Chapter 1467: Toying Around (2) |
“Fire!”
Soldiers no longer needed their commander to tell them what to do. Nothing would have been “better” at letting them know who their enemy was, after all! If someone charging in and kicking away their tanks couldn’t be considered an enemy, who would?
Even though their commanders hadn’t given them the order, the soldiers still instinctively pulled their triggers.
Of course, it wouldn’t be correct to say they had not received any orders. Because an order even more powerful and absolute than any verbal orders had already entered the soldiers’ minds, after all!
It was… terror!
Terror beyond one’s comprehension had already flooded everyone’s mind by now!
KA-BOOOOM!
Behold! Behold the tank hurtling through the air! Even though that lump of metal should have been heavy enough to laugh at most people’s idea of heaviness!
Of course, if one thought about it calmly, this spectacle shouldn’t come as shocking or bizarre. After all, planes weighing several times more than tanks could fly freely these days, now couldn’t they?!
Objects that common sense said shouldn’t be sent flying like soccer balls were doing exactly that. And anyone unlucky enough to witness this spectacle from up close would suffer from this indescribable emotion for the rest of their lives!
On top of that…!
BOOM! Rumble!
The tanks fell back to earth and tumbled around like a toy tossed around by a naughty child next. Here was yet another phenomenon that any sane-minded person would never get used to!
Most of the soldiers present suddenly had a similar epiphany just then.
Maybe their enemy was actually a naughty child playing with small plastic toy tanks. What was especially horrifying with that idea was that… If true, wouldn’t that mean everyone here must play the role of those little plastic soldiers?!
Goddamn it!
Who in their right mind would want to be treated like a toy?
“Fire! Fire at will! F*ck! Don’t stop!”
“Kill him! Kill the f*cker!”
Loud yells filled with venom and desperation rang out in the air. However, they all sounded more like screams than anything else.
KA-BOOOOOM!!!
Accompanied by massive explosions, flames and debris swept up the spot Kang Jin-Ho was standing in.
The earthquake might have hurt them badly, but these soldiers were still the proud members of the 15th Armored Division. The way they quickly regrouped and started shelling their enemy was as smooth and seamless as the stream of water.
Mercer cried out, “Reposition all the operational tanks to the front! Where are the armored vehicles?! Use them as barricades in front of the tanks! Hurry the f*ck up!”
Armored vehicles like these ones usually played a supporting role during the occupation of seized territories, but not today. Today, their role evolved into something else—into valuable weapons of war where each and every vehicle could serve a vital role.
Now that Mercer knew they weren’t facing an “ordinary” enemy, he must change his approach as well. The armored vehicles were originally meant to protect the infantry, but their role quickly changed to protecting the tanks instead!
Despite issuing the orders, Mercer couldn’t do much about his own astonishment.
Dammit! They are nothing more than meat shields right now!
One might question Mercer’s sanity for using the term “meat shield” when describing those weighty vehicles, but it couldn’t be helped right now. He couldn’t think of a more appropriate term, after all!
Besides, those armored vehicles didn’t stand a chance against Kang Jin-Ho, anyway. Such vehicles might boast superior firepower compared to infantrymen, but against a crazy monster capable of kicking away a tank? Mercer had a hunch, a very strong one at that, that machine guns on those vehicles wouldn’t even leave a scratch on the target.
Which meant the only thing the armored vehicles could do was to get kicked away instead of the tanks. If they could buy enough time for the tanks to fire at least one more volley, they would have done their job.
Dammit! We shouldn’t have allowed the enemy to close the distance!
And to think he used to believe that shooting at an unarmed civilian first was wrong, that it was laughable to attack a lone man…! Mercer was tempted to cut himself up mercilessly with a razor for even thinking about such stupid things earlier.
Didn’t he already hear countless times that his enemy was no ordinary human being? But he let that warning slip out of the other ear, which had led to the current situation.
Dammit! We should’ve blown him away when there was still enough distance!
Still, it was not too late to fix this error in judgment.
“Sir!” The adjutant cried out, “Five self-propelled artillery units are operational again! What’s your order?”
Mercer chewed on his lips.
The ammunition currently loaded onto the tanks were armor-piercing anti-tank sabot rounds. Although each round’s explosion radius was relatively limited, its destructive power when hit was undeniable.
However, the self-propelled guns and howitzers were loaded with high-explosive rounds designed to kill humans. Everything within the thirty-meter radius would get destroyed once a round hit the ground.Nothing would be more effective than that when trying to deal with a group of enemy combatants. But there was a problem with using such munition this time.
Goddamn it! That bastard!
Kang Jin-Ho was wielding a sword to fight. Which meant, rather obviously, he was always within fifteen meters of Mercer’s soldiers. So, if the artillery started firing now, they would hit their allies, too!
That wasn’t the only problem, however. To improve their range, modern artillery came equipped with various features. All these technical innovations had indeed performed their intended roles and maximized the range, but that also made it much harder to shoot at a target right in front of them!
Of course, it was “harder,” not “impossible.”
Despite Mercer’s lengthy military career, he had never once fired an artillery gun at such a close target before. Since that was the case, he couldn’t be sure of what might happen if he did.
“…Dammit! Fire at the target! Use the high explosive rounds. The aim is not to hit the target directly, but the area he is in! Follow the fire control officers’ commands and hit the enemy with TOT!”[1]
“But, sir! Our own tanks and armored vehicles are in the blast radius!”
“I know! And that’s why I said load the artillery with high explosive rounds!”
“Understood! Sir!”
Mercer’s face burned up in shame. Nothing was more humiliating for an artilleryman than to start firing their cannons, despite the risk of friendly fire.
The artillery operators’ job was to discover the enemy positions through reconnaissance and careful observation of the topography and then wipe the enemies out before the infantry could rush in.
But now, Mercer’s arrogance meant his division’s powerful artillery would soon rain down on his own soldiers’ backs. “Wretched” was the only word that could adequately describe the emotions flooding into his heart right now.
BOOM!
KA-BOOM!
Even as Mercer issued his orders, tanks kept shooting their powerful rounds. Meanwhile, armored vehicles rushed to the front, their machine guns spitting bullets nonstop.
The firepower in these attacks could easily vaporize any human being in less than a second if hit. And they all rained down mercilessly and relentlessly on a single spot. Even then…!
Mercer bit his lip, hard. No! That’s still not enough!
He had already experienced how illogical the enemy’s strength was. Since that was the case, could he say this level of firepower was enough for the job? Of course not!
Mercer wasn’t some idiot who tried to save on expenses, only to gift his enemies an opportunity to turn the situation around. He’d never jinx himself by saying stuff like, “Is it over?” or “Yes, we’ve done it!”
Even if he had to resort to firing every single munition at hand, he would not stop. He would not stop until he produced the desired result!
“Fire! Keep firing!”
“Sir! The reserve division has relayed a message that they will be joining us shortly! They said they should finish setting up their formation within one minute!”
“Got it! Tell them to open fire as soon as setting up their formation! Inform them not to rely on coordinates, but use visual confirmation instead!”
“Sir!”
The adjutant hurriedly saluted and barked Mercer’s orders into the radio.
Mercer’s eyes grew even more bloodshot. He knew that his current orders went against the field manual. It wouldn’t be too surprising for him to lose his job if the higher-ups got hold of the reports of this battle.
But Mercer believed his decisions were correct, that he had made the best decisions available in the current circumstances.
To him, what mattered was the result, not the process. Doing everything by the book, quite literally in this case, would’ve prevented him from dealing with this mysterious and unidentified enemy effectively.
Without a doubt, Mercer’s judgment was correct. Sticking to the field manual would’ve halved the firepower available to him. And the losses of life would’ve increased exponentially instead.
Unfortunately for him, though, that didn’t mean he had succeeded in stopping Kang Jin-Ho dead in his tracks!
Whooooooosh!
A noise that didn’t belong in the cacophony of explosions and gunshots rang out.
Craaaaack! Creaaaaaak!
That noise quickly converted into the ear-piercing friction noise of metal slicing through metal. And this noise was accompanied by the sight of a tank splitting in half.
Less than a second later, however…!
KA-BOOOOOOM!!!
It seemed Kang Jin-Ho had cut through the fuel supply to the engine this time, as a massive fireball suddenly erupted from the tank.
“W-what was that?!”
“Sir! Up! Look up!”
Mercer’s head snapped up. That was when he saw the unmistakable figure of a person descending toward the ground, the desert’s unforgiving sun blazing behind him.
When did he?!
Since when did the target jump that high?!
By now, Mercer was too shell-shocked to get surprised by a human being jumping up into the air like that. So what stunned him was something else; namely, the fact that no one had noticed his jump until now!
How was that even possible? Even if a thick dust cloud had obscured everyone’s view, the soldiers and their trained eyes were still glaring daggers at that location. So, for the target to jump up high into the air without anyone noticing it was just so… So inconceivable!
“…! Fire! Fire, now! He’s in the air! He can’t dodge anymore! Shoot him down with machine guns or something!”
Even before Mercer could organize his thoughts, his mouth began yelling out that order first.
How Kang Jin-Ho got there didn’t matter. What mattered was the fact that he was stuck in the air right now! Unless he was a bird and knew how to fly, he should start free-falling back to earth soon. If the soldiers focused their attacks at the path of his descent…!
No human should be able to survive!
“We can do… this…?”
Mercer jinxed himself just then. The hope in his heart got snuffed out in an instant. Because Kang Jin-Ho’s descending figure suddenly began accelerating.
“What? How?!”
Mercer’s brows shot up. The target was accelerating? In mid-air?
“S-son of a b*tch?!”
What about the law of nature? Wasn’t that a restriction that no object in existence could break free from? Unless the target was a machine that burned fuel to accelerate, how could he increase his speed like that? That should have been impossible!
He didn’t even have wings, so how?!
This phenomenon was shocking. It generated so much confusion and consternation. But its conclusion was definite. Unmissable!
Shells and bullets fired at the target even before Mercer could finish yelling all missed Kang Jin-Ho and flew past the empty space instead.
BOOM!
As for Kang Jin-Ho, the area he had landed in was…!
“…! N-no! Wait!”
He had landed behind the formation of tanks and armored vehicles. Or, more correctly, right where self-propelled guns and multiple launch rocket systems were; where there was the least amount of protection within the army’s formation!
That was the moment Reggie Mercer saw “it.”
After landing in the middle of the self-propelled artillery formation, filled with weapons that couldn’t even protect themselves from nearby enemies…
Kang Jin-Ho was smirking ominously.
He subtly turned his head in Mercer’s direction.
Flinch!
Mercer reflexively stumbled back when their eyes met. They were too far apart for Kang Jin-Ho to hurt him, yet that knowledge still failed to comfort Mercer.
Kang Jin-Ho smirked faintly at Mercer, then began swinging his swords freely to his left and right.
“…! Noooo! Stop him!”
Slaaaaaaaaash!
Black “light” gushing out from his blades drew chillingly beautiful black lines in the air as if… As if Kang Jin-Ho was wielding a pair of massive calligraphy brushes!
From afar, it must’ve looked like Kang Jin-Ho was leaving behind a beautiful ink painting on the canvas of bleached desert sand.
Of course, to the people standing on said desert sand, this painting would not be something beautiful to behold!
WHOOOOOOSH!
As the eardrum-rupturing sound tore through the air, the severed turrets of all the self-propelled artillery near Kang Jin-Ho flew up in the air.
“Oh, god…!”
Mercer’s jaw fell in sheer stupefaction. All sense of reality left his mind just then. This was not a battle anymore. No, it now resembled a scene from a stage musical instead.
Unfortunately for him, though…!
Mercer saw everything unfold in excruciating slow motion. He witnessed the rockets contained within the multiple launch rocket systems, located in one corner of the formation, getting sliced apart in half. And he also witnessed those severed rockets catching sparks mid-air and igniting!
“N-no!”
His brain rapidly painted the picture of what would happen when those missiles ignited in that area. And it also reminded him how powerless he was to stop the incoming catastrophe.
Fwhooosh, blam! KA-BOOOOOOM!
The out-of-control launch systems began spitting out flames. Rockets shot out on their own accord while leaving behind trails of flames and smoke. They danced erratically in the air, unable to find their targets, before gravity inevitably pulled them back to Earth.
BOOM!
KA-BOOOOM!
Enormous explosions went off one after the other.
As if they were fireworks that had been incorrectly set off and started destroying the surroundings instead, the rockets rained down on the heads of the soldiers instead!
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
Within this pandemonium where flames, explosions, and people’s screams ran rampant…
Kang Jin-Ho and his cruel smirk completely dominated Mercer’s widened eyes.
1. “TOT” is an acronym for “time on target,” which is the military co-ordination of artillery fire by many weapons to ensure all munitions arrived at the target roughly at the same time. ☜