Re: Jager [Mecha Isekai/LitRPG]

+++ Empress Elisa d'Ottavio +++

South of Serenus

August 23, 1539 CE

The flags of the Imperium fluttered as Elisa walked forward.

Her soldiers now stood at the precipice of both defeat and victory at last. Serenus and the star fortresses around it, four of them in total, were surrounded and cut off from the outside world.

Work on the circumvallation, a series of fortifications around Serenus and its surroundings, was already ongoing, with the YEF digging in hard and fast since they arrived.

Fortresses made of wood, trench lines, foxholes, artillery emplacements, you name it—it was being constructed.

In the hills around the city, the YEF's artillery also opened fire as they abused their improved range over their opponent, each shot draining the magical barriers of the fortresses around Serenus.

That made it impossible for the enemy to interrupt the YEF's siege too.

"If we can overrun one of those forts," General Kohler spoke to his officers as they stood at one of the hills. "We can then begin breaching Serenus itself."

"A standard siege then," Colonel Strobel sighed at the side.

"Indeed. It's a godsend that we now have a limited supply line open with the east."

Due to the blistering advance and the news brought by the YEF, many of the loyalists in the east began switching sides to Elisa's faction. As a result, many of the roads leading here began to be opened, with fort cities and Imperial Army soldiers cooperating to open supply routes to Serenus.

Luckily, the governments of the western principality had gone into a production overdrive, so by the time the news of the opened supply lines was given to them, dragon-drawn wagons began speeding through liberated territory.

Right now, they were being resupplied in a slow trickle.

But in a day or two, whatever we expend will be replenished…assuming we can keep the lesser demons at bay.

Elisa had a lot of headaches to deal with. But, she chose to fight for mankind. That headache was a natural part of it, and she vowed to her people that she would see through it that this age of demons slaughtering them like livestock was going to end.

She raised her finger and aimed it at the star fort south of Serenus.

"That's Fort Patricia," she said to General Kohler. "You should choose that as our first target immediately. Its walls can be used to mount cannons to breach Serenus' southern curtain walls, and it's tougher than the other three forts. Sure, it'll be the trickiest to take, but we'll be able to use it better once captured."

"I know, but I'm planning to limit our moves to long-ranged bombardment until the circumvallation is finished for now," General Kohler said. "I do have an ace up my sleeve if you want an assault quickly."

"You're tunneling underneath?"

"Indeed."

Siege tactics. This was something she, the Virtus Empress, was quite familiar with. The Vanus Republic back then, when she was forced to conquer it during a massive war, wasn't a nation of slouches. Many of their cities were heavily fortified and for ages, it was almost impossible to conquer them.

But Elisa hired the finest siege masters of her people. From engineers capable of blasting massive walls, to battlemages that could create elaborate spells that weakened fortified concrete to let artillery breach it easily, she was familiar with most of the tricks they could impose.

Digging underneath was one such trick, but it was also hard to pull off because of counter-digging from the defenders. Unless…

"How many tunneling parties do we have right now?"

"Sixteen of them are heading to the fortress you pointed at."

"Sixteen?!"

"Well, I thought with our supply lines partially opened, I'd like to have a good entrance in a few hours," General Kohler grinned. "A few mines detonated underneath followed by an initial determined assault might just do the trick, don't you think?"

"I see…with the number of teams you sent, this should work well."

She watched as the general issued a few more orders to his officers. Then, some of them rode out with their horses to distribute orders. Elisa squinted a bit as she noticed something on the battlefield.

Lieutenant Hoffman?

+++

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+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

Keep firing at me, nutheads!

Hans gleefully controlled his mech as cannonballs and spells flew all around him. He didn't open fire with his main gun, as it'd be a waste of precious AP, but instead, he just ran circles in front of the enemy's fortresses.

And the enemy took the bait. They were firing shot after shot at him, all of it missing quite harmlessly. The few that managed to hit him on the other hand were blocked [UPG: SMOOTH RESPONSE III] quite well, so that he could effectively goad them by giving them the false hope of a possibility of shooting him down.

"Hans, this isn't funny anymore!" Adelyn's irate voice interrupted him.

"I'm just trying to bait them—"

"By placing yourself in danger!" Adelyn loudly huffed in the comms.

"Yeah, that's right Sir Hans! You're being so reckless again! Hmph!" Alizée followed.

Are they seriously angry at me?

Hans almost lost control of his mech because of that line of thought, but he regained control and dodged another torrent of cannonballs that nearly struck him. Then, he pulled his mech into a hard turn, running back to the YEF's positions, plumes of smoke in his wake.

He knew the enemy was more well-supplied at the moment than the YEF, owing to the fact that they were stockpiling munitions, so he thought he'd do a stunt to reduce their stocks.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem to land well with Adelyn. He expected a prompt scolding once he was back.

But, at the very least, when he reached friendly lines, groups of musketeers and mages all cheered him.

"That's our Grey Knight!"

"Thanks for wasting their bullets!"

"This is why I'll follow you to death, you madman!"

"Everyone, get out of the way!" Hans shouted using his speakers, a bit flustered by the praise headed his way, and quickly, the soldiers goading him to 'do another baiting run' returned to the dreary work of digging stuff with their shovels.

Hans looked back at one of the hills occupied by Ebert's artillery, and right as he crossed one of the trenchlines, they fired another powerful volley that rattled the bluish barriers generated by the enemy's forts.

When he reached the position occupied by Adelyn, he dismounted, and she immediately ran to him and lectured him about not doing any more stunts.

"But it worked—" Hans tried to explain, only to be cut off.

"Yes, but I swear I saw a dozen cannonballs nearly nailing you!" Adelyn wildly gestured with her hands, slightly red in the face. "I understand why you do this, but please…"

"I had my reasons," Hans sighed. "I just wanted to reduce their munitions a bit. Once we launch an assault, every cannonball wasted on me is another cannonball that won't hit our men."

"I get it…still…"

"I know your concerns."

"..."

"You really are angry, aren't you? And I thought we talked about this back then and came to a consensus."

"Whatever!" Adelyn looked away. "I'll overlook this for now, because we have a new assignment."

"What is it?"

"There are apparently four lesser demons headed around this area. If we can dispatch them before reaching the fortifications we're constructing, it will help a lot."

"When are they reaching us?"

"ETA two hours."

"I see."

Hans scratched the back of his hair, taking a deep breath. Right now, they can't do much at the moment. The enemy's barriers and forts were still standing. Ideally, an assault will only begin once the enemy's barrier spell and walls are breached.

For now though, as he expected, their goal was to stave off any attacks from the rear as the YEF attempted to breach Serenus' defenses. Once that was done, Hans expected to be in the spearhead, leading the charge to destroy the enemy.

"We're gonna expend a bit too much munitions for this one," Hans groaned.

"My autofabricator and AP reserves should keep up with it," Adelyn said, her annoyance from earlier disappearing. "We're going to have a few supporting units for this anyway."

"...Hmm…neat."

"That's it? You seem a bit distracted."

"Distracted? What? Oh."

Hans laughed a bit, shaking his head. Indeed, while they were talking, his mind once again wandered from the topic. Instead of thinking about the incoming lesser demons, his mind instead focused on the lack of a concrete response from the defenders of Serenus.

It just seems strange…

"See, I knew it," Adelyn narrowed her eyes, but Hans deflected.

"It's just strategy stuff."

"Strategy stuff, huh? You know, sometimes, you should leave some of that to the general."

"I can't exactly do that."

"That's why you can barely sleep," Adelyn shook her head, as if pitying him. "Once this is all over, you really need a long, nice sleep. Without thinking about all this."

"I've had decent sleep earlier."

"I bet your dreams were all about strategy and tactics."

"Wait, are you a mind reader now?"

"Pfft, as if I need to be a mind reader to know your tendencies."

"You're really scary sometimes."

"If I'm not, how will I keep calling myself your commanding officer? Hmph."

Hans laughed a bit, then, he turned to his mech.

"So…are we setting out now or what?" Hans asked.

"I'll check on the unit that'll join us in battle," Adelyn answered.

"Are we bringing in some arty?"

"No, but they'll have some decent battlemages with them."

"I see. That should suffice."

+++

+++ Pope Paul IX +++

Cardinal Vittoria de Albe, the Calamity of Hate, bowed low in the empty chamber of the pope.

Paul on the other hand remained sitting on his chair, remaining silent as he waited for her to speak.

"Your Holiness," the woman raised her head. "The enemy…they—"

"I know."

"Will you not start the grand feast yet?"

"Why should I?"

"We shall take them by surprise."

"How impatient."

"I wish…" her face suddenly turned red—truly red. "I want to vanquish those cretins now, before they breach our walls!"

"And if we do that, my new form will be easier for them to deal with, assuming their strength isn't sapped." Paul grinned, before he stood and walked close to her, whispering in her ear. "Isn't the plan that we have…is to let our fodder weaken them a bit for a good while?"

"Yes…Your Holiness…" she shakily replied, her earlier tone becoming subdued.

"Good. Patience, my dear. Patience, and I swear to you, I, your master, will be the only sun in the sky by the end of this."