Chapter 786.2: Killing Freaks

The Zombie Mutant Human growing a new head didn’t simply stand there idle. It gripped its rifle in one hand and a short blade in the other, wildly slashing and smashing around the trench like a madman.

The creature had no eyes and clearly had neither hearing nor smell. It was fighting entirely based on its memory of the surroundings and sheer instinct.

Peepo hurriedly retreated and dodged two lethal strikes, then pulled out a white-phosphorus grenade, bit out the pin, and tossed it onto the Mutant Human’s half-regrown head.

A blinding white flash erupted instantly as burning red flames splashed over the Mutant Human’s entire body.

A sizzling sound filled the trench, followed by the smell of roasted meat. The Mutant Human’s body convulsed as it staggered backward, its twisted movements resembling a silent scream of agony.

“Try being human in your next life.”

Peepo picked up the large-caliber rifle the creature had dropped and fired into its chest.

Bang!

Huge chunks of flesh were torn apart by fragments. One gruesome wound after another finally exceeded the Zombie Mutant Human’s capacity for self-repair. The monster writhing in the flames finally stopped struggling and crashed heavily to the ground.

Having dealt with one target fairly cleanly, Peepo tossed aside the rifle he had picked up, grabbed his own weapon again, and continued advancing along the crooked trench.

Soon, his teammates’ voices came through the communications channel. Judging by the fact that they still had enough free time to bullshit, things seemed to be going smoothly for them as well.

“Trench A-07 secured. We captured a recoilless rifle. Should be the experimental model we found in the North Island Heavy Industry warehouse.”

“They finished the final design, though the design doesn’t look all that smart. The muzzle flash and smoke when it fires are way too obvious.”

“Heh... I noticed that ages ago. They basically have no army tradition at all. Their electronics and shipbuilding are the only things they’re somewhat decent at.”

“You’re sure it’s only ‘somewhat decent’?”

“Ahem. Of course I’m judging by wasteland standards. A game and reality are two different things, after all.”

“God damn it! Can’t these Mutant Humans even dig a proper trench?”

“Holy shit, booby trap...”

A violent explosion erupted, and a burst of flame shot up from the trench. Amid the blast, a faint human silhouette could be seen flying into the air.

Peepo quickly looked over and saw the mangled body slam back onto the ground.

The squad leader, Coincidence, roared over the communications channel, “No Family is down! We lost one!”

“I’ll go see if he needs finishing off.” Half Wasted eagerly climbed out of the trench and started moving toward the remains, his voice carrying more than a hint of schadenfreude.

“All of you, be fucking careful! You think equipment is free? If it gets wrecked, points get deducted!” Peepo cursed with a face full of black lines, then switched channels and reported the situation to the rear. “First unit has secured the beach! Requesting further instructions!”

After a brief burst of static, Old White’s voice came through the channel. “Coordinate with the armored units and continue advancing. Begin phase two of the offensive!”

Peepo answered energetically, “Yes!”

No Family getting blown up by a booby trap was only a minor episode. For most of the players on the front line, the battle was proceeding quite smoothly.

Their first unit’s three mechanized infantry companies, together with one amphibious armored company, had successfully torn open a breach on the beach and wiped out nearly an entire battalion of Mutant Humans.

Preliminary casualty figures showed 20 dead, including severe injuries that could not be recovered from within three days.

A single unit taking down an entire battalion-sized force counted as pretty standard performance for the New Alliance’s elites, the Burning Corps.

After a brief reorganization, Peepo and gang immediately launched the second wave of attacks, leaving the captured positions to the teammates landing behind them.

The fixed-wing drones circling overhead not only provided battlefield guidance to the front-line units, but also recorded the entire battle from start to finish. The footage was transmitted not just to rear command, but also to the bridge of the Harpoon.

New Alliance officers had long since grown accustomed to the Burning Corps’ combat capability. Nihark, however, was seeing those people fight on the battlefield for the first time.

Watching the holographic footage, his face turned pale. Beads of sweat continuously formed across his forehead, and his eyes were filled with fear and disbelief.

So this is the New Alliance?

The Burning Corps... Isn’t that the same unit that had defeated him before?!

Last time, he lost too quickly. He had barely woken up before being thrown into prison, so for a while he had believed these people had only defeated Port Gallon’s city defense forces through a surprise attack. Now, though, it seemed that even if the city defense troops and the Gray Wolf Army had lined up together on shore and waited for them, they still might not have been able to stop those freaks.

The only thing was, he didn’t know whether that unit had used its full strength in that battle. But at the very least, he finally understood why Arayan had lost...

No! The real question was, how the hell was anyone supposed to beat an opponent like this?!

Nihark gulped once and unconsciously let his gaze drift toward the ships outside the porthole, looking at one destroyer after another.

Clearly, a single battleship alone was nowhere near enough. The Xilande Empire needed to build a fleet just like the Southern Sea New Alliance’s!

That fleet needed an integrated combat capability spanning everything from search to destruction. Only then could they stop the New Alliance from landing and dragging them into a ground battle!

No, even one fleet wasn’t enough. He needed to find a way to buy the shipyards on North Island!

Li Minghui glanced at the wealthy and mysterious old friend standing beside him and couldn’t stop the corner of his lips from curling upward when he saw the man’s stunned expression.

Look at this ignorant bastard, stuffing scallions in his nose and pretending to be an elephant.

You think you’re not short of money? Come on then.

At last having gotten the chance to show off, Li Minghui felt wonderfully satisfied. But before the smile at the corner of his mouth had lasted very long, it abruptly collapsed.

Wait. I hadn’t scared the pig awake, had I?

The thought had barely crossed his mind when Nihark turned toward him with feverishly bright eyes. “Um... Mr. Li Minghui, there’s something I’d like to ask, if it’s convenient.”

Li Minghui asked cautiously, “What is it?”

“These North Island shipyards, would your side happen to be willing to sell them?” Worried that Li Minghui might suspect his motives, Nihark quickly coughed and put on an amiable smile. “Of course, we mainly want to use them to build fishing vessels!”

Li Minghui stared blankly at the duke whose attempt to hide his intentions only made them more obvious, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

He had worried for nothing. Clearly, there was no need to be afraid that the idiot had suddenly attained enlightenment.

...

As the New Alliance’s second-phase offensive began, the Southern Sea New Alliance fleet raised its guns as well and began violently bombarding the Torch Church Mutant Human forces’ second defensive line.

At the same time, the second wave of landing craft was lowered from the large landing ships and surged toward the coastline through layer after layer of waves. 20 Cloudfly ornithopters departed with them.

The aircraft, carrying rocket pods beneath them, skimmed over the wave tops like dragonflies touching the surface of water as they raced toward the beach.

Just then, the fishman units hiding beneath the sea suddenly attacked. One harpoon after another erupted from the surging waves and shot toward the low-flying Cloudflies!

The blue-skinned Mutant Humans had assumed that if they simply aimed for the giant wings, they could knock the aircraft out of the sky and into the sea. But they had clearly underestimated the agility of ornithopters.

One Cloudfly another rolled smoothly to the side, following astonishing maneuvering paths to dodge the harpoons trailing chains behind them.

“Graaah!”

The blue-skinned Mutant Humans hidden among the waves shrieked angrily, but there was nothing they could do as the Cloud Dragonflies climbed higher.

Some dove back beneath the surface, while others chased after the landing craft, attempting to sink them.

What those fishmen didn’t expect was that the players had already seen through their plan. When the first wave of landing craft came ashore and nobody saw any sign of them, quite a few players had wondered where the bastards had gone.

So they had been waiting for the second wave all along!

After killing a blue-skinned Mutant Human that had tried to climb onto the landing craft, a player crouched low aboard the vessel and shouted into the communication channel, “Jungle Corps, You’re up.”

A muffled voice came through the communications channel, accompanied by the bubbling sound of water. “Copy!”

At the exact moment the reply came, mechanical crabs hiding along the seabed in the shallow-water zone switched on their searchlights, revealing their menacing armored shells.

The fishmen fighting near the surface around the landing craft had no idea that underwater rifles were already aimed at them. By the time they finally noticed the lights rising from below, it was already too late.

Prone Model roared the instant the lights came on, “Fire!!”

At the order, dense streams of bubbles pushed spindle-shaped bullets toward the fishmen active near the surface.

Caught completely off guard, the fishmen in the water were instantly harvested by the barrage. Dark red blood nearly dyed the entire sea around them crimson.

Discovering the attack coming from below, the fishmen panicked and turned around, diving back toward the seabed.

But at that exact moment, the second wave of attacks from Jungle Corps had already arrived right in their faces.

Hoarse screams rose one after another.

In an instant, another storm of blood swept through the water!

At almost the same moment the Torch Church’s fishman units attacked, the Mutant Humans on land also launched their first counterattack. Although their communications had been paralyzed by the EMP strike, the landing battle had already gone on long enough that the Mutant Humans along the other defensive lines had clearly noticed the breach the New Alliance had torn through their positions.

Two battalions were split into two waves. One group charged toward Burning Corps’ first unit, which had passed through the beach and pushed inland while the other attacked the second, third, and engineering units, along with the independent players establishing a temporary harbor on the beachhead.

Tracers drifted across the beach like willow catkins. Players fighting on the outer perimeter even saw the tank they had previously discovered inside a North Island Heavy Industry warehouse.

The Alligator amphibious armored vehicles clearly weren’t a match for that thing, but unfortunately for the Mutant Humans the New Alliance had far more than just armored vehicles.

High overhead were Thunderbolt and Lightning jets. At low altitude there were a full twenty Cloud Dragonflies. And that wasn’t even mentioning the naval guns floating offshore, all waiting for these live targets to show their faces under the drones’ cameras.

A four meter tall tank looked like a monster whether in a game or in reality, but in front of a 150mm naval gun, it was still as fragile as paper. One shell was usually enough to send one away.

Even if the shell did not score a direct hit, the blast wave alone could shake apart the improvised hull that had been cobbled together from miscellaneous parts.

Both battalions that surged forward like a tide were shattered in less than half an hour. Leaving behind piles of severed limbs and scrap metal, they fled in disarray.

Standing on the beachhead, Old White commanded the fighting on the front through his tactical helmet while simultaneously squeezing the trigger of his Howler, shooting down Mutant Humans that stubbornly continued to resist.

As the flames of resistance weakened further and further, the battle seemed to be approaching its end.

Just then, a report from the first unit came through his communications channel. “This is the first unit. After advancing deeper into the enemy position, we discovered the ruins of a settlement roughly six kilometers from our landing point. It’s hidden in a gap between two hills and covered in dense woodland.”

“We found signs of Mutant Human activity there, but our drones can’t see what’s actually inside... I would like to detach a squad to search the area.”

Old White quickly checked the map and confirmed the location marked by Peepo. Judging from the map alone, there really could be something hidden there. He made his decision in only two seconds and immediately gave the order. “Request approved.”

A crisp, forceful reply came from the other end of the communications channel.

“Copy!”

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