117 – Chapter 38. Retake – 2
– 118 –
The mines of the spirit world were slightly different from those of the material world.
If mining in the material world is a job to dig up the accumulated years, it is similar to collecting mushrooms that grow naturally in the spirit world.
The manastones that occur naturally in places where the flow of elements gather strongly are safely and quickly collected by the spirits of the earth.
It is said that the manastones embedded in my body were also mined in the mine I was heading to.
It is said that it went through additional processing to send it to the physical world, but I don’t know the details.
If you recapture the mine, the artisans will take care of it.
“It is a mine that mainly produces the Manastone of Wind, but since it was taken away, it has been difficult to manufacture additional aircraft. Because of that, it is difficult to seize the air supremacy, so demons are roaming in the air.”
The commander of the Spirit Army, who was to carry out the operation together, explained the location of the Manastone Mine on the map.
The commander was a high-level spirit in the ground that looked like a mole in a military uniform, and he had a fairly high rank.
“Then it would be difficult to approach.”
“Yes. Allied air defenses are strong, but they are difficult to support when they break into unrecovered areas. So you always have to watch the sky.”
“Don’t worry. So I’m going with you.”
From what I’ve fought last time, even if the demons’ fighters attack, if there is no named class ace, you can deal with it with ease.
If the sky wasn’t full of demon planes or aerial demonic beasts, the air power would not be easily taken away.
“Once you get to the mine, the internal suppression will not be too difficult. There are many secret passages that demons do not know about, and the spirits of the earth can make their own paths.”
“How far is the stolen area?”
The Earth Spirit moved his hand from the Manastone Mine and drew it to the side.
The mole’s finger stopped until it reached a hilly area not far from Elemenes, where we were.
“The whole hilly area is under the control of demons.”
It was a fairly wide range than expected.
If this is enough, it seems that at least two areas have fallen into the hands of the enemy.
The elemental world is divided according to the elements prevailing in the area, and it is called a zone.
The invasion method using the token of a demon uses the characteristics of such a zone to block intervention from outside.
Considering how I helped Sila, Tyran, and Bartiers in a short period of time to protect three areas, there must be a lot of places that have been stolen or are still fighting.
“If a territory is taken away, why not restore it immediately?”
“It is more difficult than I thought. I don’t know where they’ll come from, so I first strengthened the defense mainly in large cities, and it took a long time to do the adjacent areas in a similar way. Resources also take a long time to regenerate.”
“Well.”
Since there are spirits guarding the area, if we can detect the signs of an invasion in advance, we can put in an additional task force to block it at an early stage.
I don’t know if there is a way to find out the signs of the gate opening in the Demon Realm.
“Oh. If there are many occupied spirit worlds, there must be many gates open to the material world, right?”
“It will not be. I know that if the physical world stops the invasion, the gates placed in that area will be closed.”
“Oh. I heard that a lot of gates were blocked in the material world in the past, but it seems that the area of the spirit world has been occupied.”
“Yes. Shamefully. So, usually when the gate leading to the material world is closed, the demons often retreat from the occupied territory without even a mouse or a bird. However, they are not abandoning important manastone mines or key points like this one.”
“Do I really need to give up the land?”
The mole shrugged.
“It is because the elemental power is far stronger in the spirit world than in the demon world or the material world. Wouldn’t it be similar to living in a place with bad air for them?”
I was nodding my head, and noticed something strange.
“But the guys I was fighting were fine.”
“In the spirit world?”
“In the spirit world.”
The mole clasped his chin and fell into thought before making a noise as he clashed his long, blunt nails.
“Ah, you said you defended the area from invasion. Then the terrain or something like that was a bit strange, wasn’t it?”
“After that, the sky and water were a little strange. There were also demons in the color or something.”
I remembered a time when I helped Sila defeat a chariot.
He felt bad when he remembered the evil spirits that roamed beneath the red river.
“In an area invasion, they use magic to create an advantageous space. After the occupation is completed, the separation of space is removed, so it is difficult to maintain magic power, so I think that it is often solved if it is not a key point.”
“Then, how about the place to go this time?”
“Even if not, I was about to explain. Let’s see Kim when it comes out. It’s over there.”
The mole came out of the barracks and pointed to one sky.
A dark red cloud hung over the top of the mountain towering at the bottom of the horizon.
“That’s a space-based magic that reduces the element’s power and amplifies the element’s power. So, with the help of Misfire this time, I was able to barely plan to retake it.”
“Is there not enough high-level spirits?”
Recalling my past memories, in the spirit world, when two high-ranking spirits rode a proper weapon, there were times when they were stronger than me.
“The manpower shortage is serious. All of the elemental knights are defending the main area, and the number of newly born higher spirits is small. The higher spirits in charge of the district suffered when the district was taken over were demoted to an intermediate level after completing the reincarnation, so the number is decreasing.”
Is there such a thing?
It is said that the spirits mobilized in this recapture operation are the only higher level spirits in the shape of a mole, probably due to the lack of the number of higher level spirits.
But this time, it’s not about defending the area, but even if a higher spirit gets hit, I’ll be able to finish it.
“How much troops can be mobilized?”
“I have it waiting at the training ground.”
As he said, there were many spirits and weapons in the training ground.
Befitting the operation of infiltration and recapture, most of them were spirits of the wind that drove gliders, helicopters, etc.
Of course, there were quite a few spirits of water and fire.
The tanks and self-propelled artillery units lined up on one side of the training ground are said to be used to clear the defense line near the mine.
More than a dozen tanks were beating their engines as if they were about to leave.
“Have the enemies been identified?”
“There are not many on the surface. However, considering the reinforcements and those in hiding, you can never say that your allies have the upper hand.”
I nodded and checked the friendly aircraft.
Transport helicopter, 5 attack helicopters, and dozens of one -seater drones.
There were no fighters at all.
“Aren’t there any anti-aircraft weapons?”
“There is a battlefield where enemy bombers fly nearby. Everyone is going there. The tram will take over.”
Some of the tanks were equipped with high-angle auxiliary turrets.
It seemed like it wouldn’t be enough, but I couldn’t go without it.
“I will lead the helicopter squad. Everyone, please follow me.”
“I see!”
Helicopter pilots, intermediate wind spirits, saluted all at once.
I called out the main body in return for them.
“Oh.”
Surprising eyes were poured out with exclamations around.
“The operation starts at 1000, 30 minutes later. First, we will subdue the surrounding area and encircle the mountain where the mine is located, and then we will send in melee units.”
After a brief operational description, detailed orders were issued to each unit.
I helped the commander of this operation, the senior spirit of the land, lead the helicopter unit, and took on the overall role of checking the enemy air force, eliminating ground forces, and subduing mines.
In a word, you just need to follow the path and destroy the enemy as soon as you see it.
“We will inform you from HQ. As of 1000 current hours, Operation ‘Grey Mine’ has begun. I wish the operation success and everyone’s safe return.”
With the operator’s words that flowed from the communicator, the sergeants left the training ground one after another.
The squadron was a roadrunner unit whose role was to draw the enemy’s attention elsewhere and make it easier for the ally’s main unit to enter.
I led the attack helicopters and ran through the plains with them.
The area controlled by the enemy was beyond the barren hills. The distance was closer than I expected, so I was able to approach it quickly, but the enemy forces began to appear over the hill.
“There are a lot of anti-aircraft guns. Everyone be careful.”
「Larger.」
It was waiting just below the hill and then suddenly rose up.
Anti-aircraft guns and anti-tank guns positioned over the hill began to fire at once.
It was effective to hit them on the side thanks to the big money along the hill.
“[[Elemental Control]]”
I communicated my intentions to the helicopter unit without error through spirit control.
Six attack helicopters lined up.
Dozens of Hellfires fired at the same time fell to the anti-aircraft guns just starting to aim at them.
On the exploding, exploding, torn earth, all that was left was a lump of scrap metal.
There were too many anti-aircraft guns to destroy them all at once.
“Everyone hide!”
He hid the helicopters directly down the hill by spirit control.
A black and white image was formed over the head.
“It seems difficult for us to break through.”
“Then we should ask for support.”
I turned on the communicator and asked the spirits to tune in to the channel.
“This is Misfire. Over the hill there are plenty of enemy anti-aircraft guns and anti-tank guns. Artillery support request. I will give you the coordinates.”
“Target reception.”
From nob le mt l dot com
Please step back from the hill and wait for a few seconds.
The self-propelled artillery located on the plain far away opened fire all at once.
Kwagwang-!
The bombardment was enough to flatten the small hill.
I shouldn’t have lost my strength already.
The fire net disappeared, and as a result of reconnaissance with magic and the naked eye, the enemy defense line was completely pushed back.
“I foolishly put it on the hill.”
If the ground forces pushed into the flat land they were aiming for, they would have been able to attack by surprise, but if they attacked from over the hill like this, there was no way to deal with it.
I don’t know who the enemy commander is, but with this level of defense, it won’t be a very difficult battle.
After that, there was almost no line of defense.
I was a little embarrassed because it was pushed so easily that I wondered why I couldn’t recapture it until now.
“To be honest, the Manastone mines of the wind that are invading now have a lower priority. All of the aircraft that use large manastones in our air force are old models.”
“Something like Arumanan?”
「Hmm. That’s right.”
Aerial battleships and gigantic airships require a lot of large magic stones, but they don’t fit the current battlefield trend.
For fortress dogfights, fast fighters and maneuverable helicopters are the most popular.
I wondered if it would be okay to print a model like mine, but if I print more helicopters that use the appropriate magic stones, I did.
It was a complicated and subtle feeling as to whether I should be happy with the uniqueness or get angry at the fact that I didn’t need it.
“But is there any reason why demons occupy that mine?”
As far as I know, the methods that demons can use to use mana stones that contain the power of elements are quite limited.
Because it wasn’t the power they were dealing with in the first place, and there was no way that technology research had been done.
“Well. Since Misfire-sama is active, it may be trying to contain it. Or you may think that simply having a large manastone can produce a menacing weapon.”
“Well. Will it?”
I don’t know what the demons are up to, but the fact that they have to retake it hasn’t changed.
As I was gradually subduing the enemies, several fighters flew from afar.
“Everyone fire the sidewinder and fall towards the friendly unit.”
「Larger.」
The black-brown spears that cut through the sky began to pursue the enemy fighters tenaciously.
Enemies were scattered and crashed after being hit by a sidewinder, or they managed to escape by spraying a disturbing substance.
The surviving ones were hit by a wide range Hellfire that I shot and crashed.
“The enemy’s air power is also so weak.”
「Hmm. It’s definitely different from last time. These days, all the main forces have been moving to other places, so it must be like that.”
“Where is the biggest fight?”
“It is the ‘Cradle of Water’, the center of the northern part of the spirit world.”
I’ve heard the name a lot, but I’ve never been there.
“Is this an important place for the enemy?”
“That’s right. Since the gates with the physical world are still connected, the main forces of the enemies are always stationed there.”
Huh? Wait a minute.
If the material world and the gate are connected, wouldn’t that be the route for demons to advance into the material world?
If we recapture that place, we will be able to block those who come directly from the demon realm to the material realm.
It would be like cutting off the human and material supply of demons in the material world.
It seems that there is one more task to be dealt with in the spirit world.