Chapter 15
Monster.
He had screamed that word and trembled in fear, but he told himself it was only because he was still lacking.
He thought the dull, unchanging battlefield had dulled his edge as a knight.
- Delranel! Respond now! Rush in and stop that thing's movement! The rest of you, move!
Even if it was the Creator's legacy, with his experience and strength he could surely break through.
That was how he had steeled himself and thrown his body onto this battlefield.
- Shoot! I'll hold it down, so shoot that bastard! If this monster gets loose...!
Crack!
But his thinking had been completely wrong.
The monster that seized a fellow knight's colossus and tore its head off was no foe an ordinary knight like him could face.
- Delranel! Get a grip!
At the shout directed at him Delranel snapped back to his senses. He saw Buertael stepping forward with his sword to block the grotesque colossus.
Two colossi had already been destroyed by that monster's hands.
Only he and Buertael remained among the nearby Frames.
- Uwaaaah!
With Buertael's war cry the mana core mounted on his colossus blazed.
Buertael had repelled Glaepnir's charge with all his might. Just that single clash left him visibly exhausted.
- Buertael! Damn it!
When Delranel sent the flare signal, the colossi waiting on the heights fired their assault guns at Glaepnir.
Boom!
A barrage of incendiary shells burst where Glaepnir had been. If they couldn't pierce the armor, they'd roast the pilot with heat.
- Good! We hit it square!
Clenching his fist, Buertael prepared to charge into the flames.
Sword raised, Buertael lowered his stance for the rush.
Delranel likewise aimed the machine guns mounted on both fists at the impact point. Soon the smoke cleared, and Glaepnir should have appeared amid the flames.
Or rather, should have.
- Wh-what the hell! Where did it go!?
- It ran off in that short time? Impossible!
Delranel and Buertael looked around the impact point in panic. Yet there was no sign of Glaepnir anywhere nearby.
Blink.
Blink.
Unable to tell where it had vanished, Buertael was too confused to notice the flare signal aimed at his Frame.
- Buertael! The flare signal!
It was Delranel who noticed while looking back at Buertael's Frame.
- Hm? Something's wrong with the firing line...?
Muttering that, Buertael hurriedly decoded the flare.
He was worried something had happened at the front.
- ...No way!
Moments later Buertael's face turned ashen as he shouted.
Because something that simply could not be was happening.
- Enemy colossus... approaching the ambush point?
Hearing that, Delranel jerked his head up to look at the sky.
There floated Glaepnir.
As if it had sprouted wings, the monster had leaped skyward and was now diving straight at the hidden colossus.
Why hadn't he realized it sooner.
That thing had first attacked him from the sky!
Boom!
The instant it landed Glaepnir shot toward its exact target.
The elf knight hidden behind a rock, assault gun thrust out, jumped at the sudden metallic shriek and looked back.
"Wh-what the hell!?"
Glaepnir had appeared behind him.
He hastily dropped the assault gun and leveled the machine guns on both arms, but Glaepnir's charge was faster than the colossus could aim.
Smash!
He threw himself aside with all his might, but Glaepnir's claws never let go once they found prey.
Glaepnir shattered the arm thrust out for defense.
Even after crushing the entire arm of the colossus, so much power remained that the rock behind it burst into pieces with a roar.
Rumble...!
[First sniper point neutralized. Calculating next trajectory-based sniper point.]
"Not neutralized yet. The pilot's still alive."
With those words Yaan raised a hand.
Instead of his real body, fused to the Frame, Glaepnir's left arm seized the colossus's head.
- Buertael! We have to cover the firing squad...!
- How? Our colossi can't reach that position in time!
While the two royal guards floundered, Glaepnir's left arm silently did its work.
Crunch!
With a sickening rupture the colossus's cockpit was torn out along with its head. Like a man's head ripped out with his spine, a gruesome sight.
"D-don't come! Don't come, you monster!"
Screaming, the elf knight fired his pistol wildly at Glaepnir.
"Nill. Where's the next sniper point?"
[Coordinates set. Displaying on screen.]
At Yaan's question a red dot appeared on the screen. Zooming in revealed a colossus aiming its assault gun at him.
"I'll send you to your comrade."
Yaan muttered.
He saw Glaepnir slowly raising the arm that held the cockpit.
- This madman, he's going to throw the knight with the cockpit!
- Eject now!
Buertael shouted too late after realizing Yaan's intent.
"Ugh!? Damn it, my leg...!"
The elf knight thrashed, his leg caught during extraction.
Unheeding, Glaepnir's arm swung with savage speed.
- No, stop!!
The elf knight watching through the scope was helpless. He couldn't fire properly with his comrade in the way.
Rrr...
A low wail.
As Glaepnir slowly lifted its head and raised the hand clutching his comrade, tears streamed down the elf knight's cheeks.
"No... p-please...! Let go of that hand!"
The instant he screamed.
Boom!
Dust burst before his eyes with a roar. The monster had hurled his comrade's body straight at him.
The knight's eyes snapped open in rage, and he saw the colossus's screen awash in red.
"Th-this can't be..."
Disbelieving, the colossus slowly raised its hand and swept its forward sensors.
It took little time to realize the red on his screen was his comrade's corpse.
"Ah, aah...!"
The battlefield reversed in an instant.
The monster that had devoured four colossi now stared at him.
And his comrade's corpse painted his vision red.
The perfect storm to break a green knight's mind.
- Aaaaaaaah! Aaaaaaaaaah!!!
Screams of agony and despair filled the battlefield through the loudspeaker.
The colossus stood motionless with its barrel lowered.
While his firing had ceased, Glaepnir leapt up again and trampled the motionless colossus's lower half.
Crunch!
With a metallic roar, Yaan lifted the remaining upper body to shield himself.
He seemed to say to the colossuses aiming at him-
'Shoot if you dare. The knight riding it is still alive.'
- Y-you coward! You toy with a knight's life!?
"Coward my ass, this is war, isn't it?"
Dismissing the elf knight's shout through the loudspeaker, Yaan did not amplify his own voice; unlike the elf knight, Yaan's words went unheard.
"Second one neutralized. Next."
[Due to this action, enemy group attack frequency reduced. Evaluated as an excellent tactical decision, but a personality flaw in the pilot detected.]
"Those guys who want an eleven-to-one fight don't seem to have personality issues?"
Talking about an elf's character probably isn't the right phrasing either.
As Yaan thought that, the next sniper point appeared before his eyes. The sniper there had already dropped his weapon and was descending the slope.
"M-monster! How are we supposed to beat something like that...!"
Just then, dust exploded in front of him with a metallic roar.
The upper body of the colossus flung by Glaepnir.
Its horribly crumpled form looked like a preview of his own future.
"E-eek!?"
While he stumbled back in fright, Glaepnir was already raising its claws behind the colossus's back.
Crack!
- Damn it, we've lost three already!
- With that mobility and that armor-was the Creator's legacy truly this terrifying!?
Buertael who had shouted that fired a signal flare into the sky.
- All remaining personnel rally here then withdraw! Hurry!
Buertael who had shouted that now saw Glaepnir coming into view.
The third sniper Frame already had a hole in it; the pilot of the second Frame, mind broken, was crawling out.
- Noooo!
Clang!
Buertael rushed in before Glaepnir's hand reached the escaping knight.
Glaepnir blocked his sword strike with one hand-no longer the green pilot Buertael once knew.
'I... I created a monster...!'
If I had killed him the first time we met, none of this would have happened.
If I had ignored the signal and dragged that Frame back then.
If I had killed that brat back then!
Regret washed over him, and the hand gripping the control stick trembled.
Six colossi lost already.
If the remaining human forces charged, even with the mages' mana cannons, defense could not be guaranteed.
Having let the situation deteriorate this far, he could no longer remain a knight.
- Then I shall choose death with you and preserve my honor!
Shouting that, Buertael poured all remaining mana into his colossus.
Screeeeech...!
The dark-green colossus screamed in pain like metal tearing-power so great it snapped his sword like a twig.
Now weaponless, Buertael's colossus ignored everything and charged Glaepnir, embracing it and locking every joint.
- B-Buertael, no way!?
The mana core blazing like it would explode-Delranel realized his intent and his eyes went wide.
- Delranel! Withdraw with the remaining knights! Inform the homeland of that monster! Let my death not be in vain...!
- Buertael!
Delranel ground his teeth at the death-bound words.
Turning with resolve, his Frame burst forward at full power. Before him, two colossi stood guard as Buertael had ordered.
Cadet knights aboard them awaited him.
- Knight Delranel! What about Buertael...!
- Everyone, withdraw! Now!
As they fled, Buertanel watched Glaepnir rise, joints breaking one by one, and smiled.
Blood trickled from both ears due to mana overload.
- Glory to His Majesty the Emperor!!!
With that cry, Buertael's colossus exploded. So powerful, the blast was heard more as silence than sound.
Beeeeeep---!
Delranel and the knights fled with that explosion at their backs.
In the forest turned to scorched earth by the shockwave, Glaepnir slowly raised its head.
Grrrrrr....
[Frame damage 4%. All parts operating normally. Combat continuation possible.]
"Fine. That'll do."
Armor scorched in places, yet it looked impossible to have survived that blast from the front.
Yaan watched the direction the knights had fled, turned as if to pursue, then relaxed his stance.
Their destination-the Elf Kingdom's main defensive line.
A place with firepower incomparable to this frontier front.
No matter how tough Glaepnir's armor, forcing its way in would be too much.
"Whew. How'd I survive this."
[Tactical evaluation. High marks for using Frame performance to break enemy coordination. However, some problematic actions during combat may lead to future legal disputes over war crimes.]
At Nill's pointed remark about his earlier actions, Yaan sighed.
"Once you see what elves do to humans, you won't say that."
[Response. Insufficient data on the subject race... Requesting future input from pilot.]
"When I have time. Let's handle what's left first."
Saying that, Yaan moved Glaepnir.
His gaze reached the battlefield where gunfire still sounded.
The Elf Kingdom's main force-no longer any colossi left.
***
"Commander!"
The front lines where battle raged.
Even though half the remaining infantry had vanished, the soldiers defending the line never wavered.
The mages' mana cannons and the Orc legion's artillery barrage.
Cain's Silver Knight, which had taken all of that with a single colossus, now tattered and without a single unbroken spot, was pushing the goblins back from the front line.
- What is it!
"Flares at the elf main camp! Combat must be happening there as well!"
- At the main camp?
Right after confirming the mana core overload explosion.
Taking advantage of the lull as attacks weakened, they were reorganizing the front when unexpected good news arrived.
Cain hurriedly checked the Elf Kingdom's main camp with the colossus-mounted telescope.
What he saw-the ashen-gray colossus rampaging alone through the elf artillery corps.
"Corporal Yaan...!"
Recognizing Glaepnir, Cain's face lit up instantly.
"No sign of enemy artillery or mana cannons! No colossi detected!"
"Riots among the rear Orc legion! They appear to be withdrawing!"
"Commander! Give the order to charge! We can win this!"
A battle they thought hopeless.
A battle he resigned himself to dying in.
Yet see now.
His choice had not been wrong.
- Men! The colossus unit that sortied as vanguard is tearing through the enemy rear! Charge! This battle is ours!
"Waaaaah!"
"Charge! Follow Commander Cain!"
"Forward! Advance forward!"
He channels mana into the battered colossus. Never has mana overflowing through his entire body felt so welcome.
The colossus whose silver armor plates are falling away in places, revealing its gaunt frame.
Yet with no mana cannons or artillery, even a colossus reduced to a gaunt frame is impossible to stop.
Cain's Silver Knight, leaping over the enemy trenches in a single bound with overwhelming breakthrough power.
The eyes of the Orc soldiers seeing the Silver Knight appear in the very middle of their main force are filled with despair.
"Where is the colossus unit!? Where did the knights go! To be breached by just two colossi-what is happening!"
"Screeeee! Captain! They're running! Run! Screeee!"
"All forces retreat! Abandon the front lines! Everyone fall back!"
Faced with the human offensive pouring into the front lines following the Silver Knight, the goblins' will to fight is the first to break.
Goblins fleeing, abandoning all weapons and equipment.
Commanders can be seen everywhere pulling back those trying to pursue.
Soon the gunshots grow sparse, and when the morning sun has fully risen, the Imperial flag flies in the center of the Elf Kingdom's camp.
- Raise your cups! The victors of this battle are you! I, Silver Knight Cain Lorenz, guarantee this victory forged with your lives!