High School Soldier
127. Escape 4: nightmares

However, it is not good to entrust the fate of one nation to another.

**

“Now, it seems like I've been talking for too long. The time should have come..”

As soon as Emperor Bogat finished speaking, a huge tremor shook the basement. The rats and insects in the basement panicked, but not Nio.

The sound of explosions that were mutually unpretentious, made Nio's eyes narrow and second-guess the source of the explosion. But, Nio not only heard the sound of explosions, but also the screams of living beings.

A moment after Nio put on a gloomy expression, the basement door exploded. A group of soldiers stormed through the steel door that was smashed into pieces. Liben, who had been treated for his wounds, was on standby with a rifle in the front row, followed by Fariz and several witches.

“Commander!”

“You are fine!?”

All of Nio's comrades tried to rush in, but the Imperial soldiers stood marching in front of them in a tight line. Emperor Bogat calmly told Liben and his friends to drop their weapons.

Liben saw that both of Nio's hands were tied to the back of the chair with a padlocked chain. He looked at Nio's fingers shrewdly moving a hairpin to try to remove the padlock holding this chain. Nio had been doing this ever since he was forced out of confinement and was in this stinking basement.

“This is slower than expected.”

The Emperor smiled at the entire vigilant crowd after saying that. Bogat's words made Liben and Fariz more alert, while the three witches were heard saying something very quickly.

“Do not worry, I will return one of these captives.”

Emperor accidentally presses part ‘one of these captives’. Nio wasn't as stupid as he looked so he couldn't understand the meaning.

“What are there other captives?”

The Expeditionary Force has repatriated 20 Indonesian captives in the Luan Empire. Indeed, the number of missing victims is still much higher. That means, there are still hundreds of Indonesians who live miserable in prison, or worse than being prisoners of war.

The death toll on the part of Indonesian civilians during the independence day attack was in dire circumstances, it is not surprising that the government is trying to keep this a secret to prevent a wave of demonstrations that want enemy forces to be fought and to seek forced redress.

“I don't hate smart kids.”

After the Emperor said so, he raised his left hand as a code for his soldiers to ‘take the captive.

**

Sure enough, who was brought from the confinement room located several rooms with Nio prison was a woman with bad clothes and her hands and neck were chained. Just by looking at it at a glance, Nio and his colleagues can easily guess if the person brought is Southeast Asian, precisely Indonesia.

The 23-year-old woman opened her eyes wide when she saw the uniform worn by Nio and the members of the 1st Cruiser Squad.

“You guys... Could it be that you are TNI?”

What came out of his mouth was Indonesian, as he was one of the hundreds of Indonesian captives the Empire and its friends had obtained.

Then, a few moments later came the sound of ‘klek’ and the clinking of metal clashing with each other. The sound came from the padlock that was successfully released and the chain that fell to the basement floor.

The woman in front of Nio was not a stranger, even the woman seemed to show a gaze if she knew Nio. The young man looked surprised when the woman was ‘st alive’, because she was listed as the death toll during the attack incident.

“Calm down, Lovely is still fine. And you, we'll save you soon.”

Now, Nio was again concerned about the action, he could not remain silent anymore after his beloved brother was taken prisoner with such miserable circumstances. Beautiful Brother, Sonia, looked at Nio with hope. The young man was much different before he became a soldier, it was Sonia's view towards Nio.

But, before taking an action, Nio would first think about the impact of his actions. He could have hit Bogat's old face with his metal hands, that's how Nio got angry. Liben and the others were also very angry, the witches were also so even though they were not Indonesian citizens. Because it endangers Indonesians, Liben could have shot Bogat dead, but Nio gave him a code to hold the shot.

“I hope you explain this...!”

“Why are you still asking? He's one of the remaining captives, and the prisoner you saved is only a small part.”

Nio's face was overpowered by an expression of anger, looking at Sonia who was made a prisoner and a forced worker, aka an Imperial slave. In other worlds, especially the Luan Empire and its companions, treating captives as working animals was common. Even prisoners are the main commodity of a nation as one of the sources of wealth of the nation.

To be honest, Nio was eager to order Liben and Fariz to shoot and kill the Emperor immediately. Said the “captive you saved just a small part of it” almost broke the spirit of Nio and his colleagues.

Finally, Nio felt that he knew why Emperor Bogat had bothered to meet him.

In the heart of Nio said, “Emperor will threaten the Indonesian government using an ace called captive.”

The reason for the release of one of the captives, Sonia, is to provide evidence that there are still other prisoners of war from Indonesia. As long as prisoners of war remain in the hands of the enemy, strong TNI movements will be limited.

Given military rationality, Emperor Bogat should be shot dead on the spot right now. That's the best possibility. But another possibility also says “What happens if the kidnapper is killed without negotiation?”

The problem does not lie in that. As part of the state apparatus, the army could not kill innocent Indonesians. If it does so, the army is no different from the enemy.

“Should we save the lives of people to protect them, or take the lives of enemies in order for them to lose?” Nio muttered in his heart, he was forced to make a difficult choice.

He felt he could not decide on his own.

Emperor Bogat briefly said, as if he could see the inner word Nio.

“I tell you to decide immediately. Go back to your fortress and tell your leader.”

Perhaps Emperor Bogat expected this from the beginning. He calmly uttered in a tone that seemed to fit his plan.

“You have three days to tell your leader to withdraw from the Holy Land, in order to save all prisoners of war.”

The grace period is three days. If not. (hint is in the title of this episode)

**

Nio wasn't the only one who was fed up with the way the enemy did things for the sake of victory.

“Dog..!”

An angry voice resounded in the dungeon. But that was not Nio saying it.

“Fariz!?”

Fariz held an assault rifle and pointed his muzzle at the old man in front of him, Emperor Bogat.

“Your Majesty!”

Seeing the opponent aiming his weapon, a soldier stood up to protect the Emperor. Some of them covered their faces, and Nio and his comrades thought that they were witches.

“Well, I think she's a pretty brave little girl. Now I can't see anyone from his looks alone--.”

Emperor Bogat tried to continue his words, but Fariz seemed to have reached the limit of his patience. Then Fariz's soft finger pulled the trigger, and took out a hot pewter with a deafening gunshot.

However, when the tin piece was 5 centimeters away from Bogat's head, the sound of clanking metal clangs echoed.

“What...!?”

Fariz was not the only one who made a surprised voice. Nio, Liben and the witches opened their eyes wide.

In front of them, precisely in front of Emperor Bogat, a strange-looking girl stood up. A dragon girl in luxurious clothes.

Just before the bullet pierced through the head of Emperor Bogat, one of the hooded women suddenly came and repelled him using her large scythe. That person was the dragon girl, who seemed to be Maslac's slave.

“Zelev...”

A female witch seemed to know the dragon slave, some witches put on bitter faces as she stood up to protect Bogat.

Zelev answered the question of one of the witches in a light tone.

However, before the female slave Maslac opened his mouth, an imperfect Gate appeared in this room, and gave rise to several people.

One of the people who came out of the Gate imperfectly was Sigiz. Behind him came Zariv and Sheyn. The girl, precisely Sheyn already knew the risks that would befall him if he entered the country he took ‘sikit’ region to form the country he now leads with Commander Maslac.

“Traitor, why did you come here?”

Bogat's question of him did indeed make Sheyn's heart torn apart. For the sake of peace and immediately completing this war, Sheyn was willing to become an enemy of the Empire. That means, Sheyn also became an enemy of his father, Emperor Bogat.

Sheyn could not speak anymore, because the reason for coming here with Sigiz was clear, which was to be a rock to save Nio.

The two generally hostile parties faced each other in a hostile atmosphere.

The five imperfect gates opened by the magicians of Arevelk Kingdom and Yekirnovo took out about 20,000 soldiers of both countries. Their leaders, Sigiz and Sheyn, volunteered to help with Nio's rescue mission. The purpose of using the Gate is not perfect is to save time, because the time needed for the movement of the foot troops to reach the city is about half a month. And the time it took to open the Gate wasn't perfect was only about half a day.

Speaking of Sigiz and Zelev's abilities, they have equal abilities. While Sheyn was only the equivalent of 50 elite warriors, so she could not possibly defeat witches and Demihumans that were much stronger than her.

The reason Zelev sided with the Empire and the Alliance Army was clear, as the owner, Maslac, was the commander of the Empire who was very loyal to his superiors.

“Your Majesty the Emperor, why don't you kill that metal-armed warrior?”

The metal-armed warrior that Zelev was referring to was Nio, it made the young man so annoyed at the dragon woman.

“According to the news, he was the one who was foretold. So I want to see if really she is very strong.”

Sigiz's dark brown eyes stared intently and deeply at Zelev. This was indeed their first time looking at each other, but both were convinced that they were balanced in terms of power and magic.

Zelev had his own way of confronting the queen in front of him.

**

Eight attack helicopters drove over Aibu City. In a few more minutes, they would precisely reach above the retreating Alliance Army. To avoid damage, attack helicopters are instructed to attack from heights that cannot be reached by enemy arrows.

Below, there appeared about 1 Company of troops, exactly 200 Alliance Troops trying to retreat as fast as they could. However, the attack helicopter had locked onto the target, and strafed the enemy with 40mm cannon artillery.

“Flying God 4 to Flying God 1, something is approaching from the direction of 10 o'clock! No response to radar!”

Commander of the helicopter unit considers, “No response to the radar? Are they a dragon-riding army?”

The TNI's radar equipment is essentially for detecting attacks from missiles, tanks, and fighter aircraft, and is essentially not equipped with a wave radar that can detect living things like humans.

The sky which is the origin of the rumbling sound of the helicopter propeller. However, there was something much bigger than the iron dragonflies, and the figure was flying over.

It was said that the creature had a power far stronger than the fire dragon king, and now the real worst nightmare was flying overhead.

“It--- the king of wind dragons..!!!”

**

The first target of the wind dragon king was a helicopter unit that was flying forming an attack formation.

“Captain! Something like a fire dragon king was in the direction of 40 degrees to the left!”

Before the officer who was accompanying the Commander of the helicopter unit finished speaking, a roaring sound that was much louder than the sound of a fighter jet engine was heard. A moment later, a burst of flames with a temperature much higher than the fire of the dragon king of fire burned 3 combat helicopters, and ignited the ammunition and fuel inside the attack helicopter and the missile carrier.

“He burned the helicopter..!”

“Job…! Shoot it! Shoot!”

With the command of the helicopter unit Commander, each helicopter pointed their cannons, rockets, and missiles at the wind dragon king and began firing in a concentrated manner.

However, the scales of the wind dragon king were 5 times harder than the MBT's steel armor, and the missiles and rockets did not inflict fatal damage to the body of the wind dragon king.

The commander of the helicopter unit bit his lip and began to break out in cold sweat as the dragon with the equivalent height of an 8-story building and its silvery scaly did not flinch when struck with a weapon that could destroy a battalion easily.

“Commander, fire spray will come again!”

“Sread! Perform maximum output! Fast!”

The helicopter unit tries to change course to escape the wind dragon king.

Immediately after, a powerful surprise attack hit the helicopter unit. A direct attack can be avoided, but it leaves the helicopter flying uncontrollably. Although the aviator tried to gain control of his helicopter, but one of the helicopters lost control and crashed into the helicopter nearby.

“If you do not master this, we will perish!”

The commander of the helicopter unit prepares for his own death. But the ordeal that the wind dragon king gave was much more severe.

“Commander, dragon king heading to town!”

“I saw it!”

Under the remaining helicopter units and trying to chase after the wind dragon king, the ground troops were dividing the units. Ground forces are divided into squads for clearance operations, evacuation of citizens, firefighting, and monitoring of prisoners of war. Although the activity in this small ground unit can perform many tasks at once, it is actually difficult to carry out active attacks.

Of course, it does not matter if the enemy is a human army that is easily defeated, but the story is different if the opponent faced increases, namely the king of the wind dragon.

The wind dragon king flew over the artillery unit that was preparing an attack for him, it was clear what to do if caught in this kind of situation.

“The rotten lizard is coming!”

“Save yourself...!!!”

The wind dragon king exhaled a burst of flames with a temperature of 900 degrees centigrade, an unreasonable temperature released by living beings. This attack was aimed at countering the one plaguing the wind dragon king.

Anti-aircraft artillery units totaling 6 anti-aircraft guns were the first targets.

Taxes worth trillions of rupiah exploded in an instant after being hit by the hot breath of the wind dragon king. Equipment that included the TNI's latest weapon exploded with the lives of the soldiers operating it, like a giant fireworks burst. The heart-stirring streak of explosions lasted for 2 minutes, and left the soldiers who saw it heartbroken.

However, the wind dragon king's attack did not stop there, he also burned the townspeople who were about to evacuate. He burned the man who ran and burned the buildings of Aibu City. The wind dragon king wagged his 8-meter-long tail, and hit a tower.

A group of residents who took shelter behind a tower, were destroyed by the tower that collapsed due to the wagging tail of the giant flying lizard. Blood and internal organs splattered, creating mud pools of blood on the ground.

Then, the wind dragon king spouted his fire onto the ammunition transport vehicle. Ammo in the vehicle exploded after being hit by a burst of hot flames, and the explosions continued to repeat until there was no ammunition left. Unfortunately, some of the armored vehicles rolled over and the leaking fuel ignited the flames, and the flames spread out in an instant.

Amidst the flames and screams, the wind dragon king planned not to stop the action. He wrapped the entire area around him with fire and crushed those trying to escape one after another.

This is just a picture of hell.

But, this was just an enemy game, the wind dragon king was a figure controlled by Zelev.

**

Funfact#7: the difference between a perfect Gate and a non-burst Gate lies only in the opening process.

To open the Gate perfectly, as it opens in the Holy Land and is under the control of the Expeditionary Force, a ritual is required that requires a lot of ‘tumbar man’, as well as precious metals that can melt, is required, gold or other precious metals.

To open the Gate was not perfect, as the otherworldly forces used to attack the earth and that Sigiz used to save Nio, only a large amount of magic energy was required, and a number of great magicians.

(illustration of the wind dragon king, image source pinterest)