Why would I join the army if I can’t drive a Gundam!

Chapter 135 Good News and Bad News

"What? Winnie-the-Marca has federal troops?"

The Zeon commander at the front felt a bitter taste in his mouth. If he could turn back time, he would definitely shoot the old man who found the rice grains. Without this damned thing, the battlefield would not have turned out like this, and they would not even know when the Federation forces had circled around to their backside.

"Immediately deploy the 9th Brigade to attack Winnipeg, and also the 4th Independent Regiment, have them coordinate with the 9th Brigade's operation!"

"Contact the Second Air Force and have them bomb Winnemacia flat!"

"Also, once the Third Brigade breaks away from the front lines, they will join the attack as well. I'm only giving you one day: either you break through Winnipeg, or we'll all perish here!"

The Zeon commander was frantic. The Federation's armored heavy punches had completely shattered their carefully laid defenses. Now, in order to cover the main force's retreat, the Zeon troops covering the rear were constantly risking their lives to delay the Federation's advance. However, the Federation's tanks were endless, and the rearguard was being wiped out every moment.

Time is running out for the main force, which is still packing up its supplies to prepare for withdrawal. Once the rear guard is breached and the Federation forces outflank from both sides, the 100,000-strong Zeon main force will be swallowed whole!

Upon receiving the order, the Zeon troops naturally knew the situation was urgent, and the entire army immediately switched to a forced march and rushed towards Winnipeg. When the vanguard arrived at the outskirts of the city, they saw the mountains of wrecked vehicles and the hastily buried bodies of their own troops.

"Damn Earth bastards!"

Upon seeing the sign left by Makarius, the commander of the vanguard was enraged and kicked it without thinking.

He was then blown into the air by the explosives planted under the sign. The sappers had strictly followed Makarius's orders and planted a large amount of explosives, enough to disable a tank, let alone a small person.

The pulverized flesh and dirt rained down on the Zeon soldiers, who ultimately found only half a relatively intact severed hand in the mud. The blast had severely damaged the vanguard.

When the commander of the Ninth Brigade arrived, he saw his men covered in dust and half a hand.

"Attack immediately!"

There was no time for mourning, nor for anger; the Ninth Brigade immediately launched an attack on the town.

The first to launch an attack was the independent artillery battalion under the 9th Brigade. After the advance reconnaissance units provided rough data, the Zeon artillery began to suppress the ridgeline with fire. At the same time, the brigade's mobile infantry and a large number of infantry tanks pressed up the high ground in one go.

Meanwhile, the paratroopers' artillery support immediately began to suppress the Zeon army's attacking forces.

"Damn it, how many Federation troops are there in this place?"

Upon hearing the roar of artillery fire, which was no weaker than their own, the officers of the Ninth Brigade all changed their expressions.

"The enemy will definitely have no less than a brigade. The number of mobile suits is unknown, but there will definitely be at least a battalion!"

"That's not what I'm worried about!"

The brigade commander shook his head. He was worried about that damned Red Dragon Battalion. They were involved in every Zeon defeat, so if the Red Dragons were here…

However, his worries were of no use, as the attacking Zeon forces had already engaged in combat with the Federation forces.

"Watch out, Jim is behind the ridgeline!"

The Zaku commander, who was on the offensive, saw Federation mobile suits peeking out from behind the high ground after the smoke cleared. The latter had a very good firing position and were also protected by shields, which made it difficult for the Zaku to hit them!
As Jim's machine gun roared, five or six Zakus at the forefront fell to the ground, flashing with fire. Most of the Zaku's counterattacks were blocked by shields and did not cause any damage to the Jims at all.

Fortunately, there were enough Zakus, and they were fast enough. After suffering heavy fire from the Federation's mobile suits and losing more than a dozen Zakus, the subsequent ground-based Zakus finally made it to the high ground.

"They don't outnumber us, let's go, brothers!"

Seeing that the GMs in front of them were hiding behind their shields to change ammunition, the Zaku pilots were instantly filled with excitement. They steered their mechs across the paratroopers' positions and charged toward the GMs.

Then they discovered that the people crouching behind the hillside were not just one brigade of Jim, but three whole brigade-sized companies!

Meanwhile, the GMs stationed on the defensive line were still marching away from the battle line, so the Zaku that rushed up the high ground became the best target for the two GM squads below.

With flashes of gunfire, one Zaku after another was riddled with holes in the dense barrage of gunfire. When the Zaku charged towards the retreating GM under the gunfire, they found that the latter had already reloaded.

"Hit me hard!"

Thus, the Zaku that rushed up the high ground were pushed back by the fire from two directions. Then, three GM battalions took advantage of the situation and pushed forward, chasing the retreating Zaku back to the high ground.

At that moment, the Zeon infantry and armored units behind them were still climbing the hill when they discovered that the Zaku who had been charging ahead had suddenly jumped down the hillside again.

"What are these guys doing?"

A tank commander was full of questions, but the next moment he understood why the Zaku were withdrawing.

"Why are there so many Jims?"

Unfortunately, the Federation forces didn't have time to answer his question. At that moment, three whole battalions of GMs lined up in a row, frantically firing at the Zeon troops below from the ridgeline. When they ran out of ammunition, these GMs leaped up, drew their beam sabers, and launched a charge.

This time, it was the Zeon forces that were thrown into disarray. Hundreds of mobile suits were locked in a fierce battle along the ridgeline, making it impossible for the Zeon armored forces behind them to provide direct fire support to their own mobile suits, as their firing range was blocked by friendly forces.

"Die, you bastard!"

Although they were not actually outnumbered, the Federation pilots had already displayed overwhelming momentum in the battle, and in close combat, that kind of preemptive momentum is exactly what matters.

Amidst the roar of the Federation pilot, his beam saber slashed down with overwhelming force. Although the Zaku opposite him managed to block in time, it was a beat too slow in the second exchange, allowing the opponent's beam saber to pierce directly into the cockpit.

After taking down the Zaku, GM's pilot even used his shield as a support to push the still-standing Zaku's body towards the friendly forces further behind.

The Zaku behind them had their view blocked and could only try to push aside the friendly units. As soon as they did, a gleaming beam saber stabbed in from the air again.

Thus, the federal pilot successfully completed a double kill.

The third Zaku, however, had learned its lesson. It decisively jumped to the side, avoiding its fallen teammate. But before it could even raise its heat axe, a huge bullet hole appeared on the side of its machine after a loud bang. Although it didn't hit the cockpit, it disabled the Zaku's power system.

This attack was naturally the work of the sniper GMs deployed in the rear. From the beginning, they did not participate in close combat, but instead used live-fire rifles to snipe from a distance. Now that the Zaku was blocked by their own forces halfway up the mountain, these sniper units began to fire at long range without restraint.

Watching his own troops being forced back from the mountainside, the Zeon commander frowned. His brigade had nearly 220 mobile suits, but only half of them were currently engaged in combat. Logically, now that the Federation had revealed all its trump cards, it was time for him to escalate the conflict. However, the Zeon commander felt uneasy.

"Sir, I think it's time to move him to the reserves!"

"Yes, it's obvious that the Federation Army only has this many people and equipment. Although they managed to outmaneuver our army at the beginning, now they're locked in a fierce battle with us. As long as we send out our reserves, they'll collapse under the pressure!"

Soon, the suggestions from the staff officers echoed around, and after a moment's thought, the Zeon commander nodded in agreement.

"Have the reserves move out from both flanks, send two battalions to suppress those sniper aircraft, and the rest of the troops flank from the left side of the ridgeline!"

"The enemy has deployed their reserves!"

As the Zeon mobile suits, serving as reserves, began to enter the battlefield, a ruin in the town, now reduced to rubble, suddenly came to life. With the roar of an engine, a standard-colored RX-78-2 Gundam appeared on the ground.

"Finally it's me!"

Lieutenant Amuro took a deep breath and then steered his mech toward the battlefield.

His concealment was also part of Makarius's plan. Makarius didn't want the Zeon to know about the Gundam too early. Just like in poker, the trump card should be saved for the crucial moment to create an unexpected effect on the enemy. If it appeared on the battlefield too early, it could certainly inflict more heavy casualties on the Zeon, but it would lose the surprise effect.

At this moment, seeing the reserve force deployed to the battlefield, the morale of the Zeon army was greatly boosted, resulting in slightly more casualties against GM. This was Amuro's best opportunity to make his appearance.

"I won't let you down, Brother Kliny!"

Amuro didn't rush into the battlefield. Instead, he used the terrain as cover and slowly approached the battlefield from the right side. When the Zeon's attention was drawn to the front, he suddenly rushed out, holding a rocket launcher in one hand and a beam rifle in the other.

"There are enemies on the left!"

Four whistling rockets instantly sent the Zeon mobile suits that had been maneuvering around flying crashing down. The Gundam's rocket launcher had a caliber of 380 millimeters, more than enough to bombard warships.

With just those four rockets, Amuro took down six Zaku. Then, without hesitation, he dropped the empty rocket launcher, grabbed his beam rifle, and continued firing at the Zaku.

Amuro's movements were swift but not panicked. He had already identified his target, and then the first beam he fired sent the Zeon soldiers flying in a skewer.

A purple beam of light shot out from the abdomen of the first Zaku, then hit the chest of the second Zaku, and then passed through the second Zaku to hit the head monitor of the third Zaku, which was positioned further back.

Then, his second shot pierced through two more Zaku, and the aftershock of the beam even melted half of the shoulder of one of the Zakus.

"Gundam!"

The Zeon pilots finally recognized their own mobile suits, after all, the iconic V-shaped antenna and beam rifle were too conspicuous!
"Damn it! It's a Gundam! Get out of here!"

Thanks to the formidable reputation established by Macarius, Zeon pilots now instinctively retreat to avoid combat upon seeing a Gundam. Thus, when they recognized Amuro's mobile suit, none of these dozens of Zaku dared to launch an attack.

Courageous Zeon pilots fired machine guns while retreating, while those without courage simply turned their machines around and ran away. This chaos greatly surprised the Zeon command.

"Gundam? How come there's a Gundam here?"

"But sir, that doesn't look like a red dragon!"

After being forced back by Amuro, the still-shaken Zeon pilots finally realized something was wrong, because the mobile suit in front of them was white, blue, red and yellow, instead of being mostly blood red like the Red Dragon.

"That must be a new Gundam!"

"Then it seems the Red Dragon isn't here!"

Such dramatic ups and downs made everyone in the Zeon command post feel like they were on a rollercoaster ride. The bad news was that the enemy had a Gundam, but the good news was that the Gundam was new and not the Red Dragon!
"Not the Red Dragon?"

Although it was quickly clarified, the addition of Gundam to the battlefield still caused some unrest among the Zeon forces, especially the front lines which were under heavy attack and were on the verge of collapse. For the Federation forces, Gundam was a symbol of invincibility, so regardless of whether it was the Red Dragon or not, with this thing around, no one could possibly lose!
"Don't panic! There's only one Gundam, but we have more of us. Brothers, today we might just become the first Zeon pilots to destroy a Gundam!"

After regaining their composure, the Zeon frontline officers immediately tried everything to boost the morale of their troops. After all, they still had a numerical advantage, so all they needed to do was fight steadily and surely. So what if the enemy had Gundams? Let them pull out another Gundam if they dare!
"Then, the Red Dragon probably really isn't here!"

Commander Zeon was finally relieved, since the worst-case scenario he could have foreseen had already occurred. He had never seen the Federation forces deploy two Gundams on the same battlefield before. Of course, Ground Gundams were not included; these mobile suits operated in squad formations!

"boom!"

Just then, the Zeon commander suddenly heard a very close explosion, the shockwave even shaking the command vehicle.

"what happened?"

"Sir, we have a Gundam!"

"I know there are Gundams, but what I'm asking about is..."

"Gundam is attacking us from behind!"

"Nani?"

The Zeon commander was also puzzled, since that Gundam had just been on the front of the battlefield, how did it end up behind them?
"It's not that Gundam, it's the Red Dragon!"

"Boom!"

The Zeon officer on the other end of the communicator immediately heard a strange sound, followed by panicked shouts from the others.

"Damn it, the sergeant has fallen and is bleeding from his head! Quick, get the medic!"

The Ninth Brigade never dreamed that someone would be so heartless as to set off in the morning and trek dozens of kilometers along the river just to stab themselves in the asshole.

And now, they've encountered it!

The G3 Gundam that appeared from behind the highway was like Tyson barging into a kindergarten, launching a heavy attack on the defenseless logistics and light infantry. The vehicles and equipment were kicked to pieces like free kicks in front of Macarius.

With almost no resistance, Makarius destroyed all of the 9th Brigade's logistical equipment in less than two minutes. Then, he piloted the G3 Gundam and charged onto the Zeon army's artillery position.

Without using a beam rifle or the disposable missile launchers he had attached to his shoulder and waist, Makarius simply picked up his MG79 and unleashed a barrage of fire, instantly turning the entire artillery position into a sea of ​​fire.

Then, ignoring the bullets coming from all directions, he directly controlled the G3 to attack everything in sight that resembled ammunition depots, command post tents, and vehicles.

Just as the Zeon commander was being frantically carried out of the command vehicle by his men, he ran right into Macarius.

"run!"

Before the commander could finish speaking, the shadow cast by the G3 Gundam's giant feet enveloped them.

"After all that, I have to go wash my feet in the river. What bad luck!"

Without hesitation, after crushing more than a dozen people into mincemeat, Markarius casually fired a burst of bullets at the vehicle beneath his feet, causing it to burst into flames, before turning and heading back towards the battlefield.

At that moment, the Zeon mobile suits were still focused on the front, until the mecha was pierced through the nuclear fusion reactor by a beam shot from behind, causing a violent secondary explosion that sent the surrounding friendly forces into the air. Only then did they realize that the famous Red Dragon had appeared behind them.

"So, choose: will you die a lowly death here as a lackey of the Zabi family, or will you live to atone for the wrongs you have committed in the past?"

Looking at the dozens of Zaku tanks in front of him, Makarius asked calmly.

(End of this chapter)