Episode 18: Dreams in the game become reality

6. Battle (2)

After the war began, the war situation did not continue as a boring local war, but expanded to the entire western border.

A complete all-out war.

In the end, the division I belonged to was also deployed to the battlefield, and when full-scale fighting began, the communication network for personal terminals, which was only allowed to regiment commanders and above, was cut off.

Thanks to this, I couldn't log into the game and just quietly sat at the head of the table and commanded my adjutant, Haman, and the troops.

No matter how well trained the soldiers were, they were no different from expendable items on the battlefield, so they all seemed nervous.

The only thing these soldiers could trust was their commander, but unfortunately, the commander was a game junkie who occupied a high position just because he was the lord's son, so their anxiety seemed even greater.

I waited leisurely, enjoying refreshments like a noble, without worrying about what other people thought.

"Oh, a platoon (5 people) of the Croisen Empire's Vanguard is approaching!"

"Don't panic and move your formation back. And I give Sir William an order to dispatch the Vanguard."

"yes!"

Perhaps because he was now confident that he would not die easily no matter what happened, he did not blink even when the enemy Vanguard came running towards him with a fearsome force.

Thanks to this, the officers and adjutant Haman of the brigade command looked at me with renewed surprise... … .

"why."

He quickly turned his head away, saying it was nothing in response to the harsh question.

But that was then.

"hmm?"

Through the Mangekkyo, I could see a large amount of energy gathering in the enemy Vanguard's Force Sword.

I frowned, lowered the teacup I was holding, and shouted at the same time.

"2nd Battalion! "Energy shield full force deployed!"

My shout was quickly conveyed to the unit, and the blue beam of light that extended by surprise collided with the red shield.

-Quaaaang!

A dazzling brilliance mixed with red and blue light took away my sight, and with a violent explosion that made my ears tingle, the command center shook as if there had been an earthquake.

'crazy!'

Even though I was already familiar with the power of the Vanguard, I couldn't help but laugh when I saw its power.

What kind of swordsman is one who overuses absurd long-distance attacks?

I think I understand why wizards cannot deal with Vanguards unless they are 7th Circle or higher.

"2nd Battalion Energy Shield is silent! "It takes 90 seconds to recharge!"

The defense system, the lifeline of the soldiers and our command, came to a halt in one Vanguard attack.

In terms of price, it is more expensive than Vanguard's force equipment, but there is no comparison in terms of efficiency.

After all, it is not a piece of equipment that is said to have changed the course of war for nothing.

'If possible, please make some equipment for wizards.'

The designer of the Force equipment that amplifies auras is Archduke Lucas.

It is ironic that he himself is a wizard, and that he created equipment that upgrades the strength of knights who are related to wizards.

Since I'm a wizard myself, I can't help but feel a little disappointed.

'No, there is no need for me to envy Vanguard.'

Anyway, if you reach max level in the game, you will be in the 9th circle, and isn't there Arcia, who is a candidate for becoming a grandmaster (8th circle level)?

Hoping for more than this might be too greedy.

"Brigadier General, how about pulling back the 2nd Battalion?"

After shaking off my distracting thoughts, I accepted Adjutant Haman's opinion.

"Do by that way."

Energy shields are arranged by battalion, but since the energy shield of the 2nd battalion was discharged, it was moved back for the safety of the soldiers until it was recharged.

"I almost got into big trouble. "I survived thanks to the brigade commander's quick recognition."

The officers of the command team who had saved their lives, including Haman, looked at me with friendly eyes.

"I was lucky."

"You are humble."

There is nothing wrong with giving me a ride on a plane.

I shrugged my shoulders and looked at the situation.

'The size of the invasion force, which is fiercely advancing and retreating, is not much different from our division. If there is a variable, it is the size of the sky fortress... … .'

As my eyes turned to the sky, Haman naturally also raised his head.

The brigade headquarters is located inside the flotation train.

A clever soldier operated a camera and created holograms of objects floating 500 meters above the ground.

Then, a huge disk-shaped floating object that looked like a UFO appeared.

One aircraft was deployed in the friendly formation and two aircraft were deployed in the enemy formation.

One of the friendly formations was 700 meters in diameter and weighed 1 million tons, while the two enemy formations were 500 meters in diameter and weighed about 500,000 to 600,000 tons.

These giant UFOs are the sky fortresses, the main modern air force.

"There are two sky fortresses in the Croesen Empire, but they are considerably smaller than those in our kingdom."

As Haman observed, the enemy's sky fortress was only half the size of ours.

"It must have been mass-produced for invasion purposes."

Even if there are many enemy sky fortresses, the difference in weight class is significant, and Reinharts Magic Tower's sky fortress is famous for its excellence, so it will not be easy to be pushed out.

"Seeing as there is no separate information, it appears that this is the first time it has been deployed."

However, if there was no reason, it would not take that form, so I decided that the variable in this war was the Sky Fortress.

'They say that in war, if there is a Vanguard on the ground, there is a fortress in the sky.'

Although it is a state-of-the-art weapon that incorporates the magic technology of each country, in fact, if you look at the Sky Fortress, it is Vanguard's force system that plays the central role.

A powerful 7-8 circle magic artifact is built into the main gun, but the fire rate and energy efficiency of the magic artifact cannot match that of force equipment.

Therefore, the Sky Fortress's main attack was the same way the Vanguard just launched a long-range attack on us.

Looking at another screen of the hologram, the vanguards of both armies continued their fierce battle on the ground.

The enemies use hoverboards to increase their mobility, but then we just use hoverboards the same way.

As a result, the ground is in a completely frozen state.

Because of this, not only me but everyone in the command center was looking only at the sky.

-Chigit.

Huge chunks of metal slowly approaching each other, pushing away the clouds.

The high-power barriers of both sky fortresses seemed to be influencing each other, and even though they were quite far away, thick sparks flew out in the empty air.

And that spark became a signal to announce the beginning, and the sky was covered with light.

-Kwakwakwauk!

As if they had decided to finish each other off without any hesitation, all kinds of artillery fire, including main artillery fire, poured out.

Thanks to this, the barrier did not last long and evaporated.

Direct attacks were confined to the heavy metal fuselage.

"It's bloody."

The thickness of the outer wall, made by adding various alloys to carbon fiber based on strengthening magic, is a whopping 5 meters.

Isn't this a truly ignorant glove?

No matter how weak the metal was to auras and magic, the armor of the sky fortress, which had been steadily improved, was not easily penetrated.

Everyone was mesmerized by the splendid battle that colored the sky.

"huh?"

However, as I was constantly looking at the enemy's information inputted into the Mangyeong, I was puzzled when I saw that the information on one of the enemy's two sky fortresses was changing.

[Disconnecting armament] [Removing bridge]An unknown message.

Then the core of the sky fortress separated and fell to the ground.

-Quaaaang!

As the center of the disk-shaped sky fortress separated, the sky fortress remaining in the air became shaped like a donut.

In that sudden situation, everyone had question marks over their heads.

Just as Mangyeong had written the message that the armament had been separated, the sky fortress lost its offensive function and became a target in the sky.

The 2:1 fight suddenly became a 1:1 fight.

"Why is it like that?"

"Is it broken?"

"Haha, that's funny."

Laughs flowed from all over the command center at the foolish situation.

But I could never smile.

[Magic power running away] [Magic power running away] [Magic power running away] [Magic power running away]The reason is because of the information that is updated all the time.

When I thought of one possibility, I was shocked.

"no way!?"

And as if to prove that my guess was correct, the donut-shaped sky fortress that lost its attack function suddenly increased its speed and rushed towards the friendly aircraft.

"Delivery to the Sky Fortress!"

I shouted angrily.

"It was clearly a suicide attack!"

Haman next to him swallowed his breath, and the officers in the command center, who had been giggling at the inexplicable sight of the enemy, widened their eyes.

My story was immediately relayed to the Heavenly Fortress.

I wondered what would happen if the fortress commander ignored my words, but he seemed to think it was strange as well, so he quickly began to retreat.

However, it did not seem easy to beat the self-destruct fortress, which was lighter and moved faster.

"Anti-aircraft fire!"

The ground forces' greatest anti-aircraft resource is none other than the Vanguard.

This is because the main aerial power of this world is sky fortresses with powerful defenses, so half-hearted investments are nothing but a waste of money.

It was natural to judge that it would be more beneficial to increase at least one more sky fortress or increase the number of vanguards with the money invested in ground force anti-aircraft power.

But now the Vanguard is tied to the enemy and cannot be removed.

Therefore, the only anti-aircraft fire was the soldiers' personal weapons and 5-circle range attack artifacts to support the soldiers.

Thousands and tens of thousands of fireworks shooting from the ground toward the sky.

Anti-aircraft fire continued not only from our brigade but also from the entire division that received the information.

"I guess it's no use!"

However, the movement speed of the sky fortress was considerable and the distance was long, so it could not cause much damage.

And eventually.

-Quaaaaaang!

As the magical power of the enemy's sky fortress reached its critical point, a gigantic explosion the likes of which had never been seen before covered the sky.

'Great Shield!'

The world shook loudly, as if it had been turned upside down, and a powerful shock wave was transmitted to the ground, causing the glass of the command vehicle I was riding in to explode.

Fortunately, I used the artifact I received as a gift from my father at the right time, so there was no major damage inside, but the soldiers waiting outside were thrown into chaos, including being thrown away.

"What about our sky fortress?"

I quickly looked at the sky.

Visibility was poor due to the mixture of gray clouds and dust, but since the sight had a see-through function, there was no difficulty in observing the situation.

Sky Fortress Asteron.

Fortunately, our army's sky fortress did not crash.

It seems that because of the speed at which it was running, it was thrown away at the same time as the explosion.

However, it seemed to have suffered considerable damage as it was unable to completely avoid the aftermath of the suicide attack.

'thank god.'

I thought it was a blessing that I didn't fall.

If our army's sky fortress had crashed, there would have been a massacre caused by the remaining enemy sky fortress.

I straightened up with a sigh of relief.

"Check the status of the Vanguards and take care of the soldiers."

The officers and soldiers in the command center nodded at my command as if they were fascinated by something.

"All right."