Assault Colossus of the Nemesis Warfront - Chapter 87

An emergency line connected to Kurt’s MCS.

It was from the control center. The caller was the Fortress Area’s administrator.

「The defense line is about to collapse, Kurt-san!」

「Understood. Alright then. Let’s abandon D516.」

「Abandon?! But what about your company’s facilities, Kurt-san!?」

「Let’s give up on them. The enemy’s main purpose is probably those facilities. They should want to capture them as intact as possible. We can’t defeat them, but we can’t allow ourselves to lose completely either.」

「……Understood. But it will take at least an hour to completely deactivate the A-Carbuncle. I’m not sure if we can hold on that long.」

「We’ll have to. The Familiars are working hard to buy us time, but please tell them to prioritize evacuating the residents instead.」

「Alright.」

Kurt resumed analyzing the battle situation inside his MCS, but this time around, he was called via a private line.

He promptly accepted.

「Ah, is that you, Kurt-kun? It’s Alberto. I’ll guarantee your life, at least. So please surrender. Consider this a favor from a fellow countryman. I do not want you to die if I can help it.」

「Alberto-san. You’re just going to guarantee my life, correct? What about my heart? My soul? Will I still be able to continue being myself?」

「That’s…… It should be fine as long as you’re not found to be compatible.」

「I can’t take that bet. Just how many candidates do you think the Stones have for consciousness transfer?」

Alberto faltered.

「I will fight to the end. Farewell then. Since you’re here, I’m sure there will be no needless killing.」

Kurt disconnected the line.

His last words appealed to what scrap of conscience the other party had left. In other words, a kind of insurance. But to be honest, Kurt didn’t place much hope in said insurance. Alberto was a terribly egocentric man. He will most likely prioritize Kurt’s capture over anything else.

「The situation has changed for the worst. I personally received a call for surrender. And the Areas that got attacked are here and A051. In other words, they are also trying to secure Development Engineers huh.」

Kurt ran his hand through the terminal in front of him.

He reformatted his company’s entire production line using his authority as a Development Engineer, erasing all important data.

This method was the most efficient way to deny the enemy since they can no longer afford to destroy the facilities themselves.

Even if they do manage to recover the data somehow, they’d still need an A-Class Development Engineer to activate parts of the facilities. It should be impossible for Alberto.

Next, Kurt called his employees through the regular channel.

「Kurt to all Kurt Maschinenbau staff. Abandonment of Fortress Area D516 has been decided. Hurry and make your escape. That includes the Familiars and Therianthropes. I will participate in the defense and then retreat accordingly. This order is absolute. I will not tolerate any opposition. Kurt out.」

After saying so, Kurt immediately cut the line without waiting for any response.

He didn’t think that everyone would be able to make it out. He wasn’t so naïve. But nonetheless, he gave his order to escape.

The Murders continued their march toward the control center.

The Keres and other forces were busy with mopping up the remaining armored vehicles that were getting in their way. Only the Familiars remained. The Therianthropes were also subjected to the evacuation order.

The Familiars mobilized with cat and dog-types at the center of their forces. They will not recognize surrender. They will only stop fighting when they are destroyed. They fully intended to fight until the bitter end.

One armored car got surrounded by spider-type Keres.

It was firing back at the enemy, but its body was already full of holes due to laser fire.

Suddenly, a spider-type Keres exploded.

The atmosphere got seemingly warped due to the heat, and what appeared behind the explosion was a jet-black Silhouette. It was the Huckebein.

It was already completely covered in artificial muscle armor. The outer shell of its armor was made of nanoceramics. It had a configuration specialized in optical camouflage. Only the zweihander required special processing to match the rest of the unit.

In the blink of an eye, it already sliced up all the spider-types surrounding the armored car with its zweihander.

The cat-type Familiar driving the car was stunned silly. She had never seen a Silhouette with such speed and agility before.

「Thank you!」

「You should get yourself repaired and resupplied.」

「Yes!」

Kurt addressed the cat-type Familiar who expressed her gratitude. His heart was heavy. He actually wanted to tell her to retreat and escape, but he knew it was useless. At the very least, he wanted her to prioritize getting out of their current location.

After defeating a few more spider-types, Kurt confronted the new beetle-types.

Judging from what he could see, they were equipped with heavy armor. There was one that sported single horns and one that had scissor-like mandibles.

「A Rhinoceros and Stag beetle huh.」

He rushed to confront the Stag-type that sported two laser cannons. It didn’t seem to possess a good turning ability. It immediately lost sight of the Huckebein.

Then its armor was easily torn apart.

「As expected, these are battery-powered escort types huh. So their main forces are probably these ones!」

He moved to confront the Rhinoceros-type equipped with a railgun.

Huckebein received several direct hits from the railgun, but its armor only emitted light here and there. That’s because the joule heat generated by the armor muscles successfully vaporized the projectiles.

The enemy unit’s movements were sluggish. The Huckebein rushed straight for it and kicked off its gun barrel.

The Rhinoceros-type tried to ram it in retaliation, but the Huckebein easily avoided it by lightly stepping to the side. It then finished the enemy off.

「The Huckebein can easily deal with them, but…… normal Silhouettes might not be their match. They are practically small-sized tanks.」

Although they were easily overcome by the newly completed Huckebein’s overwhelming speed and agility, they were still very tough enemies.

The thickness of their armor was also unusual.

A typical armored combat vehicle probably won’t be able to deal any damage to them. Kurt surmised that these new types were sent out by the enemy to push the frontlines much like how tanks would.

「Now then, I should be going.」

He made Huckebein avoid enemy bombardment and run through the gaps between buildings.

It displayed absurd mobility with its leg strength alone.

It cut down all the enemies it managed to encounter, ran up the buildings, and finally appeared right in front of the Philotes.

「Hello, Alberto-san. Can you hear me?」

「Kurt-kun! Are you the one piloting that machine? Stop! Cease attacks!」

Alberto hurriedly issued an order to stop firing.

「I’ve changed my mind. I’ll give you one condition. If you agree to it, I’ll surrender on the spot.」

Kurt called Alberto through an open line. By doing so, it allowed both enemies and allies to intercept the call.

「What is it? Tell me.」

「I demand that you take in the Familiars and offer them the same treatment as humans.」

「……Kurt-kun. You know that’s impossible. They are machines and tools. At the very least, that’s what the Stones insist they are.」

「You personally don’t think so, right? You are a Development Engineer. You should have a strong affinity for machines.」

「Of course, I do. However, I do not have the authority to make that sort of decision. Please don’t demand something so unreasonable.」

「I see. That’s unfortunate. –Now I’m sure that I’m truly incompatible with all of you. This negotiation has broken down.」

「Wait. Dammit! Don’t kill him! Capture him! He’s an A-Class Development Engineer! That’s him right there. He’s piloting a close-combat Silhouette. It’s a pitiful bird that can only crawl on the ground. It won’t be able to fly away from here. Make sure to capture it! That’s our highest priority!」

Certainly, the Huckebein wasn’t equipped with a flight backpack.

Spider-types crawled over one after another in order to capture Kurt.

「Now then, let’s begin a game of tag, shall we? But first–」

The usually calm-faced old gentleman displayed a daring and fearless smile as he made the Huckebein hold its zweihander up.