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Chapter 45: Defense of New Soil
🕑 Added 2024-06-08 09:23:27 +0000 UTC*Magitech Ranger POV*
When I was a kid, I dreamed of becoming a Magical Guardian and protecting my parents. That dream was shared by my four friends. Of course, becoming a Magical Guardian was rarer than winning the lottery; the notion of one of us becoming a Guardian was next to impossible, let alone all of us becoming Guardians. It was a dream we often talked about for fun. I, Kim Yan, Jack, Lucky, and Xiao Lu frequently imagined ourselves donning suits and helmets to kick those Anathema away from our homes.
I knew it was next to impossible. So, my friends have started to speak less about those dreams lately. The harsh reality began to settle when we were transferred to New Soil. In this desolate mountain city, Jack's father worked as a construction worker and died, leaving him in our family's care. My father, being a smelter's worker, didn't fare much better either. Unlike Eden, accidents were frequent in this new city. Yet, the glow in their eyes as they worked in New Soil was mesmerizing. I had never seen my father smile like that ever since my mother died. Despite the harsh environment, we worked together. All of us tried to build our home. I now realize heroes didn't have to wear capes. They were heroes to me. I dreamed of becoming like them one day.
Yet, a year ago, a flying Power Ranger figure flew up to me and offered me the dream I had just abandoned. I accepted without thinking. However, the world was unfair. Why was I chosen and not my friends? Xiao Lu was smarter, Kim Yan was stronger, Jack was more charismatic, and Lucky was our group's mood-maker.
I named my Zenith familiar Zordon. When I asked if it was possible to make my friends become Guardians, he succinctly said it was impossible. However, he said I could make my friends become Magical Soldiers if I bought the appropriate armor and guns from the vault. Close combat was rather dangerous for my friends due to the lack of stats. If I wanted to make them a warden, I would need more points to open the vaults. Points that were only possible if my strength were at least rank A
Cheering on, I named myself Magitech Ranger. I then proceeded to buy the kinetic and optic vaults, the armor vault, the medicine vault, and the augmented gear. All of them cost a lot of points, so I only managed to get common vaults open, except for the gun vault. Our families were happy, and our names spread instantly as the defenders of New Soil.
Some soldiers from the local defense force were jealous that I shared my tools with my friends instead of them. After a lengthy mediation with the mayor, we concluded that the Magitech Ranger would be incorporated into the New Soil Elite Defense Force. I became sort of their leader. The sudden promotion was unexpected. I was not ready. However, thanks to my friends, we thrived, and there have been no deaths from civilians ever since I became a magical guardian.
Our daily lives were disrupted by the arrival of eight Magical Girls and Guardians. They came specifically for Shirayuki Corporation. New Soil was made up of various departments from various companies. The evacuation order was abrupt. Fortunately, none of my friends were from that company, so we didn't care that much.
But the new MGs rub us the wrong way. Maybe they were used to the celebrity treatment from sanctuary cities, or perhaps they were just assuming things when they saw how meek the Shirayuki employees were around the MGs. But they certainly crossed the line when they asked us to evacuate the entire city.
Fortunately, they didn't push any further. The MGs left us and only advised us to prepare. The girl, whom I assumed was the leader of the MG group, talked about New Mesa, the city where many of Shirayuki's employees were located. We are not barbarians. We have internet here, so we knew about it. After knowing the reason, we understood their concerns. However, we politely refused. Unlike New Mesa, our city has walls, and the barriers were zenith-made and were not tampered with in any way. We have prepared for this.
Not even a day had passed since the new MGs left when I received news of casualties from an anathema attack. Unlike the usual archers or dogs and bulls, this time, they brought out scorpions that could snipe from afar. I usually offered ordinary silverbane bullets, but the scorpion's carapace resisted such bullets. Only the FMJ bullets I gave to my friends worked. However, due to their stats, they offered less penetration power than expected. Jack and Xiao Lu then ordered the rest of the Magitech Rangers to become spotters for me instead. They knew I could kill those snipers faster than the rest of them.
"Serene, can you hurry up and come back? We are getting attacked here." I swallowed my pride and called Serene. We have soldiers manning the walls, but the threat didn't only come from outside but also inside the wall. The city was protected by RED, so there was a notice. But regular soldiers have trouble with RED, and the threat from outside was pressing on us.
"Huh? You want us to help you? Didn't you say that you needed points?" Serene sounded confused. I desperately needed points to upgrade my friends' gear, but I wasn't willing to sacrifice human lives for that.
"Yes. There are casualties already. The enemy brought out multiple snipers. They are called Scorpion Hellspawn. Moreover, there were two rifts inside the city."
"We'll be right there. We are also being attacked here on the beach. The situation is dire. Do you think you can speed up the evacuation?"
"Sorry, but we've lived here for five years already. You're from Eden, and I understand that you have trauma from New Mesa. But this is our home. We want to defend it. Do you know the meaning of home?"
"... Alright. ETA two hours. We will be there as soon as possible. But if there are more than one enemy above level 70, we can't help you. And if that monster appears again… I might have to sacrifice everyone…"
"Will Tyrant Behemoth appear in such a rural area?"
"It already appeared in New Mesa. Well, it was created there, so it might not be persuasive. But the same thing could happen here, too."
"Alright. I will keep that in mind. But so far, even though we might take some losses, we can handle this."
"We will help to keep the losses to a minimum."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome. We are both guardians of humanity. We will do our best to guard humanity against Anathema. Six Magical Girls will come to your aid: two blue MGs, one all-rounder, one archer, one tank, and one CQC. Serene out."
"Whew." I sighed. "Xiao Lu, I called them. Expect backup in two hours. Six MGs are coming our way."
"Hm? Not eight?"
"The yellow girl said six: two blue, one all-rounder, one archer, one tank, and one CQC. Maybe they sent two of their members to guard the beach? They said the beach was attacked too."
"Roger. Damn, we should have built port defenses there. Good thing they cleared it out." Port defenses would be useless if there were no people manning them and there was only one MG in here, so the plan itself would not be feasible. It is better to clear the port only when we want to use it.
"Are we going to evacuate?" I asked our leader.
"Of course not. If worse comes to worst, we can simply activate the barrier."
"Alright. Off with the small talk. Jimmy, scorpion, 2 o'clock from the north. Xiao Lu, do you think Jimmy could purchase 1,000 normal bullets and 500 point-blank or fragmented bullets for the soldiers?" Jack said. I quickly directed my scope to the northeast and fired my rifle.
"Hmm… the normal bullets are easy, but the special bullets cost 1 point each. We only have 400 points." Xiao Lu answered. He has been keeping tabs on my points. I declared that it was our point. I want us to be Magitech Ranger. Not just me.
"Roger. Make it 2,000 normal then."
"OK. I'll send two soldiers to pick up the box. Jimmy, if you will? By the way, how much did the scorpion give you?"
"Roger, that scorpion gave 40 points. Purchasing now." I bought the said box. 100 bullets cost 5 points, so 2,000 meant 100 points. A few minutes later, a soldier brought the box from my tower and carried it elsewhere.
"We have received a transmission from Eden and Zenith. An evacuation is advised," Zordon said.
"Why?"
"An Anathema gate has been discovered. We estimate Anathema will try to siege us to secure this world. Any city that is not protected by MGs above level 200 should evacuate."
"That means every city should evacuate except Sanctuary cities! All of our hard work will be in vain!" I screamed.
"The risk is too great. An Anathema gate appearing means Anathema could deploy enemies over level 200 at will onto this world."
"We can hide in the bunker, right? The emergency shield will protect us. The emergency barriers in New Mesa were tampered with, right?"
"This is confidential information, so you should not share it. We don't want to cause a panic. Will you swear on your soul gem not to share without permission?" Zordon asked. Even through the helmet, his seriousness was palpable.
"Alright." Dread started to fill me. Those girls must have known the information but refused to tell us. Was this the reason? Familiars and Zenith are known to be truthful and honest, at least compared to corporate conglomerates and salesmen. However, many conspiracy theorists suspected Zenith had secrets they refused to tell—something they lied about.
"The emergency barriers in New Mesa were certainly tampered with. However, they should not be affected by earthquakes or such things as long as the area near the tunnel was not attacked. If the enemy sent the tyrant behemoth, we will not be able to resist them."
"Damn it, Zordon! You should have told us such news from the start!"
"Panic goes against hope. If such news were spread, even people from sanctuary cities would panic."
"Of course! That Behemoth might as well shoot Eden from New Mesa or Shangri-La from New Lake!"
"That's why we have to assault the gate sooner. In two weeks, we will launch an expedition toward their gate."
"Shit!" I cursed loudly.
"Hmm? What's wrong, Jimmy?"
"Nothing. I just heard bad news from my familiar."
"You are not allowed to tell them about the barrier without a geas." Zordon reminded me. Curse him. We are the Magitech ranger. Why do I have to keep secrets from my teammates? But I can't afford to suffer the penalty if I broke the oath. So I have to persuade them without telling the truth.
"Yes, yes, Zordon. Um… So, Xiao Lu, could you call the mayor? We might need to evacuate along with Serene's team."
"Huh? Why?"
"Um… I just heard some confidential stuff from Zenith. Trust me," I said.
"That means you can't tell us?"
"The familiar said I can't tell you without you guys signing the geas."
"So, we need to evacuate this city? Wasting all we did for these seven years?"
"If we die, this city will be destroyed anyway," I hesitantly replied.
"Fuck! I will persuade the mayor. But that also means we can't turn on the barrier. We don't have an escape tunnel like New Mesa. We didn't tamper with Zenith's technology."
"Then we just have to do our best," I replied as I sniped another scorpion.
The wave continued. I had made over 1000 points just by sniping scorpions and stray Anathema. However, there was no indication that it would end. I could have made over ten thousand points if all the kills from my soldiers were counted as mine. Casualties had reached the high end of double digits now. Soon, we might have to forcefully recruit soldiers from ordinary citizens if this keeps up.
"Sorry for the wait!" Serene finally arrived. Thunder and pink light shot out from afar, slaughtering the Anathema in their path. As their vehicle stopped behind the door, the vanguards stepped down and sprang into action. Anathema swarmed upon them, but these low-level creatures, except the scorpions, were no trouble for them, no matter how many there were.
"Only less than twenty left, except for the sniping scorpions," Zordon connected to Serene's familiar and announced our findings.
"Roger. Shining, go to the top of the wall. You can snipe the scorpions from there. The rest of us will disperse inside or alongside the walls. Secure the city! Beware not to get sniped. It could damage your aura pretty badly."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Alright! Let's go!"
The battle continued for more than three hours after Serene's group arrived. I thought it would never end. Even after the cavalry arrived, we suffered thirty more casualties. Some of the Anathema even got past the wall and almost reached our residential area. I managed to acquire three thousand points and two level-ups here. But alas, about 2000 points were used to procure bullets.
The videos on E-tube said you only needed one silverbane bullet to kill a hound. But I was definitely spending more here. Zordon explained that the footage used level 2 fomorian hounds. The number of bullets needed to kill higher-level Anathema increased exponentially with the Anathema's level. It would take an entire magazine to kill a level fifteen Fomorian soldier at point-blank range.
Zordon also explained the importance of alignment and how stats complemented the attack power of the bullets. At first, it made no sense to me, but he said that mana and my stats affect all alignment weapons and their ammunition. These were weapons based on magic, not physics.
"Serene, the mayor is expecting you," I told Serene outside after the anathema incursion was over.
