Kraken was a devious bastard. Rather than issuing a direct order, he used a single remark to corner Yamamoto Kamimine, forcing him to accept the mission voluntarily.
Rage burned through Yamamoto. He wanted nothing more than to draw his sidearm and blow the sinister schemer's brains out.
Yet if he refused, he would be branded a coward who shrank from battle. Once that reputation got out, how could he survive in Ukraine?
Worse, if word leaked to the international community, he would become a laughingstock, suffering a total social death far worse than being killed.
Driven by pride and arrogance, Yamamoto held his head high and said coldly, "We soldiers of the Empire are brave and fearless. There is no mission we dare not take, and no objective we cannot achieve. I accept this task."
With that, he turned, leapt off the ruins, and strode down the slope with broad, confident steps to assemble the forty-seven volunteers of the Sakura Detachment.
Lynx scoffed with disdain. "Yamamoto Kamimine? That reminds me of the Kamikaze pilots in World War II. After the war, we Americans neutered their little island nation and turned them into obedient dogs. I wonder how well they can fight now."
Titan, also an American, shrugged. "Don't underestimate them, brother. My grandfather fought those Japanese bastards on Iwo Jima. According to him, they were a pack of rabid, brutal dogs. They'd charge at night clutching satchel charges in suicide attacks. They had zero regard for human life—their own or anyone else's; it was all worthless in their eyes.
"My grandfather always said the best way to handle them is to be tougher, crazier, and more reckless than they are. Never let your guard down just because you think they're dogs. A mad dog bites, and it'll kill you just the same."
Lynx let out a scornful smirk and offered no reply.
Kraken remained expressionless. In his eyes, the Japanese volunteers were dogs, and the Western volunteers were no different.
NATO was using Ukraine as a pawn, wanting Ukrainians to exhaust and grind down Russia. Why shouldn't he use Western volunteers as cannon fodder in return?
Kraken picked up his encrypted radio, called headquarters, and requested tank support.
***
At the foot of the slope, inside an eight-meter-wide passageway, the forty-seven men of the Sakura Detachment stood in five ranks.
The Sakura Detachment was organized as a company, divided into five assault teams, each composed of two fireteams.
The leader of Assault Team One was Sato Kenichi; Team Two was led by Takahashi Yuta, Team Three by Nakamura Hideki, Team Four by Matsumoto Makoto, and Team Five by Watanabe Akinari.
Without exception, every man in the Sakura Detachment hailed from Japan's most radical far-right factions. They had not joined the International Legion in Ukraine to aid the country, but out of virulent anti-Soviet and anti-Russian hatred.
Back home, they could only spout rhetoric on the internet. In Ukraine, things were different: they could actually pull the trigger and legally kill Russians.
Yamamoto Kamimine glanced up the slope at Kraken, Lynx, and Titan, then lowered his voice. "You should all know that those white pigs view us as cannon fodder, as a joke, as expendables. They look down on us.
"Heh. During World War II, our Empire fought an asymmetric war in the Pacific against the United States. Our national power was far inferior, and our weapons were vastly outmatched, but our ancestors never retreated. Driven by their resolve to embrace death, they fought bloody battles against the Americans on Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and Guadalcanal. Every step forward cost the Americans lives.
"Even today, they don't dare forget the names of those islands. They make movies and write books to commemorate those harrowing battles. Why? Because they were terrified. An opponent who once struck terror into their hearts is one they will remember for the rest of their lives."
Unconcealed pride resonated through Yamamoto's voice.
The Japanese volunteers felt equally proud. After all, they had once been a great world power, capable of going toe-to-toe with the American superpower in World War II. What did defeat matter?
There was honor in that defeat!
Yamamoto continued, "Now the whole world views our nation as a vassal of America, believing we no longer know how to fight. They are wrong. It is our state that has been shackled and suppressed, not us true warriors!
"Today, we will remind them once again: our ancestors commanded fear and respect from the West, and so will we.
"Target: the Laboratory Building. Take it! Do you have the confidence?"
As the words left his mouth, a surge of adrenaline rushed through the volunteers. Their eyes grew fierce, their fighting spirit soaring.
Sato Kenichi gripped his AK-74, licked his thick lips, and an unhinged, twisted grin spread across his sinister face.
"Sakura, we can hardly wait."
The others raised their weapons in defiance, showing no fear.
Yamamoto nodded with satisfaction. Checking his watch, he said in a low voice, "Once the operation begins, Team Five will fire smoke grenades and lay down suppressive fire with the heavy machine gun and RPGs. When Teams One, Two, Three, and Four breach the building, Team Five will immediately swing around to assault the main entrance on the east side.
"Teams One and Two will enter through the rear door on the west side and secure the stairwell first. Teams Three and Four will advance to the second floor, seal the stairwell to the third floor, and then clear out the enemies on the second.
"Clear room by room, floor by floor. Seal each room as soon as it's cleared. Advance upward only after confirming the entire level is clear. No skipping floors or cross-cutting."
Having outlined the tactics, he began inspecting equipment.
"All teams, check weapons and comms frequencies. Move out in sequence in three minutes."
***
Soon, Team Five's leader, Watanabe Akinari, emerged from the tunnel leading ten Japanese volunteers equipped with RPGs and an NSV heavy machine gun.
Four men carried the machine gun while six lugged ammunition. Their movements were swift and well-coordinated.
Watanabe signaled with his hand and yelled, "Fire smoke!"
Five volunteers set down their ammo boxes, raised their AK-74s, and fired ten GP-25 smoke grenades in rapid succession toward the Laboratory Building.
Behind a section of broken wall facing the building, the machine-gun team quickly assembled and mounted their weapon, feeding in the ammo belt.
"Fire!" Watanabe roared.
The gunner slammed the firing spade, producing a deafening roar that sounded like a heavy diesel engine violently backfiring. A barrage of 12.7×108mm rounds ripped toward the Laboratory Building.
The belt was loaded with three B-32 armor-piercing incendiary rounds to one BZT-44 tracer, sending glaring red light trails streaking through the air.
As the heavy machine gun laid down suppressive fire, six Japanese volunteers hoisted RPG-7 launchers loaded with thermobaric and tandem HEAT warheads.
***
Inside the second room from the south on the second floor of the Laboratory Building, Chen Ge knelt on one knee behind a window, clutching a 60mm mortar tube. Beside him sat an open crate packed with 60mm mortar rounds.
Bull and nine K-soldiers stood nearby on either side, watching wide-eyed.
The moment gunfire erupted, Chen Ge slid a shell fitted with a Charge 0 propellant increment down the muzzle.
*Thump!* The mortar round blasted out, tracing an arc through the air before bursting precisely 2.2 meters above Team Five's heavy machine-gun crew.
Three Japanese soldiers were killed instantly, and the machine gun fell silent. Chen Ge made a slight adjustment to the barrel and dropped three more rounds in rapid succession.
*Boom! Boom! Boom!* The explosions wiped out all six Japanese soldiers aiming RPGs at the Laboratory Building. Chen Ge grabbed the mortar tube and the ammo crate, leaping to his feet. "Fall back into the adjacent rooms for cover!"
Bull and the K-soldiers scrambled through the breach in the wall, diving into the flanking rooms.
Three seconds later, a 105mm tandem HEAT rocket streaked out from the ruins of the annex. The gunner's aim was slightly off, and the warhead slammed into the wall to the left of the window frame.
*Boom!* The window frame and half a meter of brick wall collapsed inward simultaneously, as though rammed by an enormous battering ram. A high-temperature metallic jet punched through the brickwork and sprayed across the interior, gouging craters into the plaster as dust and debris erupted.
Anyone left in that room would have died instantly.
When the blast cleared, a jagged hole roughly forty centimeters wide yawned through the wall. The bricks rimming the breach were scorched black, displaying distinct melting along the fractures.
In the next room, smoke and dust billowed through the breach. The way Bull and the K-soldiers looked at Chen Ge had transformed entirely—they were looking at him as if he were a living god!
No wonder this man was their commander!
Chapter 60