Chapter 8: Run Through the Battlefront

Chapter 8: Run Through the Battlefront

CHAPTER 8

RUN THROUGH THE BATTLEFRONT

“—Let’s begin by explaining our current status.”

The first voice that connected to the Resonance after seven hours of silence was one of a young man Shin had never heard before.

“The recapturing of the Highway Corridor by the three countries’ armies is at present nearly complete. It’ll take some time for us to have it under our complete control, and the United Kingdom’s army’s advance is a bit behind schedule, but, well, it’s all within permissible range.”

Sitting within Undertaker’s cockpit as it lay in hiding, avoiding the gaze of the Ameise, Shin didn’t so much as acknowledge he was listening. The patrol unit wasn’t so close by that it could pick up the sound of him talking in the cockpit, but they weren’t far enough away to allow for any distractions, either.

Perhaps taking the situation into consideration, the person on the other side of the Resonance—apparently, the western front’s chief of staff—didn’t fault Shin or cite it as an act of disrespect. This was, after all, a company officer ignoring the words of a commanding officer.

“This operation’s secondary objective is therefore accomplished… However, our primary objective of eliminating the Morpho is, sadly, not yet complete. Oh, the fact that we didn’t consider the existence of a second unit was a blunder on the general staff headquarters’ side. You guys on the field aren’t seen as responsible for it.”

An apathetic silence was exchanged between his comrades, who weren’t participating in the conversation but were connected to the Resonance. No one cared about that anyway.

“If we fail in eliminating the Morpho, this entire operation will have been for nothing. As such, all forces will continue their offensive. We will limit our sphere of suppression to the areas surrounding the old high-speed-railway tracks and gradually narrow down the range as we march in pursuit of the Morpho.”

Shin intersected the web of the old high-speed-railway tracks over his map of the area, confirming the route the main force would take as the chief of staff was describing it. They were to advance 150 kilometers south along the old Empire’s border and would then turn east at the fork in the road.

“You are presently seventy kilometers west of the western army’s main force. The cruise speed of a small unit like you and the corps-size main force is entirely different. That distance will probably only grow from here on out, so I want to confirm this one more time. Are you sure you want to continue pursuing the Morpho?”

“…This mission never had any support or reinforcements to begin with. Nothing’s changed.”

“But one thing will change, and that’s the amount of time it’ll take you to regroup with the main force. I’ll be frank. We can’t guarantee the main force will reach your destination or that you’ll survive until it gets there.”

Shin sighed lightly. What was the point of saying it this late in the game? That had been perfectly clear to them since the beginning.

“But we don’t have any other way of doing this, do we?”

The chief of staff seemed to smile bitterly.

“Saying that leaves us in a bind, you see… Someone has to do it, and even though you said you were up for it, it wouldn’t be fair to not give you the option to back down once the situation’s changed. What I’m trying to say is you can fall back if you’ve changed your minds.”

“That must be a joke. If we waste time falling back, the Morpho will just retreat that much deeper into the Legion’s territories. It would just make eliminating it that much harder.”