Chapter 602: Roar of the Chimera!

Chapter 602: The Chimera's Roar!

The war entered its fourth day.

The brutal street fighting had turned the avenue before the abandoned department store into a merciless meat grinder, every paving stone slick with viscous blood and mangled corpses.

The once orderly front line had been chewed into a jagged shape by the relentless tug-of-war, the ground scarred by artillery and aerial bombs like hideous wounds.

Ironically, the three-year war that had buried the Human Union had never touched this land, yet two centuries after the war ended, it welcomed the baptism of iron and fire.

Hengchi was filled with confusion.

He still remembered the chief saying that the Alliance's offensive was spent, that their soldiers had been scared witless by Delu's roar and would soon flee with their tails between their legs.

The recaptured positions were the best proof.

But—

Was that really the case?

"Boom—!"

The dense artillery fire began on schedule, like a mass of black clouds rolling over the street, growing louder and closer with each blast.

Green-skinned heads crouched in the concrete buildings on both sides of the street, rising and falling with the dust that shook loose from time to time.

Hengchi was not afraid of the Alliance's shelling.

The noise was indeed tremendous, but it was hard for the shells to hurt them through the concrete walls, and minor scratches were nothing to worry about.

In the end, both sides had to face each other in close combat to decide the outcome.

So there was nothing to fear.

The bombardment started on time and ended on time.

A centurion crouching nearby shook the cement dust off his body, stood up, raised his weapon, and bellowed at the top of his lungs.

"Chop them to pieces!"

His chest heaved with the roar, like a beast howling at the sky.

"Ooh ooh ooh!"

Encouraged by that courage and savagery, the other mutant soldiers also shouted and rose, grabbing their weapons and spreading out to the outer cover, ready to fight the Alliance soldiers.

Hengchi followed closely behind the one in front.

Almost the moment he stepped out of the concrete rubble, the deafening battle cries came together with the crackling gunfire.

The street he was responsible for was one of the roads leading to the abandoned department store, with a collapsed overpass lying across the intersection.

Abandoned cars were natural cover; a few sandbags and a machine gun turned them into simple bunkers.

The Church kept supplying ammunition to the city, so they never had to worry about logistics—they only needed to stuff death down the throats of those human soldiers.

Tracer rounds danced wildly in the street like snowflakes whipped up by a storm.

From the invisible mist, Hengchi sensed something unusual. The fierce firepower seemed like a repeat of the first day's assault.

Wasn't the Alliance about to collapse?

Why had they... come back to life?

He had a nagging feeling that these people were the same ones he had faced on the first day.

The only difference was that they seemed much more skilled now, no longer charging blindly into the line of fire.

Back then, one burst of fire was enough to take them down.

But now, they had clearly learned the tricks of combat—even if only shallow ones—and they were causing huge trouble.

"Da da da—!"

The machine gun spat a continuous tongue of fire. In the thick fog with poor visibility, hitting anything was mostly a matter of luck.

Hengchi didn't get the machine gun; he could only grab a rifle from somewhere and fire blindly at the cover outside. But he soon felt lucky he had been slow.

Before his rifle had fired two bursts, a searing flash exploded beside him with a "clang," and shrapnel and hot blood splattered his face.

He turned to look and saw the one who had been firing the machine gun reduced to half a torso twitching on the ground.

Having seen so many corpses, he was numb to it. A bare-chested mutant quickly took over the machine gun and kept firing.

Hengchi showed no grief for the brother who had once pissed with him; instead, a seed of doubt grew in his mind.

Did recapturing this street really mean the Alliance was on its last legs?

But that doubt lasted less than half a minute before it was shattered by a roar that pierced the thick fog.

A giant clad in steel plates, with heavy and hurried steps, crossed the shattered cover and suddenly burst onto the battlefield.

Its body was as tall as a city wall, and the steel draped over it was as tough as tank armor.

At its appearance, almost every mutant's eyes blazed with fervor, and they shouted in excitement.

Hengchi was no exception!

Big guy!

The strongest warrior of the tribe!

They couldn't be produced normally, and they never learned more than a few words of human speech, but every one that grew up was a warrior granted a name!

They were born warriors!

"Roar—!"

The roar leaked through the gaps in its helmet. As it ran, it slammed its shoulder hard into the nearest iron lump.

The human soldier in the exoskeleton drew a short axe to resist, but the axe was like a toothpick against the giant's massive frame.

Hengchi clearly saw the axe strike the helmet, leaving only a faint white scratch on the dark, grim steel. Then the human soldier was sent flying by the big guy's fluid charge, crashing hard into a concrete building.

A steel bar protruding from the wall pierced through him from behind, skewering the soldier. He clutched the bar for a moment, then his head drooped and he stopped moving.

"Roar—!"

The mutant giant threw its head back and roared, grabbed a steel rod from the ground, and smashed it into the next iron lump.

The human soldiers were clearly startled by this behemoth, caught off guard by the rampaging giant.

Crouching behind cover, Hengchi's blood boiled with excitement, and he cheered along with the other minions.

The big guy seemed encouraged by their shouts, swinging the meter-long steel rod in the center of the battlefield, growing fiercer by the moment.

In a flash, two more heavy exoskeletons were sent flying, crashing into the concrete rubble and lying unconscious.

The Alliance soldiers immediately raised their rifles and concentrated fire on the giant, but the tracers were like toothpicks against its massive form.

They only left scratches on the thick steel armor, causing no real damage, and instead provoked the giant's ferocity, making it swing the steel rod even more vigorously.

The already chaotic position was smashed into an even greater mess.

The leading human soldier seemed to be shouting something, but Hengchi couldn't understand—probably panicked screams, he thought.

What he didn't know was that while these Alliance soldiers were startled by the giant, they were far from panicked.

For instance, Midnight Chicken Killer had seen such things before, and many veterans of the Jungle Corps had too. They knew that while this creature was tough, it was far from invincible.

"Holy shit—this bolter can't even break through their armor?!"

"Bro, you're at the safe distance! Back up a bit and shoot!"

"No time! Switch to rifle!"

"Damn, this armor's too thick! Can't punch through!"

"Then bring out the rocket launcher—"

The words had barely fallen when the roar of an engine came charging from one side of the intersection.

Midnight Chicken Killer, who was about to pull out the launcher, snapped his gaze toward that direction. The moment his eyes met the headlights, joy surged in his heart.

Chimera!

It was a brother from the Skeleton Corps!

The snarling engine was like a war drum, and with the broad front of the vehicle, it plunged into the battlefield where gunfire crackled from all sides.

No hesitation at all.

The protruding ridge on the armored car's front slammed viciously into the hip of that enormous mutant.

The giant felt as if his lower body had been struck by a heavy hammer, letting out a pained cry. His feet were lifted off the ground as the massive vehicle shoved him backward.

Just then, the rampaging Chimera came to a sudden halt. The giant, off balance, had no chance to steady himself and stumbled backward.

But the Chimera armored vehicle gave him no time to catch his breath. Its 37mm rapid-fire cannon aimed straight at his chest.

And then—

The muzzle, deep as a black hole, spat out a long, thick tongue of flame without mercy!

"Bang! Bang! Bang!—"

The deafening cannon fire rang out like war drums struck in rhythm. Tracers as thick as pythons streamed from the muzzle, slamming into the thumb-thick chest armor like raindrops. Each shot made the armor groan under the strain.

The giant, staggering backward, had no strength to resist the kinetic force of the 37mm rounds. He was pinned directly into a shattered shop window on the side of the street.

Shrapnel and sparks flew from the window, and now and then a ricochet bounced away.

The flickering fire and thick smoke obscured the bloody, mangled mess, and also cut short the agonized scream.

Heng Chi's eyes were wide, fixed on the spot where the giant had fallen. The excitement and bloodlust in his pupils had faded, replaced by boundless fear.

In just an instant—

That warrior, who had come into the world with death and glory, born with a name bestowed by the chieftain, had been ground into pulp by the sparks from that iron box.

Soon he saw the smoking barrel slowly turning, aiming squarely at his position.

"Roar—!"

As if to vent the fear in his chest, Heng Chi let out a desperate, hoarse roar. He squeezed the trigger of his rifle almost to the limit, trying to extinguish the oncoming storm with his fragile sparks.

The other mutant soldiers did the same, pouring fierce fire at the iron behemoth standing in the middle of the battlefield, hoping to crush it with a hail of bullets.

But—

Against armor equivalent to dozens of millimeters thick, the bullets from small arms were far too weak, less effective than a swung axe.

Almost at the same moment Heng Chi roared, streaks of lightning as thick as pythons lunged at the mutants, bursting into flickering flames across the crude defensive line.

Sandbag fortifications were blown everywhere; the sandbag walls that could stop bullets were like children's blocks before the 37mm rapid-fire cannon.

Fortunately, there was no pain in that instant.

Heng Chi only saw a flash, then darkness, and all sensation plunged into an endless abyss with a wet splat...

"Bang! Bang! Bang!—"

The roar of the cannon continued.

Until every piece of cover on the street had been baptized by armor-piercing incendiary rounds.

As if still not satisfied, the armored vehicle switched to high-explosive shells and swept through the gaps between buildings on both sides of the street.

Though gunfire still echoed in the distance, the battle on this street was essentially over with the arrival of this armored vehicle.

Players from the Jungle Corps left their cover, bolters in hand, advancing alongside the armored car. They shot down mutant soldiers trying to retreat with ammunition crates, reclaiming the positions they had ceded to the mutants the day before.

"Nice work!"

Whistling at the now-silent Chimera armored car, the paratrooper in the "Iron Wall" exoskeleton gave an excited thumbs-up.

Even though he wasn't the one firing.

The overwhelming firepower had thrilled him nonetheless.

Elf King Fugui jumped down from the rear of the armored car, looking at the grimy brothers of the Jungle Corps, and boasted with a gleam in his eyes.

"So? Isn't our new gear awesome?"

Xiao Xiao Xiao Shu Chong: "6666!"

Fu Di Lao Mo: "Loaded now, bro!"

Elf King Fugui grinned sheepishly and laughed.

"Credit goes to our commander's game selling well."

Seeing all his brothers casting hopeful glances his way, Brother Ji, clad in iron, looked away with a subtle expression, pretending not to notice as he whistled.

Make money?

No such thing.

Be glad you can freeload NPC gear!

Irena said with a wry grin.

"Better leave that guy to haul bricks in the Ideal City. We'll handle the fighting."

The armored car's hatch opened, and a mole climbed out, resting his hand on the turret edge, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

"Damn, without me directing, would you even know where to drive?"

You bastards!

When things go well, you talk big and say commands are useless!

When things go south, you curse the commander for being useless!

Being a platoon leader is exhausting!

Elf King Fugui grinned cheekily and undercut him.

"Pfft, not to brag, but we're not fighting a legion. Against these savages who can't even build proper cover, just charge in and blast 'em, right?"

Other players chimed in with teasing.

"Exactly!"

"What tactics do you need? Just go wild!"

"You dare say that last stomp on the gas wasn't wild enough?"

Mole coughed dryly, actually embarrassed to say it.

To be honest, he was a bit reckless too—like just now, there was no need to charge so far ahead; he could have just stood back and counted heads from a distance.

But that didn’t matter!

He’d already shown off.

All that mattered was the thrill!

Reaching up, he pressed the communication button on his helmet. Mole decisively pretended not to hear the squad’s teasing, cleared his throat, and shouted into the channel.

“All units, attention. Prepare to advance with the infantry toward the coordinates of the ‘Old Resettlement Point’… The ruins of Singularity City are over there. Watch out for mutants hiding in the buildings.”

One by one, replies came through the channel.

“Roger that!”

A satisfied expression spread across Mole’s face.

It seemed the Chimera armored vehicles had performed decently on all fronts, not embarrassing him in front of the other brigades.

But that satisfaction lasted only a few seconds before an untimely voice crackled over the channel.

“…This is Chimera-3. We’ve run into trouble on the way to the attack point! Mutant anti-vehicle fire damaged our engine—we’re stranded in the middle of the road. Damn it, snipers! Spread out! Get to the sides of the street! Fuck… these bastards are playing dirty!”

The squad leader barked orders to his teammates while reporting the situation over the channel. Even without hearing his frantic tone, the clatter of gunfire alone made it clear how fierce the firefight was.

Snipers?

In this thick fog? They must be cheating, holy shit!

Mole froze for a moment, then his expression turned serious. He spoke at once.

“Report your position!”

The squad leader quickly confirmed his location on the map while peering through the observation window, speaking rapidly.

“Six hundred meters southwest of the department store. There’s a subway station nearby and an unmarked office building… I’ve marked it on the map!”

Mole: “And the sniper’s position?”

Squad leader: “From the gunshots, it should be to our southwest, off the engagement zone… I’m not sure exactly! Probably in the tallest building, or maybe the one next to it.”

“Mark the approximate area!”

“…Already updated on the map!”

“Roger that! We’re on our way!”

Ending the call, Mole reported the sniper’s coordinates to command, then rapped hard on the turret.

“Some brothers are in trouble—we’re going to bail them out… Damn it, I told those guys to stay inside the vehicle, but they had to sit on the back and show off!”

Midnight Chicken strode over, a bolter slung over his shoulder.

“Need any help?”

Mole glanced at his extravagant gear and shook his head like a rattle.

“No, no—just keep pushing forward. We’ll handle that mess and swing back to support you in a bit!”

Bringing that guy along would mean unloading at least two or three infantrymen. That hunk of metal looked tough, but mobility was a serious flaw.

Midnight Chicken didn’t overthink it; he grinned.

“OK. Good luck.”

Watching the Chimera armored vehicle turn toward the other side of the intersection, he waved to the brothers who had already secured the area.

“Keep moving!”

……

Before noon, the battle between the Alliance and the Qi Tribe had reached a fever pitch. Especially as Chimera armored vehicles poured into the fray, the once-stalemated fight turned into a one-sided slaughter.

Most of the hardcases in the Skeleton Brigade were veterans who had faced off against the Legion’s armored units in the desert. Though this was their first time in street fighting, they were ruthless when it came to mowing down enemies.

In just a few hours, the Qi Tribe lost all the ground they had reclaimed from the Alliance the day before, and their casualties exceeded the total of the previous three days combined.

Delu had gone bloodshot-eyed, like a gambler, still shouting at his dwindling men to attack the Alliance’s positions.

Yet even a bystander could clearly see that his defeat was only a matter of time.

Gaen had already given up on that fool. He was setting up defenses in the blocks near the research institute. If things went well, they might hold out for a week.

But if the Alliance kept up the pressure, it was hard to say whether he would abandon the institute—or even the entire Jinhe City—and retreat south.

After all, the Torch Church had no real means to restrain those green-skinned bastards.

If they could, they would have done it long ago…

On the southwest side of the battlefield, inside an abandoned office building, an old man in an exoskeleton quietly watched the scene.

At eighty years old—an age when most people on this wasteland would already be six feet under—his face bore only a few extra wrinkles.

His name was Alzu. He was an apostle, and like Yule, he leaned toward the technical side.

The difference was that his faith was far more steadfast than that of old ice pops like Yule from the Age of Prosperity. Almost nothing could shake him.

If he hadn’t distrusted machines, he would have uploaded his consciousness to the Sanctum long ago and become a glorious Pioneer.

In fact, even now, he still didn’t believe in the Sanctum—that castle in the air built on imperfect technology.

Luo Qian was the best proof.

Just when the Church was about to complete the final piece of the puzzle on this land, that guy had to screw up and go missing.

The Son had sent him here to investigate the reason for Luo Qian’s disappearance and to fill in the last piece.

Though he had no evidence, from the moment he set foot on this soil, he smelled betrayal.

That guy’s chip was still there.

But it had become something else.

He could think of no other reason but betrayal.

That was why those ethereal things were the least trustworthy. The human brain was the most perfect Sanctum in this world.

Not far from where he lay, a man with a crew cut pulled the trigger of his sniper rifle, coldly spitting out the number “two.” The electronic eye beside his scope contracted slightly.

In this fog, with visibility under twenty meters, he seemed to see every tiny movement on the battlefield with clarity.

Another man, holding binoculars, gazed at the distant, fiercely clashing battlefield and clicked his tongue softly.

“…The Alliance really went all out this time. Thirty armored vehicles—that’s a whole battalion’s worth of equipment.”

Scraping together that much armor on the wasteland wasn’t easy.

But thinking about how the Alliance had recently inherited the industrial legacy of Boulder City, the man with the binoculars soon relaxed.

His name was Chi Mo, an executioner of the Inquisition, in the same unit as Shan Sun, who had gone missing on a previous mission. He was here to assist Alzu’s plan.

Unlike Shan Sun, though, he didn’t like working alone. He usually brought his partner along.

The one lying at his feet was his partner, named Tang He.

During some earlier operation, this unlucky bastard had his eye pecked out by a wastelander carrying a sniper rifle, forcing him to replace half his brain and left eye with prosthetics.

It was probably a side effect of the surgery; now he mutters about killing every day, and if he goes a day without it, he feels utterly ill.

No one knows what the world looks like through his eyes, but luckily the parish has plenty of "pastures" for him to wreak havoc in, and those farmed livestock don't resist—just pick two out and let him finish them off.

Because his mind is unhinged, Tang He barely acknowledges him except when the topic turns to murder, so all along this journey, he's been conversing with the old apostle beside him.

After staring at the distant battlefield for a while, Alzu spoke slowly.

"I keep feeling that it's not just the Alliance after us."

Red Tapir let out a laugh.

"Oh? How can you tell?"

Alzu spoke slowly again.

"The Alliance's strength lies in biotechnology; the fact that they have technicians who can suppress us in electronic warfare means there must be experts helping them."

Red Tapir frowned slightly.

"You mean the Corporation people?"

That did seem plausible.

Yesterday, he tried to launch an electronic warfare attack on the communication system of the *Steel Heart*, but the moment he started, the other side detected him.

He could sense at least two distinct forces hammering him relentlessly, scaring him into a cold sweat, and he quickly severed the connection.

One more second, and half of his brother's brain would have been fried.

Alzu nodded slowly, then shook his head just as slowly.

"I'm afraid it's not just the Corporation—there might even be people from the Academy."

Red Tapir frowned again.

The Academy...

If it were only the Corporation, it wouldn't be enough to give him a headache.

Those guys always size up their opponents; if the enemy isn't a behemoth like the Legion, the Council almost never goes all out from the start. And by the time they get serious, the Sacred Flame will have already swallowed several provinces—no need to fear them.

But throw the Academy into the mix, and it's a different story.

Those technicians aren't strong in combat—in fact, they're hardly cut out for fighting at all.

However, on the flip side, they've reached an absurd level of mastery in technology, with tendrils stretching across the entire wasteland.

And the most troublesome part is that few people know what they're plotting or what drives them to do anything.

To put it figuratively, compared to the visible clash of blades and shadows, he fears the incomprehensible magic far more.

Scratching the back of his head, Red Tapir sighed in frustration.

"This is tough... What have we, a bunch of small-time troublemakers, done to deserve a joint crusade from the Academy and the Corporation?"

Alzu let out a dry, mirthless chuckle, his dignified face unchanged.

"It's all the same to me. Sooner or later, those parasitic vermin will die beneath our feet."

With that, he turned and walked toward the stairwell.

Watching his retreating figure, Red Tapir called out.

"Where are you going?"

A voice, answering a question not asked, drifted back from afar.

"I'd advise you not to underestimate them."

Red Tapir froze for a moment, looking puzzled.

Not underestimate them—what did that mean?

Was "them" referring to the Academy and the Corporation?

He racked his brain but couldn't figure out when he'd ever underestimated those guys...

Just as that thought crossed his mind, a faint buzzing sound gradually came from afar. At first, it sounded like the whine of mosquitoes, but soon it grew heavier, clearer, more like the roar of propellers—

No, not like.

It *was*!

Tang He, lying on the ground, suddenly changed color. He pulled his eye away from the scope, glanced hurriedly at the sky, and let out a curse.

"Damn..."

Soon, Red Tapir's face changed too.

Through the thick layers of fog, black crosses streaked across the near sky, dropping pitch-black dots one after another.

His brother had only fired a couple of cheap shots...

There's no way they'd send a whole bomber squadron for that, right?!