Re:START/If {Book 1.0}
Chapter 54 : Aswad 1 of 15 “Self-awareness” (Part 04)
Deep within the highland forest border between the Mylta and Rockfield territories. The moon shines brightly, not a full moon but still the moon is only half as visible in the sky without a cluster of stars. Among the bushes and spruce trees, a man in combat clothes ran with breathless breath. His shoulder was severely injured until his bones were visible, blood flowing from the wound splattered into the grass and the ground.
The man is one of the special squad members who infiltrated Luke's territory, an army that a few days ago carried out a mission to attack the Klista settlement.
“Damn it! Why are they doing this?! Did Second Lieutenant betray?! The most loyal people like them?!”
He activated his camouflage robe. The man's body was numb, the pain in his shoulders and legs that ached because he kept running did not feel it again since five minutes ago. Even so, the fear of not wanting to die and the anger embedded clearly in the mind of the soldier made him continue to run. Returning to recall the incident that started a few tens of minutes ago, he gritted his teeth and stopped running.
“Your asses!!” He raised his gun, shooting randomly into the darkness. It did not hit anything and darted indistinctly. But after a few seconds, a flash of light was seen in the darkness and before he realized his right chest was pierced by hot lead.
“Sialan ...”
It hit the lungs, making his breathing congested but not directly finish him off. The man turned around, immediately injecting the serum to boost his adrenaline and numb the pain temporarily.
.
.
.
About 30 minutes ago, at the emergency camp of Moloia's special squad. In the forest that became their temporary headquarters after failing to carry out the mission, some survivors set up several tents before returning to the main headquarters on the west coast of Luke's territory. With simple equipment and only a few practical tents, the Moloians rested and lit bonfires for heating in the low-temperature highlands.
The moon shone in half, but so bright it shone on their place between the fir trees and the rocky ground. The wind was blowing slowly but still carrying the cold, the sound of the beasts and the threat that might come from the monsters made the remaining members of the special forces unable to rest in peace.
Even so, to maintain stamina tomorrow they still obey orders and enter the tent to rest. Using alternating guard systems, some people must wake up while others rest inside the tent.
Sitting near a campfire, Cornelisa Di’in looks busy assembling his spare weapon. Highlight the eyes of the Second Lieutenant looks anxious about something, women who are seen wearing combat equipment and ready to standby occasionally glance to the right and left with concern. His heart rate continued to pound, breathing a little panting and tight due to the low oxygen levels of the plateau.
Next to him, Marnali Ra’an looks not much different from his superiors. Shifting the anxiety in his mind, he tried to focus on assembling his spare weapon because his Barreta submachine gun had been damaged in the fight.
Shortly after coming out of the tent, a soldier was seen astonished to see the waves of the two soldiers. While carrying dry food with his right hand, the man walked over and asked, “Sir Di’in and Sir Ra’an, are you all right? The two of you who fought directly against ********* from the Luke family was ..., surely you are—”
“We're fine!” reply Di’in firmly. He did not look at his subordinates at all, only focused on assembling his spare Springfield rifle on a dull cloth held near a small bonfire.
The soldier who was anxious at his superiors made sure that there was something strange about the actions of the two officers. He decided to settle down with them near a small campfire, folded his legs forward and sat on the ground. Seeing this, Di’in and Ra’an stared anxiously, their cold sweat coming out profusely.
“It's a good thing we split up the inventory and hid it first like this. Otherwise, we must now definitely return to the main headquarters without any supplies through the forest full of monsters and beasts. Well, it is a pity that we failed and our colleagues many victims ...”.
The words of the soldiers did not concern the two officers who were busy with their work. Either Di’in or Ra’an, both continue to assemble weapons with makeshift equipment and further prepare the ammunition into megazes. Seeing that the soldier was a little curious and asked, “What is it for, Second Lieutenant?”
“Name!”
“Eh?”
“Name, rank, and origin of your troops what?!” Di’in stared intently at the man in the tight black combat clothes, full of anxiety and so strange in the eyes of the soldier.
With doubt the man replied, “Karlota K’lein, Corporal of Two Military Factions .... Battalion members 10 front line troops.”
“Do you have family in our homeland?” tanya Di’in back.
“Of course have, talk what Second Lieutenant.” The corporal put his hands back, readied the gun and removed his guard. While smiling lightly, the brown-haired man again said, “I have a sister and an older sister. Well, even though both my parents had died in the war, but being raised by my brother wasn't too bad. Now I am also engaged to the son of one of the high officers, loh.”
The words made Ra’an and Di’in tremble uncharacteristically, their expressions as if filled with guilt and cold sweat pouring out incessantly. After he finished assembling his rifle, the pale-faced Second Lieutenant placed a megazen on the Springfield Rifle and pulled the lever to put the ammunition into the shell.
“Ra’an, if you want to stop here, I do not forbid. At first this wanted me to do it myself, you didn't have to follow me,” Di’in said as he lifted the muzzle of his weapon up and took a deep breath to calm down. Quickly his heartbeat instantly calmed down, the emotions in his previously soaring mind instantly muted quickly.
“Sa-I stay! If this is for our homeland, I will still come!” answer Ra’in loudly.
“So, yes ...”
Di’in woke up and again sighed lightly. The brown-haired woman tied me to the back was staring at the Corporal who looked confused by the two officers' conversation. Taking off his camouflage cloak along with a belt to lay explosives and ammunition, the Second Lieutenant asked, “By the way, how many people survived us? Ten people? Twelve?”
The question made the Corporal speechless, his sweat began to pour and disbelief filled his mind. But from their actions, he already knew what the two officers wanted to do. Smiling lightly with a pale face, Corporal replied, “Including Second Lieutenant and First Lieutenant Auxiliary, there are 9 survivors.”
“Hmm, thankfully not too much .... “ Di’in knew that the answer was a big lie because he had previously counted the members of his squad who survived. Staring with a blank look of eyes, the Second Lieutenant asked, “The other one is still resting, ‘kan?”
“Yes .... They're in the tent, sleeping well. Hah, whereas after what happened they could sleep like that—”
Di’in pointed the muzzle of his rifle at the young corporal's head, with a flat gaze full of murderous lust. The young man in tight combat clothes looked puzzled by the action, tremblingly asking, “A-What are you doing? Why point a gun at me?”
“You know the reason ...”
“Yes, this is to prevent war.”
At a glance Corporal closed his eyes, seen thinking about something and when he re-opened his eyes he said, “Alright, I willing.”
The words made Di’in at a glance hesitant to pull the trigger and tremble. But it was only the Corporal's trick, the man immediately held the barrel of the rifle and pointed it to the side. Immediately standing up and jumping towards the woman, Corporal immediately elbowed his face and snatched the rifle.
The double! The rifle was swung to smash Di’in's face until it bled, then the Corporal immediately pointed the rifle towards the woman.
“Witch! You think I'd be willing to be killed like that?”
“Damn, you!” Ra’an pointed at his submachine gun, but the corporal immediately took the Red 9 pistol from the belt and turned the gun with his left hand.
“So, yes .... That's a reasonable reaction. Of course no one is willing to die just like that,” said Di’in while wiping the blood coming out of his life because of the hit earlier. The Second Lieutenant stared flatly, without showing the anxious expression that had previously been clearly visible from the look on his face.
“Why do you want to betray our homeland?!” The Corporal seemed to not want to believe the actions of the Second Lieutenant, he frustratedly asked, “What do you think, Lieutenant Two Special Unit PTP!? You're a very loyal person why betray us?!”
“Braying?” Di’in stood upright, stared flat with the look of his violet eyes and said, “You know, what I want to do for our country ..”.
“Abanya for our country!” Corporal denied. With a full-face look let him say again, “You want to block the rest of this squad to the main headquarters on the coast, ‘kan?! Why would you do that if you didn't betray?!”
Di’in and Ra’an were surprised to hear that, they immediately knew the reason the Corporal asked strange things earlier. “So he hasn't told the others that moving himself like this,” Second Lieutenant's mind. Taking a light breath, the woman lightly said, “So, yes. You heard my conversation with Ra’an about that ..”.
“My jawab! Traitor!!”
“Because of this command ...”
“Government? From whom?!”
“From Our Master .... You know, we picked the wrong enemy. We are ordinary people, no one in this world. Even with advanced weapons or complete equipment, we are just ordinary people who can never win against such creatures.”
“Tch! Are you desperate after losing against that Dragon Slayer?”
“Despaired?” Di’in slowly stepped closer, with eyes like a dead man he said, “You are wrong, I only saw a new potential of the world. Honestly it is regrettable to have to kill all of you .... It's a good thing that the people at the coastal headquarters will go straight away for three more days if we don't return and consider this mission a failure, I don't need to kill them.”
“Basic fucking traitor!!”
Corporal pulled the trigger for the Springfield Rifle. But despite being pulled several times, the rifle did not fire because of the security of the weapon attached. Di’in immediately stepped quickly into the reach of the corporal, scuttle and hold his shoulder, then with military martial arts directly slammed the man into the bonfire until it was extinguished.
Seizing the rifle and turning the gun to the corporal who lay in pain, Di’in said, “Every level of weapons there is a safety of each and can only be used using the accivacy element of Mahia, which is the only weapon that can be used, did you forget that?”
“Tch!” Corporal turned his gun to Di’in. Ra’ian who saw that immediately pointed his machine gun at the man.
In a loud voice Corporal said, “Lettan Maid, Ra’an! Do you agree with Second Lieutenant's crazy actions?! Do you also want to betray?!”
“This is not betrayal, our piercing is Rhea's decision,” Ra’an replied firmly.
“Damn it, you two!!”
They pulled the trigger at about the same time. Springfield's gun instantly smashed the corporal's head, but the bullet from Red 9 missed and only grazed Di’in's cheek. From that, the Second Lieutenant was well aware that the Corporal did not really want to kill him because at such a close distance it was impossible for trained soldiers to miss.
The sound of gunfire woke up the people who were asleep in the tent, they panicked and immediately ran to pick up the weapons.
“What happened—AkH!!”
Dor!!
The sound of Springfield rifle fire again bounces inside the forest, punching holes in the head of one of the soldiers who was about to pick up a weapon near the tent. Amidst the confusion, Di’in pulled the lever back to insert the bullet into the shell, then pulled the trigger back and shot.
The duark!
The broken head was hit by a high-caliber rifle from a distance of less than 50 meters, blood and flesh splashing onto nearby colleagues and tents. Instantly anger surged and the fellow raised his rifle to shoot back. Before he could pull the trigger, Ra’an pulled up a submachine gun and showered it with hot lead.
That night became a night of worship, killing each other between nations under the night sky. Without knowing the obvious reason why they exchanged fire with their own superiors, in less than ten minutes almost all of them were killed very quickly due to the obvious difference in the strength of the weapon between the semi-automatic and the shotgun.