I was woken up by someone shaking my shoulders, "Sir, the sun's already rising and the men have already assembled. The platoon and squad leaders are now only waiting for your final briefing."

I opened my eyes but my vision was still blurry so I rubbed them, "Huh? O-oh, Leah?"

"Yes sir, we're now only awaiting for your command sir." Leah replied.

"Uh okay, uhmm gather all the leaders here." I said.

I fixed my hair and straightened the creases on my uniform as I waited for my squad leaders to gather. Coffee would be nice, I don't think I have the time for one now though. I'll just have some after retaking the town.

A few minutes later, all my officers have now gathered. I have a total of 10 officers under me right now; 6 Squad Leaders, 2 Platoon Leaders, and 2 Tank Commanders. The newly summoned platoon leader is wearing an M36 officer's uniform. I'll have to get Leah an officer's tunic too.

"Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen." I began, "As all of you might have known, we will now be retaking the town of Nareña."

"" Yes Sir ""

After their response, I now explained my plan, "We will begin the mission with a 150 second bombardment from our mortars and SPA. After that, the panzer 4 will be at the spearhead followed by the mechanized 1st platoon. And lastly, the 2nd platoon will follow along and clear any remnants of the enemy. Our first goal is to create a perimeter inside the city. From there, we will continue pushing back the enemy until the town has been retaken."

I made use of this plan because its the same thing I use when fighting on urban maps in the strategy games I played. The artillery bombardment will cause some casualties, crush enemy morale, and destroy most of their cover. It is pretty effective in the game, I just don't know if it'll be effective irl and against monsters.

After the meeting, I dismissed everyone and let them brief their own soldiers. As for me, I went to my classmates.

Their APC is located at the end of the vehicle convoy. I knocked at the rear door but no response came, so I just opened it. I saw everyone still sleeping, even the adventurers. Now I feel bad to wake them up, but we'll need all the combat vehicles for this operation.

I banged my hand on the doors, "Wake up! C'mon now get up!"

The adventurers were the first to wake up followed by my classmates. "What's going on?" they asked.

"We'll be needing this vehicle, so if you could just get off now." I said to them bluntly. "Move move! The quicker you get out of there, the quicker we can retake the town."

Everyone quickly got out of the vehicle and even dragged Marvin and Kelvin who were still bound in ropes. The adventurers were the last to leave even though they occupied the rear most seats. "Uhmm, Hey kid?" Maria called me.

"You can call me Ian by the way." I said as I remembered that I still haven't introduced myself yet. "What is it?"

"What can we do to help you and your men?" she asked.

"I don't kno- wait, can you guys act as our guides inside the city? We might need you guys to help us flush out the monsters in every nook and cranny of the city." I answered.

"Okay? Well we've been staying there for more than 3 years now, but I'm not sure if we can guide you to every nook and cranny of the town." Maria replied, "But we'll do our best."

"Alright! Now if you could just please leave the vehicle?" I said.

"O-oh, yes of course." Maria said before leaving the vehicle and the rest of the adventurers followed.

After the APC was vacated, I called all my men, "1st Platoon 4th Squad, you're now assigned to the newly vacated APC. The 2nd Platoon will form up behind the 1st Platoon's group. The operation will now commence after a few minutes. Get the mortars and assault tank to their positions."

"" YES SIR! ""

Everyone started moving to their positions; The mortar teams carried their mortars, the tanks started their engines and moved to the head of the column and the rest of the half-tracks followed behind, after the column of vehicles the 2nd platoon formed up.

While we were forming up, the evacuees together with my classmates and friends watched on. I waved at them and they cheered us on.

+ + + + +

As Ian's friends and classmates watched on, a group of evacuees went near them. "You're the heroes summoned this year, right?" An old man asked.

"Uh, yes sir." Richard, who was the closest, replied as formally as he could.

"There's no need for a hero to act so formally with an old man like me." The old man said, "Will you be joining in the retaking of the town?”

“Uh… well… “ Richard didn’t know what to answer. He knew that they wouldn't be participating, but their titles as heroes were on the line.

Marvin, who was still down on the ground bound in ropes, was the one who managed to reply, “Of course good sir, we will retake the town for you. Heck, we wouldn’t even need those people, if you could just untie me.”

“I-if that’s what the hero wishes.” The old man said as he approached Marvin.

“Wait! Old Man Don’t!” Carlo warned, but for some reason the old man has already untied Marvin. “How the fuck are you so fast!?”

“I might be old, but I’m still a level 72 ex-adventurer.” The old man replied with a smug look on his face.

Marvin, who was now free, unsheathed his sword and ran towards the town. “I’m the fucking hero in this storyyyy!!”

Ian made a huge mistake by letting his friends and classmates keep their weapons believing that his soldiers were enough to deter them from using them.

+ + + Ian + + +

The two mortars and the sturmpanzer were now in position and were only waiting for my signal. I looked at the time on my phone and it showed 6:03 am. I don’t know if that is accurate, but looking at the horizon, i think it’s accurate enough?

“Leah, tell them to begin the bombardment now.”

“Yes sir.” Leah said before going to the artillery’s firing position. I really need to get radios for my men.

As Leah left, something just whizzed by me. What the fuck was that, meh never mind?

Leah signalled to me that the artillery is now ready to fire, so I gave the go ahead to begin the bombardment.

*BOOOM*

The 150mm howitzer completely drowned the sounds of the other two mortars firing. After the first shell was fired, it needed around 10 to 15 seconds to reload. The mortars on the other hand kept on firing a round every 3 or 5 seconds. We could hear the explosions going off a few seconds after they were fired.

A minute or so passed and I saw my friends and classmates running towards me. Rika, who was at the lead, was shouting something, but I couldn’t hear anything because of the bombardment. So I just waited for them, “IAN!!! Hah… hah… s-stop those things.” she said as she pointed at the mortars and sturmpanzer.

“Why? We can’t stop the operation now, the bombardment is just gonna last 150 seconds anyways.” I replied.

“You got to… stop it this… instant, Marv… Marvin just bolted towards the town.” she said.

“WHAT THE HELL!? HE WAS JUST BOUND A WHILE AGO RIGHT? HOW THE HELL DID HE GET FREE!?” I yelled unconsciously.

“Eeeh-eh, Uhmm… “ Rika couldn’t manage to reply. Crap, I overreacted.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t stop it now. He says he’s the hero right? Let’s just hope he has plot armor or somethin.” I said coldly as I turned away from them.

“Ian!?” Cess said.

“Sorry, but I can’t.” I replied and decided to go to where Leah is.

150 seconds later, the last shells have been fired and the tank now started revving its engine. The half-tracks have also started their engines and the first platoon has now finished boarding their vehicles. The infantry column behind us is also ready to go.

I decided to go to my friends before beginning our assault, “Hey Rika, I’m sorry for yelling a while ago.” I apologized.

“Uh yeah, it’s okay.” she replied. Nah, I don’t think it’s okay.

“Uh… we can now go into the town… just go along with the 2nd platoon and the adventurers, okay?” I said before going back on top of the tank’s turret.

I need a better gun for this assault. I’d love to try firing the Sturmgewehr 44, but I don’t know if I can control it properly and it uses a different cartridge than what we are using right now; it uses a 7.92x33mm while our guns right now are using either the 9mm or the 7.92x57mm. So I think an MP40 is the best choice, since it’s dubbed as the slowest automatic weapon. Did I earn some points from the bombardment?

“Answer: Yes… You have gained 1435.5 points from the bombardment… Total points balance is 1527… Purchase an MP40 for 50 points… YES / NO… “

Yeah go ahead, give me 5 additional mags for it too and a belt with 5 MP40 magazine pouches too.

“Affirmative… 1 MP40 purchased… Total Cost is 45 points… 5 32 round stick magazines… Total cost is 125 points… 1 belt purchased… Total cost is 130 points… 5 stick magazine pouches purchased… Total cost is 150 points… Deducting total cost to total points balance… Remaining points is 1377 points… Purchased items can be found in the Item Box… “

I took out my newly purchased gear, I attached the magazine pouches to the belt and wore the belt afterwards. I then placed all of my extra magazines in the pouches and took out the MP40 and strapped it on my shoulder. After getting my gear ready, I stood up on top of the turret, “ALL FORCES ADVANCE!”

“” URAAAA “”

It would be nice if we had a marching song, dammit, why did I forget the marching song we sang back when I was part of the military cadet candidates.

*Insert Marching sounds*

+ + + + +

Inside the Krankenwagen, the wounded knights lay in the stretchers and Antonius was on the floor with a gun aimed at him. “Where are we going now!?” he asked, “And what were those explosions a while ago.”

“I have no reason to answer your question.” The soldier answered.

“HEY wHY THE HELL IS HE ABLE TO SPeAK AGAIN!?” Mario yelled at the soldier.

“S-sorry sir, the gag might’ve gotten removed, I’ll fix it right away sir.” the soldier replied as he smacked Antonius with his rifle butt.

“Graagh- You’llpayfor thi- GAAH”

“Shut the fuck up old man.” The soldier said as he hit the old man again. Before he put on another gag on the old man.

“Mmmph mmrg.”

“Can’t hear you old man, so just shut the fuck up.”

As the soldier kept his gun pointed at Antonius, he failed to notice one of the knights getting up, “SOLDIER GET DOWN!” Mario yelled out, but the soldier failed to react in time.

The knight launched his fist at the soldier and landed squarely on the soldier’s face. The knight then kicked the door open and took Antonius in his arms before jumping out. Mario couldn’t react in time and thus the knight escaped successfully.

Or so he believed, but too bad for him the krankenwagen is at the end of the vehicle column and is at the front of the 2nd platoon. As soon as the knight got out, dozens of guns were immediately aimed at him.

“STOP RIGHT THERE!” The platoon leader ordered.

“Tsk.” The knight clicked his tongue and removed Antonius’ gag.

“DAMMIT! DON’T LET THE OLD MAN CHANT!” the platoon leader said to his men, “FIRE! FIRE!”

A front row of the column fired a single volley, all of them hit their marks and immediately killed the knight. Antonius was also hit which made him bleed out profusely.

Mario got out of the vehicle and rushed to Antonius, “Dammit, the old man is dying, I need a medic right here ASAP!”

The medics got out of the Krankenwagen with a stretcher and quickly placed the bleeding Antonius on the stretcher. The medics ran to the krankenwagen and tried to stop the bleeding.

“Dammit, stop that bleeding. The commander still wants to extract information from him.” Mario said.

“Yes sir! The bleeding has already stopped. He’ll need some blood to replace the blood that he lost though.” One of the medics said as he continued to put pressure on Antonius’ wound.

“I’ll use the vehicle’s radio to contact the tank and get in touch with the commander.” Mario said.

After the incident, Mario ordered the Krankenwagen to move onwards as he tried to contact Ian. The 2nd platoon also resumed their march after putting aside the dead knight.

After a few tries, the radio finally connected with the lead tank, “Feldwebel Henry, is the commander there?”

“Yes, should *Krshk* I put him through? *Krshk*” Henry asked.

“Yes sir, if that’s possible.” Mario replied.

“Affirmative *Krshk* I’ll call the commander *Krshk*.”

After a few seconds of waiting, Mario finally heard Ian’s voice from the radio.

“This is your commander speaking, over. *Krshk*”

“Sir, I have something to report.”

“Go ahead, over. *Krshk*”