Welcome to Hell!

Chapter 120: The Carnela Port Recapture Operation (27)

(TN: we’re finally back with mc pov)

Arriving at the outer wall, I reached out and firmly pulled out my white sword, which was stuck deeply in place. The sheer sharpness of this sword, unleashed to its full potential by activating its spiritual circuits, was both incredible and dangerous. It could easily harm me or my allies, so I had to be careful not to use it unnecessarily.

While pondering such thoughts, I deflected the spear thrust from the side with my arm and kicked the flank of an enemy below me. The armor shattered due to my strengthened exoskeleton, and I could feel his flesh, previously protected, being crushed and his bones breaking.

The armored soldier went flying, spraying blood from the gaps in his mask, and fell down beneath the outer wall. Even if he wasn’t dead from my kick, the fall certainly killed him. He was out of luck.

“Hyahahaha!”

“Gaooooo!”

“Gururururrr!”

After we ran up the incline, Karelvo’s demons were climbing up the outer wall from places other than the slope we charged up. They, too, must have been shot by the self-propelled artillery on both sides, but surprisingly, many of them survived. The reason for this was something they were holding up high.

They were using…. the corpses of their fellow demons, that is, the bodies of Karelvo-style synthesized demons, as shields. As soon as they reached the top, they casually discarded the corpses they had used as shields like trash or hurled them toward the armored soldiers. Once they reached the top of the outer wall, they started wreaking havoc just as they had done before. It was evident that there was no shred of camaraderie among them.

“Alright, here we go! So, what’s the plan from here? Wouldn’t it be cool if we put on a flashy show too?” Tigar said.

“Tigar, since when did you become so bloodthirsty…”Zald interjected.

While cutting down armored soldiers that approached with the great sword I had taken from the white-armored soldier, Tigar asked if we were going to fight. Zald was taken aback by Tigar’s excitement, but it wasn’t an issue since the latter hadn’t lost his reason like the Karelvo demons, who were going on a rampage on the other side.

As for the idea of causing a flashy commotion, it wasn’t part of our plan. Our primary objective was to buy time for Marcellus and the others to recapture the warehouse district, not to conquer these two outer walls with our own power. There was no need to risk our lives for that.

I shook my head and then used the black sword to crush the nearby cannon. It seemed that one of the attackers who had come for me earlier was the one operating this cannon. The others had already been slain by Tigar and the rest, and no one attempted to hinder me from destroying the cannon.

“So, the plan is to gradually break them down.”

“It’s definitely easier than dealing with the enemies directly.”

In the same manner, as me, Tigar and Zald also used their swords to slice through the stationary guns. The sound of metal being crushed and pierced was loud, but at this point, no one cared about such noises. Other fellow demons followed suit, systematically destroying the defensive weapons one after another.

When the armored soldiers attempted to obstruct us, we mercilessly cut them down. Even so, I wonder why they bother getting close when they could just shoot us with their guns. After all, they should know they can’t win.

“It’s probably because their guns won’t be effective against enemies they previously failed to defeat with those big self-propelled artillery. And since they have those reinforced armors, the sheer force of swords and spears becomes more effective than simple bullet power.” Mika said.

Well, it’s rather easier for us that way, Mika said as he somehow managed to get behind me. Indeed, it’s understandable to think that it would be difficult to take us down with bullets, considering we effortlessly climbed up despite the rain of bullets from the self-propelled artillery.

However, attempting to engage us in close combat at the same time is a foolish move. Close combat is where demons can truly unleash their latent abilities.

“Gaoooh!”

“Gurururrr!”

While my comrades cut down the armored soldiers who dared to challenge us in close combat, I steadily destroyed the defensive weapons. However, my objective was not solely to destroy the defensive weapons. This task was merely a means to an end.

Once I confirmed that we had destroyed enough, I used spiritual power to create hands of sand that drew the remains of the destroyed defensive weapons toward us. Then, I piled up the wreckage to create barricades on the passageways atop the outer wall.

Furthermore, if I tightly packed sand into the gaps of the wreckage, I could create sturdy walls. By constructing two of these barricades to block the passageways, I turned the space in between into makeshift small forts. This method was my initial plan, which would allow us to engage in battle relatively safely while keeping the enemies on the north side pinned down.

“Haha! You can do anything!” Tigar exclaimed.

“Defending on top of an enemy stronghold… I’ve never heard of such a thing,” Zald said.

Tigar spoke in amusement, while Zald remarked in astonishment as he effortlessly climbed over the fortification and entered its interior. Other demons followed suit, and any armored soldiers attempting to pursue them were met with a barrage of sand bullets from me.

Subsequently, the demons who had already made it into the fortifications unleashed their spiritual arts and attacks. Those skilled in archery and spiritual power launched lightning strikes, gusts of wind, fireballs, icy projectiles, and various other spiritual-powered arrows that burned, froze, or pierced through the armor of the enemy soldiers.

The enemies were not incompetent either, and they tried various tactics to conquer our small makeshift forts. From one of the passages, they fired guns to keep us in check, while deploying armored soldiers armed with melee weapons to scale the forts. Meanwhile, from the other passage, they attempted to destroy the forts using explosive fireballs.

However, the wall of sand mixed with metal was solidified with all my might. It was impossible to break it with the kind of weapons the armored soldiers carried. Even their explosive fireballs could only scorch the surface of the wall without deforming it.

At the same time, the climbing armored soldiers were knocked down before reaching the top. Their skills were impressive, and they must have had equipment designed for siege warfare. With such gear, they would have easily reached the top. However, for the Republic’s forces, this battle was a defensive one, and they had no equipment meant for sieges.

“■■…!”

“■■■!?”

“Huah! As expected of big sis Farl!”

Farl, in particular, played a crucial role here. She flawlessly displayed her exceptional archery skills, accurately piercing the glass-protected eye area of the armored soldiers’ masks, killing them in the process.

The armor of the armored soldiers was sturdy, so generally, it required either Tigar’s brute strength to crush them with his greatsword or Zald’s precision to slip a blade through the gaps in the armor. Taking them down solely with ranged attacks was surprisingly difficult, but… she proved that with exceptional skill, it was indeed possible to take them out with certainty.

The armored soldiers seemed to have sensed that Farl was a formidable opponent, as intense gunfire echoed from the passage toward her. Among the demons, she, a Storm Hawk demon, was not as tough as the others. Unlike Linardo, a single bullet would easily take her down.

“Roaaar! Don’t you dare shoot my wife!”

Thoroughly protecting her was her husband, Gora. He deflected all the bullets with his large axe and then hurled a rock, which was the size of a human head, made by one of our comrades. With his immense strength, fueled by anger, the rock flew faster than the bullets, shattering several armored soldiers in the passage.

Witnessing their comrades being torn apart right in front of them, the armored soldiers were not only angered but also filled with fear. They abandoned their forceful attempts to climb over and resorted to shooting from a slightly safer distance. Although this made them more responsive to Farl’s arrows and Gora’s thrown rocks, their own gunfire became less accurate, and they could hardly hit anything.

I stood atop the walls of the forts I had created, on high alert, scanning the entire battlefield with heightened senses. The bullets struck my hardened exoskeleton, but they didn’t bother me at all; they didn’t even hinder my thoughts in the slightest.

(The intense sounds of battle that had been echoing from the warehouse district seemed to have subsided. It appears that Marculus and the others have emerged victorious. The triumphant cheers are spoken in Ditto language, after all. So, it seems only a matter of time before the warehouse district is fully under their control.)

Without moving my head, I could clearly see the surroundings through my compound eyes. The intense battle that had been happening in the warehouse district was gradually coming to an end. At this rate, it seemed our stalling strategy would soon come to an end. They should hurry up, secure control of the area, and join us.

As for the southern side, the main force of the Imperial army continued to exert heavy pressure without showing any signs of letting up. In fact, their offensive seemed to be intensifying. In order not to easily suppress us who have invaded inside, they have created a situation where the enemy cannot leave the outer wall.

The Republic army intercepted the spiritual arts and explosive projectiles launched by the Imperial army while launching counterattacks of their own. They might have wanted to send reinforcements here, but it seemed impossible to reduce their forces in the face of the Empire’s fierce onslaught. The absence of any movement from the white armored soldiers on the outer wall was proof of that.

(The Karelvo demons are still suffering casualties, but their pace has significantly slowed down. I wonder if the weak have been weeded out on this battlefield, leaving only the strong survivors.)

Like us, the Karelvo demons were fighting on top of the outer wall, and although there were still casualties, the rate of deaths had decreased. Those reckless individuals who charged headlong into battles and fought without a proper strategy, or those who had been synthesized with weaker beasts, had been wiped out. Instead, it seemed that some of the demons who were synthesized with stronger creatures and possessed a bit more strategic thinking had survived.

The battlefield seemed to prioritize quantity over quality, functioning as an assessment process to select capable individuals from the Karelvo demons. Perhaps they would continue throwing the demons onto the battlefield and form squads with the survivors. This group of moderately skilled demons….. manipulated by the Karelvo to harbor hatred towards us, could become far more formidable opponents than weak enemies.

“■■■■■!”

“■■!■■■!”

Interrupting my contemplation of the battlefield, heavy-armored soldiers emerged from the door leading to the inner side of the outer wall. Although their movements were slow, they were equipped with sturdy armor and powerful weapons. What made them even more troublesome was… this was bad!

At the same time that Mika reacted to my bad feelings, the heavy-armored soldiers simultaneously activated their shoulder-mounted devices. In the next instant, from those deployed parts, a foul yellow haze was expelled with a deflated sound. The soldiers who had inhaled that stuff, which was sprayed on them as they retreated during the previous field battle, had died.

Though the method behind it was unclear, the heavy-armored soldiers were somehow immune to that substance. It was a terrifying ability that killed only the enemies without harming allies. If we weren’t aware of this, we wouldn’t know how to react.

“Leave it to me.”

However, Mika’s response to my thoughts was swift. He flapped his wings and used wind spiritual arts to blow away the yellow haze. Thanks to that, our comrades hiding within the makeshift forts remained unharmed.

We managed to prevent the danger this time, but there was no guarantee the same tactic would work again. Without hesitation, I decided to leap down from the fort to take care of these heavy-armored soldiers.