During the same period where Parabellum one-sidedly beat back the Imperial army. 30 Kilometers away from the City of Olga a lone M1A2 Abrams travels down the highway.
「Joseph! Can't you speed up more!? At this rate, we will miss the battle!!」
As part of the 1st Armor Battalion, the tank crew was traveling alone towards the City of Olga due to an engine malfunction from the day before. Sergeant Barkmann was trying to get Joseph the driver to increase their pace.
「Sergeant, I already told you it can't go higher than this, that was awhile ago… Won't it come to a stop if we keep doing the impossible?」
「Nnngh.. But at this rate we will miss the battle.」
Sergeant Barkmann could only reply to Joseph scowling, as he feared the battle would be over by the time they reached Olga City. He restlessly stared at its direction in anticipation.
It would seem at this time, Sergeant Barkmann smiled to the Goddess of Battle as good news had just appeared.
『Hammerhead 2-5 this is HQ, Sergeant Barkmann do you copy, over』
「This is Hammerhead 2-5, Sergeant Barkmann, over」
『 Currently 7 kilometers west of your position, we identified 15 magical machines and numerous infantry signatures. Possible attack to the rear of Olga City by Imperial forces――』
「Roger that!! Heading into combat!!」
Reacting to Headquarters report but not listening to the end because the transmission was severed. Sergeant Barkmann excitedly went ahead to cull the prey right within his arms reach.
「Sergeant… Is this ok? The radio signal cut out.」
「What do you mean "The radio signal cut out"?」
「「「...」」」
Everyone in the surroundings fell silent from Sergeant Barkmann's response.
「…..Is this alright?」
「Isn't this bad…?」
「I don't know, we are suppo…」
Although the men questioned their situation, they did not want to disobey their orders from Sergeant Barkmann.
After making their way to the crossroads heading toward the City of Olga, Sergeant Barkmann had his men position their M1A2 Abrams tank beside a big tree about 10 meters away from the road. Ecstatically waiting in ambush for the oncoming enemy.
「….they're here! It's the enemy!!」
Right when 15 Magical machines and 200 infantrymen appeared over the hill, Sergeant Barkmann struck a guts like pose. Like a child that received a toy they always wanted, he excitedly gave instructions to his men.
「Gorz! Load an armor piercing fin stabilized discarding sabot, the next round will be the same! Fernando aim well!」
「「Roger」」
In contrast to Sergeant Barkmann's delusional spirit, the actions of Gorz and Fernando moved quite calmly.
「Steady, steady, a little bit closer.... Fire!!」
「Firing!!」
After completing their battle preparations, the enemy was almost 2 kilometers away. And at the same time when Sergeant Barkmann ordered Fernando to fire, a trail of smoke could be seen from the barrel as the round was shot out.
In it's flight the tungsten projectile, had left its outer casing due to sheer wind pressure and pierced a magical weapon.
As luck would have it, it pierced dead center and with enough momentum, penetrated through and destroyed another magical machine behind it.
「Hurry! Load the next round!」
「Loading complete!!」
「Firing!!」
Sequentially, after having destroyed 2 machina with one shot Sergeant Barkmann's crew managed to silence another machina after completing preparations.
The Imperial Army, never imagined they would face an enemy in such a place. Having lost 3 machina they immediately reorganized and began to counterattack.
As their forces fan out to form an 8 magical machine front, their commander takes 4 units and hides them behind the formation, bringing their total to 12. Using the formation as cover the commander and the infantry try approaching the M1A2 Tank.
「Huh? Do they plan to surround and overwhelm us? Alright! Joseph Charge ahead!!」
As Sergeant Barkmann, observed the Empire's magic attacks landing all around them and scarring the Tank. He was able to gauge their intentions, and ordered the crew to change their position immediately, but suddenly a problem occurred.
「Roger that! Huh, Oh shit!」
「Joseph, What's wrong? Speed up some more.」
Joseph tries to operate the M1A2 despite Sergeant Barkmann's order.
「Sergeant…」
「What!?」
「The engine… It seems to have broken down again..」
「What!? Are you serious~~!!」
But the words that came from Joseph caused the Sergeant to panic.
「Can't you do something about it!?」
「I'm doing something right now!!」
Joseph shouted back toward the flustered Sergeant. However while the two men were arguing, the sound of the engine began to lull and come to a complete stop. As Sergeant Barkmann noticed this, he asked Joseph with a pale face.
「That's right!! Are we able to move the main gun more than this!?」
「I'm receiving power from the auxiliary battery unit, so it can work for a while. 」
「Y..yes! Everything will be just fine. The enemy is coming, just get the engine back up.」
「Roger!! Come on, move you piece of junk!!」
Joseph would hit the controls bamn bamn, but Sergeant Barkman would ignore it and focus on the battle.
12 bogeys remaining… No matter how sturdy the Abrams Tank was, it still wouldn't handle the concentrated barrage of magical machines at close range. Can we handle the onslaught of 8 of them….? No, there is no other option but to do it! This is going get interesting!
Having such thoughts, Sergeant Barkmann gave out orders to Gorz and Fernando.
「I'm going to kill the guy on the far right! Loading the H.E.A.T. round! Firing!」
「Firing!!」
As Sergeant Barkmann's voice shook with hesitation, Gorz and Fernando carried out their duties accurately like robots.
Shell after shell poured from the 120mm cannon, striking the Empire's machina one by one. One machina had its leg blown off striking another machina cockipit, as another shell finished off its operator. And like that 2, 3, 4, 5 people were killed just by 2 rounds in seconds.
However that was not enough to demoralize the Imperial army from continuing their attack. They clenched their teeth, watching their allies decrease in number. The magical machines counter-fired back at the Abrams tank, firing off more than 10 shots. Their magical bullets could not penetrate the tanks composite armor as their power laid in compressing mana and accelerating its motion. All the damage it would create is just an explosion that could only scorch the modern manufactured steel plate.
「Sergeant! Enemy infantry incoming! Distance 300 meters!!」
It was at this time that 5 magical machines were destroyed. And while no one else was aware, Fernando had spotted more infantry coming as they abandoned their positions.
「Whaa!! There's a lot of bad guys!! Load the canister round!! There's our target, enemy infantry approaching from the front!! 」
「Roger! Loading… Complete!!」
「Firing!!」
Sergeant Barkmann's use of the canister round against the Imperial Army's human wave tactics was nothing but outstanding.
As enemy infantry crowded around each other, those in the path of the cannons 120mm smooth-bore muzzle, faced a barrage of small metallic balls. And from a single canister round only half of the enemy troops remained.
「I'll give them some of this too! Those bastards!」
Using M2 heavy machine gun as well as the M240 Machine gun mounted on their tank, they fired at the oncoming infantry in rhythmic fashion tatata~tatata~. But with attacks coming from the Empires machina, Sergeant Barkmann and Gorz had left the turret, dismounting with the M240 to kill what was left of the enemy infantry. After returning to the tank, they resumed fire on the magical machines.
「Well, we managed to destroy 7 magical machines, 2 are abandoned and all their infantry are wiped out, but there are still 3 remaining.」
After annihilating the enemy infantry and exhausting a majority of their ammunition on the machina Sergeant Barkmann became worried about how to move from now on.
「Enemy, incoming at our 9, 12 and 3 o'clock directions. The ammo we have left are 2 armor piercing fixed wing sabots and 2 high explosive anti-tank rounds. With that, the machine gun bullets are a bit…..ha~aa. If the engine were to run out now…. Joseph, How are we even moving right now?」
「It will be fine, it will take awhile, it will be fine, Sergeant. ….argghhh come on! Move ya cheap bastard!」
Sergeant Barkmann sighed as he looked towards the heavens, Joseph was beating each device to keep things working.
「Haaa~ I have no choice but to do this… (I wanted to fight while moving around…) But the enemy will soon reach us」
As Sergeant Barkmann anticipated the enemy, he resolved himself for that moment.
In a gamble to defeat the Abrams Tank, the enemy commander fires a signal high in the sky and a simultaneous attack from three sides commences. At the same time Sergeant Barkmann has the men shorten the distance between them.
「We're here!! The first one in front of us is their commander! Fire!!」
As the armor piercing round struck the enemy commanders magical machine, it had flown back 5 meters before exploding.
「One down!」
By rotating the guns turret 90 degrees right, Sergeant Barkmann attacked the magical machine coming at their 3 o'clock. The first shot had missed the machina and struck the ground in front, but the second round hit it's center, destroying it completely.
「Two down!」
After destroying the the machina approaching at 40 meters, Sergeant Barkmann swung the turret 180 degrees to their left, trying to take out the last one.
「Come on!! Just make it!!」
Even after defeating the final few remaining Imperial troops Sergeant Barkmann could not bask in the glory of his victory just yet.
It was because the M1A2 Abrams track was destroyed by that magical machines attack, just before it had been eradicated.
「….I see, this won't end with just a scolding」
Even though the engine was still operational, the tanks left track was completely destroyed. The M1A2 armor was scarred all over and some of its systems still had anomalies. Sergeant Barkmann could only leak out his voice.
「A written apology will need to be in order, but…」
「Engaging in combat without permission and defeating the enemy like a TV drama…」
「Sergeant… I've already sent in our request for an M88 Recovery vehicle to HQ」
As Joseph was in contact with Headquarters, Gorz and Fernando had their hand over each others drooping shoulders, saying 'Sergeant Barkmann had done it' had started staring outside the tank.
「…what did Headquarters say?」
「Prepare for battle and….」
「「「Ha~aa….?」」」
After having just won the battle, Sergeant Barkmann's back felt rather moist.