+++ Lieutenant Hans Hoffman +++

  Auze-Lozerre

  Hans’ mech walked in a cool and steady manner on the stone road. It was the main thoroughfare of the city. All around him, fires had broken out. Smoke and soot covered everything. Oxygen levels had been almost sapped deep into the inferno. Nothing, not a single soul would even be able to breathe at the strength of thousands of burning buildings and establishments.

  But his lone mech carried forward. Hans’ sights had been set already on the demon standing on that distant building. The center of the city. It was a deeply disfigured humanoid figure. Its body itself was on fire, including the two wings that radiated outward. But it wasn’t yet at its full corruption.

  He could still see the traces of humanity left on the creature. Its body and its clothes burned and charred. And the creature, when it noticed him approaching, turned in his direction. Its crazed orange eyes shot in his direction. The creature was angry. Beyond angry. It was furious.

  And here Hans was, the sole demon hunter available, with the audacity to approach it as if it was nothing.

  “Who are you?” the demon asked, its voice low…and distorted. Hans struggled to identify its gender, though he presumed it was male. “Are you one of the Imperials? You pig. You all deserve to be burned.”

  “I don’t know who you are, good sir,” Hans responded with his speakers. “But, you’ve killed quite a lot of people. And you’re destroying a lot of things. I get it, maybe something happened to you that turned you to this. But someone’s outta cap your ass immediately.”

  “You don’t know anything!” the creature responded angrily. “I’ll…I’ll burn you! All of you, to dare take my land. Then mock my magic. Then remove my status. My nobility. None of it is fair! I will kill you all!”

  “If that’s the path you chose…then unfortunately, we’ll have to do a little tango,” Hans replied neutrally. “Up for it?”

  “You’re too arrogant. Heh, you will learn your lesson. Not a single mage in this city has bested me since I turned into this. Not a single soldier. Nothing! You will not stand in my way!”

  “I’ve faced more impressive bastards than you, good sir,” Hans grinned. Then, he aimed his guns straight at the demon. “Charge at me then.”

  The demon’s blaze grew, and it immediately rushed in Hans’ direction. But Hans wasn’t that impressed. He opened fire with his machine guns. His rounds were all enchanted and enhanced. Specifically, it was his ADAP MG24 rounds—anti-demon armor piercing.

  The demon staggered as the first bursts pierced through its body. The agonized cry from it nearly stopped the fire from its body. As Hans had suspected, while this creature demonstrated powerful magic, it was still new. Strong yes, but once given sufficient pressure and resistance—he projected that it would drop dead.

  Then, the demon aimed its hands in Hans’ direction. Hans only had a split-second to realize what its attack would be. Dozens of burning flashes of light materialized in thin air. Then, it all flew to him. Hans immediately pulled his mech into a quick dodge by going to one of the lanes. The houses and structures struck however combusted further into open flames.

  “Come back here, you bastard!” the demon cried. “How dare you use your bullets on me. You’re not even a mage. Nor a noble! You have no right to—”

  A quick flash nearly split the demon’s body. Hans had already appeared on its left flank. And one of his APFSDS rounds had just pierced and nearly disassembled the monster’s torso. A quick shriek of pain came from the demon as it fell to the ground. Its body, desperately, began reassembling itself. But Hans gave it no time.

  An MPAT round exploded on top of the demon’s body. The shockwaves nearly wiped out any structure in its blast radius. Then, a barrage of machine gun rounds peppered the downed demon. The sheer strength of each ADAP round from Hans pushed the demon away. It twitched in pain as it tried to stand up, trying to use the rubble near to it.

  “Damn you,” the demon growled. The fires from its body intensified. Everything nearly at a hundred-fifty-meter radius burned even more. Even the stone below him almost started to turn into glass from the heat. “What the hell even are you? To take away a noble’s destiny like this—”

  A response came from Hans’ speakers.

  “Simple. I’m Lieutenant Hans Hoffman of the 1st Anti-Demon Unit. I may not be able to stop the strongest of your kind yet, but I’ve already gone through a long journey myself. I hope you’ll find peace, corrupted soul. Now die.”

  Out of the inferno appeared the even more demonic machine. Its armor plates had turned slightly red from the temperature. But the demon only felt more fear as it looked at the blue-colored sensors on its turret. It almost resembled the eyes of a stronger demon.

  Both of Hans’ forward razors were engaged when he pounced on the demon. And just as his signature style dictated, he landed straight on the demon’s body. One of his legs sliced the demon's torso in half. Then, his mech jumped a few meters away behind the demon.

  In a split second, his turret turned back to the demon. Then, it expended its quick judgment. An MPAT round blasted whatever remnant was standing. The remaining pieces of the mangled body of the demon flew to one of the last structures standing. And for good measure, Hans sent more bullets at it while waiting for his main gun to reload.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  When his autoloader finished slamming a fresh new round in—he opened fire one last time. The battle was concluded with that final blast, as the inferno around him slowly died. All that was left standing was his mech this time. It was a quick battle, and Hans…for the first time.

  He smiled confidently. He was getting better at this.

  He immediately checked which available upgrades he had. Then, he grinned even more.

  [UPG: SMOOTH RESPONSE I] was on his list of options.

  +++

  Hans had finished the biscuits from the MRE pack that he had opened. Now, he settled on simply taking his cigar and using his lighter to set it on fire. He closed the pack of cigarettes that came from his ration pack and relaxed himself. He was sitting on top of his mech’s turret.

  His mech was parked directly in front of the entrance of the city. He watched as, below him, lines of soldiers came inside the city. Wagons were also already lining up on the road, most likely, they were preparing to retrieve things. Corpses. Belongings. Whatever they had left. Many injured civilians were also being pulled out toward the waiting wagons. Many were so injured that the healers and soldiers had to use rudimentary stretchers to get them out of the city.

  Hans could only sigh. His presence was the only thing keeping order and calm in the city. Here he was, the sole man who drove a monster of a machine capable of taking down a demon within a few minutes. Watching. And he could feel it from the gazes being aimed at him. Both soldiers and civilians alike.

  He was their only reassurance that the demon inside the city was dead.

  One of the officers rode toward him. He was carrying some sort of paper. The man immediately dismounted his horse, while Hans stood up and jumped off his mech’s hull. The officer then removed his hat and handed him the note, which Hans immediately started to read.

  “Lieutenant Hoffman, I am Lieutenant Rosfurt from the 22nd Holy Nomosian Regiment. That letter was handed to me by a runner sent by the Viceroy to inform you that you need to remain—”

  “It’s over,” Hans shrugged, handing the note back to the officer. “Captain Rosfort, as you can see here, I’ve already sorted out the situation.”

  “Yeah, I figured as much.”

  “Ride back to inform them about this. Tell them that we need food, water, medicine, potions, whatever you people use to render aid to sick and injured people. Anything. That’s the only thing that needs to be sorted out. Otherwise, tell them that we’re good. The demon has been dispatched.”

  The officer nodded.

  “Alright. Noted. I’ll ride back at once. Thank you for saving this city quickly. And from one officer to another—I have great respect for you sire.”

  “We’re the same rank—”

  “Yet I doubt we’re of the same caliber. Besides, that’s a different flag on your uniform over there,” the man smiled. “I hope you two foreigners can do more good. Goodbye, sir.”

  The officer placed his hat back and tipped it downward a bit as a form of salute. Then, he climbed back on his horse and rode back away. Hans could only chuckle. It was getting more and more surprising how far his reputation reached. The fact that some random officer from a regiment so detached from his unit knew him surprised him.

  “Oh well,” Hans placed his cigarette back in his mouth. “Guess that’s how it is now.”

  He inhaled it for a brief second, before letting out puffs of smoke. He looked back at his mech. It was certainly way too dirty. And he gave its armor plates a brief punch. He laughed again. That was extremely risky. He thought he’d almost melted his machine for a second there. But instead, here he was.

  Victorious.

  He gave his mech a brief, soft tap with his fist.

  Thanks, buddy. You did well today.

  He turned his back. In the distance, at the same road he had used to get here, was a familiar sight. It was Adelyn’s mech, the Diligence. It was rushing straight in his direction, almost frantically. Hans could only briefly sigh, before tossing his still-lit-up cigarette on the ground. Then, with his boots, he extinguished its cinders.

  She’s going to be chewing my ass big time.

  He shook his head. Then, he took a deep breath as Adelyn’s mech finally stopped in front of him.

  Here we go.

  Her mech’s hatch opened and immediately came out a worried, panicked, and confused Adelyn.

  “Lieutenant?!” Adelyn shouted, walking straight at him. She looked briefly at the destroyed city, before turning back at him. “What is happening? They reported that there was a demon active here.”

  “Yeah, and I dispatched it,” was Hans’ quick response. “It was fairly easy. Seems to be a newly corrupted one. Still too weak to be a credible threat.”

  “Too weak to be a credible threat? The city’s on fire!”

  “Yeah?”

  “You fought a demon alone instead of regrouping with me! Hans, what if you died? Haven’t I told you enough that to fight, we need each other’s backs?” She shook her head as she frowned. “Hans...you risked yourself too much.”

  “And it worked out fine, Captain,” Hans replied. “I had to respond. Quickly. Or people would die.”

  She stopped briefly.

  “...I know,” she admitted.

  “Yeah, exactly,” Hans said. “Anyway, I wouldn’t have ridden here alone if I suspected that the strong type of demons were present. But this was behind the lines. So I thought that the risk was low.”

  “...Still, next time, don’t do this like it’s nothing. It’s dangerous.”

  “Okay,” Hans nodded. Finally, Adelyn smiled lightly even if it was more of an annoyed one.

  “Still, congratulations I suppose. You did well alone. As I always expect,” she then frowned. “But don’t let this be an excuse for another one.”

  “Yeah, I swear. Are we good now?”

  “Yeah.”

  Hans smiled again in triumph.

  “Nice!”

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