MBD | Chapter 3

Everhart threw a piece of metal nearby to draw their attention. The moment everyone turned their heads, he swiftly fired his gun from above.

‘Damn it, I’m not used to this gun…!’

A few shots missed their mark, and immediate retaliation followed. Everhart grabbed the railing and jumped down.

“It’s Everhart!”

“Kill him!”

As he closed the distance, Everhart used his half-removed coat as a shield, blocking the incoming paint rounds. It was a tactic that would have been impossible if this were real bullets.

In an instant, he took down the remaining two enemies and took a breath—only for a shadow to lunge at him from the side.

Everhart instinctively swung the butt of his rifle at the figure.

Kaang—!

He definitely hit them, yet the impact felt like striking solid steel.

‘Right… Magic Shield!’

It was a technique where the caster strengthened their magic, forming a protective field around their body for a brief moment.

A skilled magician’s shield could easily block even bullets.

I Reincarnated as a Trash Soldier in Another World wasn’t purely a military novel—magic was a part of the setting. Most soldiers possessed some level of magical ability, Everhart included.

Logically, he knew this. But after inheriting the memories of a modern soldier, his body still struggled to adapt to the different combat style.

His opponent wasted no time taking advantage of that hesitation, throwing a powerful punch. The heavy sound of air splitting filled his ears.

Everhart ducked low to dodge and tried to counterattack, but his opponent was no pushover—a hulking mass of muscle.

Fwaaash—

At that moment, the lights inside the objective base blazed to full brightness.

Someone had turned them up to the max. Everhart immediately backed off, increasing the distance.

One of the ceiling lights shattered, spilling light directly above him and his opponent.

Everhart instinctively turned his head away before the glare could blind him. Then, twisting his body, he focused on the shadowy figure that had attacked him.

As his darkened vision adjusted, the man’s face came into view.

Everhart immediately recognized him.

“Karl Heinrich…!”

Everhart’s eyes subtly flicked toward the blind spot Heinrich had attacked from.

To his allies, it was a perfectly visible position. But to an enemy, it was completely out of sight—an ideal ambush spot.

‘Judging by the situation, he must have jumped in right away. And yet he already grasped the battlefield layout so perfectly?’

If Everhart had reacted just a second slower, his Vital Guard would have been hit. Even though it didn’t happen, just imagining it sent a chill down his spine.

Karl Heinrich’s gun was already loaded with paint rounds.

‘He knew I’d enter from here.’

Before Kang Woojin took over, Everhart wasn’t physically skilled enough to overturn an unfavorable battle situation. Even now, he was pushing himself to the limit.

Yet Heinrich had immediately predicted Everhart would infiltrate from the second floor through the outer window—and had positioned himself accordingly.

‘Is this the villain buff at work?’

A well-crafted villain was often just as powerful as the protagonist, if not more. Seeing Karl Heinrich in action, Everhart felt it firsthand.

Still gripping his gun, Everhart slowly took a step back, his eyes fixed on Heinrich.

His opponent had neatly slicked-back hair, piercing black eyes, and—unlike Everhart’s leaner frame—a broad, powerful build that perfectly fit a soldier.

‘Damn. He’s ridiculously good-looking.

‘I don’t remember the novel describing his face like this.’

A military fantasy novel might not focus much on appearances, which makes sense. But Karl Heinrich was the kind of guy whose sheer masculinity could make even the most rugged men acknowledge it.

On top of that, just looking at his face, it was impossible to figure out what he was thinking.

Facing Karl Heinrich, Everhart was absolutely relieved that he hadn’t chosen to go head-to-head with him.

And for good reason—Karl Heinrich’s gaze was nothing like that of some amateur officer cadet.

His grip on his gun tightened instinctively. To be honest, getting to this point had seemed easy.

No matter how skilled Karl Heinrich was, experience and age weren’t things that could be ignored. There was even a saying that officer cadets weren’t real soldiers. That assumption had made Everhart underestimate him.

It was arrogance. A fatal miscalculation.

‘How the hell is that the gaze of an officer cadet? Those are the eyes of a monster.’

Just from his eyes alone, one could believe he was a trained assassin who had taken many lives.

If his first attack had been blocked, Karl Heinrich should’ve at least lost some composure or shown some hesitation. But he was still calm.

Tak.

Everhart’s backward steps came to a sudden stop. He had bumped into a steel beam right behind him.

Bang! Tatatatat!

Bullets whizzed through the air from behind cover. There were several hidden enemies taking shots.

“Son of a bitch!”

“Die, Everhart!”

Completely immersed in the fight, the hidden enemies started firing at Everhart with paint rounds like crazy.

But no matter how many they fired, those paint rounds couldn’t put Everhart out of commission. Some of the bullets were blocked by the magic shield he had deployed.

The rest of the bullets hit his body, but as long as they didn’t strike a vital spot, he wouldn’t be eliminated.

That didn’t mean they didn’t hurt, though. They weren’t real bullets, but they stung enough to make the impact area go momentarily numb.

‘Like hell this is a big deal.’

Having built up a tolerance for pain, Everhart quickly adjusted his aim and counterattacked. His paint rounds shot toward the enemies.

The opponents had assumed there was only one shooter and that his ammo was limited, so they hesitated to take cover. A little too late, one of them realized he had taken a hit in the vital guard zone and let out a sigh of frustration.

While Everhart was keeping the enemies in check, Karl Heinrich fired at Everhart as well.

Everhart twisted his body as much as possible, using his other arm to block his vitals with his vital guard, all while returning fire with one hand and widening the distance.

His shots landed cleanly on Karl Heinrich’s unit members below.

“Ugh!”

“What the hell? Why is he so good at shooting?”

The squad members panicked as their allies dropped in an instant. But it wasn’t like Everhart was getting off scot-free either.

‘Is this for real?!’

This was just a mock battle, so he was still standing. If these were real bullets, he’d already be riddled with holes and on his way to the afterlife.

Tak!

Karl Heinrich, noticing that Everhart was getting ready to defend, immediately closed the distance, initiating close-quarters combat.

Karl Heinrich’s sharp low kick dug into Everhart’s body, but Everhart twisted his torso to evade the attack and pressed as close as possible to Karl Heinrich, making it harder for others to fire at him. He clenched his fist tightly.

While preparing the dummy and infiltrating this place alone, Everhart had done a lot of thinking.

Karl Heinrich despised the Five Great Families. Everhart was the eldest son of the Friedrich family, one of those Five Great Families.

Karl Heinrich disliked Everhart. To be more precise—

‘He doesn’t care about me at all.’

In the original story, Everhart graduated and was assigned to the same unit as Karl Heinrich. But in Karl Heinrich’s narrative, Everhart was barely mentioned—just a passing line or two.

That attitude had likely carried over from their academy days.

But the current Everhart needed to survive. And to do that, he had to grab the attention of this man who had absolutely no interest in him. No matter how he thought about it, this was the best method.

How?

Smack!

How else? Just hit him first!

Despite having an opportunity to fire a paint round, Everhart instead swung his fist straight into Karl Heinrich’s face.

Fistfights always leave an impression on men.

…Or at least, that was one reason.

More than that, Everhart genuinely wanted to punch Karl Heinrich Stein.

Even if he hadn’t personally witnessed it, Karl Heinrich had utterly destroyed the lives of Everhart and his family.

At least, in the original story, that’s what had happened.

That didn’t mean the Five Great Families, who were corrupting Eisenwald from the inside, were in the right. They were as good as parasites. But it wasn’t like Everhart had chosen to be born into such a family. He had just been born, and his family happened to be nobles—was that a crime?

“Huff… Huff…”

Everhart’s all-out punch left a mark on Karl Heinrich’s handsome face.

It seemed he had bitten his lip, as fresh blood seeped from the inside of his slightly parted mouth. Of course, compared to Everhart, who was covered in bruises from all the paint rounds, this was nothing.

Everhart belatedly raised his gun. He knew it was too late, but he still had the fleeting hope that he might at least land a hit on the vital guard at the same time.

“Serves you righ—ugh!”

Bang!

Right before his eyes, Karl Heinrich’s uniform flared up. Just like Everhart had done earlier, Karl Heinrich used his clothes to block the paint round.

For a brief moment, Everhart braced himself, expecting an impact to his vital guard. His body tensed instinctively.

But in the blink of an eye, Karl Heinrich was right in front of him.

Without hesitation, Karl Heinrich’s trained fist struck Everhart’s abdomen.

His body, already battered by paint rounds, now took a merciless punch, leaving him unable to even let out a groan.

Everhart’s thin frame wavered as blood spewed from his mouth, but Karl Heinrich showed no intention of going easy on him. He pushed Everhart down and climbed on top of him.

Even as he fell, Everhart never let go of his gun. He saw this as an opportunity and quickly raised his arm, aiming his pistol.

But when he pulled the trigger, all he heard was a hollow metallic click, click.

Damn it.

“Cough…! Ugh…”