12 - Fight for dear life

The days passed and soon the highway of death was almost 50 kilometers long, Merlin didn't say it, but he could feel it, the highway of death was soon complete, although it had been costly, 11 Puma's and one M4A2 had been lost and although the beasts of the forest had made great efforts the Panthers were still in one piece, although the number of spare parts Merlin had used on repairing them was in the double digits, this was also due to engine failures, general unreliability and wear and tear due to the rough terrain on the roadwheels, tracks, and otherwise excellent transmission, Merlin shook his head and cleared it to focus on the tasks ahead

'I can't let my guard down, it would be laughable to stumble on the finish line after all…'

Merlin sighed, it was currently a few hours before dawn, he had obtained even more motivation to make it to human civilization ever since he had grown closer with Jane, every night they would tell each other stories about their respective homes, the time they sheared had become precious to Merlin, though he wasn't sure that Jane felt the same

'She basically has to pretend to like me to survive… whether she actually likes me is going to have to wait until we've made it through the forest of death'

Although he felt no falsehood in the smile she showed when she looked at him he still felt it was unfair to do anything more than smile back, she was after all dependent on him for survival, so he simply enjoyed the warm back that was slightly touching his as Jane's steady breathing lulled him back to sleep…

The next morning Merlin was up first and sat on the turret of the panther and took in the sunrise as he stretched while taking inventory

'So I have 3 class 2 spare parts and 12 MRE's left… Besides that, I have two of each magic beast core from class 1 to 4 for quest purposes, and I have a total of… How many points?'

[Ding! 243 points are available]

Merlin nodded and looked over at the not one, but two Churchill crocodiles that would be clearing the way for them, Merlin had after being ambushed by magic beast one too many times expanded the highway of death in width to allow for more maneuverability for the tanks, and thus he had found it natural to purchase a second Churchill and upgrade it to a crocodile, even though it cost him more points which he was running low on due to the fact that retrieval of magic beast cores was difficult and dangerous in the forest of death after all one misstep and one could be bitten by a poisoners bug and die an agonizing death, after all, it wasn't named the forest of death for nothing, Merlin sighed, as he did he heard the drivers hatch open and looked over and saw Jane emerge from it she sat in the morning light for a few moments as if to recharge her batteries before she rubbed her eyes and spoke

"Good morning Merlin"

Merlin nodded before he breathed the morning air and spoke

"And an excellent morning it is, are you ready to train?"

Jane showed a smile and nodded

"Yeah, I just need to wash my face first"

"Sure"

After training the two of them entered a Panther tank and left the camp with the entire line-up of tanks except for the BT-5 and the two Panzer 1's that were left to guard the camp, Bertra the Tiger 1 bright up the rear as two Churchill's were in the front, Merlin and Jane sat inside the same Pather tank in the middle of the convoy, they sat next to each other on the floor of the fighting compartment shoulder to shoulder while Jane thought Merlin about different kinds of plants in the forest of death and their properties, so Merlin knew what kinds to avoid when they would stop and collect magic beast cores, around 4 hours into their drive the Merlin suddenly showed a slight frown and spoke to Jane

"There's a clearing up ahead, with a lake"

Jane thought for a moment before she asked

"How does the lake look?"

"Well… It looks like there are some camp supplies on this side of the lake like someone had made camp here and then left in a hurry, though they look degraded so I doubt there's anything we can use… Wait what's wrong Jane?"

"We need to leave at once!"

Merlin felt Jane's panic form her voice and nodded at once

"Okay, I'll give the order"

Just as Merlin finished giving the order to reverse there was a loud roar to the front, Merlin switched his view to the viewport of one of the Churchill's and saw it on the other side of the lake emerging from a cave

"You got to be kidding me…Reverse the order, all tanks rush into the clearing!"

"Wait, Merlin! We need to run!"

"If we run we're pinned on the highway with limited maneuverability, we need to take up positions while we st---"

Another roar sounded out from the genuine dragon that had emerged from the cave, standing a little over 5 meters tall with four limbs and a set of impressive wings which it at this moment had spread out wide as if to immediate the tanks that were encouraging on its territory it took a stance as it rose up on its hind legs while it took a deep breath

"As if I would allow you to do that! FIRE EVERYTHING!"

The roars of cannon fire drowned out the presence of the dragon as the remaining 6 Puma's, 2 M4A2's, 2 Churchill crocodile's, five Panther's and Bertra the Tiger 1 all opened fire at once at the dragon, the shells instantly reached their target and instantly exploded as they hit a transparent barrier in front of the dragon, when Merlin saw this he acted at once and grabbed Jane before he covered her with his own body in a corner of the fighting compartment as the dragon let out a roar while it covered the entire lake with a fire breath that soon covered all the tanks, the temperature inside the Panther instantly rose as the fire passed through the vision ports and licked the inside of the tanks, 2 Puma's directly exploded as their ammunition rack caught fire from the attack, Merlin quickly ordered the tanks to reverse, but as soon as the driver changed gears and throttled up the motor a bang sounded out from the engine of the Panther tank they were in as it overheated and outright expoladed from the fire that had gotten into the air intake of the engine, the explosion rocked the tank but as a silver lining the engine didn't catch fire, Merlin acted at once and ordered the remaining, still mobile tanks to move and flank the dragon, then he was forced to draw breath and felt his lugns being scolded by the overheated air inside the tank

'Open hatches or we'll cook in here!'

The commander's hatch, as well as the resupply hatch in the back of the turret, was soon popped open by the automated crew, then Merlin sent an order to the remaining 2 mobile Puma tank's on the left flank to haul ass and draw the attention of the dragon, meanwhile, he ordered the other tanks to laid their high-velocity armor-piercing shells as he took control of every single tank's gun at the same time and aimed them at the center mass of the dragon as he yelled out at once

"FIRE!"

The cannons once again roared out sounding like thunderclaps as the shells instantly hit the transparent barrier around the dragon, this time however some of them penetrated the barrier and met their next obstacle, the brilliant red scales leaving a big gash on the dragon's chest, Merlin felt dizzy, he had never controlled so many tanks at once before still he steeled his waving mind and sent the order fo the 2 Puma's that were flanking to keep up their fire while the rest of thanks reloaded, he also sent an order to the Tiger 1 tank to loaded a special shell

'Load HEAT!'

The HEAT or High-Explosive-Anti-Tank shell was a special shell that was designed to as the name implied take out tanks, it did this by using an inverted cone-shaped charge which works by superheating a metal and turning it into a deadly jet of molten metal, something which the dragon was about to taste, the dragon let out another fire breath at the two flanking Puma's just as Merlin had hoped as he ordered the other tanks to open fire at once with the Tiger 1 lagging slightly behind the other tanks on purpose as the other tanks penetrated the transparent barrier that had reformed and shattered it the HEAT shell made contact with the already deep and bleeding wound on the chest of the dragon and worked as intended, sending off a jet of superheated metal that ate right through the chest of the dragon wounding it lethally as it outright burned a hole straight through its heart, the dragon let out it loudest and final roar as it collapsed on the ground in front of the lake, Merlin wanted very much to celebrate but the 3 degree bruns that now covered his back made him pass out at once...