Chapter 104

Unsung Heroes 10

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Theo’s group moved through the sewers of Vermilion City with certainty and confidence.

They didn't bother trying to hide their presence for there was no need for it.

The 3 sewer specialist from Jinny Bravo thought that the 5 troops of Theo they met at the entrance were scouts that tried and failed to find the targets.

This was correct and wrong at the same time.

Indeed, the 5 were scouts, but their mission was never to find the target.

Their mission was to scatter as much Gum Drone as fast as possible.

These scouts carried backpacks that were directly connected to guns specifically made to shoot gum drones at great distances

These gum drones lasted approximately 3 hours before it losing all its power and become nothing more than used chewing gum. A big improvement from the old gum drone that lasted only 10 minutes.

While the scouts didnt find the targets, the gum drones did.

A group of 40 Elven warriors and archers hid the moment Theo’s scouts ran through the area. However, the moment they exited their hiding spot, they were in clear view of the multiple gum drones in the area.

“Hmm… there are more than we expected… this could be a problem.” thought Theo as he reviewed the video feeds

A few moments later, he saw 4 individuals that he really didn't want to meet enter the gum drone’s range.

They were 4 human sized squirrels that wielded a pair of swords, daggers, quarterstaffs and nunchucks. Most annoyingly was the fact that they were working with the elves.

“HAHAHAHAH! What are those?! Mutants Squirrels! How adorable! HAHAHA” said one of the Eisenmadchens, resulting in a chorus of laughter on the coms.

Theo, on the other hand, didn't share their amusement.

Though they were not registered as such, these Teenage Mutant Squirrels were bonafied Superheroes.

But most importantly, Theo has accidentally wronged them in the past. And the sin that he has committed to them was unforgivable and only his death would be an acceptable compensation.

While Theo was all for atoning for his sins, his death will serve no purpose to humanity’s advancement.

As such, there was only one thing left to do….

“Eisenmadchens. If those squirrels try to attack me, do not stop them. I will kill them with my own hands.” said Theo.

“Yes my lord” replied the Eisenmadchens.

Theo offered a silent prayer of forgiveness before continuing on.

For the next 5 minutes, there was an annoying game of tag between Theo’s group and the Elves.

Elven hearing was extremely potent.

Whenever Theo’s group approached within 100 meters, the elves would pick up the sounds of their steps and relocate.

This repeated 3 times before Theo changed strategies.

Once again, Theo’s group approached within 100 meters. This time around, Theo spoke with a sufficiently audible voice.

“I have your scent you filthy knife ears. Run in futility but remember that I will follow you, and I will kill you all.”

The shock that spread through the elven group was a sight to behold.

“Why so surprised? Did you seriously think you can get away with that crap you pulled 2 days ago? You will all die here today.” said Theo.

He took a deep breath before saying a statement that made him want to wash his mouth with soap.

“And for those furry friends of yours, tell them I still have their master’s head. If they want it, I’ll gladly give it to them.”

The elves told the ninja squirrels what they heard, and it made them livid.

“Now then, let’s see what happens.”

There was an argument between the squirrels and the elves. Due to the lack of audio receivers from the gum drones, Theo could only guess what their conversation was.

Naturally, the squirrels wanted revenge while the elves wanted to play safe.

Thanks to this disagreement, their pace slowed which allow Theo’s group to shrink the distance without burning through their stamina.

Theo decided to give them another prod.

“That’s right knife ears. Keep running. You’ll get tired eventually. And when you do, I’m going to rip your ears out and make you eat it. Run run my little rats.”

Just to be clear, both the ‘tiring them out’ and ‘making them stand and fight’ were both viable tactics in Theo’s book.

However, he prefered if they went for a direct confrontation. He rather finish this before the group that he dreaded the most arrived.

And thankfully, the squirrels were able to convince the elves for a climactic battle.

An understandable decision.

The elves may be skilled in what they do, but living in an environment (sewers) for a couple of days had a clear effect on moral and fatigue.

They can't last much longer.

The battlefield they chose for their last stand was a large area where many sewer pipes meet.

Lots of place to move around, thus abusing the elven bow-centric strategy.

An ideal location for the elves…. And for Theo’s units.

Theo addressed the Eisenmadchens via coms to avoid the elves hearing of his instructions

“Eisenmadchens. Aside from the Squirrels, I will be sitting this battle out. Show me what you can do.” said Theo.

“My Lord, may I ask a question?” asked the tomboyish track-n-field looking EM25.

“Go ahead.”

“What do we do with those who surrenders?”

Theo thought for a bit.

“Each surrender is worth 3 heads. But do not prioritize on it. I rather have all elves dead than a single one of my Eisenmadchens harmed. Is that understood?”

“YES MY LORD!” replied the Eisenmadchens with almost ecstatic jubilee.

And thus, the war that will never be heard of began.

The 25 Eisenmadchens, with an HF blade in each hand, charged out one of the sewers on to a massive pipe that can take all of their weight without collapsing.

Almost immediately, a torrent of arrows and spells bombarded the Eisenmadchens from all sides. It was painfully clear how numerical superiority was a very viable tactic in group warfare.

However, the Eisenmadchens were prepared for this.

A mechanical arm that was attached to their back quickly lifted the round shield to protect the battle maidens.

Despite running at high speeds, the Eisenmadchens were group tightly. This allowed a classic them to form a classic Tortoise Phalanx formation where all sides was protected.

And due to the mechanical arm that held their sheilds, they only need to charge forward without changing their orientation to maintain the Tortoise Phalanx

The mechanical arm + round shield combo was the ‘Aegis System’ mention earlier.

It was a simple yet extremely durable arm + shield that was specifically programmed to automatically protect the Eisenmadchen.

It wasn't perfect and there were many ways around it, but that doesn't change the fact that it made the Eisenmadchens extremely hard to kill.

And thanks to the gum drones that were already in the area, the maidens didnt need to peek out their shields to see.

The battle maidens crossed the distance without any difficulty or injury.

Upon reaching the other side, the maidens split into 2 groups of 12 and 13 members each.

Both group maintained a tortoise phalanx formation while they chased down the fleeing elves.

The Elves procceeded to bombard the two groups, but there were no weak spots for their spells or arrows to slip into.

If there was indeed a crack, the shields would automatically move to close it the moment the Aegis System detected an incoming projectile

So far, no lives have been lost in both sides.

“Now.” said Theo in the coms.

Suddenly, the 2 groups split into 2 where half of them sped up so much that it looked like they were strapped to rockets.

This was because the Eisenmadchen’s armor had 3 Archon Batteries similar to Theo’s left arm.

By draining one charge, they could temporarily boost their already powerful armor and cybernetic enhanced physique into almost inhumane levels.

The Elves were caught off guard by this when half of the 2 groups suddenly slammed into them like battering rams and cleaved the poor sobs with their HF blades.

3 of the 40 elves lost their lives in that sudden clash.

The other half of the 2 groups scattered to hunt down the elves individually. Similar to the still group units, the scattered Eisenmadchens used one archon battery charge and launched themselves like heat seeking missiles onto their unprepared prey.

Because they were not grouped, 8 of the 12 scattered Eisenmadchens found and killed their mark in one go. Their focus were on the spellcasters whom they had no idea what kind of trick they had hidden in their sleaves.

And just like that, the 40 elves were reduced to 29 in violent surprise attack.

The 2 phalanxed units separated and began individually hunting down the elves.

From here, melee combat erupted all over the place.

Each Eisenmadchens fought their respective duels, though some of them had to fight more than one opponent.

One these unlucky maidens was EM01 who had to fight 2 highly skilled swordsmen.

She parried a thrust from the one on her left before countering with a thrust of her own.

The enemy dodged and as EM01 was about to lunge after her target, the other one aimed for her neck from behind.

This blow was blocked by the Aegis Shield, which EM01 quickly followed through with a swing to keep the enemy at bay.

This has been going on for a few seconds now.

While the Aegis system was doing a fine job of protecting EM01, she was still outnumbered by highly skilled opponents.

Eventually they will discover the weakness of the Aegis system, and she will pay for it with her life.

She was in a pinch, no doubt about that.

While EM01 was racking her brain for a solution for this annoying predicament, the voice of god rang in her ear via the coms.

“Eisenmadchens. The use of the Blade Ring is approved.” said Theo who was watching the battle from an elevated area

“Yes my lord!” replied EM01 and her Eisenmadchens sisters with carnivorous glee.

EM01 lunged at one of her enemies with a vicious strike.

The elf swordsman skillfully deflected the blow and tried to move back in order for his ally to get behind EM01 and force her back into a defensive position.

However, EM01 chased after him with a furry of swings from her dual HF Blades.

The elf back pedalled as fast as he could while deflecting her blows.

All the while, the other elf moved behind EM01 for a pincer attack.

With his ally in place, the elf in front of EM01 bravely locked blades with the battlemaiden.

The other elf threw his sword at EM01’s head, which was blocked by the Aegis shield. The other elf moved under the shield with a mythril dagger at hand with the intention of stabbing her in the back.

An high pitch chainsaw-like sound could be heard.

And before the elf’s dagger could reach EM01’s back, the hand that held it was violently cleaved off by the shield that came down like a guillotine.

Upon closer inspection, the edge of the shield was actually a buzzsaw filled with small HF blades.

By the time the elf realized his mistake, the buzzsaw shield cleaved through his chest while showering gore all over the place.

The elf in front of EM01 noticed that something was wrong and tried to disengage.

EM01 did not allow this and used all of her might to push the elf into a nearby wall.

With the elf pinned, EM01 slowly moved the buzzsaw shield towards its next victim

Realizing what the shield was, the elf tried desperately to escape.

Unfortunately for him, EM01 put all of her force into pinning him to the wall

Unable to escape, the elf screamed, cursed at EM01, begged for mercy, prayed to his gods, etc.

Watching this pathetic display amused EM01 greatly, but not as amused as she watched the buzzsaw blade ripped through the elf’s flesh as she slowly inched it forward.

Blood sprouted, screams of agony was sung and eventually silence.

Plus 2 heads for EM01.

“While their skills in melee is obviously inferior to the elven warriors, the Eisenmadchens performance exceeded my expectations. Not bad at all.” thought Theo as he watch EM01 and her sisters made use of the buzzsaw blades to maximum effect.

From here on out, the elves began losing ground at a fast pace.

“Well then, time for me to have some fun. Isn't that right my furry little friends” said Theo as 4 shadows lunged at him.