The Solomon Islands.
Guadalcanal.
Fierce artillery fire thundered incessantly, sounding as if it meant to tear the very world apart.
Listening to the relentless detonations ringing in his ears, Liu Ren barked into his field radio, "What the hell is Position Number Three doing? Why haven't you broken through yet? Tell me, can you fight or not? If you can't, pull the hell back, and I'll go up there myself!"
As soon as Liu Ren finished, an urgent voice crackled over the radio: "Colonel, Japanese reinforcements landed under cover of darkness! We're engaged with the Ichiki Detachment right now. Enemy numbers are currently unknown!"
Hearing the explanation, Liu Ren froze for a moment, then looked up in bewilderment. "The Ichiki Detachment? Wait... why does that name sound so damn familiar?"
As Liu Ren racked his brain, a name suddenly flashed through his mind: Kiyonao Ichiki!
The bastard who had used a missing soldier as an excuse to provoke hostilities and manufacture the Marco Polo Bridge Incident!
"Hold your defensive line immediately and wait until I get there!"
Barking the order to the commander on the other end, Liu Ren spun around without another word and shouted, "Move it! Everyone, haul ass toward Position Number Three!"
No sooner had Liu Ren spoken than his customized Cadillac roared to life like a terrestrial beast.
"Damn it, why is he suddenly heading to the front line?!"
Seeing Liu Ren tear away, Howard and Forrest were dumbstruck.
Wasn't he the commander of the entire combat brigade? Why on earth would he want to charge into the front lines?
"Fuck! Quick, after him!"
Roaring at the top of his lungs, Howard hurried his men along.
While the soldiers from the provisional command post rushed like madmen toward Position No. 3, Kiyonao Ichiki was still laughing triumphantly.
He had completely held off the fiercely armed Americans, buying invaluable time for the follow-up relief forces.
"*Yoshi*! Excellent! Splendid spirit, everyone!"
Clad in his military uniform, Ichiki rested his hand smugly on the hilt of his officer's sword.
"As long as you maintain such fighting spirit, the so-called American troops will prove utterly vulnerable! We shall show those navy fools that the Imperial Japanese Army alone is invincible!"
Shouting with fierce pride, Ichiki had no inkling of what manner of "monstrosity" he was about to face.
Holding Position No. 3, several American soldiers were thoroughly baffled. "Major, there really aren't that many enemies out there. Why did we have to halt the attack?"
"Don't ask me, I don't know either! But the colonel is on his way personally!"
Hearing the soldiers around him, the officer massaged his temples in frustration.
Ever since their brigade had been attached to the 1st Marine Division, they had held provisional ranks, but this was undeniably the first time Liu Ren had ever taken the initiative to order a halt to an offensive.
"Tenno Heika, Banzai!"
Drawing his katana, Kiyonao Ichiki bellowed with fanatic fervor.
"Tenno Heika, Banzai!"
Roaring in unison, the Japanese soldiers worked themselves into an extreme frenzy.
Just as they prepared to charge, however, Liu Ren arrived at the battlefield in his motorized convoy.
Raising his binoculars, Liu Ren peered into the pitch-black night. "Damn it, I can't see a fucking thing!"
Before the words had even fully left his mouth, Liu Ren seized the field radio. "Yes, it's me. Blanket bombardment right in front of Position Number Three. Yes, start immediately!"
The moment Liu Ren hung up, shells shrieked across the distant sky.
*Whistle—screeech—boom!*
Streaking like falling stars through the night sky, blooming fireballs from the detonations instantly illuminated the terrain ahead.
Raising his binoculars once more, Liu Ren caught sight of the Ichiki Detachment's battle flag and roared, "It really is that bastard!"
Seeing the ferocious grin spreading across Liu Ren's face, Howard asked in confusion, "Someone you know on the other side?"
"That's right—and he's about to get well done!"
Flashing a cruel smirk, Liu Ren turned to his side. "Open fire immediately! Spare no shells! Bombard them until that goddamn Ichiki Detachment is wiped off the face of the earth!"
Hearing Liu Ren's command, the man beside him snapped to attention and shouted, "Yes, Colonel!"
Along the path of the charge, Kiyonao Ichiki was screaming madly to rally his men's morale.
Yet in the very next second, a downpour of shells crashed down, blowing the charging Japanese into utter disarray.
And it was far from over. Just as Ichiki assumed the Americans were merely conducting a probing barrage, an even more terrifying tempest descended.
When two thousand Japanese soldiers charged blindly into the most heavily armed, ferociously equipped combat brigade in the entire American military, what awaited them? Ichiki answered that question with his life: blown to smithereens, scattered so far and wide that it would take a seven-day wake just to scrape up the pieces!
*Whistle—boom! Whistle—boom!*
Wave after wave of shrieking shells screamed in from the distance, relentlessly battering the Japanese formation and turning the ground into a crimson slaughterhouse.
Watching the flying mud mingle with shredded flesh and blood, Liu Ren's eyes gleamed coldly. For a bastard like this, letting him draw breath for even a single extra second was an insult.
"Look out, Commander!"
Spotting an incoming shell about to strike, an adjutant lunged forward desperately.
*Boom!*
In the thunderous detonation, the adjutant was blown clean into the air, his lower half obliterated.
Such was the wrath of Silver Rock Arms' howitzers—showing neither mercy nor pity, driven only by the sheer madness to tear the enemy to shreds.
For caliber was truth, and firepower was justice!
"Watanabe! Watanabe!"
Clawing his way out of the dirt in sheer desperation, Ichiki's face was pale with horror.
His men had already been torn to pieces beneath the blanket of artillery fire.
Surrounded by agonizing screams, Ichiki's sole, bitter regret was underestimating the Americans' firepower.
To think the enemy had been concealing such terrifying devastation all along—how utterly cowardly and despicable!
"Commander... I'm sorry... I can no longer serve the Empe—"
Eyes wide, Adjutant Watanabe opened his mouth in despair, as though he had ten thousand words left unsaid, before slumping lifelessly.
Before Ichiki could even recover from his grief, the artillery barrage abruptly ceased. Armored Cadillacs swept across the battlefield, leading soldiers directly onto the front line.
Surveying the groaning Japanese casualties scattered across the ground, the soldiers of the combat brigade showed no quarter, raising their rifles and pulling the triggers.
"Bastards! I demand a duel with your commander! I will prove myself as a warrior!"
Hysterical and seeing that he was surrounded on all sides, Ichiki roared in fury.
Just as Ichiki finished shouting, a pitch-black armored Cadillac drew to a halt.
Stepping out of the vehicle, Liu Ren looked at Ichiki with an amused smirk. "I poured all that firepower into you, and you're still breathing? Talk about bad luck!"
"*Baka!*"
Glaring furiously at Liu Ren, Ichiki bellowed and drew the katana from his waist.
Forrest moved to draw his sidearm, but Liu Ren held up a hand to stop him. "No, no, no. He's mine."
With a vicious grin, Liu Ren pulled an axe from inside the vehicle. He fixed his gaze on Ichiki. "I'm going to hack off your head, take it back to your hometown, and make you watch as I butcher every last member of your family..."
"Good lord... he sounds like a demon!"
Hearing Liu Ren's venomous threat, both Howard and Forrest broke into a cold sweat.
Yet as Liu Ren stepped forward with his axe, Ichiki snarled, "Come on!"
"Fight! Good! Waaagh!"
Bursting out from the side with wild excitement, a blood-drenched Orc Lad raised a heavy Gatling gun and brought it crashing straight down onto Ichiki's head.
Watching this in stunned silence, Liu Ren didn't even have time to yell "Hold your fire!" before Ichiki was smashed into a pulp.
Eyes wide, Liu Ren marched forward in disbelief. Looking down at what was left of Ichiki splattered across the dirt, he roared in fury, "Are you out of your goddamn mind?! That was mine! Mine!"
"Humie, I reckon you was leavin' him for me!"
Shouting over his shoulder as distant gunfire caught his ear, the Orc Lad charged off in high spirits.
Watching the Orc Lad rampage recklessly across Guadalcanal, Liu Ren couldn't resist roaring after him, "Get the hell back here, you bastard!"
Chapter 61