Re: Jager [Mecha Isekai/LitRPG]

+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

Two more days passed as the YEF inched forward.

Hans was assigned by General Florian Kohler to a vanguard unit tasked with disrupting the defenses at Fort Patricia. Needless to say, it was hard work.

Every four hours, Hans found himself charging with his mech, alongside the support of a few battlemages on horseback, close to the fortress's walls. With his main gun, Hans used a lot of munitions to slowly cut down the walls of Fort Patricia.

The magical enchantments on the fortress were quite ridiculous. It was almost as tough as a calamity, which made sense. A beacon was now flying high from the center of Serenus, specifically coming from the St. Angelo Basilica.

According to intel from defectors, it was a magical artifact that drew in mana from its surroundings in heavy quantities, allowing it to perform powerful magic. Hans deduced that whatever ritualistic sacrifice, alongside the phenomenon of people turning into demons, could be caused by that thing.

Secondarily, it must also be powering the barrier spells protecting the walls of Fort Patricia, and of course, Serenus' walls as well.

So Hans steadfastly got himself to work since he was assigned here. He would charge in, draw a lot of heat from the enemy in the form of spells, musketry, and of course, hundreds of cannon shots, but he also would reply in kind with his main gun.

His main gun was deadly. It may not have the ability to destroy walls, but its MPAT HE setting was beyond broken whenever he used it to unfortunate sods on top of Fort Patricia's battlements. With its deadly accuracy and powerful explosive filler, Hans wouldn't be surprised if he had shaved off thousands of lives with his main gun alone while harassing the fortress.

For some reason though, every time he came back, fresh soldiers seemed to arrive anyway, indicating that the enemy was reinforcing Fort Patricia with great resolve. The fortress after all was connected with a fortified passageway into one of Fort Serenus' bastions.

They couldn't exactly attack it though, because the area between the detached fortresses around Serenus was a dead zone, where artillery and magic would essentially kill anyone foolish enough to venture there easily.

It was why capturing Fort Patricia was necessary. With its walls and proximity to Serenus, they could use its bastions to open fire at the Imperial Capital's defenses with greater impunity, and finally inch forward for a final breaching assault.

But it was hard.

Hans' mech screeched as he returned to the area where Adelyn's mech was parked, which was near the rear of the YEF's lines. Activity was heavy. Apparently, their numbers had now swollen to a hundred eighty thousand soldiers strong, with more coming from all corners of the Empire.

This…this was going to be the final battle indeed. The last stand between the Calamity of Hubris, or the last chance for mankind to finish off the demon question for good.

Hans dismounted his mech, briefly taking a look at his AP count, before initiating his autofabricator into work. He looked at the Diligence, and it seemed like Adelyn was hard at work too.

"Hans!" Adelyn gaped at Hans, stopping herself from further inspections of her mech's turret. "You're back!"

"Yep, I—"

Hans found himself stopping, as Adelyn suddenly charged in to hug him, her worry clear. She had been doing this for a while now, especially whenever Hans pulled off dangerous stops, and Hans couldn't stop her.

Quite frankly, he kinda liked it…

He felt his cheeks turning red. Thank goodness no one was looking.

"I'm fine," Hans said, trying to squirm away.

"Y-you made me panic again!" Adelyn complained, her eyes a bit moist. "I was watching from behind earlier. Their attacks nearly got you!"

"You know I have an upgrade to deflect anything that hits me?"

"But still!"

"I'm fine, I swear," Hans tried to laugh and defuse the situation, but Adelyn just stepped back, and crossed her arms, huffing.

"I swear, at this rate, I should really just blast those walls open."

"No way. Then the enemy will find out your ultimate attack."

"Yeah? So what?"

"Save it for the last. You know, for tactical reasons."

Hans watched as Adelyn pouted a bit. She had been quite angry at General Kohler's orders holding her back as he simultaneously sent Hans into the thick of the fighting. Hans of course understood the reasons well for General Kohler's actions. Even Hans didn't want to easily divulge what they could do to the enemy until they were inside the Imperial Capital.

Why? Because Hans wanted to surprise the bastards by getting Adelyn to blast the St. Angelo Basilica wide open. It was a simple, straightforward strategy. Divert the enemy to the normal fight once breached, then blast the centerpiece of the enemy's plans.

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But, she certainly isn't satisfied with it.

Hans watched as Adelyn continued her tirade in front of him. It was quite endearing really, seeing just how much she cared for him. He wondered if he would ever show that much concern for her too.

Especially since he still continued to deny whatever he felt in his heart even now.

When she was done with her tirade, a small smile appeared on Hans' face.

"Alright. Are you done?" Hans asked, his tone calm and gentle.

Adelyn turned a bit red, before looking to her side, sighing.

"Yeah. It's just…I really hate this, when I can do so much, but. Wait, did you even listen?!"

"Look, you just need to place your trust in me, okay?" Hans said.

"I am, but—"

"I also trust you that you'll keep those lesser demons attacking us from the rear at bay," Hans said. "I am worried, but…we have roles to play so we can survive. We can only do those roles if we trust each other."

"I…I know, but…" Adelyn held her hand. "You're still throwing yourself into a more dangerous place, even when I'm stronger than you."

"..."

"What?"

"Pfft," Hans laughed at her. "You? Stronger than me? Heh. Is all that angel of justice shtick getting through your head? May I remind you, I am still the ace of the southwestern front, aren't I?"

"A-are you saying my ego is too big?"

"Right."

"Okay, so what? A noble lady such as I should have a lot of pride. That's natural."

"But I don't think you're stronger than me."

"Now you're just making things up."

"I'm pretty sure my skills trump your brute force quite well."

"Mister, I have both skills and brute force."

"Same."

"Well, you two seem quite lively today," a voice interrupted the two. Immediately, Adelyn turned redder, retreating a bit, while Hans straightened himself as he looked at Captain Strobel.

"Ebert," Hans said, his tone returning to normalcy. "How's the situation?"

"Things are finally going well because of you. We've got the cannons ready near the walls now," a grin grew on his face. "We're going to breach the walls and assault it soon."

+++

+++ Pope Paul XI +++

Cardinal Vittoria de Albe, who had now been given the task of administering the 'southern sector' bowed as she entered the main hall of the pope's residence.

She seemed to be deeply red in fury, which was surprising to Paul. While she, the Calamity of Hate, was one of the few calamities who could somewhat temper the downside of having the power of the Calamity of Hate, she still seemed quite triggered.

"Speak, Cardinal. What are the heretics up to?" Paul said.

"Your Holiness. The enemy is now close to breaching Fort Patricia. In no time, they'll reduce it to rubble, and they'll use its walls against us."

Gasps came from the gathered clergymen and officers in the hall, many of them cursing the foolish heretics who dared to attack Serenus. Paul could hear them talk about how the demons must have truly controlled their countrymen's minds, and how this might be mankind's last stand, truly.

One general even curled his fist, proclaiming to his colleagues that they had to keep themselves together and defend the pope and the people in Serenus to the last.

Paul raised his hand, silencing the hall.

"Continue," Paul implored.

"Your Holiness. My commanders in charge of the south are requesting reinforcements."

"Hmm…but we're losing a lot of men already in Fort Patricia."

Paul received the grim reports for the past few days. Whenever the barrier spell protecting Fort Patricia shut down, a grey-ish machine with six legs and a powerful cannon would zip through the battlefield, firing its guns at the walls of Fort Patricia.

While it didn't do that much damage compared to the thousands of enchanted cannonballs battering the fortress's walls constantly, its high explosive nature turned many of their soldiers dead if they were either exposed or close to the blast zone.

It sounded somewhat terrifying…to a normal human, yes, but Paul didn't find much concern about it himself. He was far above all those around him to care about some peashooter.

It was an annoyance though. Due to this, the chances of breaching Fort Patricia would be higher if they didn't reinforce the dead—which were now in the thousands—but then, if they continued to stubbornly hold onto it, defenders from other sectors would have to be pulled out.

"Most of our best soldiers have already died," Vittoria continued. "If things continue, I may be forced to join the battle."

"Lady Cardinal, but you can't—"

"That would be too unprecedented!"

"You and Niccolo have to guard his holiness!"

The murmurs from the other officials, protests, filled the room again. They were all quite heavily convinced that the powerful magic and abilities of the three calamities of Hubris, Hate, and Avarice respectively were normal manmade magic.

Mainly, because all three of them only showed their magic before they turned themselves into calamities. With their great power, both Vittoria here and Cardinal Nicollo Zorzi, the Calamity of Avarice, were given command over the southern and northern sectors respectively.

But, they were still Cardinals. The thought of a high member of the Holy Church joining in battle was unimaginable for most.

"If I have to fight them head-on to defeat them for mankind, I shall," Vittoria declared with conviction. "Perhaps, you can even send Cardinal Niccolo with me. We shall find and kill the false angel."

"Kill her?"

"Yes. It is a possibility, if we can just find her. She should be there though, once they try breaching Fort Patricia."

That was one of the things that Paul wanted from this battle. To kill the three angels facing off against them, Love, Purity, and most importantly, Justice, once and for all. The goal of his defense wasn't just to buy time to finish the preparations for the grand ritual, but also, to ensure that nothing would be able to interfere with it while it was ongoing.

The presence of those three was a massive headache for Paul. Justice was said to be the most powerful of the three, but considering almost all demons he ever sent to dispatch that cretin died, he didn't know much about her, even more so with Purity, who was said to have killed Desire.

But to let Vittoria and Niccolo face off against enemies that refuse to show themselves, except for that annoying pest…

It would be quite risky. The Grey Knight was one thing, they knew what he could do already, but the Angel of Justice.

He considered Vittoria's proposal, when suddenly, a messenger from the military barged into the halls.

"Your Holiness! The enemy breached the walls of Fort Patricia! Two mines exploded underneath, and their artillery managed to level most of its bastions after they placed them on the fort's glacis!"

"You mean—they reached the fort's glacis?!" one of the officers shouted in shock.

"The enemy had trenches close to the fortress, so they launched an assault that overran the defenders there. Now, they're preparing to finally send troops into the fortress itself!"