A Cave Filled with Flesh and Blood

It had to be said—nobody understood the Wilante better than the Wilante themselves. Having once served as a "millenary" in the Eastern Legion, Vannus knew the temperaments of the upper brass all too well. Watching the position on Broken Blade Mountain hold out despite repeated assaults, Lium, seated on the bridge, grew restless and cursed under his breath. "What on earth is that bastard Modlin dawdling around for!" The 2nd Millennium had stormed into the caverns quite a while ago, yet after hours of intense fighting, the position remained untaken. A steady stream of wounded was carried out, followed immediately by fresh troops thrown in. In the blink of an eye, the entire millennium had undergone a full rotation, and even the purge teams attached to it were nearly wiped out! Confronted with such a scene, doubts began creeping into Lium's mind. Crazy as it sounded, he could not shake the feeling that these mutants were letting them inside on purpose... What in the bloody hell was this? Was that really an idea those brainless, muscle-bound brutes could come up with? Yet even if he suspected something was amiss with the mutants, expecting him to order a retreat was out of the question. If he pulled back now, wouldn't his earlier words come back to blow up in his face? At the thought of his earlier call, Lium's face flushed crimson. He could practically see the sneers plastered across the faces of those Ideal City freeloaders. Even if only for the honor of the Wilante, he could not retreat under any circumstances! His clenched teeth ground together with a sharp crunch, snapping the wooden stick between them in two. Lium slammed his right fist onto the chair's armrest, turned to the adjutant beside him, and barked through gritted teeth, "Notify General Modlin! If necessary, he may deploy the 1st Millennium on Black Cloud Mountain!" "I authorize him to commit two full millenniums! Whatever it takes, whatever the cost, he must take that peak for me tonight!" ... At the same time, atop Black Cloud Mountain, men were bustling in chaotic clamor. Donning matte-gray steel helmets and black ballistic armor, fully equipped soldiers moved shoulder to shoulder. With thunderous momentum, they strode out of the trenches and bomb shelters, pouring down the mountainside like an unbridled torrent. These were warriors of the 1st Millennium, deployed to the front lines just tonight to relieve the 2nd Millennium originally stationed there. In fact, it was precisely under the guise of this rotation that Lium had slipped the assault force off the defensive line without alerting his allies, executing tonight's offensive in secret. Now, however, a single millennium seemed insufficient to crack this tough nut, a turn of events none of them had anticipated. Seeing the vanguard pushed to the brink, General Modlin had no choice but to throw the defensive troops on the position into the fray as well, leaving behind only two centuries to hold the line. Yet for these bellicose young men, there was not the slightest inkling of danger. Watching their comrades valiantly slaughtering the enemy at the front, those waiting on the mountain had been itching for action, wishing they could charge in immediately to teach the mutants an unforgettable lesson. Navigating the rugged mountain path, it did not take long for the force to reach the forward edge of the battlefield. A centurion strode briskly to the front of the lead century and roared at the top of his rough, booming voice, "Our brothers in the 2nd Millennium have run into a bit of trouble! Now, we're going to solve it for them!" "For the honor of the Wilante!" "For the glory of Triumph City!" "For His Majesty the Marshal!" "Follow me! Go crush those disgusting, filthy roaches! Everyone behind you will bear witness to your valor!" Fanatic fervor blazed in every pair of eyes. Every helmeted soldier burst into a blood-boiling roar. "Kill—!" Amidst that deafening war cry, the entire century surged up the mountain with unstoppable momentum. At the very same time, dozens of stretchers brushed past them, hastily carried down along the jagged mountain trail. No one spared them a glance. At this moment, they held only a single thought: to pin those green bastards to the cave floor and snuff them out! Just as the Wilante were consumed by bloodlust, Enterprise Command, monitoring the battlefield via drones, finally spotted the anomaly. The troop numbers the Wilante were committing to the battle seemed completely off. Staring at the holographic display with a grim face, Yun Song's heart skipped a beat, and he blurted out, "They've mobilized their defensive garrison on the mountain!" A commotion rippled through the command center. The adjutant standing beside Lin Shangwen widened his eyes in disbelief. "Has that Lium lost his mind?!" "When have those lunatics ever been sane..." Squeezing the words through clenched teeth, Lin Shangwen looked at him darkly. "Contact the Alliance Administrator!" "Yes, sir!" The adjutant nodded hurriedly. Just as he was about to instruct the communications officer, a transmission request from the Heart of Steel popped up on the screen. Without hesitation, Lin Shangwen ordered it connected immediately. After a brief latency, that deep azure suit of power armor appeared in the center of the display. Codenamed "Order," the armor seemed to embody order itself; merely looking upon it stirred an instinctual sense of reassurance. Yet Yun Song felt that far more than the heavy power armor, it was that dignified yet approachable face that imparted confidence and security. It was an indescribable intuition. In that man's eyes, he could glimpse the silhouette of a new era. He had felt this way ever since their very first meeting... The command room quieted down unconsciously. Looking at Division Commander Lin across the video link, Chu Guang spoke in a quiet, measured voice. "During the few days I was away, you were all a bit too aggressive." Hearing the trace of displeasure beneath the words, Lin Shangwen felt a prickle of embarrassment and gave a dry cough. "...Let's first figure out how to resolve the situation." Many of the internal friction points within the coalition were historical baggage, not something that could be settled overnight. Chu Guang clearly understood this as well. He nodded, choosing not to press the issue of blame for tonight, and went straight to the point. "I need you to deploy a Cloud Dragonfly strike wing to hold on standby on the west side of Black Cloud Mountain." Lin Shangwen frowned slightly. "To cover the Wilante's retreat?" Chu Guang shook his head. "Expecting them to retreat is probably wishful thinking, but we cannot afford to lose the position on Black Cloud Mountain." Lin Shangwen hesitated, eyeing him with a hint of disbelief. "You're saying the mutants might launch a counteroffensive?" "Why wouldn't they? They've already learned to lure the enemy deep. I have good reason to suspect the Torch didn't just teach them biology, but also communication technologies and command tactics." Pausing briefly, Chu Guang continued, "Since we can't save them, we should at least make their sacrifice count for something." Lin Shangwen's expression grew solemn, and he nodded firmly. "Understood. The Cloud Dragonfly strike wing will depart within half an hour." Chu Guang gave a simple nod of acknowledgment. "Good. Make it as quick as possible." ... Meanwhile, in another world, the player forum of Wasteland OL's official website was bustling with excitement. It was always like this whenever a major battle loomed. Pinging people in chat groups wasn't enough; to ensure total coverage, corps commanders usually made a shout-out on the forum as well. Commander Spring: "@Storm Corps All, we've got work, boys!" Kakarot: "Roger!" Catching Ghosts at Graves: "Got it!" I'm the Darkest: "Awoooo!" Battlefield Atmosphere Group: "Son of a bitch! Envious as fuck! T.T" Jieyan: "Hahaha! My heart goes out to Battlefield Guy!" Yelena: "Why feel bad for him? His father-in-law is just keeping him on a tight leash. (Funny)" Battlefield Atmosphere Group: "??? What the hell?" Jieyan: "...Sigh, my bad, spoke too soon." "..." Following Brother Spring's shout, players of the Storm Corps donned their helmets and logged back in, assembling toward their designated combat positions according to their prearranged plans. Just as the Alliance and Enterprise were preparing to put out the fire, the clash between the Rock Axe Clan and the two millenniums of the 31st Myriad was nearing its conclusion. The millennium commander of the 2nd Millennium was wounded in the fighting, fortunate enough to be carried back from the front line by his bodyguards after a desperate struggle. The 120-man purge team had its retreat cut off while contesting the tunnels; after fighting tooth and nail to break out, it was nearly annihilated. The remaining ten centuries had all suffered over fifty percent casualties, teetering on the verge of collapse under the mutants' fierce counterattacks. Even with the 1st Millennium pushing forward in the nick of time, the deteriorating situation could not be reversed. The tunnels were like a labyrinth, with single paths branching into multiple forks, and forks interconnecting with one another. A single misstep could result in losing one's bearings at best, or running straight into friendly fire at worst. Though the mutants were not particularly bright, these tunnels were dug by their own hands, and every stretch bore markers only they could decipher. On top of that were the short goblins. Not only could they squeeze out of holes barely the size of a watermelon, but they also used knives and sharpened wooden sticks to savagely strike at the exposed rears of unsuspecting Wilante soldiers. Although the Legion deployed heavy flamethrowers, as the front lines pushed into the deeper stretches of the tunnels, these weapons proved far less effective than expected. Often, before the jets of flame could incinerate the targets, they would consume all the oxygen inside the entire tunnel, forcing the troops to abandon the hard-won ground and pull back. What had begun as a deadlock steadily tilted into a rout for the Wilante. Inside a narrow tunnel, the walls on both sides were pitted with bullet holes. A Wilante fireteam hugged the protruding rocks along the walls, using them as makeshift cover while exchanging fierce gunfire with the green-skinned mutants across the way. Emptying an entire magazine, Damon finally took down a mindless zombified mutant. His helmet smeared with gore, shaken and enraged, he slammed in a fresh magazine while swearing under his breath. "Dammit... how many more of these beasts are there?! Did they bury a whole myriad inside this mountain?!" Gunfire thundered throughout the tunnel, forcing him to shout at the top of his lungs. "Probably—fuck!" The decurion sprawled on the ground scrambled up with the help of a teammate, unhooked a grenade from his chest armor, and shoved it into Damon's hand. "Use white phosphorus!" Against creatures that wouldn't drop even after getting their heads blown off, this was the only thing that worked. The blinding white flash would not only disrupt the mutants' vision, but the scorching flames and choking smoke could also halt their advance, buying them a brief moment to catch their breath. Without hesitation, Damon took the grenade, pulled the pin with his teeth, and hurled it deep into the tunnel. A blinding white burst flashed, instantly followed by agonizing roars and wails echoing from the darkness. Hearing the screams, the squad rallied, and the decurion pumped his fist excitedly. "Beautiful!" "That had to torch at least two or three of—" Before he could finish, an unexpected change occurred. A green mass suddenly came hurtling out from the depths of the tunnel. It was a goblin. More precisely, it had been hurled over, its swollen belly bulging as though stuffed with something. Dazed from the impact, it scrambled clumsily to its feet, bloodshot eyes brimming with hatred and terror, shrieking as it lunged toward the squad. A surge of premonition seized Damon. Without a second thought, he dove forward, roaring at the top of his lungs, "Get down!" The moment he pinned the goblin to the ground and slit its throat with his combat knife, a deafening blast tore through the tunnel, leaving everyone dizzy and their ears ringing. No one knew what the explosive charge was. Even simple black powder was lethal enough within such confined quarters. Sprawled atop the suicide goblin, Damon let out a stifled groan. His chestplate shattered completely, the fragments driving into his flesh. In the flash of fire, the six-foot-tall brute was lifted by the shockwave before crashing heavily back down. "Damon!" Seeing his unconscious comrade, the decurion's eyes turned bloodshot, and he let out a frantic bellow. An assault rifleman rushed over and placed a trembling index finger under his teammate's nose, his face draining of color. "No breath!" There was no time to hesitate. Suppressing the fury in his chest, the decurion shouted, "Peter! Banchi! Hold the tunnel entrance! Medic! Get your ass over here!" "...Yes, sir!" The rifleman beside Damon gritted his teeth, scrambled back to the cover, and alternated fire with another teammate down the tunnel, venting all his rage through the muzzle flash of his rifle. The squad medic crawled rapidly over to Damon, struggling to roll his body over. The moment he saw Damon's chest, all color left his face. Beyond saving... At least half the shattered chest armor had driven into his torso. His intestines were mangled into a bloody pulp, to the point where the medic could not even tell what belonged to Damon and what was from the goblin. Still, with trembling hands, he unfastened a roll of bandages from his belt, muttering shakily under his breath as he bound up the lifeless soldier. Like offering a futile prayer. Seeing the enemy firepower pouring from the depths of the tunnel grow heavier and heavier, the soldiers holding the line completely lost the soaring morale and fighting spirit they had when marching down the mountain. Watching casualties mount with no reinforcements in sight, the decurion nearly ground his teeth to dust. They couldn't wait any longer! Braced for severe reprimand from his superiors, he shouted toward the teammates ahead, "Seal the entrance with incendiaries!" "We need to get the hell out of here—!" Before the words had finished leaving his mouth, an explosion from the other side of the tunnel hurled the two soldiers guarding the entrance backward through the air. Steadying himself against the wall, the decurion grabbed his dropped rifle and peered ahead, his pupils shrinking violently. Standing in the center of the tunnel was a mutant with steel plates welded to its flesh. Its face was warped with twisted muscle, half covered in gruesome scars and half knit with newly regenerated tissue, bearing down on him with a sickening sneer... The brutal battle raged on. Every Wilante soldier trapped in the caves fought with everything they had, yet they still could not stem the relentless bleeding. Objectively speaking, they were far tougher combatants than ordinary humans. Yet standing before them now were mutants. In terms of technology, the other side had just as much to bring to bear... Aboard the airship Loyalty. Fine beads of sweat covered Lium's brow. The composed demeanor he had worn earlier was entirely gone, replaced by an expression clouded with frustration and disarray. Just moments ago, General Modlin had reported the battlefield situation and formally requested permission to withdraw. Though utterly unwilling, Lium knew that continuing the fight would only yield pointless casualties without the slightest hope of victory. Clenching his teeth, he had no choice but to issue the retreat order, instructing Modlin to pull his forces back. Yet the ordeal did not end there. The mutants had no intention of letting his men go, snapping at the heels of the two retreating millenniums as they pursued them out into the open. Watching the holographic feed, the adjutant beside General Lium spoke with a heavy voice. "...Those mutants most likely aren't planning to fall back. They're trying to use our retreat to push straight up Black Cloud Mountain!" "I know that," Lium snapped, glaring at the adjutant. "Where is the closest unit to Black Cloud Mountain?" "On Mount Fu... the Alliance's Death Corps is stationed there," the adjutant replied, pausing before adding softly, "As for our own forces, the nearest are at Weifu Military Base... more than a dozen li of mountain roads and a climb of one to two thousand meters. They won't make it in time." If they wanted to hold Black Cloud Mountain, only one option remained. Lium felt his heart bleed. Unless forced to the absolute brink, he would never have asked his allies for help. Still, appealing to the Alliance was slightly easier to swallow than begging Enterprise. Weighing his options for a moment, he ordered, "Contact the Alliance commander!" "Yes, sir!" Just as the adjutant responded, the radar operator on the bridge called out, "Report! The Heart of Steel has appeared on our radar! Distance roughly eighty kilometers!" Hearing the name Heart of Steel, Lium's brow twitched violently, and he gritted his teeth once more. "...Contact the Heart of Steel directly!" With a wry smile, the adjutant snapped a salute. "Yes, sir!" ... Along the mountain trail between Black Cloud Mountain and Broken Blade Mountain, Qiangren Suonan, camera hoisted on his shoulder, clicked his tongue in amazement. "These mutants on the mountain actually have some moves..." No wonder he hadn't managed to slip in no matter what he tried. Turned out it wasn't his fault after all. Crouched on a stone block not far from him, Scavenger Lv99 rubbed his claws together like a gargoyle, his amber pupils gleaming with excitement. "Hurry up and let the blood flow!" Back when they took Mount Fu, the fight had ended before he could kill his fill. He wasn't going to make that mistake again. "Looks like it won't be long," Wo Xiang Jingjing murmured beside him, raising his binoculars to inspect the ridge thoughtfully. "...Holy crap, the Wilante actually got beaten back by them?" Not only that. The mutants concealed in the tunnels were surging out in waves, howling as they chased the retreating Wilante down the slopes. Even the short goblins hauled machine guns and light mortars out of the caves, raining fire indiscriminately down the mountainside. Streaks of tracer rounds poured down like a storm, pinning the Wilante at the foot of the mountain so hard they couldn't even lift their heads. In the distance, the Loyalty could only watch helplessly. Indirect fire had too wide a dispersion; firing at such close proximity would easily wipe out friendly troops along with the enemy. Just as the two millenniums were on the verge of collapse and the mutants were poised to seize the momentum to push onto Black Cloud Mountain to the north, six Cloud Dragonfly ornithopters suddenly tore through the night sky, their wing-mounted rocket pods unleashing a devastating salvo across the machine-gun positions on the mountainside. Seeing the sudden arrival of the ornithopters, General Modlin, standing on the Black Cloud Mountain position, looked on in astonishment. The adjutant beside him cried out in utter disbelief, "Enterprise?!" Those bastards were actually supporting them? Atop Broken Blade Mountain, the Beastmaster's pupils shrank as his eyes narrowed into slits. Given his understanding of the coalition factions, it was impossible for them to truly unite. Even if chained to the same war chariot, they would remain wary of one another, keeping their petty agendas tucked away in their pockets. That was why he had guessed the Legion's intentions early on when they launched the surprise raid. He had played along with their scheme, ordering Oulong to let the Wilante into the caves to create the illusion that the position on Broken Blade Mountain was easy pickings, baiting the Legion into committing their garrison on Black Cloud Mountain to the front as well. So far, the plan had been a resounding success. If nothing went wrong, two more hours at most would have seen both Wilante millenniums wiped out at the foot of the mountain. Yet he never imagined Enterprise would intervene at this critical juncture. In his initial assessment, even if Enterprise saw the front line faltering, they would never dispatch reinforcements to aid the Legion. After all, the Wilante had broken the agreed plan and tried to steal the spoils first. This was the perfect chance for them to watch the Wilante suffer; there was no reason to pull those fellows out of the fire. Watching the explosions blossoming across the mountainside, the Beastmaster frowned in deep contemplation. Then, as if realizing something, he lifted his head toward the northern night sky, his gaze narrowing slightly. "...Is that guy here?" He murmured under his breath as his translucent figure gradually melted into the night wind. At the same time, the two millenniums on the brink of annihilation finally caught their breath with the arrival of the six Cloud Dragonfly ornithopters and their barrage of rockets. Amidst the burning wreckage around him, a goblin gunner jabbered and screeched, urging the underlings nearby to reload the cannon. Aligning the sight with one of the flapping machines, he gave a violent yank on the lanyard. An orange tongue of fire erupted, yet it failed to graze even the shadow of the ornithopter, which slid sideways in a fluid evasive maneuver to dodge the shot effortlessly. Completing the dodge without missing a beat, the Cloud Dragonfly smoothly pivoted the autocannon slung beneath its nose and fired a sweeping burst. A storm of orange tracer fire swept across the terrain, instantly tearing the mortar position behind the breastwork—along with the crew and the surrounding cover—into bloody shreds! "Nice shot!" A Wilante soldier hunkered behind cover at the foot of the mountain could not help shouting toward the night sky. But he quickly remembered those were Enterprise aircraft and swallowed the rest of his cheer back down. Up on Black Cloud Mountain, Modlin felt the same, gazing with mixed emotions at the Cloud Dragonflies that had pulled them out of the fire. The silver lining was that the two millenniums under his command could fall back to regroup and await reinforcements, escaping total annihilation. Yet the thought that it was Enterprise who had saved them left a bitter taste he couldn't shake off... Just then, on Mount Fu behind Black Cloud Mountain, a force of soldiers clad in exoskeletons had completed their assembly and was deploying forward in waves. Watching these troops march straight across his position without so much as a greeting, Modlin stared in slight bewilderment and shouted after them, "What unit are you?!" Someone called back, "Storm Corps!" Storm Corps? Modlin froze for a moment. The name sounded vaguely familiar, yet he couldn't place it. The adjutant beside him turned pale, recalling the campaigns he had taken part in while serving in the expeditionary force in Sunset Province the previous year. Back then, a bunch of maniacs had chased them relentlessly across a hundred li of desert... One of those corps was called the Storm Corps, wasn't it? While the Wilante officers were still reeling in surprise, this high-spirited unit had already pushed to the forward-most line of contact. A man clad in heavy exoskeleton armor stood at the rear of the formation, carrying an enormous mortar tube on his back. He fired continuously toward the enemy positions ahead, raining down heavy mortar shells one after another. A specialized shield seemed to deploy around him, leaving him completely unharmed even under concentrated fire from the mutants on the slopes. He even had the leisure to switch on his loudspeaker and roar, "Brothers—!" "Open the eyes of these pants-pissing big-noses! Let them see what a real warrior race looks like!" "Dedicate this victory to our Administrator!" Spurred by that bellow, a colorful and ecstatic array of shouts erupted across the line, everyone hollering whatever came to mind. "Crush them!" "Awoooo!" The discordant chorus blended into a cacophony that sent a chill through the winded mutants halfway up the slope. Instinct told them. These plain-looking humans might just prove tougher to deal with than all the ones they had faced before combined...