High School Soldier
136. Maybe he's wearing pellets

“Damage.?”

Maslac stared with a bitter expression at the state of his army that was almost destroyed by countless hot lead shots, and was forced to retreat from the battle, but this became a bad retreat order.

“About 6,000 people were killed, and tens of thousands were seriously injured. The only thing we got was information that the enemy still has very strong combat power.”

As one of the officers of the 8th corps of the Alliance Army replied, Maslac let out a very long sigh. Scrunching his face darkly due to fatigue, and feeling the heart rate increase.

After fighting in Aibu City, Maslac was one of the people in the Alliance Army who already felt the most knowledgeable about how to fight the Expeditionary Force.

According to him, Expeditionary Forces are troops with combat power such as ‘machine’, and their technical capabilities are not imagined. It was an ability that was like that of the Hero of Anger, which he knew was from the same country as the Expeditionary Force. Considering he had seen Rio practice shooting with his ‘magic shot’, Maslac felt if such a weapon had any weaknesses. But still, even though he thought until the day of the battle came the answer was still not found.

The Expeditionary Force has exceptional mobility, and a carrying capacity that exceeds even the best horses in the world. As well, the attack power was enormous, and after conducting the attack centrally, it could not be stopped using the strongest shield the Alliance Army had.

And Maslac learned a new lesson in this battle. Although the attack power of the Expeditionary Force had decreased even by a little, he could still think of having enough power to defeat the Expeditionary Force depending on how to use his troops.

Maslac had learned some terms from Rio and the heroes who knew something about the Indonesian troops. He had acquired several terms related to weaponry and military from other worlds, for example: bullets, missiles, brigades, companies, platoons, tactical vehicles.

“During my time as commander, I never lost many soldiers in the first day of battle. To deal with the overwhelming power of the enemy, we had no choice but to face the bullets with the bodies of the soldiers, then deploy the Heroes of Anger, Heroes of Sadness, and Heroes of Envy.

Compared to the battles fought during the Expeditionary Force arriving in this world, the Empire lost as many as more than 30,000 soldiers. And on this day more than 6,000 soldiers of the Alliance Army were killed in the first day of the battle. Of course, if in a battle the troops can achieve victory, losing a lot of troops is not a problem, but it will be different story if losing many soldiers in a state of defeat.

Yet still, the soldiers must have families, even though they were useless warriors.

Maslac could not remove the purpose of war from his mind just to apologize in front of the soldier's family. This battle could not be stopped despite losing tens of thousands of soldiers.

The only way to reward a dead friend is to win, even if the army kills more.

Maslac then ordered the officers of the 8th Corps of the Alliance Forces to gather the surviving soldiers and provide them with care.

His subordinates frowned after hearing Maslac's words. When the troops only brought a small amount of medical corps, it could not help if the wounded soldiers numbered in the tens of thousands.

“Do not like that, do it immediately so that we can quickly defeat the other world's army. This war is our spearhead. At the very least, the next battle we can humiliate them with the help of the heroes.”

In reality, Maslac said that with great force. To be honest, he did not particularly like the incredible power that heroes possessed, especially the Hero of Lust who could create something he had seen with his earth ancient magic.

Even if the Hero of Lust created a rifle-like weapon, it did not guarantee victory. The Expeditionary Force had a way of dealing with bullets from rifles and other firearms. Although the idea of beating technology with technology is a very good choice.

However, what caused the injured soldiers to not look in pain was the cause of ‘narkotika’ created by Hero Iri Hati. Because the hero has the knowledge to make drugs that cause a soldier is not afraid of death. Similar to what the higher-ups of the German army did to their soldiers during World War II.

However, the warriors of this world who were not familiar with medicinal tablets or powder were quite troublesome.

“...And they can only ingest diluted narcotics.” Hero Iri Hati who handles the drug problem muttered this. He claimed to be from the United States, and a former pharmacist who knew about illegal drugs.

If the Expeditionary Force hears that Alliance Forces soldiers are consuming narcotics in battle, the hope of the creators of these narcotics is to make them fret. However, Maslac and Hero Iri Hati are part of the military, not drug dealers. And because there is no law regarding the creation and use of drugs, this type of narcotics is treated like ordinary drugs.

Before the creation of this type of narcotics, the morale of the Alliance Forces, where most are recruits who have very low combat power. Moreover, the gunshot wounds created by the Expeditionary Force bullets were very difficult to heal, even heroes were also very difficult. Such wounds were said to be more painful than the slashes of spears and swords, and made morale decline.

That is why it is so important to nurture a sense of military unity and strengthen the command so that the soldiers do not leave each other wounded friends.

As a result, the troops who will do the next battle require drugs similar to the dose that they are able to do the fight without fear of death.

(Note: the content in narcotics created by Hero Iri Hati from the United States is similar to Pervitin used by Nazi Germany in World War II. And using ingredients that have been studied before that can produce the same effects as the narcotic.)

“Mr Maslac, there is a dangerous side effect if the warrior consumes it excessively,” Hero Iri Hati tries to stop Maslac's plan by reflex.

“Do not worry. There is one more thing I have learned in this battle. The enemy pulls our troops to its limit then shoots only at a certain distance. In reaching that distance, soldiers will definitely be hit by attacks from the enemy first. Therefore, they needed something that could make them battle with overwhelming might. After all, the enemy must have lost some of their ammunition.”

The courage to take risks, however, the Alliance Army needed more men like Maslac, and brought with it the Imperial tradition of never losing a war.

**

Thousands of Expeditionary Force soldiers consisting of the Main Force and Student Army lay and leaned against the defensive trenches, and tried to be as comfortable as possible as in heaven. Their faces were covered with dust and stains which caused the faces to slightly blacken. Their faces showed relief and fatigue after a grueling battle. The good news is that only dozens of casualties were lightly injured, and no soldiers were killed.

They were Expeditionary Warriors who fought very far from home. Struggling and trying to give their best until the expected help arrives, although the chances for help to come are very small according to most of the soldiers. Nio bit his lower lip, as if he could feel the taste of the blood and flesh of others in his mouth.

“Even if all we look forward to is death, what good are we fighting if we can't go home?”

The voice of one of the members of the 1st Cruiser Squad, Corporal Two Roni, sounded extremely pitiful. Nio smiled sadly after hearing the words of his members, and hit hard on Roni's helmet.

“Then, fight hard until suddenly the battle is over and our victory comes when you are unaware. That is a choice, and as warriors we will continue to live by continuing to fight.”

And it was precisely because they continued to fight that the soldiers were able to stare, challenge, and face the death that awaited them.

Currently all the soldiers were still in their respective positions, even though it was already night. Several groups of refugee troops brought baskets with food and drinks to be distributed to all soldiers without missing a single person. Especially for Nio, he and the rest of Team 1 must still be in the leading trench with a depth of 1 meter, some soldiers appear to be asleep by leaning in the trench.

Nio looked at someone standing on top of him, due to Nio's position inside the trench. The blue and reddish moonlight could not penetrate the elegance of Lux and Zariv that helped hand out consumption to all the soldiers who had fought to the point of exhaustion. The star that appeared from this world glittered, just like the two girls above him who stretched out their hands to give a few packs of rice and water.

Then, Lux immediately pulled Nio's hand and made him stand up to be able to see out the trench that the Cruiser Squad 1 was defending. The first thing Nio saw was the thousands of soldiers who were very busy despite being exhausted, and seemed to be having fun despite only a few hours of rest from the battle. Thousands of torches lit up the fort, and the soldiers surrounded it while showing off the number of casualties they had obtained.

The fact that the Expeditionary Force was able to survive the first battle was amazing, as they fought with very limited ammunition. So, when he heard the rogue army retreat, Nio could exhale a sigh of relief, and successfully performed the task without sacrificing a single member.

Not far from the look of Nio was, all the male members stared intently at Fariz who was cleaning Sidik's face from black stains. Especially Nio, he approached them with a sharp gaze, then crouched down which caused the couple to be nervous.

“What are you guys dating?” Nio asked in a flat tone.

“What's wrong if they're dating, Nio..?”

A female voice that surprised him made Nio immediately stand up to look out of the trench so that he could see the source of the sound.

“Herlina.. no, it's not. I'm just jealous of the one with a girlfriend.”

The sharp gaze turned to Nio, and this time the person who gave him the sharp gaze was much more. Even the person who was walking and hearing Nio's words stopped to give him a sharp, meaningful look. Their gazes made this battlefield even more gripping.

“Then with me alone.” Herlina interjected with a reddish face for saying those words.

Nio sighed, he did not understand why a Captain could speak like that to a First Lieutenant Auxiliary. So, it was impossible to answer Herlina's feelings now because their rank was quite far apart.

Herlina's breath is stuck in her throat. Seeing the handsome face of Nio who smiled wryly when answering his statement of feeling.

However, it was not that Nio rejected him, as Nio just spoke was impossible to now make a connection with a person of higher rank than him. So, if Nio had already reached a minimum of one rank higher than him, Herlina still had a chance to have Nio's heart.

Then, there were two girls who approached Herlina when she talked to Nio, then one more girl was added. Lux, Zariv, and Edera sat down next to Herlina to join this conversation.

That was the thing that made Herlina doubt if Nio's choice fell on her, because she heard there were quite a number of women who were interested in Nio, even the officers other than her.

Herlina threw away her plastic wrap carelessly, and leaned against the sack that had the side of the ground with an annoyed face because there were three girls talking to Nio while she seemed to be ignored.

“Is he not aware there are many women interested in him?”

“Can I beat him up now?”

“Damn it, why can the commander approach many girls?”

“Maybe she wears pellets..”

**

“So we can only collect 22,000 soldiers huh..?”

Suroso stood on the roof of one of the buildings that became the Expeditionary Force Headquarters. This 10-story building became one of the buildings purchased from Karanganyar City civilians to facilitate contact with other worlds. And on this day, the atmosphere of the city was almost similar to the first departure of the Expeditionary Force to another world.

There were tens of thousands of male and female soldiers lined up in front of the memorial, which used to stand the perfect Gate. In addition to the soldiers, the march also had hundreds of vehicles and combat equipment ready to be sent to other worlds as aid.

Suroso looked down at the thousands of soldiers from several garrisons in Indonesia to be sent to the other world as Expeditionary Force reinforcements were fighting there. In the army there are 500 soldiers from two allied countries of Indonesia. Of course they also bring the best weaponry they have to test with enemy troops.

The North Korean ambassador and the Russian President stood beside Suroso after climbing hundreds of steps to reach the roof of the building. Behind them were 6 Student Army soldiers who were doing escort duty.

The departure of 250 Russian and 250 North Korean soldiers will be recorded in history. Because they will be the second and third countries after Indonesia as a country that will set foot in another world. Moreover, the demand for Indonesia in need of assistance cannot be ignored by the two strongest countries in the world today in terms of military.

The two countries cannot ignore Indonesia which has exchanged warship technology, and other military technology. In 200 years, Indonesia has become the strongest sea power in Asia, some say if the AL TNI is the guardian of the Southeast Asian Peninsula. Because of this, there are several countries that are interested in allying with Indonesia, and Russia and North Korea are the strongest countries on the list of allied countries.

Of course the departure of the two countries' forces makes other countries envious, and urges Indonesia to invite them too, especially the United States and the European Union who want to send their troops even if not asked. Of course rejection is the answer to their insistence.

“President Suroso, do you think the number of troops we sent was not too small?”

“True what Ambassador Kim said, Russia is willing to send 2,000 more soldiers if needed.”

Suroso looked at the two important people from each of Indonesia's allied countries with a haru look. Their hope of dispatching a larger army was to save the Expeditionary Force in another world.

The two men were only hesitant if they only sent 250 soldiers from each country and their best weaponry as assistance, and could achieve victory. Because the deadline for this operation is only one month, want to win or not by being forced by Russia and North Korea to withdraw its troops from the other world.

There are dozens of cameras belonging to journalists from all three countries to record this history, where in a few hours the relief forces will enter the Gate to be opened by the elite magician of Arevelk Kingdom. After the speeches of the three politicians, the troops will be sent to another world.

Several Russian and North Korean soldiers chatted with their friends, and were curious how powerful the otherworldly forces were. Of course some of them are only interested in otherworldly women who are said to be quite charming. Some of the soldiers from both countries were people who had faced otherworldly forces in previous wars, and now they would face off against otherworldly forces again.

10 Attack helicopters from the Magetan Garrison had just arrived, and dozens of large rocket launchers were transported in special vehicles as additional weaponry. Large numbers, both in terms of soldiers and weaponry are expected to accelerate the end of the war, and peaceful assertions from countries at war with Indonesia.

Even so, the civilians who watched from live or from TV broadcasts still look proudly at the soldiers who are marching and preparing for war. There were some women and children in the middle of the line saying goodbye to them. Thinking of the people who were left behind, only prayers could the families of the soldiers give for salvation.

“President Provolfsky and Mr. Kim Sun An, thank you for worrying. Yet we still do not know the true strength of our enemy. So, in our opinion to ask you to send a small help alone is already too much.”

The Expeditionary Forces there were supposed to protect their homeland, but they were now cornered, and still hopeful. It will be a very difficult fight, but this is not the end because the hope will soon be realized.

These relief forces should help as many Expeditionary Forces as possible to survive. It was one of the warrior pride that protected his homeland. At least, if it could not win the battle, the relief force could help them to save themselves, this was all for the sake of friends.

According to Provolfsky and Kim Sun An, they had to help as many of their allies as possible to win the war. The Expeditionary Force should enjoy this period of peace as well, and they will bring it as soon as possible. Of course to bring peace is an honor for a soldier.