Chapter 29: The Exercise Is Over!
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“Tank! Three hundred meters! Take it out!”
“I’ll do it!”
Watching the massive shape burst suddenly from the darkness, a brave Zeon infantryman rushed up the rise with a rocket launcher. Following the instructions taught by his instructor, he aimed at the tank’s lower glacis. But before he could pull the trigger, a burst of machine-gun fire rattled across the ground and eliminated him.
“Why are you shooting me? Did I offend you? And who are you trying to scare with that tube? By the way, Yudin, do you know how to tell a Zeon soldier apart?”
Macarius released the coaxial machine gun and suddenly asked the driver.
“Uh… anyone opposed to the Earth Federation is a Zeon soldier?”
“Wrong. The ones running around everywhere are Zeon soldiers. The ones standing still and firing at us are well-trained Zeon soldiers!”
“Heh…”
The driver clearly did not understand what was funny about the joke. He could only force out two awkward chuckles before turning his attention back to the road ahead.
The Zeon soldiers had not expected the Federation army to fight so dirty. One accidental volley through the smoke had instantly cost them an entire company, and when the smoke cleared, the Zeon troops realized they had been hammering their own comrades. Confusion erupted at once.
Taking advantage of the chaos, the Federation army, having concentrated its forces, abandoned half of its position and delivered a vicious left hook. Led by the tanks of the Red Dragon Team, every available Federation unit—including the cooks—charged forward with overwhelming momentum.
The anti-tank teams deployed on the Zeon left fought with everything they had, firing several rockets at the tanks. Every shot was stopped by their thick armor. Then the teams were wiped out under the pounding of the main guns and machine guns.
After destroying the anti-tank teams, Red Dragon One left the infantry behind and plunged directly into the Zeon armored column, destroying all of the dozen or so surviving Zeon vehicles.
One desperate Zeon driver even tried to ram the tank with his armored vehicle. The Type 61 showed no mercy and flipped it onto its side.
“Yudin, remember his number!”
Macarius paid the man no further attention. He pushed the engine to full power and performed his own version of a three-times-faster burst of speed, punching through the Zeon formation on the left before driving in behind the Zeon forces at the front.
“We’ve lost!”
From behind the position, Char saw the chaos ahead. The Zeon trainees had completely lost their composure. Some were even firing wildly at the tanks with rifles, while Garma’s artillery was utterly helpless against the two sides now tangled together.
In truth, if Char had been commanding the battle at that moment, he would have ordered the mortars to attack both sides indiscriminately. The Zeon army still possessed numerical superiority; if they hardened their hearts and accepted the cost, they could still wipe out the remaining Federation infantry. After that, however, they would still have to deal with the seemingly unstoppable tank unit.
But the battle was now under Garma’s command. Faced with such a mess, the only thing he could think of was ordering the troops to withdraw and regroup.
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As a result, the already-disorganized Zeon army descended into even greater disorder. Those engaged in close-range firefights with Federation infantry could not retreat, while those who received the order had already fled the position. Then Red Dragon One attacked them.
Macarius had already used up all his marking ammunition. In one breath, he had destroyed every Zeon vehicle. Now he was firing like the hero of some action movie, wielding the M299 light machine gun mounted outside the turret for the commander’s use.
“That’s enough. Enough! End the exercise!”
Lieutenant General Dozle closed his eyes and spoke heavily.
He had already imagined what this scene would look like in a real battle, and he no longer wished to watch.
Three red signal flares shot into the sky one after another. The trainees still fighting immediately ceased hostilities when they saw them.
A line of vehicles then drove over from the distance. They belonged to the umpire staff, who were responsible for the final assessment.
“Did we win?”
Andrei leaned out of the turret with a cigarette still clenched between his teeth. His turret was covered in every kind of pink paint mark, all of them fired by Zeon trainees amid the confusion.
“We probably did. But you’d better call over some people. I have a feeling there might be another fight.”
Yudin glanced at Macarius, who was searching for something on the tank, and hurriedly spoke over the radio.
“What happened?”
Andrei quickly jumped out of the turret, grabbed a passing infantryman, and began calling people over.
“Some idiot just tried to ram us with a vehicle. If the chief hadn’t taken over the controls and knocked him away, we would have run him flat.”
“I’ll call more people!”
By then, both sides had begun gathering their personnel in preparation for the aftermath. The instructors in the umpire section were also busy calculating losses and tallying the results.
It was then that Macarius jumped down from the tank. Still carrying his tank helmet, he strode past the military police and headed toward the Zeon formation.
“Who was driving Vehicle 217?”
Char, who had been preparing to say a few words to Garma, raised an eyebrow. Then he pulled Garma forward with him. He had a feeling something was about to happen.
“That was me. What about it?”
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A Zeon trainee with a swollen and bruised face stepped forward.
“You were the one who drove the infantry fighting vehicle into the tank?”
“What about it?”
His answer was met by a hook punch straight to the face.
Though Macarius was young, his fists were no weak things. The hook crashed directly into the man’s face and knocked him to the ground.
“What are you doing?”
The Zeon trainees stared in shock, then surged forward. Macarius did not retreat in the slightest. He stepped forward and kicked the man on the ground once more, then glared at the approaching Zeon trainees with murderous intent in his eyes.
The Zeon trainees faltered to a halt beneath that bloodthirsty gaze.
The Federation trainees summoned by Andrei came rushing over as well, dragging along a group of bewildered military police.
“May I ask why you attacked him, Trainee Macarius? I had believed the Federation army to be composed of rational gentlemen!”
Seeing the situation, Garma realized that something was wrong. If it was not handled properly, this would become a full-scale brawl. He hurriedly stepped in front of the trainee who had been beaten too badly to rise.
“Lord Garma Zabi, I think that before accusing others, you should take a look at your own people. If your men enjoy being run over by tanks so much, I would be happy to oblige them.”
After saying this, Macarius turned to the man on the ground.
“Kid, you thought driving your vehicle into my tank was brave and cool, didn’t you? This exercise saved your life. If this had been a real battle, I would not have hesitated to crush you and your heap of scrap metal together.”
With that, he turned and walked back to his tank.
The two groups facing each other then dispersed by mutual agreement, once again putting on the appearance of chatting and laughing together. Only the military police changed into a state of high alert, standing seriously between the two sides.