Chapter 8 - Battle and Death?

*Bang* *Boom*

"CHARGE!"

A strangely dressed short kid wielding grenade launchers shouted as he led a stampede of Reunion soldiers towards us. The quantity of Reunion soldiers and the presence of a kid on the battlefield reminded me of a question I had previously dismissed: Why? What pushed them to join this fight?

"Ah, Clukay. I forgot to give you this," My thoughts were interrupted when Amiya called me out and handed me an earpiece.

"This will connect you to the Dokutah. He'll command the battlefield," Amiya said, sensing my confusion.

"I see, I'll head out now," I said as I rushed down the hill with the others.

"Sniper operators focus on the enemy's frontline. Break their formation," The voice of the Dokutah sounded in my ears. I began to open fire and watched a hail of arrows and bullets from the others descend upon the Reunion soldiers' charge.

"Do they not fear death?" I muttered with confusion as I split off from the main group to guard the flank with orders from the Dokutah.

Divide the enemy and conquer and encircle their forces. The presence of quick real-time commands thanks to the earpiece ensured superiority in this battle. The enemy relied on conventional shouting, a major mistake that'll cause even more disorder. Perhaps Ch'en was correct. They were a group of ragtag terrorists barely held together.

"Clukay, enemy flanking 3 o'clock," The Dokutah warned. I quickly turned to my right and saw a group of Reunion soldiers charging at me, their masks and uniforms dehumanised them, yet their screams were all too real.

"Clukay, are you alright?!" The Dokutah asked with concern, knocking me out of my daze.

"I'm fine, just got dust in my eyes," I replied as I mowed down the charging Reunion soldiers. Now wasn't the time to contemplate morality; it was a phrase that felt oddly familiar. However, I've been hired as a soldier, no need to question orders.

"Shitty amnesia," I muttered with anger when I thought about my irrational behaviours. From rage, I unload a whole magazine on another mob of soldiers.

*Bang* *Boom* *Bang*

Suddenly, several explosions on the left side kicked up multiple clouds of dust.

"Do you need assistance on the left side?" I asked with worry. I didn't know what the full extent of the other groupchat members was, so I had to make sure.

"Maintain your position," The Dokutah replied sternly.

"Roger," I replied. I didn't trust the Dokutah, rather, I trusted in the powers of the others to keep themselves safe. We've become strangely close in such as short time.

"This battle should be easy-" I lost my voice in the midst of my sentence as I sensed an ominous presence enters the battlefield, freezing me. I felt like I was possessed as I was unable to move my body.

"Clukay, behind you!" The Dokutah shouted, snapping me out of my trance. However, it was a little too late as a nearby explosion flung me several metres into the air.

"Argh!" I groaned as I felt bones crunch upon impact with the ground. When I looked up, I saw several tall horned figures holding large claymores along with several more explosions behind them.

I attempted to crawl towards my gun with the feeling of my blood pulsating in my veins. My fingers clawed into the sand and slowly dragged my limp body across the ground as the tall figures in the distance approached me.

"This is order!" As I reached for my gun, I heard a relieving, familiar voice shout behind me as a large shadow flew over my body. It was Zhongli.

"Damn, I had a heart attack for a moment," I sighed as I failed to get up from the ground.

"Sigh less, smile more," Zhongli joked as he rushed towards the Claymore Reunion members.

"Sure, old man," I quietly replied with a wry smile as I lay back on the ground. This will take a while to recover.

Although I had cracked a few bones, I could still shoot my gun and provide fire support to Zhongli. Though, one key detail was the fact that I could not move from my spot.

"Clukay, are you okay? I'm sending a medic over," The Dokutah said with concern. He was quite a moral man considering how concerned he seemed over a stranger he met a few days ago.

Reunion doesn't count.

"All good, I can still shoot, but I'd really appreciate it if I don't receive a medical bill for this," I chuckled as I looked at the hill where the Dokutah stood. However, unexpectedly, an explosion blew up dust and covered the hill the Dokutah stood on.

There was never a peaceful moment, was there?

"Well shit, there goes the brain of our operation," I muttered as I contemplated running away. However, if I ran away, I would likely lose any chance of opening a business in Lungmen. Either way, I was likely to die.

As the dust settled, a small and tall figure was seen fighting before they both rolled down the cliff. It was the young boy from Reunion and Hoshiguma.

I tensely watched as Hoshiguma and a young boy with a grenade launcher fought in the distance. Should I shoot? It might be a bad idea since it could hit Hoshiguma.

However, before I could finish my thoughts, the young boy escaped Hoshiguma and rushed towards the Dokutah with a bright burning- wait, was he doing what I thought? I quickly pulled out my gun to shoot the boy before he reached the Dokutah, however, it had run dry. My bag of ammo was quite far away, so I didn't have enough time.

If he died, nobody would gain anything. In all likelihood, I would not get paid for failing my duties!

"Predation!" I heard Rimuru's shout as a weird blue blob from his hand encircled the young boy before it returned to him with no trace of the boy. Another nice save from a groupchat member!

After the disappearance of the boy, the battlefield paused before panic ensued. Reunion soldiers began running away as their figurehead had presumably died at the hands of Rimuru's strange arts. The battle ended very unexpectedly.

Once the battlefield was cleared of Reunion members, everyone returned to the temporary camp set up in Lungmen. Amiya was visibly less cheerful than usual, perhaps taking the blame on herself for letting the incident with the young boy happen. The numbers of soldiers lost were considerable, but most LGD and Rhode Island members only had minor injuries.

As for the boy that died to Rimuru...

"He's still alive, but I can't reveal that to them. The LGD will prosecute the poor young boy, and I'd rather they not learn about my powers," Rimuru said when I asked him about the boy. He had planned to let the young boy live a new life away from the conflict of this world. This gave me a newfound respect for Rimuru.

However, it wasn't fun for the rest of the day as I had surgery planned. I was fine being on the battlefield, yet why was I so fearful of this?