The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] Chapter 1317: A Heartless Enemy

It was, in fact, fine for the most part.

Battalion 10’s completely deranged method of fighting eventually forced the Caldris Hostiles into a full retreat. Not that many of them would even be able to retreat properly when they no longer had a functioning mecha or vehicle to use.

But now that they were clearly at a disadvantage and being chased by what could only be described as certified lunatics, there was absolutely no way they could retreat toward their underground base and lead these hellraisers straight to it!

At best, the only thing they could think to do was take the enemy down with them.

And apparently, that meant trying to ram their already compromised mechas directly into Battalion 10’s machines, as though they could somehow pass along whatever horrible, contagious disease was currently making their own equipment crumble!

Lamentably for the terribly confused Vanguards, even that didn’t work. Especially since was no disease, but the very rain they normally scheduled their activities around, only now concentrated enough to chew through the protective solution that usually kept their equipment safe, particularly when aimed at certain metal components cheerfully identified by one licensed mechanic.

It was certainly an experience most of them would want to remember.

For right up until the last enemy was defeated and the increasingly emboldened cadets started making their way toward the underground base, the Vanguard candidates were practically being driven mad.

What they didn’t know was that Battalion 10 had taken their earlier partial "defeat" very seriously, and the cadets who’d struggled against the Vanguard candidates before had learned something important from watching Luca and Jax fight.

They didn’t actually need to defeat these highly trained opponents in direct combat.

They just needed to forget about properly trampling their enemies, move like the wind or at least like annoying little flies, and stay alive long enough for their secret weapon to do the heavy lifting!

"..."

"..."

Well...

That was the nonsense they liked to tell themselves, anyway.

But it was true that Battalion 10’s current core method of fighting had essentially become

And bizarrely enough, it worked even after the other hostiles figured out what was causing their downfall, mostly because Luca and Jax seemed absolutely determined to capture their prey and let the other members practice their target-shooting skills on them.

With this kind of heartless enemy, how could the Vanguard candidates save even a bit of face?!

Meanwhile, as Battalion 10 happily discovered new and exciting applications for Silver Rain, the military officials watching them were experiencing an entirely different kind of revelation.

"This is an absolute emergency!"

One military official practically screeched as he slammed both hands against the main console.

"What happens if another faction, especially the Federation, sees this and decides to develop something equally potent for use across our frontlines?! Corrupted beasts might never think to deliberately exploit something like this, but sentient enemies certainly could!"

Earlier, the possibility had been easy enough to laugh off when they were still caught up in the sheer novelty of what Battalion 10 had created.

Seeing it actually work against trained soldiers was another matter entirely.

"I wish we could return to the days when mechas were made entirely from pure, rare materials," the senior officer muttered, rubbing his aching temples. "Sure, these alloys make manual mechas practically invisible to corruption, but then we get problems like this instead..."

He let out a tired sigh.

"Then again, what the hell else are we supposed to make them out of? We’d be lucky to see any usable ones..."

As if that thought had only made the situation worse, an analyst off to the side stared at the feeds with widened eyes.

"There is that, but at this rate, maybe banning standard lethal heavy weapons was a mistake," he muttered. "This kind of chemical attack is turning out worse than simply getting blasted apart! If they’d been allowed to use regular weapons, maybe nobody would’ve felt the need to get this creative!"

"..."

At the mention of their modified weapons and just as someone suggested immediately bringing over the master mechanics who had established a temporary headquarters on Planet Nova to remain closer to the current sources of innovation, the Vice Principal’s expression abruptly changed.

Rather than immediately speaking, he turned to the assistant beside him and quietly raised a spiritual barrier around them, cutting their conversation off from the rest of the increasingly agitated room. There was no reason to cause unnecessary panic before they had something concrete.

Only then did he lower his voice, despite the privacy already afforded by the barrier.

"Where is the information I asked for earlier?" he asked sharply. "Have we heard back yet?"

The sweating assistant, who had nearly forgotten about the request amid the intensity of the footage they’d been monitoring, abruptly froze before hurriedly double-checking it.

But before he could say anything else, another glaring set of prompts suddenly appeared across the main display.

[EXTRACTION INITIATED.]

[TIME REMAINING: 00:09:59]

"...What?!"

That was already the third extraction alert of the day!

Battalion 10 had managed the second successful extraction, and their battle had been so ridiculously one-sided that the greatest difficulty afterward hadn’t even involved the remaining Caldris Hostiles.

It had been convincing Luca Kyros that they couldn’t spend forever stripping the underground base of everything that could still be salvaged.

Safe to say, the number of people baffled by such a sight was staggering, and the observers genuinely couldn’t understand how the beloved Kyros heir had been raised, or what sort of environment the child had experienced for those golden eyes of his to start shining like gems every time he spotted a potentially useful piece of scrap metal that most nobles, especially those from the elite families, would’ve simply ignored or even dreaded.

Still, that was hardly the most pressing concern now.

Because this third extraction had been initiated only minutes after points 03, 08, and 12 were decommissioned following Battalion 10’s success.

But when the observers finally confirmed which group had triggered the newest countdown...

"Battalion 8?!"

Several heads snapped toward the display.

Again?!

Hadn’t they completed the first successful extraction earlier?!

How on Solaris had they managed to secure another objective so quickly?!