Chapter 748.2: Taking Blood Peak

The Battle of Blood Peak had come to an end, but the fierce fighting across the Guardian Manor Plains had only just reached its climax.

With artillery support from the Heart of Steel and the Loyalty airships, the Skeleton Corps' armored battlegroup carved a bloody path through the encirclement of countless creatures.

The 37mm autocannons unleashed a continuous torrent of fire while the coaxial machine guns mounted on the Tank 2s roared without pause.

Whether they were infected by the Na Fruit fungus, or corpses reanimated by it, all were reduced to dust beneath that storm of steel before being crushed beneath the tanks' tracks.

Even so, the puppets manipulated by Na Fruit never stopped advancing. Some converged upon the armored column driving across the wasteland, while others surged relentlessly toward the Guardian Manor Military Base.

Those that were destroyed sank into the soil, only to grow again much later. They were like grass sprouting anew after the spring wind.

So long as the gray-green haze remained, so long as the Na Fruit rooted throughout the land endured, they would be endless.

Above the Guardian Manor Military Base, the aerial battle raged on. 20 Cloudflies weaved through the gray mist, pouring streams of autocannon fire and rockets across the battlefield.

Unfortunately, the sheer number of Winged Mutant Humans filling the sky was simply overwhelming. Even with support from the base's anti-aircraft batteries, three attack squadrons totaling only 20 Cloudflies could not hold them back.

Four Thunderbolt fighters stationed at the base scrambled into the air to reinforce them. Their 20mm cannons roared continuously, tracing brilliant streams of fire across the night sky. In addition, 100 propeller-driven aircraft launched from the Heart of Steel.

Even so, the numerical disparity between the two sides remained overwhelming. They weren't even on the same order of magnitude, especially since the Winged Mutant Humans did not simply charge forward in suicidal swarms. Instead, they dispersed throughout the vast night sky.

That wasn’t all. Their unique mode of flight made their trajectories extremely difficult to predict. Although both their top speed and climb rate were inferior to the New Alliance's aging propeller aircraft, landing hits on them remained surprisingly difficult.

Their attack came as no surprise to the New Alliance. Many players had already encountered these birdmen during the Battle of Brocade Lake Municipality.

Some had even developed specialized bird-hunting tactics for dealing with them, fire a burst, then immediately break away.

While propeller aircraft lacked the maneuverability of winged creatures, those creatures likewise had almost no chance of catching a propeller plane flying away at full speed.

The Torch Church, however, clearly understood it as well. Rather than wasting time dogfighting New Alliance aircraft, they flew directly toward the military base below.

They especially aimed at the airfield.

Once the airfield fell, the New Alliance's aircraft would no longer be able to rearm or refuel. Their only options would be to return to the Heart of Steel or make emergency landings somewhere out on the wasteland.

The entire wasteland was blanketed with creatures that had awakened alongside their Kingdom of Heaven.

Though individually weak, their overwhelming numbers were enough to bog down even Deathclaws.

The aerial defense line was soon breached, and the center of the battlefield shifted from the skies to the ground. Faced with monsters descending from above, the anti-aircraft positions at Guardian Manor Military Base were forced to cease fire. The soldiers had no choice but to seize their rifles and engage the winged, fanged, clawed beasts in brutal close-quarters combat.

Meanwhile, the aircraft circling overhead could no longer provide unrestricted close air support against enemies tangled together with friendly forces. They could only focus on those targets that had yet to land.

As the fighting intensified, it was not only the anti-aircraft batteries and the airfield that became engulfed by the battle. Even the machine-gun emplacements along the perimeter of the military base were dragged into the chaos.

Sitting inside the cockpit of his Thunderbolt fighter, Falling Feather wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. His four guided air-to-ground missiles had already been expended. Only 300 rounds remained for his autocannon.

Even though nearly 100 Winged Mutant Humans had fallen to his guns, it still wasn't enough to meaningfully influence the battle. Well, that was unless they could eliminate every one of those creatures wearing biological exoframes!

He clearly remembered the information from the official website.

The Winged Mutant Humans had been bred from Mutant Human offspring. Because of their accelerated growth, they never developed complete intelligence, much like the Goblins. If anything, they were even more chaotic than Goblins, requiring psychic interference modules to coordinate them.

The New Alliance Biological Research Institution had attempted to crack the psychic signals controlling them, but unfortunately had failed. For both the Torch Church and the New Alliance, the technology represented something akin to a technological singularity.

Even in their current state, both its practical applications and ethical boundaries remained under exploration. The Torch Church, however, had far fewer ethical restraints when it came to experimentation, and had spent well over a decade researching the field.

As a result, it was difficult to say which side truly possessed the superior technology.

One thing, however, was certain. Destroy the biological exoframe serving as the communication nodes, and those winged monsters would immediately lose their command structure, reverting from coordinated cannon fodder back into disorganized beasts.

Beasts were nothing to fear. Just like the countless mutated creatures roaming the wasteland, no matter how numerous they were, they were merely walking experience points.

At least, that was how players saw them.

The problem was, Falling Feather had no idea how to find them. The entire area was shrouded in fog. Simply shooting down the Winged Mutant Humans was already difficult enough, let alone identifying those hidden among them wearing biological exoframes.

The enemy had been clever. They hadn't thrown all of their cannon fodder against the military base. Instead, they had left a considerable portion behind to continue entangling the coalition’s aircrafts, providing cover for themselves while concealed within the swarm.

Even worse. Unlike last time, there might be more than one suit of biological exoframe mixed into the horde.

Just then, after a long silence, a familiar voice suddenly came through the communication channel. "Yiwu! (I'm done!)"

Falling Feather froze for a moment before breaking into a delighted grin. "You finished over there? That's great! How do you feel?"

"Yiwu..." Little Feather sounded conflicted.

For a moment, Falling Feather couldn't understand what it was trying to express.

That wasn't particularly unusual. In a sense, Little Feather's voice conveyed emotions rather than words. When even Little Feather couldn't describe what it was feeling, naturally, no one else could understand either. Not even Falling Feather.

"Got a stomachache?"

"Yiwu. (No... but it's a little regrettable. Those people were actually quite interesting.)"

Those people?

The soldiers wearing gas masks?

Falling Feather remembered Little Feather complaining before about how boring those people were. However, it seemed its opinion had completely changed.

Having more or less guessed what had happened, Falling Feather swallowed quietly. Just as he was wondering how to comfort Little Feather, the little fellow suddenly regained its spirits. "Yiwu... wu? (The battle isn't over yet. I won't let their sacrifice be in vain... Is there anything I can help with?)"

It wasn't the time for idle conversation.

Hearing the determination in Little Feather's voice, Falling Feather immediately asked, "Can you sense the spores around you? The spores released by the Na Fruit!"

"Yiwu! (I can!)"

Joy flashed across Falling Feather's face as he continued, "Then... can you locate the source of them? Or the core controlling them? Something like that?"

His description was rather abstract, but he trusted Little Feather would understand. After all, while they appeared to communicate through speech, they were actually exchanging thoughts directly.

"Yiwu... (I can't sense its presence.)"

Only then did Falling Feather suddenly remember. The Fourth Stage of the Kingdom of Heaven no longer required a Hive to exist. That was precisely why the Torch Church claimed it was the irreversible final stage.

Just then, however, another idea suddenly occurred to him.

"What if we produce some sub-entities using the Hive inside Blood Peak? Could we use those as incubators to cultivate the type B strain?"

Although the Blood Peak Hive had never created sub-entities, the Hive beneath Clearspring City possessed an enormous library of them.

Even Mutant Humans, an entirely different species, could serve as incubators for spore production.

There was no reason Crunchers, which naturally produced spores to begin with, couldn't serve the same purpose. All they needed was a way to insert the type B strain's genetic material into the creatures and the ability to produce spores through surrogate hosts that happened to reside within the Hive known as Alpha beneath Blood Peak.

That thing had spent nearly a century mastering the technique. It could even reshape Mutant Humans into countless bizarre forms without producing a single duplicate.

Falling Feather clenched his fists and silently, he prayed.

Little Feather also fell silent for a while. It seemed to be carefully considering the feasibility of the idea, or perhaps already attempting it.

A few moments later, it finally replied. "Yiwu! (I just tried it. It works.)"

Hearing those words felt like heavenly music. Joy instantly spread across Falling Feather's face. Had he not been sitting inside a fighter plane, he would have hugged the little fellow on the spot.

The type B strain inhibited the growth activity of Torch's modified type J strain. Likewise, the spores produced by the type B strain possessed the same suppressive properties. In other words, Crunchers carrying the type B strain would become the ultimate natural enemy of the puppets controlled by the type J strain! They would destroy the Kingdom of Heaven on the Guardian Manor Plains at its very foundation!

Those endlessly emerging abominations would finally be laid to rest forever!

"Hurry! Produce as many as you can!" Without the slightest hesitation, Falling Feather shouted into the communication channel.

An energetic reply immediately came back. "Yiwuu! (Roger!)"

...

At the same time, deep within Blood Peak, crimson mist billowed endlessly from the bottomless abyss beneath the altar. Standing at the Sideline Slacking of the pit, Eye Owe Money stared blankly into the red fog.

The other players nearby were doing the same.

Even Drumhead Washing Machine, whom Eye Owe Money had been grabbing by the head earlier, stood there silently watching.

"... It would've been better if I had gone down instead." Eye Owe Money muttered quietly as regret filled his eyes.

If only I had brought more.

What if I brought all 120? Maybe those people wouldn't have needed to sacrifice themselves...

Although he had grown attached to his minions, he knew perfectly well they were nothing more than Little Feather's dandruff.

They possessed no independent consciousness, nor had they ever regarded him as their father. They simply ate his food and drank his supplies.

Those soldiers, however, were living beings, even if they were merely AIs running on a server.

Sideline Slacking placed a hand on Eye Owe Money's shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze. "We should go. At the very least, we need to bring their belongings back to their families."

To seize their position, the Alpha Mobile Task Force of over 1,000 troops had been almost completely annihilated. Even the reinforcements had left behind nothing but corpses. The bodies nearly filled the entire tunnel.

It had been a victory purchased at an unimaginable cost.

Eye Owe Money nodded. After giving the abyss one final glance, he turned to leave. Soon, the crimson mist suddenly rippled. Something began climbing out of the pit.

His eyes widened and a surge of hope welled up inside him.

Could it be...?

Yet before that fragile hope could fully bloom, the moment their eyes met, his heart sank into despair.

No miracle had occurred. What climbed out was a pack of Creepers. Some carried Crunchers on their backs while others transported different types of sub-entities. But among all those faces, there wasn't a single one he recognized.

"Only we're immortal." Standing beside him, Sideline Slacking spoke quietly. "It's always been that way since the game launched."

Although they had only known each other briefly, he acknowledged that she had been a courageous person.

"... I already know that. It's not like I just got my helmet yesterday. You don't need to remind me." Eye Owe Money muttered.

Sideline Slacking nodded in understanding. He didn't continue the heavy conversation. Instead, he simply patted his friend on the shoulder. "... Time to move."

Eye Owe Money said nothing. He merely nodded silently before following behind him.

The fighting outside wasn't over yet. By then, Spring Water Commander and the others were probably still locked in fierce combat against the Torch Church. There was still plenty to do. Part of their force had to remain behind to secure Blood Peak. The rest would reinforce the allied troops defending Guardian Manor Military Base.

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