Volume 2 Chapter 1.2: Foreigners

- Foreigners

A muffled shooting sound sounded from the valley, and another sniper tried to deliver a hidden attack.

Only, both tanks were parked at the center of the valley, and there was at least a kilometer between this place and the highest hill. The area where this sniper hid exceeded 1300 meters in height, and when the bullet struck against the tank, huge sparks emerged. The reactions of the soldiers next to the tanks were frighteningly fast. Two snipers immediately searched for the direction where the bullet was shot from and even retaliated. The heavy machine guns in the three soldiers' hands also roared, covering the hill with a scorching rain of bullets to suppress the sniper's possible area or retreat. The tank's cannon quickly changed directions, and soon after, it was aimed properly, and a ball of flame was released.

With a boom sound, large amounts of earth and rocks erupted at the top of the hill. The sniper that tried to mount a hidden attack flew into the air along with the smoke.

Right when the soldiers were slightly starting to relax, another gunshot suddenly sounded. Two sparks emerged on the outer shell of the tanks, and earth flew high into the sky. However, two soldiers also cried out miserably. One of them had their leg penetrated by a sniper bullet, and the other was a bit more unfortunate, having a bullet pass through half his neck!

This attack was especially outstanding, to the point where even the soldiers were left in a momentarily panicked state. They all made tactical movements to evade possible follow-up strikes.

With a hu sound, a rocket artillery was released from the side of a hill. This rocket without any guiding system accurately targeted a tank, illustrating the excellent skills of the shooter. However, the flight of the rocket was just ten seconds late. This amount of time that could normally be completely ignored was more than enough for some people. A soldier slightly leaned back his upper body, and the automatic rifle continuously released fire, emptying the fifty rounds the magazine had into the sky.

The rocket was attacked by the hail of bullets and exploded in midair!

A ball of flame flew out from one of the cannons, releasing a rocket towards the hill where the shooter of the previous rocket lied in ambush. When this rocket reached the top of the hill, it suddenly split apart, revealing over ten anti-infantry bullets Su had seen previously over the back of the hill. A string of explosions sounded behind the hill, and the several Roxland soldiers cried out miserably as their bodies rushed towards the top of the hill. The remaining individuals quickly died, and only one individual seemed particularly tenacious, running about on top of the hill, his miserable yelling reaching all way into this valley! It seemed like his eyes had already been blinded.

A soldier next to the tank steadily raised a sniper rifle. He didn't take more than a second to aim before the muzzle erupted with fiery light. Another second later, the Roxland soldier that was running about on top of the hill had his brain blasted into a rain of blood.

However, after experiencing this delay, the remaining snipers already disappeared behind the mountain, their whereabouts unknown.

One of the soldiers cursed and suddenly raised his gun. The heavily wounded captives were swept through by bullets, and the scorching metal bullets sent the four of them into the afterlife.

These soldiers of unknown affiliation were once again thrown into a state of unrest. They placed the soldier that clearly couldn't be saved into a corpse bag, and as for the fellow who had his leg shot through, a simple operation was done for him where he was. A soldier brought out a drone that was roughly a meter in size and sent it flying into the sky. He then looked at the display screen in front of him, which clearly displayed the scene behind the hill. As soon of traces of Roxland soldiers could be seen, the tank's cannon would release a guided missile. Under the guidance of the drone, the missile would accurately fly towards the Roxland soldiers that were in small groups of threes and fours before dumping down the anti-infantry mines.

Almost no one could escape the landmines' attacks. It was to the point where as soon as someone was struck by the landmine, their entire body would be blasted into a sieve by the shrapnel.

Tong! A muffled gunshot sounded from the hill, and the drone that circled about in the air suddenly released flames before turning into a lump of fire soon after. From the gunshot sound, it probably belonged to an olden era Barrett sniper rifle. To be able to hit such a small target from over a thousand meters away mean that this individual's marksmanship was clearly unique.

The soldiers in the valley were clearly at a loss for what to do. They had a spare drone, but they didn't dare release it again. After discussing for a bit, ten soldiers advanced towards the nearest hill under the cover of the tank. The remaining two soldiers opened up the soldier transporting door and sent the wounded inside.

Su, who was hiding behind a rock lowered the rectangular tactical binoculars that was only ten centimeters in length. He wasn't in a rush to pursue those fighters of unknown origins, and instead, he brought out the palm sized tactical tablet to first attach his own badge and then use the tactical binoculars. The tactical display screen revealed a strange design, which was a dark Blue Scorpion with only its tail being red. This design was engraved on the side of the tanks, and some of the soldiers' helmets had this crest as well.

Su lightly tapped on the image of the Blue Scorpion, and the tactical tablet immediately processed with a search. It immediately linked up to the Black Dragonriders' database, and from within it searched for crests matching this image. The entire search process took less than three seconds, but Su waited rather anxiously for its results.

Then, a line of text emerged on the tactical tablet: no records.

No records?

Su originally thought that this small troop belonged to some family's private army or that it was the military force belonging to one of the companies surrounding some Black Dragonrider family. After all, the distance from this place and the Black Dragonriders' headquarters wasn't that far, and Roxland had begun to develop some preliminary relations. However now, no records meant that this troop most likely belonged to some powerful force that had not been discovered yet. The only other small possibility was that this was the secret troop of a certain family.

Regardless of whether it was the former or latter, under the rules of the Black Dragonriders, they were all targets that could be killed. Only the friendly powers recorded here could make a Black Dragonrider lower their weapons.

Su closed the tactical tablet and ran along the hill in a roundabout way towards where those soldiers were advancing to. Before he brought along the tactical tablet, Su had hesitated somewhat. Even though bringing it would bring him clear superiority on the battlefield, this meant that his own whereabouts would be exposed to the dragonriders' headquarters. However, Su ultimately decided to bring it with him, because Persephone who was unable to return to Dragon City left him with a sentence, and that was to learn how to trust.

These soldiers' equipment was of superior quality, and they were well trained as well. They were completely equipped with new era equipment, and only a few larger companies would be able to establish this type of armed force. Apart from the Black Dragonriders, Su didn't know what type of company could reach such a level of technology in tanks, drones, firearms, and even medical treatment.

Facing Roxland's soldiers, this troop possessed an overwhelming level of technology. However, in terms of tactics and adaptation of command, it was a lot more inferior. There was a sniper from Roxland's side that might very well bring an unexpected amount of power to this mountain battle.

This was a mountain area, an environment Su quite liked.

The Blue Scorpion soldiers' advance was methodically carried out. The tank slowly climbed up the hillside that wasn't particularly steep, and the soldiers were scattered around the tank as they slowly climbed up the hill.

The process of ascending the mountain went smoothly. This time, they didn't encounter any resistance or disturbance. However, when they closed in on the peak, the detecting device released a few sounds, exposing the mines left behind in front of them. However, in the eyes of the Blue Scorpion, these olden era mines didn't pose any danger. A soldier brought out an instrument from his backpack, and after sweeping it through this place, all of the mines erupted with rumbling sounds and caused earth to fly everywhere. Soon after, this place became calm again.

When the tank climbed to the top of the hill, the Blue Scorpion soldiers' field of view immediately broadened. On top of a hill two kilometers out, a small Roxland troop was currently doing everything they could to climb a hill to get behind it. The weapon on top of the tank immediately turned around, and with a bang sound, the intelligent sensor landmines immediately blasted the troop of soldiers into mincemeat.