"Ah, Peter's here..."
The four soldiers at one of the steam ballista emplacements on the city wall brightened when they saw Zhang Tie arrive. During these days of defending the city, Zhang Tie had already become a "master gunner" operating the steam ballista on this stretch of wall. Every day, he took shifts with the other soldiers operating emplacement S137 on Moge City's northern wall.
When other ballista gunners operated this medium- to close-range emplacement, it was extremely difficult to kill even a single demonized puppet due to the creatures' formidable vitality. With their terrifying undead traits, unless their heads were blown apart instantly, they would keep charging even if a ballista bolt pierced their bodies or tore off their arms and legs.
Seven days earlier, the gunner operating this emplacement had spent too long at his post. His arms had been shaken out of their joints and severely bruised. Zhang Tie had happened to be nearby. After saying, "Let me do it," he had taken the gunner's seat. With his exceptional ability, he quickly earned the recognition of the other soldiers at the emplacement and became a special auxiliary member of S137.
S137 and the surrounding emplacements were under the command of a ballista battalion from the Seventh City Defense Regiment, which belonged to the Saipan Republic's Moge City garrison. Ordinarily, someone outside the ballista battalion—especially an auxiliary member like Zhang Tie bearing the identity of a ranger—would never be allowed to sit in the gunner's seat. But at a time like this, no one cared about such things. As long as they could kill Devil Race enemies, that was enough. Seeing Zhang Tie approach, the gunner who had been sitting at the ballista immediately jumped down in relief and yielded his position to Zhang Tie. "Give those bastards