*******
"Why a cloak if I may ask?" the general stared at Theo in curiousity. For someone who's supposed to bet his life on the situation, choosing a piece of clothing was odd.
"I have my own reasons," Theo answered without giving a single clue to the general. It was as if he wanted to play surprises.
General Robert smirked as he nodded.
"Sure then. But I will give you a warning, if you ended up injured because of the cloak, I'm taking it away immediately," the general already guessed that Theo might actually have his own plans. Though he shouldn't be too sure.
"Understood, sir," Theo nodded as a sign of respect. He knew what he was doing, but he needed to be careful too. That was why he planned on being cautious all the time.
"Now then. I believe you actually trained by yourself when you were alone in the med tent, correct?" Theo's eyes narrowed when the general mentioned that. Looks like he had his eyes on Theo all of the time. Theo couldn't deny the fact that he had forced himself to move and train after he woke up, so he nodded.
"Yes, sir," General Robert stared at Theo's face as he noticed that Theo's eyes have wander away from him. Stubborn, but at least his body is ready for the battlefield. The general smiles as he leaned forward.
"I hope the training that you forced yourself into will bring you benefits. If it ended up being a hindrance to Unit 125, then I won't hesitate to give you a punishment. Do you understand, Private Theo Smith?" the general spoke sternly. He knew that Theo's body can handle such training, since he saw the scratch on Theo's body disappears when Theo was unconscious. He only used a strict tone to tease Theo, as per his demeanor.
Theo stared at the general's face as he lowered his head.
"Understood," he said in a slow but clear tone. Theo didn't know what to make out of this situation. Well, if the general is serious, then he would too. General Robert realized that Theo took the words seriously, and immediately regretted it.
"Don't be too harsh on yourself. It might affects the military process in the future," the general sighed. But it sounded like another selfish command, and not a comforting words. At this point, the atmosphere have become gloomy.
Theo nodded as he answered in formalities before both of them kept themselves quiet. It have become awkward and tense since there was not much to talk about now. The general immediately opened his mouth as he did not wish to pry any longer.
"Private Theo, I will send the cloak to you by giving it to your personal doctor. Make sure to prepare yourself for the battle," Theo stood up and bowed down as he listened to the command.
"Yes, sir," he answered.
*******
The whole troops move to the West, keeping their eyes on their surrounding in case they got ambush by any Mashitin that might appear out of nowhere.
There are 3 types of machines that the military note down in their guidebook. Mashitin, the 2 or 3 meters tall machines. It's the easiest to defeat, since it doesn't have any shield, and only wander around with no purposes.
The second one is Mashiben, the height for this one is between 5 to 12 meters tall. Both Mashiben and Mashitin can be defeated by using mana-infused weapons along with metal bullets. Though Mashiben are harder to defeat since it's faster than Mashitin.
Mashitilk on the other hand is harder to defeat despite the fact that there are only a few of them in the record statistic. The information on them are limited too. There's not once where the military ever defeat it, so if there is an encounter, everyone should wait for the support and hold out for as long as they can. But they should never run away from the battlefield.
The operation went smoothly, since they only encounter Mashitin on their way to the West. Even though nothing seems wrong, Theo still can't get over the feeling of uneasiness in his heart. He looks around to be even more cautious.
"Troops!" Commander Henry stops them from moving forward, as he gives the next command of what to do. They plan on separating the team into 3 if there's no difficulties coming.
There will be the guarding team, the searching team and the recovery team. The guarding team will be guarding the recovery team as they set up a tent in case there is any survivor in the nearby area. The searching team will be moving around to search for survivors and materials.
Theo have been appointed under the searching team. After they make sure that the area is clear, they separate under 3 different teams, and start moving. The searching team heads to the nearby village, and found nothing. The whole village was destroyed.
"Any survivor?" the team leader ask around. "Negative," there's no sign of life there. Theo looks around and found nothing. He worries more about the fact that he can hear the sound of something big coming, even though its vague. There's not a single corpse, or even a drop of blood there.
"Team Leader Justin, perhaps they already evacuated?" everyone gather around as they state each area that they have checked. Not a single bloodshed. The team leader frowns, the situation doesn't give the slightest hint of relief.
"Team leader." Theo speaks up. Their attention turn to him immediately.
"Private.. William James. What is it that you wish to speak about?" Team Leader Justin speaks in a strict manner. There's no time to waste, so he needs Theo to speaks faster. Theo knows he might sounds ridiculous, maybe some of them would be furious if he states out his idea, but he decided to push forward.
".. We need to head back," Theo replies sternly.