Out of Space
Chapter 466: Battle of Turnstead

Pieces of stone and wood rained down as the heavy morning star the size of wrecking ball came slamming into the hull down position of the Infantry Fighting Vehicle. Vehicle Commander Sergeant Rich cursed as he ducked his head from the flying debris. He slipped back into the armoured turret and buttoned up the hatch and yelled to the driver.

"Reverse now!" He peeked through the viewports at the giant morning star that was been dragged back by a thick chain. "Get us out of here now!"

The dragonite engines roared and spewed smoke as the driver put the IFV in full reverse. The massive wheels spun wildly, kicking up bits and pieces of rock and smoke as it shot backwards out of its hidey hole.

The turret shook as the gunner placed a long burst of 20 mm at the enemy golem that had slammed its morning star at their position. Sparks and smoke erupted out from the golem's magic barrier and shield as the shells slammed into it.

"Pull back to the second line!" Rich yelled as he held on for his life as the driver drove the IFV in reverse.

The appearance of the IFV seemed to attract all the attention of the nearby golems, as giant morning stars almost the height of the IFV slammed around it, further smashing apart the already ruined buildings.

"CORK!" Rich yelled into the radio over the dim of the 20 mm cannon, "We are compromised! Pulling back to the second line now!"

-----

"-o the second line now!" The voice of the vehicle commander of the 1st Platoon, Section 2 came into Cork's ears.

"Fark!" Cork leaned on his side as he looked up into the air. He could see the underbelly silhouette of the attack helicopter hovering overhead, its guns firing at some distant target. He pushed himself up to his feet and took cover again as a massive enemy golem stormed past his position.

A whoosh followed by a trail of smoke slammed into the side of the golem which barely rocked it as the golem's magic barrier shimmered. It paused and turned its body with a clank and raised its left arm that had a massive ass shield.

A burst of white steam erupted out from pipes attached to the left arm of the giant golem. It sprayed steam across the ruins and the hot gas flushed out the anti tank team. They yelled and cursed as hot steam flash burn their exposed skin as they fled to get out of range of the golem's steamthrower.

"Fark!" Cork cursed again as he saw another golem appearing through the gap of the wall. The golem stormed over the carcasses of three other of its brethren without pause and behind the golem, more Protectorate soldiers followed behind.

"How many farking golems do they have?" Krew yelled as he fired at the enemy soldiers.

"Last report, two dozen!" Cork replied as he too joined in firing at the enemy infantry. "We need more AT support!"

"All units! Fall back to the second line!" The order came in from the CO. "Air support is running dry! They will cover your retreat before they return to rearm!"

"Now that is bullshit!" Krew cursed as he reloaded.

"Section Two!" Cork rosed to a half crouch and yelled out while using one hand to gesture. "Fall back now!"

Krew grunted as he ran, with Cork following behind him. The surviving members of Section Two fell back as well. They were not worried about the enemy infantry, but more of the giant golems that could take a lot of punishment before dying. "Damn Beetle heads!"

-----

Avatar Kruther was in a stage of adrenaline and rapture as he was fully encased inside the control cocoon. His vision was hazy but clear enough for details like shapes and colours to be interpreted. With each step he took, the ground shook and each squeeze of his hands triggered the godly weapons mounted on the Warjack.

He flung the morning star mounted on his right fist at the infidel wagon that spewed unholy death to his faith. The giant morning star shot out with a geyser of steam and unfortunately missed, only smashing apart the building that was in the way.

With a mental thought, the chains attached to the morning star tightened and started to retract the weapon back to his fist. He felt like a god with the power in his hands and for that, he was ever grateful to Ramuh for giving him the power to judge those unworthy.

There was a sudden loud bang, and Kruther's vision flickered. He looked towards the direction the attack came from and raised his left arm and squeezed, spewing steam out in a wide area. He saw the unworthy heretics fleeing like the cowardly scum they were.

He ignored them, leaving them for the Paladins to clean up, his focus on the fleeing wagon that downed so many of his brothers. As an Avatar, he finally found something worthy of his skills, for so far, the lawless were barely even a match to the Protectorate's power.

He will keep killing and destroying until all the lawless were brought before the Judgement!

-----

"Unicorn One One, One Two," The radio crackled. "Cannon is almost dry! Rockets are out!"

"Shit!" The pilot of One One cursed. "Lem, ammo?"

"Disappearing as fast as a whore takes gold!" The co pilot yelled back. "Nearly out!"

The pilot looped the gunship around the town, seeing several fallen golems spewing white and black smoke into the air dotted all around the town. He estimated they had in total taken out at least a dozen of those things, yet there appeared to be more concealed in the forest edge just a kilometre or two away.

The golems were harder to kill compared to the enemy's airship as the targets were smaller and they can move surprisingly fast for their weight. And not only that, the gunships had to take out the clusters of mortars lobbing bombs at the dug in troops and anti air projectiles in the skies, and break up any concentrated blocks of enemy infantry.

"Gladius Actual! Gladius Actual! This is Unicorn Flight, over," The pilot finally spoke into his mike when his co pilot indicated the guns were dry.

"Gladius Actual, send!" The voice of the 1st Army Rifle Regiment commanding officer came in.

"Unicorn Flight, we are bingo on ammo," The pilot reported. "RTBing for refuel and rearm, over."

Gladius Actual... roger that..."

"The heavens protect! Out!"

-----

Skies over the New Kingdom of Mecca, C - 1 Skyfrieghter 'Carrie Zero Niner' enroute to UN FOB

The radio chatter between the Army and Air Force over the frontlines could be heard by everyone in the cockpit. The pilot of Carrie Zero Niner, gave a sigh and turned his head back towards the vehicle commander and commented, "Those boys sure had taken the short end of the stick!"

"No shit... they need more firepower," Warrant Officer Sath, vehicle commander of the Manned Armoured Walker replied in a serious tone. "Hey... how long does it take for this bucket to reach their position?"

"Hmmm?" The pilot glanced at the map strapped on his thigh and did a quick mental calculation. "I say about forty five mins to an hour roughly."

"Wait..." The pilot frowned as he turned around and looked at Sath in the eye. "Are you thinking what I am thinking?"

Sath gave a nasty smile and said, "Why don't we redirect towards the front and drop my boys off there?"

"Are you serious?" The pilot asked, "We can't just redirect the flight without authorization!"

"Come on!" Sath persuaded, "Our boys are in deep shit and my unit might change the tide of the war!"

"Shit!" The co pilot cursed. "He's mad! There is no place to land this transport!"

"Nah..." Sath grinned. "You guys don't need to land this bucket... just get us over there and we do the rest!"

"Fark... Are we really doing this?" The co pilot asked the pilot, who had a deep frown on his face. "Seriously?"

"Ahh... Fark it!" The pilot gave a grin. "Let's do this!"

-----

The New Kingdom of Mecca, Town of Turnstead

The golem toppled back with a heavy crash, and steam burst out from cracks in its armour. The golem's body spasmed for a short while before it curled up and remained still. The turret of the IFV that had taken out the golem twirled and locked on to another golem and let loose another long burst of laser like tracers at the target.

Cork hefted the heavy RPG - 1 launcher onto his shoulder, the weapon picked up from some fallen soldier. He aimed down the sights and squeezed down the trigger and the weapon banged loudly and spat out a dark projectile that vanished from his sight.

A flash and a small cloud of smoke was the only indication the rocket had struck something. When the smoke cleared, he saw the golem still standing amidst the ruins. Tracers bounced off its shimmering magic barrier as the golem turned its attention towards the IFV.

"Victory One Two! Fall back!" Cork yelled into his comms at the IFV. "That golem is targetting you!"

Victory One Two's turret spat out another burst of 20 mm fire, which the enemy golem dodged by hopping to the side, its barrier flickering as it took some hits. The golem smashed through several ruined buildings like paper and it charged forward.

More tracer fire chased the golem, most of it missed, but enough hammered against the golem's barrier bringing it down. Victory One Two's eight wheels spun rapidly as it reversed to avoid the charging golem and managed to barely avoid getting hit by the swinging morning star of the enemy.

Once to a safe distance, the rocket pod mounted next to the turret roared, dumping all seven 70 mm rockets point blank at the centre of mass of the golem, instantly shrouding it with explosions and smoke.

"FARK!" Cork yelled as his ears rang painfully from the explosions. He stumbled to his feet and dragged himself further away between the fight of the two beasts.

A shadow burst out from the dirty grey smoke and the enemy golem, missing its shield arm and its once shiny red and black armour now looking mangled charged out. White smoke hissed out from cracks and torn hoses and pipes, and its red eyes beneath the grill style face shield glowed brightly.

Victory One Two continued its reverse as it put more distance away from the golem and itself. The gun turret continuously firing, shredding the golem's heavy armour until suddenly the golem tripped as its internals were shredded by the mixed AP and HE rounds, no longer able to function.

Cork let out a sigh of relief at the sight of the downed golem. The enemy had been throwing golems at them like they were candy. The enemy seemed to have better magic protection spells compared to Empire, as each individual enemy soldier had some form of personnel magic barrier.

But the worry wasn't on the enemy infantry, but more on the giant golems that were able to take a heavy beating and break through their lines. The IFVs each carried 700 ready rounds and a further 500 rounds stored in internal lockers. They could take on the golems but once their ammo ran dry, they need time to reload.

And during reloading, the enemy golems took the chance to push in. The other companies holding the flanks outside the city fared better as they had the range and open ground to engage the golems. The reason why the Army was holding inside the town was to minimize the destruction of the grain fields around the city. High Command wanted the grain fields as it will provide a source of food once the grain ripens.

And due to that decision, Cork and his men were fighting for their lives inside the ruins of the town.