Chapter 607.2: The Rain Of Blood

Silence filled the bridge.

Guessing the airship’s intent, the captain swallowed hard, lifted his cap, and held it over his chest.

The other officers followed, silently baring their heads, paying their highest respect to the fallen pilots and that airship’s crew.

Just as the administrator had said, they were all true warriors.

The battle wasn’t over. The moment of silence on the bridge lasted only a few seconds.

Meanwhile, raucous laughter echoed through the narrow corridor, reverberating inside the empty transport airship’s cabin. “Hahahaha! Ugly bastards, your Grandpa Mosquito is here!”

Staring at the surging swarm of monsters, Mosquito raised a massive machine gun with its ammo belt rattling, excitement written all over his face.

Smashing the cockpit glass with the stock, he propped the weapon in the middle of the flight deck and unleashed a wild torrent of fire into the shrieking beasts outside.

The muzzle flash danced like a candle in a storm of bullets. Accuracy be damned, but it was more than enough to draw the monsters’ aggro.

From far away, the winged creatures fixed on the lumbering craft. Breaking through the clouds, they howled and dove straight at it.

Within seconds, nearly 100 of them had clambered onto the 50 meter long plane, their numbers growing by the second.

They didn’t know what the swollen vessel was. They assumed it was kin to the giant floating fortress above, and so sank their fangs into the tough gasbag, trying to tear a hole and slaughter whoever hid inside.

Warning lights flashed, pressure gauges spun, and the engines sputtered. But in the cockpit, Mosquito didn't panic at all. If anything, he struggled not to laugh.

“Don’t be shy, eat your fill... When you’re done... Try a taste of this!”

As if performing a magic trick, he pulled a trigger from his pocket and revealed a wicked grin as he squeezed it.

Detonators hidden throughout the craft sparked in unison, currents racing from bow to stern.

In an instant, not just over a thousand kilograms of TNT. Tens of thousands of cubic meters of hydrogen went up in flames.

The 50 meter long vessel turned into a massive bomb, erupting into a fireball that blossomed outward.

Mosquito, standing in the cockpit, was the first to be swallowed by fire, followed by what he called “stupid fucking birds” clawing at the canopy.

Boom!

The mutants clinging to the hull were incinerated like moths to a flame, consumed in a heartbeat by fire and shockwave.

The blast wave rolled across the deck of the Heart of Steel, carving a region of vacuum into the swarm itself.

Charred bodies smoked and fell like dumplings from the sky, the stench of burning flesh thick in the air. The rest screamed, scattering left and right.

Witnessing the apocalyptic inferno, Gaen’s eyes filled with blood. Rage flared from his nostrils like fire.

He hadn’t cared about losing fodder, until he remembered those bat-winged creatures were once children of his tribe. Agony tore at him, twisting his hideous face even further.

“ARGHHHH!”

“I’ll kill you all!!”

Consumed by fury, Gaen charged toward the deck like a mad beast.

As if sharing his rage, the bat-men beat their wings harder, shrieking through their fangs.

Meanwhile, far away in Brocade Lake Municipality, Arzu’s face darkened and veins bulged on his clenched fist.

He couldn’t see the battle, but the radar told him the truth. In an instant, they lost nearly 500 winged Mutant Humans!

As the assault stalled, the casualties only mounted.

“Useless trash!”

Beasts will always be beasts. They can handle the best equipment, but they’re fighting the war in the dumbest way!

If he had commanded personally, they wouldn’t have lost half their force before even touching the airship.

Still, at least 2,000 of them had broken through the Heart of Steel’s fire net and reached the deck.

Most of the New Alliance’s main force was at the front.

Between the airship and the ground airfield, fewer than 1,000 defenders remained.

A pained smile tugged at Arzu’s lips. “... Savor the agony of disembowelment.”

“Shame I can’t hear your screams.”

...

At the same time Gaen landed on the airship with the remaining winged Mutant Humans, Lu Bei’s Guards Corps met them head-on.

Though not frontline troops, the 300 guards were awakeners like the players, responsible for intelligence and the administrator’s safety. Each of them was a formidable fighter.

Alongside them fought the ship’s crew and players who respawned at the save point.

The struggle raged around the 400mm main gun and the ammunition lifts. It was brutal and in close-quarters combat.

Nearly 100 kilometers away, atop a mountain, Yang Kai sat aboard the research craft, calmly sipping coffee as he watched the feed.

War wasn’t his specialty, but even he could see the New Alliance’s situation looked grim.

It wasn’t their fault.

Flying mutants...

He had been shocked when he saw them earlier. He hadn’t expected the Torch Church to hide such a trump card, much less thousands of them.

Once again, Dr. Conclusions’ theories proved true.

Those blue-skinned, gilled, scaly mutants along the coastal provinces of the Among Clouds Province might really have been crafted by those zealots.

And history repeated itself.

Back then, the Army had lost the Heart of Steel the same way. McClennan was forced to flee in an escape pod.

Now the New Alliance, having taken it by brute force, was about to lose it the same way.

How ironic.

Yang Kai chuckled, checked the time, and tapped the holo-screen.

Connecting to the channel left by the administrator, he cleared his throat and spoke casually. “Hope I’m not interrupting by contacting you now. I can see you’ve done your best. Sadly, I can’t help with the battlefield, but I can take three to five people. If you need to retreat, just give me a word.”

Dr. Conclusions’ model had accounted for the possibility of the New Alliance’s defeat, even if the odds were low.

If the worst came, the plan required him to secure the administrator’s safety, and that of the child carrying the antibody.

But to his surprise, his lifeline was met with a blunt refusal. “No need to trouble yourself.”

Yang Kai raised his brows and sat up. “Are you sure? This isn’t the time to play tough.”

A mocking laugh filled his ears. “Heh, why would I need to do so?”

The line cut.

Staring at the terminated icon, Yang Kai clicked his tongue in irritation and slumped back into his chair. “Heh. Guess I thought too much.”

Meanwhile, two Viper transport planes burst from the clouds and hovered above the Heart of Steel’s deck.

Night Ten’s eyes nearly bulged at the sight of monsters clambering over the ship, fire flashing nonstop.

“Holy shit... What the hell is that?!”

It was too dark to count, but even a glance showed they outnumbered them many times over.

The other players wore similar looks, surprise, but nothing more.

“Just some winged beasts.” Confirming the Goblin Corps’ photos, Old White snapped off his VM, chambered his rifle, and glanced around at the squad.

“Get ready for battle.”

None of them cared about the swarming horde. Morale soared in the cabin.

“ORAAAAA!”

Both Vipers dropped toward the deck’s northern edge, spraying blue arcs, hovering in place.

From 15 meters up, players in exoskeletons and exoframes lined up at the doors and leapt one after another.

Jiang Xuezhou sat pale and trembling, fingers numb around her harness.

Seeing Night Ten about to jump, she panicked and cried out, “Wait... You’re just going down like that?”

Gripping the hatch rail, Night Ten grinned. “Heh, it’s not the first time.”

Seeing her terrified expression, he teased, “You just stay here. Don’t even think of helping.”

Without her pet, she was a non-combatant. She would only be in the way if she jumped into the Heart of Steel.

Still, once the fight was over, he fully intended to mock her.

She had bragged enough about her skills before, yet there she was, scared stiff before the battle even started.

D-class Researcher? What a joke.

Scrub.

Jiang Xuezhou’s face paled further, unaware of his silent ridicule.

She hadn’t planned on leaving anyway, just looking down made her dizzy. But was he really not afraid?

“C-Can’t you just shoot from up here?” she asked weakly, embarrassed to be left alone, hoping he would stay too.

“Shoot from the plane?” Night Ten blinked, giving her a strange look. “Are you kidding? With this wind up here, we won’t hit anything.”

Before he could finish, dread surged up his spine. A massive force slammed into the fuselage, sending the Viper spinning toward the edge of the deck.

“Ahhh!”

The cabin tilted wildly. Jiang Xuezhou screamed, nearly fainting, while Night Ten was worse, falling half out the hatch, he was nearly flung into the void. Only brute strength provided by his exoskeleton’s boost and a death grip on the rail kept him flying off.

The Viper spiraled, skimming the deck’s edge, then scraped past without crashing.

“Fuck!” The pilot wrestled the stick, stomping the rudder to the floor, barely regaining control.

But then a gaunt, fanged monster shoved its head through the open hatch.

Its face was a picture of hell itself.

Meeting its glowing green eyes, Jiang Xuezhou froze, breath and heartbeat stolen by the icy wind rushing in.

“...W-Wangy,” she whispered, before remembering she had left it back there.

Despair crept across her face.

At that instant, a flash of cold steel gleamed in the dark, a dagger hurled from the opposite hatch, burying itself in the creature’s skull with a soft thunk.

The blade pierced its eye socket.

𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Screeching, it released the hatch and tumbled out.

Jiang Xuezhou blinked, misty eyes wide with joy, staring toward the hatch it had come from.

He’s alive!

But her relief was crushed in the next instant, by a furious roar that entered the cabin along with him. “Goddammit, at least hit it once?!”