Summary/disclaimer: Time for another chapter of Snowy Soulmates. Enjoy the 1000-word chapter. I don't own VK, Sega, Ryutaro Nonaka and Shuntaro Tanaka do.
Matias paused only to shoot an attacking imperial soldier, the bullet piercing his armor and ending his life.
"Minerva, where are you!?" Matias yelled over the sound of gunfire and explosions. "Damn it!" Matias yelled while he raised his side arm.
He didn't know where the Federation Officer had gone, only that she had vanished in the midst of the battle. However? Matias still had soldiers to command and orders to give, he was quite a warrior when it came down to it.
"Someone, block the path off now!" Matias yelled, trying to shout over the yell of cannon fire and war cries. "And someone find a fallback point! We're not going to be able to outfight that army down there!" Matias yelled and looked over the ridge at the ground below.
A tank shell almost decapitated the Vinland officer, throwing him to the side as things began to worsen. He cursed and looked around before making sure his sidearm was ready in case he needed it. This mission was going exactly the way he thought it would. There was no outfighting the imperials even with the higher ground. Their tanks meant they could simply rain shells upon their position, pounding them like a drum until they submitted.
It wasn't fair, but this was war… Fairness was a kindness and compassion were out of place in the war to begin with.
"Someone, get them to fall back!" Matias yelled before turning and putting his back to the wall.
He knew very well that this operation was going to be bloody… And yet he was bothered regardless. He turned and fired twice; he was greeted by enough fire to have killed 10 people if he didn't duck back into cover.
"Matias!" Matias heard and turned to see a Imperial Shocktrooper approaching him.
Matias raised his pistol to shoot the soldier before another shot rang out. Matias watched as the man stumbled and then collapsed into the snow, a smoking hole in the dead center of the helmet. He hummed and then turned to see Minerva with her rifle raised, smoke billowing from the barrel. He hummed and nodded as the Federation Officer leapt down and rushed over to him.
"I told you they'd overrun us as soon as the element of surprise was gone." Matias said and shook his head. "We need to get out of here before they cut us off and bleed us to death. Do you know of an escape route down the mountain?" Matias questioned, his eyebrow raised as he turned and looked over his shoulder.
All he could see was smoke, all Matias could hear was the sounds of gunfire and people dying or fighting. It was something he was sadly used to. Minerva tapped at her lips in thought, recalling every step they had taken towards this position when it came to climbing up this mountain.
"Sir, the enemy is trying to divert soldiers to encircle us!" One of the soldiers reported to which Matias nodded.
"Then fall back and make sure that they don't get behind us!" Matias ordered before turning to Minerva. "Unless you know a way out of here? We're going to go down swinging with the empire… And while I'd rather enjoy seeing what the book says about that? I'd like to be able to live long enough to read from the book." Matias joked before lowering his gun.
He questioned why he hadn't brought a rifle instead of his sidearm. Perhaps he intended to fight on the frontlines and simply neglected to take into account that this wasn't the frontline. Then again? It might as well have been with how things were currently going based on this situation.
"There's a path 100 meters west." Minerva put in to which the colonel raised an eyebrow for a moment. "I studied the terrain before we came out here. There's a path good enough for people to get through 100 meters west." Minerva stated to which Matias could only nod and hum to himself.
He clicked his tongue against his cheek, curious about how this battle would be going if it was a straight up brawl… Maybe not that well? Matias knew very well the enemies forces far outstripped his. If this was a battle of simple wits? He'd come up with a solution that left the enemy reeling on the backfoot and Matias would continue to hunt them to the end of the road if needed.
But this was not a simple game of tactics… It was throwing metal at the wall to attempt to knock it over… And the empire had no shortage of metal to fling into the wall itself.
"We need to keep falling back until we either make it back to camp… Or we bury them under sheer weight from our strikes." Matias ordered to his men as he turned to Minerva. "Remind me never to be stupid enough to suggest an all-in strike at the Empire… Their tanks out gun his several times over." Matias added as he cracked his fingers.
Minerva said nothing, more curious about his decision to retreat then anything… Then again? Matias had made it clear this was a delaying plan to cripple the empire… And once that was done and locked down? Matias planed to pull his troops back, a very strategic plan if it worked.
"Follow me." Minerva added as she pulled Matias along with her.
This mission wasn't over just yet…
Author notes
Phew. Another chapter done! I apologize for the chapter being short and such. Next chapter will hopefully be longer. Next chapter will be in 2-12 weeks and will be 1200 words as well as show the rest of the operation and more bonding. Until then, Lighting Wolf out!
P.S: Alliase is 1200 words, Brunhilde 1200, Riela 1200 words at the moment when it comes down to it.