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Chapter 281: The Front Lines - Markets and Multiverses
🕑 Added 2024-08-14 08:36:38 +0000 UTCThe three of us had a harder time than expected grabbing train tickets to the front lines. At first, I tried to go for an airship ticket instead. However, they were even more overloaded than the trains. With how desperate the situation was, trying to get to the front lines was difficult.
Eventually, I managed to secure a ticket for myself by volunteering as a healer. I was well known in town for my healing abilities. Once I signed an agreement to heal soldiers who were injured, the trains were more than happy to give me a ticket. It proved to be impossible to get two more tickets, unfortunately. With how strained supply lines were, everyone needed to get their own ticket.
Anise had a harder time securing a ticket than I did. Her abilities weren't quite as useful. Anise had to claim that her force manipulation ability could hurt the worldstriders before she got a ticket. That wasn't a lie, but it was dependent on me bringing us to the worldstrider layer of space first.
Felix got the strangest response when he showed up to get a ticket. Unlike Anise and I, Felix was pretty well-known now. The researchers in the railroad team had all been featured in various newspapers and academic papers. While they weren't household names, they were still public figures. And Felix, as the youngest 'expert researcher,' was unusually well-known among the team. When he showed up and asked to buy a ticket, the soldier gave Felix a wide-eyed look that reminded me of a deer looking at a car's headlights.
“Umm… Felix?” asked the soldier, giving Felix a surprised look.
“Yes?” asked Felix.
"Are you the one who helped create railroads?"
"I am. Why do you ask?"
“Why do you want to go to the front lines of a warzone? I assumed you were working on some sort of new invention. Even if you aren't, the front lines aren't a good place for a researcher and inventor. It would be a loss for the whole country to lose a bright mind like you. You could be accomplishing much greater things in a research lab.”
Felix laughed, and held up his hand. Unlike before, several chunks of his hand were now made of metal. His knuckles, as well as the front of his palms, looked as if they steel instead of skin. Felix's quick prosthetic additions looked menacing and natural. If I didn't know the truth, I might have believed he had been born with part-metal hands.
“I’m not joining the front lines on a lark. I’m here to test out a new invention.”
“Testing a new invention?” The soldier frowned. “Shouldn’t you leave battlefield testing to soldiers? You’re too valuable to do risk losing in a fight. I can't approve of letting you buy a ticket. My superiors would have my head once they go over the ticket list.”
“Some things need field testing to work. I need to do some fine-tuning for the prosthetics if they’re going to be of any use. Besides, I have Miria and Anise to keep me safe. There's nobody in the world I would trust more with my safety." Felix's lips quirked up in a small, amused grin as he said that. "I don't intend to return from the front lines in a body bag. I just need to do a bit of testing."
The soldier gave Felix a hesitant look… before he sighed. “Fine. I’m not entirely sure if this is a good idea, but... you can also buy a ticket. But you two better keep him safe," he said, as he glared at Anise and I. "If he gets hurt during this expedition, I'll make sure you two suffer the consequences. Our country needs extraordinary researchers and inventors." I gave the soldier a solemn nod, which seemed to satisfy him. With that, all three of us had tickets for the train. Two hours later, the train arrived, and we got on board.
Unlike the prototype Felix and his team had developed, this train looked sleeker and more refined. It was obvious that other teams of inventors had streamlined and improved the previous model. There was a thick layer of armor on the outside of the train - possibly to ward off worldstrider attacks. There were also several carriages of supplies on the train, carrying a variety of things. Everything from eerie black swords, to stones, to medical supplies and food was present.
The insides of the train were spartan, and packed with people. I felt like a sardine in a can as I squished into my seat between a few other soldiers. Anise and Felix squeezed in behind me. My seat was hard and uncomfortable, and unlike the airship, there were no windows in the train. There were a few artificial lights, but they weren't enough to dispel the gloomy darkness.
<The passenger experience for trains needs some improvement,> said Anise.
<I imagine things will get better as people test new models for trains. But this is much worse than the blueprint my team and I drew up for passenger trains.> commented Felix. <I imagine the military was trying to maximize efficiency. I'm not sure if this is the way to go about it, but it is what it is, I guess.>
I sighed, and decided not to comment on the utilitarian travel conditions. A few minutes after we boarded, I felt the train lurch beneath me as we started moving. We rode in silence. With more time to think about what we were travelling towards, I found my thoughts spinning in circles. Old Mo was in Dr. Trish’s clinic. There was nothing I could do to help him recover right now. Markus might be dead or dying under the onslaught of the Worldstrider horde. The country was struggling to stay afloat. I felt sick and anxious about the future of this world. About half an hour into the ride, Anise leaned closer to me and gave me a comforting hug. I dragged Felix into the hug too, which Felix endured with good humor.
Finally, after several hours of travel, we stopped. The doors of the train opened, and soldiers started shuffling out. I looked out of the doors, and realized that we had reached the first row of forts.
I quickly realized that the forts were very different from what I had expected. Rather than more star forts, these forts seemed almost… medieval. As I saw the near middle-ages fortifications, complete with wide platforms and excessive amounts of cover, I sighed. The total lack of cannons or guns made it almost feel like we had returned to the middle ages. But with effective weaponry being as scarce as it was, I supposed the country needed to change its tactics if it wanted to win.
I also realized that the defenses of the front lines were fare more complex than anticipated. The lines of forts weren't the only defense the country had set up. Instead, it looked more like the country had tried to make the terrain as complex as possible.
On either side of us, I could see rows of forts, stretching into the distance. There was only a small bit of space between each fort, and those gaps were filled with their own smaller fortifications and trenches. In front of us, I could see train tracks stretching further into the distance... and an absurd number of smaller fortifications. Further ahead of us was yet another row of forts. I could also see that one of the forts in the distance was under attack from a group of Worldstriders.
The worldstriders had abandoned their pack-hunting tactics. Now, they massed together like a regular human army as they assaulted one of the forts. The humans were responding with new abilities and weapons. Some soldiers were shooting strange projectiles out of their hands, which actually hurt the enemy. Others were trying to stab the worldstriders with dark, eerie-looking swords. Despite the aerial advantage the worldstriders had, I still saw a few of them die as they besieged the fort.
Unfortunately, the number of dead worldstriders was far lower than the number of dead humans. For every worldstrider that died, dozens of humans went with them. Whenever a soldier wielding a dark, eerie sword fell, their companions would grab the weapon and keep fighting. But it was far from enough. I grimaced.
If the war continued like this, I didn't think the human nations of the continent would win. Even more frustrating, I saw the worldstriders wheel around and start fleeing after a while. Before the human reinforcements could actually give the worldstriders a blow, they had turned around and left. Hit and run tactics would drag things down into a war of attrition... but the worldstriders were very well positioned to win a war of attrition right now.
<The continent has adapted less than I hoped they would,> said Anise, as she also frowned. <This is nowhere near enough. There are still tens of thousands of worldstriders left, and they're multiplying over time. If human armies are facing this level of casualties every battle, it’s no wonder the Worldstriders keep pushing forward.>
<Yeah, I don't see the humans winning if things continue like this,> said Felix. <I don't even know if the prosthetics would be enough to turn things around. The biggest issue is trying to hit flying enemies with a sword. Hmm...> He lapsed into thought as our surroundings continued to clear out. <Something to think about. If I can find a solution for this, I could probably turn the war around. But I don't know how to fix this in a reasonable way.> Felix sighed.
I looked around, and then stood up. "I think things are clear enough. Let's get off," I said. As we alighted from the carriage, I glanced at one of the forts in the distance. Fort 2-73. The fort where Markus was supposed to be stationed. I just hoped it wasn’t too late.
Author’s Note:
I had a power outage earlier today, and I thought that I wasn’t going to be able to post a chapter today. The power came back on, obviously, or else I wouldn’t be posting a chapter today… but it did throw my schedule off. The power went out right as I was adding eggs to my lunch. I tried to cook the eggs using the residual heat from the oven, but, there was way too much egg and not enough residual heat.
As for what happened last week… I don’t intend to talk about it right now. I’m going to try to get back on schedule and keep moving forward.
Join my Discord! (I’m much more active there than in the comments section [though probably not this week. My mood is still kind of poor and I’m not sure how much socializing I can handle right now]).
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