Chapter 95: CH 88

「We sure are being underestimated huh, Huckebein. Let’s give these guys a nasty surprise.」

A pair of compound eyes swiftly approached from the front. The Philotes that basically served as the mothership of the invading enemy forces had constantly failed to capture a single Silhouette even though it sported large batteries that could decimate its targets. As long as the command not to kill the target was still active, all it could do was direct the other spider-types.

「–Didn’t you just say we couldn’t fly?」

The open channel was still connected. Alberto got startled by the words that echoed out from the comms.

Seemingly innumerable spider-type Keres rushed in like a flood of steel.

A low-pitched hum resounded from the Huckebein.

The armor on its back unfolded, revealing a large, oval-shaped thruster.

The attitude control thrusters on its limbs blew out jets of heated air, and the booster on its back roared to life, erupting in smoke.

It was an internally installed vectoring thruster. The detonation engine blueprint provided by Kou had a design structure that was easy to miniaturize.

Kurt had made one that was even smaller than the one Kou proposed and equipped it internally on his personal Silhouette. The Huckebein was probably the only active Silhouette that was equipped with this new thruster model currently.

The Huckebein leaped out from the roof of a building and danced in the air. It then headed straight for the Philotes.

It smashed onto the enemy machine’s gigantic head.

Using the head of the Philotes as a launching platform, Huckebein jumped once again. No. It flew.

It changed directions mid-flight, avoided all the anti-air fire aimed at it, and landed back safely on the ground. It then immediately disappeared behind the shadows of the surrounding buildings.

「I keep learning a lot from Kou.」

He remembered the time when Kou successfully destroyed the head of an Enyo and defeated it.

Destroying the head would reduce the performance of the enemy’s sensors, and was ideal for buying time.

「A Silhouette flew without equipping an additional flight unit!? Are you kidding me!? Did technology like that exist? …No. It’s brand-new technology!」

Alberto ground his teeth in vexation. Kurt heard his frustrated cries and immediately cut the comm line.

He installed the detonation engine provided by Kou directly within the Huckebein. Thus, it gained the ability to fly without relying on additional equipment.

Its mid-air maneuverability wasn’t exactly that stable, but if it’s equipped with flight wings, the Huckebein would be able to cruise in the air for extended periods of time.

「The aim of the enemy is me. So it will be more efficient for me alone to serve as bait. –Also, I’m together with you, Huckebein.」

Kurt just needed to buy time for at least an hour. The aim of the enemy should be to gain control of the base, and moreover, to capture an A-Class Development Engineer.

The Huckebein activated and deactivated its optical camouflage function in irregular intervals as it continued to run around.

It steadily brought down its pursuers one by one.

「Dammit! Capture it! Those damned ugly crow legs! There is only one machine sporting legs like those. Send in the Telkhines. Corner it! The remaining beetle-types and mercenaries will continue with securing the control center!」

Alberto’s commands echoed through the ranks of the Stones forces.

The spider-types were focused on the Huckebein alone and continued to give chase.

Humanoid Telkhines also joined the pursuit.

It was decided that Fortress Area D516 was going to be abandoned. All of the humans within were evacuated. Those who were captured can at least guarantee their lives by surrendering without resistance.

The Familiar members of the defense corps were also doing their best to stall for time and assist with the evacuation.

The enemies couldn’t catch up with Kurt easily. The difference between their speeds was just too great.

After running for a few hundred meters, it would instantly rush between the walls of buildings using its boosters.

Although the enemy could pinpoint its position, they simply couldn’t catch up.

However, Huckebein was acting alone after all. As time went by, the encirclement gradually narrowed.

「I should have bought enough time, right……? Maybe just a little more.」

Kurt had eventually found himself surrounded by a large number of spider-types and three Telkhines. The beetle-types were not suited for capturing operations.

Kurt judged that this was as far as he could go.

He’d earned enough time. Actually, he should have evacuated already. However, there were things that only he could do. And so, he did.

But–

He was getting a little tired.

A few years ago, the Fortress Area they based themselves in was also attacked and brought down.

But Development Engineers were quite sought after everywhere. After their loss, they quickly reestablished themselves and built a new base in Fortress Area D516.

Kurt was now over 60. He was no longer as enthusiastic about the prospect of starting his business from scratch in another environment with unfamiliar facilities.

Fortunately, there was Kou, who Kurt considered as his successor. That young lad is a great swordsman, Kurt inwardly mused. He felt he had already imparted all he could to Kou.

Then, as a proud swordsman, it would be good if he could fall in battle together with the Huckebein.

「It’s about time, I suppose.」

Kurt muttered as he made Huckebein take a fighting stance with its zweihander held aloft.

Suddenly, gunshots echoed out.

A hail of bullets came from every direction.

The spider-types were subjected to bombardment from the half-tracked armored combat vehicles that suddenly appeared from the shadows of the buildings.

Three Wurgers appeared right behind them.

「It looks like we made it in time, Kurt-san!」

「I told you guys to run away!」

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The usually calm Kurt displayed his agitation after seeing the reinforcements.

「We’ve already decided to resign from the company. We’re no longer afraid of a domineering boss like you. So we have no intention of being ordered around from now on!」

「We’ll write our resignation letters later!」

A middle-aged bearded man laughed boldly while another more slender man whistled in a carefree manner.

「We’ll take full responsibility for nabbing the Wurgers. You can just slap us with disciplinary dismissal.」

Another elderly man announced. He was slashing at the Telkhines with a zweihander similar to Kurt’s.

「Please rest assured, Kurt-san. We didn’t bring the young’uns and female staff with us. The evacuation of the residents is also finished. The A-Carbuncle will also be deactivated and decommissioned soon. We’ve already done everything there is to do, so we rushed back here instead.」

A Shiba Inu-type Familiar fired his combat vehicle’s heavy autocannon indiscriminately and turned lots of spider-types into bits. He was driving a large half-tracked armored combat vehicle.

「Right, right. The ones who’ll be doing the dying will be us old guys, washed-up uncles, and Familiars!」

His former employees moved in to support Kurt while joking around with one another.

「You were planning to self-destruct, right, Kurt-san? We definitely won’t let you go through with that!」

A pure-white rabbit-type Familiar expressed her anger toward Kurt. She and he had known each other for a long time.

「Didn’t you promise to always accompany us Familiars? See! Even the Fennel OS is acting up in response to my anger.」

「Hey, mine too. It seems to have linked up to the Huckebein Kurt-san is piloting.」

The two vehicles the Familiars were driving began to orbit around Kurt’s Huckebein like satellites without their input.

「There’s no self-destruct function on a Silhouette equipped with an escape pod MCS. You need to quickly get away from here!」

「Don’t try that on us, Kurt-san. The Huckebein is a metallic hydrogen generation type machine. The storage type has a safety device installed that keeps the metallic hydrogen in a liquid metal state, so it can’t self-destruct. But a generation-type pack is fully capable of detonating its metallic hydrogen fuel. I’ve confirmed these by looking at the blueprints, so don’t lie to me.」

The Shiba Inu Familiar didn’t allow Kurt a chance to voice any more excuses.

「I agree with the action of getting in the way of the enemy’s victory conditions, President. I also recognize that you make a perfect decoy. But you know, if you die, it will be really bad for humanity’s overall victory in this war. Please don’t just ignore that!」

One of Kurt’s loyal employees chastised him while fighting. He wasn’t particularly good at piloting, but the machine’s performance was making up for his lacking skills.

「We’re up against this many enemies. There’s no guarantee we’d make it even if we made our escape now. At least get your machine repaired. See there? Mechanics are already waiting inside that garage. The enemies are aiming for you, right? Hurry!」

「Ugh. Understood. I’ll leave this place to you.」

Kurt finally relented, albeit reluctantly, and moved to the point designated by his employees.

「Great, it went just as planned.」

「We’ll just leave the rest to those guys.」

「The A-Carbuncle should get deactivated any time now. Once that happens, we’d get overrun all at once.」

The humans and Familiars cooperated and furiously exchanged fire with the Keres. This was their final line of defense. Their last stand.

「Y-You all– What do you mean by this? Stop!」

They heard Kurt’s desperate protests through their comms.

「The Huckebein badly needs replacement limbs. Please understand, Kurt-san.」

The mechanic piloting the maintenance Silhouette smiled bitterly as he tried to pacify Kurt.

「Well then, the garage team will sortie as well. We can at least earn some time. The Huckebein looks like it’s raring to go back out there after all.」

「The remaining staff will be evacuated by the Familiar team’s vehicles.」

「I’m so sorry, guys. I really wish I could pilot Silhouettes and fight too. I promise I’ll definitely accomplish our last mission!」

「Don’t worry about that. We’ll leave it to you then!」

They heard the conversations between the members of the garage team.

「Oh, it seems like we’ll be getting reinforcements. It doesn’t look like we’ll be able to hold any longer though.」

An armored car being driven by a Familiar was made into a honeycomb by railgun fire, and a Silhouette was overrun by the swarm of Keres.

「All the buildings have lost their high-dimensional projection layers. Operation successful.」

「The buildings have already turned to paper huh? Time to go wild then.」

An armored vehicle and a Silhouette with unique crow legs and a zweihander rushed out of the garage.

The Keres quickly spotted the pair and immediately pursued them. The Silhouette kept running while swinging its sword.

In order to support the armored car, it continued to keep the enemy in check by firing its heavy-caliber autocannon.

A few minutes later, two large half-tracked armored vehicles jumped out of the garage as well and drove straight toward the withdrawal line.

One vehicle had a Silhouette stuck to it in an awkward-looking position. It seemed like the Silhouette was thrown onto the vehicle in a rush.

The Silhouettes being piloted by the remaining Kurt Maschinenbau employees rushed with guns blazing against the tide of Keres.

Two hours later, Fortress Area D516 which formerly housed Kurt Maschinenbau, finally fell.

Kurt Ludwig had gone missing in the middle of the battle. Many of Kurt Maschinenbau’s employees lost their lives.

There were rumors that the company’s new prototype machine, the Huckebein, was captured by the enemy, but this rumor couldn’t be verified.

The official records later stated:

The citizens of Fortress Area D516 succeeded in promptly evacuating due in large part to the Kurt Maschinenbau employees participating actively in the battle.

A total of 24 Kurt Maschinenbau employees and Familiars were killed in action. Ten were taken prisoner by the Stones.

They maintained the defense line to the bitter end. Many of them were said to be veteran employees who have been working in the company for more than 20 years.

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