As the morning comes, it was obvious that the night hunt had been successful. Nearly a hundred over Mechanoids had been captured and converted without much hiccups and there were still dozens more that Nie and his team had to inspect before allowing it to go live to defend the Mount Sunn workshop.
Five Armoured vehicles including two tanks were also reacquired before the enemies learnt Jin's intentions of grabbing more. That was when they started to be more alert as lower ranked commanders had reported their losses and the groups tightened up further to prevent Jin and his Grey Bear Squad from grabbing any more of their own troops.
They could have gotten more but the firefight was getting more intense as they realised that the Grey Bear Squad was trying to steal the Mechanoids and so they have begun to destroy the captured groups as they were more susceptible to damage due to their 'tied up' status. Still, it was considered a success and Diaz even reported that they had salvaged at least half a day worth's of ammunition supplies.
The only regret was that they were not able to fill up anything to boost the artillery shells especially when the workshop was using it as a way of defending itself. Old Fammet's cache of shells was depleting faster than expected and its automated workshop lines were not producing much mainly because there was not enough material.
If possible, Old Fammet would want Jin to return to the variant dungeon and grab more material so that he could produce more shells despite the slow production rate. After all, it was still better than not having any shells at all.
They could also steal from the enemies they were facing but it was too far in the rear to even get it. And what was equally worrying was that the enemies were finally bringing in self propelled artillery into the picture and that caused Old Fammet to worry.
More hidden communications were received by Nie courtesy of his buddies in the security line indicating that the fight was far from over as more and more commanders and Mechanoids had been seen travelling into the town as a pitstop before moving towards Mount Sunn. This meant that Edmond Diamondz was not joking when he proposed of throwing more troops into the fray.
It gave Nie and Old Fammet a sense of hopelessness but to their surprise, it did not deter Jin and Lynn at all, as if they were used to it. However, Jin did change his commands as he requested Old Fammet to start using the Tactical System's newly furnished upgrade cards to remodel the Workshop's interior to a more defensive location.
"So you think that we too do not have a chance to fight in the open?" Old Fammet could see that Jin started to take in the reality of the situation.
"I have to acknowledge this much. He is throwing man and material at us like nobody's business and we have no allies. To be honest, lasting a day with this number of mechanoids against that sort of army is already an achievement but we have to also be realistic in our approach now that the odds are down on us even more." Jin said.
"Hahahahah! And here I thought the magician who creates miracles would be able to bring us out of this pinch." Old Fammet retorted. "Honestly, I did not expect to last this long at all especially when it's only the Grey Bear Squad that had been pulling the weight of the entire team."
"Regardless, without those Mechanoids that we captured, we would not be able to hold even more another day longer. They too play an equal part in the role of defending Mount Sunn." Jin said as he looked at the situation in the central control room to see how the enemy forces were trying to come along. For now, there was no additional air support in the area mainly because of Mount Sunn's location.
The ability to carry a fleet to this remote location at the far end of the Empire was already a feat for the private corpos especially when they were not exactly near a hostile country's territory as compared to where Jin had fought against previously.
"Then if you know we would not last long, when is your duke pal going to send the letter out?" Old Fammet said as he took some coffee which Lynn had made and it was the best refreshing beverage he ever had for the longest time. It was no wonder Nie was able to stay awake and continue to inspect the Mechanoids they had captured despite pulling an all nighter with this kind of stress on top of him. Old Fammet honestly believed that Nie could have been a great Mecha Smith if things had not gone so south for him.
"The Synthesis Administrators had approved of the land deed so technically this place is ours and Diamondz is considered as invaders intruding onto Archduke's territory." The Tactical System stated.
"Then what is holding them up for the official release?" Both Old Fammet and Jin had their eyes wide open waiting for an answer.
"As per tradition and political manners. The Imperial Family have to state it in a public announcement for the User to be acknowledged as the Lord of Mount Sunn. Apparently, this land had been sort of a controversy which the Empire had wished to take but the private corporations were paying money and points as bribery to leave this place alone."
"Because of him?" Jin pointed at Old Fammet during the discussion and the System acknowledged it.
"Yes. A quick review of the Imperial Family's coffers revealed that it had been taking a considerable sum of points and money and the Archduke's actions had proven to be something that they did not expect. It seems the Archduke knew of this cooperation between the imperial family and the private corporations and by doing this, it would mean that it would drastically put the imperial family at an impasse."
"Ah, for fuck sake," Jin uttered and knew the implications of this matter based on the summary that the Tactical System gave.
"The only reason the Imperial Family had not outrightly rejected the Archduke but merely delayed the announcement would show that the Imperial Family are still in cahoots with the private corporations and might only announce when either side wins or lose." The Tactical System reasoned and everyone understood how shrewd the Imperial Family was.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢