《Salvation through Dimensions》Chapter 4: Preparing

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" You Witches... scary!" I complained to the group of shameless beautiful ladies. They bore an apologetic expression on their faces having got caught up in the moment.

" I've never felt so violated like this..." I just hope this would not cause me to have any phobia.

Sitting on the ground with a W posture, I used the jacket that Yang gave me to cover up my bare body. Suddenly got hugged from behind again, I almost jumped when that person blew in my ear.

" Ah~" I let out a moan, I could not deny that I am a bit thirsty after all this time.

" Aicha... Riko and her friends are very sorry! We were too excited so we kinda messed you up a bit, ya." The one hugging me, Riko, apologized to me for the group.

" ... It will be more sincere if you stop feeling up my body." I look at the flat-chested loli, why does she have to be so naughty?

" But your body is so comfy to hug!" Riko gave an excused.

"As I said, this is not hugging!" I struggled out of her grasp, only for her to take Yang's jacket then run away.

" Kya! You little...!" I used my hands to cover my body, glaring at Riko who was laughing with lecherous eyes.

" Ok, ok... Enough joking around girls, let Kiseki off for now. But I gotta say, you are not that much of a dominant type in a relationship, huh?" Yang helped me dress up as the rest of the Witches dispersed. Presumably calling for technicians to check up on the batch of Fliegers.

" Evil... you girls are evil..." I could not bother to watch them anymore.

" 200 EP for a cute Avatar." So you also betrayed me, Admin! I teared up at that.

" ... I think we went overboard with the jokes." Yang said with a bit of regret. Yang also did not know why she and the girls act so unscrupulously to a stranger like Kiseki. She could only write it off as Kiseki was too charming and was their benefactor. Well, she's not wrong.

It was only after another round of coaxing from the Witches did I regain my calm.

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" This is kinda late but, welcome to Cam Ranh Naval Base." Yang turned around, formally welcomed me with a handshake.

Accepting her offer, I look curiously at the warships docking at the harbor.

" Formerly known as Cam Ranh Union Naval Yard, this is the last bastion of Southeast Asia mainland military. Survivors of the Dragoon invasion gathered here, fighting for a chance to live for another day. By our estimate, we should have been wiped out long ago if it weren't for your support, Kiseki. Grabacr or not, you gave us hope to one day get out of this hellhole. Very soon, we will do just that as the vessels are almost ready to set sail." Yang pointed at the ships. Seeing Yang, workers, and sailors on the ship gave her friendly waves.

" Glad to see morale is still good." I applauded their spirit. Morale is higher than in the anime, this will save us much trouble down the line.

" All of this was due to the scarceness of intervention from Dragoons and the large forage ground for supply. Without you clearing up those machines, things will be a lot worse." Yang showered me with a grateful gaze.

" Stop, I'm not used to being praised. All I did was killing and protecting you guys came as a bonus of my action." I waved off her compliments.

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" Heh... I guess somebody is still shy." Yang smirked. " Come, you may want to meet the base commander."

Yang held my hand and led me to a red brick building. On top of the building, a pair of quad 40mm Bofors are stationed surrounding a comm tower. I guess here is their nerve center. Soon after, I was led to a room with limited decorations, it was simplistic but has everything for an officer to work with.

" Welcome to my humble office. Please, have a seat you two!" A middle-aged man, dressed in white Navy officer attire, introduced himself. " It's been an honored meeting you, our hero. I'm Admiral Fujikawa Nato, for now, I'm the leader of the survivors here. You can just address me as Nato for convenience sakes." Nato then took out a tea set.

" A drink to relieve your fatigue?" He asked.

" I will gladly accept, Uncle Nato." I did not refuse. Nato slowly served us hot teas, he slid a sugar tray to us. Yang added two sugar cubes to her cup while I refrained from it. I like my tea to stay pure.

" I hope your short visit here was treated with hospitality, Miss...?"

" Please, just call me Kiseki. Like you, I also don't want to be so formal. And yes, my sudden stay here was... comfortable, to say the least." I looked not so subtly at Yang. Nato noticed it, looking as if he will deal with Yang later. Ignoring our gazes, the person in question calmly sipped her tea.

" Then Kiseki it is." Changing our topic, Nato continued. " You have no idea how surprised I was when a runner informed me that the Fliegers arrived. The request for you to retake the stash was completed so fast, we have to modify our extraction plan a bit. But thanks to you, our Witches will have one week to reacclimate with their Fliegers. After that, the 7th Fleet will be ready to set sail and rendezvous with the Admiralty reinforcement." Taking a sip of his tea, Nato continued. " If possible, I hope you can lend us your strength as we reach the final stage of our plans."

I did not answer him instantly, taking my time with the tea instead. In my heart, I knew that things would not be so easy.

While it's true that my intervention saved them a lot of trouble, it also put red flags on top of the survivors' heads. As the Nest took more notice of the group, it will send in more Dragoons to put a stop to the evacuation operation. Casualties might reach a higher figure than in the anime instead.

" Sigh... I guess I will see this through. After all, what will happen next is my responsibility." I gave Nato my affirmation. Maybe with me, I could at least help them staved off the attacks.

" You have my gratitude! Grabacr or not, as long as you help humanity, we will reward you accordingly." Nato reassured.

"I don't care about reward or whatnot, killing Dragoons is the only reason I'm here." I drank the tea, it was refreshing. " You also need to know that the Nest will be coming at you with fury."

" We understand that all this while it failed to wipe us out, there's no reason it will not try one last time." Nato and Yang nodded. We then proceed to discuss our plan of action more in-depth.

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We have 1 A-rank Witch, 2 B-rank Witches, 3 C-rank Witches. I also counted as unranked Witches so we have 7 Witches in total.

In terms of naval power, we have 1 aircraft carrier, 2 battleships, 1 large cruiser, 2 light cruisers, 5 destroyers, and 4 transport ships.

Our aircraft carrier and flagship, KMS Graf Zeppelin, housed the Witches and 43 aircraft: 25 of which are Focke-Wulf 190 fighters with the rest are Dornier 335 multirole bombers.

The two battleships, one is the Iowa-class USS New Jersey with the other is the Richelieu-class FNS Richelieu. These are the fleet's heavy hitter with their 406mm and 380mm main guns. With their modernization scheme, they are also effective anti-air platforms.

The single large cruiser is of Yoshino-class IJN Yoshino, armed with 310mm guns and a plethora of 100mm dual-purpose secondaries.

Both light cruisers belong to Munchen-class KMS Munchen and KMS Weimar. Armed with dual-purpose 150mm guns, coupled with their extreme speed for light cruisers, they are good fire support vessels.

The 5 destroyers belong to two different classes. We have 3 Fletcher-class: USS Laffey, USS Kidd, USS Charles Ausburne, with the Laffey and Charles in anti-submarine warfare configuration. Kidd retains all of her 127mm dual-purpose cannons for anti-air escort. The last 2 are off Gearing-class, USS Hammer and USS Corry, they are both larger and more heavily armed versions of the Kidd.

All of the vessels, aside from the 4 Liberty-class transport ships, can reach more than 30 knots. The high speed and maneuverability allowed them a better chance of avoiding intensive fire. Though you could have a counterargument that dodging laser beams is impossible. While this is true, having a higher speed is better than useless heavy armor in this world.

" We are very lacking in an early warning system." I comment.

" What do you mean?" Yang questioned. We are now gathering around a large table with a naval map spread out on top of it.

" While it true that our radar can detect the enemy, it is not advisable to engage them. Our objective is to exfill from South East Asia, not fighting any hunting party." I lighted a cigarette before continuing. " For a fleet escorting civilian transports, fighting Dragoons is no different than courting Death. If we spot the Dragoons in advance, we can chart a course evading them to reach the rendezvous point."

" That's true, the losses will be too high if we encounter their energy weapons." Nato nodded. " I will send out more scout parties, see if they can get a hang of the patrols around here. When we set off, having constant perimeter patrols outside our radar range will also help in our operation."

" I pity the pilots, having to need to fly day and night, dancing next to the enemy." Yang sighed with remorse.

" It's a risk they will gladly accept, they know what they signed up for." After all of this was done, how many brave flyers will we have left?

We also formulated our combat plan, hoping it will not be needed. Witches and aircraft will be the first line of defense against Dragoons. I, however, will stay with the fleet as a reserve. We are expecting aerial and surface threats to be taken off by the Witches, it was the underwater threat that we fear. This was the main reason why I stayed back with the fleet.

" Humanity seldom win against an underwater Dragoon. We could only littered the ocean with depth charges to defeat one with the cost of multiple ships." Thankfully, submarine-type Dragoons are rare to come across, Yang added.

We went on with the discussion till it was dark, with dinner delivered to the war room to avoid disruption.

The next day, I was formally introduced to the Witches. Our agenda of the day was to undertake combat training.

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" Once again, nice to meet you all. I went by the name Kiseki, please take care of me!" I bowed to the other Witches in the familiar hangar.

" Since Yuki already knows me, I only need to say that my weapon of choice is the M1 Garand. My specializations are attack magic and support magic." Yang, standing next to me with arms crossed, spoke to the Witches. " Next is you girls."

" Then I will go first!" The petite girl that bullied me last time around stood up. "Heyo! It is me, Riko Browning! C-rank Witch with my main strength is attack magic! Don't look down on my small form, I can hold up a Browning machine gun just fine!" The youthful tanned girl with black hair introduced herself.

"Sigh, couldn't you just do it normally?" This time, a mature Witch gave her introduction. " I'm Charlotte Browning, the big sister of this unruly Riko. It was a pleasure to make you acquaintance and I'm very grateful for your help. B-rank Witch and my weapon of choice is the BAR with speed as my forte." Charlotte could be considered a beautiful older sister with brown long hair. It was not hard to determine the pair of sisters hailed from the prestigious Browning family.

" Next is me!" This time, a short girl in her teen spoke up. " Franka Hartmann from Germany, C-class Witch, I like using the MG42 and my strength is defensive magic." After her cheery but short introduction, the girl with short blonde hair coaxed her fellow countrywoman. " Don't be shy and say a few words to our new friend, Linda!"

" Hey, I can do it without you asking!" A girl with long black hair, dressed in the same German Air force uniform Franka, stood up. "My name is Linda Claus, B-rank Witch specialized in support magic. My weapon of choice is the same as Franka. I'm very much interested in your combat style so please give me pointers!" Linda then bowed.

" Someone is being a fangirl." Franka interjected with a smirk.

" Shut it, Franka." Linda shyly sat down.

" I guess I'm the last one then." A girl dressed as a maid, surprisingly, proceed with her introduction.

" My name is Melissa Barnfield." She did a maid curtsy. " I'm a C-rank Witch, serving as a maid for the Browning sister. My strength lies in attack and defense magic. My weapons are situational, I can use a Vicker K machine gun or the Boys anti-tank rifle. It's my honor to serve you."With another bow, her silvery hair slid down her bountiful bosom.

While I knew that Witches were beautiful and charming due to their affinity with mana. It was another story of seeing them in person.

" If only our first encounter was this serious." I gave them all a condescending gaze though.

Aside from Riko and Franka, who whistled like nobody business, the others shyly averted their faces.

" Now, now. Let bygones be bygones." Yang stepped in to soothe me. " I trust that you girls sorted things out with your Fliegers already?" The Witches nodded in affirmation.

" Then today, we will sortie for training. Reacquaintance yourself with your Flieger and work in harmonizing the team with Kiseki's fighting style. Speaking of, we know that Kiseki has the power of A-rank but we don't know a thing about your combat methods. Can you tell us, Kiseki?"

" Uhm... it will be better if you see it in person. Follow me." Looking at the other Witches, Yang just shrugged then told the Witches to head outside.

Later, we found ourselves at a scrapyard.

" Do any of you have a knife?" I asked. It was Linda who took out a bayonet. " That will do. Now, can you try and cut this metal plate?" I point at a rusty piece of scrap metal. I could discern that it came from a destroyed vessel, but it should still retain some durability.

"I don't think I can, the plate is a few centimeters thick." Linda shook her head with a wry smile. The rest wondered why I would make such a strange request.

" Then let me demonstrate, can you hand me the blade?" I accepted the bayonet. Since it was just a common weapon, the bayonet did not give any stats boost.

With Mystic Eyes, the metal resembled a cracked glass panel. Using no force at all, I sliced a Death line. Accompanying by a loud bang, the top half of the plate fell on the dirt ground.

" What!?" My new comrades exclaimed in shock.

" I couldn't even feel a trace of mana at all!" Yang gaped at the surreal sight of a bayonet slicing battleship armored like butter.

" Haha, well...This is only one of my few abilities. As you can see, no matter how tough the enemy is, I can kill it easily no matter what weapon I use." I then hand back Linda her bayonet, to which she accepted with trembling hands.

" The ability I used just now cost no mana. Though, I also know magics of all specialization. For example: Ice Coffins." I pointed at another large piece of scrap. Less than a second later, it was encased in a large ice block then broke into white particles. This gave Riko a shock as the very piece of scrap was what she sat on!

" Ouch! Kiseki, you meanie!" Riko complained, rubbing her butt after she stood up.

" Who was the meanie first!" I refuted. In the background, I heard Admin laughing, saying I acted like a child. Riko was the one who tainted my honor, this is the lightest punishment I acted on, huhm!

The others couldn't help but stifled their laugh at our little antic.

" Light Guard." This time, rotating energy shields with angel wings appeared around each Witch. They provided 360-degree protection up to three-time, basically adding three more lives for a user. Nonetheless, if an attack is strong enough, all the shields will be sacrificed at once to protect the user. Well, more than enough to tank low to mid-level enemies.

" It's...beautiful." Melissa commented, her hands caressing the energy shields. They never saw such holy magic before. The magic radiated such a warm and comfortable feeling.

They all went quiet till Riko butt in. "Hey, I think my butt has frostbite." This girl... Should I just freeze her entire legs?

" No please, that will destroy your hard-earned image." Admin stopped me just as I was about to cast another Ice Coffins.

" ... Fine, let this be a lesson about not to molest others. Recovery." I held out my hand near Riko's behind and casted healing magic. After a yellow light appeared, Riko recovered from her ailment.

" You also know support magic?" Yang felt ridiculous. Kiseki is a literal jack of all trade, no wonder she could wipe out an Extermination Group by herself. Who needs an army when Kiseki is one!

" Don't get your hopes up though. In the next operation, I will be in charge of guarding the fleet so I can not support you all the time."I reminded them.

" That's true. We still need to rely on ourselves for the most part." The other girls nodded.

" With this little demonstration out of the way, I think it's high time you girls hop on your Fliegers." I moved on to the next thing on the schedule, air combat training.

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Sometime later, out at the sea.

*BRRRRRT* A stream of 7.92mm zipped past my last known position. Having concealed me with magic, I was not worried about being hit.

" Where the heck is she!?" Franka lost it and blindly fired everywhere. Franka felt cheated, and here she thought the team could impress Kiseki but they got led by the noses instead.

Yang sighed with a hand on her face, while Melissa muttered: " Yare Yare..."

We conducted our training 3000 meters up in the air. At first, it was just for the girls to get used to flying again. Gradually, I had them fought against me with training ammo. They have the skills, alright, but still lacking in enemy detection and situation awareness. Hence I removed my presence using Fallen Angel art and had them trained on spotting me. After that, I will guide them on counter-attacking a stealth opponent.

I reappeared next to Franka and gently blew into her ears. Getting a cute Kyaa~ as a reward.

"Apparently, you also have a mischievous side." Admin smirked at my interaction.

Swirling around in mid-air, Franka pointed a finger at me. " You bully! How come you hid so well!?"

" That's a trade secret." I put a finger on my lips. " Dragoons are of many kinds, some can hide in plain sight like I did or they so fast to be seen with the naked eyes. You must know how to track and engage such threats otherwise your lack of such ability will stab you in the back later." I explained as I threw back Yang's M1911 and Linda's bayonet. The two holstered their weapons with red faces.

"Of all the people here, only Melissa could know my general direction. However, she didn't successfully pinpoint where I was as kept on flying at a very high speed." I gave a nod to Melissa to commend her effort. The maid with a Boys AT-rifle lifted her dress and bowed in return.

" Melissa, can you share with us how you did it?' I asked.

" Yes. I sent out pure mana waves to detect a target, similar to how a radar would work. Nonetheless, such a technique is costly to maintain and I lack the expertise to use it to full extend." Melissa explained.

" You did well." This maid has the potential to reach A-class, after all. " Melissa's technique is called Mana Pulse. By sending out waves of mana like a sonar, you can have a general idea of what is around you by the feedback. While good, Mana Pulse isn't used for detection. No, it was used to cancel out magic spells or energy attacks." This revelation came as a surprise for the girls. Supposedly, spellbreak was not a thing here.

" With proper usage, Mana Pulse is an effective anti-energy skill. However, that's a lesson for another day. What I want you to learn is Mana Field, a support skill that is easy to learn but extremely beneficial." I then flooded the entire airspace with my mana.

" Tell me, do you girls feel anything?" I asked.

" Riko feels warm all of a sudden! And the winds, they aren't howling anymore." Riko said what was in everyone's mind.

" That's because I sent out my mana and stabilized the turbulent air around us. Instead of sending it as pulses, I sent out a fixed quantity of mana in a circular radius but not letting them disperse. Rather, I consciously withholding them like a field around me, anything inside the field will be covered with mana. With this, you can constantly monitor everything in this zone with no delay. If you get better, this skill can be used as a medium to help cast other magics. Not just for detection of hidden danger. When you deactivate the skill, just absorb the mana back into your body. Since the mana is from you, it will not cause any side effects." I concluded my explanation.

" So mana can be used like that...You do realize that what you said can help humanity advance our magic technology by leaps and bounds, right?" Charlotte said with realization. Her eyes sparked a flame of passion as she knew that my information solved many bottlenecks.

" Mankind will realize it sooner or later, I just hastened the process. It's more important that you girls get stronger." I waved a hand, I was more concerned about their well-being at the moment.

" 50 EP for a caring Avatar!" Admin suddenly interjected. Thanking her in my mind, I continued on with my impromptu lecture. Mana Field has lots of usages, I was keened on teaching them its strength.

" Yang, you released way too much mana! Look, half of them is wasted already! Riko, you surprisingly did contain it but the radius is too short. Expand it! Franka, stop fooling around! You see Linda, she almost succeeds so concentrate and do your homework! Melissa keeps up the good work. Since you caught on to the spell easily, I can teach you its auxiliary effects..."

And like that, in one week, I drilled the team with many knowledge. Owing to their experience in combat, it did not take long for them to master the magics and theories I imparted. With this, their ranking no longer held any meaning as I trained them to be true combatants, not some martial art students. Even though their stats could not catch up to me, it will be annoying to deal with them as a team without using Mystic Eyes.

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