Chapter 64

The Terror of The Wild Dog

Town of Alue, 12th June, Morning

"Aaaahh… It feels so good in the morning."

Sergeant Leo Geyr has just finished his breakfast, as he and the Gra Valkas Empire's 1st Corps were taking a break from the assault yesterday.

"I heard the rest of the Army will come passing us today."

"Yeah. They will be here by afternoon and will take a night inside the Malmund Mountains."

Today, the 12th and 21st Army are scheduled to depart from the Valkyries base, leaving 44th Defense Army to defend the Valkyries base.

A Corporal talks with him while the Corporal is preparing a tune-up kit to check on his Panzer IV's engine.

"You hear the news yesterday, Sergeant? I heard that the Celestina Empire destroy our Ishtam Battle Group inside the storm! Only two destroyers survived that slaughter!"

"Bah. That must be false news. There's no way Celestina can't deal that much damage to the Navy. Besides, it's Commander Maynard's fault for bringing his fleet into the storm."

"I-I guess you're right."

"What are you guys talking about?"

"S-sir!"

Major General Borg walks to them as the Corporal dismisses himself to check on the Panzer IV's engine.

"Sergeant. Don't think about it too much. All we need right now is to prepare ourselves for another advance to Kielseki. We will depart as planned."

"Y-yes, sir."

"Still… I can't believe that Mu got weapons and equipment from Celestina. We don't have Anti Tank weapons, and Information Bureau is already leading the investigation by sending Naguano and his team to examine what was left of it from the battle yesterday."

"I'm also surprised that Celestina can supply Mu with such weaponry in a short time."

"We outnumber them, so the invasion will proceed as planned."

The Corporal is checking the Panzer IV's engine as he found something strange attached to it.

"Strange… I don't remember we have this installed inside the engine."

As he was about to take the strange item, it explodes without warning. The explosion erases the Corporal from existence, while the explosion also destroys the Panzer IV.

"W-what!?"

"What's going on!"

PWEEETTT!

Whistle sounds as the Gra Valkas Empire soldiers scramble to get their equipment.

"We're under attack!"

BOOM! BOOM!

"What the hell!? The explosion is not just at one of our tanks?!" Borg searches for news as the radio operator receives a transmission from other operators around Alue.

After compiling the report, the operator reports to Borg. "Sir! We've received reports that at least forty tanks were destroyed by an explosion!"

"No way! That's impossible! Does Mu launch a counterattack?"

"Negative, sir! Elements of 28th Special Operations Division at East of Alue reports that there was no enemy army amassing their units to attack!"

"Then where did the attack comes from? Find them and kill them!"

The Gra Valkas Empire, 28th Special Operations Division

The Special Operations Division plans to depart this morning. However, because of the sudden attack inside Alue, they change their mission to find the assailant.

Corporal Duffy investigates the source of the attack, but he didn't find anything until another explosion came from a stack of crates, and Duffy saw someone inside the smoke.

"W-who's there!?"

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha."

He vanished temporarily as the 28th Special Operations Division moves in to pursue the silhouette.

"After him!"

"Don't let him escape!"

Borg's position

"Radio contact from 28th Special Operations Division! They found someone, and they gave chase!"

"Hunt him down!" Borg looks around as he expects that this attack is most likely from Celestina Empire.

KABOOM!

"Sir! Someone destroyed our Tiger Tank!"

"W-what?!"

"Major General! Above the tank!"

Above the smoking Tiger Tank, they can see a man in his late 40s looking at them with a grin.

"Surprise, surprise."

Noticing a presence above the destroyed Tiger Tank, they raise their weapons and aims at him.

"Who are you! Identify yourself!"

"Should I introduce myself to you? I'm Wild Dog, the leader of my own mercenary. Such a pity a barbarian people like you goes to invade this country."

"Uwaaaahh!"

Borg and Leo saw someone throws a Gra Valkas Empire's soldier at them. They catch him, but he's in a traumatic state.

"M-monster! These guys are monsters!"

"Heh heh. Let's enjoy the party, shall we?" Taking off his coat, Wild Dog begins his assault by pressing the detonator button and destroying several Armored Cars. Several people emerged from the smoke as they held a detonator button, causing chains of explosions around Alue.

Leo quickly orders the radio operator to call for reinforcements. "Give the word to the base! We're under attack!"

Borg added the order, "Tell General Perth to hasten the deployment of the 12th and 21st Army!"

Leo turns to look at the attacking Wild Dog's mercenaries, only to find out that they have different weaponry. "S-sir! T-they have weapons attached to their arm! They must be Mercenaries from Celestina! There's no way Mu or Holy Milishial Empire has weapons like that!"

"Ah, shit! Take them down!"

With laughter, Wild Dog and his goons disappeared from their sight.

The Gra Valkas Empire, Valkyries Base

General Perth receives a disturbing report from the 1st Corps at Alue, while General Gaoggel was also surprised to receive news of the sudden attack by the Wild Dogs mercenaries.

"Any information about possible counterattack from either Mu or Celestina?"

A radio operator, with Leo in contact, reports the situation, "No, sir! It's just mercenaries alone! Based on reports from multiple soldiers, we estimate at least twenty men are involved in this attack!"

"Twenty?! Then remove them already!"

"Easy to say, sir! We've received a report that they have weapons attached to their arm, and they already destroyed forty of our tanks! They move so fast, and we can't even put a dent on them!"

"What the hell?!"

News of the defeat at the Ardennes Beach and Ardennes Sea has reached their ears, but the brass restricted the information circulation, so the troop did not lose morale when advancing to Mu.

"Fuck, Fuck, Fuck! This can't be happening! Deploy the rest of the men immediately! We will rescue the 8th Army!" Perth quickly issues the order to other units to immediately depart to assist the 8th Army in peril.

"Yes, sir!"

Little did he realize, he will soon play right into Celestina's hand.

Wild Dogs Mercenaries, Former Mu Trenches

The Gra Valkas Empire did a lot of clean-up for the mess yesterday, but it's also a blessing for the Wild Dogs Mercenaries. They set up ambush positions at every trench used for the enemy tanks to come across. If it were Celestina, they would clear out the trench and every passageway from bombs and traps before advancing.

"Heh heh… This is going to be fun. Those barbarians didn't know what will hit them."

"Everyone in position?"

"Yes, sir."

"Our boss, Wild Dog, is wreaking havoc inside the town. They can't dispatch the Air Force since our men are blending in."

They saw columns of armored vehicles, trucks, and tanks rolling from the Gra Valkas Empire's Valkyries Base. Infantries are taking point, while the Wild Dogs mercenaries hide at every foxhole to conceal themselves from their sight.

"Here they come, ready the party."

The Gra Valkas Empire, 12th and 21st Army

Elements of the 84th and 87th Division are heading towards the trench that formerly belongs to Mu. They will check every side to make sure there were no ambushes from the Celestina Empire.

"The area is already secured here, then why we should sweep again, Sergeant?" A Private complaint about the job to scout the trench.

"We don't know how Celestina operates, Private. They could slip through when our troops are in the process of capitulating Alue."

"I've heard the rumor that a Battalion of Celestina's soldiers manages to defeat one Corps at Ardennes Beach."

"Brass wants it tight-lipped, so we can't talk about it further. Furthermore, we lack proper intelligence aside from the intel provided by the Gra Valkas Empire's Information Bureau. Also, the Information Bureau wants to study what they called an Anti Tank gun. It seems Mu receives a decent amount of weaponry from Celestina."

"No wonder we got quite a casualties yesterday."

"All right, let's cross this field, and we will go to the town as quickly as possible."

"Yes, sir."

The Gra Valkas soldiers are sweeping one area after another. They sweep every emplacement, including the former site of 105mm Eraser Gun. The vehicle continues to march, passing through the road and trench bridge.

The advance of the 12th and 21st Army were exaggerated if people are looking at it, but they will reinforce the elements of the 8th Army that were in trouble dealing with the Wild Dogs mercenary inside Alue. Furthermore, today's schedule is to establish a camp in front of the Malmund Mountains, where they found a tunnel 75km East of Alue, make a brief rest, and advance through the tunnel the next day.

The Gra Valkas military orders them to capture the town of Kielseki at the end of June. The initial plan obtained by Maya's Zealot Team indicates that the Gra Valkas Empire wants to capture Kielseki before September with only one Army, but the military decide to fast-forward the schedule after Celestina threatens the Gra Valkas Empire.

The Gra Valkas Empire's advance at the Forest of Ardennes was slowed down due to the monster's interference, to the point where General Fedor request reinforcements from Subjugation Army, an Army specialized in taking down monsters.

Over the first ten kilometers, there was no problem as the soldiers continue to match towards the town of Alue. The sight of more troops heading towards Alue further makes people of Alue who refuse to leave regret their decision not to evacuate yesterday.

"We clearly got nothing here."

"Can't see well inside this foxhole. There are no movements or something suspicious either."

"Okay, let's move to the next one."

Wild Dogs Mercenaries, Mu Trench

A lot of armored cars and tanks are passing through them as they silently watch the Mechanized and Armored Division are advancing towards Alue.

"Razor from Equinox here, the Gra Valkas Empire deploys around four thousand tanks from the Valkyries Base. They can't launch their aircraft because of the mess inside Alue."

"Copy that; thank you for the intel."

A member of the Wild Dogs Mercenary remains still inside the foxhole as one of the Gra Valkas soldiers checks the foxhole.

"Nothing here. It's too dark inside. You got any lights?"

"No need. We got no sign of anything change. We clearly got nothing here."

"Can't see well inside this foxhole. There are no movements or something suspicious either."

"Okay, let's move to the next one."

The Gra Valkas infantries are unaware that the Wild Dogs mercenaries blend in with the darkness inside the foxhole.

Feena gives the main objective through the COM. "Wreak havoc enough to cause a delay in their advance for at least one day. All units inside the city, your order is to limit the collateral and civilian damage. All units outside the city, refrain from using weapons of mass destruction."

Spleen, one of the officers at the Wild Dogs Mercenaries, continues to listen as he's counting how many tanks and vehicles have passed through him. "Let's do it, boys."

When the detonator triggers, multiple explosions send thousands of infantries into pieces and hundreds of tanks destroyed.

The Gra Valkas Empire, 12th and 21st Army

"Nothing here!"

"Clear over here!"

"Let's move!"

The soldiers are about to enter the town, with columns of armor and vehicles behind them. They can hear explosions, with some of the soldiers taking cover, and some are stressed out because of Wild Dog's rampage, and they were unable to land a hit on him ever since he makes his appearance.

"M-Monster! That guy is a monster! AAAHH!"

An explosion kills the 8th Army infantries inside the town. They can see a man is laughing and fire weapons at them.

"Fire! Fire!"

Using their weapons, such as Kar98k, BAR, STG-44, Thompson, Arisaka Rifle, and even Mauser, they fire barrages of bullets to one of Wild Dogs mercenaries crew. He stumbles at first, but he gets away under the smoke.

"He's wounded, after him!"

KABOOM! KABOOM!

"W-what was that?!"

"Where did the attack comes from? Did someone says the trench was clear before?"

The radio suddenly erupts into chaos as some Gra Valkas infantries witness several of their friends and comrades inside the truck are being cooked into well-done meat by the explosion. They were ambushed as Celestina already knew that they were here.

"Find the assailant! We're winning in numbers!"

The Gra Valkas Empire infantries are sweeping each section of the trenches, burning every possible foxhole to make sure no one was inside the foxhole. Smokes coming up from the foxhole, but they found no bodies going out from the foxhole.

"Dammit, where are you!"

CLANK!

"Lieutenant!"

A bullet pierces through the helmet and the Lieutenant's head as his lifeless body falls in front of the Gra Valkas Imperial Soldiers. The death of their commander right in front of their eyes frightens them as some soldier starts to panic.

"W-where is that shooter!"

"Find him! Find him!"

They can hear some laughter, and panic continues to spread to where the non-commissioned officer takes an acting position as an officer to reduce morale damage. However, the Wild Dogs mercenary is nimble, as they knew what they were doing to deal massive damage to the Gra Valkas Empire's Army.

The Celestina Empire, Top of the Malmund Mountain, Part of Ranger 1st Army, 11th Sniper Company

Two snipers are looking at the explosion from Alue as they were setting up an observation camp on the top of Malmund Mountain. Since the height is over five hundred meters and the New World has a broader horizon, they can see Alue with a telescope.

"Well, look at that. It seems the Wild Dogs are making quite a huge mess on Alue." Allieri, a sniper Sergeant, grins as he looks at the battle with a telescope.

"Too bad we can't go there, sergeant."

"Sergeant, what's the status of Alue?" Cecilia contacted him when they were just finished setting up the observation camp not long ago.

"They're running amok as Your Majesty's expected."

"I guess they really do run amok, huh? Any word from the zealots inside Alue?"

"Only a few collateral damage."

"Tell them to do more damage at the 12th and 21st Army. We have to delay them further. We've had enough damage to make the 8th Army withdraw from Alue for a while."

"Yes, Ma'am."

Allieri relay Cecilia's order to the Wild Dogs on Alue while keeping an eye on the battlefield.

Wild Dogs, Alue

The crew of the Wild Dogs rallies near the west entrance of Alue once Cecilia sends a new order to them.

"Orders from Ballistic Ranger. We've had enough damaging the 8th Army."

"Let's wreak more havoc at 12th and 21st Army then."

"We've already had enough playing with the 8th Army. Let's draw them to the trenches."

"What's the matter, kids? Haven't had enough fun at Alue?" Wild Dog approach them as they were about to advance to the Mu trenches.

"No, sir. The Main Council order us to wreak more havoc at the 12th and 21st Army. They say that the damage dealt for personnel inside Alue is already sufficient enough."

"Heh heh heh… Now I see why the Main Council is scary. They put us to good use for a time like this. I remember when they discover my method to make it out during a terror attack couple of years ago."

Wild Dog has a memory with the Main Council. He plans to escape after the Main Council corner him by committing suicide. However, they recruit him to join their ranks under the pretext of Wild Dogs Mercenaries, assigned to the Black Ops of the Zealot Strike Force. Before transfer to the New World, the last assignment is to cause chaos at a Callium Planet, which houses poachers. Under Shiela's order, the Wild Dogs mercenary is free to wreak havoc until the company snitch and hands over the perpetrator. Shiela authorizes them to destroy every asset owned by the perpetrator, but the condition is to limit the civilian and unrelated collateral damage.

Right now, they're under the 9th Buster Army, and their assignment is to wreak havoc on the Gra Valkas Empire.

"As long as they supply us with decent explosives, we can do anything we want."

A young member of Wild Dogs mercenary asks him, "But why do they want us to limit collateral damage to the civilians?"

"That's the scary part of the Main Council. You, youngsters, haven't joined us that time, but they can rally enough people to make the company that sponsors the poaching surrender. Needless to say that they do make a nice play how to play cards for Celestina's benefit. The government also takes action as they don't want to mess with Celestina further."

"I do hope we will get an assignment where we can truly wreak havoc without caring about collateral damage, sir."

"There will be. You know our opponent right now, do you? The Main Council probably wants us to deliver terror to their capital in the future. If these Gra Valkas barbarians still want to fight us, probably the Main Council wants to use us to make them docile."

"Oh, that will be wonderful."

Enough said Wild Dogs lead his team to Mu trenches to deal more damage.

The Gra Valkas Empire, 1st Corps, Town of Alue

"There they are!"

"After them!"

Borg orders his men to pursue the Wild Dogs as they are heading to the west to make more chaos. Sergeant Leo reports to Borg once the damage assessment is complete.

"Major General. Here is the list of the damage reports."

Looking at the damage report on Alue, Borg was highly frustrated. The lost were 172 tanks, 329 Armored Cars, 390 Supply trucks, and at least 6000 infantries were dead. The report makes Borg angry as the casualties were more than he can expect.

"T-this… How is this possible? With just a small people, they can cause such damage like this!?"

"I believe they snuck into the town in the middle of the night and plant explosives for this morning."

"How's that even possible!? That accursed Celestina! They will pay for this! Retreat to the Valkyries base now!"

Borg declares that Alue was not yet secured, and it will be the basis of where the Gra Valkas Empire's invasion to Mu will be delayed by Wild Dogs Mercenaries ambush.

Mu Trenches

"Who the hell is this guy!? How did our weapons didn't work!?"

"Hey! We can still injure them!"

The situation at Mu Trenches is not getting better. Much worse, Wild Dog and the remaining crew of the Wild Dogs Mercenaries arrive to wreak more havoc. They can do whatever they want here since there were no civilians, and that's where they will display their strength.

"Enjoy this present."

CLICK!

KA-BOOM!

"GYAAAHH!"

The Wild Dogs crew continues to press the detonator on their hands as they enjoy the spectacular explosion around the trenches. But, when they heard the gunshot from behind, some of their crew were wounded.

"Tch… It's time, huh…"

The Wild Dogs are grouping up together, using their equipment on their arms to create an electromagnetic power to take any husks of the tanks and armored cars, swinging it around and smashing any Gra Valkas Empire's infantries that comes to them.

The tanks are withdrawing while the armored car with machine guns continues to fire when they saw their vehicles are being pulled towards the magnetic field source.

"Dammit, these guys are monsters!"

"Kill them! Kill them!"

They manage to injure a few, but they make no progress. Air Force is impossible since the number of personnel to deal with is not suitable for the airstrike. Reinforcements from the 8th Army spice things up. They haven't realized that the Wild Dogs are putting up an act as they were cornered, but their appearance is what Wild Dog was looking for, to give them a message.

"Fire!"

A relentless barrage of bullets is firing at the Wild Dogs mercenaries manages to wound the entire member of the Wild Dogs. The Gra Valkas Imperial Army quickly approaches them, but Wild Dog and his crew are grinning.

"Heh, heh… So it has come to this…"

"Disarm them!"

But, electricity sparks as materials from destroyed tanks and armored vehicles burying every Wild Dogs member. Wild Dog, on top of it, shows them his detonator.

"Heh heh… We will be back from hell!"

CLICK!

"RUUUNNN!"

BOOOMMM!

A spectacular explosion seemingly kills the entire Wild Dogs mercenaries. The Gra Valkas Empire have never thought they would prefer to kill themselves rather than get themselves captured. However, they didn't realize that it was a part of Celestina's plan.

Due to today's incident, the Gra Valkas Imperial Army withdraws to the Valkyries Base. After three days of assessment, the Gra Valkas Imperial Army manages to complete a report regarding the attack by the Wild Dogs Mercenary.

The Celestina Empire, Town of Kielseki

"Good job on wreaking havoc on them."

The Main Council has been expecting the Wild Dogs' arrival. Now the Gra Valkas Empire must advance carefully in order to avoid casualties should they decide to advance to Kielseki. After the recent battle, the Celestina Empire manages to compile total losses inflicted by the Wild Dogs Mercenaries hours after the battle. The entire 8th and 241st Infantry Divisions are wiped out. The 1st and 17th Corps lost over half of their personnel, while 76th and 58th Mechanized Division rendered combat ineffective. General Perth reassigns 73rd and 75th Divisions to defend Valkyries Base, replaced by the 80th Infantry Reserve Division and 122th Mechanized Reserve Division to fill the gaps in the 12th Army.

Freya and Feena design each of the Wild Dogs detonators so they can return to the coordinates set by the Main Council when Wild Dog and his crew commit suicide. When Wild Dog trigger the detonator to commit suicide, he was teleported instantly to the coordinates set by the Main Council the moment the explosion start to burst.

"What'll be our next job, Ma'am?"

"It will take a while. For now, I want you to run amok on the Fabro Planet for a while. They have been disrespecting the Rumania Treaty lately. Don't open any negotiations until they surrender, and you can damage everything you wish."

"It will be done, Your Majesty."

Looking at the damage done at Mu Trenches, they were grateful that the damage at Alue was kept to a minimum from the recent attack.

"This should help us. Should we call Sofya?"

"No. She's still busy handling the refugees."

"Can't be helped, then…."

Sofya is currently handling some of the provisions provided by the 1st Royal Guardsman Army to the refugees. Rather than giving them military rations, Sofya wants any of the personnel with surplus supplies to be given to the refugees so that they can ease themselves at Kielseki for a while.

Three Days later

"This is… absurd!"

"That's impossible!"

The number of casualties exceeds their initial expectation. Over ninety thousand personnel are dead, around a thousand tanks, at least a thousand and three hundred armored cars, and three thousand supply trucks are destroyed. The Wild Dogs mercenaries, on the other hand, are entirely killed through suicide bombing.

General Perth and General Gaoggel discuss their next move.

"We can't move like this."

"We need to conduct a full search at the Town of Alue. Until it's clear, it's best for us not to advance our units."

"I agree with that…. How did Celestina can slip through us?"

"No idea. Anyway, Naguano is currently examining the wreckage left during our capture on Alue before. We should get more information from him."

"Hmm…"

Information Bureau

"No… No… No! This can't be!"

Naguano was shocked when examining the remains of Mu Sherman Tank and 57mm AT gun from Capture of Alue four days ago. Studying its engineering frightens Naguano as the 57mm AT gun boast power capable of punching through up to Panzer IV's Armor. The Sherman Firefly obtained from the Capture of Alue also gives him a surprise as he also looks at the wreckage of a Panther that a Sherman Firefly knocked out.

The bad news is Naguano can't find any shells as he didn't find any shells to use for testing.

"We can't underestimate Celestina like this! They have a lot of calibers suitable to defeat our armor!"

Under Naguano's report, he gives a recommendation to the Gra Valkas Empire's higher-ups to create an Anti Tank weapon to counter Celestina and Mu's Army. Mu already has a 17 pounder caliber to punch through Panther and Tiger Tank armor, which can be problematic if Mu possesses more Anti Tank guns in the future.

As soon as Perth and Borg receive this report, they postpone the invasion for sixteen days to change their entire strategy.