Chapter 80: Dusk
In the dim amber dusk, a black tide surged in from beyond the horizon.
They had come.
A sky-blotting flood of zombies raced madly toward the , their howls still deafening from several kilometers away.
Above and behind the , the silhouettes of giant mutants were astonishingly dense — at least five bone-white Pilgrims, and more than ten bird-shaped Rot-Beasts.
As for the , each with a body as large as a small building, they stood packed in profusion — no fewer than forty of them.
This was more than three times the scale of the last one.
"All units, attention! The enemy has entered the designated strike range!"
's calm voice carried through the comm channel to every corner of the front line.
At this moment, he stood on a pre-reinforced firing elevation, his binoculars locked unwaveringly on the leading edge of the .
"Fire!"
The instant the order was given, the several 122 mm wheeled rocket launchers deployed on the position let out their roar.
Dozens of rockets streaked across the amber sky on long tails of flame, smashing hard into the advancing vanguard of the .
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM——!
Unbroken explosions plowed huge gashes through the horde. Hundreds of zombies were torn to shreds in an instant, soil and severed limbs flying into the sky together.
At the same time, in the sky, several bird-shaped "Rot-Beasts" that had tried to push ahead of the rest entered the range of the air-defense missiles.
They opened their rotting maws, their piercing, grating sonic waves just about to erupt.
But the next second, those sonic waves suddenly dispersed.
FWOOSH! FWOOSH!
Two air-defense missiles followed and struck with pinpoint accuracy the enormous bodies that had been left exposed after they lost their greatest weapon. The bursting cloud of shrapnel instantly tore one of their wings to bloody shreds.
Before it could recover from the searing pain, the second missile came on its heels, blasting a giant hole through its neck and pronouncing its death.
On the elevation, lowered his binoculars and smiled with satisfaction.
"Excellent! The Sonic Resonance Suppressors work!"
He glanced toward the rear. There, a colossal, tuning-fork-shaped device stood quietly on a modified flatbed truck, pale blue lines of energy flowing across its surface.
This was precisely the regional that had urgently materialized from the blueprint obtained by killing the " ."
Eight units in total had been deployed around the defensive line, specially to guard against possible sonic attacks from the bird-shaped Rot-Beasts.
So far, the effect was excellent.
No sooner had 's words died out, however, than more "Rot-Beasts" came attacking from the air behind the .
At the same time, on the ground, several enormous dog-shaped Rot-Beasts charged to the outer edge of the defensive line under the cover of the horde. They stopped, and eerie green flames began gathering rapidly in their jaws.
It wasn't just them. In the distance, on the titanic spheres of flesh of those " ," hundreds of eyeballs flared with an ominous red light all at once.
This time, they seemed to have learned from experience, stopping at a position precisely just beyond the rocket artillery's optimal range.
The next second, a scarlet energy beam shot out.
However, a " " suicide drone deliberately rammed into the beam, blocking the ' attack.
BOOM!
The violent explosion sent that " " tumbling. Immediately afterward, the high-energy lasers of countless drones enveloped the .
The dog-shaped Rot-Beasts had shorter range, but they charged their power faster.
Sickly green fireballs pounded the forward positions one after another, forcing the rocket artillery to split off part of its firepower to concentrate on them — which greatly relieved the pressure on the ordinary zombies around them.
The outermost held out for less than ten seconds before it was buried and crushed by what seemed like an inexhaustible mountain of bodies.
The dazzling electric sparks flickered a few times, then went out completely.
Trampling over the charred corpses of their own kind, the surged into the open ground behind the defensive line — the minefield.
KABOOM! KABOOM!
Explosions rang out one after another, and swaths of zombies were blasted into the air.
But those behind merely ran madly over the severed limbs left by the blasts and continued forward.
Behind the defensive line, the ZTL-11 assault vehicles and ZBL-08 infantry fighting vehicles did not pause for a single moment. The thunder of 105 mm rifled guns and the roar of 30 mm autocannons interwove.
Every shell could clear a brief gap in the , but the gap would be filled again the very next second.
The zombies howled, they ran, and in their eyes there was no fear — only the most primitive craving for flesh and blood.
This made them more vicious than the most savage of beasts, and infinitely more frightening.
At last, the vanguard of the stepped into the death zone eight hundred meters ahead of the black bulwark.
HUM——
On the wall, the spherical optical sensors of eight " " heavy sentry rapid-fire turrets lit up red all at once, automatically locking onto every living target within their field of view.
The next second, six cold gun barrels spun up.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT——!!!
A monstrous storm of metal poured down from the sky!
Large-caliber armor-piercing incendiary rounds, at a horrifying rate of several thousand rounds per minute, wove an inescapable net of death and blanketed the fan-shaped area beneath the wall in an instant.
The leading hundreds of zombies — along with the ground beneath their feet — were in almost the same moment reduced to flying gore and dust.
The bullets were so dense that they plowed a soft "carpet of flesh" into the earth. The zombies that followed stepped into it and were instantly set ablaze by the superheated rounds, becoming running torches one by one.
For the time being, the 's advance was forcibly halted beneath the tall wall.
The main battlefield settled into a brief standoff.
But in the sky, the astonishingly agile "Pilgrims" finally tore through the outer air-defense fire net and broke into the range of the " " short-range air-defense plasma cannons.
What greeted them first was a cage of lasers formed by hundreds of drones.
Dense laser beams clung to their silhouettes relentlessly, greatly impeding their incredible mobility.
"Targets locked! Turret One, commence firing!"
's voice came over the comm channel, laced with barely suppressed excitement.
Atop the bulwark, two enormous flat turrets rotated silently. Within their blue-black launch rails, the electromagnetic acceleration rings lit up in sequence, and the blue-white points deep in the muzzles suddenly swelled to a blazing brilliance.
HUM!
The next second, two immense blue-white plasma orbs radiating an aura of destruction, at a terrifying speed several times the speed of sound, caught up to a bone-white figure in a flash.
BOOM——!!!
It was as if two blue suns had detonated in the sky. That " " didn't even have time to let out a cry of despair before it was completely vaporized in the extreme heat and raw energy.
"Beautiful!" couldn't help praising, but her hands never stopped.
She still felt it wasn't enough. She quickly adjusted the turret's angle and aimed at the distant sea of corpses on the ground, still stretching beyond sight.
Then, a meteor shower of blue-white light fell from the sky.
Plasma round after plasma round smashed into the densest parts of the . Every explosion left a colossal crater more than thirty meters across in the ground, its edges still vitrifying.
The heat carbonized every organic thing within range in an instant.
And so, in the face of absolute firepower, the advance of the was finally checked.
Just then, on the south side of the , the previously calm river suddenly turned turbid and swift.
SPLASH——!
Countless "water ghosts" and "flower crocodiles" erupted from the dark red water, howling as they charged at the bulwark on the bank.
But before they could scramble up the slope protection, the sentry turrets deployed on the south wall had already opened fire on their own. A dense storm of projectiles pinned their attack hard against the waterline.
"Report! A large number of aquatic monsters have appeared on the south bank. The attack has been initially suppressed!" From behind the turrets, reported in a low voice.
[Received. Group One, Squad Three is en route to reinforce.]
's voice rang out right on cue. So the enemy's offensive really wasn't limited to the surface — but even underwater, who said he hadn't prepared?
[ (Lv.4) — "Underwater Defense System" activated. Underwater sonar array coverage increased by 500%. " " series underwater Security Units unlocked.]
At the bottom of the River, right beside the 's cooling-water intake, dozens of " " robots, shaped like metallic manta rays, patrolled in silence.
When the first wave of "water ghosts" attempted to draw near, the weapon bays on their undersides slid silently open, revealing dense micro-torpedo launch tubes and high-voltage electromagnetic harpoons.
Then, streak after streak of deadly cold light flared beneath the murky water, effortlessly tearing those aberrated monsters to shreds.
At this instant, the situation seemed to have settled into a complete deadlock.
Observing the situation on every battlefield at once and confirming that everything was still within manageable limits, 's consciousness core relaxed a fraction.
Good — the first wave had been withstood. Relieved, he glanced at the mission prompt beside him.
[ 4: The Long Night]
[Mission Description: You have learned of their existence, but they have discovered you as well. Do everything you can to survive — good luck!]
[Mission Objective: Withstand the onslaught of the , and protect the 's .]
[Mission Reward: 30,000 , " " Regional Shield Generator Ă—1, Blueprint Ă—1.]
[Mission Countdown: 23:55:49]
knew that the true trial was only beginning now.
And sure enough.
"Report! An anomalous dense fog has appeared on the main battlefield!" 's urgent voice rang out.
At almost the same moment, through the feed of a high-altitude drone, also saw the fog.
It was an enormous, dense bank of pale white mist, spreading at an inconceivable speed, hugging the ground as it raced toward the battlefield.
It was " "! It really hadn't died!
Unlike the state in which it had appeared in , however, this time — as at the mining area — it was sweeping along with it a fog of extremely low visibility.
It seemed that this fog bank was, in fact, something like an active skill.
And based on the observations of and the others, who had previously witnessed it together with the giant flesh tree, without the fog, this monster did not possess the ability to induce special mutations.
At the very least, it could be concluded that the key to its mutation-inducing ability was strongly correlated with the dense fog.
Meanwhile, as the last " " was killed by the Sky Blades, his mission list refreshed as well.
[ 7: — Completed.]
[ kills achieved: 10/10]
[Mission Rating: Excellent.]
[Calculating rewards... Rating upgraded... Hidden blueprint obtained.]
[ gained: 1,000.]
[Advanced blueprint Ă—1 unlocked. Completely blocks at Level 2 and below; partially blocks Level 3 .]
[Current : 36,830.]
Looking at the newly appeared mission prompt, did not hesitate in the slightest. He immediately spent another 12,000 points to materialize a sufficient number of Divinity Shields.
"Attention, all combat personnel! Immediately proceed in an orderly manner to the nearest turret or supply point and draw your 'radiation shield'!" 's voice reached each person's in an instant.
"Received!"
Although everyone had already been injected with inhibitors, did not dare gamble that the contamination " " brought was the same as that from before.
Soon, one silver-gray device after another, shaped like wristwatches, was fastened to everyone's wrist.
On the face of the device, the upper-left corner displayed text for the contamination level, and the center showed the real-time intensity index.
Normally, it read "Level Zero — 00."
But as the dense fog drew closer, everyone's shield emitted a faint beep at almost the same moment.
The contamination level quickly changed to Level One, and the intensity index in the center spiked wildly, finally stabilizing at "Level 1 — 55" — and still slowly climbing.
By the time everyone had donned their shields, " " in the fog had finally drawn near over the battlefield, revealing its present, terrifying form.
Unexpectedly, its body had swelled another full size since it was in . Its main torso stood nearly ten meters tall, and the span of that immense pair of black-and-red scaled wings probably exceeded fifteen meters.
What's more, countless bright red, vein-like sinews had appeared across its originally black carapace, making it look even more bizarre and ferocious.
Compared with ' ,' it might now be more fitting to call it ' .'
As for its speed, it was fast to a preposterous degree — even a " " flying at full speed could barely keep up.
When it was still several kilometers from the wall, its silhouette paused in midair, and the pair of enormous scaled wings behind it suddenly beat once!
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
Dozens of blood-red energy blades tore through the air in an instant, converging on the turrets above the bulwark.
Fortunately, hundreds of " " drones flew up in time and detonated the blades ahead of schedule.
At the same time, the " " turrets on the main front opened up at full power. Electrical energy was drawn at maximum efficiency, transformed into countless brilliant blue-white meteors that streaked across the darkening sky, illuminating the battlefield as bright as day.
Forced to weave through the rain of projectiles on extreme agility alone, " " finally had its assault slowed and its flight path completely restricted.
And in the higher, farther skies, twenty "Sky Blades" had long since completed their preliminary aiming — a formation had prepared especially for it.
"Fire!"
Forty micro-missiles and twenty high-energy lasers compressed to their limit blasted down from the clouds, precisely covering every possible route it could take to dodge.
" " let out a piercing shriek and forcibly evaded nine of the lasers, but the remaining attacks slammed squarely into its body!
Scales shattered. Flesh and blood flew in all directions!
The moment that blow connected, another plasma round came howling in.
BOOM——!!!
...
Just as the battle on the ground and in the sky was reaching its climax, underground, the once-solid soil and rock parted like water.
A colossal half-human, half-centipede monster, leading dense swarms of insects, was boring at high speed toward the 's underground.
But just as they were about to arrive beneath the battlefield, a chain of violent explosions rang out from beneath their feet!
The raging shockwaves hurled vast swaths of the insect swarm into the air along with the soil, where they were shredded by the residual firepower from the surface.
Outside the , inside the " " combat vehicle.
watched the large cluster of red dots vanish from the sonar radar in an instant and calmly spoke into his .
"Report. The first wave of the underground insect swarm has been broken. The explosives worked perfectly."
[Received. The underground defensive line is in your hands!]
"Yes! We'll complete the mission!" responded loudly, then switched channels and issued the order. "All units, fire! Push these disgusting things the hell back!"
Relying on the newly installed " " underground detection sonar modules, they could detect the swarm's position from far away and concentrate fire to eliminate most of it.
As for the few bugs that broke through the fire net, they couldn't even budge the 's thick alloy doors.
What ultimately welcomed them was the cold gun muzzles of the Robots.
...
BOOM——!
Another blue-white plasma round burst in midair, and the terrifying energy shock slammed " 's" enormous frame hard toward the ground.
But its vitality was absurdly tenacious. Taking a direct hit from a plasma cannon powerful enough to vaporize a tank, it still wasn't killed on the spot.
Not only that. Beneath the charred carapace, the bright red sinews of flesh were still writhing and repairing at a shocking rate.
But would never give it a chance to catch its breath.
The remaining eighteen " " drones, like a pack of excellent hunting hounds, clung to its tail without letting go.
High-energy laser beams fell without pause on its healing wounds, and every hit sent up a puff of scorched flesh.
Driven frantic by the relentless suppression, " " let out a sharp shriek, executed an impossible midair flip, abandoned its retreat, and wheeled around to charge head-on at the pursuing drone swarm!
Its speed broke the sound barrier in an instant, a black-red afterimage flashing across the sky.
"BANG! BANG!"
Two "Sky Blades," without even time to make an evasive move, were slashed and detonated in midair by the talons extending from the edges of its wings, turning into two brilliant fireballs.
Before it could press its advantage, however, a fresh plasma round came shrieking in.
Forced to break off its attack, " " suddenly dropped its altitude until its wings nearly scraped the ground, retreating to the rear in a sorry state.
Along the way, it still tried to fling out several blood-red energy blades to harass the turrets on the wall.
But those attacks were prematurely detonated mid-flight by the swarming drones ramming into them in suicide collisions. The few stragglers that slipped through landed on the black composite bulwark without even leaving a scratch.
Meanwhile, on the ground battlefield.
The first explosion from underground had succeeded in blasting the leading " " out of the soil layer where it had been lurking.
The instant it appeared, before it had even adapted to the sights of the surface, every rocket artillery muzzle on the 's position completed its lock-on at the same moment.
"Concentrate fire on the burrower! Blast it to pieces for me!" 's roar echoed through the comm channel.
The next second, ten thousand arrows were loosed at once!
Dozens of rockets completely abandoned the suppression of the other second-stage mutants. Even at the risk of letting the break into the third defensive line, this enormous threat with earth-boring ability would be utterly erased first.
Good! Blocked.
Seeing " " and the successfully stopped, 's control stick tilted up slightly.
[Now then, let's see if you can hold.]
...
At the same moment the main battlefield was locked in stalemate, on a height near the .
A convoy — comprising nearly half of the 's armored vehicles and assault vehicles, and even including one of the self-propelled gun-howitzers left behind by 's forces — suddenly emerged from the fog.
They had carefully skirted the 's main line of advance, then made a detour through to arrive near .
And behind the convoy, in the higher, more distant sky, hung a metal cloud formed from tens of thousands of swarm drones.
was destroyed, but that posed no problem at all for the replicating drones' work. They could still collect resources and complete replication in an orderly fashion.
Under an ample supply of energy and materials, five thousand replicating drones had engaged in wanton mass production — and the result was this metal storm truly capable of blotting out the sky.
Wearing the silver-gray " " exoskeleton armor, stood on the roof of an assault vehicle and glanced at the shield strapped to his wrist, the one drawn from the earlier.
The numbers on the dial made him frown.
[Contamination level: Level One. Real-time intensity: 82.]
"I knew it — this place is cursed!" he muttered under his breath.
Ahead of his gaze, the building was at this moment completely shrouded in thick pale white mist, silent as a tomb.
"Enough lamenting. Time to act."
Beside him, , also wearing " " armor, was as calm as ever.
He checked the remaining battery of the in his hands, his gaze never leaving the bizarre dense mist ahead.
"' ' and that centipede monster have been confirmed at the ."
"Mm." nodded, took a deep breath, and raised his arm in a fist.
All the playfulness on his face receded completely, replaced by a quiet resolve.
"All units!"
His voice carried clearly to every unit through the comm channel.
"Open fire!"
The instant the order was given, the let out the first roar. Its high-explosive shell traced an elegant and lethal parabola through the air and slammed precisely into the heart of the dense mist.
Right behind it, the 122 mm rocket launchers, the 120 mm mortars, the 105 mm rifled guns... every ground unit poured out its full long-range firepower at the same time.
At the same moment, the metal cloud in the sky moved as well.
Tens of thousands of swarm drones, like a flood bursting through a levee, plunged into the dense mist with piercing screams.