A liquid in a size of a single pore, falling down in the hundreds, or even millions, damping down the green leaves of the trees in near unison.
With each step they've made a crunch from twigs would often sever — hidden in the thick drenched brown leaves that had covered the ground — destroying the silence other than the already existing rain that had damped their uniform from the start.
About half a hundred men walked in the forest, with their mouths had never seen chatter since they've made their move like a wound sewed shut closed. Their eyes sharp and rifles close to their chest, as they often look at their surroundings ready to fire at any given moment when ordered.
In the distance, a house made of wood can be seen, silent as utter rain can only be heard.
"Get ready! We're getting close," Sergeant Wilhelm informed them, whispering at each soldier that was close to him.
The message was quickly relayed, whispering to the same tone as Wilhelm had said to them.
Kazuto nodded hearing those words, gripping his rifle tightly with his brows furrowed down, as he soon took a deep breath and released it.
All the other soldiers were getting ready for an encounter as well, with their grips tightening up and their sharp eyes gazing in every corner of the forest.
However, they were still cut in surprise.
It didn't even reach a quarter of a minute since Sergeant Wilhelm had warned them and A bullet flew from nowhere, piercing one of the soldiers' necks.
Blood could be seen squirting out as he fell down. The last thing the dying man did was hold his neck using his hand, hoping to reduce the blood that he had lost, but it was no use. He was already dead, to begin with.
"Get Down!!" Gunther yelled.
The soldiers hurriedly dropped down to the ground covering their uniform with leaves and dirt, while some took cover to the trees, shooting back and retaliating.
"The dirty humans are here!! Show them what we're made of!!" A voice yelled inside the village. However, it was in a different language, forever meaningless to those who could not understand.
Soon the elves had shown themselves, with blue dark uniforms standing out from the brown and grey structures built around them. About ninety troops were defending the village, with one machine gun defended heavily with sandbags.
Soon gunfire was now being exchanged by both sides, as men were shot in nearly every direction.
"Fire at will!! Don't let them get close to the village no matter what!!" One of the elves yelled, commanding his troops — of course, In their Adrian language.
The machine gun was then open fire, together with other riflemen. Bullet flew in nearly every direction of the woods, piercing especially those who had hidden themselves In the trees, as their cover wasn't as firm as they thought it would be.
Killing them nearly in an instant with blood gone cold.
"Fire!! Fire!! Remember what your fighting for!!" One of the soldiers yelled. However, it didn't take long as a bullet gone pierced through his skull, ending his life in an instant. Blood flows down from his forehead damping down the already wet leaves.
All the soldiers gazed at him, with their eyes widened open and shaking in fear. As some started having thoughts of running away and deserting for good.
However, fear had no space in those men. Not yet. Not now. And Never!
Even Kazuto mustered all the courage and strength he had and fired back, with his hand pulling back the bolt and aiming his rifle, shivering from the act alone.
The soldiers retailed, firing back with all their might and strength. However, they are no match against the Adrian machine gun that had wiped out most of their men.
The half a hundred men were found themselves stuck, with twenty of them already found dead in the ground without a single chance of getting up. While ten of them were found severely wounded and already soon considered dead men.
"Hang in there!! You're gonna make it! I swear!"
Otto said holding a soldier grunting in pain as his abdomen opened up from the shot of a bullet. Blood could be noticed pouring out, as his grey uniform had gone velvet.
He soon raised his hand and stabbed the man in the leg with some morphine to ease the pain.
However, it was already too late for that man. He had lost too much blood as soon as Otto stabbed him, he was no longer breathing and his eyes shut closed.
"Goddammit!! keep firing!! Don't lose hope!! Remember what your fighting for!!" Sergeant Wilhelm yelled, pulling the trigger of his rifle.
Kazuto gazed at them. With his hands shivering like before and his body went still. However, he forced himself, he had to force himself.
He crouched up, aiming his rifle. Nonetheless, his show of strength was utterly useless as he hurriedly crawled back down to the ground as bullets coming from the machine gun showered his position.
Dust flew and dirt particles rain in his helmet.
'What am I doing with my life!? Why is this happening to me!? Why is everyone dying where ever I'm around,' Kazuto questioned himself, hugging his rifle close to his chest.
'I just want to go home now! When will this end... just when, please!?' Kazuto pondered, as he was petrified from head to toe, unable to move like a complete statue.
His hearing was gone in the immense pressure of the battlefield, with his vision becoming hazy as he would lose consciousness at any moment.
However, a single shake from a familiar face returned him to reality.
"Hey!! Keep your head straight!! We can't let you go insane again," Hanz yelled with an angered expression, pulling the bolt and back, and firing the trigger.
The smoke came out, as he fired a bullet, killing one of the elves with a precise shot in the chest.
The Elves retailed, firing the machine towards him, but he hid back to the ground just in the time before the bullets pierced his skull.
"Phew, That was a close one," He muttered, reloading his rifle with a clip filled with bullets.
"Hanz... What are you doing?" Kazuto questioned him, with his voice sounding like a child lost without a parent.
"Why fighting 'til the bitter end of course!" Hanz answered, again aiming his rifle and firing towards the enemy.
"Fighting 'til the bitter end, huh!?" Kazuto muttered to himself, as he gripped his rifle tightly towards his chest.
Kazuto looked to his right, as he could see Otto and Gunther shooting their rifles at the enemy. Their faces tell otherwise that there was no hope, to begin with, yet here they are still fighting.
On his left he could see Adolph and Hanz next to him, fighting back with expressions filled with anger and frustration. However, not a single hint of surrender can be noticed towards them.
'No! I can't be useless to them. Not again, I have to keep fighting. fighting...'
Kazuto mustered his strength and courage once more, firing his rifle even if his eyes were darting. It no longer matters to him.
His shots, his kills, his survivability. What matters now is that he has to fight.
***
Sergeant Wilhelm could no longer handle the battle.
They were already outnumbered due to many casualties, and they were as well out-armed against the Adrian machine gun that had plundered the lives of his men.
"Damn it!!"
He punched the ground as hard as he can from the stress of being at this disadvantage, clenching his jaws while he glared at three men on his left.
Hanz, Adolph, and Kazuto, firing their guns like there was no end to this. Even though one of them clearly doesn't look too eager to fight at all.
He paused for a moment, taking a deep breath, thinking of ending it all.
However, his subordinates were still willing to fight, so why should he give up now. What kind of leader would he be if he couldn't even be brave enough as the once lower ranked than him.
He breathes out the stress he accumulated, as he once again looked at the three men.
"You three!! Flank the enemy from the side!!" Wilhelm yelled, firing his rifle at the enemy and again hurriedly falling back to the ground as enemy bullets flew in his direction.
"Once I throw the grenade I want you to rush in that direction!!" He informed them, pointing his finger to the right of the three men's position.
"And remember! Try not to die!"
He soon grabbed a stick hand grenade from the side of his chest, as the three soldiers gaze at him in shock.
"Wilhelm! Have you lost your mind.... that's... that's suicide," Adolph muttered.
The Sergeant once again took a deep breath and out, as he threw a grenade towards the enemy. It exploded, killing three men, and making a significant smoke big enough to disrupt the vision of the enemy for a single second.
"Fire!! Don't let them shot back!!" Wilhelm yelled.
"You've heard the Sergeant!! Fire everything you got!!" Gunther yelled.
The soldiers followed the command, ceasing the opportunity to fight back at an advantage, at least once in this encounter.
"You two let's go!!" Adolph yelled, as he hurriedly runs in the direction the sergeant had ordered them to.
Hanz nodded without further hesitation and hurriedly ran as fast as he can following Adolph, even reaching the pace of how fast Adolph had run.
"Wa—Wait for me!!" Kazuto said, hurriedly standing up and running as he tried to catch up.
The three ran, as the bullets flew from left to right. At some point Kazuto thought of turning back, but what's the point of wasting it all if he already ran this far ahead.
"Those dirty human peasants! They're trying to flank us!" The Elven commander muttered as he had noticed them.
The commander looked at his subjects, as he glared at the six men taking cover behind their machine gunner.
"You six!! Try to outflank their advance... Now!!"
"Yes! sir!!" The elves answered in unison, saluting to their commander, and soon started running to meet with Kazuto and the other two.
The three continued running, avoiding as many bullets that flew right before their eyes, as a wagon can be seen only a meter away from them.
Adolph reached the wagon first and used it as cover, crouching down and opening fire against the enemy.
Kazuto soon reached the wagon despite being the last one to run, crouching down to the ground and panting, trying to catch his breath.
Hanz... was unfortunate, however. A bullet flew to into his abdomen out of nowhere, as he could feel a sudden pain inside his chest, stopping his feet from running any further and somewhat paralyzing it.
He fell down to the ground, as he tried his best to crawl closer to the tree next to him to get cover, as more bullets tried gunning him down.
Luckily all of it missed, with some only a few inches hitting Hanz's skull. He soon found himself leaning to the tree, as he grunted in pain.
"Hanz!!" Kazuto yelled, trying to run towards him.
However, he immediately returned back to the wagon, quivering, with his pathway still filled with bullets, with some piercing through the wood of the wagon nearly hitting him only a few inches.
They were pinned, they were always pinned.
"Stay still! We're gonna get you out of there!!" Adolph yelled, reloading his rifle, as bullets showered their position.
Hanz could only grunt, clenching his eyes and grinding his teeth, as his uniform became drenched with his own blood. He covered it using his hand to minimize the blood that he had lost, but it wasn't still enough, it was still pouring.
"It's no use... I never thought I'll actually get shot like this," Hanz muttered, chuckling as he gazed at his bloody hand.
He gazed to his left, seeing as the two men tried their best not to die. Their entire wagon had nearly gone into pieces of wood, as it can no longer be identified as a wagon, but rather, a pile of wood and steel.
"There's no need to help me!! You two have to continue the job and complete it! I'll only be a drag if you look back now!" Hanz yelled.
"But what about you!? We can't just leave you here!" Kazuto yelled, leaning to the side of the wagon and firing back to the enemy.
"I can handle myself!! What's important right is you two to flank the enemy," Hanz answered, grabbing his rifle and retaliation, despite his current situation.
"You'll have to wait for another five years if you think we'll just leave you there to die!! Don't you cherish your life!? Don't you cherish thee people... the people waiting for you!!!" Adolph yelled, frustrated, as he fired every single damn bullet that was inside his rifle.
All shots took the lives of each elf he had fired upon, with each bullet piercing through lethal parts of the body that was hard to recover from.
"Trust me! I can handle myself!" Hanz said in a mocking tone. A smile ignited in his face, confident in every word he had spoken.
He soon grabbed something out of his pocket. A bandage, clean and perfect to use, with his hand quivering just to show the item covered in blood from his hands to at least delay death itself.
"If that's the case," Adolph muttered to himself as his worried expression calm down. "Kazuto!! In the count of three, we'll continue running! We can't look back no matter what! You got that!?" Adolph yelled just after finish reloading his rifle, pulling the bolt and gazing towards the route they will dash.
Kazuto eyes were shaking, widened in shock. However, he didn't hesitate any further and nodded, preparing himself to run again.
"One...Two...Three! Go! Go!"
The two blitz once more, as bullets showered them like before.