Humans, Elves, start of the war. ⑤

"Three bogeys coming from south of the base!"

This means Ames got three radar contacts of unknown identity.

Thinking rationally though, there was almost no way they would be friendly. If they were the three runaway Pixies and their Fulsts, Ames's radar system would have picked their identity. The same could be said for any HAFF's fighter planes.

It was impossible to think that the three were reinforcement from other Bases. With the Chason base positioned in the Palmian Kingdom, the closest HFAA base would be at least a country away. In such a short amount of time, it was out of the question.

Although, Ames quickly threw the chance of the incoming bogeys being a plane at all away. The radar system detects objects by emitting electromagnetic waves. Once they bounce on something, the waves will be received again by the system. Depending on the size of the object that bounced the waves, the received amount of waves would be different.

Radar cross-section (RCS) was the measurement of how detectable an object was using that principle.

The RCS of the incoming bogeys was too small to be fighter aircraft.

The three unidentified objects were magic armor. HAFF only had four magic armors, including the AMK-0X Vawln that Ames wore, all of them were used by team Pixy.

So, it was clear to Ames that the incoming was three elven magic armor. Meaning, his enemies.

Even if he was 99% sure it was an enemy, he couldn't engage them without permission.

"Control! Can you ID the bogeys!?

"Please wait Pixy 4."

"I need permission to engage!"

Before the permission was given, the approaching magic armors were the first ones to engage Ames.

"They're attacking me! I'm engaging them!"

Ames moved by increasing his main thruster output. He let his legs loose and let them be dragged by his upper body. With that, Ames had entered the flying position.

Several beams of light came rushing in his direction. Different from the magic rifle he used, Ames saw several different shots coming at him. That must mean the enemies using magics casted by the user and not the magic armor's systems.

From the looks alone it seems several magic elements were being thrown at Ames. But, being shot from quite a distance, the aims of the magics were not perfect.

Just as he did in the mock dogfight, Ames dodged the incoming attacks. Not only using the three thrusters of the Vawln, Ames also dodged using his body movement. By using his limbs to kick or swing in the air, Ames could rotate his body on every axis.

As he got closer, a beam of light faster than any magic before was shot straight at him. As soon as he noticed it, he decreased the thruster's output in an attempt to slow himself down. He kicked his right leg while twisting his torso to evade the attack narrowly. When the beam passed by him, there was not even a meter of distance between him and it.

Ames managed to not get hit directly. However, the magic seems to be quite stronger than he thought.

The small distance of gap was already enough to transfer the huge energy the spell had to Ames. There were no injuries suffered by Ames himself, but the Vawln that he wore was visibly damaged. The damage Vawln received was not heavy though. Only its left shoulder and a little on the back was.

The damage to the armor was low, meaning Ames could continue his effort to attack. There was a noticeable decrease in the speed he was flying, but it would not hinder Ames's mid-air movement.

With the damage assessed in an instant, Ames fixed his posture and rushed the three enemies. He pointed to the heavy machine gun and was ready to fire.

But, as the enemies' MAS-22 Adder entered his vision, he hesitated. Ames already felt something was off seeing how slow the elves moved in his radar. Ames was stunned to see that the three enemies were not flying but instead floating stationary in the sky.

---

Ames was a private that has not properly finished his training. Not to mention, now he was piloting a new technology that had never been seen before. That was why the strategies he chose to fight were monotone.

Just like the ACT, Ames intended to penetrate the enemy's formation and then hit them from behind. With how sharp he could move, it was easy to out-maneuver the enemy at that close of range.

It was supposed to be the repeat of what happened at the dogfight where Ames would come when the enemy was turning to re-engage.

But now that the enemies floating still, rushing straight ahead would be jumping at an obvious trap. Considering the strength of each of their spells, Ames couldn't just charge ahead.

Realizing his mistake, Ames instead opted to do another standard strategy. Rather than doing what he had done on the ACT, he would do what the other Pixies did.

He abruptly veered to his right. Then with hundreds of meters between them, Ames swung hard left. In that position, Ames would fly across the elves' straight formation.

Then with his machine gun aimed at his right side, he fired away at the elves. His enemies didn't stay still being fired, they also started firing their spells.

But with how Ames was flying across them, it was harder for them to hit him. On the other hand, Ames who just sprayed the bullets, managed to damage all three of them moderately.

After that short engagement, Ames went straight for some distance and then turned to start the run all over again. It was a gun run that was normally used on ground targets. Although with how Ames was using the heavy machine gun, it would looked like a drive-by shooting.

---

Ames peeked behind himself. The three elves were not following him, instead, they stayed in the same spot, hovering.

At that point, Ames could do the gun run several more times. Even if he couldn't drop any enemies, they would move sooner or later under the heavy fire.

The heavy machinegun he took should have more than a hundred rounds. With how many shots he did per run, Ames calculated that the gun would not run out of bullets anytime soon. That made ammunition not a problem.

The main problem then, was the Vawln. The reason Ames had to use the machine gun was because the Vawln was running out of mana to operate the magic rifle.

For now, the Vawln could fly for quite a bit. But Ames doubted it could last multiple gun runs to take the enemy.

There were two options inside of Ames's mind.

First, continue doing the runs. It was impossible to finish all the enemies just with that. But, like the elven ground forces, they would keep themselves from getting attacked one-sidedly. Sooner or later, they'll move.

The question then becomes 'when?' If they move before Vawln's mana storage runs out, Ames has a chance to finish them. On the contrary, if the elves held out long enough, Ames's defeat would be certain.

The second option was to attack them upfront. Before, their weird strategy flustered Ames. But after the first run, Ames realized that the fire rate of their spells could not rival that of magic rifles.

Even if it was a trap, with their low fire rates, Ames had a chance to slip through and finish them.

Both of the options were a gamble. If the dice fell on the wrong side, Ames would be shot down. But if the dice favored him, he could defeat three enemies even with the disadvantages he got.

---

In the time took Ames to think out his plan, he finished his turn and now heading toward the enemy again.

"Pixy 4, re-engaging bandits," Ames reported.

"Copy that Pixy 4, good luck"

Ames chuckled hearing Nensa's words. Good luck indeed. Whatever he chose, luck was essential. But Ames was not someone who solely relied on luck.

Above everything, Ames saw himself objectively. Even if others praised him or mocked him. He knew what he was capable and incapable of.

At that moment, he chose himself. Rather than relying on when the enemy would make a move, he chose to make the move himself.

He steeled his resolve and then went straight at the enemies.

---

At the approaching Ames, the elves fired their spells.

As he thought, their spells fired in a slower rate than amgic rifle. Not only that, Ames just realized that most of their spells also traveled slower in comparison. It was caused by the magics' elements. Compared to pure mana that the rifle shot, elemental magics travel slower but have higher firepower.

But there was no need for firepower if pure mana was enough to shoot a magic armor down.

And for that, dodging their attack was easier for Ames. At the very least compared to 2nd Lt. Pommeline's attack.

He continued evading the three elves' magics and getting closer.

When there was only a couple hundreds of meters between them, Ames pointed his gun forward, ready to fire. He understood that with their strange positions, a trap was a high probability.

In response, the three MAS-22 Adder fired their attack tighter on him.

Ames then aimed at the center Adder who seemed to be the squad's leader. Learning from the ACT, Ames intended to shoot their leader down and then attack the two Adders left.

In the middle of slipping through the heavy fire of the enemies, Ames shot. His first burst hit his targets several times, only stopping because he needed to evade.

Seeing one of them get hit, the elves started to shoot more magic at Ames. As their fire rate increased, their once decent aims got loose. It was clear that the enemy panicked and just started attacking Ames blindly.

Although that reaction was normal, it felt strange.

The whole reason Ames got flustered that they were unmoving was the high chance of trap.

Due to his parents' line of work, Ames has a high understanding of magic. Even more than most mages. That was why he understood the scariness of the elven magic.

If they readied a trap magic that had a large range, it would be hard even for Ames to dodge. But it seemed like that wasn't the case.

When Ames got closer and started to shoot, they panicked. If they had placed a trap, surely they wouldn't have panicked.

Questions started popping out inside Ames's mind. But, there was no time for such thought. He re-focused himself.

After dodging by dropping his altitude, Ames once again cleared for taking a shot. The distance between him and his target Adder was less than 200 meters now. At that distance, Ames won't miss.

Ames's shot managed to land on the center enemy again. Adding new damage to his previous one, the Adder that the elf wore should be close to failure.

Ames was now ready for a face-to-face battle that was going to happen in such a short distance.

Contrary to what Ames believed though, the three Adders retreated, keeping their distance fixed. There were no traps.

Once again, their moves had bewildered Ames.

---

The secret of the elves' movement was simpler than what Ames thought.

Paralleling HAFF that used fighter jet's strategies for magic armor, the elves didn't have any specialized tactic for the magic armor. Instead, they used the strategies usually used in magical warfare.

Staying stationary to aim and bombard the enemy was fundamental in magical warfare. On the ground, that had been proven to be effective. After all, no matter how fast a ground unit could be, it is almost impossible to dodge magic shots there.

Not only that, even if the attack missed, they'll explode as soon as they hit the ground. That means each of their attacks would be an area of effect attack.

But it didn't work against Ames and his Vawln. With his flying, dodging was easy. And unlike on the ground, their magic cannot detonate properly in the sky.

Because of that, their strong magic could do nothing against Ames.

---

Ames saw what was happening in front of him. Responding to the elves' retreat, Ames climbed, reducing their distance. Because of the climb, his speed was somewhat reduced. To accommodate that, he maxed his thruster once more.

While he did that maneuver, Ames never lost his aim at his target. As soon as he got steady, he shot the elf again.

The elves returned fire while trying to keep their distance. Although, the way they flew was different from Ames. So they could still attack, they chose to fly backward while facing Ames.

There were several differences in flying forward and backward. The most important one in that engagement was speed. Ames who was flying forward was significantly faster compared to the elves.

With that difference in speed, Ames could still shorten their distance.

When Ames and his target got close, both fired their attacks.

Ames easily slipped through the spell the elf had shot. But the elf couldn't get away from Ames's barrage on time.

Several shots penetrated the elf's Adder. His blood could be seen sprayed from his wound. For a moment, he kept struggling by shooting more spells. But then the spell stopped.

MAS-22 Adder was made without any internal mana storage, opting to use the user's mana instead. When its user died, the mana flows stopped. With that, the armor itself stopped functioning.

Ames watched as his target stopped moving and then started to fall to the ground.

After confirming the enemy's defeat, Ames searched for the two elves left alive. One of them had already gained distance from him, but the other was relatively close to him.

Close enough that his shot wouldn't miss. He could open fire on the elf and dispatch him swiftly. But thinking of preserving his shot, Ames raced toward the elf.

With less than a hundred meters between them, Ames pulled a handle from his hips.

That handle was the final weapon of the AMK-X0 Vawln. An emergency weapon to fight in close quarters. A mana sword.

The mana sword was a spell used to create a beam of sword using mana. Its range was small, but as it was dense pure mana, it was utterly strong. It could even stab or cut through a magic armor easily.

That was what Ames did. He stabbed the mana sword at the Adder's chest. The sword penetrated through the elf's body. Because of that the elf's Adder's thruster was also damaged.

Noticing that, Ames took distance from the body. The damaged magic engine became unstable and then exploded a moment later.

After killing his enemies, Ames finally acknowledged the voice that had been screaming at him for some time before.

"Valfreyja, This is Pixy 4..." The voice belonged to Nensa who had been telling Ames to stop doing the crazy plan he just did.

"Two bandits down."

One left to go.

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