Chapter 1451: The Secret to Having Good Aim
“Get back now!” Balshan crouched low and roared. “Shure — fire straight ahead!”
“Understood, taking aim—”
“Stop aiming. Just fire!” She yanked the gun bolt open and spun toward the monster, momentarily forgetting to tune the Sigil of Resonance.
The vehicle reversed. The 75mm short barrel spat flame.
Three hundred meters collapsed in a blink. The instant Shure fired, a pillar of smoke rose from the bloodied mass of the creature. It looked like a miss — but amid the churning smoke they caught the arc of falling limbs. A cannon was still a cannon, regardless of caliber; no machine gun could match it. From the shape of the dust cloud, Balshan counted more than ten outlines. Blade beasts.
“This monster is carrying blade beasts?” Bay finally reacted.
“That’s right.” Balshan pulled her eyes from the scope. “I believe this is the Sky-sea Realm’s Nest Mother mentioned in the manual.” She paused. It resembled the illustration the way a fever resembles sleep — loosely, and wrongly. Some mutation. “But there are too many differences.”
They reversed to the corner of the street. The other two convoys had noticed the commotion. Before Balshan could speak, Amy’s voice cut through everything.
“The other tank team is less than two streets west — five minutes to link up!”
“No! Don’t go, it’s too late!” Balshan screamed until her throat tore. “Let the soldiers enter the fortress!”
“You want us to meet the enemy head-on here?” Hero, the vehicle commander of Convoy 17, stared at her with open horror. “There’s more than one of them.”
“It’s precisely because there are more than one that we can’t retreat!” Even with the situation disintegrating around her, Balshan’s mind had gone very quiet and very clear. Three tanks were not enough to stop more than ten blade beasts. If the creatures reached the soldiers, the loss would be irreversible. But they were different — Isabella had said as much. The armored vehicles were built for simultaneous offense and defense. Surrounded did not mean finished. Not for them. “Hero, seal that passageway. Only then can we let loose.”
Hero glanced at the corroded, deformed steel doors of the fortress and understood her immediately.
“I understand.”
“Amy — follow me!”
“Er… fine. Alright.” Amy nodded without quite meaning to. Balshan was not the team leader, but her authority had a way of bypassing the question.
“Team Leader, you’re really…” Shure said, with something close to reverence. “Too cool.”
“Bootlick me after everyone gets back safely.” Balshan grinned.
She knew this wasn’t the cleanest plan. She couldn’t quite stop herself anyway. She didn’t hate Dusk — but the weeks spent accompanying her through the development areas had been a slow, featureless boredom. She couldn’t lie to herself anymore: while the Church had been hunting her, she’d told herself that a quiet life was what she wanted. It hadn’t been true. The smoke and the flames called to something in her that a quiet life never could.
Maybe this is why I awakened as a Combat Witch.
Once the soldiers were inside the fortress, Convoy 17 revved to full reverse — and drove straight into the wall with a crash that shook the pavement. The tank wedged itself into the gap, an improvised blockhouse, fixed and immovable. The Sky-sea Realm’s invisible assassins could no longer slip past the steel barrier to reach the exposed infantry.
At that moment, blade beasts appeared several hundred meters down the road. She couldn’t see them with her eyes, but the Sigil of Resonance painted their positions in glowing lines across her vision.
“Straight ahead — full speed, don’t stop!”
She dropped into the turret and sealed it shut behind her.
The war machine’s deadliest weapon was not the cannon or the machine gun. It was mass, at speed, sustained.
Balshan pressed the accelerator and glanced into the side mirror — and froze.
A magic power line extended into the air.
Wait — those monsters can fly?
No. The answer came before the question finished forming. The enemy had leapt — a prodigious, airborne pounce, ten meters up and crossing distance fast. She seized the handgrip and went rigid. Whether I live or die depends on the workmanship of Neverwinter’s artisans.
The impact was a sound more than a force. The creature smashed the top of the vehicle with a blow that dented the metal plating and set their eardrums singing. The tank shook once, and did not slow. Not by a fraction.
Balshan felt the fear exit her like breath.
“I’ll take aiming.” She swung the turret. “You only need to pull the trigger.”
“And me?” Bay asked.
“The goal is that monster. Don’t hit a wall — everything else is your call.”
She ignored the creatures pouncing overhead, trusting her crew to handle them. If the bloody thing was truly a Nest Mother, it had to die first. Kill the source, or the blade beasts on the ground would only multiply.
The Magic Cube Power Unit rumbled. The tank plowed through the press of bodies. The coaxial machine gun laid down fire in sweeping arcs — blade beasts lacked the barrier abilities of senior demons, and at critical hits, the damage was enough to drop them mid-leap. Those it didn’t kill, the steel treads finished.
Blade beasts could only punch through the tank’s plating when their front blades lit with blue light, but that same motion exposed them to the guns. Unable to harm Balshan’s vehicle directly, Amy appeared to have decided on an alternative: the majority of Convoy 9’s fire focused on Balshan’s flanks, chewing through anything that tried to reach her.
The two tanks tore a corridor through the enemy. Mutilated corpses piled around the tracks. When the creatures died, their invisibility collapsed with them, and the weak points at the base of each blade beast appeared in stark relief.
Balshan’s tank wore its damage openly. The machine gun was gone. Several holes in the hull let in thin threads of black blood. The nearest strike had come close enough for her to feel the heat pulsing off the blade’s tip — mere inches from her face.
But the fundamental difference between machine and biology held. Bruised, holed, and black-stained, the tank never slowed. The Nest Mother’s pulped kin served as lubricant beneath the wheels.
The Nest Mother had sensed the tide turning. It tried to flee. But its bulk, immense and poorly adapted to solid ground, moved with a clumsiness that was almost pathetic.
— They were not in the Swirling Sea.
“What is the most crucial factor to having a good aim?” Balshan asked.
“Being close enough,” Shure replied, entirely serious.
“Then don’t miss!” Bay bellowed, and drove the tank straight into the creature’s ribs.
The monster unleashed a scream that had no human word for it.
From the cannoneer’s position, there was nothing in the scope but target.
Shure pulled the trigger without hesitation.
The 75mm howitzer discharged its high-explosive shell. It punched into the monster’s body, drove nearly the full length of it, and detonated at the head.
Chapter 1451 - The Secret to Having Good Aim
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
“Get back now!” Balshan crouched down and roared, “Shure, fire straight ahead!”
“Understood, taking aim—”
“Stop aiming, just fire!” She pulled open the gun bolt and turned towards the monster, momentarily forgetting to tune the Sigil of Resonance.
As the vehicle reversed, the 75mm short barrel eventually spewed flames.
The 300 meters distance between the vehicle and monster was covered in the blink of an eye. The instant Shure opened fire, a pillar of smoke appeared on the bloodied monster.
It looked like a miss, but the trio caught sight of the falling limbs amidst the twirling smoke. Despite the small caliber of the cannon, it was still a cannon and not something a machine gun could compare to. From the dust cloud formed, Balshan roughly estimated more than 10 outlines of blade beasts.
“This monster… is carrying a bunch of blade beasts?” At this time, Bay finally reacted.
“That’s right, I’m afraid that this is the Sky-sea Realm’s Nest Mother mentioned in the manual,” Balshan replied, but there were too many differences as compared to the illustration, as though the one in front of them was a mutated species.
Retreating back to the corner of the street, the other two convoys had noticed the commotion. Before Balshan could speak up, Amy started screaming. “The
other tank team is less than two streets west of us, it’ll only take five minutes to meet up with them!”
“No, don’t go, it’s too late!” Balshan screamed at the top of her lungs. “Let the soldiers enter the fortress!”
“You want us to meet the enemy head on here? There’s more than one of them!” The vehicle commander of Convoy 17, Hero, revealed an expression of shock.
“It’s precisely because there are more than one of them, so we can’t retreat!” Despite the severity of the situation, Balshan’s mind was extremely clear. Just the three tanks were definitely insufficient and incapable of stopping more than 10 blade beasts. If they were allowed to charge into the soldiers, the loss would be irrevocable. But they were different, as Isabella had mentioned, the armored weapons they were in were basically capable of offense and defense by design. Even if they were surrounded by the enemy, it did not determine the outcome of the battle.
“Hero, please seal that passageway. Only by doing so can we let loose and fight!”
The latter turned and looked at the corroded and deformed steel doors of the fortress and immediately understood her intent.
“I understand.”
“Amy, follow behind me!”
“Er… Fine, alright.” Although Balshan was not the commanding officer of the team, Amy nodded her head subconsciously.
“Team Leader, you’re really… too cool!” Shure added respectfully.
“You can bootlick me after everyone returns safely.” Balshan grinned.
She knew that doing so wasn’t that great an idea, but was unable to control herself. She didn’t hate Dusk, but there was nothing interesting at all during the period in which she accompanied her at the developing areas. She could
not lie to herself, while being chased after by the Church, she had assumed that a quiet life was her goal, but from the looks of it, she was more suited for the smoke and flames on the battlefield.
Maybe this is the reason why I awakened as a Combat Witch?
After the soldiers were safe in the fortress, Convoy 17 revved the engine and reversed towards the doors at full speed—
With a loud bang, the tank inserted itself straight into the wall, forming a blockhouse fixed in place.
By doing so, the invisible assassins of the Sky-sea Realm were no longer able to pass through the steel barrier and attack the relatively weaker soldiers.
At this moment, blade beasts appeared several hundred meters away on the road. Despite being unable to actually see them, Balshan was able to mark out their locations with the magic power lines produced by the Sigil of Resonance.
“Straight ahead at full speed, don’t stop!”
She roared and dived straight into the turret, sealing the entrance to it.
The war machine not only had its cannons and machine guns to kill its enemies, but its massive bulk itself proved to be extremely fatal as long as it maintained a certain speed!
While stepping on the gas pedal, Balshan looked into the side mirror, and suddenly noticed a magic power line that extended into the air!
Wait, those monsters can fly?
That’s not right. She quickly reacted—the enemy had pounced high into the sky over a large distance! She held onto the armrest tightly as her entire body stretched perfectly straight. Whether or not I live or die depends on the workmanship of the Neverwinter artisans.
“Bang!”
The enemy smashed heavily onto the top of the vehicle with an impact so massive it formed a small depression on the metal plate, along with a reverberating sound that caused the trio’s eardrums to go numb. Even so, the vehicle merely shook, and did not show even the slightest amount of stop or reduction in speed.
Balshan immediately felt emboldened.
“I’ll take charge of aiming.” She turned the turret while commanding, “You only need to pull the trigger.”
“Then what about me?” Bay asked.
“The goal is that monster, so long as you do not crash into the wall, you’re free to drive however you like!”
Balshan ignored the pouncing enemies knowing that her comrades would deal with them. If the bloody monster was truly a Nest Mother, it was their first priority to eliminate it; otherwise, the number of blade beasts on the ground would only increase.
Amid the rumbling of the Magic Cube Power Unit, the tank braved through the crowd of blade beasts. The coaxial machine gun spewed bullets fervently, causing substantial damage on the blade beasts that did not wield barrier abilities like senior demons. When the damage done was fatal on critical spots, it was enough to cause the target to fall during its pounce. Although they were not dead, the steel caterpillar tracks completed the job.
The blade beasts were only capable of impaling through the tank’s steel plates when their front blades blossomed with blue light, but this move exposed themselves to the scope of the machine guns. Under the circumstances that they were unable to harm one another, Amy had evidently used Balshan as a target, with the majority of Convoy 9’s bullets focused on the sides of the Balshan’s vehicle.
Very quickly, the two tanks tore a path through the enemy, with piles of badly mutilated corpses left all around the tracks. When their vitality ceased, the confusing invisibility stopped functioning, revealing all the weak points located at the bottom part of the blade beasts.
Balshan’s tank was equally as worn out, with the machine gun gone and a few large holes on the large vehicle that allowed black blood to leak inside. The closest the enemy had reached was a stab that was merely a few inches from her, to the point that she was able to feel the burning magic power from the tip of the blade.
But the greatest difference between machine and biological lifeforms was that even with all the bruises, the tank’s performance never dropped. It maintained its full speed across the plaza, while the enemy’s pulverized internal organs served as a lubricant for the wheels.
The Nest Mother might had sensed the situation turn against it as it started to turn and flee. However, the huge body moved in a manner that could be fully described as clumsy.
—They were not in the Swirling Sea after all.
“What is the most crucial factor to having a good aim?” Balshan asked.
“Being close enough,” Shure replied seriously.
“Then you better don’t miss!” Bay shouted loudly as he controlled the tank towards its target as it suddenly thrust into the enemy’s ribs.
The monster unleashed an ear-piercing roar.
From the position of the cannoneer, their entire vision was the target.
Shure pulled the trigger without hesitation.
The 75mm Howitzer unleashed its high explosive shell that penetrated into the monster’s body, almost running through the entire body and exploded at the head