographs showed Mira holding a rifle with a militant group which symphatized with imperial government. Mira was there to work as a mercenary, not a contractor. She had broken the rules of being a contractor by working with the militant alone. "What do you want, Moore? I guess all of those rumors were true, huh?" "You can figure it out." Mira put the file on the table. She didn''t bring any gun, mainly because a gun wasn''t allowed in that coffee shop. If not, Mira might reach for her gun and tried to shoot him or herself to escape from her own past. She put her hands on her head, just like someone that had a headache. "Again, what do you want, Del?" "Cooperation." "For?" Del pointed his hand at the sniper on the roof. "Help Anna in investigating our leads. I have too much attention and so does Anna. You, on the other hand, aren''t as famous as both of us." "Ha. For what? I can just go home and kill myself and be done with it," Mira said. "Are you sure your life is that cheap, or rather, do you dare to pull the trigger?" Del asked. "Say, I ept your offer. What will make me think that you won''t stab me in the back?" Mira wasn''t sure. She wasn''t certain about her recent threat, that was for sure. But it was not like she wasn''t prepared for thest resort. "I will make your old file disappear. One assignment, one file, how''s that?" Del asked. For Del, or any of his allies, Mira was just an asset among other assets. She was valuable, but not to the point that it would jeopardize his n if she got killed. She was a former mercenary and a student. Those two factors alone were the only valuable assets of Mira. Other than that, Del could look elsewhere. "I''d double down. I want that plus one thing." "And that is?" Del asked. "I want a schrship to a medical university." Ok, that''s rather¡­ odd. She didn''t want her ckmail to be erased, but she''d rather have an entrance to a university. To be honest, it really sounded like what Del and Anna had in mind ever since both of them met their mother. There was no problem with the funding, not at all. It was just odd, that''s all. "Why?" "Because I''d do anything to get there. I will take a gap year if I don''t seed on the first try, and so on. After all, we live much longer than both of you,"Mira said. "Are you on a sin-cleansing journey or something?" Del asked. "Sort of, I guess? Both of you have been working as contractors for quite a while, right? You''ll get to a point where too much is too much, and trust me, it will mess your mind like no tomorrow," Mira said. "What do you mean?'''' "You''ll feel that bodies don''t worth more than the bullet that goes through it. You''ll feel that doing anything is justified. You''ll start seeing death not as a tragedy, but as numbers. People say it''s a point of no return, but I decided to return," Mira said. "I see. I guess that''s the risk of working as a mercenary, huh?" "Yeah. Anyway, what does Anna want?" Del felt smug, "Where was that rejective altitude?" Mira sighed, "It doesn''t look like you will do nothing if I don''t do anything to help you. So yeah, I''m in your game. So, boss, what do you want me to do?" "Boss?" "Yeah, I always call mymanding officer, my leader, or anyone with "boss" once I got under theirmand. Don''t expect me to call you boss in the academy, though," Mira said. "Dully noted." Del opened the briefcase. He then grabbed a hand held radio. "This is ckfox, all clear." He then put his radio back into his briefcase. He then smiled at Mira. "That''s it, I think, unless you want me to tell anything else." "What do you want to know, boss?" Mira asked. "I want to know your current thought on the situation right now." "Well, boss, besides the civil war, I don''t think I have anything not useful in particr. Unless you want to include the unofficial rtionship between Daniel and Aveline," Mira asked. "Will it prove any tactical advantage?" Del asked. "No, I don''t think so, boss." "What do you know about me, so far?" "A student with a prototype experimental weapon from the university weaponb that happens to be working with the biggest private security in Ilbistirum apanied with his head case of a sister that is as dangerous and scores the highest in close-rangebat and marksmanship." "That''s rather interesting." "Not only that. I heard you are the person that destroys apany of armored vehicles and destroy the upper chain ofmand in the imperial military. So yeah, I approach you very carefully, but it seems that you drop the bomb, boss." "Because you snooped around too much, Mira," Del said. "Fine, you got me. Helping with investigation, huh? Which one? The one you are working with Aveline, or is this any peeve project of yours?" "Thetter." "Alright, what do you want to know?" "I need to investigate the 12th grade students. In particr, the people that used to be involved with the imperial government. So far, my investigation hasn''t given me any fruit yet, and this is where youe in," Del said. "Yeah, I heard you were snooping through Adam''s personal belonging. So, this only left Daniel and Mira, huh?" Mira sighed. "Those two couples. Never thought that I''d mess with them." "Why?" "Daniel was practically an angel and Aveline wasn''t exactly someone that you''d call military-ish. Still, I might be able to get one thing or two from Daniel," Mira said. "Aveline, too." "Yeah, yeah, Aveline too. Don''t worry boss, I won''t fuck this thing up." "What? Do you think I will approach a random student out of nowhere? Nah, you were on my radar for quite some time and this was the perfect moment to strike through. Still, Mira, how can I use your skill?" Del asked. "I used to be a trench cleaner back in the militia. Just give me a shotgun and I''ll be good. Well, an armor or something would be appreciated, never was good with rifle anyway," Mira said. "Sure, maybe I can source you standard-issue military shotgun," Del said. "Thank, I''ll appreciate it. So, what will happen with my record, for now?" Mira asked. "It''ll be hidden, temporarily. Just do what Anna told you to do, and we can consider about working together some more," Del said. "Whatever you say, boss. Anything else that I should know?" Mira asked. "That''s all. Anna will brief you tomorrow." "Alright, I''ll bring my old gear tomorrow to your house. See youter, boss." Mira stood up from the chair. She picked up her backpack from the floor and she left the coffee shop without drinking any coffee. Del sighed and he picked up the radio from his briefcase. "This is ckfox. Jackpot." Anna opened the backdoor of the coffee shop. She didn''t bring her rifle, and she had returned to her ordinary school uniform. "So, how''s the result? Did sheply with out request." "Yup, we have a control over her. Anna, it looks like you got yourself a personal assistant." Anna smiled, "With her closebat skill, I don''t have to worry about someone approaching my back when I''m sniping. I have to say, she''s good. Even based on the rumors alone, she was once legendary." "Well, good for us then." "I''m serious. She achieved a simr feat to us back then. The rumor said that she cleared an entire trench on her own," Anna said. "Damn, that girl is pretty good with her shotgun, isn''t she? Well, if that''s the case, let''s use her to our advantage Chapter 163 - Infiltration Chapter 163 ¨C Infiltration Del was in themand center, observing the area of operation from a drone feed. Anna and Mira were in the area of operation itself. What was the mission, if you ask? Those two people were infiltrating the academy, at nighttime. That''s one of the reasons why the drone feed was useful. "This is ckfox, Vampir, I see you on the drone feed." Del radioed Anna. =========================== "Copy that ckfox. We''ll be standing by, awaitingmand." The weather wasn''t friendly, in fact, it was hostile. The town was under heavy blizzard. A thick mist of snow was covering their vision. Basically, if not for the night vision goggles or the help from the drone feed, they would practically be blind. Even then, reaching the dorm without anyone noticing would be rather difficult. Even if the lights were cking out from the blizzard. Mira was literally following Anna from behind, "Boss, why did your brother send us in this blinding blizzard?" "Simple, little to no visibility for anyone, and the fact that the blizzard is so damn loud," Anna replied. Mira only wore her regr snow gear, not really suitable for blizzard. However, Anna was pretty much way more prepared with herbat gear suitable for storming through thick blizzard. Anna could feel her eyes freezing and her hands froze. She wouldn''t even dare to do that kind of operation in Mira''s gear. "Vampir, you''re clear to move." "Roger. Vampire is moving towards the dorm, over." Although the academy used heating spell to heat its area, the power outage disabled that warming field and even if it was activated, it would be no match for the freezing blizzard. The weather report before the blizzard came suggested that the temperature would drop way below -35 degrees celcius. Basically, anyone crazy enough to go outside would immediately freeze to death. The loadout was simple. Mira was given a regr Ilbistrium military-issued shotgun with suppressor and bean bag round to stun any student that came into her path. Anna was using a tranquillizer M700 rifle and a tranquillizer ammo for her pistol. For backup, she carried a suppressed P90 on her back. Of course, it was also loaded with rubber bullets. They wanted to keep this as quiet and as non-lethal as possible. Killing any student on that dorm would raise suspicion. Hopefully, no one was still awake in the middle of this night blizzard or their n would pretty much be doomed. The n was to infiltrate Daniel''s room and retrieve whatever item of interest that was avable on that room whether it was his personal belonging, his homework, or anything that might contain the document. Of course, Daniel would be sedated using a tranquillizer dart. Mira was living in the dormitory right across the boy''s dormitory. Although, she wouldn''t be sleeping there that night. She had told her dormitory caretaker that she would stay with Anna for the weekend. Of course, it was only a ruse for today''s operation. "ckfox, I''m on the back entrance of the dorm. Moving inside." "Copy that Vampire. You''ll be in the dark. ckfox out." Anna retrieved the key from the security division and put it on the keyhole of that dormitory. There was no security measure to prevent anyone that wasn''t a member of security division or the inhabitants of the boy''s dorm from entering with the exception of the lock on that door. The dorm was a little bit warmer, mainly because the firece on themon area was still on. The warm air filled the dorm, but Anna still had the assumption that the temperature on that dorm was barely warm enough. Ice sheets had begun to form on the interior side of the sses. Daniel''s room was in the second floor. It shouldn''t be hard to reach it. The architect of the academy wasn''t exactly the most creative kind of person. Theyout of the boy''s dorm and the girl''s dorm was the same for the most part and it happened that Daniel was living on the same position as Mira''s room on the girl''s dorm. Anna had to say that she was surprised to hear that. "Is this a coincidence that both of you are in the same room? Or is this somethingpletely unexpected?" Anna asked Mira. "It''s just a coincidence, boss." Different from the door leading to the dorm, any personal room only had its key owned by the owner of the said room only. Anna wouldn''t have the key for Daniel''s room so she had to result in a more non-conventional method. Yeah, lockpicking, it was something that both Del and Anna mastered. They only needed two pins, and they could open any non-security door. Anna grabbed the lockpicking tool from her pocket and begun opening the door to Daniel''s room. It didn''t even take her three seconds and the door to Daniel''s room was opened. "Boss, you have a talent on the robbery sector, don''t you?" "I think so," Anna opened the door. She pulled out her pistol and immediately shot Daniel twice with her tranquillizer pistol. Mira closed the door from behind and they begun searching the room for any item of importance. Well, there was a bolt-action rifle, a book, and a pencil on the desk. There were also boxes of ammunition. He might be loading ammunition before the blizzard hit. There was also a piece of paper on the table. Anna picked up that piece of paper. It seemed to be a letter for someone named Dilluard. The content was unfinished, but the letter seemed to be informal as well. "Ey, take a look at this," Anna gave Mira the letter. She briefly read the letter, "I know it''s a letter, but who''s Dilluard?" "Heck, as if I know. It seems that the letter is for someone rather important. Could it be that this letter ising from his girlfriend?" Anna asked Mira. "I don''t know boss. It''s Cordier, not Dilluard." "So it''s not her, then? Well, let''s keep searching the room." Anna opened the wardrobe and searched every piece of clothing in Daniel''s wardrobe. She was annoyed with the amount of TMV regr outfit in there. Probably, among every ten shirts that Daniel owned, she had around six of those tan shirts. Below of his wardrobe was a hiking backpack with a clear patch of the TMV logo. This boy was really adoring the TMV, huh? No wonder he was the leader of that organization. Anna couldn''t understand why Del wanted to join the TMV. It might be just to recall with his old world experience, but she couldn''t figure the content of his brother''s mind. "Damn, this boy really likes the TMV, huh?" "I think so, boss." "ckfox, do you copy? This is Vampir." "ckfox here." "Situation report. We don''t find any item of interest in Daniel''s room except for a letter for someone in the imperial ilbistirum, probably for a family member. Should I bring it there, over?" "Roger, can you find more item, over?" "Negative." Suddenly, Mira found something right below of his desk. It seemed to be another inside of an opened envelope. "Wait, I think I find another item. Stand by." The letter was directed for Daniel, but it was not from Ilbistirum Imperial region. In fact, it was a letter without any address or any origin. Anna put the letter inside of her pocket and reported back to Del, "We found another letter, over." "Alright, return to base, ckfox out." Anna cleaned the trace of her presence on Daniel''s room. Both of them were wearing gloves so there shouldn''t be any fingerprint. There was a window on Daniel''s dorm. They could get out using the window, even though the blizzard was still happening outside. Anna opened the window and she jumped out, followed by Mira from behind. The strong wind closed the window immediately. There shouldn''t be any trace of her. Well, mission wasplete, it was time to return to themand room. Mira and Anna sneaked out of the academy by jumping the wall surrounding the entire academy. They then ran as fast as they could from the academy while shielding their eyes from the blizzard. Until they gained enough distance, Anna carried Mira on her back and flew back to the cabin. Del would be happy to see what they had. ============= Mira and Anna were sitting down on the living room of the cabin. Del offered both of them hot coffee to thank them for their hard work. "Here you go, you two. Good job." Del gave the two mugs of coffee to both of them. "Thanks bro," Anna said. "I really appreciate it, boss." Del wasn''t exactly in his casual gear either. He was in his tactical gear, waiting for the helicopter team to pick him up from the cabin to attack the convoy. Anna wouldn''t participate, mainly due to her having to keep her eyes on Mira.. Nevertheless, the mission was a sess and Del would listen to the result after he returned from the attack mission. Chapter 164 - Updated Later Chapter 164 ¨C Updated Later Del had finished packing up the note books and the utensils inside of his backpack. Besides of his backpack was an AK-74M to fulfill the school regtion that required him to bring firearms. There was a pistol concealed behind his shirt alongside with a te carrier that should be able to protect him from any rifle round that would be fired at him as long as he used an material shield around him. That was not all though. Del only brought the necessary thing outside of the storage that Pidma provided. Inside of his storage was a whole different story. The storage contained everything that he would need to wear in case he needed to participate in a heavybat. If condition arose where he needed to defend himself from multiple attacks, he wanted to be ready. Inside of his storage were two loadouts consisted of a PKP Pecheneg-SP GPMG, 800 rounds of armor-piercing high-explosive rounds, heavy body armor with extra protectors, a FAST ballistic helmet alongside with a ballistic face shield, an FGM-148 Javelin, and a FIM-92 Stinger for safekeeping. Long story short, if there was any low-level threat, they would have a chance to use the loadout. As for Anna, Del provided an M107 anti-materiel rifle as an add-on to her loadout due to her skill in marksmanship. He also packed some medicinal items on the storage. He included six packages of hemostatic gauzes alongside with two hemostatic injections to promote faster blood clotting. There were also several other medicinal items such as wound staplers, sterilized bandages, wound-washing solution that he bought earlier. There were also some painkillers for pain management in case one of them got shot. Hopefully, he didn''t need to use it. He really wished that were the case. Considering the fact that everyone always brought weapons, he really doubted that he wouldn''t face any conflict when he entered the academy. Sure, he would face the conflict of academic struggle as usual, but the other threat about the student that was able to do a telekinesis? Del doubted he would be able to face him or her alone. "Kids, have you two finished packing your stuffs?" Walter peeked from the bathroom as he brushed his teeth. His mouth was still foamy from the toothpaste on his mouth. He was in rush since he woke up a little bitter than both Del and Anna. "Yeah, more or less," Del picked up the rifle and the backpack from the top of his bed. He carried his rifle right besides of his backpack. He felt weird bringing those two things that weren''t supposed to be ced right next to each other. In his old school, he couldn''t bring a knife into the school, but now, he was required to bring a rifle. He walked out of the room. Anna got out of the room. Del was wearing academy uniform while Anna was wearing the pseudo-military uniform that the school gave to her. She got the privilege since Walter registered her as abat-oriented student which meant that she would get more training onbat than most of the students. Thinking about it, he saw one or two students that wore the same snow camouge uniform. They were the minority of the school, but it didn''t make them look weak. In fact, they could establish more power inbat than regr students. Del didn''t participate. He wanted to have some normality in the academy. The different between Anna and Del in the curriculum was simple. Anna should attend post-school marksmanship andbat training while Del didn''t have to. Did it mean that Del was free from any training after school? Not exactly. Unlike Anna, Del would be directly trained by Walter. Basically, he separated his life as a student and his life as an employee and investor of Salve Group. Still, unlike Anna who would be able to return home before dusk, Del would be subjected to Walter''s training right after his extracurricr activity was over. It was not cruel, but it was definitely a burden that he would have to carry. "Have you two eaten your breakfast?" Walter asked. "We have, you woke up a little bit toote," Del replied. "When did you two wake up? This is only half past five in the morning." "Three, we woke up at three." "And you two don''t feel sleepy at all? That''s amazing. I should be more diligentter. Damn, you two are quite something aren''t you?" Waltermented. "Perhaps?" Del just shrugged as he smiled. He put his bag on the couch of that living room and held his rifle with his hands. He checked his rifle for any dirt or grime. It was a new rifle, there was none, but there was some condensation on the handguard of the rifle itself. It was probably from the cold temperature in that cabin. He just wiped it all off with his own hand and it was all clean again. There was no magazine on that rifle to follow the school regtion. The high-tech rifle would help him ace any examination that involved marksmanship easily. Anna brought a rifle too. The rifle was another AK-74M, but she modified it using the same essories on her M16 to the rifle. She only included thepatible attachment though, she bought a new suppressor for the AK-74M, but anything else was pretty much standard. It was practical for her. She bought a new scope to rece the ACOG sight though. He wanted a more modr one. "Anna, what will you do with the rifle?" Del asked. "I don''t know. After school, I will have an introductory course with the marksmanship ss. I think this thing will prove to be useful in that ss. AK might not be the most urate rifle around, but it will serve its purpose as a killing weapon. If I need to deal someone with a longer range, I would use my Remington," Anna replied. Del nodded. He understood. He turned on the radio to hear about morning news while waiting. The morning news was not good at all. Federal military was losing the fight against the imperial military due to the gas attack and the secret weaponries that were ssified. Just¡­ why? Del''s dream about peaceful life would be shattered sooner orter if this continued. The federal government must improve its military or their freedom would bepromised by those imperial people that want to restore their monarchy. He wasfortable with life now, he didn''t want it to change. After the clock went to six o''clock, the went into Walter''s car and they went to the academy. There were several students walking with jackets to protect them from the cold weather. They would usually put the jacket away once they entered the warm atmosphere of the academy that used heating magic. Walter parked his car in front of the academy. Both Del and Anna got out of the car and walked towards the gate of the academy. They entered in the midst of fifth semester, there would be no introduction for them. However, two people had been waiting for them in front of the school. Those two people were none other than Adam and Aveline. Adam approached Del and shook his hand. "Wee to the academy, Del. By the way, that''s a nice rifle you got there." Adam was looking at the rifle with awe. It looked pretty much out of that world. "Shall we go to the ss then?" Adam asked. Del nodded and he followed Adam from behind. Anna was talking with Aveline first before she even walked to the main building of the academy. The academy were separated into three separate buildings. The biggest building was the main building which contained the ssrooms, the admin office, the library, etc. The secondrgest building contained the teacher''s office and thebs. Thest building was the main club building. If a club didn''t require a building to fully operate, they would be given a room inside of the main club building. If they required a building, they would be give smaller buildings that were scattered in the inner yard of the school. Del peeked behind and he caught a nce of multiple students looking at both Anna and Aveline. Anna was standing out due to her bandage, but why? Was a bandaged girl that interesting? Or was there something that Del had no idea about. Adam soon exined the reason. "Aveline is grabbing attention as usual, huh? Well, she''s one of the elite mages of the school, I have no doubt about it." "Is she a good magician?" "She is a good magician. In fact, she is a very good magician in offensive magic that some students were categorizing her as the demon lord. It was only an idiom though, truth be told, she was just very good inbat. She is unbeatable inbat as long as it involves magic. Overall, you don''t want to be on her bad side at all.. You''ll most likely to be injured, or worse, killed." Chapter 165 - Updated Later Chapter 165 ¨C Updated Later News, or rather, gossips. Those were spreading quickly. What kind of gossips though? Well, the kind that Del expected, but he really didn''t expect to blow up that big. Hell, one or two people from thebat-ss starteding to him, giving him an appreciation. Yup, disruptiing a prostitution ring would make him famous. "Dude, you should enter the SD." "No thanks, I''d rather stick with TMV." "With Mira and her goons? Dude, you''ll be missing a lot of stuff." "I won''t. Anna''s still with you all." "Fine, still, our door remains open." And, he left the ssroom. Adam was still looking at him in confusion. Mainly because he expected Del to be an ordinary transfer student, but nope, the reality was far from that. Del had created a name for himself, mainly because of TMV. Well, he needed to postpone some of his n then, he needed to make sure that the news died down. Right now, everyone would have their eyes on him, not really something that he wanted. Especiall when Del was nning to assassinate a member of the government council. His positive reputation might be able to give him an alibi, but he needed to y safe. One wrong move, and it would be fatal. For example, what if Van Bosch decided to raid their house in the name of criminal activity? What if Van Bosch nted a bomb in Lumbart Academy just for the sake of killing them both. The possibbilites were endless here. He would do anything to make sure that Del and Anna disappear if they act too harshly. As a matter of fact, Aveline''s order to take down the trafficking ring would further worsen the situation. It was like putting salt on top of an open wound. It was like putting a bright yellow paint on their head. They just had to wait for someone to take the bounty on their head and call it a day. "Del, what the hell? It was not even a month, and you have taken up the spotlight. Damn, dude, you''re cool." "Thanks, Adam." "Why don''t youe to visit my room sometimes, after all, we''re friends. I might be able to give you something or serve you something." "Your dorm?" "Yup, my dorm. Do you want to visit me sometimes?" "Sure, I''d love to visit. Still, wouldn''t you feel disturbed by my presence, Adam?" "Not at all, man. In fact, I''d love if you visit." Hmm, one opportunity arose here. Investigating Adam room should be easier than investigating the other targets. One, Adam was his closest friend, he was like a brother to him, and vice versa. Maybe snooping around his personal stuff wouldn''t be as hazardous as snooping around Aveline''s personal stuff. Maybe he could do some reasonings if he got caught snooping around Adam''s personal belongings. As long as he didn''t hurt him, it wouldn''t be too serious. Well, let''s just see what Del could do. "I will drop by tomorrow, alright? I have some things to do with TMV after school." "Sure, no problem. Just don''t forget to visit, alright?" "Yeah. Now shut up, the teacher ising." The teacher was approaching from the hallway. The footstep became louder and louder. The first subject was math. Luckily, the teacher was fun, not really the type that would force Del to understand something in just five minutes, but not the type that would give him any leverage either. ============== After school, as usual, TMV was waiting for him to report for duty. He reported the yesterday ident and Daniel praised him, saying that he would be a perfect addition with Mira. Joshua was proud of it as well, knowing that one of the TMV in Lumbart was more than capable inbat. The senior staffs of TMV, Del included due to special circumstances, were having a briefing. The briefing was for deciding add-on rules during volunteering to prevent unexpected circumstances like what had happened previously. Del was there as an advisor. He would be the advisor forst-resort action. He would be the one nning what to do if circumstances like that happened again due to someone disobeying the rules. In that regards, Del agreed to participate in the briefing. "So, Moore, what do you think of yesterday? Anything that you can share with us?" "Thanks, Doc, now, as you all may know, the one that kidnapped one of juniors yesterday is one of the trafficking rings operating in the slums. As far as my assessment goes, these people are most likely to be ex-military. They weren''t bad, but weren''t good enough to be working as a contractor." "How did you manage to survive the ughter? I reckon that there were more than ten people inside of the building, right?" "I had no idea, doc. I didn''t count. They were armed with rifles and SMGs. They were funded by someone, but I had no idea. To break through them, I used heavy armor to repel the bullets and heavier weapon, a machine gun of big caliber." "I see," Joshua nodded, understanding what Del meant. If not for his equipment, he would have died, "Basically, it''s because of your equipment instead of your skill?" "I don''t like if you put it bluntly like that, but yes, I think so. Without the tool, I doubt I''d be able to pull that off, I''m not going to lie." "We might need more security than we previously expected, Doc." "I agree, can we borrow some of the students from thebat-ss, though? I think using a random student would result in more damage than advantages." "I agree," Daniel replied. Del nodded. He then suggested someone, "Can we use my sister? She is a former contractor, just like me and Mira. She might be able to provide an adequate security when we do our volunteering activity." "It sounds sensible. Well, if that''s the case, tell your sisterter then, I will tell her teacher," Joshua said. After briefing about the contingency n, they started thinking for the prevention n. The basic rule was improved. One of the add-on rules was to be apanied at all times when volunteering to prevent any unwanted idents. They volunteering students must also bring their rifles all the time to scare off any low-level criminals. Del agreed with that suggestion on a condition that TMV knew the risk of being attacked by high-level criminal organization. Well, it was not like it was the first time that TMV was attacked out of nowhere. Most of the time, TMV was attacked for its drugs. Yeah, TMV was providing painkillers that could be manufactured into one of the most poisonous substances that anyone could get in the ck market. It was one of the reasons why medicines were handled either by Joshua or by the seniors. "That should be all, I guess?" Danielmented on several new rules that had been created. "I think that should be enough. I can vouch for Del''s opinion as a member of the security." "One more thing, though. What if we suddenly piss someone off during our volunteering activity?" "What do you mean?" Del asked Daniel. "Well, slums are moreplicated than a mere poor area. The slum is territory to different criminal organizations. We always need their permission, of course, by giving tributes, or we will get attacked, again." "Wait, so the reason why TMV can''t do it routinely is because of that?" "Yeah, what do you think? I meant, we are pretty much backed by the government, but they were useless for the most part with the exception of providing funds for us. They didn''t solve the criminal problem, they didn''t solve the health issues, and so on," Danielmented. If they had known that the background of that situation was because of one of the council members in the government was actually one of the prominent members in the trafficking ring, they wouldn''t be that surprised. Still, it was better if they didn''t know about that. It would put them under unnecessary dangers that were certainly far from their caliber. Del would handle it by himself alongside with Anna. There would be no need for TMV to pay tribute anymore and Del would help improve the quality of life of the people in the slum. "Ah, the government isn''t thatpetent, that''s kind of unexpected," Del lied. So far, the only government institutions which hadn''t shed too much negative lights were the intelligence agencies, but there were really keeping their secrets behind of a locked door. Working with Salve Group was the key, but would it unlock the door, though? "Unexpected? Ah, yeah, I forgot that you''re not from around here. Well, they''re not the best people around, but they''re the lesser kind of evil inparison to the Imperial Government. They''re just worst." "I see," Del nodded. "That''s all for today. Thank you foring, I''ll see you all soon next week. Have a nice weekend," Joshua closed the meeting.. Everyone left the TMV building. Chapter 166 - Assault On Military Convoy Chapter 166 ¨C Assault On Military Convoy The helicopternded in the backyard of the cabin after the blizzard had subsided. Del nodded and gave both of them a thumbs up after the debriefing. Needless to say, now they had a new target, someone named Duliarre. From the window, there was around four others special force soldiers inside of that helicopter. All of them were wearing snow camouge military outfit and bva. The convoy had arrived at the snow-covered region, the camouge would be perfect. Del was no different either. Not only that, but all of them were also wearing the MOP suit for dealing with the chemical or nuclear threat that the trucks might have. After all, the cargo were suspected to be a weapon of mass destruction. All of them were using codename, including Del himself. His codename, ckfox, was not really made up. It was a codename assigned to him by amara and Zastava for the sake of easiermunication and Anna was the same case as him. It wouldn''t be long until he got epted into the military unit as part of a more official unit. "Well, girls, I think you two can enjoy yourself, I will go out." Del stood up from the couch and he headed for the door and opened it. The remaining blizzards still gave him the chills. It was still three in the morning, after all. The helicopter downwash further pushed the cold air into his face, and he would be lying to say that it wasn''t freezing. It was like opening your freezer in hte middle of the night, but make it tenfold. The pilot was the usual Morris Osborne and the other people were probably part of the FSB or SOG. Del entered the helicopter and closed the helicopter door. The soldiers were looking at him. He was referred as the new guy, or the newbie. It made sense, he thought. This was the operators that had spent only God knew how long in Ilbisitrum. These guys weren''t pushover. "ckfox, huh? Nice to meet you," one of the operatives said. "Nice to meet you too." "For a boy, you made quite a noise, don''t you think?" The same operator asked. "I don''t have any intention in hiding it either," Del replied. He nodded. "Well, it doesn''t matter for me. I heard you are reliable, that''s why we trust you. So, your task is quite simple to be honest, I want you to back us up using your machine gun, is that clear enough?" "Yes sir." "About the ambush position, you''ll be ced on top of the hill overlooking the ambush point. Keep an eye on the truck, once you spot it, justy down suppressing fire for us." "I understand." "Good, and by the way, try not to shoot the cargo, ok?" "Sure." "Let''s take off then." The helicopter lifted up from the ground, leaving the cabin below it. The helicopter itself was the regr MH-60 that Del always used when he needed a close air support but not wanting to call the big and heavy fighter jet. This time, it was fully loaded with autocannons and miniguns. No explosive weaponry was avable on its pylon, it might be because of the mission order not to attack the trucks directly. "I want to make it clear again, but we won''t be able to use any radiomunication so I want everyone to remember their own role clearly, understand?" The operator asked. "Why?" Del didn''t have any idea on why. "A jamming aircraft will be flying over us. The only way the pilot would be able to see our targets are by seeing ourser marker," The operator said. "Oh, so we only can use ourser designator to mark our target?" Del asked. "Yup, but don''t mark yourser on us, ok?" "No problem." Jamming aircraft? Del didn''t remember the intelligence agencies bought one of those aircrafts. Well, it would make things way easier since he didn''t have to worry about iing reinforcement since their radio would also be disabled. "And one more thing, we only have ten minutes, so make every minute counts." "Yes sir." If Del remembered correctly, there was a guarantee that someone would be dispatched to thest-known position of any military personnel if they didn''t report for a defined amount of time. In this convoy, ten minutes might be the mark. Reinforcement would usually consist of Ilbistirum military special force soldiers, they would be big trouble, even with the amount of hardwares that they used. Mainly because special force soldiers used magical spell that could easily kill an infantry. The air support would deal with them though, that was the insurance. Even though the special force soldiers were very much a threat, they wouldn''t be much problem against the AIM-120 AMRAAM missile or the AIM-9 Sidewinder missile that the F-15 usually carried on its air-to-air missile loadout. Del opened the information list on his tablet. The operation would bemenced on a valley. The bottom of the valley was where the road which the truck would be traveling in. The other operators would be hiding near the bushes on the bottom of the valley while Del would be ced on the higher ground to provide the suppressing fire. "We will handle the hard part, you just sit tight and watch our backs, is that clear?" The operator asked. Del nodded. "Very clear." The helicopter didn''t take very long until arriving at the valley. The valley was covered in thickyer of snow, probably from the previous blizzard. If not for the NVG that they wore, they wouldn''t be able to see anything on the ground. Unlike Earth, standard dispatching protocol from the helicopter was just to jump from the helicopter once you arrived at your designated position. Del jumped from the helicopter and briefly flew towards the direction of his post which was on top of a hill. Heid down on the ground and deployed the bipod of his PKP machine gun and aimed it at the direction of the other operators. He heard jet flying over him, but he couldn''t figure out where. He checked on the headset of that was connected to his radio. He tuned to the frequency, and it was static. No voice wasing out of that frequency. It was safe to assume that the jammer indiscriminately jammed every singlemunication device in the area. Del hoped that the special force soldiers didn''t appear and stab him from his back. He wasn''t sure whether he would be urate enough that he wouldn''t shoot any cargo on the back of the truck. Still, he wondered how the operators would stop that vehicle. Del used the scope of his PKP to observe what the operators were doing. It seemed that they were doing something on the side of the road. From the looks of it, they were nting some kind of explosives. To be honest, it was weird. He wasn''t allowed to shoot bullets at the cargo, and yet, these people were going to use explosives to stop the convoy. What if they identally released the biochemical agent or the nuclear radiation into the environment? Del really hoped that they knew what they were doing. Two of the operators went to the direction where the truck would being from. He also nted an explosive there. There was a significant gap between the explosives, Del wondered what they were nning to do. The operators ran away from their nted explosives and hid among the snow and the bushes. The amount of explosives in those trucks would be more than enough to disable a tank, let alone a truck. The convoy was approaching closer and closer. Del put his eyes on those convoy, he waited until the shooting starts. He wouldn''t engage before the other operators engaged the convoy. The first truck drove past the first explosives. Nothing happened. The convoy moved very slowly, maybe because of the shitty visibility on that valley. The second truck moved past the first explosives, nothing happened either. What they were nning? Suddenly. BOOM. The bombs exploded in front of the truck. The truck stopped, but what happened next could only be described as quite genius. The explosion created a small avnche. The avnche rolled down the hill and burried the road in front of the first truck. BOOM. The second explosion created the exact same effect. Del prepared himself for the engagement, he made sure that all of the bullets were loaded into the box of his PKP. The shooting started. The operators started opening fire at the windows of the trucks. They moved efficiently, and without any noise due to their suppressor. In seconds, they stopped the convoy and started searching the convoy. Del was impressed. Heck, he felt like a spectator in that operation. It was not shameful, it just that he felt useless. He watched the road, left and right. There was no possible contact, yet. Hopefully, it stayed that way.. Engaging hostile was too much of a hassle. Chapter 167 - Updated Later Chapter 167 ¨C Updated Later "So, around 90 years ago, both of us aren''t exactly set on the same path. Let''s just say that we''re enemies to each other. Our assignment is to retrieve Mayor Heren from Ukraine border. Her ce crashed while carrying ssified container codenamed ''Lobaev''. Remember this container, this wille upter," Lara said. "And our assignment is to retrieve Mayor Heren before the Russians found them and retrieve the ssified container. This Lobaev was a container attached to a pylon in a Su-27SM3 fighter jet," amara said. "Mrs. Heren is American, isn''t she?" Del asked. "Yes, but her alias is Zoya Orlova. Major Zoya Orlova to be exact," Laramented. "Have you gotten the idea where we areing from?" amara said. More or less, he had an idea. One was working for Russian Federation while the other was working for United States. Both used to be enemies, but they worked together now. Still, it didn''t exin how they ended up in there. Still, it was safe to assume that one was from CIA Special Activities Division while the other was from FSB Spetsnaz. They were the field agents, judging from how they operated. Let''s just listen to what they had to say. "So, I will assume that you all met at the Ukraine border region. What happened then? You two broke inside of a firefight?" Del asked. "Correct, they shot us and we shot back," amara said. "Or vice versa," Laramented. "Whatever, so, this Lobaev thing. It bursted open during the fire fight," amara said. "And it created an energy field that teleported us all into this unknown ce. When I said all of us, I meant all of us, the whole two squad got teleported into the same ce. Now, imagine this, you have twenty four people that were fighting to death previously and now just standing in the same ce in the middle of nowhere." "I can only imagine," Delmented. If he and Eric suddenly got teleported to nowhere, he would definitely end up in a fight against him. However, the situation might be much more conflict since it was between two countries that basically disliked each other. "Yeah, Lara put the tip of her pistol to my skull around that time," amara added. "After you put your pistol on Grekov''s head, of course, I''d do that," Lara said. "So, what makes you twoe into realization that this wasn''t the time to argue or fight each other?" Del asked. "Automata, let''s just say, a creature of unusual anatomy. Bunch of them came in horde and we fought our ground together. They fought us with fireballs, electrical spear, but we managed to stand our ground. We don''t even know where they wereing from. We weren''t exactlynding on Ilbistirum terittory," amara said. "Ah, so that''s how you ended up in here, huh? After that, what did you two do?" "After we formed a temporal truce, we realized that we were teleported into a ce which you''d call an ancient site. Of course, it was another long battle, and miraclously, we suffer zero casualty. As a result, we have a partial control over the ancient site and uses it to our advantage for five years," Lara exined. "Five years?" "Yeah, we grew our crops there, we use ammunition scattered around the armory of the site and use the technology scattered around that site. That ancient site became a joint self-sustainable base for both of us. Until¡­" "Until what?" "Until a ship approached our ind," amara said. "What kind of ship?" "Airship." "Ilbistirum Airship?" "Correct." "How did you all shoot it down? Thest time I tried to do that, I need a gunship to do that, and that''s to deal a smaller one. What kind of weapon did you use to deal with it?" Del asked. "We don''t deal with it. The ancient site is equipped with a SAM site. So, the SAMs shot them all down and we captured those Ilbistirum people. Keep in mind though, Del, this is Ilbistirum before the revolution. Those soldiers were hungry soldiers and fighting just because they were told to fight, not because they really wanted to fight for their country," amara said. "What did they do?" "We put them inside of the prison, give them hot meals three times a day and afortable bed. Not long after that, they joined our ranks as maintenance staffs." "Maintenance staffs? How many of them were avable?" Del asked. "Let''s just say, enough. Maybe three or five survivors. There weren''t too many of them since the aircraft crash was catastrophic. Nevertheless, they told us the existence about this godforsaken country and we came here." "Ah, how did youe here?" "We salvage the parts of the airship that we can salvage and fly there. The airship didn''tst too long of course, that thing was a piece of crap," Herenmented. "It was not airworthy at all." "I see. What did you do here?" Del asked. "We started a revolution, long story short, we are basically the force that separated Ilbistirum in half. We just didn''t like how the current status quo manages its military and its people. So, we brought a revolution, and it worked so well." "Worked so well? You haven''t taken half of the other territory as far as I''m concerned. Why do you say that you have sessfully taken over Ilbistirum?" Del asked. "Because military industrialplex simply works well. Look, Del, like it or not, this country is fueled by war. For every single tank destroyed, you need one more. To make a tank, you need a factory, a worked, an educated worker, and money. You created new jobs and new opportunities at the cost of peace, but you can''t argue that this was the main cause of fast technological revolution in Ilbistirum." "I¡­ am speechless. Well, if that''s for the best, I think I won''tment, I guess?" Del wasn''t sure how to react to that statement. But yeah, Ilbistirum had been growing pretty rapidly as far as he was concerned. "About the gas attack, were you aware of that?" "We were aware of it. In fact, we warned the generals to be careful of it, but apparantely, the department of defense ignored our warning and forgot to supply the troops with gas mask," amaramented. "So, why would they employ ipetent generals?" Del asked. "Politics? Or the fact that we recruit thepetent military personnel to our ranks that all that were left were the ipetent one. Look, this war economy couldn''t continue withpetent generals." "How so?" "You might not believe it, but Ilbistirum Federation could steamroll the Ilbistirum Empire in less than two months, especially with our more advanced hardwares. We have to keep the moneying," Laramented. "Ok, ok, I think that''s more than enough for me. So, what is your intentioning here? To recruit me, or what?" Del asked. "To recruit you, of course. We are interested in putting you into our emergency task force considering how you managed to pass the test and survive several encounters in your life. I''m talking about everything that you have done, including your experience outside of Ilbistirum," amara said. "How long have you all stalked me?" "Let''s say, ever since I have a report of guns users outside of Ilbistirum? Cassandra might not know it, but you have been put under our microscope for a very long time." "Why would you need me? You can manufacture ammunitions on your own, can''t you?" "Ammunition? Yes. Guns? No. nes? No. Helicopters? No. Cruise Missiles? I hope so, but no. The ancient site fabricator doesn''t allow us to produce anything more than foods,fort items, and other amenities." "Ah, you want me to be your arms dealer? Ok, I get it. Sure, I''ll join your group, I meant, why not? Having an ally or two won''t hurt, especially if your ally is the director of foreign intelligence." "And internal security," Lara added. "You''re the director?" Del asked. "No, I''m a vice director, Mikhail is the director." "Where''s he?" Del asked. "In the base, waiting for you." "Alright, shall we go there?" amara stood up from the desk he was sitting on and grabbed his M4. He looked at the watch on his hand. A hologram appeared from it and he disappeared into thin air. "Where did he go?" Del asked. "Was that a teleportation device?" "More or less?" Lara held Anna''s hand and she looked at her watch. She and Anna disappeared into thin air. The rest of them disappeared into thin air and all that was left was him and Heren. "C''mon, Del, let''s get to our base, you''ll love it there, I promise." She looked at her watch and they disappeared into thin air as well. The trip was weird. He felt as if he was moving towards the darkness and he suddenlynded on top of a concrete floor. He then realized where he was. He was standing on a tarmac. "Wee to the base.." Heren greeted him. Chapter 168 - Android & Mission Complete Chapter 168 ¨C Android & Mission Complete Del observed the special force soldiers from afar. They were efficient. They immediately pulled their geiger counter and opened the back of the truck and started searching for any suspicious container. The jets were still roaring above the sky. He wondered whether they had found anything out of the ordinary yet. The snow started to fall from the sky again. It might be a sign of another blizzard, as far as Del knew. Well, they would have to finish it up quickly anyway, or they would have to face a reinforcement. Del just idled around the perimeter, watching for anyone approaching him. As long as the threat weren''t soldiers, he was fine with it. BANG! A loud thumping noise came right from behind him. Del peeked behind to see what was happening. A metallic podnded right behind him. The metallic pod justnded behind him. He wondered what was that pod. He didn''t want to approach it though. The pod suddenly opened slowly, releasing bunch of steam. After the steam dissipated, he took an astute observation on the content of that pod itself. It was a humanlike robot. It could be described that this robot looked like a human, but instead of skin, it was made of metal. Was it hostile? The android grabbed a rifle from its back. Its eyes red at him sharply, and Del aimed his PKP machine gun at the android. He pulled the trigger. Bullets flew at the direction of the android. The android recoiled from the force of the bullet, but it didn''t stop it. The android fired its rifle at Del''s direction. PEW PEW Twoser beams were fired at Del''s direction. The robot missed, but it was probably because its sensor was still calibrating itself. Del retaliated by firing continuous stream of 7.62¡Á54 bullets at its direction. How the hell did the android tank all of the bullets? Heck, thesers were something else. Del had never seen anything like that before. The android was still looking at him ferociously. The bullets didn''t even scratch it. There wasn''t even any bullet marks on its body. What kind of technological bullshit was this? He reloaded his machine gun and fired another stream of bullet at the android. It was the same result, the bullet didn''t even make a dent and he just wasted another box of bullet, again. The distance between him and the robot was too close, there was no way he could call for close air support. Del opened a package of C4 and threw it at the direction of the android. He pressed the detonator as the b of C4nded on the feet of the android. BOOM. The android shattered into multiple pieces. Del sighed in relief as the remain of the android was only its torso. Still, what kind of thing was it? It was odd. He never saw that thing in the ancient site. He walked towards the direction of the android to inspect it. He might need to know what was it. He looked closer at the android. It indeed looked like human, albeit mechanical. Theser rifle that the android had was still intact, though. He grabbed theser rifle and looked at it. It was rather looking futuristic with its white paint and hologram sight that disyed a shitton of information. The scope of the rifle alone disyed the humidity, the wind direction, and it even disyed where the bullet hit and what the effect would be. However, there was a calibration bar on the bottom of the rifle. The bar only progressed halfway and it stopped. It clearly says: [CONNECTION LOST] The rifle probably synced with the android first before it could use it effectively. He was lucky that he could take it down before it took him down. There was 2500 ammo left on that rifle. Judging from the appearance, the rifle seemed to be rechargeable. He only needed a power source for it. The rifle was only partially charged, and it wasn''t as bulky as his PKP. It was probably as bulky as his AK-74M. He then looked at the direction of the special force soldiers again, they were still working with the truck without giving a damn about what happened to Del. It seemed that they knew what Del faced, but well, as long as they did their job and he did his job, the mission wouldn''t be a problem. He observed the rifle. There were several settings, it was rather modr for what it was. It had several modes. Del put the rifle on his back and he reloaded his PKP machine gun with a fresh box magazine. The gunshots must have caught unwanted attentions, the special force soldiers were rushing through the truck. So far, they retrieved two metal containers from the trucks. He wondered what the content of the container. One of the operators fired a re to the sky. The helicopter that carried them hovered right on top of the convoy. The soldiers put those two metal containers into the helicopter and the helicopter lifted off from the ground. Del followed the helicopter from behind by flying, it was flying slow enough that it wouldn''t be hard for Del to catch up with it. The door of the helicopter stay opened as Del tried to catch up with the helicopter. He entered the helicopter and sat down on the door. The geiger counter was going crazy, he was d that he was wearing his MOP suit. "What the hell is this? Nuclear?" Del asked as he knocked on one of the metal containers. "One of them is a nuclear, but the other is a chemical agent. Both of them are WMD that is going to be deployed in Sneggor, this interception should give a leak to Bosch''s n." "I hope so," Delmented. "Still, I wonder how the military got a rat so deeply connected and intertwined within is outside of my thinking. Even more surprising that there were rats, not a rat. I guess we are not doing a very good job, are we?" "I don''t know. I''ll let you to decide that." "Still, this is not a nuclear bomb, this is worse. This is a dirty bomb that will irradiate the whole city, turning it poisonous, or worse. Yes, I know it won''t create cancer on us, but still, it can burn our skin." "Noted." "And this other thing? I don''t know what the content of this container. This might be some sort of nerve gas as far as I''m concerned. Hmm, this is bad. I think you should get a gas mask sooner orter and put it in your backpack in case we miss a bomb like this again." "There''s another bomb?" "Most likely, I can''t say for sure, but it''s highly likely for a bomb like this to be smuggled into Sneggor. And for what? Assassinating an unknown informant which might or might not exist? Those imperial military is way worse than I thought." "Well, I had seen the shit they have done, I wouldn''t be surprised if they nuked a whole town just to kill someone," Delmented. "Yeah, no shit." The helicopter flew towards Sneggor. Del enjoyed the breeze of the cold air. It kinda reminded him of the job that he had to do. It might only have been a year or so, but it had been so much for him. He didn''t expect toe here, much less finding someone from Earth. Well, it was his new home now. It was his home that was currently under attack and under threat of a civil war. He would do everything to keep his safety and his sister''s safety, even if it mean that he would get his hands wet. "ckfox, if you need a report, just ask the pilot. He would write one for you, got it?" "I got it. Don''t worry, I will read it thoroughly for myself. Still, I wonder why they used the military to transport the cargo as conspicuous as this. They are doomed to death, right? The drivers and anyone involve in the convoy?" Del asked. "I think so. The radiation from this container is intense enough that approaching it without any protective gear would cause burns, but they''re demons, not ordinary humans. I think they''ll be fine." "I see. Well, the chemical weapon is a nerve gas, right? Damn, it''s more fucked than I previously thought." "I know. Anyway, thanks for the help. Even if you don''t do anything, you are a very valuable assets for us and you have the thanks of this team." "Thank you. From a special force soldier like you, it meant a lot for me. I know I''m not the best person around, but I think we''ll make quite a good team." "I agree with it." The helicopternded on the back of the cabin and Del jumped out. The helicopter then flew away from the cabin, heading back to the base.. Well, time to deal with another thing, again. Chapter 169 - Updated Later Chapter 169 ¨C Updated Later Del was in themand center, observing the area of operation from a drone feed. Anna and Mira were in the area of operation itself. What was the mission, if you ask? Those two people were infiltrating the academy, at nighttime. That''s one of the reasons why the drone feed was useful. "This is ckfox, Vampir, I see you on the drone feed." Del radioed Anna. =========================== "Copy that ckfox. We''ll be standing by, awaitingmand." The weather wasn''t friendly, in fact, it was hostile. The town was under heavy blizzard. A thick mist of snow was covering their vision. Basically, if not for the night vision goggles or the help from the drone feed, they would practically be blind. Even then, reaching the dorm without anyone noticing would be rather difficult. Even if the lights were cking out from the blizzard. Mira was literally following Anna from behind, "Boss, why did your brother send us in this blinding blizzard?" "Simple, little to no visibility for anyone, and the fact that the blizzard is so damn loud," Anna replied. Mira only wore her regr snow gear, not really suitable for blizzard. However, Anna was pretty much way more prepared with herbat gear suitable for storming through thick blizzard. Anna could feel her eyes freezing and her hands froze. She wouldn''t even dare to do that kind of operation in Mira''s gear. "Vampir, you''re clear to move." "Roger. Vampire is moving towards the dorm, over." Although the academy used heating spell to heat its area, the power outage disabled that warming field and even if it was activated, it would be no match for the freezing blizzard. The weather report before the blizzard came suggested that the temperature would drop way below -35 degrees celcius. Basically, anyone crazy enough to go outside would immediately freeze to death. The loadout was simple. Mira was given a regr Ilbistrium military-issued shotgun with suppressor and bean bag round to stun any student that came into her path. Anna was using a tranquillizer M700 rifle and a tranquillizer ammo for her pistol. For backup, she carried a suppressed P90 on her back. Of course, it was also loaded with rubber bullets. They wanted to keep this as quiet and as non-lethal as possible. Killing any student on that dorm would raise suspicion. Hopefully, no one was still awake in the middle of this night blizzard or their n would pretty much be doomed. The n was to infiltrate Daniel''s room and retrieve whatever item of interest that was avable on that room whether it was his personal belonging, his homework, or anything that might contain the document. Of course, Daniel would be sedated using a tranquillizer dart. Mira was living in the dormitory right across the boy''s dormitory. Although, she wouldn''t be sleeping there that night. She had told her dormitory caretaker that she would stay with Anna for the weekend. Of course, it was only a ruse for today''s operation. "ckfox, I''m on the back entrance of the dorm. Moving inside." "Copy that Vampire. You''ll be in the dark. ckfox out." Anna retrieved the key from the security division and put it on the keyhole of that dormitory. There was no security measure to prevent anyone that wasn''t a member of security division or the inhabitants of the boy''s dorm from entering with the exception of the lock on that door. The dorm was a little bit warmer, mainly because the firece on themon area was still on. The warm air filled the dorm, but Anna still had the assumption that the temperature on that dorm was barely warm enough. Ice sheets had begun to form on the interior side of the sses. Daniel''s room was in the second floor. It shouldn''t be hard to reach it. The architect of the academy wasn''t exactly the most creative kind of person. Theyout of the boy''s dorm and the girl''s dorm was the same for the most part and it happened that Daniel was living on the same position as Mira''s room on the girl''s dorm. Anna had to say that she was surprised to hear that. "Is this a coincidence that both of you are in the same room? Or is this somethingpletely unexpected?" Anna asked Mira. "It''s just a coincidence, boss." Different from the door leading to the dorm, any personal room only had its key owned by the owner of the said room only. Anna wouldn''t have the key for Daniel''s room so she had to result in a more non-conventional method. Yeah, lockpicking, it was something that both Del and Anna mastered. They only needed two pins, and they could open any non-security door. Anna grabbed the lockpicking tool from her pocket and begun opening the door to Daniel''s room. It didn''t even take her three seconds and the door to Daniel''s room was opened. "Boss, you have a talent on the robbery sector, don''t you?" "I think so," Anna opened the door. She pulled out her pistol and immediately shot Daniel twice with her tranquillizer pistol. Mira closed the door from behind and they begun searching the room for any item of importance. Well, there was a bolt-action rifle, a book, and a pencil on the desk. There were also boxes of ammunition. He might be loading ammunition before the blizzard hit. There was also a piece of paper on the table. Anna picked up that piece of paper. It seemed to be a letter for someone named Dilluard. The content was unfinished, but the letter seemed to be informal as well. "Ey, take a look at this," Anna gave Mira the letter. She briefly read the letter, "I know it''s a letter, but who''s Dilluard?" "Heck, as if I know. It seems that the letter is for someone rather important. Could it be that this letter ising from his girlfriend?" Anna asked Mira. "I don''t know boss. It''s Cordier, not Dilluard." "So it''s not her, then? Well, let''s keep searching the room." Anna opened the wardrobe and searched every piece of clothing in Daniel''s wardrobe. She was annoyed with the amount of TMV regr outfit in there. Probably, among every ten shirts that Daniel owned, she had around six of those tan shirts. Below of his wardrobe was a hiking backpack with a clear patch of the TMV logo. This boy was really adoring the TMV, huh? No wonder he was the leader of that organization. Anna couldn''t understand why Del wanted to join the TMV. It might be just to recall with his old world experience, but she couldn''t figure the content of his brother''s mind. "Damn, this boy really likes the TMV, huh?" "I think so, boss." "ckfox, do you copy? This is Vampir." "ckfox here." "Situation report. We don''t find any item of interest in Daniel''s room except for a letter for someone in the imperial ilbistirum, probably for a family member. Should I bring it there, over?" "Roger, can you find more item, over?" "Negative." Suddenly, Mira found something right below of his desk. It seemed to be another inside of an opened envelope. "Wait, I think I find another item. Stand by." The letter was directed for Daniel, but it was not from Ilbistirum Imperial region. In fact, it was a letter without any address or any origin. Anna put the letter inside of her pocket and reported back to Del, "We found another letter, over." "Alright, return to base, ckfox out." Anna cleaned the trace of her presence on Daniel''s room. Both of them were wearing gloves so there shouldn''t be any fingerprint. There was a window on Daniel''s dorm. They could get out using the window, even though the blizzard was still happening outside. Anna opened the window and she jumped out, followed by Mira from behind. The strong wind closed the window immediately. There shouldn''t be any trace of her. Well, mission wasplete, it was time to return to themand room. Mira and Anna sneaked out of the academy by jumping the wall surrounding the entire academy. They then ran as fast as they could from the academy while shielding their eyes from the blizzard. Until they gained enough distance, Anna carried Mira on her back and flew back to the cabin. Del would be happy to see what they had. ============= Mira and Anna were sitting down on the living room of the cabin. Del offered both of them hot coffee to thank them for their hard work. "Here you go, you two. Good job." Del gave the two mugs of coffee to both of them. "Thanks bro," Anna said. "I really appreciate it, boss." Del wasn''t exactly in his casual gear either. He was in his tactical gear, waiting for the helicopter team to pick him up from the cabin to attack the convoy. Anna wouldn''t participate, mainly due to her having to keep her eyes on Mira.. Nevertheless, the mission was a sess and Del would listen to the result after he returned from the attack mission. Chapter 170 - Report About Last Night Raid Chapter 170 ¨C Report About Last Night Raid Mira, Del, and Anna were in themand center. Del gave Mira a white gold coin as a payment for the job that she didst night. Needless to say, Del was not happy about the current finding. He wondered what kind of weird thing he would find in the future. Morris hadn''t arrived at the cabin yet. "Boss, what did you find?" Mira asked. "Which one that you want to know first? The worst or the other?" Del asked. "Up to you, boss." As usual, Anna was sitting on a chair while sipping on a cup of coffee. She didn''t participate too much in the discussion, mainly because her assignment was to find whoever Salve Group was looking for. So far, progress had been smooth for both of them. With Mira''s help and herck of threat, the investigation would progress way smoother. The security division wouldn''t be any wiser either, mainly because Anna was the member of it. She would have ess to several unessible space in the academy. But still, she needed to be careful. "Well, we found a nuke." Anna red at him. Mira didn''t have any idea what a nuke was. Del gave an uneasy smile to the predicament. Anna put the coffee on the table and he walked to Del''s direction. Somehow, the word "nuke" would always catch his attention. "Missiles?" "No, a dirty bomb." "Hmm, that''s quite unfortunate. But Del, what is the special ability of this nuke? After all, radiation wouldn''t affect demons as bad as it would affect humans." "Yeah, but even without a detonation, the container carrying that dirty bomb made our Geiger counter went nuts. With a detonation, it should be enough to burn the skin of all of the demons in this region and turn this area into an exclusion zone." "What''s a nuke? You two seem to be talking about some kind of evil weapons here." "It is. It''s the cause of the opera incident." Suddenly, Mira turned blue. She was more than aware about the opera incident. That explosion killed thousands of people. "That weapon¡­ oh my." "Yeah, it seems that the imperial military wants the informant to be dead by any means necessary. Even if it meant killing the entire town for it. We managed to dy their ns, but with their boss roaming around, we are like patching a bullet hole with a band-aid." "The boss? What do you mean, boss?" "I''m talking about Bosch." "Bosch?" "You might know him more as Recker." "Recker? The human activist? Boss, if an angel has a human form, it will be him. Why would he get involved in all of this? He is an anti-war activist, screaming about rights and you know the rest." "Sometimes, the most well-kept secret is hidden in in sight," Anna interrupted. "Like I said, we know more about what you don''t know and don''t want to know." "Hmm, yeah. By the way, about yesterday, Do you want to discuss it with us?" Mira asked Del. "Sure, throw it away for me. After all, you only gave me a brief description of the result. What''s the full result, and what did you two find while I was gone?" Del asked. Anna put a piece of document of top of the table, "Alright, we conclude that Daniel is far from our suspect. After a short phone call to Lara, we did a full background check on him. It turns out that he wasn''t even connected to any important people in terms of military organization." "Hmm?" Del wondered. "His father is a people''s representative and he leaked vital information to federal military. That weapon blueprint, it turns out to be some sort of gas projectile for a long-range cannon. Yes, this is the thing that attacked us back then," Anna said. "About his uncle, who is he?" Del asked. "Well, this is the surprising part, to be honest." "How so?" "Van Bosch is his uncle. Yup, that''s right. The bloody bastard that we are looking for turned out to be an uncle of our friend. Now I know why he doesn''t make any move to the academy. He didn''t want to risk the safety of Daniel," Anna said. "Wasn''t he looking for his head?" Del asked. "I thought so, but it seems that the bounty on Daniel''s head is greatly exaggerated. I think the money is simply not worth his time," Anna said. Alright, two key people seemed to be involved with the imperial government in one way or another. Aveline would surely the person that they were looking for. However, Daniel would still sit on top of the priority list, mainly because of his connection. Maybe Daniel could be used as a bait to get his uncle. However, was he aware that his uncle was in Sneggor all along? Or was it just an act that he didn''t know anything about the current affairs. Both of them were truly the men of so many faces, the uncle and Daniel himself. Both were known to be an angel, but one was one of the most wanted person in the trafficking ring and the other used to be a smuggler. Daniel might be still in contact with his uncle, or he might still be smuggling something into Sneggor. "Boss, do you want me to capture Daniel?" Mira offered. The offer was nice, but the timing was incorrect. "I''d love to ept, but we make too much noise this month. We can postpone it. Right now, the most important priority is to get the next piece of puzzle which is Aveline." "Ah, Aveline Cordier, the student council president. She is the most famous people in the academy, at least, for now. What? Do you want to kill her or something?" Mira asked. "NO! Not right now, at least," Del added. "Alright, what do you want me to do with her then?" "Can you capture her?" Del asked. :"Boss, you must be nuts. If this person went missing for even an hour, the whole school would be looking for her. Can you give me an easier assignment, boss?" "Well, can you snoop around her room? Find something interesting for me?" Del asked. "That''s easier, I think?" "You think?" "Boss, we''re talking about snooping around, alone. I won''t have an advantage like yesterday night. And out of all people, it''s her. I can pull this off though, no sweat," Mira said. "Great, I like that." Del wanted to read the document more,ter. He wanted to take a rest alongside with the others for now. This was still Sunday and tomorrow was Monday. They might be involved in some sort of military operation, but they were still in the academy. So far, academically, he didn''t struggle too much. Magic might be not his strong point, but he managed to get by. The rest of the subjects was fairly easy for him. He just needed to buy some textbook and he was set for studying. Still, one way or another, some people disliked him for some unknown reasons. They might be jealous or something, but most of the time, he was like Mira. His past protected him from any small threat, but it did invite a big threat for an equally important person, just like how Aveline used his expertise to investigate the trafficking ring. The security division hadn''t helped him too much though, besides Anna giving him information that she retrieved from the archive of the security division. He wasn''t exactly allowed to call for backups, mainly because Aveline only allowed it if any member of the academy got threatened. It was Weird since Del was the member of the academy himself, why would she not providing security for him as well? Was it ause she knew that Del was more than capable? Or was it because she was saving resources for more important assignments. Well, who knows? Del was a member of the TMV, not the student council nor the security division. He just knew what was the condition of the slump and how the condition of his current organization. With situation being what it was, the status quo would stay, no matter how much effort they put in. He was just there to get the basic medical training and the emergency medicine skill. It was important, mainly because how often he got shot and injured. Anna made two other cups of tea for both Del and Mira. Del retrieved the cup and he sipped on that coffee. It was quite delicious, for what it was. Well, it was time to rx and read the report. The report was quite detailed, but it didn''t far too stretch from the basic resume that Anna gave just now. It just contained the information in details like where the source of the information was and how credible the information was. It was all written by Anna in that short amount of time. Anna used the information from Morris and the intelligence agencies.. Needless to say, it would get harder and harder. Chapter 171 - Updated Later Chapter 171 ¨C Updated Later The helicopternded in the backyard of the cabin after the blizzard had subsided. Del nodded and gave both of them a thumbs up after the debriefing. Needless to say, now they had a new target, someone named Duliarre. From the window, there was around four others special force soldiers inside of that helicopter. All of them were wearing snow camouge military outfit and bva. The convoy had arrived at the snow-covered region, the camouge would be perfect. Del was no different either. Not only that, but all of them were also wearing the MOP suit for dealing with the chemical or nuclear threat that the trucks might have. After all, the cargo were suspected to be a weapon of mass destruction. All of them were using codename, including Del himself. His codename, ckfox, was not really made up. It was a codename assigned to him by amara and Zastava for the sake of easiermunication and Anna was the same case as him. It wouldn''t be long until he got epted into the military unit as part of a more official unit. "Well, girls, I think you two can enjoy yourself, I will go out." Del stood up from the couch and he headed for the door and opened it. The remaining blizzards still gave him the chills. It was still three in the morning, after all. The helicopter downwash further pushed the cold air into his face, and he would be lying to say that it wasn''t freezing. It was like opening your freezer in hte middle of the night, but make it tenfold. The pilot was the usual Morris Osborne and the other people were probably part of the FSB or SOG. Del entered the helicopter and closed the helicopter door. The soldiers were looking at him. He was referred as the new guy, or the newbie. It made sense, he thought. This was the operators that had spent only God knew how long in Ilbisitrum. These guys weren''t pushover. "ckfox, huh? Nice to meet you," one of the operatives said. "Nice to meet you too." "For a boy, you made quite a noise, don''t you think?" The same operator asked. "I don''t have any intention in hiding it either," Del replied. He nodded. "Well, it doesn''t matter for me. I heard you are reliable, that''s why we trust you. So, your task is quite simple to be honest, I want you to back us up using your machine gun, is that clear enough?" "Yes sir." "About the ambush position, you''ll be ced on top of the hill overlooking the ambush point. Keep an eye on the truck, once you spot it, justy down suppressing fire for us." "I understand." "Good, and by the way, try not to shoot the cargo, ok?" "Sure." "Let''s take off then." The helicopter lifted up from the ground, leaving the cabin below it. The helicopter itself was the regr MH-60 that Del always used when he needed a close air support but not wanting to call the big and heavy fighter jet. This time, it was fully loaded with autocannons and miniguns. No explosive weaponry was avable on its pylon, it might be because of the mission order not to attack the trucks directly. "I want to make it clear again, but we won''t be able to use any radiomunication so I want everyone to remember their own role clearly, understand?" The operator asked. "Why?" Del didn''t have any idea on why. "A jamming aircraft will be flying over us. The only way the pilot would be able to see our targets are by seeing ourser marker," The operator said. "Oh, so we only can use ourser designator to mark our target?" Del asked. "Yup, but don''t mark yourser on us, ok?" "No problem." Jamming aircraft? Del didn''t remember the intelligence agencies bought one of those aircrafts. Well, it would make things way easier since he didn''t have to worry about iing reinforcement since their radio would also be disabled. "And one more thing, we only have ten minutes, so make every minute counts." "Yes sir." If Del remembered correctly, there was a guarantee that someone would be dispatched to thest-known position of any military personnel if they didn''t report for a defined amount of time. In this convoy, ten minutes might be the mark. Reinforcement would usually consist of Ilbistirum military special force soldiers, they would be big trouble, even with the amount of hardwares that they used. Mainly because special force soldiers used magical spell that could easily kill an infantry. The air support would deal with them though, that was the insurance. Even though the special force soldiers were very much a threat, they wouldn''t be much problem against the AIM-120 AMRAAM missile or the AIM-9 Sidewinder missile that the F-15 usually carried on its air-to-air missile loadout. Del opened the information list on his tablet. The operation would bemenced on a valley. The bottom of the valley was where the road which the truck would be traveling in. The other operators would be hiding near the bushes on the bottom of the valley while Del would be ced on the higher ground to provide the suppressing fire. "We will handle the hard part, you just sit tight and watch our backs, is that clear?" The operator asked. Del nodded. "Very clear." The helicopter didn''t take very long until arriving at the valley. The valley was covered in thickyer of snow, probably from the previous blizzard. If not for the NVG that they wore, they wouldn''t be able to see anything on the ground. Unlike Earth, standard dispatching protocol from the helicopter was just to jump from the helicopter once you arrived at your designated position. Del jumped from the helicopter and briefly flew towards the direction of his post which was on top of a hill. Heid down on the ground and deployed the bipod of his PKP machine gun and aimed it at the direction of the other operators. He heard jet flying over him, but he couldn''t figure out where. He checked on the headset of that was connected to his radio. He tuned to the frequency, and it was static. No voice wasing out of that frequency. It was safe to assume that the jammer indiscriminately jammed every singlemunication device in the area. Del hoped that the special force soldiers didn''t appear and stab him from his back. He wasn''t sure whether he would be urate enough that he wouldn''t shoot any cargo on the back of the truck. Still, he wondered how the operators would stop that vehicle. Del used the scope of his PKP to observe what the operators were doing. It seemed that they were doing something on the side of the road. From the looks of it, they were nting some kind of explosives. To be honest, it was weird. He wasn''t allowed to shoot bullets at the cargo, and yet, these people were going to use explosives to stop the convoy. What if they identally released the biochemical agent or the nuclear radiation into the environment? Del really hoped that they knew what they were doing. Two of the operators went to the direction where the truck would being from. He also nted an explosive there. There was a significant gap between the explosives, Del wondered what they were nning to do. The operators ran away from their nted explosives and hid among the snow and the bushes. The amount of explosives in those trucks would be more than enough to disable a tank, let alone a truck. The convoy was approaching closer and closer. Del put his eyes on those convoy, he waited until the shooting starts. He wouldn''t engage before the other operators engaged the convoy. The first truck drove past the first explosives. Nothing happened. The convoy moved very slowly, maybe because of the shitty visibility on that valley. The second truck moved past the first explosives, nothing happened either. What they were nning? Suddenly. BOOM. The bombs exploded in front of the truck. The truck stopped, but what happened next could only be described as quite genius. The explosion created a small avnche. The avnche rolled down the hill and burried the road in front of the first truck. BOOM. The second explosion created the exact same effect. Del prepared himself for the engagement, he made sure that all of the bullets were loaded into the box of his PKP. The shooting started. The operators started opening fire at the windows of the trucks. They moved efficiently, and without any noise due to their suppressor. In seconds, they stopped the convoy and started searching the convoy. Del was impressed. Heck, he felt like a spectator in that operation. It was not shameful, it just that he felt useless. He watched the road, left and right. There was no possible contact, yet. Hopefully, it stayed that way.. Engaging hostile was too much of a hassle. Chapter 172 - Meeting Boss Chapter 172 ¨C Meeting Boss Del and Anna were in the coffee shop. They were buying coffee, of course. They waited for someone that wanted toe, someone important. Who was that important person? Well, it would be someone from the intelligence agencies, that was for sure, but which one? It was not like Del had known every single member of the intelligence agencies. He only knew several key people which knew his existence and his ability. Other than that, he knew nothing. "So, who''s going to meet us?" Del asked Anna. "Our boss, one of our bosses, to be exact. Was it Mikhail? I think so. He wants to talk about something about our involvement with the Salve Group. Yup, that group that we signed the contract with, Salve Group." "The one which CEO is called Linda ke?" "Yup, that one. Why would Mikhail got involved though? I don''t recall him having any rtion with that group," Annamented. "That group is very tight with the intelligence agencies. Why do you think they recruit us in the first ce? It''s just a test for us, to be honest. However, someone might be impatient and just decided to recruit us immediately using adequate force," Del said. "That might be the main reason why we are here, then." The coffee shop was different from the previous coffee shop. This was the coffee shop where our contact would be meeting with us. For some unknown reasons, he wanted to use this ce. Del had an idea that the workers on this coffee shop were actually the spy of the intelligence agencies. The base of that knowledge was quite simple as well. Those people didn''t have the look that they belonged in a coffee shop. Some of the women in that shop looked more tired than usual employee and the servers weren''t exactly that behaved when they served their coffee. It was rather interesting, not because he could see their disguise, but because it was the spectrum in which the intelligence agencies were working in. Outside of the coffee shop was snowing, it was snowing quite hard. It looked like the winter would be rather cold for this period. It might be possible that Sneggor became the coldest city Del had ever visited. The temperature on this city would usually reach around minus forty at its worst. The fact that this city got an annual blizzard and its high elevation, no wonder if this city was cold, even in the middle of a summer. It was really some sort of ce to stay in, but a good ce to hide in. "Anna, I want to ask something sensitive, do you mind?" Del asked. "Sure, what is it?" Anna asked. "Do you still want to nuke Eric or Elbanian?" Del asked. Anna was calm. She didn''t give any reaction nor any emotion. She just sit still while sipping her coffee. "Eric, huh? Well, I am aware of this bandages covering my entire body, but still, Del, like our parents say, let''s just focus on saving one thing at a time, right?" "So, I take that as a no." "Let''s just say I''ll be happy if he''s dead, but I don''t really mind if I''m not the one that kills him. Besides, let Reian and Elbanian fight against one another, Ilbistirum wouldn''t even give a damn about it." "Right¡­" An old man went through the window, alongside with a woman following him from behind. The man was clearly Mikhail, and the woman was Linda. Even at first nce, it seemed that both of them knew each other. Heck, it looked like those two people were working together for quite a very long time. Then again, the people from Earth arrived at this world a long time ago, way before Del arrived on this world or even way before he was born. The two people sat down right next to Del and Anna, probably to make things way faster. It probably was. Linda put a piece of file on the table and Mikhail just crossed his arms. What was wrong? Or was there something in their mind. Linda opened her mouth, "Good job, you two. It seems that the profile that you sent yesterday indicates that this girl is actually the person we are looking for." Del opened the file. As usual, there was the stamp from the intelligence agencies on the first page of the paper. Del opened the second page, and it was a profile of someone that he knew. The profile of the head of the student council. Yup, that was the profile of Aveline Cordier. She was indeed a refugee evacuating to Sneggor for safety from the imperial military. Yeah, all of it matches, but the surprising thing wasn''t the amount of details on that file, but the other name that was put in that file. [Name: Aveline Cordier/Aveline Elberian Dilluard] "Hmm, so the rumor that them both are dating is true then," Del nodded his head multiple times. "Your school business is not really my business," Lindamented. "Sorry, ma''am." Comparing the first name and thest name suggested that Aveline did belong to the nobility. One of the signs that someone belonged to the nobility was howplex and wordy their name was. This time, Aveline wasn''t an exception. "For a girl with secrets, she seems to be rather harmless," Mikhailmented. "Harmless? This is the same person that expects us to take down the whole prostitution ring, man." "Oh, I see. Well, if that''s the case, it seems that you want her to disappear. Do you need our favor to make her disappear, you know, as in disappearing from the school?" "Woah, hold on a minute!" Del stopped Mikhail from continuing. If the intelligence agencies decided to kill Aveline, she would be leaving the academy for good. It would also mean that there would be a power vacuum on the school and thus putting the security division of full authority until someone reced her position. On his perspective, it would also mean that Anna had more freedom on her action, but it would also make Daniel less approachable. Daniel would suspect something odd if Aveline suddenly disappeared, and worst of all, he could disappear as well. "Why? I meant, she is the source of your problem, why not?" "Yeah, but I''m not asking you to kill her. I just want the file, not taking her life. I don''t think killing him would be necessary, especially since Daniel and Bosch were actually rted." "We already know that." "So why do you want to kill her then?" "Who said we will kill her?" Linda giggled. "Wait, you won''t?" Del scratched his head. "We won''t, but we sure will hit her head with a pipe wrench just like you." "Then you''ll kill her. It will attract Daniel''s attention and it would jeopardize the investigation to Bosch," Del added. "Who said we will only kidnap her? Of course not, we will also kidnap the boy, too." "Daniel?" Mikhail just nodded. "I''m not sure. I meant, as far as I know, he''s not worth it. Yes, he is a part of medical volunteer and all, but it would be too much of a hassle to kidnap him. Besides, how will you get Bosch?" "Dude appears on the radio every week. Killing him would be easy, getting his business closed will be hard," Mikhailmented. Well, that was quite a valid point. He never thought why he hadn''t been killed yet by a major terrorist group or something. It seemed that no one wanted to kill an angelic figure like him. Well, if he didn''t know better, he would also condone the killing after all. "Ok, if that''s the case, sure. I don''t really mind, the only reason why I don''t want to kidnap or kill both of them is because I don''t know how to kill Bosch." "Don''t worry, Del. We will handle this, you''ve done enough for what you are. For now, I just wanted you to help the operational team in case they need assistance on the ground during the operation." "Assistance? What kind of assistance do they need? Do they need a distraction or something? Or do they need something out of the ordinary?" Del asked. "I prefer thetter, if you can pull it off. However, I doubt you can pull thest one off. Just create some major rumors that would distract the whole school from their disappearance," Mikhail said. "I see. Well, I think I can pull that off. I think, if we make trouble or something simr, the disappearance should be masked well enough. Yeah, we''ll handle that, don''t worry about it. As long as the thing is clear, I will do it." "Great, I''ll send you the nter. Right now, remember that your focus is on helping the operational team indirectly. When everything has begun to die down, that''s when I call you, got it?" "Affirmative." "Alright, I''ll see youter, Del.. I''ll give you a call." Chapter 173 - Updated Later Chapter 173 ¨C Updated Later Del observed the special force soldiers from afar. They were efficient. They immediately pulled their geiger counter and opened the back of the truck and started searching for any suspicious container. The jets were still roaring above the sky. He wondered whether they had found anything out of the ordinary yet. The snow started to fall from the sky again. It might be a sign of another blizzard, as far as Del knew. Well, they would have to finish it up quickly anyway, or they would have to face a reinforcement. Del just idled around the perimeter, watching for anyone approaching him. As long as the threat weren''t soldiers, he was fine with it. BANG! A loud thumping noise came right from behind him. Del peeked behind to see what was happening. A metallic podnded right behind him. The metallic pod justnded behind him. He wondered what was that pod. He didn''t want to approach it though. The pod suddenly opened slowly, releasing bunch of steam. After the steam dissipated, he took an astute observation on the content of that pod itself. It was a humanlike robot. It could be described that this robot looked like a human, but instead of skin, it was made of metal. Was it hostile? The android grabbed a rifle from its back. Its eyes red at him sharply, and Del aimed his PKP machine gun at the android. He pulled the trigger. Bullets flew at the direction of the android. The android recoiled from the force of the bullet, but it didn''t stop it. The android fired its rifle at Del''s direction. PEW PEW Twoser beams were fired at Del''s direction. The robot missed, but it was probably because its sensor was still calibrating itself. Del retaliated by firing continuous stream of 7.62¡Á54 bullets at its direction. How the hell did the android tank all of the bullets? Heck, thesers were something else. Del had never seen anything like that before. The android was still looking at him ferociously. The bullets didn''t even scratch it. There wasn''t even any bullet marks on its body. What kind of technological bullshit was this? He reloaded his machine gun and fired another stream of bullet at the android. It was the same result, the bullet didn''t even make a dent and he just wasted another box of bullet, again. The distance between him and the robot was too close, there was no way he could call for close air support. Del opened a package of C4 and threw it at the direction of the android. He pressed the detonator as the b of C4nded on the feet of the android. BOOM. The android shattered into multiple pieces. Del sighed in relief as the remain of the android was only its torso. Still, what kind of thing was it? It was odd. He never saw that thing in the ancient site. He walked towards the direction of the android to inspect it. He might need to know what was it. He looked closer at the android. It indeed looked like human, albeit mechanical. Theser rifle that the android had was still intact, though. He grabbed theser rifle and looked at it. It was rather looking futuristic with its white paint and hologram sight that disyed a shitton of information. The scope of the rifle alone disyed the humidity, the wind direction, and it even disyed where the bullet hit and what the effect would be. However, there was a calibration bar on the bottom of the rifle. The bar only progressed halfway and it stopped. It clearly says: [CONNECTION LOST] The rifle probably synced with the android first before it could use it effectively. He was lucky that he could take it down before it took him down. There was 2500 ammo left on that rifle. Judging from the appearance, the rifle seemed to be rechargeable. He only needed a power source for it. The rifle was only partially charged, and it wasn''t as bulky as his PKP. It was probably as bulky as his AK-74M. He then looked at the direction of the special force soldiers again, they were still working with the truck without giving a damn about what happened to Del. It seemed that they knew what Del faced, but well, as long as they did their job and he did his job, the mission wouldn''t be a problem. He observed the rifle. There were several settings, it was rather modr for what it was. It had several modes. Del put the rifle on his back and he reloaded his PKP machine gun with a fresh box magazine. The gunshots must have caught unwanted attentions, the special force soldiers were rushing through the truck. So far, they retrieved two metal containers from the trucks. He wondered what the content of the container. One of the operators fired a re to the sky. The helicopter that carried them hovered right on top of the convoy. The soldiers put those two metal containers into the helicopter and the helicopter lifted off from the ground. Del followed the helicopter from behind by flying, it was flying slow enough that it wouldn''t be hard for Del to catch up with it. The door of the helicopter stay opened as Del tried to catch up with the helicopter. He entered the helicopter and sat down on the door. The geiger counter was going crazy, he was d that he was wearing his MOP suit. "What the hell is this? Nuclear?" Del asked as he knocked on one of the metal containers. "One of them is a nuclear, but the other is a chemical agent. Both of them are WMD that is going to be deployed in Sneggor, this interception should give a leak to Bosch''s n." "I hope so," Delmented. "Still, I wonder how the military got a rat so deeply connected and intertwined within is outside of my thinking. Even more surprising that there were rats, not a rat. I guess we are not doing a very good job, are we?" "I don''t know. I''ll let you to decide that." "Still, this is not a nuclear bomb, this is worse. This is a dirty bomb that will irradiate the whole city, turning it poisonous, or worse. Yes, I know it won''t create cancer on us, but still, it can burn our skin." "Noted." "And this other thing? I don''t know what the content of this container. This might be some sort of nerve gas as far as I''m concerned. Hmm, this is bad. I think you should get a gas mask sooner orter and put it in your backpack in case we miss a bomb like this again." "There''s another bomb?" "Most likely, I can''t say for sure, but it''s highly likely for a bomb like this to be smuggled into Sneggor. And for what? Assassinating an unknown informant which might or might not exist? Those imperial military is way worse than I thought." "Well, I had seen the shit they have done, I wouldn''t be surprised if they nuked a whole town just to kill someone," Delmented. "Yeah, no shit." The helicopter flew towards Sneggor. Del enjoyed the breeze of the cold air. It kinda reminded him of the job that he had to do. It might only have been a year or so, but it had been so much for him. He didn''t expect toe here, much less finding someone from Earth. Well, it was his new home now. It was his home that was currently under attack and under threat of a civil war. He would do everything to keep his safety and his sister''s safety, even if it mean that he would get his hands wet. "ckfox, if you need a report, just ask the pilot. He would write one for you, got it?" "I got it. Don''t worry, I will read it thoroughly for myself. Still, I wonder why they used the military to transport the cargo as conspicuous as this. They are doomed to death, right? The drivers and anyone involve in the convoy?" Del asked. "I think so. The radiation from this container is intense enough that approaching it without any protective gear would cause burns, but they''re demons, not ordinary humans. I think they''ll be fine." "I see. Well, the chemical weapon is a nerve gas, right? Damn, it''s more fucked than I previously thought." "I know. Anyway, thanks for the help. Even if you don''t do anything, you are a very valuable assets for us and you have the thanks of this team." "Thank you. From a special force soldier like you, it meant a lot for me. I know I''m not the best person around, but I think we''ll make quite a good team." "I agree with it." The helicopternded on the back of the cabin and Del jumped out. The helicopter then flew away from the cabin, heading back to the base.. Well, time to deal with another thing, again. Chapter 174 - Updated Later Chapter 174 ¨C Updated Later After cleaning the house, it didn''t mean that the task wasplete. Walter didn''t tell him that there were more task for him, even after cleaning the whole cabin which consisted of two floors that couldn''t be said as a small space. The cabin wasrge, reallyrge. There was no doubt about that. Anna was cooking on the kitchen using the ingredients that Walter previously bought on the way. Meanwhile, Del was filling documents on the table. It was the enrollment document to enroll into the academy. He needed to fill in his name, his identity, his birthday, and everything else that needs to be filled on the form. Somehow, there was also a test about the amount of magical energy that they had. The test was just to drip a blood into the paper. Overall, there was nothing wrong with that method, It was just that Del was too tired to do one thing after another. Before he signed everything, he checked his status te first. ???????????? [Del Moore] [Level: 73] Strength: 152 Agility: 142 Vitality: 216 Aptitude: 135 Perception: 129 Skills: Language Understanding | Firearm Comprehension LVL.67 | Marksmanship LVL.65 | me Maniption LVL.10 | Field Maniption LVL.23 | Demolition Expert LVL.25 Magical Energy: 39420/39420 Health Point: 157680/157680 ???????????? The amount of leveling up was not too great, but it was not too bad either. Del expected that he hit level 80 or higher. Maybe as they leveled up more, it became harder for them to raise their level up. Del put poke his finger and dripped the blood into a special slot on the paper that Walter gave. The blood desintegrated once it touched the paper and it turned into a set of number that disyed the same value as total magical energy in the status te. It was creepy at first, but it was rather revolutionary too for him. From blood alone, a paper was able to detect someone''s magical energy. Truth be told, it opened a whole new set of possibilities. The blood could be used to monitor patient''s vital or to monitor hit of one group. It was endless. Del continued filling the form, not letting himself to lost in thoughts. The end result of the form was pretty much Del''s forged information. The only thing that was truthful in that form was his name and the amount of magical energy that he had. He faked his birthday since Del didn''t even know whether the world had or had not stepped into the same timeline of the earth or not. His birthce was also modified so it showed that he was born and raised in Elbanian. He didn''t want to spoil that he was from another world. It would simply jeopardize his n to stay below the radars of the students. All in all, he would be better off using the fake identities that he had forged by himself. He eventually finished filling up the documents both for himself and his own sister. He immediately gave the document back to Walter. Walter might want to check it first. There would be no way that Walter would give the documents to the academy without checking it out first, his trust on the kids wasn''t that big to begin with. "Hmm, I see, I see. so both of you have the same birthday, huh? I''ll keep that in mind," Walter nodded as he kept checking the documents. He just nodded to confirm whether something was valid or invalid. He would give the documents to school tomorrow, but not before he started asking both of them questions. "So, Del, how was your time in Elbanian?" "Walter, truthfully, it was nightmare-ish," Del replied. "How so?" "In Elbanian, I was hunted down by the kind and his allies while making sure that I have enough money to survive. In here, at the very least, I chose to enter the danger on my own ord, not because of circumstances." He exined what was inside of his mind to Walter. Walter just nodded. Why was the bald guy have such t expression? He didn''t show any happiness nor any sadness at anything that Del had said so far. The only time that bald dude showed any emotion was when he was under the influence of alcohol. And it was because Del asked about the ''ident''. "Well, if that''s the case. I will say that you two will be weed in Ilbistirum. Don''t worry too much about it." Walter put all of the documents inside of a small briefcase. Someone came from the kitchen with three tes on her hands. "Dinner''s ready!" ============================ The storage room aka the makeshift armory would be a great ce to store any weapons that they wouldn''t be using. The ce was warm from the instion that covered the entire room. Del had put away the broken rifles and the tools on its ce. He would use that ce as his man cave or his armory. He would store ammunitions and anything that he wouldn''t be using inside of that storage room. The storage room was big after all, heck, there was probably enough space to park two of his MRAPs if he had any or one main battle tank. Too bad the door would fit neither of those vehicles. However, for now, it would just serve purpose as a makeshift armory. Del put his M240B and his M16 inside of the storage alongside with the leftover 5.56 or 7.62 ammunition that he had left inside of his storage. He put those ammunitions on the table and he put the guns on the rack. Those weapons had served its purpose, but Sneggor wasn''t friendly with that weapon. Sneggor was always below zero, it would be unwise to use something that could jam easily if freezed. He decide to change paradigm into the weapons that could withstand harsh non-stop winter of Sneggor. ???????????? [Showing Avable Assault Rifle] [Tech Level: 8] [Total Bnce: 15,769,870$] [AK-74M] [800$] [AK-107] [1,000$] [FNC] [1,200$] [AUG] [1,600$] [FAMAS] [1,700$] [SAR-21] [1,750$] [M-16A4] [1,800$] [SA80] [1,900$] [G36] [2,000$] [Tavor] [2,050$] [AS VAL] [2,300$] [AEK-971] [2,500$] [AN-94] [2,800$] [G11] [4,000$] ???????????? Del bought AK-74M alongside with many customizations. He modified almost everything on that rifle, almost recing every furniture of that rifle. He attached a muzzle device on that AK that would bepatible with any suprressor. He also bought the supressor that could be attached at any time necessary. He changed the handguard from the standard one to a full-length quad-rail handguard that could be attached with essories. He attached an LEDbo on the side of the rifle alongside with a foregrip. He changed the dust cover of the AK-74M to the one that had rails so he could attach a scope on it. He chose Holosight alongside with its magnifier. He reced the standard stock of the AK with a custom one that had a much better ergonomics and the stock was much morefortable to be used in aiming than a standard one. He also used a 6L31 60-round magazine for maximum ammo capacity. All in all, it was a general deviation from standard AK-74M that relied on simplicity. There was nothing simple from Del''s rifle except the mechanism. It was just what it was, a good rifle. Someone opened door storage room and came inside. She held hot choctes on both of her hands. One was for herself and the other was for Del. Anna gave one of the cups to Del. "This ce is quite nice, what did you do to it?" Anna asked. "I just cleaned it up and that''s all," Del answered as he sipped on the hot chocte. The ce could serve as theirmand center while the MRAP would be their mobilemand center. Walter might need to be consulted first, but Del thought that there would be no reason for him to refuse. He had thought about what he would do with that room. There would be a table in the middle of the room that would be filled with maps and objectives. There would also be a modern encryption radio terminal on that storage room. There would be no way an ordinary radio to intercept whatever that they were going to send out of that room. If the contract was correct, Del was able to do anything that he wanted as long as Walter approved it. Amand center would be something that Walter would approve since it was the ce where he could contact them. Themand center would be a ce of importance for their operations in the future. "What can we do to this room? This room is humongous. Will you turn this room into something, Del?" Anna asked. "Yeah, I will turn this room into amand center. This room will be our base of operation. Walter will coordinate us from this room using a radio that we will buy for him. Other than that, I''m still epting ideas," Del said. Anna shook her head. She didn''t have any idea on what she should do next with the room.. All that was left to do was to report back to Walter about their proposal and they could start working with that storage room. Chapter 175 - Updated Later Chapter 175 ¨C Updated Later The helicopternded in the backyard of the cabin after the blizzard had subsided. Del nodded and gave both of them a thumbs up after the debriefing. Needless to say, now they had a new target, someone named Duliarre. From the window, there was around four others special force soldiers inside of that helicopter. All of them were wearing snow camouge military outfit and bva. The convoy had arrived at the snow-covered region, the camouge would be perfect. Del was no different either. Not only that, but all of them were also wearing the MOP suit for dealing with the chemical or nuclear threat that the trucks might have. After all, the cargo were suspected to be a weapon of mass destruction. All of them were using codename, including Del himself. His codename, ckfox, was not really made up. It was a codename assigned to him by amara and Zastava for the sake of easiermunication and Anna was the same case as him. It wouldn''t be long until he got epted into the military unit as part of a more official unit. "Well, girls, I think you two can enjoy yourself, I will go out." Del stood up from the couch and he headed for the door and opened it. The remaining blizzards still gave him the chills. It was still three in the morning, after all. The helicopter downwash further pushed the cold air into his face, and he would be lying to say that it wasn''t freezing. It was like opening your freezer in hte middle of the night, but make it tenfold. The pilot was the usual Morris Osborne and the other people were probably part of the FSB or SOG. Del entered the helicopter and closed the helicopter door. The soldiers were looking at him. He was referred as the new guy, or the newbie. It made sense, he thought. This was the operators that had spent only God knew how long in Ilbisitrum. These guys weren''t pushover. "ckfox, huh? Nice to meet you," one of the operatives said. "Nice to meet you too." "For a boy, you made quite a noise, don''t you think?" The same operator asked. "I don''t have any intention in hiding it either," Del replied. He nodded. "Well, it doesn''t matter for me. I heard you are reliable, that''s why we trust you. So, your task is quite simple to be honest, I want you to back us up using your machine gun, is that clear enough?" "Yes sir." "About the ambush position, you''ll be ced on top of the hill overlooking the ambush point. Keep an eye on the truck, once you spot it, justy down suppressing fire for us." "I understand." "Good, and by the way, try not to shoot the cargo, ok?" "Sure." "Let''s take off then." The helicopter lifted up from the ground, leaving the cabin below it. The helicopter itself was the regr MH-60 that Del always used when he needed a close air support but not wanting to call the big and heavy fighter jet. This time, it was fully loaded with autocannons and miniguns. No explosive weaponry was avable on its pylon, it might be because of the mission order not to attack the trucks directly. "I want to make it clear again, but we won''t be able to use any radiomunication so I want everyone to remember their own role clearly, understand?" The operator asked. "Why?" Del didn''t have any idea on why. "A jamming aircraft will be flying over us. The only way the pilot would be able to see our targets are by seeing ourser marker," The operator said. "Oh, so we only can use ourser designator to mark our target?" Del asked. "Yup, but don''t mark yourser on us, ok?" "No problem." Jamming aircraft? Del didn''t remember the intelligence agencies bought one of those aircrafts. Well, it would make things way easier since he didn''t have to worry about iing reinforcement since their radio would also be disabled. "And one more thing, we only have ten minutes, so make every minute counts." "Yes sir." If Del remembered correctly, there was a guarantee that someone would be dispatched to thest-known position of any military personnel if they didn''t report for a defined amount of time. In this convoy, ten minutes might be the mark. Reinforcement would usually consist of Ilbistirum military special force soldiers, they would be big trouble, even with the amount of hardwares that they used. Mainly because special force soldiers used magical spell that could easily kill an infantry. The air support would deal with them though, that was the insurance. Even though the special force soldiers were very much a threat, they wouldn''t be much problem against the AIM-120 AMRAAM missile or the AIM-9 Sidewinder missile that the F-15 usually carried on its air-to-air missile loadout. Del opened the information list on his tablet. The operation would bemenced on a valley. The bottom of the valley was where the road which the truck would be traveling in. The other operators would be hiding near the bushes on the bottom of the valley while Del would be ced on the higher ground to provide the suppressing fire. "We will handle the hard part, you just sit tight and watch our backs, is that clear?" The operator asked. Del nodded. "Very clear." The helicopter didn''t take very long until arriving at the valley. The valley was covered in thickyer of snow, probably from the previous blizzard. If not for the NVG that they wore, they wouldn''t be able to see anything on the ground. Unlike Earth, standard dispatching protocol from the helicopter was just to jump from the helicopter once you arrived at your designated position. Del jumped from the helicopter and briefly flew towards the direction of his post which was on top of a hill. Heid down on the ground and deployed the bipod of his PKP machine gun and aimed it at the direction of the other operators. He heard jet flying over him, but he couldn''t figure out where. He checked on the headset of that was connected to his radio. He tuned to the frequency, and it was static. No voice wasing out of that frequency. It was safe to assume that the jammer indiscriminately jammed every singlemunication device in the area. Del hoped that the special force soldiers didn''t appear and stab him from his back. He wasn''t sure whether he would be urate enough that he wouldn''t shoot any cargo on the back of the truck. Still, he wondered how the operators would stop that vehicle. Del used the scope of his PKP to observe what the operators were doing. It seemed that they were doing something on the side of the road. From the looks of it, they were nting some kind of explosives. To be honest, it was weird. He wasn''t allowed to shoot bullets at the cargo, and yet, these people were going to use explosives to stop the convoy. What if they identally released the biochemical agent or the nuclear radiation into the environment? Del really hoped that they knew what they were doing. Two of the operators went to the direction where the truck would being from. He also nted an explosive there. There was a significant gap between the explosives, Del wondered what they were nning to do. The operators ran away from their nted explosives and hid among the snow and the bushes. The amount of explosives in those trucks would be more than enough to disable a tank, let alone a truck. The convoy was approaching closer and closer. Del put his eyes on those convoy, he waited until the shooting starts. He wouldn''t engage before the other operators engaged the convoy. The first truck drove past the first explosives. Nothing happened. The convoy moved very slowly, maybe because of the shitty visibility on that valley. The second truck moved past the first explosives, nothing happened either. What they were nning? Suddenly. BOOM. The bombs exploded in front of the truck. The truck stopped, but what happened next could only be described as quite genius. The explosion created a small avnche. The avnche rolled down the hill and burried the road in front of the first truck. BOOM. The second explosion created the exact same effect. Del prepared himself for the engagement, he made sure that all of the bullets were loaded into the box of his PKP. The shooting started. The operators started opening fire at the windows of the trucks. They moved efficiently, and without any noise due to their suppressor. In seconds, they stopped the convoy and started searching the convoy. Del was impressed. Heck, he felt like a spectator in that operation. It was not shameful, it just that he felt useless. He watched the road, left and right. There was no possible contact, yet. Hopefully, it stayed that way.. Engaging hostile was too much of a hassle. Chapter 176 - Blizzard Chapter 176 ¨C Blizzard "Boss, I don''t think this is good." Five monthster, after the midterm exam, situation had calmed down a bit. The exam put stresses on the students, even the smartest one. And that literally wiped the te clean of his own doings. For now, his academics attracted more attention that his heroic action. TMV also put a good use for him, giving him a position in the first-aid division. Basically, it was three months filled with doing nothing too attracting. He just spent his time with security division, student council, and TMV. However, birds were starting to chirptely. Or in other words, someone looked at the business dealing between Aveline and him. Of course, because of that, someone wanted who leaked that thing out, and who was the leaker and what was its goal? To make matters worse, it was the documentation that scared him. He almost got his name leaked out, almost. Luckily, whoever took the picture on the highway didn''t really get a glimpse on his face thanks to the concealment that he wore, but he was standing on a thin ice. "What did you find?" Del asked as he searched through the security division office in the middle of another blizzard in midnight. This time, the blizzard was way way colder. The window almost froze thanks to the outside temperature. As a matter of fact, Mira was wearing the modern cold weather gear instead of her personal cold weather clothing due to the temperature reaching below 70 degrees celcius. Yes, it was that cold in that office. Anna didn''t participate, she didn''t want to get involved in that due to the fact that she was in the SD and there was no confirmed leaker yet. "Documentations and suspicions. And oh boy, you were on top of the list, but not Vampir." "Goddamn it, how so?" "Interrogations, apparently. Well, more like interview, to be honest. You want to get a brief on how the SD works, or do you want to figure it out by yourself?" "Let''s cut the chase. What do you know?" "If the head of SD suspect someone inside of SD, he has the rights to question the said person. And in this case.." "Yeah, her." "Sorry, boss. I thought you knew this." "I thought she got things under control and I thought these things are ssified. Whoever did this might get its head on the chopping table if we don''t intervene sooner orter." "Still, the SD had their ears and eyes on you now. They only cared about your side dealings with Aveline, and not your weird-ass gadgets and shits, boss." "Just give me the document. Let''s see what I can read." "Here you go," Mira gave her the document. The document was telling the current investigation on Aveline. Yeah, Del might be on the list, but the title of the investigation itself was to Aveline. Now, it really didn''t make too much sense for him. Aveline was pretty much very clean on the surface. Girl was very close to the teachers. Her academics were also on the top of the list as well. Her charismatic and beauty wouldn''t really spark this kind of investigation. Anyway, the reason why she got investigated was because there was a suspicion that she was working with imperial military. However, it also seemed that both of them were working in the same direction. It was a shame that they put Del on the top of suspect list. What was his role on that crime if you may ask? Well, Del was said to the head gunman and the hitman for Aveline. Yeah, assumption that didn''t bode too well with him. Not because it was wrong, but because it was putting it on the top of the list. "Well, who stalks me? I have a list, but who''s the person, to be exact?" Del asked himself and Mira. "A lot of people don''t like you, that''s for sure. BUT, we might be able to narrow it down. We can start from the list of people that is in the security division. That way, we might be able to put the name on his list." "If we let him do this, he would kill every single one of security division since all of them suddenly be a threat to national security." It was distasteful to let Morris to solve the problem. Due to the fact that they became a threat to national security, they might think killing them all was the best option. The information that Aveline carried was his and his only. "True enough, but our problem will be solved as well, right?" "Not quite, we might solve the problem for us, but not for Aveline." "Hmm, no loose end, huh?" "Yeah, no loose end. If Aveline gets out of this game, she will get out." "I agree, you don''t want her toe biting you, huh?" "Nah, I just want her full integration to the team to be smooth. You know that our boss wants her on his side, for some unknown reasons," Del answered. "Oh, yeah. You want to finish the bullshit with Bosch first, huh? Well, we can handle himter. For now, let''s just decide what we want to do with these documents." Mira waved the documents with her hands. "Put it back where you put it, I don''t need to have it exterminated for now. I just want to let people think that I don''t know anything. Still, it left us more questions that answers. Whatever, nt the bug and let''s get out of here." Mira nted a ck box behind the wardrobe of the security division office. It should record and transmit any conversation in that office. Del nted a bug near themp, it was a small camera disguised as a light bulb. It was high-tech device given to him, courtesy of the intelligence agencies. After they finished, Del opened the window of that room and jumped out into the blizzard. Mira followed from behind and jumped into the snow from the 2nd floor of that building. It was ckout again, visibility was absolute zero. "Hey, stick close, alright?" Navigating through the blizzard wasn''t easy, to be honest. Mainly because it was very cold, and they wanted to avoid the main road. They wanted to use the furthest route from civilization to reach the cabin. One of the routes was through the quiet part of the town and used the forest as cover from thew enforcement in Sneggor. However, he needed to climb the academy''s fences first. Del threw a rope across the fences and climbed it. Mira followed from behind and they started traversing towards the quiet part of the town. It was called that because there were little to no residents on the region of that town. Most of the houses were either abandoned or empty. It was also a safe passage towards the forest surrounding Sneggor. Nobody would be crazy enough to get out of any building in this kind of blizzard. Well, Del was crazy to do that and he was proud of it. It might satisfy his eagerness of something, but it worked. "For a blizzard, this is sure as hell something else." "You''re crazy boss. If you don''t share me this heating spell, we might be dead." It was -70 degrees, but it had probably dropped more. The heating spell allowed Mira and Del to keep themselves warm with the help of the cold weather gear that wasn''t exactly made to handle this kind of temperature. Temperature rarely dropped below fifty, much less seventy degrees on Earth. Basically, they were crazy enough. Heck, at extreme, the weather in Ilbistirum might reach as low as minus ny on extreme. So yeah, a person from Earth would call this region as antartica, or worse. It all depended on how one looked at it. Luckily, every equipment still worked properly, even the rifle. This was kinda something for him to walk in a ce as cold as Sneggor. He kept walking until he reached the forest. There would be no animals there, or any monsters. Del felt sorry for the security division. They might have to deal with a pile of snow when they returned for school. Well, it was not his business, Nobody would be crazy enough to get out of any building in this kind of blizzard. Well, Del was crazy to do that and he was proud of it. It might satisfy his eagerness of something, but it worked. "For a blizzard, this is sure as hell something else." "You''re crazy boss. If you don''t share me this heating spell, we might be dead." "Yeah, that heating spell is for high-altitude flying, but in this condition, it will work as well." Del and Mira walked through the jungle as the winds threw slushes of ice on their faces. If there was one thing close describing this weather condition, probably this was one of the arctic weathers. Del forbids Anna for using the lights. If she wanted to sleep infort, just use themand center. Even if there was lights, there wouldn''t be anyone seeing it from outside. Every single window was covered and every single holed had been covered.. Morris slept there, and Anna might be using a sleeping bag to sleep there. Chapter 177 - Updated Later Chapter 177 ¨C Updated Later Del observed the special force soldiers from afar. They were efficient. They immediately pulled their geiger counter and opened the back of the truck and started searching for any suspicious container. The jets were still roaring above the sky. He wondered whether they had found anything out of the ordinary yet. The snow started to fall from the sky again. It might be a sign of another blizzard, as far as Del knew. Well, they would have to finish it up quickly anyway, or they would have to face a reinforcement. Del just idled around the perimeter, watching for anyone approaching him. As long as the threat weren''t soldiers, he was fine with it. BANG! A loud thumping noise came right from behind him. Del peeked behind to see what was happening. A metallic podnded right behind him. The metallic pod justnded behind him. He wondered what was that pod. He didn''t want to approach it though. The pod suddenly opened slowly, releasing bunch of steam. After the steam dissipated, he took an astute observation on the content of that pod itself. It was a humanlike robot. It could be described that this robot looked like a human, but instead of skin, it was made of metal. Was it hostile? The android grabbed a rifle from its back. Its eyes red at him sharply, and Del aimed his PKP machine gun at the android. He pulled the trigger. Bullets flew at the direction of the android. The android recoiled from the force of the bullet, but it didn''t stop it. The android fired its rifle at Del''s direction. PEW PEW Twoser beams were fired at Del''s direction. The robot missed, but it was probably because its sensor was still calibrating itself. Del retaliated by firing continuous stream of 7.62¡Á54 bullets at its direction. How the hell did the android tank all of the bullets? Heck, thesers were something else. Del had never seen anything like that before. The android was still looking at him ferociously. The bullets didn''t even scratch it. There wasn''t even any bullet marks on its body. What kind of technological bullshit was this? He reloaded his machine gun and fired another stream of bullet at the android. It was the same result, the bullet didn''t even make a dent and he just wasted another box of bullet, again. The distance between him and the robot was too close, there was no way he could call for close air support. Del opened a package of C4 and threw it at the direction of the android. He pressed the detonator as the b of C4nded on the feet of the android. BOOM. The android shattered into multiple pieces. Del sighed in relief as the remain of the android was only its torso. Still, what kind of thing was it? It was odd. He never saw that thing in the ancient site. He walked towards the direction of the android to inspect it. He might need to know what was it. He looked closer at the android. It indeed looked like human, albeit mechanical. Theser rifle that the android had was still intact, though. He grabbed theser rifle and looked at it. It was rather looking futuristic with its white paint and hologram sight that disyed a shitton of information. The scope of the rifle alone disyed the humidity, the wind direction, and it even disyed where the bullet hit and what the effect would be. However, there was a calibration bar on the bottom of the rifle. The bar only progressed halfway and it stopped. It clearly says: [CONNECTION LOST] The rifle probably synced with the android first before it could use it effectively. He was lucky that he could take it down before it took him down. There was 2500 ammo left on that rifle. Judging from the appearance, the rifle seemed to be rechargeable. He only needed a power source for it. The rifle was only partially charged, and it wasn''t as bulky as his PKP. It was probably as bulky as his AK-74M. He then looked at the direction of the special force soldiers again, they were still working with the truck without giving a damn about what happened to Del. It seemed that they knew what Del faced, but well, as long as they did their job and he did his job, the mission wouldn''t be a problem. He observed the rifle. There were several settings, it was rather modr for what it was. It had several modes. Del put the rifle on his back and he reloaded his PKP machine gun with a fresh box magazine. The gunshots must have caught unwanted attentions, the special force soldiers were rushing through the truck. So far, they retrieved two metal containers from the trucks. He wondered what the content of the container. One of the operators fired a re to the sky. The helicopter that carried them hovered right on top of the convoy. The soldiers put those two metal containers into the helicopter and the helicopter lifted off from the ground. Del followed the helicopter from behind by flying, it was flying slow enough that it wouldn''t be hard for Del to catch up with it. The door of the helicopter stay opened as Del tried to catch up with the helicopter. He entered the helicopter and sat down on the door. The geiger counter was going crazy, he was d that he was wearing his MOP suit. "What the hell is this? Nuclear?" Del asked as he knocked on one of the metal containers. "One of them is a nuclear, but the other is a chemical agent. Both of them are WMD that is going to be deployed in Sneggor, this interception should give a leak to Bosch''s n." "I hope so," Delmented. "Still, I wonder how the military got a rat so deeply connected and intertwined within is outside of my thinking. Even more surprising that there were rats, not a rat. I guess we are not doing a very good job, are we?" "I don''t know. I''ll let you to decide that." "Still, this is not a nuclear bomb, this is worse. This is a dirty bomb that will irradiate the whole city, turning it poisonous, or worse. Yes, I know it won''t create cancer on us, but still, it can burn our skin." "Noted." "And this other thing? I don''t know what the content of this container. This might be some sort of nerve gas as far as I''m concerned. Hmm, this is bad. I think you should get a gas mask sooner orter and put it in your backpack in case we miss a bomb like this again." "There''s another bomb?" "Most likely, I can''t say for sure, but it''s highly likely for a bomb like this to be smuggled into Sneggor. And for what? Assassinating an unknown informant which might or might not exist? Those imperial military is way worse than I thought." "Well, I had seen the shit they have done, I wouldn''t be surprised if they nuked a whole town just to kill someone," Delmented. "Yeah, no shit." The helicopter flew towards Sneggor. Del enjoyed the breeze of the cold air. It kinda reminded him of the job that he had to do. It might only have been a year or so, but it had been so much for him. He didn''t expect toe here, much less finding someone from Earth. Well, it was his new home now. It was his home that was currently under attack and under threat of a civil war. He would do everything to keep his safety and his sister''s safety, even if it mean that he would get his hands wet. "ckfox, if you need a report, just ask the pilot. He would write one for you, got it?" "I got it. Don''t worry, I will read it thoroughly for myself. Still, I wonder why they used the military to transport the cargo as conspicuous as this. They are doomed to death, right? The drivers and anyone involve in the convoy?" Del asked. "I think so. The radiation from this container is intense enough that approaching it without any protective gear would cause burns, but they''re demons, not ordinary humans. I think they''ll be fine." "I see. Well, the chemical weapon is a nerve gas, right? Damn, it''s more fucked than I previously thought." "I know. Anyway, thanks for the help. Even if you don''t do anything, you are a very valuable assets for us and you have the thanks of this team." "Thank you. From a special force soldier like you, it meant a lot for me. I know I''m not the best person around, but I think we''ll make quite a good team." "I agree with it." The helicopternded on the back of the cabin and Del jumped out. The helicopter then flew away from the cabin, heading back to the base.. Well, time to deal with another thing, again. Chapter 178 - Updated Later Chapter 178 ¨C Updated Later An MH-60 "ckhawk" helicopter flew away from Belgram air base. On both sides of its stub wings were thebination of AGM-114 "Hellfire" missiles and M230 chainguns for close-air-support role. It was the multipurpose helicopter assigned for Del and Anna toplete the rest of the mission from Salve Group. Del was sitting on the opened left door of the helicopter. Behind him were stacks of FIM-92 stingers and FGM-148unchers. All of those were provided to give him an edge and more leisure in attacking anyone that Van Bosch would send to him. The pilot was a man. His full name was Morris Osborne. They could call him Morris, but Del and Anna would have to call him sir or refer to him as Chief Osborne in a formal event. He seemed to be chill though. Heck, he was morex than Walter by all ount. "Did you two justnd here like us? Or did you two have spent quite some times in this ce?" Morris asked. "Well, I think we''re thetter. Morris, is it? Can I call you that?" Del asked. "Sure, just call me Morris. You two are the Moore siblings, am I right? Nice to meet you two." "Thanks," Anna replied. "Did Colonel tell you my role in this assignment, or not?" Anna shook her head, "Nope." "Ohhh, alright, I see. Well, I''ll just make it simple. If you have some enemies that need to be taken care of, just call me via the tablet interface. I woulde to help you two, but I won''t be avable instantenously if you don''t tell me whether you''llmence an operation or not." "Huh? What do you mean?" Del asked. "If you two suddenly got intobat, I can''t guarantee that I''d arrive at your location in under five minutes. Helicopter is costing time to be maintained, you know? Flying magic is was simpler, but also less versatile." "I agree with that. You can''t carry shitton of missiles with a flying spell." "Anyway, back to the main point, I need twenty minutes if you call me so suddenly. Besides that, I can provide sniping support and distraction support. Oh, and I am also here to rece Walter''s role as your supposed caretaker." "Ah, yeah, by the way, were you a pilot before?" Del asked. "Yup, why do you think I end up in there with those CIAs and FSBs? Still, it was fun," Morrismented. "I don''t know whether being hunted down by several people and some enemies can be considered as fun, Morris." Delmented on his experience for this past one year. The only normality that could be considered normal was his time at Lumbart Academy and that was it. Heck, he was even there for a mission, what was the fun in that? "It''s fun, trust me. Or the fact that I''m kinda insane, well, I''m open to interpretation." "I prefer thetter. Anyway, what''s with the loadout?" The helicopter was too well-armed for his standard. For instance, there were two M230 chainguns and eight AGM-114 missiles for the helicopter itself. It was simply an overkill for that world, not to mention the ammunition boxes that were linked to the chainguns. That thing could destroy an entire echelon as long as air defense wasn''t present. "An assignment, let''s just say, a contract from the government. Another tank echelon ismencing an assault towards Halivaara. A prototype one in fact, there''s a huge chance that our current weaponry in the federal army can''t prate it, so that''s where wee in." "What kind of prototype tank?" Del asked. "Those who can''t be prated by an ordinary 100mm cannon on all sides except the top. Well, the armor is not that thick, evenpared to a first-generation main battle tank, but it''s still thick for this age. You''ll need a concentrated artillery fire or autocannon on that thing which we can''t afford at the moment," Morris answered. "Ok, what should I do while you fire those missiles?" Del asked. "Well, for starter, you can prepare yourself with the machine gun and armor, considering your sister has taken the position on the right. After I destroy all of the tanks, I want you two to deal with the infantry escorting it." "What kind of infantry?" "Combination of flying one and standing one. There''s a reason why I told you to wear a fragmentation suit, don''t you think?" Morris asked. "Wait, flying one? Damn, they''re hard to be dealt with, don''t you think?" "Think again." "Wait, you want me to be a decoy?" "Exactly. You are wearing heavy armor, wield heavy weapon, and supported with heavy armaments. Just get them close to the helicopter and your sister''s GAU-21 would handle them. Careful though, don''t get to her line of fire." "And I risk my life, again," Delmented as he grabbed his PKP from the seat of the helicopter. The gun was loaded with 7.62x54mmR ammunition as usual. The armor-piercing version of the bullet was loaded into the machine gun. Del attached a new scope on that gun alongside with a vertical grip, but he doubted he would ever use the scope on that gun. There was also a LEDbo at the end of that gun. He checked the bullet on that gun and the gun seemed to be functioning as intended. He was aware that the other side might only use a bolt-action rifle or SMG against him, he needed to take advantage of his volume of fire and his range advantage against the flying enemies that would probably use their spell at him. "And take the oxygen tank on the back." There was an oxygen tank on the back of the helicopter attached to a half-face mask. "It should protect your lungs as long as you tighten in to your face tightly. It''s the perfect counter to their Thermobaric spell. Don''t forget to wear goggles too, Del." "Alright." The distance to Halivaara was still far, probably more than two hundred miles away. They had arrived to the maind around two hours ago, but they still hadn''t encountered anyone trying to intercept them. There were two possibilities. The intelligence should have contacted the ground, or the helicopter wasn''t detectable. Del preferred the first option than thest option. The helicopter wasn''t exactly a stealth aircraft, and it was not exactly quiet either. "And Del, you might want to know, but our role is important. We are going tomence a counter-offensive to help the federal military." "Just both of us?" "Nah, there''s a reason why we told you to buy several F-15E and a B-1 bomber. Imperial military is going tounch arge-scale offensive to the federal military due to thest stunt that you pull. Our job is to create a significant dy on their n, giving the federal military a breathing room." "Ah, no wonder." "Yup, you might think we are insane, but this is the truth. Without this intervention, the bnce in war could be disturbed and we don''t want that. One F-15 and a B-1 bomber are flying towards the north to defend the north while another is patrolling the south sea to destroy the destroyers heading for Federal Ports." "Hahaha, I wish I can pilot one of those aircrafts." "Perhaps?" Suddenly, from afar, a jet roar entered his nose. Suddenly, a gush of wind hit his face as an F-15 flew by the helicopter at the same altitude. Del couldn''t see the aircraft, but he was sure that was an F-15 flying beside him. "Ah, that''s the one heading north. It will act as a decoy and protect us from the iing air attack. I don''t remember who pilots it, but I think they will be a great distraction. Heck, I think they can take down an entire squadron with just its guns." "So, where''s the bomber?" "It might be flying above us. I don''t know. They would take down the flying airships with cruise missiles." "Ah, great, is that the reason why we can fly to Halivaara now?" "Yup, with most of the imperial air force focused on chasing the bomber, we wouldn''t have to worry about their air defense. Moreover, I don''t think the imperial air force would have the tech to counter our F-15," Morris said. "I think so." "Well, get ready, we''ll approach the tank unit in five minutes," Morris replied. The helicopter descended and Del could see the ground from above. Halivaara and its surrounding region had been turned into smitheeren ruins. No wonder why the federal military had difficulty in defending it. It also seemed that the imperial military had begun moving towards Halivaara, judging from the looks of it. "Our job is to disable the heavy tanks. The small fries are up to the federal military to handle," Morris said. "Roger that." Del didn''t fire the gun on the helicopter yet. The tanks looked like small dots from the altitude he was flying in. He waited until Morris fired the first missile from the helicopter. WOOOSH. The missile flew from the pylons of the helicopter and flew to one of the heavy tanks. The autocannon started firing towards the direction of the other heavy tanks. Del started firing his machine gun at the infantry raising from the ground and heading to his direction. "Commencing attack!" Chapter 179 - Debriefing Chapter 179 ¨C Debriefing "So, you want to take actions? You have the green lights, but what will you do?" Morris asked. He was dead asleep alongside with Anna when the snow blizzard that covered the whole town an inch deep was raging. Del wished he weren''t this sleepy, or he could provide much more details to Morris, and hopefully, getting an ability to call for SF backup for another time. "Let''s make the process faster. I want to kidnap Aveline, right now. The students were still stressful from the exam and no one should even bother about it if we create a big enough rumor in the academy." Del sipped on his cup of coffee, trying to regain back some energy before he ended up having a sleep failure and fell asleep on the ground like Mira. "Sure, if the higher-ups approve it, let''s do that. For now, just stand by for anything suspicious, besides, today is Sunday. It''s better to take a rest, don''t you think?" Morris asked. "Yeah, I think so. Besides it, Morris, do you still have any intel from the operation of the night before. I still need it." "Which one? The one where you infitrate Elbanian?" "Yeah, that one. The one I retrieved a month ago." Del and Anna infiltrated Elbanian to steal several document to get status update from the current affairs in there. It might be important for them, it was a routine to get information every two months or so. The information could be used to judge the current situation. So far, the war effort had been not that good for them. It seemed that Anna was pleased to hear that there were some unfairness in her trial and the group of heroes had splitted into two factions. One was the suspicious group, the one that supported Anna and condemned the execution. The other was Eric and his goons. The Reian seemed to be bolstering their military hardware, mainly because Ilbistirum military-industrialplex provided them with the means to do so. It was not really a war for them, but a means to avoid any genocide to their people again. Losing for them wouldn''t only mean that they would lose territory again, but it would also mean that their entire race would be wiped clean. No demons would be left behind, and that was not the oue that the Reian nor Ilbistirum was hoping for. As a result, several airstrikes had been conducted in Elbanian terittory every single time the Reian became the losing side. It was rather secretive, judging that there weren''t any formal connection between Reian and Ilbistirum. Morris gave Del a file, "Here ya go, I still don''t know what kind of info that you need though, Del. I think we have gotten everything we need, unless we''re talking about the personal issues that you have with them." "Yeah, this is the personal issues problem. I still want to know whether Eric woulde or not." "Suit yourself then, I wouldn''t help that. Anyway, it seems that our war effort would immediatelye to an end, sooner orter." "Yeah, I see the news." The war effort in Ilbistirum had paid off too thanks to the enormous support from this secretive air strike. Several nobles were killed in the airstrikes, including the prince of the current Ilbistirum Imperial king. This damaged the morale of the soldiers from their side and increased the morale of the soldiers on our side. Needless to say, it was a marvelous achievement. Basically, B-1 bomber that they had literally singled-handedly won the war that had been in a stalemate for a very long time. As a result, there was a negative side effects of doing this. What was the negative side effects? Well, bombing aka terrorist had gone up significantly. Security became much tighter, even some of the soldiers had begun to increase their numbers in the street. Sneggor hadn''t been hit, yet. However, using this event of chain terrorism, Del had a good idea. "You know, Morris, what if we staged a terrorist ident in the academy just after we kidnap Aveline. It should give a lot of ruckus there and security would be tighten up." "Sure, but do you think Daniel should be taken into consideration as well? This dude will be the first person that looks for Aveline, what do you want me to do with him? Kill him or just let him be." "Kidnap him, too." "Aye aye. Damn, I never thought I''d kidnap so many people in my life, now I know why the bosses want me to work with you, you seem to always choose the less lethal option." "It just left a bad taste in my mouth, that''s all." "I see. Well, you''ll get used to it, eventually." "Anna hasn''t waken up yet?" Del asked. "She''s still sleeping like a baby. Anyway, a certain doctor called this morning, she expressed an interest for curing your sister." Cure? Well, it would be good if Anna could get skin recement or something. It might help her gain her sanity back after living in pain for three months or more. Besides, Del felt bad for her have to take medicine every six hours or so. There were like seven pills that she had to take. "Who was the doctor? Cassandra?" Del asked. "No, we''re talking about Mr. Gable, not Cassandra herself." "Ah, her father?" "No, his grandfather. You know, this is the director of Lullin general hospital. I think Cassandra told him Anna''s condition and he remembered something about it. Cure might be radical, but it can be helpful, ya know?" "I see. I''ll call her backter. Back to the topic, any suggestion on how to pull this off?" "I''ll kidnap the girl, but I''ll leave the boy up to you. So far, you got two options. Either sneak into the perimeter, snag the boy and get out with fulton. If you take this option, then yes, a bombing would be necessary as a distraction." "Hmm, sounds easy enough with Mira and I. What else do you have?" "The next one is the loud option. You barge to the dormitory at night, guns zing. You snag him and escape the military response while lifting Daniel using a fulton balloon. If you take this option, a bombing wouldn''t be necessary." Del preferred the loud option. He would get two birds with one stone and it would save time for him. However, there was a caveat to that, right? There would be no way in hell that Morris would allow him to do that. "Is there a caveat?" "Yes. You have to use weapons that are avable on this world. It means no HMG, no AR, no high-tech things. You do this with anything that looked simr to what this world have. So, I limit the weapons to WW2 equipment, doesn''t sound so hard, does it?" Well, Del had survived worst with WW2 equipment. He was sure that he would be able to survive it again, but this time, it seemed that an armor would be required. He might be able to use te carriers with thick tes. It should stop most rifle rounds from this world. Still, he and Mira needed to reduce the amount of avable reinforcement if they used that choice. They could attack the military and security division, risky. Or they could poison the reinforcement. Of course, thest option seemed to be more sensible. "I''d use tear gas to help me, is that okay?" Del asked. "Yeah, I heard that the military is developing that kind of weapon in this world too. You should be fine using it. You also need to wear face concealment and you need to erase any threat thates back at you. So, what do you say?" It seemed to be too risky, even though it was rather time-saving. Well, stealth was the only option, again. Well, it was not like winter wouldn''t being sooner orter. There would be another blizzard even greater than this. It should help him in kidnapping Daniel. Still, the cold temperature could kill Daniel if they weren''t careful. "I think I''ll wait for another blizzard. Mira and I will kidnap him, bring him here, wait for the blizzard to subside and then flew him up with a fulton. It would probably be way easier than going guns zing." "I thought so. Anyway, if that''s all, why don''t you take a rest? You have done enough for today and I don''t think there would be any further assignment from the higher ups. I suggest we wait more until we kidnap her. In the meantime, focus on Bosch. He would be a big threat sooner orter." "Ok. I''ll do it. Well, it seems that our effort in the war would be paid soon, right?" "True. Sooner orter, we''ll wipe out Ilbistirum Empire and we will reunite this country again. Don''t worry, we only need to be careful for any potential terrorist ident.. Dismissed, Del." Chapter 180 - Updated Later Chapter 180 ¨C Updated Later "Out of all girls in this academy, and out of all boys in this academy, why did you take me here?" Joel''s Bistro, it was one of the coffee shops in Sneggor. The girl in front of him was none other than Mira. Now, why would Del bring Mira here? Was he looking for a date? Of course not. It was more of a persuasive discussion for her, she just didn''t know yet. "Negotiation." "Negotiation?" Del brought a file out of his briefcase that Morris provided. It was only a fragment of documentation of Mira''s time working with the militant group. Del showed Mira his high card, hoping that Mira didn''t have any ace up on her sleeve, or he would need to use his own ace. Mira looked at the picture. Her mouth gasped. She red at Del widely, then she sighed and crossed her hands. She nodded her head left and right and looked at the ss window. On the rooftop, albeit hard to see, she saw a sniper. Those low resolution photographs showed Mira holding a rifle with a militant group which symphatized with imperial government. Mira was there to work as a mercenary, not a contractor. She had broken the rules of being a contractor by working with the militant alone. "What do you want, Moore? I guess all of those rumors were true, huh?" "You can figure it out." Mira put the file on the table. She didn''t bring any gun, mainly because a gun wasn''t allowed in that coffee shop. If not, Mira might reach for her gun and tried to shoot him or herself to escape from her own past. She put her hands on her head, just like someone that had a headache. "Again, what do you want, Del?" "Cooperation." "For?" Del pointed his hand at the sniper on the roof. "Help Anna in investigating our leads. I have too much attention and so does Anna. You, on the other hand, aren''t as famous as both of us." "Ha. For what? I can just go home and kill myself and be done with it," Mira said. "Are you sure your life is that cheap, or rather, do you dare to pull the trigger?" Del asked. "Say, I ept your offer. What will make me think that you won''t stab me in the back?" Mira wasn''t sure. She wasn''t certain about her recent threat, that was for sure. But it was not like she wasn''t prepared for thest resort. "I will make your old file disappear. One assignment, one file, how''s that?" Del asked. For Del, or any of his allies, Mira was just an asset among other assets. She was valuable, but not to the point that it would jeopardize his n if she got killed. She was a former mercenary and a student. Those two factors alone were the only valuable assets of Mira. Other than that, Del could look elsewhere. "I''d double down. I want that plus one thing." "And that is?" Del asked. "I want a schrship to a medical university." Ok, that''s rather¡­ odd. She didn''t want her ckmail to be erased, but she''d rather have an entrance to a university. To be honest, it really sounded like what Del and Anna had in mind ever since both of them met their mother. There was no problem with the funding, not at all. It was just odd, that''s all. "Why?" "Because I''d do anything to get there. I will take a gap year if I don''t seed on the first try, and so on. After all, we live much longer than both of you,"Mira said. "Are you on a sin-cleansing journey or something?" Del asked. "Sort of, I guess? Both of you have been working as contractors for quite a while, right? You''ll get to a point where too much is too much, and trust me, it will mess your mind like no tomorrow," Mira said. "What do you mean?'''' "You''ll feel that bodies don''t worth more than the bullet that goes through it. You''ll feel that doing anything is justified. You''ll start seeing death not as a tragedy, but as numbers. People say it''s a point of no return, but I decided to return," Mira said. "I see. I guess that''s the risk of working as a mercenary, huh?" "Yeah. Anyway, what does Anna want?" Del felt smug, "Where was that rejective altitude?" Mira sighed, "It doesn''t look like you will do nothing if I don''t do anything to help you. So yeah, I''m in your game. So, boss, what do you want me to do?" "Boss?" "Yeah, I always call mymanding officer, my leader, or anyone with "boss" once I got under theirmand. Don''t expect me to call you boss in the academy, though," Mira said. "Dully noted." Del opened the briefcase. He then grabbed a hand held radio. "This is ckfox, all clear." He then put his radio back into his briefcase. He then smiled at Mira. "That''s it, I think, unless you want me to tell anything else." "What do you want to know, boss?" Mira asked. "I want to know your current thought on the situation right now." "Well, boss, besides the civil war, I don''t think I have anything not useful in particr. Unless you want to include the unofficial rtionship between Daniel and Aveline," Mira asked. "Will it prove any tactical advantage?" Del asked. "No, I don''t think so, boss." "What do you know about me, so far?" "A student with a prototype experimental weapon from the university weaponb that happens to be working with the biggest private security in Ilbistirum apanied with his head case of a sister that is as dangerous and scores the highest in close-rangebat and marksmanship." "That''s rather interesting." "Not only that. I heard you are the person that destroys apany of armored vehicles and destroy the upper chain ofmand in the imperial military. So yeah, I approach you very carefully, but it seems that you drop the bomb, boss." "Because you snooped around too much, Mira," Del said. "Fine, you got me. Helping with investigation, huh? Which one? The one you are working with Aveline, or is this any peeve project of yours?" "Thetter." "Alright, what do you want to know?" "I need to investigate the 12th grade students. In particr, the people that used to be involved with the imperial government. So far, my investigation hasn''t given me any fruit yet, and this is where youe in," Del said. "Yeah, I heard you were snooping through Adam''s personal belonging. So, this only left Daniel and Mira, huh?" Mira sighed. "Those two couples. Never thought that I''d mess with them." "Why?" "Daniel was practically an angel and Aveline wasn''t exactly someone that you''d call military-ish. Still, I might be able to get one thing or two from Daniel," Mira said. "Aveline, too." "Yeah, yeah, Aveline too. Don''t worry boss, I won''t fuck this thing up." "What? Do you think I will approach a random student out of nowhere? Nah, you were on my radar for quite some time and this was the perfect moment to strike through. Still, Mira, how can I use your skill?" Del asked. "I used to be a trench cleaner back in the militia. Just give me a shotgun and I''ll be good. Well, an armor or something would be appreciated, never was good with rifle anyway," Mira said. "Sure, maybe I can source you standard-issue military shotgun," Del said. "Thank, I''ll appreciate it. So, what will happen with my record, for now?" Mira asked. "It''ll be hidden, temporarily. Just do what Anna told you to do, and we can consider about working together some more," Del said. "Whatever you say, boss. Anything else that I should know?" Mira asked. "That''s all. Anna will brief you tomorrow." "Alright, I''ll bring my old gear tomorrow to your house. See youter, boss." Mira stood up from the chair. She picked up her backpack from the floor and she left the coffee shop without drinking any coffee. Del sighed and he picked up the radio from his briefcase. "This is ckfox. Jackpot." Anna opened the backdoor of the coffee shop. She didn''t bring her rifle, and she had returned to her ordinary school uniform. "So, how''s the result? Did sheply with out request." "Yup, we have a control over her. Anna, it looks like you got yourself a personal assistant." Anna smiled, "With her closebat skill, I don''t have to worry about someone approaching my back when I''m sniping. I have to say, she''s good. Even based on the rumors alone, she was once legendary." "Well, good for us then." "I''m serious. She achieved a simr feat to us back then. The rumor said that she cleared an entire trench on her own," Anna said. "Damn, that girl is pretty good with her shotgun, isn''t she? Well, if that''s the case, let''s use her to our advantage." Chapter 181 - Updated Later Chapter 181 ¨C Updated Later ???????????? [Killstreak Menu] [Tech Level: 7] [Total Bnce: 969,870$] [Sentry Gun] [5,000$] [Precision UAV] [20,000$] [Precision Airstrike] [144:00:00 Cooldown] [Juggernaut Suit] [60,000$] [Cluster Strike] [80,000$] [Cruise Missile] [120,000$] [Chopper Gunner] [150,000$] [Escort Helicopter] [180,000$] [Gunship] [120,000$/Hour] ???????????? "Lase it," Del muttered as Anna shined the middle section of the headquarter with her high-poweredser pointer. Del pressed the button order the cruise missile. As the menu opened, he was surprised that there were several options for cruise missile. He thought that there would only be one type of warhead for the cruise missile, but he was d that he was wrong about that. ???????????? [Killstreak Menu] [Tech Level: 7] [Total Bnce: 969,870$] [Cruise Missile Warhead Option] [Cruise Missile HE Warhead] [120,000$] [Cruise Missile Thermobaric Warhead] [200,000$] [Cruise Missile Cluster Warhead] [250,000$] [Cruise Missile W80 Nuclear Warhead] [2,000,000$] ???????????? Del pressed the Thermobaric Warhead option since his target was mostly inside of a structure. The st wave should be more than enough to kill the general and all of the middle section with only one single missile. "Bombardier 3-4 is arriving at firing range. Firing cruise missile, good hunt guys." The cruise missile followed the guidance of theser pointer. There was no further interface on the tablet, but it was preferred to aim it using aser guidance instead of just using the visual assistant. One of the good reasons was because the camera on the cruise missile was below average and it wouldn''t produce a clear enough image. Heck, most cruise missile wouldn''t have a camera. "Count to 3 and watch the firework, Bombardier 3-4 is leaving the area of operation." Del observed the middle section of the headquarter and he started counting, "3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­" The cruise missile exploded on the middle section of the headquarter. The hot st from the thermobaric warhead could be felt as far as their current position which was quite far enough from the ground zero. The explosion left nothing but rubbles and dead bodies on the middle section of the headquarters. What followed next was the loud ringing from the rm and the roar of the tank engine that started mobilizing to figure out where were the attackers that managed to destroy the entire middle section of the headquarter. "Targets are down, no building in sight, mission is sessful." Del observed the remains of the middle section. He searched for the dead body of the general, but there was no way anyone would survive that kind of attack. He eventually found the head of that general. It was severed from his own body. "Damn, that''s grotesque," Annamented. The chaos on that military base was unimaginable. To be honest, the base was practically imprable if not for the cruise missile. Each sides of the base was patrolled by tanks so there would be no way for Del to sneak inside of the encampment undetected. The ess to the middle section was guarded with soldiers. Those soldiers were checking any soldier that wanted to enter the middle section and the middle section itself was surrounded with a thick concrete wall. "Well, you know, it might be better for us to move away from this ce before the soldiers search this forest." Del put his binocr back into his pocket and he started running away from the observing spot. The darkness of the night and the chaos in the headquarter should cover his escape from the forest. The dry leaves rustled as Del and Anna ran as fast as they could from the previous spot. If they stopped running, it would jeopardize their stealth mission and it would mean that the whole western part of the imperial military would be hunting them down mercilessly. They shouldn''t get out of the forest now since the imperial military would be on high alert and every single road would be blockaded, making sure that nobody would get past. ording to the map that the tablet showed, the forest would stretch as far as the imperial border. However, the forest wasn''t stretching long enough for them so they could enter the federal teritory rtively unharmed. "How long have we run?" Anna kept running while peeking at the back. She feared that imperial military has found their position. "Three minutes. If they spot us, they will bombard the entire forest mercilessly," Del replied. Del had no idea how many officers he had killed, but he knew that it was a lot. The imperial military wouldn''t only shoot them, they would want to kill them by any mean necessary. Anything would be thrown at them as long as it would kill them. However, it would set a major setback on the imperial military. It would put them back to the drawing board and the general would not be able to use its armored unit to its full potential because he was dead. Moruguri and Halivaara would be safe for now. Del predicted that they would retreat for a while or move on the more defensive position than before and it meant that it would be a down-time for both of them since there wouldn''t be any attack on the federal military. "Where is our destination?" Anna asked. "The south of this giant forest. There is little military presence on that side and it would be easy for us to get back to the federal side by using that side of the forest," Del said. "I see," Anna nodded. ================================== The sun almost rose from the ground and they had been running for a solid two hours. Sweat drenched their clothing and their breath was almost uncontrolled and they did it all for the sake of running away from the imperial military. They arrived at their destination faster than previously expected. "Damn, how far have we run?" Anna fell to the ground from exhaustion. Del looked at the tablet and he was more than surprised "Seventy kilometers?" "Seventy? We are running that fast???" Anna was surprised by that statement too. "Yeah, I also don''t believe it. I have done several dashes, but not for as long as two hours," Delmented on the distance. "How far are we from Moruguri?" Anna asked. "Forty kilometers south of Moruguri and thirty kilometers west of Moruguri," Del said. Anna tried to stood up from the ground, but her legs were giving up on her from the exhaustion alone. Her face was facing the ground and she mumbled, "Are we far enough from the imperial military?" "I think so," Del said. The clock showed that it was six in the morning. However, the canopy of the forest blocked some of the sunlight so it looked as if it was still dawn. The ce they were in was a good ce to wait until nighttime again. "Let''s set camp here, we would be safe," Del sat down near the tree. "Yeah, I agree." Anna took off her helmet and she flipped her body so her face wouldn''t face the ground. She gazed at the morning sky. "Ah, the sun has risen." The sun begun to shine the entire forest. Del flipped his night-vision goggles since the daylight had begun prating the canopy of the forest. The forest was quiet. The only sound was bird chirping and wind passing through their tired body. It was a bliss. "What should we do with all of the money that we would get?" Anna asked. "We should buy ourself some more high-tech weapons and a vehicle. Overall, we are rich," Del sighed as he took a deep breath from under the tree. "Do you want to purchase those experimental weapons?" Anna asked. "Yeah, we might also need to upgrade our armor, our helmet, and some other things," Del said. "Good idea, may I suggest that we should immediately buy a car once we reach federal territory?" Anna asked. "That''s a splendid idea, I agree with that," Del said. It might only be a car that Del would purchase, but it would take them one step closer towards the main goal of taking out Eric without the usage of a nuclear weapon. Nuclear weapon would only be used as theirst option if anything else couldn''t be achieved. Nuclear weapon would kill too many innocent people and it would definitely get Elbanian attention of the Ilbistirum. Elbanian might join the war against the federal government and it would sour their situation further. Del wanted to kill someone without ruining anyone''s future. A nuke would also get the attention of the Ilbistirum intelligences that would result in them being hunted down by practically everyone. It was not an ideal situation since it would be both of them against the world. Nobody would help them if they used the nuclear option just because of one single boy. Truth to be told, Del wasn''t confident in his ability on getting revenge on Eric. Sure, he had modern weapons. However, one thing that he didn''t have was the skill to operate some of the advanced military hardwares such as the fighter jets. It would take far longer than he expected to bring Eric down. He was ready for it.. He just needed to be patient. Chapter 182 - Meeting With Security Division Chapter 182 ¨C Meeting With Security Division "How long have I been asleep?" Anna looked around themand center. Mira was sleeping on the cold floor, Del was no better by sleeping on themand desk with a cup of coffee on his hand while Morris was nowhere to be found. She looked at the temperature using the tool located next to the door. The temperature outside was -30 C. Anna would be lying if she didn''t say that it was very damn cold. It was surprising that the tool cab stayed warm, even after the deadly blizzardst night. Considering Sneggor though, -100 C was possible to happen there and anything outside would pretty much freeze. It had happened before, but Anna hadn''t tried it yet. This was the coldest she had ever been, and he wouldn''t venture outside with some cold weather gear. Still, it was rather impressive to know what these two just pulled off. Going into the academy just for the sake of looking at documents during blizzard was probably out of the ordinary. Anna also had to attend a meeting as security division office today, the first person came there might be pissed to see their room filled with snow. Anna woulde to help them clean it up, besides, it should clear any suspicion from her if she came along. Anna could be a little persuasive, especially with her own reputation. Sometimes, people called her the bandaged menace at circumstances. Anna wouldn''t even protest, in fact, she kinda liked that. Anna felt a little bit pissed that she had to go to the school in the middle of weekend. It was not like there wasn''t any time besides Sunday, eh? Anna went for her coat and went outside. She grabbed her rifle and a shovel. Why? With how the weather was, the snow would be very very thick. The moment Anna opened the door, snow was as tall as half of her feet. How long did she had fall asleep? Anna begun to dump the snow elsewhere as she began to traverse outside of themand center. She would be lying if she said that the snow wasn''t thick. She kept digging through and made a small staircase so she could get to the top of the thick and icy snow. Its texture was simr to a slush, but way more solid. It seemed that Morris was gone, probably in his helicopter somewhere. Well, no easy transport to school then. She could fly, but well, it would grab too much attention. It was better for her to walk, so she begun walking to the cabin. The cabin was covered in snow, but it was not as bad as themand center. Maybe it was because the material for the cabin was better, but who knew? Anna entered the cabin and warm breeze wasing from the firece. Someone was here, probably Morris, who else? And yeah, it was Morris. He was sleeping near the firece with nkets covering his entire body. What an old man, Anna thought. She walked towards her room to pick up something warm. She knew her coat wouldn''t get her through the cold road, but wearing that cold weather uniform would give her identity away. She then looked at the sterilized container on the side of the bed. ''Right¡­'' she had to rece her bandages. She needed to wash herself first, though. It was not really something that she liked, particrly because it was painful for her. Well, nothing a painkiller would solveter. Anna took off her clothes and started taking off her bandages before heading for the bathroom. Everyyer that she took, every pain that she got. Still, months of enduring the pain made her used to the sensation. =============== "Alright, that should be it." The dirty blood and sweat drenched bandage was in the trash can. The bandages had been reced with something more sterile and cleaner now. But still, the pain was something. She took a tablet of painkiller from the drawer to subside it a bit. Nothing was changing from her appearance. Maybe the ck scar was gone, but she looked like someone without a skin as far as she considered. Her whole epidermis wouldn''t grow again, thanks to the intensity of the burning. Her face was intact, well, kinda. Her vital organs were still working wlessly, then again, it was the fleshy appearance all over her face. She sighed, knowing that she wouldn''t get thefort of having a skin back. The bandages were like her second skin. It was reusable, she only needed to wash it and dip it in bleach to kill all of the harmful substances before drying it fully. After that, she could use the bandages again. She wore her clothing, then her jacket and her winter boots. Usually, someone would provide breakfast in the meeting, or she could stop at the coffee shop to buy a donut. Well, anything would do at this point, it was not like Anna wanted to attend the meeting. ============ ''Holy smokes¡­'' The snow covering the security division office was really thick. Anna knew the reason why the snow was there, his brother and his mercenary was therest night, but she wouldn''t tell anyone. The look on the others said it all. Someone might start ming at thest person leaving this room forgetting to close the window. Well, the meeting could be postponed forter and no one would be the wiser. Besides, it was Sunday for God sakes. Why couldn''t she enjoy the holiday? However, it looked like the leader of the security division had another idea. "Let''s just move to another room and do the meeting there, how''s that?" Of course, everyone agreed with that. This leader couldn''t ept the word "no". He only epted the word "yes". As a result, every single bit of his suggestion must be followed by any means necessary. It was not something that Anna liked by any means. He just happened to have a leader like that. They walked outside of the building and headed for the ssroom. Anna was impressed, there was no trace that his brother was there. All of it would probably be covered in thick snow, and she doubted that Del would leave fingerprints on that room. In the ssroom, the leader started the meeting with the other members of the security divisions. To be honest, for Anna, these kids were not really someone who were fitting to be in the security division. Not because that they weren''tpetent, but they had more simrities with Salve Group in how they operate than Security Division. They might get a job or two there, but well, who knew? The first topic that was brought was none other than Aveline. Yup, Aveline, the head of the student council. Why did this person have so much beef against a seemingly innocent girl like Aveline. Then again, she was from the empire. Basically, what he was trying to tell us was Aveline was a security threat for the academy and must be dealt with sooner orter. Well, Anna wanted to say that she would be gone, but she couldn''t. He repeatedly said that Daniel was a more dangerous enemy in this regard, even way more dangerous than Aveline herself. The backing of the fact seemed to be solid too, connecting the ties between Daniel and an unknown smuggler, probably Bosch. It was pretty much solid, but where did this boy find this information? "And Anna, about your brother, are you sure he''s not suspicious?" This question again. Anna didn''t want to answer it, but not answering would further make more questions. The best course of action was to answer with the current temte answer that Anna always provided. "He''s not suspicious. We''ve talked about this before, and I''d probably give you the same answer." Again, he was satisfied with that answer. Anna didn''t know what kind of idea that this person had, but she certainly didn''t like whatever idea was inside of his head. She wanted to make sure that he didn''t suddenly put too much pressure on his brother. Then, the meeting continued with the standard topics. They discussed about the current affair which was rather improving, thanks to the continuous support from the unknown party, which was the intelligence agencies in their heavy bombers. The amount of kidnapping had also gone down significantly. Well, winter always left everyone inside anyway. Nobody would be crazy enough to kidnap anyone at temperature below -40 degrees, except for herself and her allies. After that, the meeting was over and all could go home. It was just the routine to be honest, it didn''t even take two hours. Well, she could go home now. Besides, with situation like the way it was, there was no reason to give a major military offensive. There might be a caveat though. Morris wanted her to be able to pilot a helicopter, both herself and Del.. It was also a necessity, somehow. Chapter 183 - Updated Later Chapter 183 ¨C Updated Later "So, you want to take actions? You have the green lights, but what will you do?" Morris asked. He was dead asleep alongside with Anna when the snow blizzard that covered the whole town an inch deep was raging. Del wished he weren''t this sleepy, or he could provide much more details to Morris, and hopefully, getting an ability to call for SF backup for another time. "Let''s make the process faster. I want to kidnap Aveline, right now. The students were still stressful from the exam and no one should even bother about it if we create a big enough rumor in the academy." Del sipped on his cup of coffee, trying to regain back some energy before he ended up having a sleep failure and fell asleep on the ground like Mira. "Sure, if the higher-ups approve it, let''s do that. For now, just stand by for anything suspicious, besides, today is Sunday. It''s better to take a rest, don''t you think?" Morris asked. "Yeah, I think so. Besides it, Morris, do you still have any intel from the operation of the night before. I still need it." "Which one? The one where you infitrate Elbanian?" "Yeah, that one. The one I retrieved a month ago." Del and Anna infiltrated Elbanian to steal several document to get status update from the current affairs in there. It might be important for them, it was a routine to get information every two months or so. The information could be used to judge the current situation. So far, the war effort had been not that good for them. It seemed that Anna was pleased to hear that there were some unfairness in her trial and the group of heroes had splitted into two factions. One was the suspicious group, the one that supported Anna and condemned the execution. The other was Eric and his goons. The Reian seemed to be bolstering their military hardware, mainly because Ilbistirum military-industrialplex provided them with the means to do so. It was not really a war for them, but a means to avoid any genocide to their people again. Losing for them wouldn''t only mean that they would lose territory again, but it would also mean that their entire race would be wiped clean. No demons would be left behind, and that was not the oue that the Reian nor Ilbistirum was hoping for. As a result, several airstrikes had been conducted in Elbanian terittory every single time the Reian became the losing side. It was rather secretive, judging that there weren''t any formal connection between Reian and Ilbistirum. Morris gave Del a file, "Here ya go, I still don''t know what kind of info that you need though, Del. I think we have gotten everything we need, unless we''re talking about the personal issues that you have with them." "Yeah, this is the personal issues problem. I still want to know whether Eric woulde or not." "Suit yourself then, I wouldn''t help that. Anyway, it seems that our war effort would immediatelye to an end, sooner orter." "Yeah, I see the news." The war effort in Ilbistirum had paid off too thanks to the enormous support from this secretive air strike. Several nobles were killed in the airstrikes, including the prince of the current Ilbistirum Imperial king. This damaged the morale of the soldiers from their side and increased the morale of the soldiers on our side. Needless to say, it was a marvelous achievement. Basically, B-1 bomber that they had literally singled-handedly won the war that had been in a stalemate for a very long time. As a result, there was a negative side effects of doing this. What was the negative side effects? Well, bombing aka terrorist had gone up significantly. Security became much tighter, even some of the soldiers had begun to increase their numbers in the street. Sneggor hadn''t been hit, yet. However, using this event of chain terrorism, Del had a good idea. "You know, Morris, what if we staged a terrorist ident in the academy just after we kidnap Aveline. It should give a lot of ruckus there and security would be tighten up." "Sure, but do you think Daniel should be taken into consideration as well? This dude will be the first person that looks for Aveline, what do you want me to do with him? Kill him or just let him be." "Kidnap him, too." "Aye aye. Damn, I never thought I''d kidnap so many people in my life, now I know why the bosses want me to work with you, you seem to always choose the less lethal option." "It just left a bad taste in my mouth, that''s all." "I see. Well, you''ll get used to it, eventually." "Anna hasn''t waken up yet?" Del asked. "She''s still sleeping like a baby. Anyway, a certain doctor called this morning, she expressed an interest for curing your sister." Cure? Well, it would be good if Anna could get skin recement or something. It might help her gain her sanity back after living in pain for three months or more. Besides, Del felt bad for her have to take medicine every six hours or so. There were like seven pills that she had to take. "Who was the doctor? Cassandra?" Del asked. "No, we''re talking about Mr. Gable, not Cassandra herself." "Ah, her father?" "No, his grandfather. You know, this is the director of Lullin general hospital. I think Cassandra told him Anna''s condition and he remembered something about it. Cure might be radical, but it can be helpful, ya know?" "I see. I''ll call her backter. Back to the topic, any suggestion on how to pull this off?" "I''ll kidnap the girl, but I''ll leave the boy up to you. So far, you got two options. Either sneak into the perimeter, snag the boy and get out with fulton. If you take this option, then yes, a bombing would be necessary as a distraction." "Hmm, sounds easy enough with Mira and I. What else do you have?" "The next one is the loud option. You barge to the dormitory at night, guns zing. You snag him and escape the military response while lifting Daniel using a fulton balloon. If you take this option, a bombing wouldn''t be necessary." Del preferred the loud option. He would get two birds with one stone and it would save time for him. However, there was a caveat to that, right? There would be no way in hell that Morris would allow him to do that. "Is there a caveat?" "Yes. You have to use weapons that are avable on this world. It means no HMG, no AR, no high-tech things. You do this with anything that looked simr to what this world have. So, I limit the weapons to WW2 equipment, doesn''t sound so hard, does it?" Well, Del had survived worst with WW2 equipment. He was sure that he would be able to survive it again, but this time, it seemed that an armor would be required. He might be able to use te carriers with thick tes. It should stop most rifle rounds from this world. Still, he and Mira needed to reduce the amount of avable reinforcement if they used that choice. They could attack the military and security division, risky. Or they could poison the reinforcement. Of course, thest option seemed to be more sensible. "I''d use tear gas to help me, is that okay?" Del asked. "Yeah, I heard that the military is developing that kind of weapon in this world too. You should be fine using it. You also need to wear face concealment and you need to erase any threat thates back at you. So, what do you say?" It seemed to be too risky, even though it was rather time-saving. Well, stealth was the only option, again. Well, it was not like winter wouldn''t being sooner orter. There would be another blizzard even greater than this. It should help him in kidnapping Daniel. Still, the cold temperature could kill Daniel if they weren''t careful. "I think I''ll wait for another blizzard. Mira and I will kidnap him, bring him here, wait for the blizzard to subside and then flew him up with a fulton. It would probably be way easier than going guns zing." "I thought so. Anyway, if that''s all, why don''t you take a rest? You have done enough for today and I don''t think there would be any further assignment from the higher ups. I suggest we wait more until we kidnap her. In the meantime, focus on Bosch. He would be a big threat sooner orter." "Ok. I''ll do it. Well, it seems that our effort in the war would be paid soon, right?" "True. Sooner orter, we''ll wipe out Ilbistirum Empire and we will reunite this country again. Don''t worry, we only need to be careful for any potential terrorist ident.. Dismissed, Del." Chapter 184 - Updated Later Chapter 184 ¨C Updated Later Del and Anna were in the coffee shop. They were buying coffee, of course. They waited for someone that wanted toe, someone important. Who was that important person? Well, it would be someone from the intelligence agencies, that was for sure, but which one? It was not like Del had known every single member of the intelligence agencies. He only knew several key people which knew his existence and his ability. Other than that, he knew nothing. "So, who''s going to meet us?" Del asked Anna. "Our boss, one of our bosses, to be exact. Was it Mikhail? I think so. He wants to talk about something about our involvement with the Salve Group. Yup, that group that we signed the contract with, Salve Group." "The one which CEO is called Linda ke?" "Yup, that one. Why would Mikhail got involved though? I don''t recall him having any rtion with that group," Annamented. "That group is very tight with the intelligence agencies. Why do you think they recruit us in the first ce? It''s just a test for us, to be honest. However, someone might be impatient and just decided to recruit us immediately using adequate force," Del said. "That might be the main reason why we are here, then." The coffee shop was different from the previous coffee shop. This was the coffee shop where our contact would be meeting with us. For some unknown reasons, he wanted to use this ce. Del had an idea that the workers on this coffee shop were actually the spy of the intelligence agencies. The base of that knowledge was quite simple as well. Those people didn''t have the look that they belonged in a coffee shop. Some of the women in that shop looked more tired than usual employee and the servers weren''t exactly that behaved when they served their coffee. It was rather interesting, not because he could see their disguise, but because it was the spectrum in which the intelligence agencies were working in. Outside of the coffee shop was snowing, it was snowing quite hard. It looked like the winter would be rather cold for this period. It might be possible that Sneggor became the coldest city Del had ever visited. The temperature on this city would usually reach around minus forty at its worst. The fact that this city got an annual blizzard and its high elevation, no wonder if this city was cold, even in the middle of a summer. It was really some sort of ce to stay in, but a good ce to hide in. "Anna, I want to ask something sensitive, do you mind?" Del asked. "Sure, what is it?" Anna asked. "Do you still want to nuke Eric or Elbanian?" Del asked. Anna was calm. She didn''t give any reaction nor any emotion. She just sit still while sipping her coffee. "Eric, huh? Well, I am aware of this bandages covering my entire body, but still, Del, like our parents say, let''s just focus on saving one thing at a time, right?" "So, I take that as a no." "Let''s just say I''ll be happy if he''s dead, but I don''t really mind if I''m not the one that kills him. Besides, let Reian and Elbanian fight against one another, Ilbistirum wouldn''t even give a damn about it." "Right¡­" An old man went through the window, alongside with a woman following him from behind. The man was clearly Mikhail, and the woman was Linda. Even at first nce, it seemed that both of them knew each other. Heck, it looked like those two people were working together for quite a very long time. Then again, the people from Earth arrived at this world a long time ago, way before Del arrived on this world or even way before he was born. The two people sat down right next to Del and Anna, probably to make things way faster. It probably was. Linda put a piece of file on the table and Mikhail just crossed his arms. What was wrong? Or was there something in their mind. Linda opened her mouth, "Good job, you two. It seems that the profile that you sent yesterday indicates that this girl is actually the person we are looking for." Del opened the file. As usual, there was the stamp from the intelligence agencies on the first page of the paper. Del opened the second page, and it was a profile of someone that he knew. The profile of the head of the student council. Yup, that was the profile of Aveline Cordier. She was indeed a refugee evacuating to Sneggor for safety from the imperial military. Yeah, all of it matches, but the surprising thing wasn''t the amount of details on that file, but the other name that was put in that file. [Name: Aveline Cordier/Aveline Elberian Dilluard] "Hmm, so the rumor that them both are dating is true then," Del nodded his head multiple times. "Your school business is not really my business," Lindamented. "Sorry, ma''am." Comparing the first name and thest name suggested that Aveline did belong to the nobility. One of the signs that someone belonged to the nobility was howplex and wordy their name was. This time, Aveline wasn''t an exception. "For a girl with secrets, she seems to be rather harmless," Mikhailmented. "Harmless? This is the same person that expects us to take down the whole prostitution ring, man." "Oh, I see. Well, if that''s the case, it seems that you want her to disappear. Do you need our favor to make her disappear, you know, as in disappearing from the school?" "Woah, hold on a minute!" Del stopped Mikhail from continuing. If the intelligence agencies decided to kill Aveline, she would be leaving the academy for good. It would also mean that there would be a power vacuum on the school and thus putting the security division of full authority until someone reced her position. On his perspective, it would also mean that Anna had more freedom on her action, but it would also make Daniel less approachable. Daniel would suspect something odd if Aveline suddenly disappeared, and worst of all, he could disappear as well. "Why? I meant, she is the source of your problem, why not?" "Yeah, but I''m not asking you to kill her. I just want the file, not taking her life. I don''t think killing him would be necessary, especially since Daniel and Bosch were actually rted." "We already know that." "So why do you want to kill her then?" "Who said we will kill her?" Linda giggled. "Wait, you won''t?" Del scratched his head. "We won''t, but we sure will hit her head with a pipe wrench just like you." "Then you''ll kill her. It will attract Daniel''s attention and it would jeopardize the investigation to Bosch," Del added. "Who said we will only kidnap her? Of course not, we will also kidnap the boy, too." "Daniel?" Mikhail just nodded. "I''m not sure. I meant, as far as I know, he''s not worth it. Yes, he is a part of medical volunteer and all, but it would be too much of a hassle to kidnap him. Besides, how will you get Bosch?" "Dude appears on the radio every week. Killing him would be easy, getting his business closed will be hard," Mikhailmented. Well, that was quite a valid point. He never thought why he hadn''t been killed yet by a major terrorist group or something. It seemed that no one wanted to kill an angelic figure like him. Well, if he didn''t know better, he would also condone the killing after all. "Ok, if that''s the case, sure. I don''t really mind, the only reason why I don''t want to kidnap or kill both of them is because I don''t know how to kill Bosch." "Don''t worry, Del. We will handle this, you''ve done enough for what you are. For now, I just wanted you to help the operational team in case they need assistance on the ground during the operation." "Assistance? What kind of assistance do they need? Do they need a distraction or something? Or do they need something out of the ordinary?" Del asked. "I prefer thetter, if you can pull it off. However, I doubt you can pull thest one off. Just create some major rumors that would distract the whole school from their disappearance," Mikhail said. "I see. Well, I think I can pull that off. I think, if we make trouble or something simr, the disappearance should be masked well enough. Yeah, we''ll handle that, don''t worry about it. As long as the thing is clear, I will do it." "Great, I''ll send you the nter. Right now, remember that your focus is on helping the operational team indirectly. When everything has begun to die down, that''s when I call you, got it?" "Affirmative." "Alright, I''ll see youter, Del.. I''ll give you a call." Chapter 185 - Updated Later Chapter 185 ¨C Updated Later Six, no, ten, no, twenty people from Imperial sides were flying towards his ckhawk. Del aimed the tip of his GAU-21 machine gun at their direction. A burst of heavy machine gun munition was fired at their direction. The energy shield that they used wouldn''t be enough to protect them from a direct hit from a heavy machine gun. "Bravo 1-1 engaging targets." Morris reported the progress to Belgram air base. Anna was Bravo 1-2 and Del was Bravo 1-3. If Del recalled correctly, the other squadron had a simr codename as well. The F-15 that just flew past them was Alpha squadron, the F-15 that patrolled the south coast was Charlie squadron. It was a full-blown counter assault after all, they had a significance importance in that assault. Failure to do this would result in imbnce of war inter day. GAU-21 shredded those flying mages in second, they didn''t have enough time to climb to the high altitude the ckhawk was flying in. The helicopter was also flying at its maximum speed while firing Hellfire missiles at those heavy tanks. "Bravo 1-1, 20% of targets have been destroyed." The small explosion from the autocannons and the missiles from the helicopter. It halted the offensive and the infantry was scattered to find the culprit of the attack which was flying up high. It was up to Alpha squadron to distract the Imperial air force now. "Bravo 1-1, this is Alpha 1-1, air force is distracted, you have twenty minutes." Distraction n was simple. The F-15 would tease up the enemy propeller aircraft by making several pass and shoot some of them down with its gatling gun. It was a simple n, and quite foolproof. Just like the ckhawk, the F-15E was equipped with a shield generator that could tank a farrger hit than the shield in ckhawk due to its more powerful engines. The twenty minute time was probably given not because the remaining fuel on the F-15, but because of the ammunition reserve that the F-15 had. It wouldn''t take too long before they realized that the F-15 wasn''t exactly the main threat for them. They would only realize that by the time the B-1 had downed at least one airship. At that time, the ne from the imperial military would being after the bomber and the F-15 wouldn''t let it happen. It would use all of its AMRAAM missile to shoot the propeller nes down before it could reach the bomber. Either way, one of the mission objectives would be fulfilled. "Del, I think you should go out," Morris said. Del picked up his PKP machine gun from the back helicopter and jumped out of the helicopter. He immediately dived down towards the flying soldiers and sprayed them with the general purpose machine gun. With the help of oxygen mask, he didn''t need to focus his spell to control his breathing, the oxygen mask helped him to supplement the much needed oxygen. As the gush of cold wind hit his face and the soldiers were giving their attention to him, he started doing evasive maneuver. Several flying soldiers were following him from behind and Del kept shooting his machine gun backwards as he tricked them to follow them to Anna''s side of the helicopter. "Bravo 1-3, engaging targets!" Del threw several fireballs at the pursuing enemies and he flew upwards in great velocity. The soldiers behind him were having trouble catching him, mainly because the air became thinner in Del''s altitude. Once he reached the peak altitude, Del dived down towards the ground and charged towards the flying soldiers with his machine gun on his shoulder. "Bravo 1-1, 50% of targets have been destroyed." Del distraction worked. As the ckhawk rained down high-explosive shells and missiles a the heavy tanks, he managed to distract the flying soldiers from actually actively attacking the helicopter. Anna was just manning her machine gun as insurance. "Copy that," Del replied. Perhaps, throwing grenades at the non-flying infantry would get the job done. Del carried several C4 charges inside of his pocket after all, it would be enough to destroy some of the heavier tanks alongside with several infantries. Del flew low, almost touching the ground as he charged through the heavy armor battalion. He prepared the C4 that he put on his magazine pocket by attaching detonator on the C4. He put his machine gun on his back and he started throwing the C4 at the heavier tanks. The C4 would be sticky enough to actually stick into the exterior of the tank. Del threw several bricks into the tanks and he gained altitude again. The tank heavy machine gun was aiming at him, but it was toote, Del already had his hand on the detonator. BOOM. The explosions destroyed several tanks at once and the flying soldiers following him was grazed. Del took that opportunity and he aimed his machine gun at the direction of those flying soldiers. Several bodies dropped from the sky, and Del flew upwards again to confuse the soldier. "Bravo 1-3, keep an eye on your oxygen level. 75% of targets have been destroyed." "Copy that, Bravo 1-1." It seemed that the attack mission would bepleted soon. So far, the advance of Imperial military had been halted, thanks to the sudden attack from the intelligence agencies. The tanks on the ground had mostly been turned into fiery wreckage and the infantry was nothing more than minced meat. Needless to say, the mission was a sess. Del flew back to the direction of the helicopter, to be precise, he flew back to Anna''s side. Anna was standing by with her heavy machine gun. "Bravo 1-2, I''ming in hot, watch my back!" Del took a steep climb towards the helicopter and he immediately climbed inside. Del sat down and he aimed his machine gun downwards as Morris started doing evasive maneuver using the helicopter. Maybe it would be a great time to use the stinger on the back of the helicopter. "All targets are down! No enemies in pursuit." Anna had finished thest of them. The helicopter flew away from the area of operation. It ended the operation sessfully. It was time to return home, and continue searching for the student that carried both the teleportation spell and the report from imperial military. ================ Del and Anna sat down on the living room of the cabin. Del was listening to the radio while Anna was sipping on her coffee. Morris was typing the report for themand and typing the result for both Del and Anna consumption. Del was sure that they caused some sort of massive destruction towards the imperial military. Morris came back into the cabin, holding a piece of paper. He gave the paper to Del and Del read the paper. The paper contained the damage report from themand to him. It was rather impressive, to be honest especially since Del knew what kind of targets they were attacking. [Operation Halt] [22/10/REDACTED] Imperial military offensive has been halted for an undefined amount of time thanks to the strike today. At least, it will put a dy for three weeks before the imperial military reinforced the front line again. The government would catch a glimpse of this operation, but it won''t be long until they realize what has happened. This is the damage report to the imperial military. The government is impressed with the performance of Salve Group security contractor that they will hire us again for any counteroffensive operation. [Alpha Team] 3x Corvette-ss Airships 2x Frigate-ss Airships 1x Cruiser-ss Airship 6x Fighter Aircrafts [Bravo Team] 20x H-Series tanks 10x Experimental Tanks 10x A-Series Tanks 20x Fighter-Type Special Forces Soldiers Undefined Amount of Regr Infantry [Charlie Team] 1x Battleship 3x Cruisers 5x Frigates This concludes the report. Any inquiry should be reported to Deputy Director of Internal Security. ======================== "I''m going to be honest, battleship is a pride of any nation, isn''t it? Destroying it would usually lower the morale of the enemy forces, right?" Del asked. "Yes. There''s nothing a heavy bomb can''t handle. The main target was the battleship, but we just happen to also destroy the other ships due to the remaining bombs that C-team carried. Well, all and all, it was sessful," Morris said. "So, will this put imperial military at a major setback?" Del asked. "Most likely. This will not only put them at a setback, this will put them at a stalemate to its former state before they destroy Halivaara and the surrounding city. The federal military will sweep them clean like a broom and it would be back into another stalemate," Morris said. Del just smirked, "Military-Industrialplex at its finest, huh? I''m quite impressed. What does this student that I am searching for have to do with maintaining the current status quo? I know she is one of the nobilities, but why would I need an information from her?" "A lot of things, Del. A lot of things. What do you want to know first?" "Everything." Chapter 186 - Learning To Fly Chapter 186 ¨C Learning To Fly In the middle of a field very far away from the Sneggor, there were just Anna, Del, Morris, and an MH-60L helicopter equipped with no weaponry but the side miniguns. It was in the warm region of Ilbistirum, no cold-weather gear was needed, but it was close to winter. The temperature should drop significantly sooner orter. In the pilot seat, Del was sitting down with Morris sitting down on the co-pilot seat. He was wearing the helicopter pilot helmet while Morris would be the instructor for today. He was holding a book, "Manual Of Operation: UH-60". "Ok, first of all, turn on the power by pressing on this knob." It was easy. Most of the startup procedures were listed inside of the internal helicopterputer. The hard part was finding the right knob. Still, it was pretty much manageable. As long as Morris was on his side, he guided him. Eventually, after pressing several knobs and buttons, the helicopter''s de started to spin. Anna was sitting down on the side door of the helicopter. She said she wanted to enjoy the breeze of cold air. "Now, lift this stick very slowly." Del lifted the stick to his right as the helicopter slowly gained altitude. However, it seemed that it kept rotating in the left and right directions. "Use the pedal on your legs to stabilize the helicopter." Del pressed the pedal on the left a bit, and the helicopter turned towards the left direction. It went the same for the right pedal. The helicopter stabilized eventually as it gained altitude from the ground. Annamented as she moved her legs around on air. "Nice flying Del. Still, when will we move forward?" "Wait, I don''t want this boy trying to move the helicopter at such low altitude. Bring us to service ceilling, Del. From there, we can practice maneuvers. Bring us to 5,000 meters," Morris said. Del lifted the stick on his left more, and the helicopter gained altitude way faster. The building of the city located near the field became smaller and smaller. Anna admired the view from her side. Del was too nervous. He didn''t take his time to enjoy the view. Yes, he could gain altitude and stabilize the helicopter. Still, he was afraid that he would press something out of his curiosity, and the whole helicopter would fall to the ground. It was nothingpared to when he was getting his driving license. Still, the view of the cloud from the helicopter was rather impressive. He looked at the altimeter. It showed that the helicopter had reached 5,000 meters from above the ground. It was time to do maneuver. "Push the stick forward to move forward. Do it slowly while maintaining the stability of the helicopter, alright?" Morris asked him as he looked at the stick of the helicopter. Del pushed the stick forward. The helicopter moved forward slowly as the stick was pushed forward. The airspeed of the helicopter increased as well. "Get us to 100 knots. Push the stick forward." This helicopter was the biggest thing Del had ever operated, besides the military vehicle he had just figured out how to operate. And yet, it flew very fast. It just never put him into perspective since the fastest he had ever been was when he flew with his flying spell. He looked at the altimeter. He was at the same altitude. The ground radar also projected that there was no mountain in the region. It should be safe for him to fly faster. The airspeed meter showed that he had gone past 100 knots. "You''re going too fast, move the stick a little bit backward. Try to sustain 100 knots." Del adjusted the speed of the helicopter. He slowed the helicopter down to desired speed. Multiple radio chatters wereing into his radio. It looked like he was close to a conflict zone. The radio seemed to be unencrypted as well. "Switch to private channel. It looks like the onboard system intercepted the enemy''s radio again." "How?" "Ah, right. Use that knob." Del switched up the radio frequency to the private channel. Themunication would only between these three people only. Unless they needed interceptor from the AFB, they shouldn''t even need the other frequency. "Ok, tilt the helicopter to the left as you fly it forward. Move the stick to the left direction." The helicopter tilt to the left direction. Del maintained his heading towards the north direction using the tilt rotor of his helicopter. So far, so good. Nothing had be a problem for him yet. Well, with the exception of his rather stiff maneuvering, it was rather impressive. "Good fly, not really bad for a first timer. Now, tilt to the left while turning left. You need to be sharper on this turn, use the tail rotor for bnce." The helicopter turned for the west direction while maintaining the 100 knots speed. The sky was clear, no aircraft was on the radar, with the exception of those who were probably twenty to thirty kilometers away. "Ok, great job, do a level flight again." Del straightened the helicopter back to its original level. "Now, do the same exact thing, head to 360. Push the stick to the right." Del pushed the stick to the right while maintaining the 100 knots limitation for training. The helicopter headed to the north direction again. Well, it was easier than expected. Still, Del was still afraid to push the knob and buttons in the cockpit. "Alright, now, try to reduce airspeed and fly backward. Maintain speed at 10 knots while flying backwards. Pull the stick backwards." Del pulled the stick and the helicopter began to slow down. It even begun to fly at the back direction. Del maintained the stability of the helicopter using the tail rotor. The helicopter maintained the speed of 10 knots backward. Anna felt a little bit on the edge here. "Del, I don''t like you flying backwards like this." Morris instructed Del to level the helicopter again. He flew towards to the north direction towards Sneggor. He couldn''t believe it himself, he wasn''t even dreaming of it. He enjoyed every single bit of it once he got used to it. "Alright, Del, increase the airspeed to its maximum speed. Keep the flight level and watch out for the rough weather. Keep the airspeed green. Weather in Sneggor is never friendly," Morris said. Del flew towards Sneggor. Well, Morris wasn''t lying when he said that the weather wasn''t friendly in the first ce. The wind speed from the other direction made stabilizing the helicopter quite a task, but it was nothing that Del couldn''t handle. "Damn, it''s cold out here." "Obviously, we''re iing to Sneggor. Del, I want you to circle around Sneggor. Keep the speed at 100 knots while circling. Keep altitude at 4,000 meters, is that too much for you?" Morris instructed him. "No sir. I can do it." "Awesome. Now, we are arriving at the outskirt of Sneggor. Push the stick to the left side and start circling by banking to the right direction. Maintain it for six times, is that clear enough." Anna moved her sitting ce to the right door. She wanted to see Sneggor from up close. Del maintained the flight as he circled around Sneggor. The snowy town looked rather beautiful from altitude with glimmering lights and smokeing from the chimney of the houses. "I wouldn''t be lying, the city looks beautiful from up here," Annamented. "Yeah, it''s a shame that the city hides constant danger for us." "Oh boy, you should have seen Afghanistan," Morris added. The helicopter continued circling around Sneggor at high altitude. The helicopter would only look like a very small dot on the sky above. Del continued circling around Sneggor for several times. "Alright, Del, that''s enough. Now, let''snd, can you do it, or should I do it?" Del wanted to try it, butnding a helicopter near the cabin would be pretty much the riskiest thing he would do if he had the chance to do it in the first ce. Well, Del would let this one to Morris. He was way more experienced that him in this regards. "Sorry sir, that''s out of my league by a margin." "Alrighty. I''ll handle the stick now. You''ve done pretty good, just repeat this every day and we''ll have another helicopter pilot." Morris took over the control of the helicopter and hended the helicopter right next to the cabin. As usual, the temperature reached minus again. In fact, it was colder there than up in the altitude. "Disembarking," Del got out of the helicopter. Anna followed him from behind. Morris lifted the helicopter again, he would be parking it in a more discrete location than next to the cabin. "How was the flight?" Anna asked. "It was rather¡­ interesting." Del smiled.. He wanted to do it again. Chapter 187 - Tomorrow Is Kidnapping Time Chapter 187 ¨C Tomorrow Is Kidnapping Time BAM. Mira mmed themand center door as the winter blizzard was raging outside. Her whole bva was covered in snow, her shotgun was frozen, and her body was trembling from the minus temperature outside. Anna was reading the newspaper while Del was looking at theputer while analyzing the data he had gathered for several months. It was close to December, but Del still hadn''t made any significant movement yet. In particr, whatever he was trying to do always end up with a very low profile and creating insignificant progress to the main goal. There wasn''t even any green light to kidnap Aveline and Daniel yet. So far, it was waiting and waiting for something that mighte or not. There would be a blizzard tomorrow. The temperature might hit up to minus 100. It was the perfect time to kidnap Daniel in his sleep while Anna kidnapped Aveline. Mira was back from the nearby military instation to get the patrol schedule. Yeah, she managed to pull that off without killing anyone or noticed by anyone. That was Mira for you. Although quite pricey, she could get the job done. Anna wouldn''t be able to pull that off, nor Del. "Ah, you''re back, did you get the item I am looking for?" Del asked. Mira gave Del a little camera. It was the same camera that spy would use back in the cold war. It was tiny enough to be hidden but it still provided with sharp enough image that would be usable for future operation between Del and the intelligence agencies. Still, this was for tomorrow. It was the modern version of the camera. You just needed to plug the camera into theputer and browsed into the folder of the camera. It was that simple, to be honest. Del opened the folder containing the pictures. "Hmm? Anna, take a look." Mira took a photograph of the soldiers stationed in the instation. As expected, they were armed with submachine guns instead of bolt-action rifles. It might look nothing important for naked eyes, but in terms of someone who knew military knowledge of Ilbistirum, it meant something else. Special forces were stationed in the region, probably as a response to the rising threat of terrorism due to the constant lost that the imperial government had. It also provided extra security for Sneggor, the kind of security that neither Del nor Anna wanted. "Hmm, not good, these are special forces," Annamented at the picture. "Special forces? How do you know?" Mira asked. Anna pointed at the submachine gun that one of the soldiers held on his hand, "This. Regr infantry rarely used submachine gun as their weapon. They always used bolt-actionr rifle." "You sure?" Mira was not sure. Del then pointed his hand at the clothing that the soldiers wore. "This is not a regr cold weather uniform that is used by federal military. This is the kind that is used by flying soldiers." "Alright, you convince me. Will there be any change of n?" Mira asked. "Probably not. But we might need more supporting personnel than we previously expected. Three of us wouldn''t be enough, we need someone standing by on the sky," Anna said. "Del, how''s your piloting skill?" "Are you nuts?" Del only had been studying it for three weeks ever since he held the stick of the helicopter. Flying it in the middle of a blizzard was right out of his safe zone, and the helicopter ability. "Sorry, my bad. Hmm, well, I guess we need an air support from above. I think I''d feel safe if there''s an F-15 watching me over from the sky," Anna sighed, knowing that the request might be too much. "Not really. We can convince Zastava that it was important while amara will arrange it. Basically, Zastava might be able to provide us with ground support while amara will provide us with air support." "You make it sounds easier than it should have been," Annamented. "Well, it''s rather easy, to be honest. If you ask me, we only need to give enough reasons for Zastava to care and we''d be safe. amara loves flying, and in case you don''t know, he always fly with a B-1 to bomb those imperial bastards, right?" Del said. "You are right. Still, with what we have right now, shouldn''t we be worried?" Mira was skeptic about the situation. "We have the equipment, but the odds are against us, aren''t they?" "They are against us, well, yeah." Thanks to Mira, now the group had a sense of doubt on their nning. They didn''t have the best n in the world, but they didn''t have the worst n in the world either. It was fairly bnced. "Anyway, here''s the guard duty." Del opened the guard duty for tomorrow. He wanted to search whether there was a security gap that he could use or not. If there wasn''t any, then there wouldn''t be any change of n. If there was one, then they would kidnap Daniel and Aveline at that specific time window. [Patrol Team A] [03:00-08:00] [Patrol Team B] [08:00-11:00] [Patrol Team C] [11:00-15:00] [Patrol Team D] [15:00-16:00] [Patrol Team E] [16:00-20:00] [Patrol Team F] [20:00-21:00] [Patrol Team G] [21:00-02:00] "Weird, but good for us, I think?" "Huh? What do you mean? They cover an entire day. There wouldn''t be any day without any patrol," Mira became even more skeptical. "You''re right, but also, please, they are regr demons, too. What makes you think that soldiers wouldn''t have any problem guarding the town for five hours straight in the middle of a night blizzard while half asleep?" Del pointed out the gap. "Huh?" Mira still didn''t get it. Anna tapped Mira''s shoulder, "Let me exin it. So, Mira, Patrol Team G would probably be exhausted in midnight. Plus the blizzard, I don''t think security will be as tight as Patrol Team D or Patrol Team F that only guards for one hour or so. As a result, we''ll go after them at 01:00 tonight." "Solid n. Prepare the tranquillizer and thermal nket, we''ll have a long night to go." "Aye sir," Anna said. Anna went to the cabin to prepare while Mira went for the coffee machine. It was still six in the morning and they would do the kidnapping at one tomorrow. There was still a lot of time to prepare the kidnapping. Mira would be sleeping here again, probably. It was Saturday, and tomorrow would be Sunday. So far, there was no suspicion against them and their operation. The intelligence agencies were to me for that. Every single bit of action against them was terminated swiftly. To be honest, it was rather scary to know. If they got on the wrong side of the intelligence agencies, they would be more than merciless in hunting them down. And to ount that several members staying in the base were former special forces from back on Earth just gave Del and Anna chills. Del returned to the cabin after looking at the pictures in the camera. Del opened the door of themand center. The heavy snow was pilling up in front of the door. He would clean itter, it was not thick enough to be scraped using shovel. The helicopter wasn''t in the cabin, Morris was outside to help the others tomence another military operation on the west. Well, if he needed a helicopter, it would be tomorrow. Right now, he needed a bed more than anything. Anna was mindlessly walking around the front of the cabin while kicking the snow every once and then. She also mumbled something weird from her mouth, "Two plus two is five, two plus two is five." Del approached Anna, he knew where that sentence came from, "Orwell, 1984, isn''t it?" "Yeah." "Why are you saying that?" "The irony of working for military. You have to keep reminding yourself that you''re doing something for the better, even though the method is usually morally disgusting if not downright wrong." "Since when you be a thinker?" Del asked. "I''m not a thinker, I just happened to remember that quote. I like to think about stuff, you know, connecting one thing to another, and bam, something new came out. It''s interesting and exciting. Especially in this world of ours." "You know, Anna, you seem to be happier, inparison with 6 months ago." "Really? I don''t realize that, I''m not really observing myself. But one thing though, I get used to my own pain and that''s a good thing. Truthfully, past is the past, I don''t even think of what''s going on in Elbanian anymore. This is our life now, better get used to it." "No more nukes?" "Not against them anymore." "Alright. I am just worried if you mindlessly wander like that. I just want to check on you, I hope you don''t really mind it. After all, there are only two Moore''s left in this world." "Hahaha, that''s a good one." Del left for the cabin, leaving Anna behind. Chapter 188 - Do You Want To Be Kidnapped? Chapter 188 ¨C Do You Want To Be Kidnapped? "Alright, let''s go." Three figures crouched right next to the academy''s wall that bordered it from the outside. Every one of them was carrying a backpack containing thick thermal nkets and a tranquilizer pistol. These three people were Del, Anna, and Mira. They were barely visible, mainly because of the snow camouge that they wore and the intense darkness from the ckout caused by the blizzard. The temperature was minus on hundred, as expected. What was worse? The cold blizzard that might have frozen them to death if not for the heating spell that they knew because they could fly, or the darkness that made sure the only reliable thing that they had in their arsenal was their night vision goggles? They began climbing the fence that felt like holding something very cold. If some idiot stuck their tongue on it, there was no doubt that it would stick. Theynded on a thickyer of snow. "Let''s just go straight into their room. Anna, you take point." Anna led the way with her silenced AS VAL-LL on her shoulder. This AS VAL was equipped with rubber bullets that would only give major pain to the target instead of death. Still, there was a risk to that too. Well, just don''t aim for the head. There was no intention to go inside the dorm. The n was to use the window to extract Daniel since one of the boys was most likely to be awake than asleep in this cold weather. Del wouldn''t want to risk it this time. Anna could go to Aveline''s room, carry her outside, and be done with it. It was simpler because there was no one around in the girl''s dorm in a situation like this. If Daniel was still awake, the n would be to tranquilize him immediately. First of all, though, they needed to go to the second floor using some method. The most reliable one for this one was to attach a hook to the rooftop and use it to scale the building. "Vampir, do your thing." Anna nodded. She headed alone to the girl''s dorm. Mira prepared the equipment to scale the building. She threw a hook to the rooftop using a gas-pressure tool and attached it firmly. Del prepared the ss cutting tool. The blizzard was loud enough to conceal any loud nking noise, but not gunfire. Everyone was equipped with AS VAL to produce as little sound as possible. Anna crossed therge park that was covered in thick snow. To think that she was able to pull this off alone was amazing, but it had to be remembered that Daniel and Aveline had different body size. Not that radically different, but it was enough to make a difference between two people carrying them and one people carrying them. "ckfox. This is Skyeye, your escort." An F-15E was flying high above the sky. Its LANTIRN targeting pod served as the eyes for them in case someone approached them or a flying soldier decided to mess with them. It was equipped with a C-AMRAAM, an anti-personnel variant of the AIM-120 AMRAAM missile. "Copy that Skyeye. Give me sitrep when somethinges out, ckfox out." Del started climbing the rope upwards, towards the second floor. Del climbed towards the window and he grabbed his ss cutter. He started cutting the ss of the window to open it. Daniel was sleeping soundly, he wouldn''t know what hit him. Del opened the window and he climbed inside of the room. The sound dampening boots that he wore would make sure that no sound came out from each footsteps. He took a closer look at Daniel''s face. Del pulled the tranquillizer pistol from his holster. He fired the tranquillizer round right at Daniel''s neck, putting him to submission. Del opened his backpack and started cable tying Daniel''s on his hands and his feet. He then grabbed the heaviest item from his backpack, the stretcherbined with the thermal nket. It wasn''t a normal silver nket either, it was a self-heating nket that would inste up to the current temperature. Even from the looks of it, Aveline was half of Daniel''s weight so Anna would have to handle Aveline by herself while Del and Mira carried Daniel on the stretcher. Mira climbed to the room. The surrounding wall started to froze from being exposed to the element. "Skyeye, this is ckfox, how''s the situation outside?" "All clear." Del started putting the white thermal nket on Daniel, wrapping him up with the warmness. He then grabbed his folded stretcher from his backpack and put Daniel there while attaching some straps on his body. After making sure that Daniel wouldn''t fall of the stretcher, it was time to bring him downstairs. With the set of rope attached to the rooftop, Del carefully brought Daniel down with the help of Mira. The cold breeze didn''t really help, even sweat would turn frozen and Del could swore that ice started forming on the lenses of his night vision goggles. Carefully, the stretcher arrived at the bottom floor. Del and Mira rappeled downstairs and Mira closed the window. The hook was detached from the rooftop with a tool and there was no trace of them. Time to get out of the academy. "ckfox, this is Vampir. Target is secured. We''ll meet at rendezvous point. Over." "Copy that. ckfox out." Del tapped Mira''s shoulder. Time to get out of there. Del and Mira climbed the wall after putting the stretcher down. The rendezvous point was located right next to the forest, after that, going to the cabin would be an easy way. Del and Mira were medical volunteers, carrying a stretcher was their nature of work. They didn''t run, but they were careful not to meet anyone during the kidnapping operation. They tried to be as clean as possible. "Skyeye, this is ckfox. We''re heading for the east direction, is there any hostile? Over." "There''s no hostile in your direction. Proceed to rendezvous. Over" "Alright, keep us updated." "Roger that. Skyeye standing by." They walked to the forest. Hopefully, there wasn''t anything out of the ordinary. The likelihood of a tree falling to the ground was quite big. Still, it was the safest route, out of the influence of the military. It was the safest route if anything went wrong. The ordinary street didn''t have any movement difficulty, but the moment anyone noticed something strange, the wholew enforcement woulde after him, including the whole security division. The covert operation would turn into a genocide. Eventually, after some walking, Anna was waiting for them right below of a tree while carrying someone on her back which was none other than Aveline. Anna waved her hand, all of them were happy that it was easier than expected. "Alright, let''s get them to CC." Through the forest and the treachrous mountain, they walked towards themand center in the middle of a situation which wasparable only to walking in the middle of a freezer, but worse. It was surprising that the weapon that they carried still worked. That was Russian engineering for you, designed for winter like that. Still, it seemed that something was happening in the town right after kidnapping. The blizzard hadn''t died down, but something was definitely happening. Just to be safe, it was time to run. Del and Mira ran while carrying the stretcher while Anna was running while carrying Aveline on her back. They eventually arrived at CC. Del kicked the door with his feet, the lock was stuck due to the freezing temperature. All of them put the stretcher on the ground and the thermal nket on the ground. Mira closed the door from behind. Themand center was way warmer than outside, even warmer than the cabin due to the battery used to store electricity alongside with the generator inside of the room. It maintained themand center infortable enough temperature. Mission was a big sess, noplication was happening. Time to report back to Skyeye about the sess so he could leave the A.O. "This is ckfox. Mission is arge sess. Skyeye, thanks for the help." "Copy that ckfox. This is Skyeye, RTB." The F-15E would fly from the area of operation. It might be not much, but that thing was the best insurance in this operation. Without the F-15E, any failure would result in a certain death for three of them. Well, what was done was done. Anna went to the table below theputer. That was the secret storage for Del''s alcohol. Anna grabbed a whiskey and three shot sses. She poured the whiskey into the shot sses. "We might not be old enough for alcohol, but event like this needs one." Anna gave the sses to Del and Mira. "Cheers everyone!" They lifted the sses in the air in celebration. They drank the alcohol, their body felt a little bit warmer.. When the morning came, time to bring those two to the AFB and let Zastava did what he wanted to them. Chapter 189 - Transporting The Kidnapped Chapter 189 ¨C Transporting The Kidnapped "The heli is yours. I''m here to keep your belonging safe, and in case someone decided to snoop around." A person brought the exact same helicopter that Del used back to the cabin. It was armed to its teeth with weaponry for some unknown reasons, although some of the weapons of its pylons were depleted. Morris was still on the A.O, apparently. As a result, they had to bring the kidnapped people to the base on their own. Fulton service wasn''t avable either, mainly due to theck of personnel in that base. It seemed that everyone was in some sort of major operation. Well, Daniel and Aveline were still asleep from the tranquilizer anyway. "Alright, give me time to gear up," Del replied to the person. Anna and Mira took a nap in themand center, still in their gear, albeit clean from snow due to the temperature. Del spent the morning negotiating a Fulton extraction but getting a helicopter instead. It was not a pain, but it was still not what he wanted previously. Del entered themand center. "Alright girls, time to pack things up. We''re going on a field trip for a while." Mira and Anna woke up from the floor where they were sleeping. Del and Mira carried the stretcher while Anna carried Daniel on his back. They put the stretcher into the helicopter and cuffed Aveline to the chair of the helicopter. It should be all for now. "Thanks for the heli man, appreciate it," Del said. "No sweat, sorry for no fulton. We don''t have too many personnel in the base right now." "You''re going to stick around?" "Yeah, I''m here to guard your equipment." "Thanks for the help. I''ll take it from here." The soldier gave Del the key for the helicopter. Without the key, the helicopter wouldn''t start. Del entered the helicopter pilot seat, and the others were in the back of the helicopter. Del began the startup procedure, and the helicopter des started spinning. "This is Airline 141. Please wear your seatbelt as we take off from the ground," Del joked at the helicopter lifted up from the ground. He set the waypoint to the air force base. ording to the helicopter, it would be around eight hours of flight. Well, it was not like the view would be boring. There would be around 2,500 kilometers of distance to cover. 1,500 kilometers were from the distance from Sneggor to the southern coast, and the rest was from the southern coast to the AFB. It just happened that there was a usable helicopter at Lullin that could be used by Del and Anna. The temperature was around minus 10 degrees, way warmer thanst night, but still cold enough to freeze water. Del brought a thermos filled with warm coffee. It could be shared with Anna and Mira to act as a warmer and help him to stay awake during the trip. It was not like Del had slept ever since the operationst night. Del peeked behind Mira. It looked like she held tightly to her chair while putting the seatbelt on herself. Del wasn''t even that tense when he learned to fly the helicopter. What made Mira that tense? "Mira, are you ok?" Del asked as he peeked behind. "I''m fine. I''m fine, really." She shivered. "Are you sure? You sure as hell don''t look fine from here? Don''t tell me you are scared to fly," Del said. "No. No. I am not scared." Del tilted the helicopter by 90 degrees to the left. Anna was sitting on the right door of the helicopter, and she was strapped to the helicopter. Suddenly, a deafening scream could be heard from the backseat. Yup, it was Mira. "You sure?" Del leveled the helicopter again. "You asshole, of course I''m scared. I don''t have your flying magic spell, what if this thing suddenly crash? This ain''t a ne," Mira said. Del just gave a smallugh while Anna was satisfied by that loud scream. Del might be able to do that again. The stretcher was safe, and Aveline was no better than carrying a living corpse. "Mira, I thought you were a hardened merc," Anna giggled. "You two are just something, you know? If people know this, I''m sure they will change, out of respect or out of fear. Two people that appeared quite innocent but able to do some major illegal activity without anyone noticing." "Don''t act as if you''re sinless, Mira." The helicopter continued the flight. Del might need to forge a sick letter in case they arrived at the AFB veryte. It was not like Del flew the helicopter at its maximum speed. He maintained the rate of 150 knots just to be safe. It was like what, 300 km/h? It would take around eight hours to arrive at the military base. Well, time to enjoy the ride then. Del maintained high altitude to avoid bad weather or anyone that wanted to shoot them down from the sky. ============= Eight hourster¡­ "Boredness is one thing, but this is another. It''s been four hours and all I can see is sea and sea. Is there anything else?" Mira startedining as the air sickness went away and significantly reduced that before. "I hope that there is nothing else." Anna was eating her lunch, an MRE package kept in the helicopter. Del was also eating his lunch after he put the helicopter on autopilot. "Yeah, the less thing in the sky, the better. And Mira, why don''t you eat?" Del asked. "Thank you, I''m not that hungry." "Really? After you puked seven times on the sky? You''re not hungry?" Del challenged that question. "Yeah, I''m not hungry at all. I still feel nauseous and my stomach isn''t exactly on the best terms with me," Miramented. It was only 100 kilometers to go, and they would arrive at the air force base. Del felt his butt had gone very stiff from the continuous sitting on the chair with very little to no cushion. He couldn''t imagine how painful it must have been for Mira and Anna on the back. Suddenly, the cuff next to Aveline was rattling. She seemed to be awake now. Well, time to wake her up anyway. They were very close to the air force base. Mira prepared her pistol in advance, in case something went wrong. "Wakey wakey young miss, you''ve been kidnapped." Mira was aiming her pistol at her. Del really wanted to p her right now, what kind of introduction was that? Or was it the culture when she was still working with the militants, aiming pistol at the person that you just kidnapped? The half awake Aveline immediately awoke with her eyes looking at the gun aimed at her body. And Mira was no better, she only gave Aveline an unexinable smile. Anna went to the chair of the helicopter to check on Daniel, in case he woke up as well. "Mira? What the hell? Anna? What is this?" She looked at both of them, who were holding weapons, albeit Anna was holding her AK-74M. Anna only sighed as he checked on Daniel, she felt that she had no responsibility to answer that. Mira just put her finger in front of her mouth. She tried to shush Aveline to be quiet, but it went horribly wrong. Instead of quiet, she got was a hysterical scream. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? WHY ARE YOU POINTING THE GUN AT ME? WHAT DO YOU WANT?" Aveline shouted as he screamed. Del was lucky she wore the thick pilot helmet that pretty much silenced that screaming, but poor Anna. "Make her shut up, or I''ll shut her up," Anna aimed her rifle at Aveline. The scream just got louder significantly. It practically became headache at this point, maybe a little bit too much for Mira. Mira grabbed her tranquillizer pistol and shot it at Aveline''s neck. The scream died down, and Aveline slowly drifted to sleep again. Mira put her tranquillizer pistol back at the holster. "On second thought, I prefer them to be asleep." She said that while smiling. "Couldn''t agree more, and this sleeping prince is still sleeping." "Hahaha, Daniel has always been a heavy sleeper, even gunfire wouldn''t wake him up," Miramented. Anna replied with a smile. The AFB was right in front of them, probably around twenty kilometers to go. Finally, they could release the cargo from the helicopter. If they were fultoned, it would take far lesser time to take them to AFB due to the faster speed of a cargo ne. Well, it was justified though. The moment theynded on the AFB, there were only two people there, both were in their flight suits. They were probably the pilots that provided Del with the means to dost night operation.. Well, it looked like it would take quite a while until someone appeared. Chapter 190 - Prototype Chapter 190 ¨C Prototype Del looked at the clock in his hand. 1900 Hours. Yup, he needed to forge a fake sick letter. There would be no way for him to arrive at Sneggor before tomorrow. What were they doing? What kind of major operation did they partake in? They arrived two hours ago, but it seemed that they also captured a lot of POWs from the imperial side from their cargo aircraft. He was sitting down on a bench overlooking thending strips. Behind him was the ATC andmand center of the air force base. He was waiting alongside Mira. Anna was transporting the captured "prisoners" into the prison. "You know, this is the first time I''ve been here," Mira said. "I know." "Why do you bring me here? Are you really trusting me this much?" Mira asked. "Am I? Perhaps I don''t trust you, but to be honest, after these past few months, it seems that you don''t have any intention to betray us or anything." "Why would I? You fulfill one of the deeds that I requested. Remember the letter?" Ah, yes. Mira actually got a letter signed by the dean on Lullin State Medical University that signified she was epted as a student in that university alongside a schrship for her study period. It made Del a little jealous, but again, he only needed to ask if he wanted it. Still, the records about her past activity hadn''t been erased yet. "Still, I thought mercenary is only about money." "I''m a merc, not heartless. I still fulfill my deeds, even though I disliked it. And by the way, do you notice something odd?" Mira asked. "About. What?" "Well, in case you didn''t notice, but it seems that Anna became much more cheerful nowadays. You know, when I first met her, she didn''t even strike me as the friendly type. She stroke me as the type that would do anything necessary to get a job done." "I don''t think she changed in that regard." "No, I mean, look at him. She giggled every once in a while, tell me, do you think that person will even smile around four months ago?" Mira asked. "Thinking about it. The answer might be a no. I wouldn''t expect her to be that cheerful, even at this moment. By the way, what''s with the question?" Del asked. "Nothing, I''m just wondering." Anna came out of themand building. She walked in their direction. She was holding a piece of paper. It might be the recent report about the situation on the imperial side. Still, well, unless Anna told them, they wouldn''t even know. "There isn''t a telekinesis spell. It''s all just a rumor forged by Van Bosch to give initiative for the bounty hunters to hunt her down. Still, Aveline was pretty much cooperative," Anna said. "How cooperative?" "I don''t know. Cooperative enough for someone her own good," Anna said. "They tortured her?" Del asked. "I don''t know. The report doesn''t suggest that though. Anyway, should we return home now?" Anna asked. "I don''t think so. We can returnter. My butt is still stiff from sitting that long. We can request for an airlift tomorrow. Anyway, do you have any idea what they were doing?" "Task Force Servitude. The group is formed in coalition between internal security, external affair, and Ilbisitirum army. Their assignment is to do long-range strategic strike against the imperial government. Last night operation was capturing one of the airfields in imperial territory," Anna exined. "Damn, they''re expanding this fast?" Del asked. "Well, mass recruitment on Ilbistirum SF has been started since months ago. You might notice several unfamiliar faces. Those people are the freshly trained people from three months ago, apparently." "Expansion is good, you can''t argue with that. Anything else that you got from them? Do they give us green light on assassinating our target, or do they still want to wait for a while?" Del became impatient about this Bosch thing. Because without him, the terror attack on Sneggor would have been reduced significantly. It should put less stress on the military stationed there. So far, there had been six failed bombing attempts in Sneggor. One was botched by Del and the other people in the intelligence. One was botched by Mira and Anna during a raid to an abandoned warehouse. At the same time, the rest could be thanked the military. Not that this terrorists were a fool, but they were certainly on the losing side with how advanced the equipment used by the majority of the strike team. In case of Del, he was apanied by special force soldiers. In case of Anna and Mira, they raided it in midnight blizzard using silenced weaponries. Blizzard was the friend of these trio. Every single blizzard was an opportunity to strike. "They still told us to stand down. Besides, you know, Del, with how the security division is mostly against us, we need a solid strategic n to counter them. Lara gave me a suggestion to stand down," Anna said. "I agree with that tactic. They have no evidence against us whatsoever. Well, they''re still in the dark about what was going on. Look, Anna, if they started doing something against you, tell Morris first." "What? Do you really expect them to do something against me? The elite in their organization?" "Just in case, Anna. Just in case. If that''s not the case, then we focus on another thing. Still, I wonder what''s going to happen next to us," Del said. "We''ll be probably sent to deal with something in Sneggor. Task Force Servitude might need us next year, when they have established themselves. For now, Zastava wanted us to stay at Sneggor," Mira said. "Well, if that''s what he said, then it would be what we do." "By the way, we are invited to a gadget test. They are waiting for us at Hangar #4. Let''s go." ============ Hangar 4. It was an ordinary hangar by any means. However, what made them different was the appearance of a table in the middle of it. What was so special about these things though? One looked like an insert ballistic te, one looked like a radiomunication device, and the other looked like some kind of helmet with a ballistic visor. "What do these prototypes do?" Anna lifted up a ballistic te. "Alright, ording to the document, this is supposed to be an upgraded version of the standard ceramic boron te that we always wore. It uses Etarifine alloybined with improved Aramid fiber instead of regr boron carbide, resulting in better multi-hit capability and the invention of level V armor." "Level V ballistic armor? That''s nuts. What kind of performance can I expect?" Del asked. "Well, let''s see, multi hit from .416 Barrett, and a single hit from .50 cal FMJ," Mira said. "That''s quite insane. For a te made from boron carbide, that will be too heavy, but I notice this te is also thinner. Well, it can be useful, I guess?" Del said. "The inner construction of this te uses multiple small tiles of Etarifine Alloybined with Aramid and carbon fiber to bind it all. Basically, a good lightweight armor. Yeah, it only has half of our tes weight." "Impressive," Del nodded as he held the te using his hand. It felt thinner, and yet, level V armor wasn''t exactly a normal in this regards. "Still, is this only produced in limited amount?" "No, in fact, this has been standard in Task Force Servitude. We just happened to know now," Anna said. "Let''s just say, they only revealed to us after some rigorous testing inbat zone." "Alright, basically, they don''t want us to use experimental stuffs." "Correct." Del picked up the helmet, "What''s next? This is a helmet, right?" The helmet had significance resemnce to standard Ops-Core helmet instead of the regr FAST helmet used by them. It also included the chops and ballistic visor. The helmet was colored in ck. "What''s this then?" "A regrbat helmet induced with kic energy absorbing magical program, improving the rating of the armor to NIJ level IV. Nothing too special, to be honest. Still, it''s quite a development for a helmet," Anna said. "How''s the multi-hit rating?" Del asked. "Quite bad. This is just a prototype, I heard they''re introducing better Aramid fiber for helmet. The special part is the ballistic ss. This this is rated BR6. It''s made from Kruserine ss alloy." "You sure this is BR6? What''s even BR6?" Del tried to move the visor up and down, It felt lighter than regr ballistic visor, but it was also more rigid, evidenced by how easy it was to lift it up and down. "BR6 is an armor designed to survive a direct hit from Russian .50 cal." "Russian .50 cal? You''re not high, aren''t you? That''s a cartridge way stronger than .50 BMG. How did they even manage to do that with this thinyer of visor?" The visor was thinner, probably around half an inch thick. And yet, it imed it could stop .50 caliber. "I''d broke my neck way before the round prated my face." "Well, it''s only a prototype so we will get an improved version, eventually. However, the ballistic pate has be standard issue." "Is that all?" "That''s all." Chapter 191 - Returning To Cabin, Solving Internal Problem Chapter 191 ¨C Returning To Cabin, Solving Internal Problem After looking at the prototypes, they concluded that the ballistic tes were the only serviceable ones. The ballistic visor, albeit impressive, was still deemed impractical until further improvement could be made to the hinges that attached the visor to the helmet itself. Even though it was rigid, the further report from the documents showed that the hinge still tended to break down after being hit from a .308 round. To make it worse, the bullet had the tendency to ricochet from the ballistic visor itself. It was still in its experimental states, after all. As for the radio, it was just a soldier''s radio left there. They reced the ballistic tes they were currently wearing with the new tes. It felt lighter, and it was a little bit thinner than the boron carbide tes that they usually wore. Still, Del preferred this new te over the old one, although it had saved him many times from bullets, or at worst,ser. "Hmm, it felt lighter, I''m not going to lie about it," Miramented. "Yeah, I feel the same way. It seems that the thickness of the tes are thinner than the boron carbide tes. Still, you mentioned that this thing is rated to stop heavy machine gun rounds, right? How viable is that?" Del was skeptical. "It only gave you a chance to survive. It''s not like it''s advised for you to run against a heavy machine gun," Anna said. "The objective of the new te is to give a chance for personnel to survive a single hit from the standard anti-materiel round used by Ilbistirum military." "Hmm? The 7.92x95mm round?" Mira asked for confirmation. "Yup, that round. The round that always somehow wounded us at the end of the day. Either by spalling from our armor, or by direct pration. Still, that big giant rifle only appears on certain condition," Del said. "Yeah, never attack during the day, it''s an almost certain way of death. That rifle is always used during the day. During the night, it is rarely used. No matter how thick your armor is, that thing always prates it. Juggernaut suit is the only thing that can stop it," Mira said. "Because that thing had triple the thickness of our armor tes. I only used it once, though. That thing is heavy as hell and the fact that there''s a limit on how much I can carry at the same time," Del said. "Yeah, anyway, do we got an airflift out of here?" Del asked. "Yup, we have that. A C-17 will depart in 20 minutes." "Wait, another ne?" Mira was still airsick. "Yup." =================== Four and half an hourter, they arrived at Sneggor airspace. Mira was still unaware of what she had entered while Anna was strapped. Basically, if Anna used her magical spell, Mira would be slowed down too. They didn''t need a chute. Their own flying spell would be enough to slow their descent. The C-17 was flying at high altitude, undetectable by the radar employed by the current air force in Ilbistirum. Due to theck of parachutes, they would immediately jump down to the ground with high velocity. "Check your oxygen mask." With such a high altitude, an oxygen mask was a necessity. There was a jumpmander on the ne. They were not the only ones going to jump from the ne. It seemed that there would be an airdrop in the area of operation. The door on the side of the ne opened. The jumpmandermanded them to jump outside. Mira was scared, but Anna forced her to jump out of the aircraft. They immediately jumped out of the aircraft, and the cold breeze of Sneggor hit their face. "SHIIIIIIITTTTT!" Even beyond the heavy breathing, the screaming out of Mira''s mouth was way louder than that. The scream died down as they went faster towards the ground. Her head was hanging on her neck. Yup, she passed out. Del kept an eye on the altimeter on his hand. 200 meters from the ground, and he must start to slow down their descent to the ground. The cabin started to appear on the ground. Time to slow the descent. With a little bit of mechanism, the spell slowed down their approach and they eventually arrived at the cabin. Delnded smoothly, but Anna was mming the ground a little bit hard. Well, a little bit was an understatement, the m was loud enough that the person that guarded the cabin came out. "What in the actual." He then saw the crater created by those two falling from the sky. "Holy shit. Are you two ok?" He approached Anna and Mira. Anna stood up from the ground, unharmed. "Yeah, I''m fine, and Mira probably is fine too." Mira was standing straight too. It was like she regained her consciusness back once she hit the ground and the snow. Well, that was something to be proud of, to be honest. Still, it meant that the flying spell wouldn''t be able to lift a weight of another person. Well, the armor was intact, that was a good thing, right? With Mira back in where she should be in the first ce, albeit the way she was walking indicated that she had some sort of disorientation. The person that guarded the cabin approached Del. "It looks like I have done my part. There''s nobody approaching the cabin, you are probably in the clear for now. However, be careful, alright? I saw a thick military presence in the area sincest night. There is supposed to be a terrorist identst night, but I hope you have nothing to do with it." "Did I get that much attentionst night?" Del asked. "Not really. It seems that there was quite a ruckus, but well, nobody approaches this cabin as far as I know. It''s a good thing, to be honest," he said. "I agree. Well, what are you going to do now?" Del asked. "I''m going to return to Lullin. See you around, Moore," he said. He failed to notice it at first, but that person seemed to be nning for leaving since Delnded on the cabin. He was wearing a thick winter coat after all. He wanted to leave, it seemed. He walked downhill towards the city center, probably going to catch a bus or something. Well, thanks for the help, Del guessed? Mira and Anna were inside of themand center, probably treating Mira''s bruises if there was any. Del entered themand center. Mira was drinking hot coffee while Anna was sitting down in front of theputer, analyzing the retrieved data just like what Del usually did. Del stood up right next to theputer. "What are you looking for?" Del asked. "Something." She was searching theputer for one particr data. The data of someone called "Lenza Inboer", one of the students in the academy. If Del recalled, he was the current head of security division. Yup, the same person that put a crosshair on top of his head. "Lenz, huh? I do agree that he needs to be dealt with, but why now of all times?" Del asked. "With our assignment with Salve Group is basically over, we might need to focus on the next big thing, and that''s dealing with Bosch, but to do that, we need to take a significant amount of heat from you," Anna said. "And how we should even do it?" Del asked. "VIOLENCE!" Mira suggested from thefy of her couch. "Emm, no," Anna said. "So what then?" Del asked. "You know, Del, you might not be a transfer student, but most of the TMV member seems to be respecting you, why don''t you fill the status quo in the organization, especially after Daniel disappear." "I do agree, but won''t it put more heat to him?" Mira asked. "Not really. TMV leader is usually quite untouchable due to their nature of volunteering activity. This is what Lenz said to us. So, we are using their guidelines to work against him," Anna said. "Subtle, but how will we convince Hubert? I meant, technically, it should be me to fill the status quo, but since you''re more popr than me, you might be able to fulfill the role, Del," Mira said. "Yeah, you''re still their co-leader, but I''m indeed more popr." "Still, we still need to do voting. What would you do then?" Mira asked. "Voting is only done between the 12th grade, right? If you vouch for me, we can bypass that and I know that the method works in the academy. So, will you vouch for me?" Del asked. "You''re forcing me here, but sure. If there''s a voting, you''ll be against an empty box. Besides, being the leader of TMV is too much of a hassle, so, yeah, I''ll put my words for you, boss." "Thanks, I appreciate it, Mira." "No sweat.. If you''re the leader of TMV, getting resources shouldn''t even be hard." Chapter 192 - Two Meetings, Same Subject Chapter 192 ¨C Two Meetings, Same Subject The next week, around six days from the day Daniel disappeared, the situation started stirring up in the academy, especially in TMV internals. Some suggested searching for him, some suggested that the police was looking for him, while the others were unsure of what they should do in the future. Del and Mira weren''t in the unsure or the people that had the initiative to do anything about Daniel. Joshua wasn''t exactly in there either. He was currently in the hospital, treating soldiers fromst Saturday attack. The ruckus in the middle of Sneggor was caused by a bomb exploding in a soldier''s barrack, not because of the kidnapping. In fact, the kidnapping wasn''t on the priority list ofw enforcement somewhat, which made almost everyone furious. "Del, what should we do now?" One of his juniors asked him. "Well¡­" She looked at Mira, then Mira looked at him back. Del nodded, "We''ll wait. There''s nothing traceable in Daniel''s room as per the report of thew reinforcement for the moment." "To add what Del has said, this process is better to be left to thew enforcement. They don''t need more lone wolves than there have already been in here. For now, let''s continue our day." That didn''t really quiet them down, in fact, it made the meeting way louder than it should have been, and Del felt a little bit smug knowing that the sinners were actually among them all. Mira was probably feeling the same way, too, considering how she thought and how she acted. She also suggested that they shouldn''t do anything until they got further reports from thew reinforcement in the surrounding region. She suggested that they shouldn''t act harshly just because a person went missing. "To reiterate, I don''t want more kidnapped person in TMV. One is enough, we don''t need another one, do you understand?" Mira said to the other people in TMV. They nodded with few whispers here and there, probably from those who didn''t agree with Mira. It was reasonable. It always seemed that Mira and Del were the guardians of TMV in that branch. If someone got kidnapped, they would call either of them. Usually, they were returned safely just before the security division noticed that one of them went missing. It kept the TMV records clean for the most part. They were one of the organizations in the academy with the lowest ident rating, onlyparable to the security division or the student council due to how the structure of the organization worked. "So, about the current empty position, will you fill it, Mira?" The junior asked again. "About that. Well, I have a better recement for that. I vouch for Del Moore in this one. I feel that I''m notfortable with holding the position of the leader of this academy TMV. Del will fill that position nicely," Mira said. Again, it caused another ruckus, in particr, with other 12th grade members of the TMV. It was true that Del held more support than Mira, but again, Mira was the co-leader just before Del entered the academy, so there was that. Those who preferred the status quo wanted Mira to be the leader, and those who supported Del wanted to change the current status quo. As far as Del knew, there wasn''t even any sh of power in TMV, at least, until now. Mira wasn''t exactly in a position where he was above Del, at least, in his eyes, simply because Mira was a contractor contracted by Del to do whatever he needed her to do. Even if it meant that Mira would be nothing more than a puppet in the hand of the puppeteer. It was clear, but no one else besides Del''s inner circle would know about that. Yeah, even behind an organization as honest as TMV, there was still a conflict of interest. "But Mira, Daniel trusted you, why should Del be the leader of TMV in this academy? This is simply a little bit against our regr conduct, don''t you think?" One of the senior members of the TMV said. "Correction, Daniel trusted him too. So, is there any other reasons beside of that?" Mira asked. That member went quiet now. Still, it didn''t mean the ruckus stopped at all. In fact, it was a little bit bigger than before. Hmm, one thing or another, this should result in some unbnce of power for the TMV. Would Del want that? Not really, but he had no choice. It was between taking power and telling the security division to mind their own business or just leaving Anna alone to fight the horde of security division. Yeah, it seemed that everyone in the security division was pointing their finger at Del without exception. Just because you had a far advanced armament, it didn''t really mean that you were responsible for anything whatsoever. It''s just how it worked in the first ce. Those who were jealous would do anything to make you the boogeyman. "Alright, be quiet, anyone who is against Del, please raise your hand," Mira said. Six people raised their hands, and that probably was it. The rest just followed along. Well, it was set then. Del would be the leader of TMV of the academy. Albeit with some people not agreeing, but that was expected. "Then it''s set, Del would be the leader of TMV, at least, until Daniel returned," Mira said. Mira pped her hands. One student followed, then the rest of them followed. It was decided Del was the leader of the TMV. The transfer of power would be rather something, but well, it could be done. Not that Del wanted to take advantage of Daniel''s disappearance, but it was the right thing to do for now. And with him and the volunteer, it might be a good idea to establish some trust between him and the security division. With that problem being solved, Del wondered how Anna was doing during this afternoon meeting with the security division. ====================== "Rinse and repeat, ad nauseam." Anna muttered, without anyone hearing during the meeting. It was guessable what the meeting was. Of course, it was about the recent kidnappings. Both Anna and Del got the me for it while Mira was home free. Well, it was mainly because they didn''t know Mira was involved with two of them. Lenz kept putting the me on Anna for what happened to Daniel, but Anna demanded evidence for her involvement. And it went back on how the operation was very delicate, and nobody would be able to pull that off but them. Anna retaliated that it could be the separatist movement in the city. They were also skillful enough to pull a kidnapping like that night, and they weren''t that stupid not to be able to pull off a stunt like this. After that, Lenz would retaliate on why would they kidnap both of them when it was clear that neither of them was rich enough for a ransom. Yeah, their parents wouldn''t be able to pay for the ransom whatsoever. Considering how Ilbistirum worked in the middle of a war, it wouldn''t be possible to pay for the ransom due to how much money poured into the war efforts. Besides, the SF would usually be able to find any kidnapped person. Then, Lenz pointed their his hand at Anna again. "You''d never give up, wouldn''t you?" Anna challenged him. "To go after the truth? No, I don''t think I will." "The point is, I am not involved, nor wish to be involved in this. Unless you can give me a concrete evidence, this discussion is over. Keep this up, and I''d report to the schoolittee about this mistreatment and misconduct," Anna bluffed. "Go ahead, would they even be listening to you?" Lenz changed her. "Oh, believe me, they will." Or more like, they would listen to the intelligence agencies. Yup, that''s right, those guys would fear the real power of political and military espionage if the situation is not dying down when the timees. That was not the oue that neither Del and Anna wanted, it would require lots of ground work and blood. And if one of the security divisions got murdered, there would be the tendency that their efficiency died down. To be entirely honest, the security division worked on the basis that the people in there were invincible. It was weird, but it worked. The doctrine was to keep the security division confident enough to do their job so the other students didn''t have to face the dangers. Sinister, but practical to a certain extent. As far as Anna knew, Mira and Del would be way better than the whole security divisionbined. They needed evidence to go against the usation, and they needed it fast. Or, they needed something to distract Lenz away from the internal affairs between them all. Thest thing that they wanted was everything to turn bloody.. Lenz could be chopped into mince meat as far as Anna was concerned if this thing isn''t solved. Chapter 193 - Updated Later Chapter 193 ¨C Updated Later "Alright, let''s go." Three figures were crouching right next to the wall of the academy that bordered it from the outside. Every single one of them were carrying a backpack containing thick thermal nkets and tranquillizer pistol. These three people were Del, Anna, and Mira. All of them were barely visible, mainly because of the snow camouge that they wore and the intense darkness from the ckout caused by the blizzard. Temperature was minus on hundred, as expected. What was worse? The cold blizzard that might have froze them to death if not for the heating spell that they knew because they could fly, or the darkness that made sure the only reliable thing that they had in their arsenal was their night vision goggles? They begun climbing the fence that felt like holding something very cold. If some idiot sticked their tongue on it, there was no doubt that it would stick. Theynded on a thickyer of snow. "Let''s just go straight into their room. Anna, you take point." Anna led the way with her silenced AS VAL-LL on her shoulder. This AS VAL was equipped with rubber bullets that would only give major pain to the target instead of death. Still, there was a risk to that too. Well, just don''t aim for the head. There was no intention to go inside of the dorm. The n was to use the window to extract Daniel since one of the boys was most likely to be awake than asleep in this cold weather. Del wouldn''t want to risk it this time. Anna could go to Aveline room, carry her outside, and be done with it. It was simpler because there was no one around in the girl''s dorm in situation like this. If Daniel was still awake, then the n would be to tranquillize him immediately. First of all though, they needed to go to the second floor using some sort of method. The most reliable one for this one was to attach a hook to the rooftop and use it to scale the building. "Vampir, do your thing." Anna nodded. She headed alone to the girl''s dorm. Mira prepared the equipment to scale the building. She threw a hook to the rooftop using a gas-pressure tool and attached it firmly. Del prepared the ss cutting tool. The blizzard was loud enough to conceal any loud nking noise, but not gunfire. Everyone was equipped with AS VAL to produce as little sound as possible. Anna crossed therge park that was covered in thick snow. To think that she was able to pull this off alone was amazing, but it had to be remembered that Daniel and Aveline had different body size. Not that radically different, but it was enough to make a difference between two people carrying them and one people carrying them. "ckfox. This is Skyeye, your escort." An F-15E was flying high above the sky. Its LANTIRN targeting pod served as the eyes for them in case someone approached them or a flying soldier decided to mess with them. It was equipped with a C-AMRAAM, an anti-personnel variant of the AIM-120 AMRAAM missile. "Copy that Skyeye. Give me sitrep when somethinges out, ckfox out." Del started climbing the rope upwards, towards the second floor. Del climbed towards the window and he grabbed his ss cutter. He started cutting the ss of the window to open it. Daniel was sleeping soundly, he wouldn''t know what hit him. Del opened the window and he climbed inside of the room. The sound dampening boots that he wore would make sure that no sound came out from each footsteps. He took a closer look at Daniel''s face. Del pulled the tranquillizer pistol from his holster. He fired the tranquillizer round right at Daniel''s neck, putting him to submission. Del opened his backpack and started cable tying Daniel''s on his hands and his feet. He then grabbed the heaviest item from his backpack, the stretcherbined with the thermal nket. It wasn''t a normal silver nket either, it was a self-heating nket that would inste up to the current temperature. Even from the looks of it, Aveline was half of Daniel''s weight so Anna would have to handle Aveline by herself while Del and Mira carried Daniel on the stretcher. Mira climbed to the room. The surrounding wall started to froze from being exposed to the element. "Skyeye, this is ckfox, how''s the situation outside?" "All clear." Del started putting the white thermal nket on Daniel, wrapping him up with the warmness. He then grabbed his folded stretcher from his backpack and put Daniel there while attaching some straps on his body. After making sure that Daniel wouldn''t fall of the stretcher, it was time to bring him downstairs. With the set of rope attached to the rooftop, Del carefully brought Daniel down with the help of Mira. The cold breeze didn''t really help, even sweat would turn frozen and Del could swore that ice started forming on the lenses of his night vision goggles. Carefully, the stretcher arrived at the bottom floor. Del and Mira rappeled downstairs and Mira closed the window. The hook was detached from the rooftop with a tool and there was no trace of them. Time to get out of the academy. "ckfox, this is Vampir. Target is secured. We''ll meet at rendezvous point. Over." "Copy that. ckfox out." Del tapped Mira''s shoulder. Time to get out of there. Del and Mira climbed the wall after putting the stretcher down. The rendezvous point was located right next to the forest, after that, going to the cabin would be an easy way. Del and Mira were medical volunteers, carrying a stretcher was their nature of work. They didn''t run, but they were careful not to meet anyone during the kidnapping operation. They tried to be as clean as possible. "Skyeye, this is ckfox. We''re heading for the east direction, is there any hostile? Over." "There''s no hostile in your direction. Proceed to rendezvous. Over" "Alright, keep us updated." "Roger that. Skyeye standing by." They walked to the forest. Hopefully, there wasn''t anything out of the ordinary. The likelihood of a tree falling to the ground was quite big. Still, it was the safest route, out of the influence of the military. It was the safest route if anything went wrong. The ordinary street didn''t have any movement difficulty, but the moment anyone noticed something strange, the wholew enforcement woulde after him, including the whole security division. The covert operation would turn into a genocide. Eventually, after some walking, Anna was waiting for them right below of a tree while carrying someone on her back which was none other than Aveline. Anna waved her hand, all of them were happy that it was easier than expected. "Alright, let''s get them to CC." Through the forest and the treachrous mountain, they walked towards themand center in the middle of a situation which wasparable only to walking in the middle of a freezer, but worse. It was surprising that the weapon that they carried still worked. That was Russian engineering for you, designed for winter like that. Still, it seemed that something was happening in the town right after kidnapping. The blizzard hadn''t died down, but something was definitely happening. Just to be safe, it was time to run. Del and Mira ran while carrying the stretcher while Anna was running while carrying Aveline on her back. They eventually arrived at CC. Del kicked the door with his feet, the lock was stuck due to the freezing temperature. All of them put the stretcher on the ground and the thermal nket on the ground. Mira closed the door from behind. Themand center was way warmer than outside, even warmer than the cabin due to the battery used to store electricity alongside with the generator inside of the room. It maintained themand center infortable enough temperature. Mission was a big sess, noplication was happening. Time to report back to Skyeye about the sess so he could leave the A.O. "This is ckfox. Mission is arge sess. Skyeye, thanks for the help." "Copy that ckfox. This is Skyeye, RTB." The F-15E would fly from the area of operation. It might be not much, but that thing was the best insurance in this operation. Without the F-15E, any failure would result in a certain death for three of them. Well, what was done was done. Anna went to the table below theputer. That was the secret storage for Del''s alcohol. Anna grabbed a whiskey and three shot sses. She poured the whiskey into the shot sses. "We might not be old enough for alcohol, but event like this needs one." Anna gave the sses to Del and Mira. "Cheers everyone!" They lifted the sses in the air in celebration. They drank the alcohol, their body felt a little bit warmer.. When the morning came, time to bring those two to the AFB and let Zastava did what he wanted to them. Chapter 194 - Updated Later Chapter 194 ¨C Updated Later Mira, Del, and Anna were in themand center. Del gave Mira a white gold coin as a payment for the job that she didst night. Needless to say, Del was not happy about the current finding. He wondered what kind of weird thing he would find in the future. Morris hadn''t arrived at the cabin yet. "Boss, what did you find?" Mira asked. "Which one that you want to know first? The worst or the other?" Del asked. "Up to you, boss." As usual, Anna was sitting on a chair while sipping on a cup of coffee. She didn''t participate too much in the discussion, mainly because her assignment was to find whoever Salve Group was looking for. So far, progress had been smooth for both of them. With Mira''s help and herck of threat, the investigation would progress way smoother. The security division wouldn''t be any wiser either, mainly because Anna was the member of it. She would have ess to several unessible space in the academy. But still, she needed to be careful. "Well, we found a nuke." Anna red at him. Mira didn''t have any idea what a nuke was. Del gave an uneasy smile to the predicament. Anna put the coffee on the table and he walked to Del''s direction. Somehow, the word "nuke" would always catch his attention. "Missiles?" "No, a dirty bomb." "Hmm, that''s quite unfortunate. But Del, what is the special ability of this nuke? After all, radiation wouldn''t affect demons as bad as it would affect humans." "Yeah, but even without a detonation, the container carrying that dirty bomb made our Geiger counter went nuts. With a detonation, it should be enough to burn the skin of all of the demons in this region and turn this area into an exclusion zone." "What''s a nuke? You two seem to be talking about some kind of evil weapons here." "It is. It''s the cause of the opera incident." Suddenly, Mira turned blue. She was more than aware about the opera incident. That explosion killed thousands of people. "That weapon¡­ oh my." "Yeah, it seems that the imperial military wants the informant to be dead by any means necessary. Even if it meant killing the entire town for it. We managed to dy their ns, but with their boss roaming around, we are like patching a bullet hole with a band-aid." "The boss? What do you mean, boss?" "I''m talking about Bosch." "Bosch?" "You might know him more as Recker." "Recker? The human activist? Boss, if an angel has a human form, it will be him. Why would he get involved in all of this? He is an anti-war activist, screaming about rights and you know the rest." "Sometimes, the most well-kept secret is hidden in in sight," Anna interrupted. "Like I said, we know more about what you don''t know and don''t want to know." "Hmm, yeah. By the way, about yesterday, Do you want to discuss it with us?" Mira asked Del. "Sure, throw it away for me. After all, you only gave me a brief description of the result. What''s the full result, and what did you two find while I was gone?" Del asked. Anna put a piece of document of top of the table, "Alright, we conclude that Daniel is far from our suspect. After a short phone call to Lara, we did a full background check on him. It turns out that he wasn''t even connected to any important people in terms of military organization." "Hmm?" Del wondered. "His father is a people''s representative and he leaked vital information to federal military. That weapon blueprint, it turns out to be some sort of gas projectile for a long-range cannon. Yes, this is the thing that attacked us back then," Anna said. "About his uncle, who is he?" Del asked. "Well, this is the surprising part, to be honest." "How so?" "Van Bosch is his uncle. Yup, that''s right. The bloody bastard that we are looking for turned out to be an uncle of our friend. Now I know why he doesn''t make any move to the academy. He didn''t want to risk the safety of Daniel," Anna said. "Wasn''t he looking for his head?" Del asked. "I thought so, but it seems that the bounty on Daniel''s head is greatly exaggerated. I think the money is simply not worth his time," Anna said. Alright, two key people seemed to be involved with the imperial government in one way or another. Aveline would surely the person that they were looking for. However, Daniel would still sit on top of the priority list, mainly because of his connection. Maybe Daniel could be used as a bait to get his uncle. However, was he aware that his uncle was in Sneggor all along? Or was it just an act that he didn''t know anything about the current affairs. Both of them were truly the men of so many faces, the uncle and Daniel himself. Both were known to be an angel, but one was one of the most wanted person in the trafficking ring and the other used to be a smuggler. Daniel might be still in contact with his uncle, or he might still be smuggling something into Sneggor. "Boss, do you want me to capture Daniel?" Mira offered. The offer was nice, but the timing was incorrect. "I''d love to ept, but we make too much noise this month. We can postpone it. Right now, the most important priority is to get the next piece of puzzle which is Aveline." "Ah, Aveline Cordier, the student council president. She is the most famous people in the academy, at least, for now. What? Do you want to kill her or something?" Mira asked. "NO! Not right now, at least," Del added. "Alright, what do you want me to do with her then?" "Can you capture her?" Del asked. :"Boss, you must be nuts. If this person went missing for even an hour, the whole school would be looking for her. Can you give me an easier assignment, boss?" "Well, can you snoop around her room? Find something interesting for me?" Del asked. "That''s easier, I think?" "You think?" "Boss, we''re talking about snooping around, alone. I won''t have an advantage like yesterday night. And out of all people, it''s her. I can pull this off though, no sweat," Mira said. "Great, I like that." Del wanted to read the document more,ter. He wanted to take a rest alongside with the others for now. This was still Sunday and tomorrow was Monday. They might be involved in some sort of military operation, but they were still in the academy. So far, academically, he didn''t struggle too much. Magic might be not his strong point, but he managed to get by. The rest of the subjects was fairly easy for him. He just needed to buy some textbook and he was set for studying. Still, one way or another, some people disliked him for some unknown reasons. They might be jealous or something, but most of the time, he was like Mira. His past protected him from any small threat, but it did invite a big threat for an equally important person, just like how Aveline used his expertise to investigate the trafficking ring. The security division hadn''t helped him too much though, besides Anna giving him information that she retrieved from the archive of the security division. He wasn''t exactly allowed to call for backups, mainly because Aveline only allowed it if any member of the academy got threatened. It was Weird since Del was the member of the academy himself, why would she not providing security for him as well? Was it ause she knew that Del was more than capable? Or was it because she was saving resources for more important assignments. Well, who knows? Del was a member of the TMV, not the student council nor the security division. He just knew what was the condition of the slump and how the condition of his current organization. With situation being what it was, the status quo would stay, no matter how much effort they put in. He was just there to get the basic medical training and the emergency medicine skill. It was important, mainly because how often he got shot and injured. Anna made two other cups of tea for both Del and Mira. Del retrieved the cup and he sipped on that coffee. It was quite delicious, for what it was. Well, it was time to rx and read the report. The report was quite detailed, but it didn''t far too stretch from the basic resume that Anna gave just now. It just contained the information in details like where the source of the information was and how credible the information was. It was all written by Anna in that short amount of time. Anna used the information from Morris and the intelligence agencies.. Needless to say, it would get harder and harder. Chapter 195 - Updated Later Chapter 195 ¨C Updated Later An MH-60 "ckhawk" helicopter flew away from Belgram air base. On both sides of its stub wings were thebination of AGM-114 "Hellfire" missiles and M230 chainguns for close-air-support role. It was the multipurpose helicopter assigned for Del and Anna toplete the rest of the mission from Salve Group. Del was sitting on the opened left door of the helicopter. Behind him were stacks of FIM-92 stingers and FGM-148unchers. All of those were provided to give him an edge and more leisure in attacking anyone that Van Bosch would send to him. The pilot was a man. His full name was Morris Osborne. They could call him Morris, but Del and Anna would have to call him sir or refer to him as Chief Osborne in a formal event. He seemed to be chill though. Heck, he was morex than Walter by all ount. "Did you two justnd here like us? Or did you two have spent quite some times in this ce?" Morris asked. "Well, I think we''re thetter. Morris, is it? Can I call you that?" Del asked. "Sure, just call me Morris. You two are the Moore siblings, am I right? Nice to meet you two." "Thanks," Anna replied. "Did Colonel tell you my role in this assignment, or not?" Anna shook her head, "Nope." "Ohhh, alright, I see. Well, I''ll just make it simple. If you have some enemies that need to be taken care of, just call me via the tablet interface. I woulde to help you two, but I won''t be avable instantenously if you don''t tell me whether you''llmence an operation or not." "Huh? What do you mean?" Del asked. "If you two suddenly got intobat, I can''t guarantee that I''d arrive at your location in under five minutes. Helicopter is costing time to be maintained, you know? Flying magic is was simpler, but also less versatile." "I agree with that. You can''t carry shitton of missiles with a flying spell." "Anyway, back to the main point, I need twenty minutes if you call me so suddenly. Besides that, I can provide sniping support and distraction support. Oh, and I am also here to rece Walter''s role as your supposed caretaker." "Ah, yeah, by the way, were you a pilot before?" Del asked. "Yup, why do you think I end up in there with those CIAs and FSBs? Still, it was fun," Morrismented. "I don''t know whether being hunted down by several people and some enemies can be considered as fun, Morris." Delmented on his experience for this past one year. The only normality that could be considered normal was his time at Lumbart Academy and that was it. Heck, he was even there for a mission, what was the fun in that? "It''s fun, trust me. Or the fact that I''m kinda insane, well, I''m open to interpretation." "I prefer thetter. Anyway, what''s with the loadout?" The helicopter was too well-armed for his standard. For instance, there were two M230 chainguns and eight AGM-114 missiles for the helicopter itself. It was simply an overkill for that world, not to mention the ammunition boxes that were linked to the chainguns. That thing could destroy an entire echelon as long as air defense wasn''t present. "An assignment, let''s just say, a contract from the government. Another tank echelon ismencing an assault towards Halivaara. A prototype one in fact, there''s a huge chance that our current weaponry in the federal army can''t prate it, so that''s where wee in." "What kind of prototype tank?" Del asked. "Those who can''t be prated by an ordinary 100mm cannon on all sides except the top. Well, the armor is not that thick, evenpared to a first-generation main battle tank, but it''s still thick for this age. You''ll need a concentrated artillery fire or autocannon on that thing which we can''t afford at the moment," Morris answered. "Ok, what should I do while you fire those missiles?" Del asked. "Well, for starter, you can prepare yourself with the machine gun and armor, considering your sister has taken the position on the right. After I destroy all of the tanks, I want you two to deal with the infantry escorting it." "What kind of infantry?" "Combination of flying one and standing one. There''s a reason why I told you to wear a fragmentation suit, don''t you think?" Morris asked. "Wait, flying one? Damn, they''re hard to be dealt with, don''t you think?" "Think again." "Wait, you want me to be a decoy?" "Exactly. You are wearing heavy armor, wield heavy weapon, and supported with heavy armaments. Just get them close to the helicopter and your sister''s GAU-21 would handle them. Careful though, don''t get to her line of fire." "And I risk my life, again," Delmented as he grabbed his PKP from the seat of the helicopter. The gun was loaded with 7.62x54mmR ammunition as usual. The armor-piercing version of the bullet was loaded into the machine gun. Del attached a new scope on that gun alongside with a vertical grip, but he doubted he would ever use the scope on that gun. There was also a LEDbo at the end of that gun. He checked the bullet on that gun and the gun seemed to be functioning as intended. He was aware that the other side might only use a bolt-action rifle or SMG against him, he needed to take advantage of his volume of fire and his range advantage against the flying enemies that would probably use their spell at him. "And take the oxygen tank on the back." There was an oxygen tank on the back of the helicopter attached to a half-face mask. "It should protect your lungs as long as you tighten in to your face tightly. It''s the perfect counter to their Thermobaric spell. Don''t forget to wear goggles too, Del." "Alright." The distance to Halivaara was still far, probably more than two hundred miles away. They had arrived to the maind around two hours ago, but they still hadn''t encountered anyone trying to intercept them. There were two possibilities. The intelligence should have contacted the ground, or the helicopter wasn''t detectable. Del preferred the first option than thest option. The helicopter wasn''t exactly a stealth aircraft, and it was not exactly quiet either. "And Del, you might want to know, but our role is important. We are going tomence a counter-offensive to help the federal military." "Just both of us?" "Nah, there''s a reason why we told you to buy several F-15E and a B-1 bomber. Imperial military is going tounch arge-scale offensive to the federal military due to thest stunt that you pull. Our job is to create a significant dy on their n, giving the federal military a breathing room." "Ah, no wonder." "Yup, you might think we are insane, but this is the truth. Without this intervention, the bnce in war could be disturbed and we don''t want that. One F-15 and a B-1 bomber are flying towards the north to defend the north while another is patrolling the south sea to destroy the destroyers heading for Federal Ports." "Hahaha, I wish I can pilot one of those aircrafts." "Perhaps?" Suddenly, from afar, a jet roar entered his nose. Suddenly, a gush of wind hit his face as an F-15 flew by the helicopter at the same altitude. Del couldn''t see the aircraft, but he was sure that was an F-15 flying beside him. "Ah, that''s the one heading north. It will act as a decoy and protect us from the iing air attack. I don''t remember who pilots it, but I think they will be a great distraction. Heck, I think they can take down an entire squadron with just its guns." "So, where''s the bomber?" "It might be flying above us. I don''t know. They would take down the flying airships with cruise missiles." "Ah, great, is that the reason why we can fly to Halivaara now?" "Yup, with most of the imperial air force focused on chasing the bomber, we wouldn''t have to worry about their air defense. Moreover, I don''t think the imperial air force would have the tech to counter our F-15," Morris said. "I think so." "Well, get ready, we''ll approach the tank unit in five minutes," Morris replied. The helicopter descended and Del could see the ground from above. Halivaara and its surrounding region had been turned into smitheeren ruins. No wonder why the federal military had difficulty in defending it. It also seemed that the imperial military had begun moving towards Halivaara, judging from the looks of it. "Our job is to disable the heavy tanks. The small fries are up to the federal military to handle," Morris said. "Roger that." Del didn''t fire the gun on the helicopter yet. The tanks looked like small dots from the altitude he was flying in. He waited until Morris fired the first missile from the helicopter. WOOOSH. The missile flew from the pylons of the helicopter and flew to one of the heavy tanks. The autocannon started firing towards the direction of the other heavy tanks. Del started firing his machine gun at the infantry raising from the ground and heading to his direction. "Commencing attack!" Chapter 196 - Updated Later Chapter 196 ¨C Updated Later Del felt sleepy. He was sleeping on his bedst night, but as his father had predicted, he was returned to earth. The bed felt different from before, this one wasn''t as soft as the clouds, but still soft enough. The smells of antiseptic made a way up to his nose. The bed seemed to be a hospital bed. Then, a familiar voice came out right at his left ear, "Del, hey, Del, are you awake?" He nodded to the left and opened his heavy eyes, slowly. His eyelids felt like it was glued shut, but he was aware of the figure besides him. "Cassandra?" He spurted out one word. "Hey, wee back to thend of living," Cassandra said. "Did I really die?" Del asked. "Yeah, this is not exactly your body," Cassandramented. "Whose body is this then?" Del asked. "Yours, but a copy of it," Cassandra said. Del tried to move his hand, he felt no different sensation. He then lifted up his hand to his face, there was no significant visual differences. He then put his hands back at the bad, and he asked another obvious question. "How long have I stayed here?" "A day, probably? The soul-transfer requires a day or two to stabilize the new host. It seems that you have passed the test. Sorry for the ruckus, but like what I said earlier, you''re about to enter the sanctum of something that I don''t even know at all," Cassandra said. "I see," Del nodded. "Anyway, our associates will meet youter after you''re discharged from the hospital. Your sister have awoken up too. You''ll be given your clean clothes, to be exact, your school uniform. Anyway, good luck, Del." Cassandra walked out of his room and Del sighed. He wondered what kind of thing would be waiting for him. He observed his own body, he only hadn''t looked at himself at the mirror. So far, nothing was looking out of ce yet. He was wearing a hospital gown, but there was no sign of injury in his entire body. He checked his private part, and he didn''t see any sign of injury there. It seemed that this body was indeed a copy of his old body. To be precise, it was the exact same copy. There was sign of old scar on his body. The sample for the clone might be taken right before he was killed, but well, he had no idea. He looked around for Anna, but she couldn''t be found. Well, she might be in another room or something. There was no IV attached to his body. Why was that? Del tried to stand up from his bad. His body felt heavy, as if someone put an elephant on top of his body. What was this? The sign that his nerve tried to connect his brain to his entire body? Del lifted up his heavy feet and he stepped to the floor. It felt wobbly, but it was still strong enough to support his body. He tried walking with his feet which was more simr to a spaghetti than feet. He walked while holding the bed with his hands. He slowly regained the strength on his feet and began to walk normally. He felt no difference between his old body and his new body. It seemed that nothing was changed. He begun to move his feet and his hands. It seemed normal. He then moved his jaw and moved his head. It didn''t feel painful at all, it just felt as same as before. Whoever did this know whatever they were doing. There was no significant difference in his body. He looked up and down with his eyes, and he looked left and right. His eyes coordination were good. His hearing wasn''t impaired either. Del epted that this body was indeed a copy that he resided in. Hopefully, it wasn''t the corpse of someone that got reanimated. A nurse came into his room, "Mr. Moore, I am here to discharge you." She smiled and he approached Del. =========== Walking back to the cabin with their new body, both Anna and Del were still dumbfounded that their body was an exact same replica. Anna was still had to wear bandages all the time due to his burn trauma. Anna also noticed nothing different from her body. Everything seemed to be awfully normal as well. They had been asleep for only a day after all. Nobody would miss their disappearance, Del would assume that intelligence agencies had taken care of that. He also noticed that the tablet that contained Pidma alongside his arms and his backpack had gone missing. He had a hunch that the intelligence agencies also took them. He just hoped that they hadn''t used it for something hazardous. Still, it was a little bit too much positivity on their side. If the intelligence was smart enough, they would have utilized Pidma as much as they wanted. Let''s just hope that they didn''t fiddle too much with it. If they did, no one would stop them. Del was unarmed at the moment, and the only thing that they had was Anna''s magic. Del only could use magic if he had his Grimoire with him which was his own tablet. When they arrived at the cabin, there was nothing different. Still, the lights on the cabin were turned off. Did Walter forget to turn it off or something? Del entered the cabin and looked around. "Where''s Walter?" Del asked as he looked around the entire house. The shoe rack didn''t have Walter''s shoes on it. He might have gone outside, but there was no trace of his belongings inside of the cabin either. Anna walked towards the coffee table and picked up a piece of letter. "Walter left us, he left because Salve Group needs him as security details. He said that the new caretakers would be waiting for us in ourmand center. " "Caretakers? So there are more than one of them?" Del asked. "Perhaps?" Anna shrugged and put the letter into her pocket. Both of them walked towards the storage barn and opened the small door leading towards it. The room was dark. The lights were turned off, but they hadn''t left for a long time. Suddenly, as Anna left, the door was shut and the room''s lights were turned on. Inside of the room were six different people. All of them were wearing military uniforms, a modern one, the one that originated back from earth. However, they could be differentiated into two different groups. One was the one wearing multicam while the other was wearing digital flora uniform. Although both of them were wearing federation military patch on their left shoulder, the patch on their right hand was different. One was an United States g while the other was the g of Russian Federation. Was this some sort of sick joke? Or was this the thing that Del had no idea about the intelligence that hid even more secret. "Hello, Moore." One of the Russians walked towards his direction. His voice was cold. His footstep was heavy. He was also a demon. He probably had lived here for a long time. "Did you miss me?" It was the voice of the executioner. Del shrieked and took a step backward, slowly. "Petrov, you''re scaring our new associate," A woman intervened. The woman''s voice was also recognizable. The woman was Borodina, or what was her full name? "Name''s Lara, you might only know me as Borodina." "And you three?" Del pointed his hand at the Americans. "We''re from External Affairs. I''m amara. I''m the Director of Department of External Affairs and Foreign Intelligence." She then put his eye to the woman beside her."Her name Is rissa Heren, she is the Vice Director," amara said. "Nice to meet you, I''m rissa Heren, a former pilot turned into the head of department," rissa said. "Nice to meet you, rissa," Del shook her hand. "What''s your story ending up in here?" Anna asked Lara, weirdly enough. She acted the same way to the Americans as Del to the Russians. It looked the people that killed Anna was the Americans. Well, both of them were equally scary and suspicious. However, Lara was holding Del''s tablet. "You forgot to lock the tablet, Moore. Why don''t you use the fingerprint scanner on this device?" "I forgot to do that," Del scratched his head. "Well, it''s not like anyone else is able to use this thing anyhow," Laramented. "Would you kindly answer my question?" Del asked. "Sure, but what do you want to know?" "How did you end up in here? I meant, there is no America nor Russia in here. How did you all end up in this world? Is it because of an ident? Or is it because of something else?" Del asked. "Well, it''s quite a long story involving a lot of abnormal phenomenon. Are you sure you want to listen to that story?" Lara asked. "Yeah, to trust is to know, after all." "Very well then. Let me start from this¡­" Chapter 197 - Updated Later Chapter 197 ¨C Updated Later After the dinner, Del went back to his room. Anna was waiting inside of the room since the meeting with Linda and Walter begun. She didn''t want toe, mainly due to herck of understanding about the situation and her tendency to follow Del''s decision at the end of the day. Del hanged the jacket of his suit in the hotel room and turned on the air conditioner. "How did it go?" Anna asked. She was recing her bandages for the day. "Well," Del sat down on the bed. He was both confused and surprised. The deal was good, but how would he exin it to Anna? No matter how he would sugarcoat it, it was still a dy for the revenge. "It was a good deal, but we are put under a leash." "Leash?" "We are binded for two years under a trainer named Walter." Anna''s reaction was different from what he previously expected. Judging from what happened around a week ago or so, Del would expect Anna to protest that he would stop her scheme of killing Eric. Still, if Anna agreed, it would be way easier. Del wouldn''t protest about that in any way. "I guess that''s the risk of working with a bigpany, I guess?" Anna shrugged, epting thepromises that had been made. "Yeah,promises andpromises. Anyway, there''s a copy of the contract inside of my tablet. I photographed it before we left, I think you might want to see it first," Del said. Anna retrieved the tablet, "Ok." Anna read the whole contract using the tablet. Del waited until he Anna finished reading the contract. From his observation, Anna wasn''t exactly unsatisfied, or satisfied. She was somewhere in between. The eye expression suggested that she was not understanding what the contract was about. It was the same as Del''s expression when he initially read the contract. She would probably follow the same route as Del when she read the contract with meant she would be more focused on the consequences of the termination of the contract itself. "Termination, huh?" Del''s guess was correct. Anna jumped all of theplicated sections and read the uses that contained the consequences of terminating the contract. "Yeah, it doesn''t look too bad, does it?" Del asked. "Yeah, it doesn''t. However, do you think we are really able to put enough funds in case we want to terminate the contract between thepany and us?" Anna said. "We won''t break the contract. Just read the amenities, Anna." Her eyes looked brighter as she read the amenities. A house, a guarantee of a better life, and a guarantee of better education were convincing enough for Anna. Anna gave the tablet in satisfaction. "I see where you''re going. I agree with whatever you want to do, Del. I don''t think that going against you will end up well for me." Del agreed with her statement. The nuke that Anna wanted to send to Elbanian terittory was simply too much for just a mere revenge. Eric was just Eric. They didn''t need too many people die because of a mere revenge. It was just inhumane and against basic morality. Truth be told though, Del wasn''t sure whether he had any morality left. Sure, he helped people, but he also killed people. Everything was based on money for him and he never regretted doing it. He did all to make sure that he could live for another day and could eat for another day. "I agree with you. Anyway, where can I meet this Walter?" Anna asked. "Walter is still on the dining room. We left sooner than Linda. However, I think Linda and him are going to the lounge for a drink, do you want toe there?" Del asked. "Sure, I think meeting our mentor would be a great introduction. Introduction is the key of all interaction," Anna said. "Let''s go then." ============= The lounge was a ce to drink. However, they couldn''t find Linda. There was only one person there and that person was none other than Walter. Walter himself was sitting on the barstool with something that looked like a bottle of whiskey and a shot ss. Del wanted to find Linda first. The ce seemed to be nice enough for an executive so there would be no reason for Linda not toe here. Everyone in that room seemed to be an executive so this lounge was a ce for them. Those men in suits were drinking while handing a piece of file left and right. Since he couldn''t find Linda, Del decided just to approach Walter and ask where Linda was. Del walked to the bar and sat down right next to Walter. Walter took notice of him. He pushed the ss and the bottle of alcohol away from Del. "Kid, what are you doing in here? This is an adult zone, you shouldn''t be in here," Walter said. "Sorry, but I don''t see an 18+ sign around here. It means that I can enter whenever I want, right?" Del asked. "Alright, you have a point. What do you want? Don''t tell me you want an alcohol," Walter said. Del shook his head. Anna sat down right besides Walter. She introduced herself to Walter, "Walter, my name is Anna, I''m Del''s sister, nice to meet you." Walter was surprised. That bald guy gave a strong gaze to Anna, especially since her face was really out of the ordinary. There was no way that an ordinary person would wear bandages all the time. He once thought that Anna was just a girl that wore a bandage for a concealment, but after seeing her, Walter understood why. "So, you are Anna, the wounded girl?" Walter asked. "Wounded girl? When did I have that nickname?" Anna asked back. "I read your files. So, you''re the one that is very reckless, huh? Sorry for you loss, by the way. I can''t imagine if my loved ones are also burnt alive by some random kingdom just because of something," Walter replied. "Don''t feel too bad about it, Walter, it''s not really your fault." They got along surprisingly well, maybe because Anna kept herself friendly or maybe because Anna was a woman. Well, Del couldn''t care less, if they got along, it would be way easier for him to condition both of them. Walter could be a great mentor after all, the person was experienced in special operations. "So, Walter, if you don''t mind, can you tell us about your past experience?" Del wanted to dig more about Walter. "Sure, I don''t think I should keep it as a secret to both of you. Long story short, I was part of the special forces in Ilbistirum Federal Government. My task was toemmence illegitimate operation that Ilbistitrum wanted me to do. To be honest, the reason why I quitted was because the amount ofrades. Those ipetent generals never listen to intelligence agencies so they are always caught with their pants down," Walter ranted. "Is it that bad?" Del asked. "You damn right it is." Walter poured the alcohol into his shot ss and he drank it. "The ident that kill thousands of people? That''s because of our failure in intercepting the package that contained the bomb. We fall for the decoy for fuck sake," Walter ranted more. The ident kept bothering Del''s mind. First, Alina mentioned it to him, but it didn''t get too much attention due to Del''sck of awareness about the information. After it, Del found a document about the ident itself, but it didn''t describe any meaningful information about the thing that killed so many people itself. Cassandra didn''t want to talk about it. And now, Walter talked about the ident caused by a bomb. "Bomb? Can you tell me more about it?" Del asked. "Yeah, the bomb that killed thousands of people and poisoned more. That thing is a weapon that no one should ever use. Too many innocent people die just because the imperial wanted to send a message to us." Walter gulped down another shot of hard alcohol. "It''s not your fault, Walter. This is the higher-ups'' fault. You don''t know anything, neither does your unit. They only know what they must do to get their job done and you know it. Theck of awareness that the general had was on them, not you. You were just another soldier, right?" Anna asked. Walter just nodded. Del became concerned. The bomb seemed to be very dangerous, but what kind of bomb that was able to be fitted in a box and killed thousands of people. The worst possibility wouldn''t be possible, this world wasn''t advanced enough to produce that thing. His best guess for now was that the bomb was a chemical bomb or a magical one. There was no other exnation. This ident. Del wanted to investigate about it more. It could be something that threaten his safety and his sister safety.. This could be a danger that was beyond of their ability to intervene. Chapter 198 - Updated Later Chapter 198 ¨C Updated Later "Thanks for the coffee," Del said to the stewardess as he retrieved his coffee. "You''re wee." The stewardess pushed the cart away from their seats. Anna and Del were apanied with Cassandra. They were boarding the train towards Stamford, a city located near Ilbistirum Federal Government capital. It was located north of Lullin, around three hours worth of train ride. All of them were in a civilian clothing. Del and Anna were wearing shirts while Cassandra wore a dress. They were wearing formal clothing because they were heading for the financial city of Ilbistirum. A formal clothing would be required to meet such important people. "You know, the amount of money inside of your suitcase is equivalent to the amount that medium-end stock broker will have. In short, you''re quite rich for their standard," Cassandra said. "Hahaha, I might invest in the future," Delmented. Cassandra arranged a meeting with the owner of the investmentpany in a luxury hotel located in the middle of the city. To gain more leverage, Cassandra convinced Del to invest two Husnael tes to hispany. It might not be much, but it was still a lot for a beginner investor. With that kind of leverage, Del would be able to enter the private security more easily due to his ex-officio position as a shareholder which meant he also had an interest inside of thepany. To be honest, Del just wanted to join the private security, not the investmentpany. However, there was also something else that he must do to stay inside the securitypany. He was recruited because of his recklessness. He must do a dangerous job for the securitypany. In return, he would be able tomand his own units. ording to the contract, he was able tomand two people, but it would grow as time goes by. Even before that, Del still had to pass a training for the securitypany which involved flying training,bat training, magic training, etc. Basically, if he wanted to work with the elites, he must be an elite. It wouldn''t be easy, but it would be worth it. It would be one hell of a week with the private securitypany. Maybe there would be an examination first to decide whether he was capable to enter the private security or not. Hopefully, Cassandra''s rmendation and his initial investment to the investmentpany would be enough to gain him ess to thatpany. "Tell me something, will I meet someone that I know in thepany?" Del asked. "I don''t think you will find anyone that you know. Cole was pretty much disgusted with finance and Alina is too busy to even invest," Cassandra said. "Basically, once you''re gone, I''m on my own?" Del asked. "Pretty much it," Cassandra said. Del just smiled and nodded as he understood what he must do. Overall, his primary goal was to get a good rtionship with the private security alongside with getting enough leverage to get the private security to do his own wet work too. He immediately formted a n on what he would do. With his skill right now, he might be able to pull a covert ndestine operation in Elbanian. It would also mean that he would be able to get his revenge on Eric sooner than expected. ===== Stamford. The first impression came from therge amount of skyscrappers inside of that city. It just felt different from the majorly suburban area of Lullin. The area really felt like an area for trading stocks. The train station was located close to the hotel that they would be staying in. Del observed the entire city in awe, it had been a very long time ever since he looked at a very tall building. Overall, it was rather a pleasant surprise for both Anna and Del. Especially Anna, she was just gazing at the buildings in that town. "Wow¡­ This is just something," Delmented. "Yeah, I never expect seeing skyscrappers in this world, but this is just insane," Annamented. The tallest building in that city might reach as high as one hundred floors tall. There might be a dozen of those buildings. Overall, it really symbolized the modernization that Ilbistirum had gone through. Del remembered that the empire state building was built in around one year. Maybe the needs of financial building was so immense that the amount of skyscrappers was a lot more inparison in 1930s earth. Maybe the town was New York of Ilbistirum. The town was pretty much focused on its financial aspect after all. There might be a trade center around the region. It really made him forget that the country was under a civil war. Del stepped out of the train station. He wondered how Ilbistirum was able to build that kind of structure even under a war. It looked like the air defense was still working as intended. The big and tall building was like a big giant mark for the flying bombers. "Cassandra, how do these buildings are still standing tall even in the middle of war?" Del asked. "Easy, this town is located very far from the front line. No enemy bomber would be able toe here, no matter how many blunders the Ilbistirum military has made," Cassandra said. If that was the case, then the sess of Stamford had little to zero rtionship to the Ilbistirum Federal Military since the biggest factor was the distance from the front line. It made full sense to be honest. "So, this town is pretty much independent about its security?" Del asked. "Pretty much it, most of the security forces in this region are former contractors that entered the police forces or private securities that the rich people rent for their safety. It could be said that this town is the safest town in the whole Ilbistirum, so, Del, do you have any question before we check in at the hotel?" Cassandra asked. "Yeah, I have one question. Is this clothing alright, or should I wear a suit?" Del asked. "Suit." ============ The dining area of that hotel looked rather majestic. Beautifulmps were hanging on the ceiling. Everyone was wearing a fancy clothing. With the soft jazz ying from the band at the stage, the aura of luxury was literally coating the entire room. Del and Cassandra were waiting for the guest. Cassandra was wearing a white formal dress and Del was wearing a ck three-piece suit. They were waiting for the head of the investment group that they were going to meet. The person that was going to meet them from thepany was called Linda ke. She was looking for a personal bodyguard that would be willing to act as a meat shield. She was the chief executive officer after all. "Salve Group, huh? What''s the name of their private security? Salve Security?" Del asked as he sipped on his wine. "More or less, there she is," Cassandra said. A pair of man and woman was walking towards their table. The man was bald and tall. He was walking right behind of the woman. There was no doubt about it, the woman was Linda ke. Del prepared himself. He must act calmly. A blunder would be very damaging to his chance of being epted. The bald man pulled up a chair on Del''s table and Linda sat down on the chair that the bodyguard had pulled. Linda was wearing a ck dress and her hair was styled. Overall, she was quite a respectful woman. "Mrs. ke, it''s nice to meet you," Cassandra greeted. "Nice to meet you too, Doctor Gable," Linda said. "Please, just call me Cassandra, ma''am," Cassandra replied. From that conversation alone, Del concluded that Cassandra respected Linda. Maybe it was because of her social status, but Del wasn''t sure about it. Linda wasn''t the type that would look down on people. She even called Cassandra using her back name, something that Del hadn''t done ever since he met her. Linda gazed at Del. He was looking at his body, his posture, and his gaze. Del felt really ufortable, "You know what my father says, you should always trust your feeling. Truth to be told, I agree. So kid, tell me, why should I recruit you as my bodyguard?" That was quite a hard question. "Ma''am, I think I am capable of protecting a VIP. My military experience is being an adventurer in Elbanian and a contractor that destroys a tankpany on his own." Linda smiled at Del. She looked doubtful about Del''s answer. "Your name''s Del, correct?" "Yes ma''am," Del answered. "So Del, you have experiences, and those are good experiences too. However, have you ever escorted a VIP before? I have dozen of people wanting to be my personal bodyguard and most of them have experiences in guarding a VIP. What''s so special about you, Del?" Linda asked. It was a hard question. He could answer that he could purchase weapons that were far more superiors that anything that this world could offer, but would it be wise to tell her that? Chapter 199 - Updated Later Chapter 199 ¨C Updated Later Del searched the outpost for anything important. He searched for the tents and found nothing. He searched the bodies of the soldier and found nothing of importance. Instead of something important, he found something that was ridiculous. Let''s just say, he found a male contraceptive tool. Delmented as he searched the body of the soldier, "Where do they find a woman around here?" The abundant number of the "thing" found inside of the body of the soldier was staggering. One person could carry up to six of those "things" at the very least. "Well¡­" Anna was hesitant toment about it. "Anyway." Del walked towards the table where the radio was. "I think this map should be important, and these files too." The table was filled with multiple documents filled with military markings alongside with a map with many symbols. Some of them are X''s, most were lines on the entire road system. It must be the route of the military convoy. "Well, it looks like they want to initiate a full-blown invasion sooner orter, but what does these circles on this map do?" The center of those circles were the center of the town in the federal side. It must have shown the radius of a weaponry, but why did the circles were so big? A regr artillery wouldn''t have that kind of radius as if one shell would be able to destroy the entire town. Anna peeked on the circle, "A secret weaponry, maybe?" Del looked back at Anna with such confusion, "Secret weapon how?" Anna shrugged and smile, "Maybe nukes?" "Nukes?" "Yeah, nukes. I don''t know if there is any other weaponry that has this kind of explosive radius," Anna said. It made sense though. A regr shell wouldn''t be able to create an explosion that big. Maybe the imperial military had a giant prototype weapon aimed at the federal military, but who knew? The military always hid a secret that was oftentimes dangerous. However, why nuke? It wouldpletely evaporize the town. Del stopped thinking about the nuke to return to his main goal. "Enough nuke talk, the colonel should be in here." Del pointed at the location where most of the armored convoy wasing from. It was a location around twenty kilometers west of that checkpoint. Going there wouldn''t be easy. They only could move during the nighttime and they must evade all of the patrols that the imperial soldiers were going to throw at him and Anna. Overall, it was rather treachrous. They must look at the clock to make sure that they reached a forest before the sun rose up. Besides that, there was also the difficulty in assassinating the general himself. "Hmm, thepound is quite big and I don''t think I will be able to assassinate the general, even using a Ko ATGM," Delmented. "What''s on your mind then?" Anna asked. "A kill streak, there is no other option," Del said. "I agree, but which one? I doubt that a gunship would be a good option. We might need a jet bomber of some sort, but I want to listen to you first," Annamented. "Cruise missile. To be precise, a precision cruise missile aimed straight at the tent of our target general," Del said. "So, if that''s the case, why are we even have to approach the main headquarter first?" Anna asked. "We don''t even know which one is the tent of the said general. We need to assess our target first before weunch a cruise missile at his direction," Del said. "I agree to that, anyway, are we good to go or do you want to kidnap an officer first?" Anna asked. "Wait a minute." Del pulled his tablet from his storage and took photographs of every single data that he could gather from that small outpost. He photographed every single paper and every single map on that outpost. "Alright, we''re done." Anna put her sniper rifle on her back and pulled her M16 instead. She then put the end of the barrel of the rifle on the head on one of the imperial soldiers head. "Shall we finish the job?" Anna put her hand right on the trigger. Del put his tablet back on the storage and walked right to Anna''s direction and pushed the rifle away from the head of that imperial soldier. "We are tranquillizing them for a reason. The main reason is to reduce the risk of raising too much attention. Sure, we had to tranquillize them, but six dead bodies would be sure as hell giving much more alertness to the imperial military." "I see where you''re getting now," Anna nodded as she put her rifle away. Killing six men would result in the imperial military sending much more patrol in their area and much more intense offensive on the federal military knowing that there were several infiltrators inside of their territory, she thought. Del and Anna continued walking through the darkness of the night. Their ears were as sharp as bats. Even a slight rustle of the grass would raise their attention. Anything wanted and would kill them if there was a chance. As long as both of them didn''t destroy any strategic asset, they wouldn''t be in the list of high-priority targets. They might only be two people, but they were the two people that destroyed an entirepany of tank only by themselves ording to the military of both sides. The report of that kind of thing could exaggerated and resulted in them being seen as a very dangerous threat. The imperial military would simply throw everything that they had on them and it would be bad. ============ Four hourster, they finally arrived at a forest located around three kilometers away from the edge of the enemy main headquarter. The headquarter itself was basically a freshly established forward operating base that was still under construction. However, it didn''t mean that its defense was any less than an ordinary base. For example, there were more than six anti-aircraft cannon aimed at the sky and it was only the middle part of the base itself. The big AA gun that had the same appearance as the k cannon was ced a little bit far away from the center of the base. On the far west side of the base was bunch of artillery aimed at the east to harass the federal military to push deeply into the imperial terittory. In conclusion, it would be hard for a conventional force to push deep into the imperial territory. However, Anna and Del weren''t considered to be conventional. All in all, it would be a good idea to first scout the base from afar. The section of the base could be separated into five different sections. There were the west section, the east section, the north section, the south section, and the middle section. The middle section was the most important part of the base. It was the part of the base with the most amount of permanent structures. Maybe throwing a cruise missile at the middle section would be enough. However, would it kill the general though? The general could be anywhere as far as Del was concerned. Unless the cruise missile would be big enough to kill everyone in the middle section of the base, it would be unwise to call the kill streak right now. Anna whispered as she showed the picture of the general from her pocket, "This is the general, isn''t it?" She questioned her own judgement as she put her eyes on the thermal binocr. Finding an old man with a highly decorated military uniform inside of a miilitary base was quite a challenge, especially since more than two people looked exactly like the person in the photograph. "Yeah, he is. The middle section is filled with the same kind of men. Where the hell is he?" Del reacted with his rigorous searching using his thermal binocr. "Let''s just drop the bomb and be done with it." Anna was impatient. "Rx, we have all day," Del said. "Is there a nuclear option on your kill streak?" Anna asked. "No, there isn''t. Why are you even asking about that?" Del asked back. "Perhaps, we can cripple the entirety of imperial highmands with one swift nuclear strike. It would really put their n back on the drawing table," Anna said. Del didn''t react to Anna as he saw someone with the same exact appearance with the man on the picture. It might be the general that they were looking for. He was located in the middle section of the base and he was walking from one building to another. He was the target indeed since everyone saluted at him every time he walked past. "I have the visual on the target, prepare yourself to mark the target," Del said. Anna pulled out herser pointer and Del pulled out his tablet from his storage.. Hopefully, one cruise missile would be enough to destroy the entirety of the middle section. Chapter 200 - Updated Later Chapter 200 ¨C Updated Later Del''s mind was spinning around as he tried to look for an answer that didn''t expose too much of his secret while making sure that it would end up impressing him. Truth be told, impressing the demonic elf in front of him was rather difficult. Mostly because Del never had any conversation with an executive, and this executive also owned a military force. "I also have an interest in yourpany and we can be mutually beneficial to each other," Del said in his own opinion. The woman giggled, "I appreciate your honesty, Del, but five Husnael tes are peanuts for me. You have to try harder than that. So, why should I let you in?" Was this woman ying with him, or was this just an ordinary behavior of anyone with a corporate background? If it was a little bit of reassurance on her part, Del understood that, but it was just something he had never had before. One thing for sure, though, it was something Del didn''t have any interest in. Del was thinking hard, "Emmmm¡ª" Cassandra cut him, "I think what this kid has told you would be more than enough to recruit him as a beginner in your securitypany. You still owe me a favor, don''t you think?" Cassandra just smiled. Linda smiled back at her, "You know how to y your cards well, don''t you, Doctor Gable?" "I do," Cassandra replied. "Very well." Linda then looked at Del, who was still clueless about what was going on. "Rx kid, I was just ying with you. If I don''t want you, you won''t be here in the first ce. Why would I invite a random kid to an expensive hotel?" Del finally breathed in relief. If he got admitted to private security, it would mean that he would have an easier time in that world. Thinking about it, it was an outstanding deal. After all, Linda would be quite resourceful as a person. "Cassandra has sent your file, and your sister''s file. There''s one thing that I dislike though, you both only have junior high school diploma. That thing is not something I can tolerate, per se. I want both of you to get educated. That responsibility will also be included in the contract, what do you say?" "Well, ma''am, if you ask me honestly, I''m up for it, but I''m not sure how the curiculum works in Ilbistirum," Del said. "Well, Del, let''s just say that I know everything." Everything? So, Cassandra spilled all of the beans? What the hell? What was her intention? Del looked at her in suspicion. He wasn''t sure what this woman was trying to do. Did she try to sell Del''s soul to Linda, or did she have something else in her mind? "Everything?" Del wanted to confirm first. "More or less, I know you''re not from around here and I know you''re a refugee. Cassandra did say that you have a connection to an arms manufacturer," Linda said. Great, so she told something that Del didn''t want Linda to know with bullshit. Thank you, Cassandra. The situation would be much moreplicated. Well, at the very least, Cassandra didn''t tell Linda his true origin. "If it''s written in the file, it''s mostly true," Del decided to y along. "Ok, awesome. Well, if that''s the case, I''m looking forward to working with you, boy. Now, let me introduce you to the one that will personally train you." She then looked at the bodyguard that apanied him. "This is Walter, this is the person that will train you both inbat and in academic." The bald and muscr man was going to train them? Del wouldn''t lie that the man looked more muscle than brain. How could he help Del academically? That dude was literally the perfect bodyguard stereotype instead of a mentor or a teacher. "Nice to meet you, Del Moore. I''m Walter, we will be spending our next two years together," Walter said. "Two years?" Del was surprised again. "Mrs. ke, I think it''s a good idea if you give Del the contract that you keep referring to," Cassandra said. "Very well, Walter, can you give Del his contract?" Linda asked. Walter grabbed a briefcase that was put below the table. He then put a thick file on the dining table. "Please, read it, Del." He presented the file to Del, and Del picked that file up. The document was the contract. The contract was an agreement between Anna, Him, and Salve Group. It contained all of the things he and his sister needed to do. He opened the first page of the document. The first page only told him about the parties involved inside of the contract. There wasn''t anything too critical on the first page. Del then opened the second page. It was filled with a bunch of financial terms that Del didn''t even understand. However, the gobbledygook could be simplified into what Salve Group could do with the initial Husnael tes. They really covered their backs by ensuring that there would be severe consequences if Del double-crossed thepany. Del was eligible for 80% of the profit that his money got. Salve Group would only be liable if the funds that Del invested lost 60% in value. It was not that bad. From an analytical perspective, Salve Group was a defense contractor. With Ilbistirum under a civil war, it would mean that thepany would keep growing as long as Ilbistirum Federal Government had enough money to pay Salve Group. Those uses about his finances got cleared out of his mind. He then moved on to the next group of uses. The next group of uses was about Del''s responsibility as a junior member of the private security. It was told that he and Anna would be under the supervision of a more senior member. In this case, the senior member was Walter. Walter would be responsible for training those two. "Mrs. ke, do you often recruit contractors for your private security?" Del asked since it seemed that one senior for two juniors was pretty generous for a securitypany. "Well, we do get a lot of applications, but we turn it down for the most part. Why? Are you wondering why I put you two under him?" Linda asked. "Yes, more or less." "It''s because Walter is a jack-of-all-trades. He isn''t exactly the best of everything, but he is certainly capable of almost everything. So, he will be a good mentor for you two," Linda said. "Ah, I see." Del continued reading the contract. The contract signified that he would have to work under Walter for around two years. Thinking about it, it was rtively reasonable. Del wouldn''t even recruit some random teenagers that suddenly rose to the top before further training. It was too risky, and recruiting big shots without training beforehand would be a recipe for disaster. Continuing from there, there was an agreement that Del and Anna must finish their education. It really came out of nowhere. The intention was good, but how did it be included in the contract in the first ce? It was a contract for bing a member of private security, not some sort of tuition contract. Thinking about it again, the contract might be custom-made to fit Del and Anna''s needs and background. Del doubted that any elite contractor or soldier would need that use about education. But well, it was not like there was anything to lose if he joined an academy in Ilbistirum. Their culture didn''t differ too radically after all. Moving on from that part, Del noticed the consequences of breaching the contract. This part would be the most important part for him. He must have a backup n in case everything went wrong. He must have a way to get out of Salve Group. One of the penalties was the total confiscation of any stored assets. All of the money that Del had invested would be owned entirely by Salve Group. Well, it was not bad. It wasn''t like Del didn''t have any savings inside of his ount. If he got out before the two years'' end, Del and Anna would have to pay a penalty of twenty Husnael tes. It wasn''t too bad. Most of the fines were money-based. They could get out of there quite easily. Thest part was amenities. This part described the facility that Del and Anna would get once they entered Salve Group. They would have ess to their own house and several benefits of being an employee with Salve Group. He would be eligible for free health care and free education. He would also be given funds at the beginning of each month topensate for his living expenses. "So, I just have to sign here?" Del asked. "Yes," Walter gave his pen to Del. Del signed that piece of paper, and the deal was closed. He would be working with Salve Group from now on.. Hopefully, the most dangerous kind of job was not entering another poisoned town. Chapter 201 - Updated Later Chapter 201 ¨C Updated Later Del watched the artillery strike the city from afar. The artillery blew up into a thick white cloud of gas. Chlorine or Mustard gas would have a disnctinctive yellow color. However, the smokeing from the artillery shells were white and it was almost invisible the moment it went out of the shells. Del got the conclusion that the gas was neither, but it was far more worse. "ANNA! GET HUBERT OUT OF THERE! THAT DAMN GAS IS A NERVE GAS! KILL THE GUARDS IN FRONT OF THE TENTS! QUICKLY!" Del shouted to the radio. He immediately evacuated Alina back to the MRAP since it was the only ce that had an NBC protection. Del put Alina inside of the MRAP and told her to stay inside of the MRAP. He closed the door of the MRAP and lock it tightly. He then dashed back to the Ko missile to observe where Anna was. Anna was gone. In front of the medical tent were two dead bodies of the soldiers that kept Anna from entering the tent. All of them died from gunshots to the head. It seemed that Anna followed the instruction well enough. Multiple whistling came from the sky and it begun to bombard Halivaara. Nerve gas started spreading in Halivaara. People that touched that gas immediately suffered from seizures and immediate suffocation. The gas was effective at killing people, unlike the previous two. Del was worried that Anna couldn''t save Hubert in time. If Hubert couldn''t be saved, he would risk himself and Anna. Cassandra was working with the intelligence agencies and Del feared that they would connect the dots. The gas attack only happened after Del wiped out the uppermand of imperial military. The intelligence agencies could be convinced by Cassandra that Del and Anna were behind of the attack. "Anna, do you find him?" Del shouted to the radio. "Negative, I''d keep looking." Gunshots could be heard from the background. It wouldn''t mean anything good. It was either Anna was shooting her gun or there was someone else. "Don''t worry, situation is still under control." "I hope¡ª" Tanks were moving towards Halivaara. Del counted the amount of tank that headed for Halivaara. Six tanks were rolling towards Halivaara. "THERE''S A TANK UNIT COMING YOUR WAY! HURRY UP!" Del shouted as he aimed the Ko missile at the tank. Del pulled the trigger of that anti-tank guided missileuncher and a missile flew to the direction of the tank. The missile flew in circle as Del tried to keep the cross hair of the missile centered at the tank. The missile blew up alongside with the tank. Del threw the empty tube and reced it with another fresh ATGM. In the midst of the confusioning from the tank unit, Del fired another missile at another tank. Del kept his sight centered at the tank and the blew up. "Two tanks are down. Anna, do you find Hubert?" Del asked as he reced the empty tube with a new one. "Negative, I''ll keep looking," Anna replied. "Hurry up, we don''t have much time," Del said. Del fired another missile at the tank. The tank noticed him and fired at his direction. However, too bad for the tank, Del put himself far away from the range of the tank gun. The tank gun wouldn''t be able to reach him. Del was more than 8,000 meters away from the possible entry location for any imperial military unit. He knew that no tank gun would be able to reach him. Although artillery would be particrly dangerous for him. "I FOUND HIM!" Anna shouted from the radio. "Great, but you need to get out of there on your own, I will hold the tank off first," Del said. Del reced the empty tube on top of theuncher and fired an ATGM at one of the tanks. The tank blew up again. He kept repeating the same thing until there was only one tank left. Del pulled the trigger while aiming the sight at the center of the tank. The tank blew off. Del sighed in relief as all of the tanks were destroyed. The gas bombardment continued in Halivaara. The people on that town were no different that moisquitoes when they got gassed with pesticide. All of them just dropped dead in the ground while some were drying. However, in the midst of it all was a girl carrying a man with a gas mask. From the looks of it, Hubert wasn''t able to walk anymore so Anna carried him. Still, all that mattered to him was Hubert getting out of the town alive. All of the tanks were dead so Del could drive the MRAP safely into the town. Del entered the MRAP and closed the door. He wore his gas mask and he went to the backseat. Del put a gas mask to Alina''s face, but he reced the filter inside of the gas mask with a hose that was connected to the oxygen tank and opened the valve. Alina was barely able to breathe normally, putting on a gas mask on her face would be an unwise decision. "Don''t take off the mask, alright?" Del asked. Alina just nodded. Del started driving towards the poisoned town. As he drove, the horror of chemical attack became much more horrifying. The soldiers were holding their neck, trying to breathe from their copsed lungs. Some hadmitted suicide by putting shooting themselves in the head using a pistol. Anna was walking towards the MRAP with Hubert on her back. "Del, open the back of the MRAP, I''ll being in." Del went to the back of the MRAP and open the backdoor using his hand. Anna was waiting and she immediately put Hubert inside of the vehicle once she arrived at the back of the vehicle. Anna entered the MRAP and closed the back door. Del drove away from that poisoned town as quickly as he could. ============ Thirty kilometers east of Halivaara, Del begun the cleanup procedure on Hubert. As usual, he took off all of the exposed clothing and threw it away inside of a sealed stic bag, underwear included. Anna had injected the antidote for the nerve gas as soon as she found Hubert so he had stabilized. Right now, they were sitting down in the grasnd with Hubert wrapped in a heat-retention nket. "Thank you, Del, Anna," Hubert said as he drunk the coffee that Del made. "It''s a responsibility for us, don''t think too much about it," Del replied. "So, I guess that''s why fiancee kept telling me not to go to Halivaara. I should have listened to her. Now, I have to report that four of my students die. God damn it, I shouldn''t have brought them here," Hubert said. Del and Anna were looking at Hubert. They were surprised that Hubert knew about the risk of gas attack. Wait, Cassandra knew about this potential bullshit too? Why didn''t Cassandra tell him about the risk of gas attack. "So, you know about the gas attack?" Del asked. "No, I don''t know about whatever gas that was. However, I heard about the development of secret weapons that imperial military used in this frontline. I''m just a doctor. I never delve myself too deeply inside of the military intelligence," Hubert answered. "So, Aiden is dead?" Alina asked. "I''m afraid so," Hubert answered. Alina sighed. "This is war, we are here to kill and we are here to die. Still, I don''t know¡­ I need some time alone. Sir, if you excuse me." She stood up and walked away from Del, Anna, and Hubert. She sat down in the grasnd while hugging her knees. She immediately sobbed. Hubert sighed, "This is why I don''t like the intelligence in the federal military. They either kept everything too secretive that any officer in the field won''t be able to react to the military situation or they give information toote that it became obsolete for us. This is why we''re always in a stalemate with the imperial military." "Did your fiancee keep a secret from you?" Del asked. "No, she told all that she knew. I know if she kept something from me. He just told me to stay away from Halivaara because of a secretive weaponry that the Imperial military is developing, but I never thought it would be a weapon of mass destruction," Hubert answered. Del sighed. "Damn, would this mean that the federal military would be under full-retreat from Halivaara?" "I think so. I think I am the only one that survived that gas attack. The imperial military had known our weakness and they will keep attacking relentlessly without giving the federal military any time to take a break. Del, you and Anna better report to my fiancee about the situation. Hopefully, she could tell her higher-ups about the information." "We will tell Cassandra about that. Don''t worry too much about it.. I will assure you that the information will arrive at your fiancee," Del replied. Chapter 202 - Updated Later Chapter 202 ¨C Updated Later Anna and Del was inside of a car. They needed to go as fast as they could. They needed to warn them about the gas attack. There should be time left since Moruguri was around fifty kilometers away from their location. They had drove for a while and the remaining distance was only five kilometers. Del bought a half-million dor MRAP, to be precise, an Cougar 6¡Á6 MRAP. Del wanted an upgrade from the Humvee so he bought a MRAP which had more protection than the previously owned vehicle and he also upgraded the vehicle with an add-on NBC filtering system and armor due to the current circumstances. There was also a .50 BMG turret on the roof, but it was sealed for now. The sun had risen. However, things weren''t looking good from afar. Dead bodies were littering the street left and right. Del doubted that it was only Chlorine gas that poisoned the entire area. There could be an even more lethal gas that they didn''t know. At worst, there could be nerve gas out there and they didn''t know about it. "Did Cassandra give you clearance to take off your bandage, or is it just your guts to take it all off?" Del looked at the face of his sister as he drove. Since she didn''t wear her gas mask, It was horrifying. It was thebination of charred skin and muscles. Del wouldn''t even think that it was his sister at first. "Well, she gave me permission to take off my bandage, but not for long. She said that the limit is twelve hours. The spell would fight the bacteria, but it would be overwhelmed if I don''t wear any bandage in twelve hours," Anna said. "I see¡­" Del nodded. "Anyway, be careful on the road, you''ll hit something sooner orter. This is the first time you drive this vehicle, right?" Anna said. "The steering wheel is heavier than our sedan, but well, it''s manageable," Del said. As they drove, a yellow thick cloud appeared in the distance. It was still far away from them. It was covering an entire town. Del presumed that it was Moruguri. Yellow gas was never something good. It would be something bad. However, what could that gas be? Del stopped the car, "Damn¡­ those imperial bastards¡­" He didn''t want to approach the town. That thing could be something more dangerous than a mere Chlorine gas. "What gas is that? Is it Chlorine, again?" "No, it could be worse, should we wear a MOPP suit?" Anna asked. "Yeah," Del said. They got out of the car to put on the suit first. There was no space to put on the suit inside of the car. MOPP suit, or Mission Oriented Protective Posture was a protective gear used to protect military personnel from an attack from chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear weapon. In this case, the attack wasing from chemical weapons. They wore it in fear that the chemical weapons used in Moruguri was a blister agent. If that was the case, the gas mask wouldn''t be enough to protect them. What was blister agent? Blister agent was a weapon that caused severe irritation to the epidermis part of the body. They had the ability to cause chemical burn just by touching the agent itself, resulting in painful water blister which would lead to a much moreplicated disease to the body such as infection. Del wore the over garments alongside with the rubber gloves and the rubber shoes. He made sure that there was no exposed part of his skin. He was aware that even a single gap would decide whether he lived or die. One might wonder why Del could put on the military equipment. Well, the answer was simple. It was because of medical volunteering experience. He was once sent to a conflict zone for some easy jobs, but one of the requirements was the ability to wear a Hazmat suit, or in this case, the MOPP suit. Of course, he passed the training, but he never thought it would be useful in another world. "Anna, are you done?" Del said as he tightened the cuffs on his legs. "Wait a minute," Anna replied. Del walked to Anna''s direction. "Oh my, why don''t you tell me that you can''t put it on?" He looked at Anna that had difficulties in putting the whole suit on. One of the difficulties was due to the amount of straps inside of that suit. Del eventually helped her to put on the suit correctly. Del tested the seal on his gas mask again to make sure that the seal was tight. Anna did the same thing then she raised her thumb. They entered the car again and continued their journey towards Moruguri. The yellow cloud covered a radius bigger than the town itself. If the soldiers there didn''t have any CRBN protection, they would be as good as dead. Even they had begun entering the yellow cloud zone three kilometers away from the town. The imperial military didn''t want anyone to leave that town. "Damn, the gas is quite thick," Delmented as he drove through the thick yellow cloud. "Yeah, no shit, what are we doing in here?" Anna asked. "Well, at first, I just want to visit this town to get my reward, but now, I think it''s a good opportunity to get secret information. I doubt anyone would stay in this town," Del said as he parked his car near themand center of the town. Del got out of the car and he tested the air using the strip that was included with the MOPP suit. The strip showed a red color. The gas was a blister agent, otherwise known as the mustard gas. If not for the mop suit, they would get irritation now. "Yup, this is mustard gas," Delmented. "Mustard gas? Was that the gas the German used in the first world war?" Anna asked. "Yeah, anyway, we might find the forbidden apple in here." Del slowly walked towards themand center of the town with his rifle in front of his shoulder. He opened the door slowly and aimed his rifle left and right. Themand center was abandoned abruptly. Once Del closed the door, he noticed that he just stepped on a pool of blood. Following the flow of blood, it came out from the body of a soldier. A rifle wasying down next to him and his head was blown off. All that was left was the stem of his head. There were also blisters on his hands. "Damn, what happened in here?" Many soldiers were killing themselves in the same manner. All of them weren''t wearing gas mask. They must have breathed the mustard gas and suffocated. However, they put themselves out of misery. Mustard gas didn''t work that quickly though. It was too quick for the gas to take effect. Was it an instant effect mustard gas? Del wondered. He then headed for the general''s office. In there, he didn''t find the general which was quite a shame. However, the general left the ce hastily too. There were several military documents inside of that desk too. Maybe the moment the gas hit the town, the general was evacuated immediately. Del put all of the military documents into a thick stack of paper and put it all inside of his storage to be analyzedter. The documents consisted of maps, written letters, and orders from the higher-ups. There was no sign of money though. "Damn, that sneaky general brought nothing but his money." The Intel would be useful, but for what? Del needed money and he had been ripped off by that general. "That damn greedy old man!" Del kicked the table. The table fell to the ground and revealed something. There was a secret storage located right below of the table. The door of the storage identally opened from the shakeing from the table. There were Husnael tes and a document inside of that secret storage. It looked like he just found the general''s secret storage. That was fortunate. He picked up all of the Husnael tes inside of the safe and put it inside of his storage. He then picked up the document, "Ah, what''s this?" It was a document that reported the recent terrorist ident that killed thousands of people. There were many redacted parts inside of that documents. He only found that most of the victim that located close to the explosion had the appearance of being burned alive. However, most of the victims came from surrounding area of the terrorist ident. The report said that the victim reported heavy nausea followed vomiting blood. The victim usually died in the duration of six days after staying inside of the hospital. It must have been a gas attack, but some of the symptoms didn''t make any sense. Other than those parts, most of the documents were redacted. "Is there any other intelligence around here?" The whole office had been stripped out of documents by Del. However, he hadn''t searched for more documents in the other room of themand center. He might be able to find more reasons on why the soldiers were left to die without a gas mask. This number of casualty was simply uneptable. How did apetent military unit end up like this? There was simply no clue. Did the federal military have a budget problem that they didn''t equip their soldiers with gas masks, or was it because of other reasons. All of those thinking got cut once he heard a transmission from Anna. "Del,e near the medical tent. It''s¡­ juste here." "I''m on my way." Chapter 203 - Updated Later Chapter 203 ¨C Updated Later Landville. First impression? It was the city of mansions. It just looked right Del had just entered another high-end area that only the richest would be able to afford. Even the smaller houses had cars parked in front of those houses. Not to mention that the number of security details that patrolled the entire region was quiterge. "Damn, I think we just enter Alendale, again," Delmented. "Alendale? The city of nobles? I never entered that town before, but people talked about it a lot. I heard it is a very majestic city, isn''t it?" Anna asked. "Majestic isn''t the correct word, I''d say it''s a city of overspending. That bloody darn city had gold covering its entire street," Del said. "Really?" "Well, nah, it was an exaggeration, but you get my point, right?" "Yup," Anna nodded. They got off the train and walked out of the train station. Different from other towns they had been in, Landville had more cars than carriage. Even then, the carriage was pretty much decorated in either gold or any expensive jewelries. To be entirely honest, Del felt out of ce with his operator look when everyone was literally wearing a suit or a dress. "Damn, that woman looked so¡­ elegant," Anna looked at one of the woman that got off of her car. The woman was apanied with a very handsome butler. She was wearing a clean white dress and wore a fancy hat on her head. "No shit, yeah," Del also looked at the same woman. The woman looked at both of them with disgust. Maybe it was because Del and Anna was literally gazing at her like they were savoring something. Del gazed at her simply because she was too invaluable to be missed while Anna envied the way the woman dressed. It would be reasonable for the woman to look at them with disgust. "Mmm, let''s get out of here before the woman call us a stalker," Del muttered. "Yeah, it''s better for us," Anna said. Del and Anna walked away further away from the train station. They looked for the nearest pub, or any ce to n. However, it was also a major risk trying to discuss a n inside of a public area. Special forces wouldn''t be stupid enough not to put a spy inside of the nearest pub. "Should we look for the nearest hotel or motel? I don''t think we would be able to discuss our n inside of a pub," Del said. "Well, that''s a good idea, but what kind of hotel that we should be staying? I doubt any rich hotel would ept contractors like us," Annamented. "Well, we can sleep on the grass if you want to, but it was simply looking for attention. I think we can stay inside of a cheaper hotel or something, it should be a good idea to formte our n there, after all, the spec-ops might not be able to differentiate us from any ordinary contractors," Del said. To find a hotel in that ce was easy. Every single hotel on that ce would have arge sign that could be read from afar. It was also the ce where one rich person would visit another rich person so a hotel would be pretty much expected in Landville. They walked deeper into the center of the town. Mansions filled the hills surrounding the town. The town itself wasn''t exactly the main attraction of Landville. It might either because of the town''s beautifulndscape or the fact that the town was just strategically positioned. Eventually, after they walked for a while, they found a hotel on the side of the main road. It didn''t look too expensive for what it looked, but it was definitely a hotel that would cost him one gold coin per night at the very least. Del entered that hotel, with hisbat boots andbat gears which was really out of ce. One of the bell boys approached him, "Excuse me, what are you doing in here? Are you here to kill someone?" "Emm, no, I''m just here to stay," Del said. "Oh, you''re a guest?" The bell boy asked. "Yes, I am," Del was disappointed with that question. Del was not even looking like someone that was a plebeian. He still had more than enough money inside of his pocket. He was basically rich enough to pay for anything expensive so far. It was just that he looked like a regr grunt too much that definitely didn''t have too much money. "Oh, I apologize, sir, please, this way," the bell boy said. The bell boy led Del to the receptionist table. Del ordered for the cheapest room with double bed so he and his sister would have enough space to sleep inparison to a one-bed room. The price for the cheapest room was three gold coins. It was expected. "Your room is on the 5th floor. You can take the elevator on the left. Our bell boy can help you to carry your luggage, the room is 123," the receptionist gave Del the key and the door bell tried to take Del''s machine gun from his hand. "This thing is mine, sorry, but I''d rather hold it with my hands," Del said as he kept holding his machine gun tightly. "I''m sorry," the bel boy said. They head to the elevator. The door bell opened the door to the elevator and all of them entered the elevator. The bell boy pressed the button on the elevator and the elevator lifted up from the ground. The elevator had music on it, most likelying from a radio. After they waited for a while, the elevator stopped and the bell boy opened the door of the elevator. The bell boy carried their luggage and their backpack until they reached their hotel room. The bell boy opened the hotel door and Del entered the hotel room alongside with Anna. "Tips, sir?" The bell boy asked. "With your kind of introduction, I''m afraid a silver will be enough," Del gave the bell boy a silver coin and he closed the door. Del put his backpack near the bed and opened his tablet again. Inside of the quest paper, there was an envelope that Del hadn''t opened, but it was very thick. The content of that envelope was pictures, bunch of them. All of them were in ck and white. It was mostly intel to be honest. It was the picture of the location where the arms dealer was staying alongside with the picture of the arms dealer himself. There was also the fact that there were also the pictures of the bodyguard of that arms dealer. It also had several documents that showed what the security details were. They were all former special forces group ranging from 23rd Special Recon Battalion, 24th Special Engineering Squadron, and 105th Special Assault Detachment. All of them were dangerous. "They could fly?" Anna showed a picture of them floating in the sky while holding their rifle. "Damn, it will make things moreplicated," Delmented. "I''ll say we should attack them at night, we have the advantage of our NVG," Anna said. "Hmm, yeah, but night assault and machine gun doesn''t connect, your weapon has a supressor, I don''t. This machine gun will light up like a firework, and don''t get me wrong, any suppressor would either glow brightly or melt after a sustained fire from the M240," Del said. "You can buy a new gun on the move, right? Just buy something that can be attached with suppressor, I think you might want to buy an M16 with silencer or an M4, whatever works, I guess?" Annamented. ???????????? [Showing Avable Assault Rifle] [Tech Level: 6] [Total Bnce: 131,870$] [AK-74M] [800$] [AK-107] [1,000$] [FNC] [1,200$] [AUG] [1,600$] [FAMAS] [1,700$] [SAR-21] [1,750$] [M-16A4] [1,800$] [SA80] [1,900$] [G36] [2,000$] [Tavor] [2,050$] [AS VAL] [2,300$] [AEK-971] [2,500$] [AN-94] [2,800$] [G11] [4,000$] ???????????? "Where are the cheap stuffs?" Del asked himself. [The "cheap stuff" that you mentioned has been phased out for a more recent weapon] "Ok, can you give me the same as what my sister has?" Del asked Pidma. [Certainly. All will be 4,000$, attachment included. With 4 magazines loaded with 5.56 AP] "I see, well, get me that gun then," Del said. A crate appeared on top of the bed. Del opened that metal crate and it contained the same exact weaponry as the one that Anna was currently holding. It was a heavily modified M16A4 with ACOG sight, silencer, and a vertical foregrip. Maybe he could attach new things on that rifle, but it was more than enough for now. "Sweet," Del muttered as he picked up that rifle. "Dad''s old rifle, isn''t it?" Anna asked. "Yeah, I rarely used it though," Del said as he checked the magazine of that rifle. The magazine of that rifle was filled with ck-tipped bullets. It was a bullet with tungsten core and it would prate any light or medium armor. From the picture, it looked like that the security details wore some sort of armor. It could be bulletproof as far as Del was concerned. "Alright, since weapon issue is solved, how about tactics?" Anna asked. "Well, we will brief about it now," Del said. Chapter 204 - Updated Later Chapter 204 ¨C Updated Later Lumbart Academy. It really reminded Del of his old school. If life turned out to be normal, he might still study at the same institution instead of killing people left and right. Well, at least, now, he had one extra assignment besides killing people left and right. The extra assignment would be reading books left and right like he used to be doing when he was still on Earth. From the admin office, he could see several people of his age were studying or training theirbat ability in the courtyard of that academy. For the record, there was almost no snow in the courtyard of that academy. It was because the academy had an integrated heating magical program that would heat up the entire academy. It was rather convenient, but the only downside was the amount of energy that the spell required. The only reason why there was an academy in the middle of a snowy region was because of the magical vein that stretched below Sneggor that supplied the academy with a massive amount of magical energy. He and Anna were waiting in the administration office while Hubert was on the headmaster office to negotiate. It was a major implication that the dealing between the Salve Group and Lumbart Academy were actually off the record. Still, it Walter could pull it off, it didn''t matter too much for him. Several students that walked passed the admin office were looking at him and Anna. Mainly because they were humans which were very rare in Ilbistirum. Hell, as far as Del knew, there was no human in Ilbistirum. Those who looked like humans were vampires. They do had the same appearance as humans after all. Anna was standing out in particr. The appearance of the bandages covering her entire body caught the attentions of most of the students. There was also a stain of blood that she got from training this morning. She fell down when she tried to fly and the wound had been healed. However, Del hadn''t reced the bandage that covered her face. Walter peeked out of the headmaster''s office and he told Del and Anna to enter the office. Del and Anna stood out from the chairs and they walked into the headmaster''s office. Walter was sitting down right in front of the headmaster''s table. The headmaster herself was an old woman, probably in her 20s or 30s. She was wearing a formal attire. She was filling the paper that Walter gave to both Del and Anna. Maybe it was one of the entrance requirements. Nevertheless, if someone as privileged as a headmaster signed it, it meant that their entrance was mostly legal. "So you both are from the same family? Nice to meet you, call me Principal Greenwood. It''s a pleasure to meet a hero for our country." Greenwood praised them for some unknown reason. Yeah, Del knew that he still had some reputation, but was it really relevant that it got mentioned even in an academic setting like that. "The pleasure is mine, ma''am," Del replied. "Anyway, I have assessed your file. It might be average, but your track record was too good to be refused. You''ll begin attending this school tomorrow, is that clear enough?" Greenwood smiled. Her smile was warm, very warm. It didn''t radiate any malicious intention at all. It was just a smileing from a warm heart of a teacher. "I understand." Del nodded. That was rather sooner than expected. He expected that he would start attending the school the day after tomorrow, but since he would start attending from tomorrow, it might be a good idea to take a quick tour around the school. First, he could waste so much time just to find his ssroom if he took a tour tomorrow. Second, he might be able to meet some of his ssmates. Third, he wanted to familiarized himself with the avable curriculum that Lumbart academy offered. All in all, he wanted to have a n. It was not a n for abat operation, but it still needed to be taken seriously. "Oh, and Anna, about the bandages, you are permitted to go to the infirmary at any time to change it. After all, you have some sort of skin conditions, right?" Greenwood asked for confirmation. Anna just nodded up and down which meant that she understood. "By the way, your uniforms and other utensils would be deliveredter to your home." "Much appreciated, ma''am." "Do you two want to take a walk around the academy first? Walter still needed to finish your administration." "Sure, if that''s the case, we''ll see youter, Walter." Del stood up from the chair and walked outside of the headmaster''s office, followed by Anna from behind. They walked out of the admin room, into the hallway. The hallway was still empty, mainly because the students were still in the middle of their lessons. He sometimes took a nce at the ssroom from the hallway. The way of teaching wasn''t that different from his old school. The students would be sitting down in their chairs while taking notes. The teachers will teach them about the material that they needed to remember and master. Sometimes, a student would be called to the front of the ss to demonstrate a magical spell that the teacher had taught. It looked fun. They continued walking around the hallway. On their way, they met two people along the way. One was a teacher, and the other was a female student. This female student was carrying books, a lot of them, those books were probably as tall as herself in stack. Del really feared that it would fall. If those books fell, it would be more than a hassle to pick all of those books. Del approached the female student. "Excuse me, do you need any help?" The female student was looking at him in confusion. "Excuse me, but who are you?" They might look simr, but Del didn''t wear any uniform and Anna''s appearance was certainly not helping. Del understood her action though. She wouldn''t trust any stranger, much less a stranger apanied with someone stained with blood. "Oh, my name is Del Moore, I''m a transfer student." "Ah, so you''re that guy. I see, I see, then this girl must be your sister, correct?" The female student asked. Wait, wait, wait, there had been rumors about them? Even before they entered the academy? Why did the students want to put their ears on something that were still rather unconfirmed? Did someone actually tell those students the tale about the contractor that wiped out apany of tanks all by himself? "Yes, this is my sister, her name is Anna Moore." Del observed the hands of the girl that had begun to shake greatly. "Are you sure that you don''t need any hands with those books?" It might fall any time soon. "Sure, sure, just pick six to ten books if you can." Del picked up ten books from that stack and he begun walking alongside with the female student. With the books out of the way, he could get more glimpse of her facial features. Two triangr horns were protruding among the long silky ck hairs that she had. She was beautiful, ording to Del''s standard. "What''s your name?" "My name? Just call me Aveline. I''m the ss representative from 12-C." the girl replied. "Ah, nice to meet you Aveline. So I can say that you''re our leader?" Del asked. "More or less. We are equals anyway, don''t need to look at me as if I hold a higher position that you two. There are eighteen students in our ssroom, twenty including you two. Twelve are females, while the eight are males." Del nodded. She knew the rumor because she was the ss representative. The teachers must have told her earlier inparison with the other students. They walked to the ssroom. Aveline opened the door to the ssroom and she entered the ssroom. Del wondered whether he should enter or not since he was not officially a student yet. However, Aveline forced him to enter since he was carrying the books. Although he was hesitating at first, he entered the ssroom. He put the books on one of the tables and he took a closer look at the students inside of that ssroom. The students were looking just like an ordinary students. However, the exception was a thick book in their tables which was their grimoire. That was not the thing that caught most of his attention though. The thing that caught most of his attentions was the presence of rifles on the side of their table. The weapons beside their tables were ranging from SMG to a shotgun.. Why would a regr school need that kind of thing? Wait, thinking about it again, it made sense. The students were also trained inbat, why they wouldn''t be equipped with guns in the first ce ifbat was one of the curriculum of that school? Chapter 205 - Updated Later Chapter 205 ¨C Updated Later After cleaning the house, it didn''t mean that the task wasplete. Walter didn''t tell him that there were more task for him, even after cleaning the whole cabin which consisted of two floors that couldn''t be said as a small space. The cabin wasrge, reallyrge. There was no doubt about that. Anna was cooking on the kitchen using the ingredients that Walter previously bought on the way. Meanwhile, Del was filling documents on the table. It was the enrollment document to enroll into the academy. He needed to fill in his name, his identity, his birthday, and everything else that needs to be filled on the form. Somehow, there was also a test about the amount of magical energy that they had. The test was just to drip a blood into the paper. Overall, there was nothing wrong with that method, It was just that Del was too tired to do one thing after another. Before he signed everything, he checked his status te first. ???????????? [Del Moore] [Level: 73] Strength: 152 Agility: 142 Vitality: 216 Aptitude: 135 Perception: 129 Skills: Language Understanding | Firearm Comprehension LVL.67 | Marksmanship LVL.65 | me Maniption LVL.10 | Field Maniption LVL.23 | Demolition Expert LVL.25 Magical Energy: 39420/39420 Health Point: 157680/157680 ???????????? The amount of leveling up was not too great, but it was not too bad either. Del expected that he hit level 80 or higher. Maybe as they leveled up more, it became harder for them to raise their level up. Del put poke his finger and dripped the blood into a special slot on the paper that Walter gave. The blood desintegrated once it touched the paper and it turned into a set of number that disyed the same value as total magical energy in the status te. It was creepy at first, but it was rather revolutionary too for him. From blood alone, a paper was able to detect someone''s magical energy. Truth be told, it opened a whole new set of possibilities. The blood could be used to monitor patient''s vital or to monitor hit of one group. It was endless. Del continued filling the form, not letting himself to lost in thoughts. The end result of the form was pretty much Del''s forged information. The only thing that was truthful in that form was his name and the amount of magical energy that he had. He faked his birthday since Del didn''t even know whether the world had or had not stepped into the same timeline of the earth or not. His birthce was also modified so it showed that he was born and raised in Elbanian. He didn''t want to spoil that he was from another world. It would simply jeopardize his n to stay below the radars of the students. All in all, he would be better off using the fake identities that he had forged by himself. He eventually finished filling up the documents both for himself and his own sister. He immediately gave the document back to Walter. Walter might want to check it first. There would be no way that Walter would give the documents to the academy without checking it out first, his trust on the kids wasn''t that big to begin with. "Hmm, I see, I see. so both of you have the same birthday, huh? I''ll keep that in mind," Walter nodded as he kept checking the documents. He just nodded to confirm whether something was valid or invalid. He would give the documents to school tomorrow, but not before he started asking both of them questions. "So, Del, how was your time in Elbanian?" "Walter, truthfully, it was nightmare-ish," Del replied. "How so?" "In Elbanian, I was hunted down by the kind and his allies while making sure that I have enough money to survive. In here, at the very least, I chose to enter the danger on my own ord, not because of circumstances." He exined what was inside of his mind to Walter. Walter just nodded. Why was the bald guy have such t expression? He didn''t show any happiness nor any sadness at anything that Del had said so far. The only time that bald dude showed any emotion was when he was under the influence of alcohol. And it was because Del asked about the ''ident''. "Well, if that''s the case. I will say that you two will be weed in Ilbistirum. Don''t worry too much about it." Walter put all of the documents inside of a small briefcase. Someone came from the kitchen with three tes on her hands. "Dinner''s ready!" ============================ The storage room aka the makeshift armory would be a great ce to store any weapons that they wouldn''t be using. The ce was warm from the instion that covered the entire room. Del had put away the broken rifles and the tools on its ce. He would use that ce as his man cave or his armory. He would store ammunitions and anything that he wouldn''t be using inside of that storage room. The storage room was big after all, heck, there was probably enough space to park two of his MRAPs if he had any or one main battle tank. Too bad the door would fit neither of those vehicles. However, for now, it would just serve purpose as a makeshift armory. Del put his M240B and his M16 inside of the storage alongside with the leftover 5.56 or 7.62 ammunition that he had left inside of his storage. He put those ammunitions on the table and he put the guns on the rack. Those weapons had served its purpose, but Sneggor wasn''t friendly with that weapon. Sneggor was always below zero, it would be unwise to use something that could jam easily if freezed. He decide to change paradigm into the weapons that could withstand harsh non-stop winter of Sneggor. ???????????? [Showing Avable Assault Rifle] [Tech Level: 8] [Total Bnce: 15,769,870$] [AK-74M] [800$] [AK-107] [1,000$] [FNC] [1,200$] [AUG] [1,600$] [FAMAS] [1,700$] [SAR-21] [1,750$] [M-16A4] [1,800$] [SA80] [1,900$] [G36] [2,000$] [Tavor] [2,050$] [AS VAL] [2,300$] [AEK-971] [2,500$] [AN-94] [2,800$] [G11] [4,000$] ???????????? Del bought AK-74M alongside with many customizations. He modified almost everything on that rifle, almost recing every furniture of that rifle. He attached a muzzle device on that AK that would bepatible with any suprressor. He also bought the supressor that could be attached at any time necessary. He changed the handguard from the standard one to a full-length quad-rail handguard that could be attached with essories. He attached an LEDbo on the side of the rifle alongside with a foregrip. He changed the dust cover of the AK-74M to the one that had rails so he could attach a scope on it. He chose Holosight alongside with its magnifier. He reced the standard stock of the AK with a custom one that had a much better ergonomics and the stock was much morefortable to be used in aiming than a standard one. He also used a 6L31 60-round magazine for maximum ammo capacity. All in all, it was a general deviation from standard AK-74M that relied on simplicity. There was nothing simple from Del''s rifle except the mechanism. It was just what it was, a good rifle. Someone opened door storage room and came inside. She held hot choctes on both of her hands. One was for herself and the other was for Del. Anna gave one of the cups to Del. "This ce is quite nice, what did you do to it?" Anna asked. "I just cleaned it up and that''s all," Del answered as he sipped on the hot chocte. The ce could serve as theirmand center while the MRAP would be their mobilemand center. Walter might need to be consulted first, but Del thought that there would be no reason for him to refuse. He had thought about what he would do with that room. There would be a table in the middle of the room that would be filled with maps and objectives. There would also be a modern encryption radio terminal on that storage room. There would be no way an ordinary radio to intercept whatever that they were going to send out of that room. If the contract was correct, Del was able to do anything that he wanted as long as Walter approved it. Amand center would be something that Walter would approve since it was the ce where he could contact them. Themand center would be a ce of importance for their operations in the future. "What can we do to this room? This room is humongous. Will you turn this room into something, Del?" Anna asked. "Yeah, I will turn this room into amand center. This room will be our base of operation. Walter will coordinate us from this room using a radio that we will buy for him. Other than that, I''m still epting ideas," Del said. Anna shook her head. She didn''t have any idea on what she should do next with the room.. All that was left to do was to report back to Walter about their proposal and they could start working with that storage room. Chapter 206 - Updated Later Chapter 206 ¨C Updated Later Del had finished packing up the note books and the utensils inside of his backpack. Besides of his backpack was an AK-74M to fulfill the school regtion that required him to bring firearms. There was a pistol concealed behind his shirt alongside with a te carrier that should be able to protect him from any rifle round that would be fired at him as long as he used an material shield around him. That was not all though. Del only brought the necessary thing outside of the storage that Pidma provided. Inside of his storage was a whole different story. The storage contained everything that he would need to wear in case he needed to participate in a heavybat. If condition arose where he needed to defend himself from multiple attacks, he wanted to be ready. Inside of his storage were two loadouts consisted of a PKP Pecheneg-SP GPMG, 800 rounds of armor-piercing high-explosive rounds, heavy body armor with extra protectors, a FAST ballistic helmet alongside with a ballistic face shield, an FGM-148 Javelin, and a FIM-92 Stinger for safekeeping. Long story short, if there was any low-level threat, they would have a chance to use the loadout. As for Anna, Del provided an M107 anti-materiel rifle as an add-on to her loadout due to her skill in marksmanship. He also packed some medicinal items on the storage. He included six packages of hemostatic gauzes alongside with two hemostatic injections to promote faster blood clotting. There were also several other medicinal items such as wound staplers, sterilized bandages, wound-washing solution that he bought earlier. There were also some painkillers for pain management in case one of them got shot. Hopefully, he didn''t need to use it. He really wished that were the case. Considering the fact that everyone always brought weapons, he really doubted that he wouldn''t face any conflict when he entered the academy. Sure, he would face the conflict of academic struggle as usual, but the other threat about the student that was able to do a telekinesis? Del doubted he would be able to face him or her alone. "Kids, have you two finished packing your stuffs?" Walter peeked from the bathroom as he brushed his teeth. His mouth was still foamy from the toothpaste on his mouth. He was in rush since he woke up a little bitter than both Del and Anna. "Yeah, more or less," Del picked up the rifle and the backpack from the top of his bed. He carried his rifle right besides of his backpack. He felt weird bringing those two things that weren''t supposed to be ced right next to each other. In his old school, he couldn''t bring a knife into the school, but now, he was required to bring a rifle. He walked out of the room. Anna got out of the room. Del was wearing academy uniform while Anna was wearing the pseudo-military uniform that the school gave to her. She got the privilege since Walter registered her as abat-oriented student which meant that she would get more training onbat than most of the students. Thinking about it, he saw one or two students that wore the same snow camouge uniform. They were the minority of the school, but it didn''t make them look weak. In fact, they could establish more power inbat than regr students. Del didn''t participate. He wanted to have some normality in the academy. The different between Anna and Del in the curriculum was simple. Anna should attend post-school marksmanship andbat training while Del didn''t have to. Did it mean that Del was free from any training after school? Not exactly. Unlike Anna, Del would be directly trained by Walter. Basically, he separated his life as a student and his life as an employee and investor of Salve Group. Still, unlike Anna who would be able to return home before dusk, Del would be subjected to Walter''s training right after his extracurricr activity was over. It was not cruel, but it was definitely a burden that he would have to carry. "Have you two eaten your breakfast?" Walter asked. "We have, you woke up a little bit toote," Del replied. "When did you two wake up? This is only half past five in the morning." "Three, we woke up at three." "And you two don''t feel sleepy at all? That''s amazing. I should be more diligentter. Damn, you two are quite something aren''t you?" Waltermented. "Perhaps?" Del just shrugged as he smiled. He put his bag on the couch of that living room and held his rifle with his hands. He checked his rifle for any dirt or grime. It was a new rifle, there was none, but there was some condensation on the handguard of the rifle itself. It was probably from the cold temperature in that cabin. He just wiped it all off with his own hand and it was all clean again. There was no magazine on that rifle to follow the school regtion. The high-tech rifle would help him ace any examination that involved marksmanship easily. Anna brought a rifle too. The rifle was another AK-74M, but she modified it using the same essories on her M16 to the rifle. She only included thepatible attachment though, she bought a new suppressor for the AK-74M, but anything else was pretty much standard. It was practical for her. She bought a new scope to rece the ACOG sight though. He wanted a more modr one. "Anna, what will you do with the rifle?" Del asked. "I don''t know. After school, I will have an introductory course with the marksmanship ss. I think this thing will prove to be useful in that ss. AK might not be the most urate rifle around, but it will serve its purpose as a killing weapon. If I need to deal someone with a longer range, I would use my Remington," Anna replied. Del nodded. He understood. He turned on the radio to hear about morning news while waiting. The morning news was not good at all. Federal military was losing the fight against the imperial military due to the gas attack and the secret weaponries that were ssified. Just¡­ why? Del''s dream about peaceful life would be shattered sooner orter if this continued. The federal government must improve its military or their freedom would bepromised by those imperial people that want to restore their monarchy. He wasfortable with life now, he didn''t want it to change. After the clock went to six o''clock, the went into Walter''s car and they went to the academy. There were several students walking with jackets to protect them from the cold weather. They would usually put the jacket away once they entered the warm atmosphere of the academy that used heating magic. Walter parked his car in front of the academy. Both Del and Anna got out of the car and walked towards the gate of the academy. They entered in the midst of fifth semester, there would be no introduction for them. However, two people had been waiting for them in front of the school. Those two people were none other than Adam and Aveline. Adam approached Del and shook his hand. "Wee to the academy, Del. By the way, that''s a nice rifle you got there." Adam was looking at the rifle with awe. It looked pretty much out of that world. "Shall we go to the ss then?" Adam asked. Del nodded and he followed Adam from behind. Anna was talking with Aveline first before she even walked to the main building of the academy. The academy were separated into three separate buildings. The biggest building was the main building which contained the ssrooms, the admin office, the library, etc. The secondrgest building contained the teacher''s office and thebs. Thest building was the main club building. If a club didn''t require a building to fully operate, they would be given a room inside of the main club building. If they required a building, they would be give smaller buildings that were scattered in the inner yard of the school. Del peeked behind and he caught a nce of multiple students looking at both Anna and Aveline. Anna was standing out due to her bandage, but why? Was a bandaged girl that interesting? Or was there something that Del had no idea about. Adam soon exined the reason. "Aveline is grabbing attention as usual, huh? Well, she''s one of the elite mages of the school, I have no doubt about it." "Is she a good magician?" "She is a good magician. In fact, she is a very good magician in offensive magic that some students were categorizing her as the demon lord. It was only an idiom though, truth be told, she was just very good inbat. She is unbeatable inbat as long as it involves magic. Overall, you don''t want to be on her bad side at all.. You''ll most likely to be injured, or worse, killed." Chapter 207 - Updated Later Chapter 207 ¨C Updated Later Cassandra sipped on her coffee. Walter was outside of the cabin, smoking. Cassandra came there as fast as he could with the help of Hubert. He was alive, unsurprisingly, but well, Del wouldn''t ask about that. He was skillful, after all. He was d that Cassandra came to the "So, you wanted information about Van Bosch? Why? Do you want to assassinate him or something?" "No, more like, I want to know how to cause a massive amount of damage to his operation and destroy his reputation. Walter has filled me with its minor details, but I need more about it. He is an anti-war activist, and that was it, I need more. Do you have anything in particr that will piss him off without touching even an inch of his hair?" "There are a lot of options. Which one that you want to choose?" "Excuse me? Options? What did I miss?" "Well, Del, sometimes, us, intelligence agencies, keeps three of four archives about someone. This person, Van Bosch aka Recker, has been under our microscope for a while. Of course, we have our own n for him. Don''t worry, we have calcted the n that will cause the least ctteral damage." "Coteral damage, huh?" "Yeah." "Can we just nuke em?" Anna said from across the room. "NO!" Del shouted back. "What is nuke?" Cassandra asked, but she continued where she left off, "Anyway, which one that you want to choose first? There are a lot of options. Each of the option is equally difficult, but the order of doing it is up to you. It will also get progressively hard since Van Bosch will bolster his security more and more." "Let''s start with removal. Do you have anyone that can be removed?" "In fact, I do." Cassandra opened her briefcase and gave Del a file containing the details of the target. He opened the file. The first description was the picture of the target, as usual, and the routines. His name was Andrea. The next page contained the rtives and connections that this person had. He was the current representative in the town''s council right now. In fact, he was the leader of this town council. No wonder why Van Bosch was able to move around so freely without any care in the world. His ally was pretty much controlling the government. Cassandra was wise, or rather, the intelligence agencies were wise to target this person first before going for the main deal. Even if Del managed to arrest him, it wouldn''t matter, Andrea would immediately release him back to the street and Del would be put under a forged case. If this was how deep the federal intelligences could dig up, why didn''t the military seed against the imperial military in the first ce? Was it really because the military was so ignorant about the fact that intelligence was the key of winning a war? "So, this Andrea, what''s the connection with Van Bosch?" "Van Bosch is doing wet work for Andrea. In this regard, Van Bosch is the arms and legs of Andrea in this town. Basically, if Andrea doesn''t like you, Van Bosch and his goons would be happy to remove you from existence. Still, everyone, with the exception of intelligence agencies, see you as a non-existent threat." "So, intelligence agencies have caught its nce at me?" "Of course, the moment you stepped into this country, we have eyes on you. The thing is, you are on our side so we don''t have to worry too much about you. If not, I think someone would have killed you the moment you step into this country." "Ok, ok, let''s get back to the point, I ain''t going to talk about the sixty-nine different ways to kill me. I want the details about Andrea. So, this is his routine, huh? It''s very linear to be honest, I''m surprised that none has tried to take his life." "None has tried because we have bigger concerns right now. Anyway, if you choose to ept this job, please be careful, if you fail, the consequence will be way too much for you to handle. I suggest you use something explosive. Something that will kill him in one shot." "For that, I have a lot of tools." "NUKE!" "NO!" "Again, what is a nuke?" "Irrelevant. About Andrea, I want to know who will avenge for his death. As you know, there aren''t that many people around here that owns something that can go boom boom. We need a distraction, a major one, I want something that can be connected." "You need to raid the military armory, Del. Still, you might want to reconsider that n first. I suggest that you don''t do that in this n," Cassandra said. "Military armory? What? Do you want me to be on the top of most-wanted list or something? That would be a distraction, but I''m not going to do it. I will shoot him away from several kilometers away," Del said. "Ok, that''s quite a good n. Do you want to hear the other options first, though?" "Sure, throw it away, I''ll be happy to listen." "Ok. First is a destruction of a criminal organization headquarter, you need heavy armor and heavy weapons to pull this off. I''ll suggest the thing that you use to escape the guild office in Elbanian." "How much will we find? Will we find a lot of criminals?" "Well, I suppose? Maybe you''ll find fifty to seventeen of them. They usually have monthly meeting in a mansion north of here. You''ll need a backup too, you can''t do this with just the two of you." "I''ll consider it. Do you have anything else besides that two?" "For now, no." "Why?" "You don''t have enough allies. Still, I heard that our particr friends want to meet you, sooner orter. Little bit of tips though, they usuallye at the most unexpected times, and for the most part, they won''t be nice." "I get it. Still, I prefer if they don''t harm anyone." "Nobody will be harmed but yourself." "Pretty¡­ chilling." "Yeah, don''t worry too much about it though. It''s not like I don''t get anything from them." "Alright. That should be all, I think? Do you want to stay for dinner or do you want to go somewhere?" Del asked. "I''ll leave for now, I''ll leave the briefcase here, in case you need more details about whatever you want to know. I will return to my hospital," Cassandra put the empty cup on the table. "NIce coffee, by the way." "Thanks." =========================== Back in themand room, they were nning for two things. One was the search of the mysterious person in the academy. Second was the n to kill Andrea, which was quite simple. They only needed to think what kind of thing that they needed. Option was varied. They could try the ordinary Ko missile for attacking from a stand-off distance, but RPG would also suffice if they wanted to get close and personal to the target. Thinking about it again, perhaps, the best option at this point was an FGM-148 Javelin missileuncher. Albeit expensive, it would be able to punch through an armored vehicle from five kilometers away. They might need more than one of it to make sure that Andrea would be gone forever. Andrea would most likely be in a convoy. Coteral damage would be inexcuseable, even from the backing of Salve Group and intelligence agencies to cover their backs. There would be a limit on what was eptable or not. For that, Del would need to assault the convoy in a quiet street. "This should do it." Del marked a road on the edge of the town. "What makes you think this is a perfect road for ambush?" "This is a road to the high-end residential area. Consequentially, this road was also one of the quietest road that the car mighte through. This is the perfect ambush position, we can wait for them and boom. Everyone would be dead and all would be happy." "Maybe not all, but I get your point," Anna nodded. "Good, if that''s the case, what should we wear? Anything that matches our profile will immediately attract Recker''s attention. We need something that has simrities to this town''s criminal. I''m thinking of robbing one of their uniforms, are you in?" "Sure, but we must look inspucious, they would be able to tell if we''re fake," Anna said. "We are going to wear face concealment, I''m thinking of scarf. Perhaps, we also should wear regr clothing," Del suggested. "I agree with that." "Do you have another suggestion?" "Yeah, let me bring something big and powerful." "What do you mean?" "I want to bring an M107, or anything with big caliber." "Hmm, TAC-50, do you like that?" "Sure, although that''s a bolt-action rifle, that should do the job nicely.. And Del, before you ask me, I want to let you know that I think I have a lead on our suspect." Chapter 208 - Updated Later Chapter 208 ¨C Updated Later After looking at the prototypes, they concluded that the ballistic tes were the only serviceable one. The ballistic visor, albeit impressive, was still deemed impractical until further improvement could be made to the hinges that attached the visor to the helmet itself. Even though it was rigid, further report from the documents showed that the hinge still had the tendency of breaking down after being hit from a .308 round. To make its worse, the bullet had the tendency to ricochet from the ballistic visor itself. It was still in its experimental states, after all. As for the radio, it was just a soldier''s radio left there. They reced the ballistic tes that they were currently wearing with the new tes. It felt lighter, and it was a little bit thinner than the boron carbide tes that they usually wore. Still, Del preferred this new te over the old one, although it had saved him many times from bullets, or at worst,ser. "Hmm, it felt lighter, I''m not going to lie about it," Miramented. "Yeah, I feel the same way. It seems that the thickness of the tes are thinner than the boron carbide tes. Still, you mentioned that this thing is rated to stop heavy machine gun rounds, right? How viable is that?" Del was skeptical. "It only gave you a chance to survive. It''s not like it''s advised for you to run against a heavy machine gun," Anna said. "The objective of the new te is to give a chance for personnel to survive a single hit from the standard anti-materiel round used by Ilbistirum military." "Hmm? The 7.92x95mm round?" Mira asked for confirmation. "Yup, that round. The round that always somehow wounded us at the end of the day. Either by spalling from our armor, or by direct pration. Still, that big giant rifle only appears on certain condition," Del said. "Yeah, never attack during the day, it''s an almost certain way of death. That rifle is always used during the day. During the night, it is rarely used. No matter how thick your armor is, that thing always prates it. Juggernaut suit is the only thing that can stop it," Mira said. "Because that thing had triple the thickness of our armor tes. I only used it once, though. That thing is heavy as hell and the fact that there''s a limit on how much I can carry at the same time," Del said. "Yeah, anyway, do we got an airflift out of here?" Del asked. "Yup, we have that. A C-17 will depart in 20 minutes." "Wait, another ne?" Mira was still airsick. "Yup." =================== Four and half an hourter, they arrived at Sneggor airspace. Mira was still unaware on what she had entered while Anna was strapped to her. Basically, if Anna used her magical spell, Mira would be slowed down too. They didn''t need a chute, their own flying spell would be enough to slow their descend. The C-17 was flying at high altitude, undetectable by the radar employed by the current air force in Ilbistirum. Due to theck of parachute, they would immediately jumped down to the ground with high velocity. "Check your oxygen mask." With such high altitude, an oxygen mask was a necessity. There was a jumpmander on the ne. They were not the only one that was going to jump from the ne. It seemed that there would be an airdrop in the area of operation. The door on the side of the ne opened. The jumpmandermanded them to jump outside. Mira was scared, but Anna forced her to jump out of the aircraft. They immediately jumped out of the aircraft and the cold breeze of Sneggor hit their face. "SHIIIIIIITTTTT!" Even beyond the heavy breathing, the screaming out of Mira''s mouth was way louder than that. The scream died down as they went faster towards the ground. Her head was hanging on her neck. Yup, she passed out. Del kept an eye on the altimeter on his hand. 200 meters from the ground and he must start slow down their descend to the ground. The cabin started to appear on the ground. Time to slow the descend. With a little bit of mechanism, the descend slowed down its approach and they eventually arrived at the cabin. Delnded smoothly, but Anna was mming the ground a little bit hard. Well, a little bit was an understatement, the m was loud enough that the person that guarded the cabin came out. "What in the actual." He then saw the crater created by those two falling from the sky. "Holy shit. Are you two ok?" He approached Anna and Mira. Anna stood up from the ground, unharmed. "Yeah, I''m fine, and Mira probably is fine too." Mira was standing straight too. It was like she regained her consciusness back once she hit the ground and the snow. Well, that was something to be proud of, to be honest. Still, it meant that the flying spell wouldn''t be able to lift a weight of another person. Well, the armor was intact, that was a good thing, right? With Mira back in where she should be in the first ce, albeit the way she was walking indicated that she had some sort of disorientation. The person that guarded the cabin approached Del. "It looks like I have done my part. There''s nobody approaching the cabin, you are probably in the clear for now. However, be careful, alright? I saw a thick military presence in the area sincest night. There is supposed to be a terrorist identst night, but I hope you have nothing to do with it." "Did I get that much attentionst night?" Del asked. "Not really. It seems that there was quite a ruckus, but well, nobody approaches this cabin as far as I know. It''s a good thing, to be honest," he said. "I agree. Well, what are you going to do now?" Del asked. "I''m going to return to Lullin. See you around, Moore," he said. He failed to notice it at first, but that person seemed to be nning for leaving since Delnded on the cabin. He was wearing a thick winter coat after all. He wanted to leave, it seemed. He walked downhill towards the city center, probably going to catch a bus or something. Well, thanks for the help, Del guessed? Mira and Anna were inside of themand center, probably treating Mira''s bruises if there was any. Del entered themand center. Mira was drinking hot coffee while Anna was sitting down in front of theputer, analyzing the retrieved data just like what Del usually did. Del stood up right next to theputer. "What are you looking for?" Del asked. "Something." She was searching theputer for one particr data. The data of someone called "Lenza Inboer", one of the students in the academy. If Del recalled, he was the current head of security division. Yup, the same person that put a crosshair on top of his head. "Lenz, huh? I do agree that he needs to be dealt with, but why now of all times?" Del asked. "With our assignment with Salve Group is basically over, we might need to focus on the next big thing, and that''s dealing with Bosch, but to do that, we need to take a significant amount of heat from you," Anna said. "And how we should even do it?" Del asked. "VIOLENCE!" Mira suggested from thefy of her couch. "Emm, no," Anna said. "So what then?" Del asked. "You know, Del, you might not be a transfer student, but most of the TMV member seems to be respecting you, why don''t you fill the status quo in the organization, especially after Daniel disappear." "I do agree, but won''t it put more heat to him?" Mira asked. "Not really. TMV leader is usually quite untouchable due to their nature of volunteering activity. This is what Lenz said to us. So, we are using their guidelines to work against him," Anna said. "Subtle, but how will we convince Hubert? I meant, technically, it should be me to fill the status quo, but since you''re more popr than me, you might be able to fulfill the role, Del," Mira said. "Yeah, you''re still their co-leader, but I''m indeed more popr." "Still, we still need to do voting. What would you do then?" Mira asked. "Voting is only done between the 12th grade, right? If you vouch for me, we can bypass that and I know that the method works in the academy. So, will you vouch for me?" Del asked. "You''re forcing me here, but sure. If there''s a voting, you''ll be against an empty box. Besides, being the leader of TMV is too much of a hassle, so, yeah, I''ll put my words for you, boss." "Thanks, I appreciate it, Mira." "No sweat.. If you''re the leader of TMV, getting resources shouldn''t even be hard." Chapter 209 - Updated Later Chapter 209 ¨C Updated Later The next week, around six days from the day Daniel disappeared, situation started stirring up in the academy, especially in TMV internals. Some suggested to search for him, some suggested that the police was looking for him, while the others were unsure on what they should do in the future. Del and Mira weren''t in the unsure, or the people that had the initiative to do anything about Daniel. Joshua wasn''t exactly in there either, he was currently in the hospital, treating soldiers fromst Saturday attack. The ruckus in the middle of Sneggor was caused by a bomb exploding in a soldier''s barrack, not because of the kidnapping. In fact, the kidnapping wasn''t in the priority list of thew enforcement, somewhat, which made almost everyone furious. "Del, what should we do now?" One of his juniors asked him. "Well¡­" She looked at Mira then Mira looked at him back. Del nodded, "We''ll wait. There''s nothing traceable in Daniel''s room as per the report of thew reinforcement for the moment." "To add what Del has said, this process is better to be left to thew enforcement. They don''t need more lone wolves than there have already been in here. For now, let''s continue our day." That didn''t really quiet them down, in fact, it made the meeting way louder than it should have been, and Del felt a little bit smug knowing that the sinners were actually among them all. Mira was probably feeling the same way too, considering how she thought and how she acted. She also suggested that they shouldn''t do anything until they got further reports from thew reinforcement in the surrounding region. She suggested that they shouldn''t act harsh just because a person went missing. "To reiterate, I don''t want more kidnapped person in TMV. One is enough, we don''t need another one, do you understand?" Mira said to the other people in TMV. They nodded with few whispers here and there, probably from those who didn''t agree with Mira. It was reasonable, it always seemed that Mira and Del were the guardians of TMV in that branch. If someone got kidnapped, they would call either of them. Usually, they were returned safely just before the security division noticed that one of them went missing. It kept the TMV records clean for the most part. They were one of the organizations in the academy with the lowest ident rating, onlyparable to the security division or the student council due to how the structure of the organization worked. "So, about the current empty position, will you fill it, Mira?" The junior asked again. "About that. Well, I have a better recement for that. I vouch for Del Moore in this one. I feel that I''m notfortable with holding the position of the leader of this academy TMV. Del will fill that position nicely," Mira said. Again, it caused another ruckus, in particr, with other 12th grade members of the TMV. It was true that Del held more supports than Mira, but again, Mira was the co-leader just before Del entered the academy so there was that. Those who preferred the status quo wanted Mira to be the leader and those who supported Del wanted to change the current status quo. As far as Del knew, there wasn''t even any sh of power in TMV, at least, until now. Mira wasn''t exactly in a position where he was above Del, at least, on his eyes simply because Mira was a contractor contracted by Del to do whatever he needed her to do. Even if it meant that Mira would be nothing more than puppet in the hand of the puppeteer. It was clear but no one else besides the Del''s inner circle would know about that. Yeah, even behind an organization as honest as TMV, there was still conflict of interest. "But Mira, Daniel trusted you, why should Del be the leader of TMV in this academy? This is simply a little bit against our regr conduct, don''t you think?" One of the senior members of the TMV said. "Correction, Daniel trusted him too. So, is there any other reasons beside of that?" Mira asked. That member went quiet now. Still, it didn''t mean the ruckus stopped at all. In fact, it was a little bit bigger than before. Hmm, one thing or another, this should result in some unbnce of power for the TMV. Would Del want that? Not really, but he had no choice. Take the power and tell the security division to mind their own business, or just leave Anna alone to fight the horde of security division. Yeah, it seemed that everyone in the security division was pointing their finger at Del, without exception. Just because you had a far advanced armament, it didn''t really mean that you were responsible for anything whatsoever. It just how it worked in the first ce. Those who were jealous would do anything to make you the boogeyman. "Alright, be quiet, anyone who is against Del, please raise your hand," Mira said. Six people raised their hand, and that probably was it. The rest just followed along. Well, it was set then, Del would be the leader of TMV of the academy. Albeit with some people not agreeing, but that was expected. "Then it''s set, Del would be the leader of TMV, at least, until Daniel returned," Mira said. Mira pped her hands. One student followed, then the rest of them followed. It was decided, Del was the leader of the TMV. The transfer of power would be rather something, but well, it could be done. Not that Del wanted to take advantage of Daniel''s disappearance, but it was the right thing to do for now. And with him and the volunteer, it might be a good idea to establish some trust between him and the security division. With that problem being solved, Del wondered how Anna was doing during this afternoon meeting with the security division. ====================== "Rinse and repeat, ad nauseam." Anna muttered, without anyone hearing during the meeting. It was guessable what the meeting was. Of course, it was about the recent kidnappings. Both Anna and Del got the me for it while Mira was home free. Well, it was mainly because they didn''t know Mira was involved with two of them. Lenz kept putting the me on Anna of what happened to Daniel, but Anna demanded an evidence for her involvement. And it went back on how the operation was very delicate and nobody would be able to pull that off but them. Anna retaliated that it could be the separatist movement in the city. They were also skillful enough to pull a kidnapping like that night and they weren''t that stupid not to be able to pull of a stunt like this. After that, Lenz would retaliate why would they kidnap both of them when it was clear that neither of them was rich enough for a ransom. Yeah, their parents wouldn''t be able to pay for the ransom whatsoever. Considering how Ilbistirum worked in the middle of a war, it wouldn''t be possible to pay for the ransom due to how much money poured into the war efforts. Besides, the SF would usually be able to find any kidnapped person. Then, Lenz pointed their his hand at Anna again. "You''d never give up, wouldn''t you?" Anna challenged him. "To go after the truth? No, I don''t think I will." "The point is, I am not involved, nor wish to be involved in this. Unless you can give me a concrete evidence, this discussion is over. Keep this up, and I''d report to the schoolittee about this mistreatment and misconduct," Anna bluffed. "Go ahead, would they even be listening to you?" Lenz changed her. "Oh, believe me, they will." Or more like, they would listen to the intelligence agencies. Yup, that''s right, those guys would fear the real power of political and military espionage if the situation is not dying down when the timees. That was not the oue that neither Del and Anna wanted, it would require lots of ground work and blood. And if one of the security divisions got murdered, there would be the tendency that their efficiency died down. To be entirely honest, the security division worked on the basis that the people in there were invincible. It was weird, but it worked. The doctrine was to keep the security division confident enough to do their job so the other students didn''t have to face the dangers. Sinister, but practical to a certain extent. As far as Anna knew, Mira and Del would be way better than the whole security divisionbined. They needed evidence to go against the usation, and they needed it fast. Or, they needed something to distract Lenz away from the internal affairs between them all. Thest thing that they wanted was everything to turn bloody. Lenz could be chopped into mince meat as far as Anna was concerned if this thing isn''t solved. " Chapter 210 - Updated Later Chapter 210 ¨C Updated Later "The heli is yours. I''m here to keep your belonging safe, and in case someone decided to snoop around." A person brought the exact same helicopter that Del used back to the cabin. It was armed to its teeth with weaponries for some unknown reasons, although some of the weapons of its pylons were depleted. Morris was still on the A.O, apparently. As a result, they had to bring the kidnapped people to the base on their own. Fulton service wasn''t avable either, mainly due to theck of personnel in that base. It seemed that everyone was in some sort of major operation. Well, Daniel and Aveline were still asleep from the tranquillizer anyway. "Alright, give me time to gear up," Del replied to the person. Anna and Mira were taking a nap in themand center, still in their gear albeit clean from snow due to the temperature. Del spent the morning trying to negotiate a fulton extraction but getting a helicopter instead. Not that it was a pain, but it was still not what he wanted previously. Del entered themand center. "Alright girls, time to pack things up. We''re going on a field trip for a while." Mira and Anna woke up from the floor where they were sleeping. Del and Mira carried the stretcher while Anna carried Daniel on his back. They put the stretcher into the helicopter and cuffed Aveline to the chair of the helicopter. It should be all for now. "Thanks for the heli man, appreciate it," Del said. "No sweat, sorry for no fulton. We don''t have too many personnel in the base right now." "You''re going to stick around?" "Yeah, I''m here to guard your equipment." "Thanks for the help. I''ll take it from here." The soldier gave Del the key for the helicopter. Without the key, the helicopter wouldn''t start. Del entered the helicopter pilot seat and the others were in the back of the helicopter. Del begun the startup procedure and the helicopter des started spinning. "This is Airline 141, please wear your seatbelt as we take off from the ground," Del joked at the helicopter lifted up from the ground. He set the waypoint to the air force base. It would be around five hours of flight ording to theputer in the helicopter. Well, it was not like the view would be boring. There would be around 2,500 miles of distance to cover. 1,500 miles were from the distance from Sneggor to the southern coast and the rest was from the southern coast to the AFB. It just happened that there was an usable helicopter at Lullin that could be used by Del and Anna. The temperature was around minus 10 degrees, way warmer thanst night, but still cold enough to freeze water. Del brought a thermos filled with warm coffee. It could be shared with Anna and Mira to act as a warmer and help him to stay awake during the trip. It was not like Del had slept ever since the operationst night. Del peeked behind to Mira. It looked like she was holding tightly to her chair while putting the seatbelt on herself. Del wasn''t even that tense when he learned to fly the helicopter, what made Mira that tense? "Mira, are you ok?" Del asked as he peeked behind. "I''m fine. I''m fine, really." She shivered. "Are you sure? You sure as hell don''t look fine from here? Don''t tell me you are scared to fly," Del said. "No. No. I am not scared." Del tilt the helicopter by 90 degrees to the left. Anna was sitting on the right door of the helicopter and she was strapped to the helicopter. Suddenly, a very loud scream could be heard from the backseat, yup, it was Mira. "You sure?" Del leveled the helicopter again. "You asshole, of course I''m scared. I don''t have your flying magic spell, what if this thing suddenly crash? This ain''t a ne," Mira said. Del just gave a smallugh while Anna was satisfied by that loud scream. Del might be able to do that again. The stretcher was safe and Aveline was no better than carrying a living corpse. "Mira, I thought you were a hardened merc," Anna gigled. "You two are just something, you know? If people know this, I''m sure they will change, out of respect or out of fear. Two people that appeared quite innocent but able to do some major illegal activity without anyone noticing." "Don''t act as if you''re sinless, Mira." The helicopter continued the flight. Del might need to forge a sick letter in case they arrived at the AFB veryte. It was not like Del flew the helicopter at its maximum speed. He maintained the speed of 150 knots just to be safe. It was like what, 300 km/h? It would take around eight hours to arrive at the military base. Well, time to enjoy the ride then. Del maintained high altitude to avoid bad weather or anyone that wanted to shoot them down from the sky. ============= Eight hourster¡­ "Boredness is one thing, but this is another. It''s been four hours and all I can see is sea and sea. Is there anything else?" Mira startedining as the air sickness went away and significantly reduced that before. "I hope that there is nothing else." Anna was eating her lunch, an MRE package kept in the helicopter. Del was also eating his lunch after he put the helicopter on autopilot. "Yeah, the less thing in the sky, the better. And Mira, why don''t you eat?" Del asked. "Thank you, I''m not that hungry." "Really? After you puked seven times on the sky? You''re not hungry?" Del challenged that question. "Yeah, I''m not hungry at all. I still feel nauseous and my stomach isn''t exactly on the best terms with me," Miramented. Well, it was only 100 kilometers to go and they would arrive at the air force base. Del felt his butt had gone very stiff from the continuous sitting on the chair that had very little cushion. He couldn''t imagine how painful it must have been for Mira and Anna on the back. Suddenly, the cuff next to Aveline was rattling. She seemed to be awake now. Well, time to wake her up anyway. They were very close to the air force base. Mira prepared her pistol in advance, in case something went wrong. "Wakey wakey young miss, you''ve been kidnapped." Mira was aiming her pistol at her. Del really wanted to p her right now, what kind of introduction was that? Or was it the culture when she was still working with the militants, aiming pistol at the person that you just kidnapped? The half awake Aveline immediately awoke with her eyes looking at the gun aimed at her body. And Mira was no better, she only gave Aveline an unexinable smile. Anna went to the chair of the helicopter to check on Daniel, in case he woke up as well. "Mira? What the hell? Anna? What is this?" She looked at both of them, who were holding weapons, albeit Anna was holding her AK-74M. Anna only sighed as he checked on Daniel, she felt that she had no responsibility to answer that. Mira just put her finger in front of her mouth. She tried to shush Aveline to be quiet, but it went horribly wrong. Instead of quiet, she got was a hysterical scream. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? WHY ARE YOU POINTING THE GUN AT ME? WHAT DO YOU WANT?" Aveline shouted as he screamed. Del was lucky she wore the thick pilot helmet that pretty much silenced that screaming, but poor Anna. "Make her shut up, or I''ll shut her up," Anna aimed her rifle at Aveline. The scream just got louder significantly. It practically became headache at this point, maybe a little bit too much for Mira. Mira grabbed her tranquillizer pistol and shot it at Aveline''s neck. The scream died down, and Aveline slowly drifted to sleep again. Mira put her tranquillizer pistol back at the holster. "On second thought, I prefer them to be asleep." She said that while smiling. "Couldn''t agree more, and this sleeping prince is still sleeping." "Hahaha, Daniel has always been a heavy sleeper, even gunfire wouldn''t wake him up," Miramented. Anna replied with a smile. The AFB was right in front of them, probably around twenty kilometers to go. Finally, they could release the cargo from the helicopter. If they were fultoned, it would take far lesser time to take them to AFB due to the faster speed of a cargo ne. Well, it was justified though. The moment theynded on the AFB, there were only two people there, both were in their flight suits. They were probably the pilots that provided Del with the means to dost night operation.. Well, it looked like it would take quite a while until someone appeared. Chapter 211 - Updated Later Chapter 211 ¨C Updated Later In the middle of a field very far away from the Sneggor, there were just Anna, Del, Morris, and an MH-60L helicopter equipped with no weaponry but the side miniguns. It was in the warm region of Ilbistirum, no cold weather gear was needed, but it was close to winter. Temperature should drop significantly sooner orter. In the pilot seat, Del was sitting down with Morris sitting down on the co-pilot seat. He was wearing the helicopter pilot helmet while Morris would be the instructor for today. He was holding a book, "Manual Of Operation: UH-60". "Ok, first of all, turn on the power by pressing on this knob." It was easy. Most of the startup procedure were listed inside of the helicopter internalputer. The hard part was finding the right knob. Still, it was pretty much manageable. As long as Morris was on his side, he guided him. Eventually, after pressing several knobs and buttons, the de of the helicopter started to spin. Anna was sitting down on the side door of the helicopter, she said she wanted to enjoy the breeze of cold air. "Now, lift this stick very slowly." Del lifted the stick on his right as the helicopter gained altitude very slowly. However, it seemed that it kept rotating to the left and right direction. "Use the pedal on your legs to stabilize the helicopter." Del pressed the pedal on the left a bit and the helicopter turned towards the left direction. It went the same for the right pedal. The helicopter stabilized eventually as it gained altitude from the ground. Annamented as she moved her legs around on air. "Nice flying Del. Still, when will we move forward?" "Wait, I don''t want this boy trying to move the helicopter at such low altitude. Bring us to service ceilling, Del. From there, we can practice maneuvers. Bring us to 5,000 meters," Morris said. Del lifted the stick on his left more and the helicopter gained altitude way faster. The building of the city located near the field became smaller and smaller. Anna admired the view from her side. Del was too nervous, he didn''t take his time to enjoy the view. Yes, he could gain altitude and stabilize the helicopter, but he was afraid that he would press something out of his curiousity and the whole helicopter would fall into the ground. It was nothingpared to when he was working to get his driving license. Still, the view of the cloud from the helicopter was rather amazing. He looked at the altimeter, it showed that the helicopter had reached 5,000 meters from above the ground. It was time to do maneuver. "Push the stick forward to move forward. Do it slowly while maintaining the stability of the helicopter, alright?" Morris asked him as he looked at the stick of the helicopter. Del pushed the stick forward. The helicopter moved forward slowly as the stick was pushed forward. The airspeed of the helicopter increased as well. "Get us to 100 knots. Push the stick forward." This helicopter was the biggest thing Del had ever operated, besides the military vehicle that he just figured out on how to operate it. And yet, it flew very fast, it just never put him into perspective since the fastest he had ever been was when he flew with his flying spell. He looked at the altimeter. He was in the same altitude. The ground radar also projected that there was no mountain in the region. It should be safe for him to fly faster. The airspeed meter showed that he had gone past 100 knots. "You''re going too fast, move the stick a little bit backward. Try to sustain 100 knots." Del adjusted the speed of the helicopter. He slowed the helicopter down to desired speed. Multiple radio chatters wereing into his radio. It looked like he was close to a conflict zone. The radio seemed to be unencrypted as well. "Switch to private channel. It looks like the onboard system intercepted the enemy''s radio again." "How?" "Ah, right. Use that knob." Del switched up the radio frequency to the private channel. Themunication would only between these three people only. Unless they needed interceptor from the AFB, they shouldn''t even need the other frequency. "Ok, tilt the helicopter to the left as you fly it forward. Move the stick to the left direction." The helicopter tilt to the left direction. Del maintained his heading towards the north direction using the tilt rotor of his helicopter. So far, so good. Nothing had be a problem for him yet. Well, with the exception of his rather stiff maneuvering, it was rather impressive. "Good fly, not really bad for a first timer. Now, tilt to the left while turning left. You need to be sharper on this turn, use the tail rotor for bnce." The helicopter turned for the west direction while maintaining the 100 knots speed. The sky was clear, no aircraft was on the radar, with the exception of those who were probably twenty to thirty kilometers away. "Ok, great job, do a level flight again." Del straightened the helicopter back to its original level. "Now, do the same exact thing, head to 360. Push the stick to the right." Del pushed the stick to the right while maintaining the 100 knots limitation for training. The helicopter headed to the north direction again. Well, it was easier than expected. Still, Del was still afraid to push the knob and buttons in the cockpit. "Alright, now, try to reduce airspeed and fly backward. Maintain speed at 10 knots while flying backwards. Pull the stick backwards." Del pulled the stick and the helicopter began to slow down. It even begun to fly at the back direction. Del maintained the stability of the helicopter using the tail rotor. The helicopter maintained the speed of 10 knots backward. Anna felt a little bit on the edge here. "Del, I don''t like you flying backwards like this." Morris instructed Del to level the helicopter again. He flew towards to the north direction towards Sneggor. He couldn''t believe it himself, he wasn''t even dreaming of it. He enjoyed every single bit of it once he got used to it. "Alright, Del, increase the airspeed to its maximum speed. Keep the flight level and watch out for the rough weather. Keep the airspeed green. Weather in Sneggor is never friendly," Morris said. Del flew towards Sneggor. Well, Morris wasn''t lying when he said that the weather wasn''t friendly in the first ce. The wind speed from the other direction made stabilizing the helicopter quite a task, but it was nothing that Del couldn''t handle. "Damn, it''s cold out here." "Obviously, we''re iing to Sneggor. Del, I want you to circle around Sneggor. Keep the speed at 100 knots while circling. Keep altitude at 4,000 meters, is that too much for you?" Morris instructed him. "No sir. I can do it." "Awesome. Now, we are arriving at the outskirt of Sneggor. Push the stick to the left side and start circling by banking to the right direction. Maintain it for six times, is that clear enough." Anna moved her sitting ce to the right door. She wanted to see Sneggor from up close. Del maintained the flight as he circled around Sneggor. The snowy town looked rather beautiful from altitude with glimmering lights and smokeing from the chimney of the houses. "I wouldn''t be lying, the city looks beautiful from up here," Annamented. "Yeah, it''s a shame that the city hides constant danger for us." "Oh boy, you should have seen Afghanistan," Morris added. The helicopter continued circling around Sneggor at high altitude. The helicopter would only look like a very small dot on the sky above. Del continued circling around Sneggor for several times. "Alright, Del, that''s enough. Now, let''snd, can you do it, or should I do it?" Del wanted to try it, butnding a helicopter near the cabin would be pretty much the riskiest thing he would do if he had the chance to do it in the first ce. Well, Del would let this one to Morris. He was way more experienced that him in this regards. "Sorry sir, that''s out of my league by a margin." "Alrighty. I''ll handle the stick now. You''ve done pretty good, just repeat this every day and we''ll have another helicopter pilot." Morris took over the control of the helicopter and hended the helicopter right next to the cabin. As usual, the temperature reached minus again. In fact, it was colder there than up in the altitude. "Disembarking," Del got out of the helicopter. Anna followed him from behind. Morris lifted the helicopter again, he would be parking it in a more discrete location than next to the cabin. "How was the flight?" Anna asked. "It was rather¡­ interesting." Del smiled.. He wanted to do it again. Chapter 212 - Updated Later Chapter 212 ¨C Updated Later Mira, Del, and Anna were in themand center. Del gave Mira a white gold coin as a payment for the job that she didst night. Needless to say, Del was not happy about the current finding. He wondered what kind of weird thing he would find in the future. Morris hadn''t arrived at the cabin yet. "Boss, what did you find?" Mira asked. "Which one that you want to know first? The worst or the other?" Del asked. "Up to you, boss." As usual, Anna was sitting on a chair while sipping on a cup of coffee. She didn''t participate too much in the discussion, mainly because her assignment was to find whoever Salve Group was looking for. So far, progress had been smooth for both of them. With Mira''s help and herck of threat, the investigation would progress way smoother. The security division wouldn''t be any wiser either, mainly because Anna was the member of it. She would have ess to several unessible space in the academy. But still, she needed to be careful. "Well, we found a nuke." Anna red at him. Mira didn''t have any idea what a nuke was. Del gave an uneasy smile to the predicament. Anna put the coffee on the table and he walked to Del''s direction. Somehow, the word "nuke" would always catch his attention. "Missiles?" "No, a dirty bomb." "Hmm, that''s quite unfortunate. But Del, what is the special ability of this nuke? After all, radiation wouldn''t affect demons as bad as it would affect humans." "Yeah, but even without a detonation, the container carrying that dirty bomb made our Geiger counter went nuts. With a detonation, it should be enough to burn the skin of all of the demons in this region and turn this area into an exclusion zone." "What''s a nuke? You two seem to be talking about some kind of evil weapons here." "It is. It''s the cause of the opera incident." Suddenly, Mira turned blue. She was more than aware about the opera incident. That explosion killed thousands of people. "That weapon¡­ oh my." "Yeah, it seems that the imperial military wants the informant to be dead by any means necessary. Even if it meant killing the entire town for it. We managed to dy their ns, but with their boss roaming around, we are like patching a bullet hole with a band-aid." "The boss? What do you mean, boss?" "I''m talking about Bosch." "Bosch?" "You might know him more as Recker." "Recker? The human activist? Boss, if an angel has a human form, it will be him. Why would he get involved in all of this? He is an anti-war activist, screaming about rights and you know the rest." "Sometimes, the most well-kept secret is hidden in in sight," Anna interrupted. "Like I said, we know more about what you don''t know and don''t want to know." "Hmm, yeah. By the way, about yesterday, Do you want to discuss it with us?" Mira asked Del. "Sure, throw it away for me. After all, you only gave me a brief description of the result. What''s the full result, and what did you two find while I was gone?" Del asked. Anna put a piece of document of top of the table, "Alright, we conclude that Daniel is far from our suspect. After a short phone call to Lara, we did a full background check on him. It turns out that he wasn''t even connected to any important people in terms of military organization." "Hmm?" Del wondered. "His father is a people''s representative and he leaked vital information to federal military. That weapon blueprint, it turns out to be some sort of gas projectile for a long-range cannon. Yes, this is the thing that attacked us back then," Anna said. "About his uncle, who is he?" Del asked. "Well, this is the surprising part, to be honest." "How so?" "Van Bosch is his uncle. Yup, that''s right. The bloody bastard that we are looking for turned out to be an uncle of our friend. Now I know why he doesn''t make any move to the academy. He didn''t want to risk the safety of Daniel," Anna said. "Wasn''t he looking for his head?" Del asked. "I thought so, but it seems that the bounty on Daniel''s head is greatly exaggerated. I think the money is simply not worth his time," Anna said. Alright, two key people seemed to be involved with the imperial government in one way or another. Aveline would surely the person that they were looking for. However, Daniel would still sit on top of the priority list, mainly because of his connection. Maybe Daniel could be used as a bait to get his uncle. However, was he aware that his uncle was in Sneggor all along? Or was it just an act that he didn''t know anything about the current affairs. Both of them were truly the men of so many faces, the uncle and Daniel himself. Both were known to be an angel, but one was one of the most wanted person in the trafficking ring and the other used to be a smuggler. Daniel might be still in contact with his uncle, or he might still be smuggling something into Sneggor. "Boss, do you want me to capture Daniel?" Mira offered. The offer was nice, but the timing was incorrect. "I''d love to ept, but we make too much noise this month. We can postpone it. Right now, the most important priority is to get the next piece of puzzle which is Aveline." "Ah, Aveline Cordier, the student council president. She is the most famous people in the academy, at least, for now. What? Do you want to kill her or something?" Mira asked. "NO! Not right now, at least," Del added. "Alright, what do you want me to do with her then?" "Can you capture her?" Del asked. :"Boss, you must be nuts. If this person went missing for even an hour, the whole school would be looking for her. Can you give me an easier assignment, boss?" "Well, can you snoop around her room? Find something interesting for me?" Del asked. "That''s easier, I think?" "You think?" "Boss, we''re talking about snooping around, alone. I won''t have an advantage like yesterday night. And out of all people, it''s her. I can pull this off though, no sweat," Mira said. "Great, I like that." Del wanted to read the document more,ter. He wanted to take a rest alongside with the others for now. This was still Sunday and tomorrow was Monday. They might be involved in some sort of military operation, but they were still in the academy. So far, academically, he didn''t struggle too much. Magic might be not his strong point, but he managed to get by. The rest of the subjects was fairly easy for him. He just needed to buy some textbook and he was set for studying. Still, one way or another, some people disliked him for some unknown reasons. They might be jealous or something, but most of the time, he was like Mira. His past protected him from any small threat, but it did invite a big threat for an equally important person, just like how Aveline used his expertise to investigate the trafficking ring. The security division hadn''t helped him too much though, besides Anna giving him information that she retrieved from the archive of the security division. He wasn''t exactly allowed to call for backups, mainly because Aveline only allowed it if any member of the academy got threatened. It was Weird since Del was the member of the academy himself, why would she not providing security for him as well? Was it ause she knew that Del was more than capable? Or was it because she was saving resources for more important assignments. Well, who knows? Del was a member of the TMV, not the student council nor the security division. He just knew what was the condition of the slump and how the condition of his current organization. With situation being what it was, the status quo would stay, no matter how much effort they put in. He was just there to get the basic medical training and the emergency medicine skill. It was important, mainly because how often he got shot and injured. Anna made two other cups of tea for both Del and Mira. Del retrieved the cup and he sipped on that coffee. It was quite delicious, for what it was. Well, it was time to rx and read the report. The report was quite detailed, but it didn''t far too stretch from the basic resume that Anna gave just now. It just contained the information in details like where the source of the information was and how credible the information was. It was all written by Anna in that short amount of time. Anna used the information from Morris and the intelligence agencies.. Needless to say, it would get harder and harder. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!