n

n

n“Don’t worry. It’s in the past,” I muttered before sitting back down.

n…

nAbout two more weeks had passed, and everybody had grown their base abilities by just a slight amount, which was more than enough for this up-and-coming battle.

nThis one might take at least a month or two, meaning we’ll have to get used to trench life very soon.

nAfter kissing our warm beds and pillows goodbye, we reported to the Wony head’s office, where he explained the details of our mission.

n“You all will be joining as enlisted. It is up to you whether you want to stand out but remember, this isn’t like the previous war. That one only had about twenty thousand soldiers in total if you include both sides… but now, each side has at least seventy-thousand soldiers. Mostly all of them are civilians meaning you’ll see some things and hear some things that’ll scare you, but continue to press on… good luck,”

nHis inspirational speech was decent, and I knew acquiring too much adrenaline now would just make me sick, so I kept my cool all the way until the base.

n“Did you get the email?” I asked everybody in our six-man group, which included Findir, Cy, Aisa, Bella…, and sadly Luna.

nAs she is proficient with some magic, the Wony head forced her to get off her ass and go with our group despite the complaints from both sides.

nLuna wasn’t the best at working with others due to her arrogant personality, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t capable.

nIf she sets it aside for some gain for herself, she’ll easily submit to others or work together with others in order to obtain the thing she wants.

nPeople like her are a bit scary… though I can’t be talking.

n“Yes… I think I got the email. It’s better than him just explaining it in one go,” Bella muttered, and everybody else nodded in agreement.

nThe war this time didn’t have the Wony family as one of the primary sides but instead a bundle of families.

nNone of them were really noticeable besides the opposing side, which had a kid from the Boisgeze family.

nApparently, he’s trying to gain some experience on the battlefield and hopefully toughen up, so I can’t blame him for trying to improve himself… but that doesn’t mean I’ll show any mercy.

n“Welcome, all enlisted, line up here,” An attendant said while gesturing to a long ass line filled with people who were clearly roped into doing this for the money.

nI saw only a few people here that looked like they wanted to fight in order to improve themselves, but the others were most likely from the familial neighborhoods that had been set up.

nThese neighborhoods are basically a way for the families to watch over all the human resources and try to manipulate them with the desperate situation they were in.

nThis is why basically all of the city had been vacated, and no other humans were to be seen roaming the streets.

n“What a **ed place we’re in,” I muttered.

nAfter about half a day, we finally signed up and were funneled into large trucks where at least a hundred people were squished against each other.

nMost people were already going insane, not only from the claustrophobic situation but also from the impending sense of doom that came with traveling to a battlefield.

nAfter another long wait of about an hour or two, we finally arrived at the base site, which was packed with hundreds of tents and thousands of soldiers.

nAfter escaping that claustrophobic prison, we were funneled into large tents where we were given some information as to what we were supposed to do here.

nBasically, the jobs everybody needs to take care of these living quarters and **… it was kind of annoying, but there was nothing I could do.

n“What’s a kid like you doing here?” A man who looked to be in his mid-forties asked just as I was laying out some of the cloth blankets on top of the sleeping bags.

nWinter had already come, so taking extra measures of warmth like this was necessary… that also displayed signs of how this battle was going to be even more miserable than before.

n“Nothing special… Just money. Are you part of any neighborhood?” I asked, and the middle-aged man chuckled a bit.

n“You make it sound nicer than it really is… All there is to is a few hundred warehouses where everybody lives like slaves every day, living off the scraps of the wealthy….”

nHis little smile soon faded away as he seemingly recalled something in his mind.

n“Anyway, do you know when we’ll be sent to the battlefield?” I asked the man, but before he could even reply, somebody charged into our large tent and shouted,

n“GET YOUR UNIFORMS ON! PREPARE YOUR WEAPONS! WE NEED TO HEAD STRAIGHT TO THE FRONT LINES!”

nHe then disappeared, leaving us a bit frozen as it was way too sudden.

n“*sigh*… This is going to be miserable….”

n…

nBOOOOOM

nBAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM

nThe battlefield was not the cityscape I was expecting, but yet another flattened piece of land burned to the bone.

nExplosions of various magical attacks resounded through the air, blocking out the slight pitter-patter of bullets that assaulted the air above me.

nWe were currently waiting for one of the machine guns to run out of bullets before we could peek up.

n“Hah… Hah… Hah… Orion… This is too much. I didn’t think it would be this different,” Aisa muttered as she shivered, holding her sniper as close to herself as possible.

nThis battlefield was definitely much different than the one we experienced before, as there was absolutely no room to run onto the battlefield.

nRaising your head above the trench line was like a death sentence unless you timed it correctly.

n“It’s all good… If you haven’t adjusted yet, then just sit ba-“

n“IT RAN OUT OF AMMO! GIVE IT TO THEM!” Our lieutenant said, and our group of about twenty-five people all raised their heads above the thin trench line and shot as many bullets that we could produce.

n