Gunmage
Chapter 62: Strike confirmed

Chapter 62: Chapter 62: Strike confirmed

Clouds gathered over the capital city of Drakensmar, blotting out the sun and washing the battlefield in grey.

The heavy, ashen atmosphere only amplified the cacophony of gunfire that echoed through the devastated streets.

Lugh crouched behind the crumbling remains of a demolished wall, his breathing measured as he surveyed the battlefield.

His puppet lay positioned on the far side of the formation, granting him a view of both the left and right flanks.

In the center, Lyra held her ground, her usually wild, spellwoven hair was restrained. She couldn’t afford to use her magic openly, not with so many witnesses around.

Their advance had come to a grinding halt. A hundred meters ahead, three armored vehicles and a full platoon of Heieg soldiers blocked their path.

The heavy machines were lethal against infantry, and while Lugh could likely destroy them all, doing so would drain his magic reserves entirely, leaving him immobile and vulnerable.

Lyra, on the other hand...

Her lips moved, shaping a soundless incantation. Lugh couldn’t see her mouth behind the visor, but he knew, because a second later, an earth-shattering explosion engulfed the lead vehicle in a burst of unnatural blue flames.

The blast force sent the second vehicle spiraling onto its side, while the third, caught too close to the inferno, was engulfed in the blaze.

As for the infantry using the armored cars as cover, there wasn’t much left of them to speak of.

Sergeant Sparky, indeed. Her weird talent for accurately mimicking explosions had been given a dangerous edge.

This wasn’t the same violent screech that dispersed magical energy without form or function. Over time, she had refined that strange talent into something devastatingly precise.

This explosion was large, but Lugh had seen her unleash far greater destruction.

On the Dark Island, where eldritch energy saturated every inch of eveeywhere, spells like hers could reach apocalyptic proportions.

Here, in the outside world, the effects were muted, but still more than enough to leave a battlefield in ruin.

Lugh sprinted to Lyra’s position, catching her as she stumbled from the exertion.

He hesitated.

"Can you handle using that much magic?"

"It’s nothing"

She murmured, brushing him off.

He studied her, noting the subtle change in her demeanor towards him. The battlefield had stripped away her enthusiasm, replacing it with something harder, something distant.

He couldn’t fault her for that though, in a place where death hung over them all like a guillotine. Expecting her to remain unchanged would be foolish.

He let it go.

Through the Mawglass, he saw thick streams of mana converging toward her, the residual energy of the fallen feeding back into her body.

The city wasn’t as saturated as the Dark Island, but death released its own energy, and this battlefield was brimming with it.

A tense silence followed as soldiers stared at the still-burning wreckage, the pale blue flames devouring metal and flesh alike.

Questions would come soon, and Renshaw couldn’t allow that.

"Charge!"

He bellowed, seizing the moment.

The troops surged forward, using the devastation as a stepping stone to press the attack.

The resistance forces, only a few paces behind, followed suit. Their casualty rates had plummeted since the involvement of this twenty-man squad, while their victories had soared.

It was impossible not to be grateful.

Lugh moved alongside them, wielding his rifle with practiced precision. Gunshots whizzed past him as he slid across the ground, aligning a shot.

Bang!

A Heieg soldier tumbled out of a third-story window. Without pause, Lugh racked the bolt, adjusted his aim, and fired again.

Another enemy collapsed, a bullet lodged squarely in his skull. He coordinated seamlessly with his puppet, advancing through the chaos alongside the squad.

Then, a sudden hail of gunfire forced them to a halt. They had converged at a chokepoint.

Men were cut down as they tried to push forward, their bodies collapsing beneath the concentrated enemy barrage. The survivors barely had time to duck behind cover.

"Lugh! Call for fire support!"

Renshaw barked.

Lugh closed his eyes, calculating.

"One hundred eight degrees northwest, Renho District, three hundred meters from the Red Gardens."

Through his second puppet, he relayed the coordinates to Lovainne in the locked-down northeastern sector. The prince wasted no time, issuing a command to the mortar troops.

Minutes later, the sky split apart as fiery projectiles rained down, obliterating the entrenched Heieg forces.

Smoke and screams filled the air.

"Strike confirmed"

Lugh reported back.

Gunfire crackled as Xhi, the priestess, took advantage of the devastation. Her rifle barked sharply, sending precision shots through the shattered windshields of the surviving armored vehicles.

Within moments, the squad reached their prize, two heavily damaged but functional vehicles.

Renshaw wasted no time.

"Everyone load up!"

"What are you doing?"

Natalia asked, frowning.

"We’re drawing away their armor. Use the time to rally your forces."

They had long since breached the outer perimeter of the restricted area Cipher had once guided Lugh through.

This area was heavily fortified, but the true threat remained the enemy’s armored units. Renshaw had identified the issue and was moving to neutralize it.

If not through destruction, then at least through diversion.

Their squad had thinned significantly, but their resolve remained unshaken. Renshaw tossed Lugh a machine gun scavenged from one of the vehicles.

As he tied a dirty, tattered banner to the antenna, one embroidered with the burning rose of Ophris, Lugh frowned.

"Where did you get that?"

"Found it on the ground a while ago"

The captain answered offhandedly.

Xhi sighed dramatically.

"I know I said I’d help, but I’m growing rather bored of this."

Lugh tensed.

Of course, this had to happen now.

"Don’t you have a contract with the prince?"

"My contract was to help hunt the enemy mages in this city. While the slaughter has been enjoyable, it’s becoming... tedious."

A headache loomed. Surviving the battlefield was hard enough without having to keep someone like her entertained.

And yet, Xhi was indispensable to the operation. Losing her cooperation could jeopardize everything.

"Why don’t you drive?"

Lyra suggested suddenly.

Xhi blinked.

"Drive?"

Lyra smirked, it wasn’t noticeable from behind the helmet.

"All you have to do is step on the throttle and turn the wheel left or right. I’m sure you’ll love it."

Xhi placed her palm on her face as she mulled over the idea.

"Hmm... interesting."

Lugh exhaled, half in relief, half in dread. One crisis averted. Another undoubtedly waiting just around the corner.

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