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nVolume 4 Chapter 14 Assault

nThe Banfield house’s fleet– the fortress-class ship’s hangar.

nAvid– Liam’s exclusive machine, was stored there.

nThe large black* aircraft had no master to pilot it, so it wasn’t currently in use.

nAnd manifesting itself inside such a hanger– was a dog.

nLooking up towards Avid, it let out a bark.

nAt that moment, Avid’s two eyes started to shine.

nIt’s engine began to roar with life, and armaments began materializing from the magic circles that manifested around it.

nThree large rocket boosters were summoned and connected to Avid.

nMoving by itself, Avid walked towards that exit hatch and pried it open.

nThe dog had already disappeared, leaving one of the mechanics stationed there to panic as he reported the machine’s sudden movement to his boss.

n“Hey, did anyone give Avid clearance to sortie?!”

n“What are you talking about? Avid can only be used by Lord Liam, who here could possibly move it?”

n“But it’s still moving!”

n“No, I’m telling you–”

nExiting out into space, the boosters on Avid’s back sprung to life as it rushed into enemy lines.

n◇ ◇ ◇

nI had grown bored of shooting at the enemy.

nRight now I was leaving that to the originally assigned gunner, as I sat in my seat yawning.

nA few days had passed since the battle began, but I was surprised by how fragile the enemy actually was.

nTheir counterattack was pretty lukewarm as well.

nHow do I put it? They were weak.

nCedric called out to me,

n“Special Staff Officer, aren’t you taking things a bit too lightly?”

n“Haven’t we already won?”

n“I think it would be better to stay vigilant until it’s officially over.”

nThe serious Cedric still somewhat tense about the situation.

nIn comparison, Wallace had already dozed off and was asleep.

n–why was there such a difference between these two brothers?

nOf all the royals out there, I feel like the one that I chose to be my underling was probably the biggest failure among them.

nEulisia brought me a report just when I was considering returning to my room.

n“Lieutenant General, we’ve received confirmation that a part of the enemy forces are charging directly towards our location!”

n“What?”

nTurning towards the monitor, the simplified image of the battlefield showed that a section of the enemy had broken off and was beginning assault maneuvers towards our flagship.

nThey were coming straight for us.

nTia immediately started giving out orders to our allies.

n“Pull back the flagship! Change our formations to intercept and surround them!”

nSoon after the fleet formed a shape similar to a crane’s wing and tried to envelop the enemy, but the momentum they had built up was too strong.

nI crossed my arms.

n“…it’s no good. They’re going to reach us.”

nAs an expert in assault tactics, I instinctively knew.

nWallace woke up from all the noise and began to tremble.

n“W-what are we going to do?! Can our battleships endure their assault?!”

nCedric twisted Wallace’s arms behind him.

n“Quiet down! Special Staff Officer, you need to escape immediately. You’re probably what they’re aiming for.”

nTo Cedric’s proposal, I asked,

n“Then what do you plan to do?”

n“I’m sorry, but I quite like this ship. In the stagnant life I’ve lived so far, I’m lucky I got to experience this at the end. Don’t worry, I promise to keep fighting until my last breath.”

n…wasn’t this guy more useful than Wallace?

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nWell, he was a different kind of person than I was– he was a serious guy.

n“I see. Do whatever you want. However, I don’t intend to be defeated by something of this level. Tia, prepare for me a mobile knight.”

n“Lord Liam?!”

nWhen I asked for an aircraft to pilot, Tia immediately objected,

n“No, please give up on that idea. In this situation, you absolutely can not be dispatched, Lord Liam!”

nMarie then refuted her while agreeing with my opinion,

n“If this is Lord Liam’s order, then it’s your duty as his knight to follow it. Don’t start causing trouble!”

nTia drew her weapon,

n“You fossil! Are you going to take responsibility if anything happens to him?! Lord Liam’s life is worth far more than trash like yourself!”

nThe surroundings went silent at the intimidating atmosphere building up between the two.

n…I was sick of it.

n“Hey.”

nApproaching them, I grabbed their heads and pressed them down against the floor.

n“L-lord Liam?!”

n“W-what the meaning of this?!”

nMarie and Tia were struggling against my grasp– clearly upset, but they couldn’t go against my strength.

nI pushed down on their heads a bit more as their butts stuck out.

nTo their clear confusion, I explained,

n“Are the two of you going to keep fighting in front of me forever? I don’t remember asking for my knights to be constantly in discord with each other.”

nMarie hurriedly made an excuse,

n“I-it’s not my fault! Lord Liam, it’s because this minced meat bitch was refuting your orde– urgh!”

nWhen I put a bit more force into pushing down on their heads– dents were made in the floor.

n“All you needed to do was prove your worth to me and build up your achievements, and I would’ve made sure to reward you properly. You can’t keep bickering like children forever.”

nTia looked up towards me with tearful eyes,

n“P-please forgive me! Please! I beg of you!”

n“…I’ll forgive you in deference of the things you’ve achieved so far, but I’m depriving you two of your statuses as my head and deputy knights.”

nTia and Marie made expressions filled with despair, but I didn’t care.

nHonestly, I should’ve disciplined them earlier.

n“Now what are your replies?”

nWhen the two of them sulkily whispered “Yes” in response, I released them with a smile.

n“Okay then, let’s sortie. Someone prepare for me a mobile knight.”

nAfter lifting themselves off the floor, Tia and Marie directed flushed expressions my way.

nSurely they were frustrated to the point of wanting to cry.

nBut it couldn’t be helped.

nI had just deprived them of the statuses they had so much pride in after all.

n◇ ◇ ◇

nTia and Marie didn’t follow him as Liam left the bridge.

nHer face completely flushed, Tia had a spellbound expression on.

nWallace was kind of creeped out by it.

n“Hey, why are you so happy?”

nTia scoffed derisively, and looked at Wallace like he was an idiot for not understanding her feelings.

n“To have the strength to hold the two of us down with only one hand each, and the boldness to immediately intercept enemies that had resolved themselves for a suicide attack. This is Lord Liam!”

nFor Tia, even being admonished by Liam was nothing more than a reward for her, so she was delighted by the fact that she got to see this side of him.

nCedric’s shoulders dropped.

n“That’s fine and all but, can somebody give me my orders already?”

nAgainst the incoming enemy forces, their allies were losing ground.

nSnapping out of her daze, Tia immediately started giving out commands.

n“Prepare the mobile knights for dispatch! Bring out the ships that were built for short range combat! Pull back any vessels with less armour and have them focus on artillery, but make sure they’re wary of friendly fire!”

nSwitching mentalities, she gave out orders one after another to prepare a battlefield where mobile knights could display their strengths to the fullest.

nEulisia looked at her figure and nodded.

n“…putting her personality aside, she’s actually quite capable, isn’t she?”

nThe neglected commander silently prayed in his heart for his survival.

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n◇ ◇ ◇

nThe Berkley fleet.

nDolph received a report saying the enemy’s mobile knights had sortied, and immediately sent out a dispatch order for his own.

nAnd with that, the aircrafts they specifically built to deal with Liam’s Avid would be released.

n“All special models are to sortie!”

nThe special machines prepared by the Berkley family were mobile knights of the same size class as Avid.

nAlthough large models were considered obsolete in modern times, these were the latest generation of weapons created by the first and second weapon factories based on Avid’s data.

nHowever, it was no exaggeration to say that these were made specifically to defeat their predecessor.

nAfter seeing Avid easily destroy their previous creations, these machines were built with all the frustrations their developers had hammered into them.

nTwelve aircrafts were prepared.

nThe operator raised his voice,

n“There are no confirmed sightings of Avid!”

n“That’s fine! If he won’t come out himself, then we’ll just attack his flagship!”

nDespite not being trained in assault tactics, the Berkley fleet approached to take Liam’s head without having their numbers significantly reduced.

nThis was all due to Dolph’s tenacity and the guide’s blessing.

nStanding next to Dolph, the guide shouted,

n“Hey! Liam is actually there! Dolph, destroy the aircraft leading the interception!”

nWith that scream, Dolph noticed what should’ve been impossible for him to know.

n“It’s the foremost aircraft! That’s where Liam is!”

nDolph rationalised it as his intuition, but it was actually the guide who revealed his location.

nSpreading his hands, black smoke was emitted from the guide and spread into the floor.

nThe dark smog reached out and entered into the special anti-Avid aircrafts.

n“LIAMMM!!!”

nGrowing excited, the guide directed the special machines to the mass production model Liam was piloting.

n◇ ◇ ◇

nThe cockpit of one of the mass production machines.

nIt was a mobile knight just like Avid was, but it felt exceptionally brittle.

n“As I thought, mass production machines are no good.”

nWhen you’re rich, custom order models were the only way to go.

nFollowing behind me was Marie, who went on to explain what model I was using,

n“Lord Liam, that aircraft is one of the new prototypes for the next generation of mobile knights.”

n“There’s nothing I can do about it, but that’s a bit worrying.”

nIn the first place, it wasn’t unheard of for prototypes to have various problems.

nAnd even if this was a next generation model, it was still a mass production one in the end.

nI don’t know how useful it will be.

n“As I thought, I should’ve brought Avid with me.”

nI missed the luxury seat I had installed in it.

nWhile I thought that, the Berkley fleet started to dispatch their mobile knights as well.

nThey seem to have prepared a lot, because there were thousands of them.

nAnd their numbers were still increasing even now.

nIf taking the Berkley fleet’s position into account, we were attacking them from above, and the enemy was rising upwards to reach us.

nHowever, since there was no gravity in space, the direction they came from wasn’t relevant.

n“Okay, here they come!”

nPressing down on the accelerator, I felt the cockpit shake a little.

nAvid wouldn’t even budge at this.

nMobile knights approached one after another as they targeted me.

nThe enemies were an assortment of state of the art models and mainstream ones.

nIn the vastness of space, I passed by another mobile knight holding a blade, swinging through and destroying it.

nI swooped down on them with a hail of lasers and bullets– avoiding enemy missiles and destroying them with a swing of my sword.

n“You guys are just a little more crunchy than Derrick!”

nAn allied mobile knight shot down an attacking enemy with their rifle.

n“Lord Liam, I’m here to support you!”

nMarie had come to my assistance.

nThanks to her taking down the troublesome enemies, I could take down my targets with ease.

nWhenever my mobile knight swung its sword, five enemy aircrafts exploded at once.

n“It’s amazing that they’ll even explode in space! How does that even work?!”

nI beat them down with overwhelming power.

nThe mobile knight was able to reproduce the One-Flash, but it’s reaction rate was dismal compared to Avid.

nIt wasn’t able to reproduce my movements that well either.

nMarie shoots and destroys another aircraft that tried to take my back.

nJust by defeating the enemies in front of us, our kill scores gradually increased.

n“Well, I guess it’s okay for a prototype.”

nWhen I said that, a huge aircraft appeared among the enemy forces.

nEven though Marie tried shooting at it with her rifle, the bullets and beams were easily repelled off of its armour.

n“These bastards! Lord Liam, leave this one to me!”

n“Don’t be stupid, I’ve been waiting for someone like this.”

nI advance my aircraft forward and slashed at them with my blade, but the enemy deployed a spherical barrier of light around them.

nIt’s output was nothing to laugh at.

nIf the aircraft I was piloting was considered a standard model, then my opponent’s machine was a super one in comparison.

n“You’re pretty good, but that’s nothing to me!”

nThe enemy moved to catch me, so I cut off both of their arms.

nUnable to process what had just happened, the enemy hurriedly tried to pull back.

n“As my opponent you should entertain me more!”

nClosing the distance and swinging down my blade, I broke through the enemy’s barrier shield– but then was stopped by their armour before I could bisect them.

n“Tch.”

nI clicked my tongue, letting go of my sword while backing away, and immediately after a rain of beams and bullets rained down on the place I was just a second before. Swallowed up by the attack, the enemy aircraft exploded.

n“…this might be a little difficult.”

nLooking upwards, there were eleven more similarly built large aircrafts.

nThe red eyes in each of them were shining.

nMarie moved forward as if to protect me.

n“Lord Liam, these ones are dangerous. We need to take them down before they surround us.”

n“That sounds like a good plan, but I don’t think they’ll let us.”

nAn enemy battleship pointed their bow m way and started firing at me.

nCompletely disregarding their allies that were still nearby.

nHonestly? Looking at things I was probably scre–

n“…Avid?”

nTurning towards a new a new presence I felt approaching, there was an aircraft rocketing towards my direction while weaving between enemy ships.

nMarie broke out into confusion in the comm lines,

n“Avid’s here?! That’s impossible! Who’s piloting it?!”

nApparently, Avid seems to have flown out from the Banfield fleet.

nAlone– without authorisation.

nI smiled.

n“Perfect follow up, guide!”

nI charged the aircraft towards Avid, and as I adjusted it to match its relative speed, enemies started gathering around.

nBut Avid spread its arms, letting out lasers to destroy them.

nThe boosters attached to Avid disconnected themselves.

nCatching the aircraft I was piloting with both of it’s hands, it opened its cockpit hatch to receive me.

n“Good job.”

nLowering the visor on my helmet, I opened the aircraft’s hatch and jumped out.

nAfter that, Avid reached out and caught me, sending me into its cockpit.

nInside was the nostalgic and spacious chamber I was used to.

nI took off my helmet.

n“It’s been a while since I rode you.”

nNo one was sitting in the pilot seat.

n–in other words, this was all the work of the guide following up on me.

nAs I thought, he truly was reliable.

nHe brought Avid to me at the best moment.

n“I need to make sure to thank him again.”

nSitting down on the seat and grabbing the control stick, I was finally able to rampage with Avid for the first time in a while.

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