Operation Gaining Water: Part 1

"Thanks for the ride, " he disembarked with three tanks and two legion class mechs. The one that dropped them was a dropship. Group A was dropped near the southern fort. It was a hill overlooking the fort.

They set up a temporary reconnaissance spot there. The team started gathering information on that dark night. Everyone was wearing a combat suit including Gerald. The variant was the medium one since that offered a fair amount of mobility.

There was a sniper on the lookout using the PLR-898 infantry railgun. It was the same railgun albeit with a bigger bullet and a longer barrel. It was chambered in a 50mm dart bullet.

"Jared, could you give me the report of the situation?" Gerald was looking at the fort from a hillside.

The fort was a hexagonal building which was surrounded by a trench. The size was around 300 meters x 200 meters. Overall, the fort was equipped with muskets, crossbows, and mages.

"Yes sir. The enemy strength is predicted to be around 10000 men. Our scout suggested that the fort was equipped with some sort of experimental magic ballista of some kind," Allen pointed a big ass ballista in the middle of the fort.

Gerald called Laura through his helmet in order to get more intelligence on the ballista. Laura accepted his call shortly after that.

Laura: "Afternoon sir, how may I help you?"

Gerald: "[15 Pictures have been sent] Could you analyze what is this sweetheart?"

Laura: "A magical ballista. [Journal Entry #22 has been sent] You can read it by yourself."

Laura closed the call shortly after that and leaving him with many details that are going to be needed by him and his team.

[Laura's Journal #22: Arrow-Type Magical Ballista]

Ok, this thing is deadly and I'm being serious with it. Honestly, I can't decide whether I should classify this thing as a battlefield weapon or a weapon of mass destruction. This Ballista was a weapon designed by mages in the Ailenborough kingdom to respond to the Demon's Fire Trident [Journal #3].

It can burn an area of 50 meters in radius with a temperature of 1000 K. It has been extensively used in the war against the demons with great effect. This weapon has the fire rate of one ballista per three-second. The downside of this weapon is that this weapon overheats easily and once it fires, it can't be stopped until it overheats. The Mana stone that is required to fire this beast must be the size of two meters with high purity Mana.

"Tank commanders and pilot, this is a piece of Intel on the ballista. Tread carefully," Gerald shared the file to the other commander.

Jared poked his back with an infantry long-range sniper rifle, the caliber was 14.5 mm and he aimed it at the fort direction, "One more thing sir, I suggest that you see this with your own eyes," he shot a bullet at the fort.

The bullet traveled to the fort before it got stopped by something similar to a blue magical barrier. It was similar to a force field albeit its structure had more resemblance to a glass. The shield cracked instead of producing an electrical effect or visual dispersing effect.

"Hmm, a shield barrier huh. In our term, thermal damage is the most efficient way to deal with shield, but I think kinetic damage works better in this kind of thing," Gerald said as he observed that fort.

"So sir, night time assault?" Jared asked Gerald.

"Yes, Nighttime assault is the best, let's wait until it has gone full dark," Gerald observed that fort from the top of the hill until the sky became darker.

Later that night.

All of the commanders were collected as a final briefing. The mech pilots and the tank commanders were given their jobs.

"Ok, Rakei, stay on top of this hill with your sniping squad to cover our flanks and be our eyes on this area," Gerald told the head of the infantry.

"Yes sir."

"Melisa, you and Jared attack from the front of that ballista from the north. You're getting the most aggro, so expect heavy resistance," Gerald told his two tank commanders.

"Aye aye, sir."

"And Victor, Rigel. You're in the mech, it means that you are the most agile armored unit, but the least armored too. Make sure that you attack from behind the fort. Jacob will be our wild ace by attacking from the west."

"Aye aye, sir."

"Let's get to it people," Gerald entered the tank that Jared commanded and turned the offensive vehicle into a moving mobile command center.

All of the tanks and the mechs moved to their own dedicated position. They waited there until the other teams arrived at their position. From there, Jared took over the control.

Jared: "Melissa, charge there railgun. We need to disable the shield first!"

The railgun in front of the tank started charging up and made bright blue lights before discharging the 180mm tank rounds into the shield. The rounds disable the shield and made some fireworks effect there.

Rakei: "Sir, they're charging the ballista now. INCOMING."

A fiery arrow projectile flew to their direction and scorched the ground around them. It turned the green grassland into a black charred grassland.

[WARNING! DETECTING HEAT DAMAGE! HEATSINK DEPLOYED!]

Jared: "Fire the artillery!"

Four tubes from the back of the tank opened and it fired 160mm artillery at the fort.

Rakei: "Confirmed hit."

The shell exploded into a miniature bomb and killed a lot of soldiers in the fort and broke the wall in the north direction. The mech started to blast the fort with its 20mm handheld rotary cannon and killed everyone inside.

Melissa: "Pushing through!"

The 30-meter huge tank charged through the fire pit and fired another round at the fort to destroy the fortress gate.

Gerald just watched his underling commencing the operation from the comfort of the tank alongside Jared and the others. Yup, although the outside was very hot due to the ballista, the inside of the tank was very decent actually with a comfy command chair and a bathroom with a shower.

"Load High explosive and fired it at the gate!" Jared told his underling and with a few touch on the touchscreen, the round was replaced with a high explosive round.

"Fire!" The tank cannon fired another round at the fortress and turning it into a rubble of its former glory.

Victor: "Ballista disabled. The fort is clear. Victor and Rigel retreating."

The mech retreated as it fired a barrage of 20mm rounds at the fort to clear the remaining humans on that fort. The ballista was glowing red hot and became unstabilized.

Jared: "Barrage fires at the fort!"

Every tank and mech started firing their weaponry at the fort to make sure that the fort was leveled to the ground. The fort became a ground for explosive rounds.

Rakei: "Destruction of the fort confirmed."

Everyone cheered up, they had a toast with a can of coke. "Hurrah, this is our victory lads, cheer up!" Jared said as he grabbed his can of coke and lifted it up in the air.

"Cheers," they celebrated their victory in that tank and they waited for the mobile battle station to arrive.