Chapter 25
At campus, a few moments ago…
Xu swore as he flew toward the campus while dragging the helicopter behind him. Things aren't as good as he hoped.
The ground is a mess. The frontier was approximately 1 street block away, and he can swear, if it weren't for those goddamned Tomahawks coming down wherever the Countryhumans gained a bit of advantage these foolish humans would've been flattened. The German and Soviet factions were unable to demonstrate their massive armor advantage owing to the fact that their people hadn't set up an airfield yet, which enabled the enemies to take the advantage (the aircraft carriers were busy enough protecting the ally ships); it also made Xu a bit nervous to see the French Countryhumans having major difficulties coping with battles where they aren't dug deep into concrete and rebar. He'll have to speak with Andre about that later.
A sharp roar caught Xu's attention. Snapping out of his lull, he looked down –
Just in time for a Stinger AA missile to strike him in the feet.
The blast hurled Xu off balance, and sent him into a rapid, violent fall while still instinctively holding onto the helicopter's frame. But Xu wouldn't be the leader of the Chinese faction without some abilities. He quickly got himself back upright, and as the ground rose up towards him, dug his boots hard into the concrete, which helped to minimize the distance he was forced to skitter. The helicopter however was not so lucky: its tail slammed into an already-burning power transformer and detonated it, consuming the bird's tail in flames while the fuselage rolled and slid several feet on the ground before slamming unceremoniously into a wall.
Xu growled and muttered a curse. Just then, a bullet whizzed past his ear. He turned to see a mass enemy formation closing in on him.
Xu's face darkened. Then, he reached up into his sleeve and pressed the design on his arm again, and the mechanical suit expanded to cover him once more. Drawing his sword, he charged.
Time slowed. Over two dozen bursts of bullets whistled towards Xu's torso, but he twisted a bit, and all the rounds only grazed his uniform. Then he spun into the enemy formation.
Punches flew, firearms sounded, and bones broke as Xu wove in and out like an aquatic dragon, his sword only seen as a shimmer of metallic light. When he was done, all that was left of the enemy are sliced-up bodies, broken weaponry and flames.
But Xu was only getting started.
He turned and saw an enemy tank-infantry group bearing down on a group of German Republic Countryhumans. Silently, he activated the booster engines on the back of his suit and lifted off. Arcing through the air, he landed on top of the enemy M1A1 with a thud, gripped the tank commander by his neck and yanked him out of the turret single-handedly. He slammed the man's body on the tank's firing coaxial machine gun, which riddled the man with copper before going silent from heat damage. Xu threw the tank commander's corpse away like a bag of trash, then pulled out a thermobaric grenade and slung it into the turret. The explosive went off violently, the superheated gas explosion instantly killing all the tank's crew. He bent down a bit, drew a fist-sized lump of C4 from his pocket and tossed it onto the ammo rack next to the dead gunner, then jumped out as he hit the detonator. The violent explosion shook the tank and sent flames shooting out of the hatches, while the shockwave knocked most of the surrounding enemies down, leaving 3 behind. One thrust his AK-47 bayonet at Xu, but the blade clanged against Xu's armor, and the man got a heavy blow to the left cheek that sent some teeth flying, a hard spinning kick to the gut that sent blood spewing out of the man's mouth, and finally 3 slashes across the torso that ended the man brutally; another fired an MG3 while a third blasted off with his shotgun, but Xu tore an armor plate off the ruined Abrams and held it in front of him, and the bullets sparked and pinged against it without doing any damage at all, and when the fire ceased, Xu threw the 130 kilo armored plate right into the MG gunner's face, sending him toppling onto the ground, and then crushed his spine with the heavy lump of steel, meanwhile ignoring the shotgun rounds clanging against his back; than he wheeled around, grabbed one of the Abrams' road wheels, ripped it off and whacked the man across the face, sending him flying away and only stopped when a snapped telephone pole ran his chest through.
"徐振中同志！"
A relieved exclamation from behind caught Xu's attention. Turning around, he noticed that there were several Chinese Youth Guard Countryhumans, hiding in the trenches with the Germans, who are waving at him. He returned a brief salute, reloaded his handguns and charged right back into the fight.
…
The captain of the Alpha-1 "Red Right Hand" swore to himself as another hailstorm of bullets went spinning overhead. This is NOT good.
Just as everything seemed to get better as those armored vehicles were downed by the boys – and he had to admit, these five had some tricks up their sleeves – the enemy had to send in 3 fucking M1A1 Abrams MBTs. And they are reduced to hiding behind barriers right now as tank-mounted MG fire streamed over their heads like a carpet of fire. Without anti-tank weapons, there's no use trying to face off the tanks.
But reality told the man real fast not to be a pessimist.
"The Knights! The Knights and the Korps has come!"
A cry rang across the battlefield, attracting the attention of the MTF captain. He turned-
And had to widen his eyes in stun.
A few feet away, a legion of what can only be described as super-soldiers were marching down the path. They resembled ordinary Countryhumans mostly, except they are clad in thick armor suits of incredible design: they looked like huge suits of knight armor in sea-blue paint and emblazed with lion emblems, enclosed by a huge helmet which bore eyepieces that seemed to constantly emit a vicious glare, two huge, armored plates on the shoulders and a bulging frame. And they are holding unseen weapons: some wielded huge axes and hammers glowing an ocean blue color, others held what looked like a cross between enlarged grenade launchers and assault rifles. And swarming out from behind them are countless normal Countryhumans but cloaked in deep grey trench coats and holding what kind of resembled Browning Automatic Rifles, except they shoot what appeared to be lasers. And these big weapons held by the "Knights" pack one hell of a punch. As they watched, 3 rounds flew out of the weapons' muzzle & impacted an M2A2 Bradley that just arrived; each shell punched a fist-sized hole in the armored vehicle's side armor and sent up a ball of flame, and it only took 3 rounds to turn the vehicle into a blazing wreck.
But the enemies weren't planning to be sitting ducks either. A formidable enemy infantry group quickly reacted, closing in on the new arrivals. What had to be 28 H M16 rifles fired off their payload at the enemy, along with several HK GLM rifle grenades; several MG3 machine guns within the formation opened up too, and even a few RPG-32 Hashim rocket launchers. However, the "Knights" simply stood there, and all of the weapons exploded harmlessly against the thick armor. As for the soldiers of the "Korps", they seem to just have stamina and resilience like ordinary Countryhumans (which is still a fucking lot), but they are leaps and bounds more fanatic and are semi-crazed in combat, destroying anything that stands against them.
"Well … that's better."
Suddenly, the radio on the Alberich boy (who had ran over to take cover from enemy MG fire) crackled to life.
"Muller! If you're listening, get your fucking ass up!"
"What the fuck was that about, Jones!?" Alberich yelled back.
"The enemy has got some THINGS converging on you! The US forces insisted on going to your position with their MBT and IFV, but I don't think it would be that much help! Use what you've got! I'm kicking swarms of terrorist butt here with our version of NATO, so I won't be there to save your ass! Out!"
"Aw, fucks." Alberich muttered, staring at the radio.
The Alpha-1 captain heard some commotion from behind his back. He turned, and saw an M1A2 Abrams, a M2A2 Bradley and a legion of soldiers clad in US Army gear moving down the road. It looked pretty good, but … the 'that-won't-do-much' part from the Jones person was kind of unsettling …
And what happened next just served to prove that an MTF's instincts are NEVER wrong.
With a mighty roar, what looked like a huge centipede emerged out of the wreckage ahead, followed by rows of huge creatures that resembled water worms and had huge things that dangerously resembled bombs; amongst them, tens and tens of what looked a bit like mutated anteaters with bloody skins and sharp fangs rushed up. But the thing that truly sent a chill down everyone's spine is the massive man with unnaturally pales skin, a bone-harrowing glare and cloaked in a massive trench-coat laden down with iron plates and rings, at the formation's rear, holding what bore a chilling resemblance to a ZSU-23-2 autocannon and a fucking SA-8 Gecko on its back.
"WHAT!?" – the other Countryhumans
"WAS ZUM TEUFEL!?" – Johann
"SCHIESSE!" – Konrad
"AHHH!" – US soldiers
"生化武器！！？？" – Xu
(Translation: Bioweapons!?)
But Alberich proved himself worth something at that moment.
"Don't fear! Don't step down! They're still flesh and bone!" He cocked and aimed his assault rifle, "FEUER FREI!"
That worked a bit. Ally weaponry immediately responded by firing salvos at the enemy. The water-worm like creatures took hits and sprouted multiple small-arms wounds, and the centipede obviously didn't expect the sudden retaliation, but the Alpha-1 captain could see that there was visible shock factor. The Abrams' main gun fired, and the lead "water worm" took a direct 120-mm shell to the head and immediately fell down, dead as a log.
But just as things began to look a bit better, a massive, unexpected turn happened:
The anteater-things charged. And they are super-fast: the soldiers attempted to react, but their rifles can never lock on in time. There was a 25-meter gap between the two armies, but these creatures closed them in 3 seconds.
"AAAHHH!"
A scream ran across the field. Everyone looked, to see a British Countryhuman soldier who got one of the creatures on his face. The soldier's Honey Badger was on the ground, and he was frantically waving his pistol in one hand while swinging at the monster with a dagger held in the other. The monster was trying to bite the soldier in the head, but the constant swaying made it miss. The soldier finally landed a punch right, and the creature was knocked off. It was quickly finished off with several Laupa Magnum rounds.
Frantic yells dominated the field.
"Melee! On melee!" "I'm hit, I'm hit!" "Reinforcements! Get reinforcements now!"
But the true terror was when the huge brute at the end of the battalion charged.
"Open fire!"
Small arms and machine guns responded violently, but the being's coat seemed to shake off all the bullets like they were mere flies. A USFJ soldier fired a Javelin missile at it, but to everyone's horror, it grabbed the missile mid-flight and hurled it back at the defenders. And it was coming down on –
The Abrams.
"DITCH TANK!" Was the last thing the tank's commander yelled before the missile smashed into the tank's roof.
With a mighty roar, the tank imploded, a massive fireball erupting from the top. The commander was thrown out of his cupola, his burning body landing at the side of the street; the top M2 Browning was blown to fragments of molten steel and took off with the tank's turret top, as another fireball exploded out of the tank's roof; a screaming soldier, covered by flames, pulled himself out of the ruined turret top, staggered and fell back down, never getting up again.
All the defenders looked in stun and sheer horror. But the enemies were nowhere near done, and soon they are on the offensive again – this time even more relentlessly.
"SHIT! Fall back! FALL BACK! This street is a lost cause!" The Nu-7's captain yelled, his voice clearly heard over the constant fire.
"Not so fast."
Everyone turned to look at Alberich. For some reason, his face was coated in shadows, and … there's a strange black smoke, ever so faint yet visible, coming off his gloved hands. He was glaring at the enemies.
"You don't fuck around with ME and get away."
Then, to everyone's shock, he waved his hand, and a pure black fire erupted between his fingers, burning viciously yet emitting no sound or light or heat. Then, he lifted his head to the sky and let out what can only be described as a guttural roar.
A few seconds passed. Then –
CRACK!
The Alpha-1 operatives jumped in shock as bony hands erupted from the earth. The hands clawed at the dirt around, and as the dirt is pushed away, countless skeletons emerged from the ground, wearing WWII uniforms of all types. They held anything from rifles to machine guns to antitank weapons and mortars, and sported helmets and what looked like bulletproof rigs. Rotten flesh began to grow on their exposed bone, and slowly they took on a more human, though no less terrifying, experience. Another mighty roar followed, and a squad of undead tanks exploded out of the ground – 2 Tiger II, 3 T-34/85, 3 T26E3 Super Pershing, and 2 Sherman Firefly. All of them had peeling paint, blackened and scarred surfaces, flame marks all over their forms, black fire burning all over, and scars deep enough to show the interior, but the tanks seemed to barely notice. Their turrets turned, and locked onto the advancing enemy, the darkness of their muzzles giving off a foreboding aura.
Alberich reached down and pulled out a large sword fastened to his side. He lifted it, and the reanimated zombies shambled up around him, snarling at the enemy.
Then, Alberich pointed his sword, and yelled a single command:
"ANGREIF!"
A massive, horrid roar sounded as the undead horde charged. But as it turned out, they weren't mindless – not at all. The submachine gunners and riflemen advanced alternately, while mortar crews and AT weapons sought out advantageous positions. Snipers disappeared into the nearby buildings and emerged on high points and began demonstrating their lethal precision. All in all, a well-coordinated attack, by conventional standards.
However, the brute proved MUCH more terrifying than even its looks suggest. As soon as a Soviet zombie blasted it with a PPsh-41, the brute swung one of its punching bag-sized fists, and the zombie flew into a nearby building. 2 zombie MG08 crews fired their machine guns at the brute's face, but it shrugged off the impact, and swiped its other hand down, grabbing a zombie by the head; its grip tightened, and the zombie gurgled and growled and thrashed violently yet in vain; with a final, sickening crunch, the now-headless zombie's limp form slipped out of the brute's hand and fell onto the floor, its neck spewing rotten blood & flesh. Then, the brute swung its huge legs and stomped down, and half of the summoned undead were mercilessly crushed along with a zombified T-34/85.
"Ah! Argh!"
Everyone turned to see Alberich hunched and grimacing in pain, clutching his chest and shaking a bit. He coughed, and to everyone's shock, a few drops of viscous black liquid spattered his glove. He straightened himself quickly and glared at the brute. To everyone's surprise, the brute met and held his glare.
"You goddamned motherfucker." Alberich muttered.
And with one wave of his hand, he hurled a black fireball right at the brute, which tried to grab it (apparently assuming it was just another projectile). However, the flames proved far more than that: as soon as it made contact, it rapidly began to eat away at the huge coat, consuming the cloth and eroding the metal. The stunned brute tried to snuffle it, but the moment his hand touched the flames, the skin blackened and charred instantly, breaking into fragments, the exposed flesh began to be corroded by the black fire, and within seconds, bone was visible in the wound.
The Alpha-1's captain turned to look at Alberich and got a nasty scare. A black hue rimmed Alberich's eyes, which had now taken on a predatory glaze; his hands were clenched, and the fire on his fists burned even more viciously than before, licking his arms like pitch-black serpents; his mouth was curled in a snarl, and his teeth were exposed and clenched, as well as shining a ghostly white. His form is tense and rigid, as if bracing for something.
Then, he made a pushing gesture and emitted another feral growl, and another squadron of zombies charged firing their submachine guns. 3 Soviet zombies with bayonet-equipped SVT rifles and PPS-43 SMGs jumped onto the brute's torso and slashed with their bayonets or fired off their weapons, while 5 US Army zombies used iron cables to tangle up the brute's legs. For a while, it seemed to work. But, the brute rapidly disassembled the assault in an impossible, brutal way: with one swing of his powerful arms, he grabbed 2 Soviet zombies and with one mighty yank, ripped them in half by the waist, spilling blackened blood & tissue everywhere; then, he snatched a strand of iron wire entangling his legs, and swung it around like a lasso, the zombies holding onto the other end being yanked along and sent flying away like pebbles. Alberich winced and staggered in pain again.
"Schiesse! Fall back! FALL BACK! We can't handle this alone!"
…
"Okay, I did NOT picture my day unfolding like what it is now." Kay muttered as she shot down an incoming terrorist with her H M16.
They parted up with Alberich after they pulled back to campus some time ago: her dad didn't really want to, but Alberich insisted that they're the VIPs and he's not going to put them in the line of fire if he can. And a few moments ago, most of their accompanying soldiers left to counter some "things" – the way Jones put it – in the area where Alberich's troops are fighting.
"Shit! Kay Smith, you are there!?"
A voice shot out of Kay's radio, startling her.
"Yes, why?"
"GET TO THE NEAREST COVER! GET YOUR DAD TOO! We've got extremely dangerous enemies incoming! They destroyed your Abrams!"
Kay froze in shock. The Abrams is … down?
"Shit! They're coming! BRACE FOR THE ASSAULT!"
And with a huge, violent thunder, the group of soldiers under Alberich's command (hang on, did their numbers increase?) pulled back into the campus's outer boundaries, chased by …
Her breath caught in horror.
Walking out from between the buildings is a huge monstrosity, a 7-meter-tall hulking mountain of bulging pale muscle, black Kevlar and iron flaps. The giant's skin is an unnaturally pale color, and his iris-less eyes landed a cold, menacing glare on everyone. His clothes are made of thick Kevlar fabrics and plated everywhere with thick iron flaps. Even at this distance, she could see bullets and grenades exploding harmlessly against the giant's armor without doing the slightest harm.
"Scheiße! Rückzug! Fallen Sie jetzt zurück!"
(Shit! Retreat! Fall back now!)
A yell came from ahead. Kay looked down, and saw Johann & Konrad in retreat, still firing their weapons on the giant. A group of Countryhuman soldiers were following them, retaliating in vain as their attacks were shrugged off by the towering warrior. One of Oarai's AH-64 Apache attack helicopters lifted off to counter the being, firing off half of its Hellfire ATMs and blasting away with its chain gun as well as its hive-comb rockets. It would've reduced a whole tank platoon to burning scrap metal, but when the explosions cleared, the being was completely unfazed. But it was what followed that truly terrified Kay.
As the helicopter began to fly off, the brute curled his torso a bit and broke into a remarkably fast sprint. There had been a 180-meter distance between them, but the giant closed it in mere seconds, and then, he grabbed the helicopter by the tail and threw it like a snowball. It slammed into the ground and pulverized a section of the compound's walls before exploding violently.
Oh GOD, what now? Kay swore to herself as she fired on.
…
Miho looked at the unfolding chaos in shock, fear and stun.
Things are not going well. The endless enemy soldiers and constant missile bombardment is stressing the Countryhumans a lot, and the BOWs (Alberich told her what they are via radio) aren't making things better.
She had managed to free her group from the crashed helicopter, got to cover in the tank sheds and picked up some arms. Right now, Yukari is peering down the lens of an MG3, Mako is clutching an SC-2010 with ATPIAL & extended magazine while wearing thermal goggles, and Hana is holding an H MP5 along with an RPG-7. They've taken cover behind their own Panzer IV, and despite wanting to help, they had absolutely no idea how.
"Kommandant Nishizumi! Look!"
Yukari's sudden exclamation drew Miho's attention back. Following Yukari's gaze, she looked at where the giant was entering-
And was greeted with a shocking sight.
In a spearhead formation, the Big Five of the Countryhumans stood, facing the giant (who had stopped in his path, perhaps out of curiosity). In front of them, Alberich himself was in position. All of them held their weapons and are looking back at the giant.
Then, a series of mechanical whirring & clanking, along with some strange groans and growls that did not sound human at all, an astonishing (or horrid) group shambled up behind the six people. Most of them were robotic Countryhuman soldiers, but mixed into them were countless … zombies, holding WWII-era weapons and tattered uniforms. Their eyes glowed wickedly, and they lined up behind Alberich, glaring at the giant.
Then, 4 Soviet Countryhuman robots and 2 British Countryhuman robots charged. Upon closer look, the Soviets were holding modern harpoon guns, while the British robots were clad in cloaks and holding short swords. 70 meters, 60 meters …. The distance closed in.
KAPOW!
With a mechanical popping sound, the 2 Soviet Countryhuman robots fired off their harpoon guns. The grappling hook-ended harpoons lodged onto the giant's armored coat, and swiftly twisted and turned, wrapping the iron cables around. The 2 robots slid back, and the giant was forced into a sudden stop. Then, one British robot levelled 2 swords, and with one leap, jumped right into the giant's face as it swung its blade. The giant ducked, but still got a nasty slash across the face. The second one immediately began bracing, and 10 US Countryhuman robots marched to the scene, firing their guns at the giant.
But the giant wasn't going down easy either.
It swung its arms, and the motion projected such a tremendous force that the 2 Soviet robots, still holding onto their guns, were dragged across the ground and sent flying. Wielding the cables like maces, the giant slammed the Soviet robot on the left right into the attacking British robot, and both went flying as mechanical parts shattered and energy shields flared. The Soviet robot on the right was thrown clean into the mass of US robots, destroying all of them.
A legion of nearby US zombies, seeing the sight, looked at each other, and fired their Thompson submachine guns at the monstrosity; valiant, but proving of little avail as the brute smashed its way through them. One of them, seeing the others being flattened, turned and ran. The giant, unwilling to spare any enemies, burst into a charge as well, its iron boots sending seismic ripples through the ground. The undead soldier ran into a parking lot, did a sharp bend and drifted between 2 vans; the brute followed closely, sending a van flying into the air with one kick.
The zombie dashed towards a fuel truck. The brute followed closely.
The zombie jumped onto the truck. It turned, and raised is gun-
CRASH!
The brute's punching-bag-sized fists slammed right into the zombie, with so much force that its head was smashed right into the fuel truck. Gasoline spilled out of the hole, flowing down the zombie's carcass and the brute's fist.
However, things weren't that simple …
A few meters away, Alexander Jones stood, an HK416 held in his left hand, a magazine held in the right. The bullets in the magazine were marked with a red line – in Countryhuman military context, APHV rounds. Behind him, John Wilson, braced on the ground, held a Barrett M107 in both hands.
Jones loaded the rifle and pointed it at the brute.
"Nice work, Alberich." He muttered. Then he pulled the trigger.
POP-POP-POP-POP-POP!
A burst of bullets spiraled towards the giant, their tails tracing a fizzing trail of red sparks. The brute turned and raised its arms, deflecting the bullets coming for its face, but shooting it in the face was never Jones's intention.
A bullet struck the gasoline.
KABOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!
The truck exploded in a violent fireball as the gasoline was ignited, consuming the brute in a burning inferno; flames and smoke reared towards the sky like a huge python, spitting sparks and fumes before dying down.
"Agh-ugh! Gah!"
The two turned, and saw Alberich kneeling over in pain, clutching his chest. He coughed and shuddered, but quickly stabilized himself. Still choking, he staggered up, as Johann, Konrad, Henry & Vladmir came rushing up, followed by the girls from the tankery team, a bunch of soldiers from those MTF armed troops (Alberich told them what they are on the radio earlier), and a few other girls & boys.
However, before anyone can say anything, a massive roar shook the ground. Everyone whirled towards the source of the voice.
Standing amidst the burning gasoline spilled by the explosion, almost completely unharmed by the flame & high temperature, was the brute.
"NANI!?"