After I was done taking care of Goliath, I decided that I needed some way to hide it during battle.
I looked around my hideout and found a large green canvas.
I altered it a little and stuck random pieces of foliage on it to create an improvised camouflage net.
The net was large enough to fit Goliath, but it only worked well if the tank was standing still.
Also, the net looked blatantly fake at close range.
Nevertheless, it was good enough for its intended purpose, so I rolled it up, strapped it onto Goliath and headed to the Swamps at Pripyat.
Everything looked innocent enough, but I kept my guard up, knowing that this could be a repeat of that time in the Urals.
However, even after a minute or so, no one cared to show up.
I dared not go down the center because I figured that their ambush would be set up there.
Rather, I took the northern road.
That road was pretty clear, until…
"WHAT THE…!?"
My KV-2 had driven into a trap!
Somebody had dug a pit in the ground and covered it up.
Whoever dug it had done their research; the pit was large enough for Goliath, so it couldn't drive out by itself.
However, they forgot one thing:
They didn't dig the pit deep enough to compensate for the tall KV-2 turret!
So, my tank was an immobile pillbox for the time being.
Not long after we fell into the pit, a couple of American tanks showed up to have their way with me.
There was an M2 medium, an M4 Sherman and an unrecognized tank.
Knowing the potential danger that mystery tanks posed, I took it out first.
Because the 152 was closer to the ground, the gun blast actually displaced some of the nearby dirt.
Seeing what happened to their comrade, the remaining tanks decided to turn and flee.
Meanwhile, I tried to dig my way out of this pit.
It wasn't easy, and just like Ensk, I had to return to my now-immobilized tank when anybody showed up.
The M2 & M4 returned only when they had brought a few friends, namely, an M4A3E8 and a vehicle that resembled a Sherman, albeit with a pyramid-like hull and a different turret.
Though they damaged me, a bunch of their shots missed because my turret was partially covered.
Not sure of who to take out first, I went for the M4A3E8 first and blew it up.
As for the M4-like vehicle, I tossed an anti-tank grenade at it, putting it out of action.
I damaged the other Sherman with another grenade.
All of a sudden, artillery fire started to rain down on my location.
Luckily, one of the shells struck the M2 by accident, putting it out of commission and taking care of a potential spotter.
The surviving Sherman made a frenzied retreat, but during his retreat, he randomly blew up.
How did that happen!?
I didn't hear any cannon fire or see any shell trails.
That only left one other possibility:
There were mines in this area.
Not good.
It was bad enough that Goliath was stuck here for the time being, but now I have to deal with mines!?
Even worse, I had no mine detectors with me, so there were only three possibilities:
First, I could get out on foot and probe the land manually using my knife, but that was too risky because an enemy tank could easily kill me.
Second, I could toss one of my anti-tank grenades into an area where I thought there might be a mine, but I only had a couple left, and those were too precious to waste.
Third, I could use the 152 to detonate them, but then I wouldn't have enough shells left to take on enemy tanks.
Speaking of enemy tanks, another one of those unidentified tanks came along with an M4A3E2 tagging behind.
I stopped digging, took out the unidentified tank with one of my grenades and used Goliath's cannon to destroy the Sherman.
I immediately resumed digging, trying to go as fast as humanly possible and trying not to accidentally bury Goliath.
Artillery continued to rain down, but none of the shells struck Goliath.
Thanks to the craters made by the random artillery fire and by the muzzle blast of Goliath's 152mm howitzer, along with the furious rate at which I was digging, I eventually dug a suitable ramp for Goliath to get out of the pit.
However, it was pretty slow to get out of the pit.
Nevertheless. I made it out of there without too much trouble.
My only problem now – aside from the remaining enemy tanks – was: How am I going to proceed any further through this area without detonating a mine?
One wrong move and Goliath would be destroyed, or at the very least, it would lose a track.
Hmm…
Track…
THAT WAS IT!
I decided to follow the trail left behind by the M4A3E2, which went around the north side of the area.
Things were going well until a random shot damaged Goliath and severed my track.
After another shot came from the same direction and missed me, I aimed in that direction, and…
BOOM!
Whatever had fired at me was now destroyed.
After fixing the track, I proceeded further and sighted a bridge.
Rather than crossing the bridge, though, I proceeded to a nearby bush.
The reason I did so was because I wanted to test out my new camo net.
Once I had driven Goliath over to the bush, I threw the camo net over it and crawled under.
Before that, I also covered up the tread marks left behind by Goliath so that no one could find it.
Once I was back in my tank, I shut off the engine and just waited.
And waited.
And waited…
I listened for the sounds of tank engines and peeked through a hole in the net to check for any tanks passing by.
However, a few hours passed, and nobody came.
Nevertheless, I decided to go along with whatever little waiting game they had in mind.
It wasn't easy, though.
Night fell, and still, none of these guys came to look for me.
Rather than falling asleep, I thought it would be a better idea to stay awake just in case anybody came searching for me.
It was difficult, but I think I must've stayed up all night without anybody finding me.
Eventually, though, I had to bow to the inevitable, and when morning came and nobody showed, I let my sleepiness take hold of me…
Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.