"Tsk! Now I need air support," Ivan said, his voice laced with frustration. It was just one problem after another. He hurriedly dropped back into the driver's compartment and slammed his hatch shut. He needed to get the tank moving before the aerial threat descended upon them. They had to keep moving.
"What do we do now, Mister Ivan?" Jusis asked, his voice trembling with uncertainty over the intercom.
Ivan adjusted his headset and called out to his commander. "Leila, is this sector clear of the Cerus?"
Leila closed her eyes, casting her mana detection spell outward. "So far, the only ground threats left are the demon army. There are a lot of Goblins and some Orcs, but I believe Manilia's defenders can hold them off." She paused, her breathing growing heavier. "But those Corrupted Wyverns will be a massive problem. The city's mages will be forced to aim their spells at the sky, leaving the ground troops without magic support."
Ivan gritted his teeth. "How many of those flying bastards are in the air right now?"
"Currently there are three of them... wait, what is that?" Leila asked, her voice filled with confusion. She pushed herself halfway out of the commander's hatch, squinting her eyes against the moonlit sky.
"What is it that thou hath spotted, Sister?" Leo inquired, his deep voice steady and formal.
"There is a person floating... no, flying in the sky! And one of the Corrupted Wyverns is chasing it right now!"
"Flying?!" Jusis yelled, utterly shocked.
"Art thou saying there is a mage capable of taking to the heavens?" Leonard asked in awe.
"No, that person is flying without mana. How is that even possible?" Leila muttered. Before she could ponder it further, a growing, aggressive screech echoed from above. She glanced straight up and froze. A massive creature was hurtling directly toward them. Its fiery eyes were locked onto the tank, and it opened its jaws, green fire already bubbling in its throat.
"Oh no," Leila gasped, her fear spiking. She screamed into the intercom. "A Wyvern is diving right at us! Mister Ivan, move!"
Ivan did not ask questions. He twisted the throttle, and the seventy-ton tank lunged forward with a mechanical roar. The sudden acceleration shook the crew inside, but they quickly braced themselves against the armor.
"A Wyvern is on top of us right now?!" Jusis panicked.
"Sister, keep thy head down!" Leo shouted, reaching up to protect her.
Ivan kept driving in a straight line, completely blind to the aerial threat above him.
"Turn right!" Leila shrieked.
Ivan jerked the steering controls hard to the right. A split second later, a massive shockwave and a deafening explosion rocked the earth just beside them. A beam of greenish fire scorched the dirt where the tank had been just a moment before. They had barely dodged it.
"What the hell was that?!" Ivan shouted.
"It is a mana burst attack from the Wyvern!" Leila replied, gasping for air. Her whole body was shaking. She lowered her head until only her eyes poked over the rim of the hatch, trying to shield herself from the beast. Doing so severely reduced her visibility, but she knew she had to keep track of the Wyvern so they could evade the next strike. Fear paralyzed her, making her hesitant to rise fully back into the open air.
After launching its fiery breath, the Wyvern flapped its massive wings to gain altitude, hovering menacingly above the battlefield. The creature twisted its head, seemingly confused as to how this strange, metal beast had dodged its attack.
Inside the turret, the crew scrambled for a plan.
Leo was the first to speak. "Sire Ivan, a Wyvern strikes us from the heavens. May I implore thee, what course of action shall we take next?"
Jusis quickly chimed in. "It is impossible for us to hit that thing with the main gun. Should we just keep running?"
Ivan kept his eyes glued to the driver's periscope. He needed to retain his composure. "Hey Lei, can you take that thing down with your magic?"
Leila's face sank. She responded with a small, defeated voice. "I cannot. My magic is too weak against its corrupted scales. I might be able to hit it once or twice, but my spells will surely just bounce off." She nervously rubbed her thumbs together. "I am so sorry, Mister Ivan."
"What should we do now, Ivan?" Jusis asked again, his panic rising.
Sgt. Ivan Scarface did not answer immediately. Down in the driver's compartment, his mind raced. If they only had a dedicated anti-aircraft gun, they might stand a chance. Since Leila's mana was ineffective, relying on her spells was out of the question. He had to find a way to kill it himself. He popped his hatch open. The cold night air rushed into the cabin, but as he glanced up, the massive 120mm main gun barrel was hovering directly over his head, locking him in. The turret was facing straight forward at twelve o'clock. He could not even see the Wyvern Leila was talking about.
Frustrated, he slid his hand down to grab his personal rifle. As he reached into the tight space beside his seat, his hand bumped into something else. It was cold metal, but it had a distinct, cylindrical shape unlike the flat armor plates surrounding him. Keeping one hand on the steering yoke, he felt the object in the dark. His eyes suddenly widened in realization.
"This is it!" Ivan exclaimed.
He pressed his intercom switch. "Leila, what exactly does this Wyvern look like?"
"It is a huge flying beast," she described breathlessly. "It is corrupted and completely engulfed in green fire."
"Did you just say engulfed in fire?" Ivan asked, a grin forming on his scarred face. "Like, it is extremely hot right now, correct?"
"Y-yes, it is burning hot. Why do you ask?" Leila tilted her head, thoroughly confused by the odd question.
"Perfect," Ivan declared.
Hearing his confident tone, the crew inside the turret exchanged puzzled glances, trying to figure out what their commander was planning.
"Hey! Keep me updated on that flying bastard. Keep your eyes locked on it," Ivan ordered.
The young mage was still terrified of the towering monster, but she knew she had to do her part. "Alright, Mister."
As she prepared to rise out of the hatch again, Leo gently grabbed her hand. "Sister," he whispered, his scarred, rugged face filled with profound worry.
Leila tapped her brother's thick armor, offering a reassuring smile. "It is fine, Leo. I still have enough mana to fend it off if it gets too close."
"Using your magic will not be necessary," Ivan interrupted over the comms. "Just keep tracking that monster."
"But Sire, if that beast gets too close, what shall my sister do to protect herself?" Leo asked protectively.
"Then Leila will use the heavy machine gun mounted on the roof. You can operate that weapon, Lei. I already taught you how to use the .50 caliber, right?"
"Y-yes, Mister Ivan," Leila answered, though her voice shook with hesitation. Slowly, she rose fully out of the commander's hatch and grasped the metal handles of the gun. She glanced up and immediately locked eyes with the hovering Wyvern. Its massive leather wings flapped aggressively, sending strong gusts of wind down over the tank.
"Mister Ivan, the Wyvern is just staring at us from above," she reported.
Sensing her gaze, the Wyvern let out a piercing screech and began preparing for another diving attack.
"Do exactly what you did earlier," Sgt. Scarface instructed calmly. "I will keep this tank running. Just tell me its distance, its location, and when it dives."
"Understood!"
"Now, I only need to have the proper distance to attack it," Ivan muttered, mostly to himself.
"Did he just say he is going to attack it?" Jusis asked, his eyes wide.
"Hmm," Leo hummed thoughtfully. "Perhaps Sire Ivan is preparing to wield another unworldly weapon from his arsenal."
"Ivan! The Wyvern is diving again! We need to evade!" Leila screamed over the wind.
"Roger that, Lei!" Ivan twisted the throttle, throwing the heavy Abrams into a sharp evasive turn.
The Wyvern plummeted toward the tank at terrifying speed, its talons extended for the kill. It was just meters away from the metal hull when suddenly…
BRRRTTT!
A deafening burst of gunfire erupted. The heavy .50 caliber rounds slammed into the Wyvern's corrupted scales, forcing the beast to abort its dive and pull violently back up into the sky. Leila gripped the handles of the heavy machine gun, her heart pounding against her ribs as hot smoke poured from the barrel.
"So this is the power of this weapon," she whispered, utterly flabbergasted. With just the pull of a trigger, this metal instrument had completely overpowered a monster. The heavy rounds had actually damaged the creature's armored hide.
Highly agitated, the Wyvern screeched and tried to swoop down on the tank once more, only to be met with another brutal stream of heavy bullets and glowing tracer rounds.
"Keep suppressing that Wyvern, Leila!" Ivan yelled over the gunfire. "Let me know when we are at least five hundred meters away from it!"
"Okay!" she yelled back, squeezing the trigger again.
Down in the hull, Ivan grabbed the heavy, tube-like object from beside his seat. He engaged the throttle lock, allowing the tank to continue driving straight on its own. With the massive main gun barrel still hovering directly over his hatch at twelve o'clock, Ivan was forced to slide out sideways. He crawled out from underneath the heavy gun tube, dragging the weapon with him onto the sloped front armor. From his position on the hull, he looked up and saw Leila bravely firing the roof-mounted machine gun into the night sky, holding the beast at bay.
The flying creature twisted and turned, trying to evade Leila's relentless gunfire. But then, a brilliant flash of light and a streak of white smoke erupted from the front of the tank.
The beast's primitive instincts screamed of immense danger. The Wyvern immediately turned and tried to fly away from the incoming threat. But the guided projectile was far too fast. High up in the dark clouds, the monster flapped its wings frantically, relentlessly chased by the burning light.
Ultimately, the missile found its heat source. A massive, catastrophic explosion of fire erupted in the middle of the sky. The shockwave shattered the clouds, and the once-proud master of the air was killed in an instant.
Leila stopped firing, her jaw dropping as she watched the burning, lifeless carcass of the Wyvern plummet to the earth. She lowered her gaze to the front of the tank.
There, kneeling on the sloped armor while the tank rumbled forward, was Ivan. Resting on his shoulder was a smoking, empty tube.
Sgt. Scarface had just used a Stinger missile.