Chapter 199: No Other Way
The moment the outpost commander spotted the brigade's advance, he reported it to the battalion commander defending the warehouse district.
But Daniel Steiner's brigade gave the Defense Force's battalion commander no time to react.
BOOM—!
The roar of a tank's cannon shook the heavens and the earth.
Simultaneously, warehouses and makeshift trenches were destroyed one after another, scattering shrapnel everywhere.
The Defense Force soldiers, buried under the debris before they could even scream, lost their will to fight before they lost their lives.
"How are we supposed to win this...?"
The massive tank emerging from the fog was like a beast made of steel.
Machine gun nests spat fire, but they couldn't penetrate the Imperial tank's armor.
The tank, taking the bullets as if they were a mere itch, turned its cannon and aimed at the machine gun nest.
The soldier manning the machine gun let out a sound that was half shout, half scream, and pulled the trigger, but it was useless.
BOOM!
A shell scored a direct hit on the machine gun nest, reducing everything to ash.
Sand erupted from the emplacement, and dark red smoke billowed like flames.
Amidst the horrific scene, Imperial soldiers in black uniforms appeared one by one.
They aimed their rifles at the Defense Force soldiers in the areas the tank had already cleared.
Even the soldiers lying pinned under debris were no exception.
"Ah..."
The soldier let out a hollow laugh as he looked at the Imperial soldier aiming a rifle at him.
'We never stood a chance. How could the likes of us hope to defeat the Empire's devil...'
There was no way they could defeat the army led by Daniel Steiner.
*
Less than ten minutes after the Imperial brigade began its attack, the Defense Force battalion commander defending the warehouse district raised a white flag.
It was clear that fighting on would only lead to a pointless death, so he raised the white flag to save his life.
Daniel accepted the battalion commander's surrender, ordered his troops to cease fire, and occupied the warehouse district.
It was an easy victory.
—We won again! Those Allied bastards are no match for us!
—All hail the Brigade Commander! He led us to victory!
—Ahaha! Look at those Allied sons of bitches pissing their pants! Fucking cowards!
As the soldiers of the brigade, drunk on victory, roared with celebration, Phelps, the intelligence staff officer, approached Daniel, who was surveying the warehouse district.
"Brigade Commander. As expected, the battle was a success."
Daniel spotted Phelps and nodded.
"Any casualties on our side?"
"None, sir. The enemy battalion commander surrendered before a real battle could even break out. But more than that, having watched you in action several times now, your strategy and tactics are simply astonishing."
Me? Unsure what he was talking about, Daniel remained silent, and Phelps continued.
"You waited for the fog to set in before advancing, didn't you? I thought you slowed the march to conserve the soldiers' stamina, but I was like a frog in a well, seeing only one piece of the puzzle."
Excitement crept onto Phelps's face.
"You realized the weather has been humid lately and delayed the advance to use the fog to your advantage! Thanks to the fog, the enemy outposts were slow to spot us, giving us a huge advantage! I truly can't fathom how many steps ahead you're thinking!"
He wasn't.
Daniel had given the attack order without any particular thought; the fog had just been a lucky coincidence.
'If I try to deny it now...'
He decided against it, figuring they wouldn't believe him anyway and would probably just misunderstand it as him being modest.
"Intelligence Officer. If your report is finished, go have the enemy battalion commander find out the communication frequency for the Penburg Defense Force command. I need to have a word with their commander."
"Yes, sir! Right away!"
Phelps replied energetically, then turned and walked away.
Daniel watched him go with a grim expression and let out a soft sigh.
'Now that we've broken the enemy's defensive line, we'll have to advance on the city...'
The moment he captured Penburg, he would earn an excessive amount of trust from the Chief of the General Staff.
He was already worried about what kind of orders he would receive next.
Wondering if there was another way, Daniel stroked his chin in thought.
'Perhaps...'
There might still be one chance left.
'If I provoke the Penburg defense commander over the radio...'
Wouldn't he insist on a fight to the death and attempt urban warfare?
If the citizens of Penburg joined in, he could use the excuse that 'the resistance is too strong' and order a retreat.
Just as Daniel, seeing the possibility, began to seriously consider this option...
"I don't understand. Just why..."
A subdued murmur broke him from his thoughts.
Lifting his head, Daniel saw Lucy standing not far away.
She was looking toward Penburg with a troubled expression.
They were now close enough to see it with the naked eye.
After a moment of silence, Daniel walked over to Lucy's side.
"Adjutant."
Lucy flinched in surprise as Daniel approached and turned to face him.
"...Brigade Commander."
As Lucy bowed her head, an uncharacteristic, unidentifiable fear emanated from her.
'It can't be fear of me...'
It was more likely an emotion she held toward the city of Penburg itself.
Unsure of what to say, Daniel chose his words carefully before speaking.
"Have you ever been here before? Or perhaps you know something about that city?"
Daniel was probing for answers, but Lucy just shook her head.
"This is my first time here, and I've never seen this city before."
"Your expression says otherwise."
"I'm not lying to you, Commander. I truly don't know this place. However..."
Lifting her head, Lucy turned her gaze back toward the city.
"The closer I get to that city, the more this inexplicable unease..."
As if unwilling to say more, Lucy clenched her fists tightly.
Watching her, Daniel followed her gaze to the city.
"I won't press you for reasons. But if you don't want to enter that city, you can be honest with me. I have enough authority to indulge a little selfishness from you."
He was subtly asking her to cooperate, as he too was reluctant to capture the city because of the Chief of the General Staff.
However, Lucy, who took Daniel's words as a kind gesture, shook her head.
"I appreciate the offer, but I must decline. I'm not sure why I feel this way, but..."
Lucy turned back to Daniel and gave him a faint smile.
"I think I'll be all right as long as I'm with you, Commander."
It was a smile so fleeting it seemed on the verge of disappearing, yet Lucy's smile, born of consideration for others, was truly beautiful.
When Daniel remained silent for a while, Lucy blinked her red eyes in confusion.
"...Commander?"
Snapping back to his senses, Daniel cleared his throat and shook his head.
"It's nothing."
Lucy gave a small nod at his words and looked back at the city.
A cool breeze blew from somewhere, brushing past their faces.
In the quiet, Lucy became aware of Daniel's presence beside her.
Perhaps it was because there was someone next to her trying to understand her pain.
'For some reason...'
Looking at the city now, she no longer felt that sense of unease.
*
Meanwhile, in the command and control room of the Penburg Defense Headquarters.
"Sir! The enemy brigade bypassed our forces and attacked the southeast warehouse district! The defensive line has been broken!"
An officer in charge of communications burst through the door during a strategy meeting to deliver the urgent news.
In the command room, which had frozen at the news of the broken defensive line, the operations staff officer finally managed to speak.
"...They attacked the southeast warehouse district? That wasn't on their projected route, was it?"
"It seems the battalion we sent to set up the ambush was indeed captured by the enemy. They must have gotten the information from Lieutenant Colonel Vental."
"What? Even so... Are you telling me Lieutenant Colonel Vental spilled all of the Defense Force's secrets just one day after being captured?"
Why would a man of such strong will do that? The staff officers in the control room were thrown into confusion by the unbelievable news.
Among them, the most bewildered was, of course, the Defense Commander, Dolvaf.
'How...?'
How had Daniel Steiner figured out all of their plans and countered them?
Even though they had sacrificed the bridge to set up their defensive line, Daniel Steiner was picking them apart one by one, as if to mock them.
As Dolvaf, steeped in the stench of defeat, pressed a hand to his forehead, the operations officer shouted.
"Sir! If Daniel Steiner has taken the warehouse district, it's only a matter of time before he advances on the city! You must order our main forces on the defensive line to fall back..."
"What difference would ordering a retreat make?! It's flat land from the warehouse district to the city! Daniel Steiner will reach the city before our troops can!"
"So you're saying we should just do nothing?!"
"If that report is true, we've lost over 800 men, either captured or killed! Do you really think we can stop an entire enemy brigade with our remaining forces?!"
"He's not wrong! And he just said the enemy will reach the city before our own men!"
As the staff officers began to argue back and forth, the control room descended into chaos.
While they all insisted their own opinions were correct, Dolvaf clenched his jaw.
Feeling a throbbing headache, Dolvaf slammed his thick fist down on the conference table.
Only then did the now-silent staff officers turn to look at Dolvaf.
"All of you, shut your mouths. The report isn't finished, is it? Communications Officer."
The addressed communications officer spoke, his voice tense.
"Yes, Commander!"
"When the hell are the reinforcements from Central Command supposed to arrive?"
"...The order came down to hold out for one more week."
Groans rippled through the staff officers.
A week was more than enough time for Daniel Steiner to completely overrun the city.
Dolvaf forced himself to take a deep breath before speaking.
"And Daniel Steiner? What does he want from us?"
He was asking if there had been any radio contact from Daniel Steiner.
The communications officer hesitated for a moment before speaking.
"Daniel Steiner says..."
A look of despair washed over the communications officer's face.
"He says that if we do not surrender, he will lead every last one of us to our deaths. He added that any citizens who join the Defense Force will be considered enemy combatants and shot on sight, so if we intend to stand against the Empire, we should be prepared. He also stated that this is his first and final warning."
A heavy silence fell over the control room.
They all knew that coming from the Empire's devil, Daniel Steiner, those words were not a simple threat.
"The citizens, too... He's going to attack our citizens?"
The terror of Daniel Steiner's promised atrocity weighed down on them.
It was as if they could already hear the screams of their people ringing in their ears.
"The Defense Force cannot use its citizens as a shield. We can't..."
Dolvaf sobbed quietly, bowing his head before his staff.
He couldn't bring himself to raise his head and offer any other course of action.
"Relay a message to Daniel Steiner. Tell him the Defense Commander admits defeat and surrenders..."
Dolvaf gritted his teeth, spitting out the words in a torrent of grief and rage.
"Tell him that Penburg is now his...!"