Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 400: Section 266: Facing Directly (Part 4)

Chapter 400: Section 266: Facing Directly (Part 4)

Malin was quite pleased as he drove the "high-speed mountain off-road vehicle" because it closely resembled the electric bike he had owned years before, only this time the battery pack had been replaced by a magical crystal stone engine. This newer source provided superior horsepower and a more enduring operating time. All he needed to do was to charge it with the corresponding spiritual energy, and it could last an impressively long journey. Even accounting for maintenance every hundred kilometers, Malin could drive three hundred kilometers in one go, then head back and hand the vehicle over to the logistics department.

The vehicle was somewhat large for grown adults but was excellent for little fellows like the half-humans and dwarves. For someone like Malin, whose stature had shrunk due to active bloodlines, it operated all too well.

Therefore, Malin didn’t bother with the Seventeenth Infantry Division, nor did he need any assistants. He, alone with a map, headed north—as long as the front was stable, he wouldn’t rush to the trenches.

If the front line were breached by Chaos, those two-legged creatures wouldn’t be able to catch up with Malin, who could reach speeds of up to 80 miles per hour across the vast plains and small hills. Malin couldn’t think of anything that could outrun this vehicle.

So after half an hour, Malin arrived at the trench area. His identification allowed him past the guards’ inspection, and then he rode his small vehicle straight to the frontline—wherever the fighting was intense, he just had to ask the gendarmerie.

Although they didn’t understand why Malin would want to go to the most fiercely contested part of the front, the gendarmerie still informed him of the location of the intense battle. One of them, meaning well, shared some news with Malin, "I see you are from the Church of the Goddess of Harvest. Your church’s Mason Wyman is right there."

"That’s great." Malin nodded, then proceeded toward the front line. Along the way, he occasionally saw platoon-level reinforcements moving up, which made Malin a bit puzzled—just don’t turn this into a suicidal charge.

With such thoughts, Malin reached a small mound. The battle ahead was fierce. He parked his vehicle on the reverse slope and slowly walked towards the top of the hill with his gun. Fio, Lorrin, and Melo, the three little guys, quickly became self-propelled shovels, swiftly digging out a very competent foxhole for Malin—a rectangular foxhole with three firing angles, allowing Malin to cover the left, center, and right directions of the front line.

Then, on both sides, Lorrin and Fio were excavating two small foxholes.

Malin set down his ammunition bag and took out his periscope, positioning it in the small foxhole on the left.

Melo ran over to the vehicle, rolled up the long gun barrel, and brought it over. Malin switched to the long barrel and installed the sighting device.

Fio rolled past Malin’s spare helmet from behind and, along with itself, positioned it in the small foxhole on the right—although they were at least three hundred yards from the front line, Malin had Fio set it up as bait to attract the enemy’s attention as a precaution.

Malin pulled out a helmet camouflage cloth suitable for this small hill from his pocket and slipped it over his helmet, which had been treated with electrum. He then positioned his rifle.

Melo operated the periscope on the left, selecting a target for Malin: a Chaos Priest who seemed to be wearing a stone skin spell. Perhaps because ordinary bullets couldn’t harm him, he boldly stood there, commanding the Chaos grunts to charge while occasionally gifting enhancement spells to them.

Malin pulled back his bolt and loaded an armor-piercing bullet into the chamber.

They say you have thick skin, let’s see how you handle an armor-piercing bullet.

Mumbling to himself, Malin pushed the bolt back, shouldered the gun, rested his cheek against it, and staring at the ugly head in his scope, he pulled the trigger.

The gun’s muzzle, fitted with a flash suppressor, did not produce a burst of flame, but the Chaos head in the scope exploded the next moment.

Lorrin recorded Malin’s achievements with pen and paper.

"Just like hunting." Malin pulled back the bolt, and the spent cartridge was ejected. Lorrin caught it and then tossed it into a collection bag.

Melo signaled the second target, a Chaos warrior—unlike the almost frank armor of the Chaos grunts, he was tall, strong, and protected by heavy armor, all of which were bad news.

The good news was that he didn’t wear a helmet. Perhaps because he was the squad commander, he was advancing towards the center of the battlefield, leading three Chaos warriors.

Malin pulled out a five-round stripper clip and pushed five holy water-soaked armor-piercing bullets into it.

Repeating the process of preparing to fire, just as the squad-leader-looking Chaos warrior charged, Malin pulled the trigger.

The warrior’s charge turned into disaster mid-way; the headless corpse ran a few more steps before toppling in front of the defensive line.

Malin worked the bolt, ejecting the empty case and then cycling a new round, slightly adjusting the rifle’s aim. He caught another Chaos warrior in his sights, who had no idea of his commander’s demise and laughed madly as he moved toward a few brave Sydney soldiers launching a countercharge.

The bullet flew three hundred and forty-seven yards, penetrated his breastplate, and with holy energy, instantly ignited the Chaos. His laughter turned into indescribable howls before being bayoneted to the ground by the Sydney soldiers.

Another Chaos warrior noticed his comrade’s plight and rushed towards him, hoping to rescue him. So two seconds later, another bullet flew almost the same distance and entered his brain through a gap on the left side of his helmet.

As he fell, the last Chaos warrior finally realized the cause of all this havoc. Instinctively, he knew the shooter was ahead. He quickly moved sideways, hoping to use the low ground on the left to avoid the open terrain on the right.

Yet, at Malin’s position, the upper body of this Chaos warrior was still exposed.

So two seconds later, a bullet pierced through the Chaos’s chest plate armor, turning it and its wearer into another addition to the muddy landscape.

Malin left his firing position and swapped with Fio.

Fio then swapped with Melo, with Melo taking over the right fire port as he and Malin focused on the right side’s enemies.

The battle here was even bloodier, with the flags of the Engma Free Territory fluttering on the right side, while these northern soldiers were locked in close combat with the Chaos grunts on the defensive line, both sides clashing with sapper shovels, revolvers, and various cold weapons.

Malin dared not fire into the melee zone—a gun barrel that’s too long and bullets that are too good cause unnecessary over-penetration, and Malin certainly didn’t want a single bullet to eliminate a Chaos only to accidentally kill one of his own men in the process.

Therefore, providing covering fire to the front of the defensive line was a good choice.

At this moment, a round of artillery fire from the rear had just passed, and the Chaos once again began their charge, seemingly determined to take down that section of the line.

Malin loaded another magazine of bullets.

Melo had spotted someone for Malin—a figure in a black robe, looking like a wizard, who walked across the battlefield as if he was alone in the world.

Indeed, some spell might have made everyone oblivious to his presence, but unfortunately, he had run into Malin, whose immunity to illusion techniques was an oddity, and with the help of a World Tree Sapling assistant skilled in breaking such spells.

Seeming like a strong and powerful character, Malin pulled back the bolt, took out an armor-piercing bullet, reached for the little box passed by Lorrin, opened it, and picked out an enchanted rune-piercing bullet.

This item cost Malin 720 gold in his premium cost control catalog, one-third of which was the price of electrum, another third for the price of the ink used to strengthen the runes, and the last third for Malin’s own labor charge.

He loaded it into the chamber, closed the bolt, raised the gun to his shoulder, and tucked it against his cheek. As the Chaos had to change direction towards Malin while rounding a piece of fieldwork, Malin pulled the trigger.

As the bullet neared, Malin saw the figure raise his hand, seeming to want to stop the bullet with a force field spell.

The enchanted rune-piercing bullets loved these pretentious Chaos folk the most. So, the bullet pierced through the field, through the raised palm, and finally burrowed into its forehead, blowing the Chaos’s stupid brain—and what remained of the back of its head—clean out.

Score.

Malin immediately switched firing positions and moved to the left. As he left, a hunchbacked Chaos leapt out of the shadow behind Malin. Before it could react, Lorrin had already securely bound it up, with thorny vines now poking into its skull. They didn’t break the skull at first, but Lorrin patiently twisted and eventually made a hole in the Chaos’s head.

"Throw it out," Malin said, setting up his gun and glancing at Lorrin.

The latter immediately dragged the Chaos corpse out of the foxhole.

Meanwhile, Fio manifesting as a sprite tapped the ground, setting up a small Dimensional Anchor just as another hunchbacked Chaos poked its head out from the shadows behind Malin—and then its head was flung out by Fio.

After settling the Chaos assassins, Malin heard Melo’s prompt.

He saw a human soldier climbing out of the trenches.

Was this guy planning to run away?

Before Malin could make sense of it, he saw the man knocked to the ground.

Such an unlucky fellow.

Then Malin felt a chill.

He instinctively raised his left hand to pat his right shoulder, prompting Bippo to apply a stealth enhancement spell on Malin, which would allow him to remain well-hidden, preventing detection and location by ordinary Chaos.

Malin then paused for a moment, ensuring nothing was targeting him—the Dimensional Anchor showed no sign of movement, and no Chaos assassins were nearby. However, cries of agony came from another sniper’s position.

It seemed they’d been touched by an assassin.

Malin, therefore, pointed at Fio and then gestured towards that position.

Fio nodded anthropomorphically, then turned over the defensive line, using the grass for cover and quickly scrambling across.

Malin waited a moment and saw a Chaos head emerge from the firing position, along with Fio who was wrapping it up.

Malin gestured for her to come back and, following Melo’s cue, set up his gun, then he saw someone who... should be a person, he supposed.

Although he had grown horns and didn’t look quite human, he opened his arms towards Malin’s direction.

It was a request from a soul that did not wish to surrender. Malin waited a second, and when he noticed that no other group of shooters offered to send him off, he chose to pull the trigger himself.