The outer defensive line of Weymouth, which other regiments had failed to break through even after bleeding all day long.
That impregnable iron fortress was collapsing in mere hours at the hands of our brigade, which had come running without even catching its breath after landing.
“See? Easy.”
That was the essence of the cheat mode I had activated. This was the taste of it—breaking through a defensive line that others struggled and groaned to breach, with just a single click.
After mopping up the remnants as well, I immediately opened the command communications network.
*Static—*
“This is Colonel Yeager, commander of the 207th Brigade. Landing Force Command, respond.”
[……This is the Command Operations Staff Officer. Colonel Yeager, what in the world is going on with the battle situation? I heard that the 207th Brigade had advanced to the outskirts of Weymouth? Surely you haven’t already arrived?]
It was the operations staff officer’s voice.
“We have broken through the Weymouth outer defensive line. Neutralized the command bunker in front of City Hall and secured the stronghold. Currently deploying an armored battalion into the urban area.”
[…….]
A brief silence flowed over the radio.
Soon, the sound of someone spitting out coffee and a bundle of documents crashing to the floor came through.
*Crash—!*
[C-C-Colonel! What did you just say! You breached the outskirts of Weymouth?! The place that two regiments thrown in yesterday couldn’t break through despite banging their heads against it all day?!]
“This brigade struck the weak point of the defensive line through flanking maneuvers and a surprise attack on the command post. After reorganizing the unit, we will secure the Weymouth port facilities shortly.”
[G-good heavens. This is insane! Very well! Colonel Yeager. Resume operations at once! And remember this!]
The operations staff officer on the other side of the radio network spat out words as if he were about to stop breathing.
[The port! The port is important! Those massive cranes and cargo handling facilities! Only with those can the landing operation proceed smoothly! And if you need anything, we’ll support you immediately, so ask for anything! I’m placing my trust in you alone!]
“I obey your orders.”
*Click.* The communication ended.
‘Securing the port facilities intact.’
It was certainly an important agenda.
But conversely, it also meant the Red bastards wouldn’t just quietly hand over the port.
*
“Kuaaaack—!”
“Second-floor window! It’s a machine gun! Get down!”
*Ratatatat—!*
Shrapnel rained down onto the road like a storm.
The enemy, having lost City Hall, immediately retreated deep into the city and regrouped. And from that point on, a quagmire of a war of attrition began.
‘This is why urban warfare is such shit.’
I clicked my tongue, hiding my body behind building rubble.
The outskirts of the city had been cleanly swept aside with Frederica’s tank, but the interior was a different story.
Narrow alleys where a tank’s gun barrel couldn’t even traverse. Inside them, infantry died every time they pushed through a single floor, a single room.
To secure Weymouth’s core facilities intact, we couldn’t even pour down bombardments. In the end, pushing infantry into buildings one by one was the only solution.
Still, if it was any consolation, I had a reliable temporary partner to make up for my own lacking hands and feet.
“Colonel Yeager. Ten o’clock, the warehouse district. Inside there, it connects to the sluice control room of Floodgate No. 1.”
Sydney whispered, her back against the wall. Her two hands already gripped a dagger and a pistol.
I nodded and set aside my thoughts. I pulled up the [Mini-map] and grasped the enemy’s movements in detail.
‘Three at the first-floor entrance, two on the second-floor catwalk. Ambush in the blind spot.’
Without looking back, I sent a hand signal. I lightly folded my fingers to point out the enemy positions. Three at the entrance. And two above.
Sydney wordlessly readjusted her grip on her weapons and met my eyes. I pulled a flashbang from my waist.
*BANG—! Wreeeee—!*
“Aaaack! My eyes!”
“They’re in! Shoot!”
*Ratatatat—!*
I shredded the knees and chests of the three at the entrance first. They toppled over, spraying blood.
In that moment, one enemy hiding on the second-floor catwalk extended his rifle over the railing and aimed at me.
I didn’t react. Sydney climbed the ceiling structure and leaped, slitting his throat.
*Shwick—!*
With a chilling sound, the enemy slumped down.
“Right blind spot, one more.”
“I know.”
Sydney kicked off the catwalk railing and twisted her body in midair.
*Bam—!*
Her pistol spat fire, and the last enemy, who had been trying to pull the pin on a grenade behind a drum, was pierced right between the eyebrows.
Before the enemy’s corpse even thudded to the floor, I was already across the center of the warehouse, securing the next iron door.
“Clear. Next entry route secured.”
“Gunter, Kurt. Watch both corridors.”
Sydney landed silently on the floor and approached my side. Though she should have been out of breath, her breathing was perfectly steady.
‘[Status Analysis.]’
[Name: Sydney Welsley]
[Status: Extreme concentration, adrenaline secretion, maximized professional satisfaction]
[Emotion: I hate to admit it, but he’s the best. To think he matches my movements with just a split-second glance and hand signals…….]
“Just like in Londinium, we’re in sync.”
“……Focus on the mission. We can’t give them time to reorganize their defenses.”
We ran along the narrow passage.
“The last one is the control room. Absolutely no heavy weapons or grenades.”
“That’s my specialty. I’ll take point.”
“Go.”
*Squeal— BANG!*
We violently threw open the thick soundproof door of the control room and stormed inside.
*
*Ratatatat!*
The bullet leaving the muzzle pierced the enemy between the eyebrows.
“Clear.”
That was the end of it.
After being devoted to clearing operations all day, the path to the port was completely open.
“Floodgate No. 1 and the crane control devices are both unharmed.”
Sydney checked the machines first.
“They hadn’t even connected the demolition charges yet. Mission complete.”
*Beep— Static.*
[Colonel. Confirmed retreat of all enemy squad troops. Weymouth Port is fully secured.]
Helga’s report came in at the perfect time.
“Good work. Begin reorganization immediately and transmit to the Landing Force Command. Tell them we’ve secured Weymouth Harbor intact, without a scratch. Tell them Imperial transport ships can come in as they please now.”
The scenery of the massive port came into view outside the control room window. Beneath the distribution panel, bundles of dynamite the enemy had hastily installed were strewn about.
Honestly, it had been a close call.
If they had dragged out more time to install the bombs, the cranes and floodgates wouldn’t have escaped harm either.
‘[Status Analysis.]’
[Name: Sydney Welsley]
[Status: Accumulating fatigue, rising sense of accomplishment]
“Excellent work, Director.”
“……It’s all thanks to you, Colonel. We merely assisted.”
[Emotion: …It’s not just saving face. Without that ridiculous ability of his, he probably wouldn’t have broken through even the outer defensive line yet.]
*Static—*
“Brigade Commander. Connected to the Command communications network.”
I took the handset the radio operator handed me.
“This is Colonel Yeager, commander of the 207th Brigade. We have secured full control of Weymouth Port. Cargo handling equipment, floodgates, and cranes are all one hundred percent intact.”
[…….]
The Command staff officer on the other end of the radio couldn’t get a word out this time. He was the same man who had been flabbergasted earlier when I said we had breached the outer defensive line.
[…Is this true? You’re saying not a single facility was destroyed?!]
“Not a single one. Before the enemy could connect the detonators, I led agents of the Intelligence Bureau and my direct command unit in a flanking infiltration and swept away their command center.”
[Ha, hahaha! Good heavens! Insane! You arrived yesterday, and today—you finished everything in just two days!]
The staff officer threw all dignity to the wind and let out a cheer.
[I will immediately issue orders for all transport fleets on standby to enter Weymouth! Maintain port security and prepare for handover so follow-on units can unload!]
“I obey your orders.”
*
*BANG!*
The Supreme Committee bunker beneath Londinium, People’s Union Republic.
The tightly closed meeting room door burst open, and a communications officer ran in with a deathly pale face.
“W-Weymouth has fallen!”
A thunderbolt of news struck the conference room where silence had been reigning.
The faces of the top leadership, including the defense force commander, horrifically contorted in an instant.
“What are you saying! Just until the other day, you said you were holding out well, smashing two Imperial regiments!”
“That fortress we built by pouring concrete for a month! Didn’t you say it would hold for at least a week!”
Under the barrage of rebukes, the communications officer trembled and held out the report.
“Th-the Imperial unit committed yesterday morning… obliterated the City Hall command post in a mere half-day and advanced into the city.”
“Half a day?!”
“A-and just an hour ago… even the port control room was captured.”
One high-ranking committee member slammed the desk with his fist.
“Damn it! You mean they broke through everything?! What about the port cargo facilities! Surely you didn’t hand those over intact too! I gave orders to blow them up!”
Having already lost command of the sea, intact port facilities falling into Imperial hands was a disaster among disasters. If the port’s massive cranes and floodgates were unharmed, it was only a matter of time before the Empire’s terrifying hordes of tanks and heavy artillery came pouring in.
The communications officer swallowed dryly.
“Th-that is… they were all seized before they could destroy the port facilities…”
“Ridiculous…! You’re saying they couldn’t even press a single detonator and handed it over to the enemy whole!”
“Damn it all! What kind of crazy bastards rampage through urban warfare like this!”
Under the general’s roar, the officer spoke the name.
“The 207th Brigade… its commander is Colonel Max Yeager.”
“……!”
The moment that name fell, silence flowed for a moment.
“…H-him again? You mean Yeager’s Brigade?!”
The faces of the top leadership contorted. Max Yeager. There wasn’t a single person sitting in this bunker who didn’t know that ill-fated name.
“He held out for a long time as a defender in the Rosenheim urban battle, but this time as the attacker, he tore our fortress apart in half a day?”
“Haven’t you all read the report on how the Empire trampled the Elancia Republic revolutionaries? The monster at the center of it was him.”
“During the last Londinium Revolution, he was also the one who killed Comrade Victor in the sewers. To think the sewer defenses were inadequate against such a man—this is a clear command failure!”
As the heavy air pressed down on the atmosphere, it was Galichi who stepped forward.
“Do not be shaken.”
He slowly rose from his seat.
“At the end of the day, he is but a single colonel. No matter how outstanding his military achievements, should we be shaken? He is merely a soldier with disgustingly good luck and instincts.”
“But Comrade Chairman, losing the port intact is a painful strategic error. The Empire’s numerical offensive will immediately……”
“The coast was always a place we would be pushed back from.”
Galichi cut him off coldly.
He pointed with a baton at the inland plains and mountain ranges marked with red markers on the map.
“The loss of Weymouth is painful, but the stage where we must truly fight is not the coastline within range of the Imperial Navy’s guns. It is the fields and forests of Victoria Island’s inland. And the cities and sewers.”
Galichi was also clicking his tongue internally. Max Yeager was certainly a variable that could not be taken lightly. But as the leader of a nation, he could not show signs of agitation.
“The imperialists’ rapid advance will soon become them stretching their own supply lines long. The deeper they come into our inland front, the more we gain the advantage of defense.”
Galichi turned his gaze.
Toward a figure in the corner of the conference room who, until now, had not said a single word, arms crossed, staring at the map.
A woman wearing not the uniform of the People’s Union Republic, but the crisp regular uniform of the Allied Nation.
“Is that not so? Now that the Imperial Army’s land offensive is intensifying, it should be your turn to take the stage.”
Galichi asked in a calm tone.
“What is the Allied Nation’s opinion, General Alexandra.”