The Decisive Battle for the Land's Fate!

Deep in the belly of Blood Mountain lay a pitch-black cavern. Silent scriptures chanted softly in a nonexistent void, and crumbling "sculptures" exuding the foul reek of decay slowly opened their eyes. Every one of them was a mutant of renown—the mightiest among countless green-skinned brutes, champions among myriad plague monks, and "his" proudest masterpieces. They were still far from true perfection. Much like the deceased Oulong, they were merely unrefined previous works. Even so, they were more than sufficient to serve as temporary vessels for his soul. He did not mind a brief condescension. To meet that fellow, he needed a mortal shell capable of walking the earth. "...The fourth stage of the Kingdom of Heaven has restarted. The eternal Kingdom of Heaven has arrived. All living beings upon the earth shall become believers of the Lord and embrace supreme evolution." "Our Lord is everything, and everything is our Lord." The statue at the very center opened its eyes, a chilling glint flashing in its sickly green irises. That light seemed to gaze far beyond the cave, locking onto an azure silhouette. There was no mistake. That police-model power armor painted in vivid azure was the relic of "Mr. Administrator." Now, another administrator was wearing it—the administrator of a different shelter. A chilling smirk slowly curled across the monster's face, and a voice rich with ominous implication rumbled from its bloody maw. "I see you." The approaching tremors in the ground disrupted his wandering thoughts. The past of Shelter 117 was long behind them. They were no longer the boisterous young men who had clamored to open the doors and save the wasteland. They had spent years witnessing the utter hopeless depravity of humanity. They had realized long ago that simply throwing open a few shelter doors was never going to redeem this fallen wasteland. They would bring fundamental liberation to their obstinate, dying kin! Dust from explosions drifted into the cavern, and an Alpha wearing a gas mask stormed inside. Seeing the horde of monsters before him, surprise flashed in his eyes, but he showed not a shred of hesitation. Raising his Gauss rifle, he fired on the spot. Azure arcs of electricity flickered in the chamber as projectiles accelerated to their limits tore through the entire tunnel. Under normal circumstances, the monster should have been riddled into a sieve. Yet to his shock, a colossal force slammed into his chest. Amid a burst of exploding spore clouds, he was hurled backward through the air. His back crashed heavily against the wall, but searing pain radiated from his chest, and an agonizing groan slipped past his lips. "Aaargh—" If the ballistic plate on his exoskeleton had not absorbed ninety percent of the impact, that single strike would have killed him outright. "Corrosive explosives... all squads, be advised." Looking at the corroded armor plate, he reported the encounter over the comms while struggling to his feet, picking up the rifle he had dropped. Right then, he saw a silhouette nearly three meters tall step through the grayish-green smoke. The creature had a humanoid shape, but it looked nothing like a human. It was covered in rotting folds of flesh, resembling a Bog Slime from the marshes. Puncturing its body were bleeding holes leaking dark red gore—wounds left behind by the kinetic slugs. What was terrifying was that inside those bullet holes, writhing, earthworm-like strands were knotting together at a speed visible to the naked eye, stitching the wounds shut as if a rapid-healing nano-injection had been administered. A flash of shock crossed the Alpha's pupils, but only for an instant. He quickly pulled the short-barreled grenade launcher slung over his chest and fired an incendiary round. Yet the creature moved with speed far beyond his imagination. With a casual swat of its arm, it knocked the incendiary round—trailing white smoke—clean out of the air. Flames surged deep within the cave, erupting alongside plumes of white smoke raining sparks. Looking into the cave illuminated by the fire, the shock in the Alpha's eyes slowly curdled into despair. There were nearly fifty monsters just like this one! "...What do you think of the name 'Plague Champion'? I'm really no good at naming my creations." Towering over the retreating soldier, the lead monster wore a sickening grin. Looking at the muzzle aimed at itself, it felt a twinge of boredom. These flawed, incomplete "fakes" did not even know how to beg for mercy. They were as pitiful as slugs in a swamp. It raised its right arm and slammed it downward. With a wet squelch, its blunt, heavy horn-blade split the silent soldier straight down the middle. The "stench of rot" was indeed coming from inside this fellow's belly. Prying open the man's chest, it even saw the wriggling "larvae." Yet even though the little things worked furiously, they were powerless to mend such a fatal wound. Just as expected. The human body was simply too fragile. Flicking off the intestines and blood clinging to the blade's tip, it looked back at the ravenous pack of Plague Champions and roared in a deep voice: "Slaughter them all!" Like wolves and tigers, the Plague Champions let out starved howls and surged toward the cave's exit, kicking off a bloody butchery. "Waaagh!" The Alpha Mobile Task Force, which had already pushed into the heart of Blood Mountain, was instantly plunged into a bitter struggle. In the grand hall, the god-chosen prophet Sodo saw the dawn of victory. Stretching its toad-like trembling jowls, it shrieked an ear-splitting battle cry to the plague monks whose morale had reignited: "Chop those human things into mincemeat—!" "Toss them all into the cauldrons! Boil them into soup!" ... Gunfire erupted in fury not just within the caves of Blood Mountain and Weifu Military Base; across the defensive lines of Broken Blade Mountain, flames flickered and gunsmoke choked the air just the same. Almost the moment the gray fog rolled in, mutant brutes and goblins concealed deep within the tunnels poured out en masse as if answering a signal, launching a furious assault against the allied positions. Stationed here were the Enterprise's 1st Regiment of the 100th Mechanized Mountain Division, along with a handful of Legion officers and Alliance players. The sudden eruption of combat caught the greenhorns on their first deployment off balance. Commander Spring had initially thought these rookies, "tainted by Tzeentch," would be beaten black and blue, but their actual performance in battle exceeded his expectations. Their top-tier exoskeletons and rifles guaranteed a high floor for their combat capabilities, while their diverse prosthetic add-ons dramatically boosted their survivability on the battlefield. Though they showed a severe lack of tactical experience, even seasoned veterans might not beat rookies running auto-aim lock-on hacks. At the very least, these "expensive" units performed not much worse than cheap mercenaries. The remnants of the Rock Axe Clan broke like waves against the beachhead, suffering catastrophic casualties in no time. Aside from the headshot-immune mutants giving the rookies some grief, the rest of the green-skinned brutes and goblins were cut down inside the rocky fissures. The firefight on Broken Blade Mountain ended quickly. The commander of the 1st Regiment quickly tallied the casualties: only 20 dead and 39 wounded, while eliminating nearly a thousand mutants. As for the players, because those remaining to watch the spectacle were mostly veterans, they suffered zero casualties. With the wipeout of the Rock Axe Clan's remnants, the last drop of pus lodged in the crags of Broken Blade Mountain was squeezed dry. Yet the pervasive gray mist showed no signs of receding. From the front lines to the rear, relentless gunfire continued to echo, and the situation over at Weifu Military Base was particularly worrying. Wiping the blood from his trench shovel, Brother Edge walked up to Commander Spring with a solemn expression. "...The Alphas can barely hold on. The Administrator ordered us to go help them out. Could you guys head back and check on Weifu Military Base?" "We've already received the fallback mission. The Administrator placed a rally beacon at Weifu Military Base... In addition to our Storm Corps, Old Mole's Skeleton Corps is heading back too." Tapping his VM screen twice with his index finger, Commander Spring studied the map, an involuntary hint of admiration creeping onto his brow. "...So this 'environment card' could be played like this. These bastards actually have some tricks up their sleeves." Even though the enemies were a pack of anti-human lunatics, he had to admit it was a slick play. Had he held this hand, he doubted he could have come up with a better way to play it. Perhaps Card Master Brother Guang could have thought of it. A few details showed that their Administrator was quite adept at playing his cards. For instance, ordering the two airships to pull out of the fog zone immediately had been the sharpest call. On the surface, the gray fog couldn't touch the airships, but it was hard to say what other surprises lurked in that mist. "You're playing card games now too?" Brother Edge said, half-amused, half-resigned. Commander Spring grinned. "Nah, just using an easy analogy. At first I thought they were running a scorched-earth tactic, but that was just a smokescreen. They had another hand tucked away beneath our feet." Pausing, he added: "If all goes as expected, the main event should be tonight. If they planned on playing this card, it wasn't just to cause us a minor headache. They must know this alone won't beat us." Brother Edge's expression turned grave. "Can your side handle it?" "Our side? Are you kidding?" Spring chuckled heartily, saying in a teasing drawl, "Back when we didn't have a single airship, we never feared anyone. Now we're holding two whole airships in our hands." "Two starships flying right in their faces—how do you expect me to lose?" ... Just as the Death Corps and the Storm Corps were rallying toward Blood Mountain and the Weifu Wasteland respectively, the chaos at Weifu Military Base was drawing to a close. Near the Empire's encampment. General Babita was hiding under a desk, his body shaking uncontrollably. Only after the gunfire outside died down a bit did he crawl out, trembling with fear. "Damn it... where did these things come from?!" Looking at the mess outside, his face was pale with terror. Especially when he saw the Alliance's Chimera armored vehicles opening fire on the Glorious Army clones, the sheer horror printed across his face was beyond words. The Legion and the Alliance were fighting each other?! But... Why now? His brain could not process such complicated information for the moment—or rather, he was completely out of sync with most people here. When he saw the Wilante soldiers exchanging fire with those clones as well, his brain nearly crashed. For a moment, he didn't even know which side to support. Madness... Everyone had gone mad! This wasteland was damned cursed! Joining the Mucus Joint Development Group had been a mistake from the start. If Duke Garava hadn't insisted on marching that extra hundred kilometers east, none of this would have happened! They should never have made contact with the other survivor factions across the wasteland. Living off selling cattle and slaves had been perfectly fine. If not for that string of accidents and blunders, Brahma Province would still be a tranquil paradise, and he would be enjoying his days on his estate right now. Yet this was no time for regrets. Matters concerning the grand strategy were far beyond what a mere general like him could decide. Finally regaining his composure, he turned toward his aide, who was likewise hiding under the desk, and barked: "Where are our troops? Have them assemble immediately!" With a face like he was suffering from chronic constipation, the aide wailed: "...S-Sir, our troops are scattered outside! Only your personal guard is inside the base!" General Babita roared frantically: "Then what are you waiting for?! Assemble them at once!" "Yes, yes, right away!" No matter how reluctant he was, the aide had to bite the bullet and run out the door. Officer Makur was in charge of the farming laborers. He just needed to find that guy! Watching the aide leave, Babita paced back and forth across the barracks, his mind racing. Just then, a Wilante officer strode through the door with two soldiers flanking him. Catching sight of that prominent high nose bridge, General Babita wiped away his anger, quickly putting on an obsequious smile to greet him. "Friend, what on earth is happening out there? Why are you shooting at those clones—" "Don't you have eyes to see for yourself?" The Wilante officer cursed with a dark face, then bellowed, "Tally your men immediately! We need to know how many are infected! This is an order from the joint coalition commander! If you have a problem with it, go complain to Chu Guang!" General Babita was stunned. "Infected?" "That's right. Breathe too much of the fog outside and you turn into that grotesque mess." Jerking his chin toward the clones being executed outside the window, the officer saw Babita's face draining of color and couldn't resist a sneer. "If you're scared, crawl back home to your mama. Run along, this isn't a place for soft pricks like you." Typical cowards trained by civil bureaucrats—a bunch of spineless weaklings. Although General Modlin had told them to be somewhat polite to these people, ever since he noticed that these guys preferred being looked down on through flared nostrils, he couldn't be bothered with courteous pretenses. Watching the Wilante officer turn and leave, Babita's face turned even paler. He truly was terrified. If not for His Majesty's orders, he would have jumped onto the first train out of this hellhole. After an agonizing wait, his aide scrambled back into the room on all fours, his face plastered with sheer panic. "Sir..." General Babita's eyebrows shot up, and he glared at the man. "What is it? Speak properly!" Facing his superior's interrogation, the aide sobbed: "Officer Makur is dead! The... the rats have rebelled!" Babita's heart skipped a beat, his eyes going wide. "Rebelled?! Those rats? How dare they!" Those good-for-nothing, bungling trash! He had fed them well and treated them right, even saving them from eating dirt, and this was how they repaid his kindness? Lower-class scum after all—a disgrace to the Empire! "I-I don't know... I only heard it has something to do with the fog. It's Torch's biochemical weapon! Breathing too much of the mist turned them all into man-eating monsters!" The aide was trembling and pale, babbling in fright, while Babita felt his heart sink deeper with every word. Recalling what the Wilante had said, he suddenly felt a phantom ache in his throat. Could this be the early onset of infection? Swallowing hard, he could not bear staying here another second. He made to dash out the door, only to remember that the area outside the base was crawling with those man-eating rats, and froze in his tracks. Thoughts raced through his head. Perhaps spurred by desperate urgency, he actually came up with a life-saving idea. Grabbing the aide, he demanded: "...Where is the commander-in-chief of the coalition? That Administrator of the Alliance!" The aide blinked. "In the field research institute at the corner of the camp... Sir, aren't we going to the Wilante?" Babita answered without a moment's hesitation: "Those bastards are only dependable when they feel like it. When push comes to shove, they're useless!" ... Dusk slowly sank into the endless valley, and night devoured the blood-soaked wasteland. Piercing, shrill howls echoed through the sky, sounding like demons mocking the mortal world. A humanoid beast about three meters tall dipped and surged through the air, powerful wings beating behind its back. By human standards, its facial features were grotesque, with a pair of fangs protruding past its chin. His name was Kubo, one of the apostles from the "Beastmaster's" parish. Clad upon his body was biological power armor developed by the Church of the Torch. And floating in the surrounding airspace were over a hundred "people" wearing the exact same gear! Behind them trailed tens of thousands of Batwings. All of them were mutant infants grown and synthesized in specialized culture pods. They could be commanded at will through the biological power armor's mental interference modules. Even without orders, dropping them into enemy territory to hunt and feed on instinct would wreak absolute havoc on Torch's foes. The relevant technology had already been proven in the Jinhe City parish; they possessed more than enough seedbeds and organic matter to breed these things endlessly. No matter how large the artillery caliber, it could never stop a tide spreading like a flood. "...Our electronic warfare against the coalition has begun, but that's not our forte. It's only a matter of time before their radar burns through our jamming." Hearing his companion's voice in his ear, Kubo smiled cruelly. "No matter! It's already enough." Their target was never the two retreating airships. From the start, they had set their sights on Weifu Military Base. Not only was the coalition's command tier stationed there, but also biological specialists from the Alliance and the Enterprise. The latter posed a far greater strategic threat to Torch than those two airships. To lure those people to the front line, they had spared no expense, leaking a vast trove of research samples bit by bit across the three positions. He knew very well how irresistible those research specimens were to scholars. Considering the coalition's momentum at the front, there were bound to be researchers eager for quick results who would rush up to obtain firsthand data. Now the fruit was ripe. It was time to pull in the net. "...Keep your objectives in mind: inflict maximum casualties on all personnel in the military base, combatants and non-combatants alike! There is no need to verify their identities unless they surrender, beg for mercy, and confess who they are!" "Now! Charge!" Throwing his head back with an excited roar, Kubo led the dive toward the ground. Led by the hundred apostles in biological power armor, the tens of thousands of Batwings scattered across the sky dove toward the military base simultaneously. The once-tranquil gray mist boiled violently, like a kettle at full boil. As if receiving a command to attack, the zombie puppets puppeteered by the Na fruit hyphae surged toward Weifu Military Base like they were high on stimulants. Previously, they had moved driven by instinct and guided by spores, but now they heard the call of Heaven—or rather, they had picked up the signal from the mental interference devices. The hundred suits of biological power armor carrying mental interference modules were the source of that signal. Watching the wave of "gnawers" surging forward, many soldiers of the Southern Construction Corps serving in the penal battalion wore expressions of utter disbelief. A former street gangster from the Boulder City slums couldn't help but cry out: "Fuck! Is this a 'Tide'?!" Wasn't the Tide something exclusive to Qingquan City?! Why had another one cropped up here after the Qingquan City Tide ended?! A bellow from behind snapped him out of his daze: "Fire! Open fire, all of you! Are the guns in your hands just decorations?!" Heavy machine guns spewed long tongues of flame, orange tracer rounds whistling through the dense gray fog, casting dancing flickers of light across the plain. And it was not just machine guns— The artillery batteries and Bison walkers deployed within the base unleashed ferocious firepower, blossoming into dazzling bursts of flame across the wilderness. Fruiting bodies were crushed into the ground one after another, but before long, new ones crawled out of the dirt. These were not freshly synthesized products. They were "fruits" matured long ago, buried deep beneath the earth alongside the "Kingdom of Heaven." The skirmish around Weifu Military Base rapidly escalated from scattered gunshots into a white-hot bloodbath. At the same moment, the onboard radars of the two airships and the radar station at the military base simultaneously detected the aerial threat closing in. Having finally received the sortie order, Cloud Dragonfly ornithopters beat their wings, lifting their compact fuselages from the tarmac and rocketing toward the fog-choked sky. The armored units of the Skeleton Corps were cutting through the wasteland near Mafu Town. One hundred and twenty Chimera armored vehicles and twenty-four No. 2 tanks detached from their transport flatbeds, forming offensive echelons across the boundless wilderness and charging into the grayish-green smog amid rolling dust clouds. The Death Corps rushing to reinforce the Blood Mountain front had also rallied, hurtling into the "Plague Champions" leading their hordes of plague monks. The tottering dusk finally faded away, and night fell completely over the war-torn wasteland and mountains... All hands had been revealed, and all chips pushed into the center of the table. Without a single warning sign, everyone knew in their bones that the battle to decide the fate of this land had quietly begun. Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night!