They waited for Ronald and Rito to return to the beach. The IFV’s right side had bullet marks all over it, but the other sides remained largely untouched. The IFV turned on its headlights, and all seven people sat down in a circle in front of it. Kayla and Cecily made a drawing on top of the sand which featured a rough estimate of the village’s layout. They divided the village into two sections, the north and the south. 

A long, thin road on the west side of the village connected the north section up on the highlands and the south near the beach. Two dots marked the locations where the tanks were last spotted. There was nothing else worth noting. 

“Considering their locations, there is a high probability that these two heavy tanks are the same, but there’s also a chance that one is simply hiding somewhere.”

The darkness didn’t do much to help them. The Shwarier didn’t have a dedicated night vision system, forcing Kayla to hover above a target for an extended amount of time before being able to fire, while the starship did have night vision. 

“Anna, what type of lasers did you attach?” Louis asked. 

“Ours could only be equipped with the class ones.”

“Ah…”

The class ones were the equivalent of a thirty to forty-millimeter cannon on the tank. They had lower fire rates but could deal more damage. They were good enough against medium tanks, but did questionable damage toward heavier ones. Anton was disappointed hearing that, as he expected something more powerful.

“... What if we use the area to our advantage?” Anton muttered. His words caught the attention of the rest, who looked toward him. 

“Kayla, when you said you ‘tried’ to engage with Cecily’s Light Pierce, how did you do it, exactly?”

“Well, it blocked our path, then fired at us. Its shell hit our tracks, and we couldn't move.”

So it was an act of desperation. 

Anton understood now. What they really needed wasn’t more firepower, but more night vision goggles. 

And a lot of stamina. Luckily for them, the game didn’t have a stamina system. 

He turned toward Kayla. 

“Kayla, can you go fetch us some night vision goggles? We need six, one for everyone.”

“Roger,” Kayla ran back to the Shwarier. The engines roared to life. It kicked up some sand as it went airborne and flew above the village. A concentrated fire of anti-air cannons came from below. The sudden attack caused Kayla to pull upward, the Shwarier traveling upward at a steep angle while weaving in between ground fire. It managed to fly away safely. 

“Is that there before?” Anton asked. Louis turned toward Anna who shook her head. 

“I saw some anti-air vehicles, took out three, but apparently they’re now grouped together.”

Anton checked his quest log. The quest had been updated.

‘Defeat all bandits.’ 

But it didn’t say anything about the amount, nor the type of equipment they operated. The existence of anti-air units among the enemy came as a surprise. It made aerial attacks much harder, especially since they didn’t have a dedicated ground attack unit. Anton looked back at the large body of water that sat behind them. Had anyone had ships, or bombers, for that matter, they could have just flattened the village. 

“Louis, can you tell Anna to survey the village and record the location of each house?”

“An aerial mapping?”

“Yes.”

Louis turned his head toward Anna, who stood up without saying anything and headed for her ship. She boarded the starship and took off, once again kicking sand in everyone’s face. 

“... Maybe placing a bunch of planes on the beach isn’t a good idea,” Anton muttered as the starship flew over him. It gained a significant amount of altitude before crossing the border that separated the village and the beach. 

Once it crossed, a huge amount of gunfire saturated the sky, their tracers lighting up the night sky. Flying so high made it hard for them to hit the starship. The starship circled a few times above the village, occasionally firing its own shots toward the ground. After a few minutes, it returned back to the beach. Anna got out of it and uploaded a picture to the group chat. 

She had sent a detailed picture of the village in a light green color. Everyone opened the picture on their own virtual screens.

If we can use this, why bother with the sand map?

Anton glanced down at the sand map, deciding that it wasn’t any better, and looked back to the picture. Using the edit feature, he started by marking a direct route from the beach to the road north of the village. He then marked the spots where the anti-air fire came from, evident by the intense light that surrounded the spots, and marked the houses that surrounded it. Finally, he zoomed in on where the heavy tanks should be. The one in the southwest, the one that destroyed both his LAV and Ronald’s IFV, was surrounded by intense light. The glow was so intense that the tank itself could hardly be seen through the glow. 

‘By the way, should I rearm on my way back?’ 

“No, thirty minutes is way too long.”

‘Okay.’

Anton zoomed in on the picture. He continued analyzing every single detail he could squeeze out of the picture. The details were a bit blurry, but it still gave him a lot to work with. 

“Got it…” he whispered with great satisfaction. 

He sent the edited image to the group. Not long after, the Shwarier returned. Kayla got off and started handing the fresh night vision goggles around. Anton returned the one he borrowed from Louis and received a new one.

“So this is the plan. Tanks don’t normally operate without infantry or soldier support. These NPCs operate them without anyone on the ground to watch for their sides. We also have a lot of houses to go through. We’ll sneak in through the empty houses and get Cecily as close as possible to the target.”

The same as how they did it back then. 

“The NPCs here can react to our action, so we’ll attack the vehicles that surround it first.”

Anton tapped on the tanks that surround the south and southeast of the tank. The plan was to push it back to a road running north from the tank. Once the tank started moving backward, Cecily, hidden in one of the houses, would jump out and hit it from the rear. Kayla and Anna would pick off the other targets one by one, focusing on the anti-air units first before switching to light tanks for the Shwarier and medium tanks for the starship.

The line-up would be Kayla flying the Shwarier, Anna flying the starship, Ronald and Rito in the IFV, ready to move out once the heavy tank was destroyed, Cecily as their main firepower, and Louis with Anton himself acting as bait. 

“... Why us?”

“Because I want you dead.”

“Fair enough.”

The others looked at the two, not understanding their banter, except for Anna who didn’t seem to care the slightest. With the plans set in stone, they moved out.  

• ••

“That’s a lot of anti-air…”

Louis muttered as they hid behind a stone house. Five self-propelled anti-air guns surrounded the heavy tank. These vehicles had the capability of moving around like the tank. They had a smaller body, two-thirds the size of the heavy tank, and a cylindrical turret with four smaller caliber cannons on it. The anti-air weapon had an open top to allow for the cannons to fire upward, but at the same time giving little protection against aerial strikes. 

“... Are you sure we’re supposed to come rushing in?”

“I wasn’t planning on rushing in the first place.”

Anton used his goggles to zoom. The anti-air weapon the bandits used had an extremely high fire rate, much higher compared to the 25mm cannon on the Five-Seven. Despite being used for anti-air, they could easily tear through the LAV and IFV’s armor. 

The two sneaked closer, using the narrow gaps between the houses, sometimes going through the buildings themselves. They arrived in a two-story house just across the street from where the tanks were stationed. Anton and Louis hid underneath the window, peeking through. 

Not a single soldier could be seen outside the tanks. Anton paid attention to the vehicles, looking for the viewpoint. 

“If we can hijack one of them…”

“We’ll be dead.”

“Not before we kill half of them.”

Anton then glanced toward Louis. 

“If you don’t want to-”

“I’ll follow you.”

“Man, you’re annoying.”

“I know.” 

Anton and Louis retreated back to the first floor. They went to a small street on the other side of the tanks, where the main entrance to this house was located. They walked further north along the small street for several more meters before going through the gaps and appearing behind the group. In a house not far north from them, Cecily took position. 

“You ready?” 

“Ready.”

They both materialized their weapons. Using his hand, Anton gave the signal. Three, two, one. 

They sprinted as fast as they could to the eastmost tank of the group. Anton was faster. 

“Dirt Step!” Anton pointed his left hand to the ground, forming steps similar to ladders on the ground. He used it as a stepping point, jumping up and into the anti-air unit’s turret. He met several surprised bandits inside and finished them swiftly. After removing the turret of its occupants, he took the gunner’s position and turned the turret toward the tank beside it. 

He pulled the trigger. All four machine guns lit up in unison, destroying the unexpecting anti-air unit in an instant. The tank then jumped backward. Anton checked the space underneath him. A thick metal plate blocked the access between him and the driver. The driver cleared the anti-air of the destroyed unit, exposing it to the tank that, as expected, moved backward. 

“Hey, what are you doing!?” he yelled, but the driver did not respond. He adjusted the turret so that it aimed at another anti-air unit, leaving the heavy tank in Cecily’s hands. He pulled the trigger. The burst took out another anti-air gun, but the heavy tank itself had its barrel lined up on me. The anti-air driver, meanwhile, continued reversing, aligning the anti-air’s turret with the tank. 

“MUD!” A loud yell came from the outside, drowned in the sound of engines, followed by a large boom. 

He stood up and peeked from above the open turret, finding thin white smoke coming out from the heavy tank’s barrel. 

Behind him was a house collapsing after receiving the full brunt of the attack. The anti-tank was sideways, slipping on something. Anton sat back down in his position and adjusted the turret. He pulled the trigger on a reversing anti-tank furthest away from him, the one on the westmost. The intense fire tore through that anti-tank gun’s turret, obliterating it. By that point, the anti-tank that occupied the center of the formation had reversed far enough, its cannons aimed squarely at him. The last thing he saw was the muzzle flash from its four cannons. 

• ••

Anton sat in a cafe not far from the Marrow Adventure Terminal, sipping a drink of hot coffee. Parked in front of the cafe was the Tarup 57, his trusted armored vehicle. This time, he made sure to finally arm it with TOW missiles. He didn’t want to get into trouble for not having them for the third time. As he enjoyed the blend of coffee and milk, he saw another armored vehicle coming into the parking lot. 

The shoebox-shaped vehicle came into the parking lot with six people inside. They got off, a cheerful smile on their faces. He could only hear what happened after he died through the voice chat. After he died, Cecily went as planned and took out the heavy tank. The tables turned and they turned into the hunters. They captured tanks and used them to hunt down more tanks. Eventually, they defeated two other heavy tanks, successfully completing the mission. They returned to the castle, only to hear a long speech about how arms trafficking is destroying the kingdom. 

Yada yada yada, they got their rewards, and here they are. Kayla returned to the airport first to store and rearm the Shwarier, then she was picked up, and now everyone was here. They entered the cafe, finding Anton who had just finished his cup of coffee. They sat at a table, prompting Anton to move to them. 

“Anyway, we completed it.”

“Hooray…” Anton said flatly, before letting out a chuckle. 

“Well, I didn’t get to see it.”

“Sorry, but it’s thanks to your sacrifice that we were able to complete it.”

Anton shrugged. If he didn’t die, Louis would. It didn’t feel like something completely necessary for him. 

“So… what now?” Louis asked. They had completed the mission, but it was also getting late, so Anton stood up. 

“I and Kayla would be heading back for today.”

“Okay, thank you so much for your help.”

“Thank you!”

“Thanks, that was great.”

The appreciation ended with Anna’s nod. Kayla smiled and bowed her head. 

“See you later,” she beamed. Her smile made Anton smile as well. 

“See you guys,” he waved before turning around and leaving. 

Anton and Kayla went toward their Five-Seven. Anton took up the driver’s seat. Kayla looked at him for a moment before sitting down on the turret’s operator seat. 

“Thanks,” she said in a quieter voice.

“No problem,” Anton opened the hatch, waved toward the five people in the cafe, and reversed out of the parking lot. With the hatch opened, he drove the Five-Seven through the silent streets of the night, occasionally passing pedestrians and other cars. 

“So… how did it go?” Kayla asked. She moved from the turret seat and sat down behind Anton’s driver seat, leaning back to the rear of his seat. 

“Well, as good as you would expect it to.”

He no longer has anything to do with his past. The fact that he could work together with Louis, even though reluctantly, proved that he had truly moved on. He was no longer stuck. He didn’t search for revenge. He didn’t forgive him, he felt sure he didn’t, but the mere sight of him was no longer enough to hurt him. 

He had grown in these few years, not least thanks to the AI companion- the girl sitting behind him.  

It didn’t take long for them to arrive back in their apartment. 

“Home sweet home,” Kayla threw herself onto the bed. 

“I’ll be logging off.”

“Alright. See you tomorrow?”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow.”

Anton lay on the bed and closed his eyes.