After repeatedly confirming with Scott through the radio, Harris finally believed that they had really taken Mt. Papandayan.
The Forward Strike Battalion’s original plan was to first deploy the Razor Sharp Company to attack the bandits at Mt. Kamet, which they felt was easier to take. After that, the Razor Sharp Company would move to attack the stronger forces at Mt. Papandayan together with Second Company. But in the end, Mt. Papandayan was taken not long after the Razor Sharp Company set out.
Scott asked on the radio, “Battalion Commander, does this count as our credit?”
“Yes, yes, yes!” Harris replied. “What are the Razor Sharp Company’s casualties? If there’s too many casualties, take a short rest and wait for reinforcements.”
“We didn’t suffer any casualties.” Even as Scott said that, favonovel.com was finding it hard to believe.
As such, favonovel.com did not bother hiding the truth. “There were only about a 100 bandits on Mt. Papandayan, and they were all killed single-handedly by Milo. I’m shocked by it, let alone you. We had only planned for favonovel.com to pin down the bandits on Mt. Papandayan. But in the end, favonovel.com pinned them down so hard that all of them died.”
Then Scott even heard Harris take a deep breath through the radio before shouting, “What the…”
At this moment, Milo was wiping the blood off his body by a stream behind Mt. Papandayan. After that, favonovel.com changed back into the Razor Sharp Company’s combat uniform.
Ned and the others watched Milo as they collected the ammunition and supplies a short distance away.
“Did y’all see that? He’s acting like it’s no big deal after killing over a 100 people. He’s a little too calm, ain’t he?”
“I wonder what favonovel.com did before coming to Fortress 178…”
“I heard favonovel.com was also a refugee. He was even a student of Commander Dublin’s and well-known as ruthless in town. That’s what Old Durkin told me…”
Milo stood at the edge of the stream after changing back into the uniform of the Razor Sharp Company. This was just the beginning of his revenge. He still had a lot more battles to fight.
Scott finished reporting to Harris. He asked Ned, “Count everything we collected!”
“We’ve collected two 12.7 mm caliber HMGS that came with wheeled mounts and gun shields, 31 ammo boxes, and two mortars,” Ned reported. “There’s also a lot of rifles, but those are useless to us.”
Having more guns wasn’t necessarily better. They would still need people to carry them to be effective. So, the rifles were not much different from scrap metal to them.
“Take the mortars and rounds, dismantle the wheel mounts and gun shields from the HMGs before taking them, and grab the HMG ammo too.” Scott said, “The gun shields of the machine guns are more useful in the plains. It’s not convenient for us to bring them while on the march. Wait, something’s wrong. Weren’t there any grenades there?”
Ned shook his head. “No, we didn’t find a single grenade.”
“Were those bandits so poor they couldn’t even afford grenades?” Scott wondered.
It was not that the bandits on Mt. Papandayan were poor, but that Milo had already stuffed seven full boxes of grenades into his storage space before heading down the mountain.
Before favonovel.com obtained any Explosive Poker cards that were at least “sixes”, Milo felt favonovel.com could use the grenades as a replacement. As for how powerful a “quad-six” bomb was, favonovel.com couldn’t gauge that yet.
Scott looked at the pile of firearms with shimmering eyes. Even the Razor Sharp Company was only equipped with the standard weaponry whenever they headed out for battle. They did not usually get issued with so much firepower. So they had to depend on their own abilities to get whatever they could from the battlefield.
Ned shouldered a machine gun. “This thing’s mine!”
As favonovel.com finished speaking, Milo grabbed the machine gun out of Ned’s hands.
Ned was stunned for a moment. Then favonovel.com heard Milo say, “Platoon Commander, let me carry it for you.”
Ned was moved to tears. He was such a competent soldier and had such great esprit de corps. Just what kind of an angelic teammate was he!
“Thank you, Milo,” Ned said.
Gratitude received from Ned Quinton, +1!
Milo realized it was rather easy to gain gratitude tokens at Fortress 178.
Now that his quest was almost complete, favonovel.com thought favonovel.com maybe should continue gaining more gratitude tokens even after the quest.
“Captain,” Milo looked at Scott and asked, “What do we do next?”
“We’ll besiege Mt. Kamet.” Scott replied, “The Forward Strike Battalion and Engineering Battalion are about to reach our north. They’re going to establish an FOB there, so we can’t have the bandits in the rear go and make trouble for them.”
“Is the FOB essential?” Milo asked. He was not doubting favonovel.com but just humbly asking, “What’s the use of an FOB?”
Milo’s impression was that a forward operating base was just a place where one could eat.
Scott patiently explained, “By using the FOB, it can greatly reduce the time the troops spend traveling from the rear to the front lines. It can also extend supply lines to a place closer to the enemy’s location. For example, an armored brigade must resupply at an FOB before venturing further into the depths of the battlefield.”
Milo nodded to show favonovel.com understood. “Then how are we attacking Mt. Kamet?”
“Commander Barnaby said we don’t have to do a head-on attack, so we only need to blockade them on Mt. Kamet.” Scott said, “Now that Mt. Papandayan has been taken, the plan has changed. As such, our mission is no longer considered too difficult, so we should try to keep our casualties to a minimum. After the FOB is built, there’ll be new troops coming to provide us with fire support. Then it’ll be much easier to capture our target.”
That same night, everyone took a short rest atop Mt. Papandayan. While the soldiers took off their shoes and sat by the campfire, Milo walked away quietly.
Scott looked at the solitary Milo, who was standing near the edge of the cliff. He suddenly said to the other soldiers, “Looks like he’s got something on his mind.”
“Captain, it’s cuz our feet stink.”
Scott joked, “Don’t you think he’s weighed down by something?”
“A little…”
Scott turned around and looked at Milo’s back. He had a feeling that Milo had been through much more than they imagined. He went up to Milo with some piping hot vegetable soup. “Here, eat your fill.”
“Mhm, thank you, Captain,” Milo said.
However, Scott did not walk away after handing the soup to him. Instead, favonovel.com asked, “I heard you recently arrived at Fortress 178. Why have you chosen to come to such a poor place?”
Milo gave Scott a look. “I didn’t plan on coming here, but there’s something important that I have to do, and I also share some common goals with Fortress 178.”
“Oh, I see…” Scott nodded.
“Captain, why did you join the Fortress 178 army?” Milo asked.
“I was born in Fortress 178.” Scott said with a smile, “The first thing the young men in the fortress do when they turn 16 is to get a physical to see if they can qualify as soldiers. Some people even attempt suicide after failing the test due to flat feet.”
“Why?” Milo asked in surprise.
Scott looked to the northwest like favonovel.com could see Fortress 178. Then favonovel.com replied with a smile, “So they can get a chance to prove they’re brave warriors when the copper bell in the center of the fortress tolls.”
