Chapter 746.2: The Decision For The Land

While the Death Corps and Storm Corps respectively mobilized toward Blood Peak and the Guardian Manor Plains, the chaos within Guardian Manor Military Base gradually subsided.

Near the central encampment, Babita was hiding beneath a table, his body trembling uncontrollably. Only after the gunfire outside had died down somewhat did he cautiously crawl out.

"Damn it... Where did all those things come from?!"

Looking at the devastation outside, terror was written all over his face. Especially when he saw New Alliance Chimera armored vehicles mowing down the Army of Glory’s clone soldiers. the horror on his face became utterly indescribable.

The Army and the New Alliance are fighting each other?! But... Why now?

His brain simply couldn't process such a complicated situation. Or perhaps, he wasn't even operating on the same wavelength as everyone else present.

Especially after witnessing the Wislanders also exchanging fire with the clones, his mind nearly shut down entirely.

For a moment he genuinely couldn't decide which side he was supposed to help.

"They've gone mad... They've all gone completely mad! There really is something wrong with this damned wasteland!"

Joining the Mutant Slime Mold Research Committee had been a mistake from the very beginning.

If Duke Garawa hadn't advanced that extra 100 kilometers to the east, none of this would have happened! They never should have made contact with the other survivor factions on the wasteland.

Life had been perfectly fine simply selling cattle and slaves. Had it not been for that chain of accidents and miscalculations, their Poro Province would still be the peaceful paradise it had always been, and he would be comfortably enjoying life on his estate.

Shame, it wasn't the time for regrets. A matter affecting the entire war something a mere general like him could decide.

Finally calming himself, he turned toward his adjutant, who was likewise hiding beneath a table, and shouted, "Where are our troops?! Assemble them immediately!"

The adjutant wore a constipated expression as he replied miserably, "... S-sir, our forces are all scattered outside. Only your personal guards are still inside the base."

General Babita immediately roared, "Then what are you waiting for?! Gather them at once!"

"Yes, sir!" Even though every fiber of his being wanted to stay put, the adjutant could only steel himself and run outside.

All he needed to do was to find Makur, the commander responsible for the farming operations!

Watching his adjutant disappear through the doorway, Babita paced anxiously around the barracks, thoughts racing through his mind.

The next moment, a Wislander officer strode into the room accompanied by two soldiers.

The moment Babita saw that prominent nose, his anger instantly vanished, replaced by a welcoming smile. "My friend, what exactly is happening outside? Why are you attacking those clones..."

"What happened? Don't you have eyes?" The Wislander officer cursed darkly before barking, "Count your men immediately. We need to know how many have been infected. Those are orders from central command. If you've got complaints, take them up with Chu Guang."

Babita froze. He only managed to mumble after a long time, "Infected?"

"That's right. Breathe too much of that fog outside and you end up like them." The officer jerked his chin toward the executed clone soldiers outside before looking at Babita's increasingly pale face. He sneered. "If you're scared, then hurry home and cry to your mommy. Come on now, this isn't a place for people like you."

Typical bureaucrat-raised softies. What a spineless bunch.

Although General Modlin had instructed them to be somewhat polite toward those people, once he realized these fellows actually enjoyed being looked down upon from the tip of one's nose, he couldn't even be bothered pretending anymore.

Watching the Wislander officer leave, Babita's complexion grew even paler.

He really was afraid. Had it not been for His Majesty's orders, he would have boarded the next train and fled the cursed place immediately.

Some time later, his adjutant stumbled back in, practically crawling, his face filled with panic. "Sir..."

Babita's eyebrows shot up. "What happened? Speak properly!"

The adjutant looked as though he were about to cry. "Commander Makur is dead! Those... those rats have revolted!"

Babita's heart skipped a beat. He couldn’t help but scream, "Revolted?! Those rats? How dare they?!"

Those useless good-for-nothings!

He had fed them well and took care of them. He even spared them from eating dirt. This was how they repaid his kindness?

Just as expected of inferior people. They’re the Empire's greatest disgrace!

"I-I don't know... They say it has something to do with the fog. It's the Torch Church’s biological weapon. They breathed too much of it... and they've all turned into man-eating monsters."

As the adjutant continued explaining in a trembling voice, Babita became more terrified with every word. Remembering what the Wislander officer had said earlier, he suddenly felt his own throat starting to hurt.

Thinking about his hurting throat, he gasped in shock.

What if this is the first symptom?

Swallowing nervously, he no longer wanted to stay for even a second. He immediately started toward the door, but stopped as he remembered the man-eating Ratfolk surrounding the base.

His thoughts raced.

Perhaps driven by sheer desperation, inspiration suddenly struck him. Grabbing the adjutant by the shoulders, he urgently asked, "... Where's the Coalition’s marshal? Where’s the New Alliance’s administrator!"

The adjutant blinked before answering "At the field laboratory in the corner of the camp... Sir, shouldn't we go to the Wislanders?"

Babita answered almost without thinking. "They're only reliable when it doesn't matter."

...

Dusk slowly sank into the endless valley as night devoured the bloodstained wasteland. Piercing shrieks echoed through the heavens like demons mocking the world below. Three meter tall humanoid beasts rose and fell through the sky, their powerful wings beating the air.

By human standards, their faces were hideous. A pair of tusks extended far beyond their jaws.

The creature who stood before them all was Kubo, one of the Apostles serving under the Beast King. What he wore was a biological exoframe developed by the Torch Church which was one level higher than the Biotic Armor worn by the first batch of Winged Mutant Humans.

And there weren't just one or two like him. Nearly 100 similarly equipped creatures floated throughout the surrounding airspace and behind them flew over 10,000 Winged Mutant Humans.

Those creatures had originally been Mutant Human infants, artificially cultivated inside specialized biological vats.

Using the biological exoframe's psychic interference module, they could be commanded effortlessly. Even if no commands were issued, it hardly mattered. Simply releasing them into enemy territory and allowing instinct to guide their hunting and feeding would create enormous chaos.

The technology had already been successfully tested in the Battle of the Brocade Lake Municipality.

Now, they possessed ample breeding beds and organic matter to produce them in limitless numbers. No artillery, regardless of caliber, could ever stop a tide like that.

"... Electronic warfare against the coalition has already begun, but that's never been our specialty. It's probably only a matter of time before their radar burns through our jamming systems."

Listening to his companion over the communications channel, Kubo smiled cruelly. "It doesn't matter. It's enough."

Their objective had never been those two retreating airships. From the very beginning, their true target had been Guardian Manor Military Base! Not only did the coalition’s headquarters reside there, but so did the New Alliance's and Enterprise's leading biological researchers.

They were especially targeting the latter. Strategically speaking, they posed a far greater threat to the Torch Church than those two airships ever could.

To lure those researchers toward the front, the Torch Church had paid an enormous price. Not only had they deliberately released countless valuable research specimens, they had done so gradually across three separate battlefields.

Kubo understood researchers all too well. Given the coalition’s overwhelming momentum at the front, there would inevitably be ambitious scientists eager to obtain firsthand samples.

It was time to close their trap!

"... Remember your objectives. Kill every combatant and every noncombatant inside the military base. Don't waste time verifying identities unless they surrender and willingly reveal who they are."

"Now, follow me!" Throwing back his head, Kubo let out an excited roar before diving toward the ground.

Led by the 100 creatures clad in biological exoframes, more than 10,000 Winged Mutant Humans simultaneously surged toward the military base.

The once tranquil gray fog suddenly boiled like water over an open flame. As though answering the call to attack, the zombie puppets suddenly became frenzied, charging toward Guardian Manor Military Base.

Previously, they had moved only according to instinct and the guidance of spores.

Now, they answered the call of the Kingdom of Heaven. Or rather, the signal emitted by the psychic interference devices.

Those biological exoframe equipped with psychic interference modules served as the transmission source, bringing the creatures under their command.

Watching the endless wave of monsters charging toward them, many Southern Construction Corps soldiers stared in astonishment. One former gang member from the slums of Boulder City couldn't help shouting, "Holy shit! Is this a Tide?!"

Wasn't the Tide something unique to Clearspring City? Why had the Tide ended, only for another one to appear somewhere else?

A furious roar from behind finally snapped him back to reality.

"OPEN FIRE!"

"ALL OF YOU!"

"ARE THOSE WEAPONS IN YOUR HANDS JUST FOR DECORATION?!"

Heavy machine guns immediately erupted, long streams of orange tracers ripping through the dense gray fog as dancing flashes leapt across the plains.

It wasn't just the machine guns. The artillery batteries deployed throughout the military base, together with the Bisons, unleashed devastating firepower, filling the open wilderness with brilliant blossoms of explosions.

Countless sub-units were crushed beneath the bombardment, only for fresh ones to crawl from the soil moments later.

These weren't newly created creatures. They had matured long ago as fully formed "fruits." Only they, together with the Kingdom of Heaven, had remained buried beneath the earth all this time.

The battle surrounding Guardian Manor Military Base steadily escalated from scattered exchanges into all-out warfare.

At nearly the same moment, both airships' onboard radar systems and the military base's radar stations simultaneously detected aerial threats rapidly approaching.

Finally receiving permission to take to the fields, the Cloudflies began beating their wings. Their compact fuselages lifted from the runway one after another, charging into the gray, fog-filled sky.

Meanwhile, the Skeleton Corps' armored forces were advancing across the wasteland near Horseman Town.

120 Chimera armored vehicles and 24 Tank 2s detached from their transport trucks, forming attack columns across the endless plains before surging toward the vast gray-green haze, trailing enormous clouds of dust.

The Death Corps, dispatched to reinforce Blood Peak, likewise completed its assembly and charged straight toward the Plague Champions leading the Plague Monks.

The fading twilight finally disappeared. Night completely enveloped the blazing wasteland and mountains.

Every card had finally been revealed and every chip was pushed onto the table.

Without warning, everyone somehow understood. The decisive battle that would determine the fate of the land had quietly begun.

That was going to be a very long night.

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