Leading 12th Recon was Sergeant Eric Barza, finishing up his report and receiving orders from Kazuya, he turns towards his men who were waiting with anticipation.
「Alright men, we've got orders from higher, the man we've been observing has been deemed to be an enemy and is to be eliminated. Reinforcements from base will be arriving here shortly, we'll be combining our forces with 11th Recon and take an offensive position, then we'll execute our mission」
Right after Squad leader gives an overview, one of the Soldiers raises his hand.
「Sarge, uh what's our strategy to kill this guy?」
「Can't you wait, till I'm finished, I'm still explaining.... Since it's our duty, I've already received the "go ahead" from the General, to come up with a plan in order to make this mission a success. There is a chance for failure, because the target does have some kind of ability. So I've thought up a two-stage offensive strategy」
Breaking in the middle of his explanation, Sergeant Barza glances over to his men before continuing.
「First off, we'll try to eliminate the target from a distance, with snipers from our squad and from 11th Recons squad. If the target is eliminated by that, then all is fine, if not, we'll have our snipers maintain pressure on the target.
In the meantime, our unit along with the 11th Recon will converge and open fire... but if our current weaponry isn't enough and the attack fails, then we will request artillery support from Command, at that time we'll withdraw our forces so as not to get caught up with the bombardment 」
「「「「...」」」」
「Are there any questions? If not get moving. I want a soldier to get on the radio and get in touch with our incoming reinforcements―― notify them about our offensive plan. And get in touch with 11th Recon, give them the same information」
After briefing his men, Sergeant Barza joined his subordinates in tracking their target.
「Where's the target?」
「He's over there」
「Wait that's….」
『This is 11th Recon, we're in position over』
As 11th Recon got into position, they relayed their status over to Sergeant Barza's squad, maintaining a certain distance from their target.
「Then let's start our offensive. 12th Recon's sniper will fire the first shot, then 11th Recon's sniper will follow up with a second shot. If that fails, then we'll continue with the next stage of the plan」
As soon as the Sergeant Barza received 11th Recon's status, he began to lay out his strategy towards his own troops. Just as he finished talking, his sniper who had been playing around with one of sniper bullets, begins to pull back the on bolt of his sniper rifle. Loading the round in the chamber, he begins to mouth off a light joke.
「Don't worry bout' it Sarge. With my expertise I can take out the target using my Type 99 at this distance」
「All right then, if you're so confident, you better not miss」
Taking aim using his sniper scope, 12th Recon's sniper grinned with pride as he responded with「Roger that!!」towards his squad leader, waiting for the signal to fire.
Waiting patiently for a minute, the Sniper received the signal to engage from his Sergeant, aiming once more, he takes the shot.
「The first shot hit the target's right shoulder!! The second shot was blocked immediately, the first stage is a failure!!」
The sniper's spotter relays his observation, as the men lying down on the grass waited in several recesses. Hearing that the first part of the plan failed they get up and charge, trying to close in towards their target.
「Everyone Gooo!!」
「Begin the assault!!」
「「「「「UOOOooooooo!!」」」」」
As the rest of the squad began to run, the sniper cursed, not being able to revel in his glory.
「Shit!! He noticed the bullet just before it struck him, preventing severe injury!! What's more he used his left hand to block our shots!!」
―~――~―――~―――~――~―
As the snipers concentrated their attacks on the black haired man, Sergeant Barza had the Soldiers sprint, closing in about 200 meters away from their target, before laying back down on the ground and opening fire.
With their assault rifles and machine guns going off, a rain of bullets resounded as they flew to their target.
As soon as the attack began, the black-haired man dodged bullets with skill as he dove for cover and hid behind a tree.
「Keep firing, keep firing, maintain fire!!」
「Don't allow the target to lift his head!!」
Dodging incoming fire by moving from tree to tree, the black-haired man hides in a ditch, the soldiers bullets splinter the surrounding trees.
This is especially true for the M1919A2 Browning, a lightweight machine gun with a shorter barrel that 12th Recon brought with them. Along with their Type 97 Automatic Cannon with its 20mm bullets and their Simonov PTRS1941 with its 14.5mm bullets, their gunfire struck the surrounding soil violently, not giving the black-haired man a chance to lift his head.
「Shit!! Did he trip and fall somewhere too!? Damn it, where is he!?」
Occasionally the black-haired man returned fire towards the Soldiers, sticking out his cane and shooting fireballs or wind sickles. But most of those attacks never hit their targets as they went all over the place.
「Fuck! Is this guy a wizard or something!? This is crazy!!」
Listening to the comments of one of his cowering Soldiers, Sergeant Barza dumps his empty magazine, replacing it with a new one. Observing the situation, he began to think up another plan.
Fuck, this guy must be using some kind of ability. At this rate, were not going to accomplish anything.
Seeing that nothing is going as planned, Sergeant Barza orders his men to bring out their big guns, the Panzerfaust and Type 89 Grenade Dischargers also known as the "Knee Mortar".
「You there!! Bring out the Panzerfausts!! Ratelo, tell 11th Recon to prepare their "Knee mortars" and have them bombard the hell out of the target!! Everyone will aim at the ditch where that guy is, when he pops out use the Panzerfaust and blow him away!!」
After hearing Sergeant Barza's strategy, some of the men from 12th Recon pull out their Panzerfaust's from their backs.
Meanwhile the men from 11th Recon, who heard the plan from 12th Recon's Ratelo, began loading their "Knee Mortars" for the shelling.
「Fuck youuuuu!!」
「Die quickly, ya magic bastard!!」
11th and 12th Recon desperately try to close in on the black-haired man. Unrelenting with their gunfire, they unload everything with assault rifles (StG44), machine guns (MG42 & M1919A2) and sniper rifles (Type 97 Autocannon & Simonov PTRS-41)
And just when Sergeant Barza receives a transmission that 11th Recon is ready, he orders them to start the bombardment.
「11th!! Give'm Hell!! 」
Several seconds following that order, the sounds of Type 89 grenades leaving their tubes could be heard.
As they soared towards the ditch. Not expecting this type of attack, the black-haired man jumped out from the ditch.
And not missing this chance, Sergeant Barza roared.
「FIREEEE!!」
Men standing by with their Panzerfaust's fire away, without missing a beat, the moment Sergeant Barza gave the order.
Engulfed by the grenades and high explosives, the area became shrouded with smoke.
As the smoke cleared and the sunlight shone on the place they fired, the Black-haired man was no where to be seen.
「...」
Did we kill him?
Thinking such things, Sergeant Barza sent two men to check whether or not the man was still alive.
「Oh Shiiー!!」
But just when the two Soldiers came a little closer, abruptly appearing from the debris, the black haired man charged desperately. His right arm was gone as his clothes were tattered and blown, blood streamed from all over his body.
「Guwaa!!」
「Ugh!!」
Caught off guard from the man's sudden appearance.
One Soldier is kicked away, while the other is sent flying into a tree, falling to the ground.
The whole thing happened faster than Sergeant Barza could react, unable to stop the black-haired man from charging his two subordinates.
But just when Sergeant Barza was about to aim his assault rifle, the sound of a Type 99 sniper rifle's discharge came from behind him. And a small hole could be seen through the black haired man's head.
Following that single shot, bullets from a Type 97 Autocannon and Simonov PTRS-41 fly fiercely towards the man.
The moment when those large caliber rounds strike his abdomen and chest, its impact blows away his soft flesh, as if he was cleaved by a monster.
「Wha...….?」
Unable to understand what happened? The upper part of the black haired man's body which was blown away by the bullets sheer force falls to the ground and seconds later his lower half drops about a meter away.
「Finally...ALRIGHT!!」
Turning back to hear his subordinates voice, Sergeant Barza sees the sniper smiling while raising his fist towards the sky.
*Sigh *…. This guy, he actually did it.
Moving towards the the corpse of the black-haired man once more, to confirm that they've eliminated their target, Sergeant Barza could finally relax as the man was truly dead.
As reinforcements from base finally arrived, Sergeant Barza had the black-haired man's corpse destroyed. Reporting their victory back to Command, 11th & 12th Recon could finally return back to base.
「Mission Complete!! Let's return to base boys!!」
―~――~―――~―――~――~―
For some time, sounds of explosions and gunfire from the west could be heard as far as their outpost.
And just as the sounds of battle died down, a radio transmission from 12th Recon came into the Command Center
『Command this is 12th Recon reporting, the target has been eliminated. As for our casualties, we have two wounded, minor injuries. *break * And no KIA's, since we've destroyed the targets corpse, we'll be returning to base, over』
「Understood 12th Recon, we'll see back at base, Command out」
Now that, that's finished, there's something that's been bothering me.
That ancient ruin….
I'm going to have to explore that place myself.
After listening to 12th Recon's status report, Kazuya began to direct his subordinates in the Command Center, in preparation for something else.
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TL Notes: This chapter is based on the 2017/06/16 revised raw as the original raw 2013/07/10 was redacted.
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