"Get back now!" Balshan crouched down and roared, "Shure, fire straight ahead!""Understood, taking aim—"
"Stop aiming, just fire!" She pulled open the gun bolt and turned towards the monster, momentarily forgetting to tune the Sigil of Resonance.
As the vehicle reversed, the 75mm short barrel eventually spewed flames.
The 300 meters distance between the vehicle and monster was covered in the blink of an eye. The instant Shure opened fire, a pillar of smoke appeared on the bloodied monster.
It looked like a miss, but the trio caught sight of the falling limbs amidst the twirling smoke. Despite the small caliber of the cannon, it was still a cannon and not something a machine gun could compare to. From the dust cloud formed, Balshan roughly estimated more than 10 outlines of blade beasts.
"This monster… is carrying a bunch of blade beasts?" At this time, Bay finally reacted.
"That"s right, I"m afraid that this is the Sky-sea Realm"s Nest Mother mentioned in the manual," Balshan replied, but there were too many differences as compared to the ill.u.s.tration, as though the one in front of them was a mutated species.
Retreating back to the corner of the street, the other two convoys had noticed the commotion. Before Balshan could speak up, Amy started screaming. "The other tank team is less than two streets west of us, it"ll only take five minutes to meet up with them!"
"No, don"t go, it"s too late!" Balshan screamed at the top of her lungs. "Let the soldiers enter the fortress!"
"You want us to meet the enemy head on here? There"s more than one of them!" The vehicle commander of Convoy 17, Hero, revealed an expression of shock.
"It"s precisely because there are more than one of them, so we can"t retreat!" Despite the severity of the situation, Balshan"s mind was extremely clear. Just the three tanks were definitely insufficient and incapable of stopping more than 10 blade beasts. If they were allowed to charge into the soldiers, the loss would be irrevocable. But they were different, as Isabella had mentioned, the armored weapons they were in were basically capable of offense and defense by design. Even if they were surrounded by the enemy, it did not determine the outcome of the battle.
"Hero, please seal that pa.s.sageway. Only by doing so can we let loose and fight!"
The latter turned and looked at the corroded and deformed steel doors of the fortress and immediately understood her intent.
"I understand."
"Amy, follow behind me!"
"Er… Fine, alright." Although Balshan was not the commanding officer of the team, Amy nodded her head subconsciously.
"Team Leader, you"re really… too cool!" Shure added respectfully.
"You can bootlick me after everyone returns safely." Balshan grinned.
She knew that doing so wasn"t that great an idea, but was unable to control herself. She didn"t hate Dusk, but there was nothing interesting at all during the period in which she accompanied her at the developing areas. She could not lie to herself, while being chased after by the Church, she had a.s.sumed that a quiet life was her goal, but from the looks of it, she was more suited for the smoke and flames on the battlefield.
Maybe this is the reason why I awakened as a Combat Witch?
After the soldiers were safe in the fortress, Convoy 17 revved the engine and reversed towards the doors at full speed—
With a loud bang, the tank inserted itself straight into the wall, forming a blockhouse fixed in place.
By doing so, the invisible a.s.sa.s.sins of the Sky-sea Realm were no longer able to pa.s.s through the steel barrier and attack the relatively weaker soldiers.
At this moment, blade beasts appeared several hundred meters away on the road. Despite being unable to actually see them, Balshan was able to mark out their locations with the magic power lines produced by the Sigil of Resonance.
"Straight ahead at full speed, don"t stop!"
She roared and dived straight into the turret, sealing the entrance to it.
The war machine not only had its cannons and machine guns to kill its enemies, but its ma.s.sive bulk itself proved to be extremely fatal as long as it maintained a certain speed!
While stepping on the gas pedal, Balshan looked into the side mirror, and suddenly noticed a magic power line that extended into the air!
Wait, those monsters can fly?
That"s not right. She quickly reacted—the enemy had pounced high into the sky over a large distance! She held onto the armrest tightly as her entire body stretched perfectly straight. Whether or not I live or die depends on the workmans.h.i.+p of the Neverwinter artisans.
"Bang!"
The enemy smashed heavily onto the top of the vehicle with an impact so ma.s.sive it formed a small depression on the metal plate, along with a reverberating sound that caused the trio"s eardrums to go numb. Even so, the vehicle merely shook, and did not show even the slightest amount of stop or reduction in speed.
Balshan immediately felt emboldened.
"I"ll take charge of aiming." She turned the turret while commanding, "You only need to pull the trigger."
"Then what about me?" Bay asked.
"The goal is that monster, so long as you do not crash into the wall, you"re free to drive however you like!"
Balshan ignored the pouncing enemies knowing that her comrades would deal with them. If the b.l.o.o.d.y monster was truly a Nest Mother, it was their first priority to eliminate it; otherwise, the number of blade beasts on the ground would only increase.
Amid the rumbling of the Magic Cube Power Unit, the tank braved through the crowd of blade beasts. The coaxial machine gun spewed bullets fervently, causing substantial damage on the blade beasts that did not wield barrier abilities like senior demons. When the damage done was fatal on critical spots, it was enough to cause the target to fall during its pounce. Although they were not dead, the steel caterpillar tracks completed the job.
The blade beasts were only capable of impaling through the tank"s steel plates when their front blades blossomed with blue light, but this move exposed themselves to the scope of the machine guns. Under the circ.u.mstances that they were unable to harm one another, Amy had evidently used Balshan as a target, with the majority of Convoy 9"s bullets focused on the sides of the Balshan"s vehicle.
Very quickly, the two tanks tore a path through the enemy, with piles of badly mutilated corpses left all around the tracks. When their vitality ceased, the confusing invisibility stopped functioning, revealing all the weak points located at the bottom part of the blade beasts.
Balshan"s tank was equally as worn out, with the machine gun gone and a few large holes on the large vehicle that allowed black blood to leak inside. The closest the enemy had reached was a stab that was merely a few inches from her, to the point that she was able to feel the burning magic power from the tip of the blade.
But the greatest difference between machine and biological lifeforms was that even with all the bruises, the tank"s performance never dropped. It maintained its full speed across the plaza, while the enemy"s pulverized internal organs served as a lubricant for the wheels.
The Nest Mother might had sensed the situation turn against it as it started to turn and flee. However, the huge body moved in a manner that could be fully described as clumsy.
—They were not in the Swirling Sea after all.
"What is the most crucial factor to having a good aim?" Balshan asked.
"Being close enough," Shure replied seriously.
"Then you better don"t miss!" Bay shouted loudly as he controlled the tank towards its target as it suddenly thrust into the enemy"s ribs.
The monster unleashed an ear-piercing roar.
From the position of the cannoneer, their entire vision was the target.
Shure pulled the trigger without hesitation.
The 75mm Howitzer unleashed its high explosive sh.e.l.l that penetrated into the monster"s body, almost running through the entire body and exploded at the head!