Chapter 750.2: Finding The Breakthrough Point

Not only the soldiers of the Hound Special Forces. Even the soldiers from the Falcon Kingdom around them looked up at that man with the same admiration.

Even though that guy had beaten them black and blue before, they realized they didn't hate him at all. At the very least, from a soldier's perspective, a general willing to advance and retreat alongside his men was infinitely better than those cowards hiding away in castles and airships.

Seeing Chu Guang standing there completely unscathed, General Babita's face revealed a trace of disappointment as he let out a silent sigh.

What a pity. The Heavens truly do not favor our Empire...

Who knew when their endless night would finally come to an end?

Sweeping his gaze across everyone on the battlefield, Chu Guang slammed the warhammer in his hand heavily into the ground.

"Everyone!" He activated the loudspeaker built into his helmet, raised the volume, and let out a thunderous roar. "Our enemies are also at the end of their rope! Their frenzied bluster cannot hide their weakness! Their Beast King has already fallen beneath my hammer! If they still want to throw their lives away, then let's grant them that wish!"

His voice was like a razor-sharp sword, tearing through the veil of night and the deafening din of gunfire and artillery.

Whether those watching him, or the soldiers still locked in fierce combat. Every one of them erupted with unprecedented fighting spirit.

The answer that greeted him was a chorus of earth-shaking battle cries.

"KILL!"

...

Those deafening roars were like a shot of adrenaline driven straight into every soldier's heart.

Facing the reinvigorated coalition forces, the monsters entangled outside the research facility struggled desperately one last time before finally collapsing in defeat. At the same time, the battles raging throughout the rest of the military base also began drawing to a close.

Under Little Feather's command, the vast horde of Crunchers and Creepers successfully seized both the eastern and western flanks of the military base, firmly holding back the endless stream of corpses crawling out of the earth.

The Kingdom of Heaven hanging above the Guardian Manor Military Base had already collapsed. It was only a matter of time before the puppets awakened by it were finally put to rest.

Meanwhile, the Skeleton Corps’ armored columns had reached the northern side of the military base. While cleaning up the zombies, they also swept away the Winged Mutant Humans attacking the northern defensive line, along with those grotesque things clad in biological exoframe that were neither human nor ghost.

Just as Chu Guang had declared during his rallying speech, the Torch Church’s strength they had revealed this time had already reached its limit.

They had no cards left to play!

At the same time, aboard the Loyalty. Seated on the bridge, General Liam finally received the long-awaited battle report from the front. Carefully reading the report to the very end, he slowly let out a sigh of relief before turning to his adjutant with renewed vigor. "Blood Peak has been secured, and the crisis at the Guardian Manor Military Base has been resolved. We've won this war!"

His adjutant also wore an expression of immense relief as he said with lingering fear, "I never imagined those bastards had such terrifying weapons hidden away..."

Perhaps they ought to follow the Academy's Alpha Mobile Task Force and equip their clone troops with gas masks as well. While they wouldn't be effective against bizarre bioweapons like the Alpha Protozoan, they would at least protect against the corrosive effects of Na Fruit.

The Army of Glory’s performance in the campaign had utterly disgraced the Army.

General Liam nodded and narrowed his eyes as he gazed westward through the floor-to-ceiling windows. He had already reported the situation here back to Triumphant City, and reinforcements would arrive soon.

Ten Peaks Mountain was merely a checkpoint on their path toward Ocean Edge Province. The war between the coalition and Torch Church had only just begun.

After that, there would still be the struggle against the Enterprise, the Academy, the Great Rift Valley... and even the New Alliance.

For the Army, that would be the main event.

...

The raging flames of war seemed to have erupted in an instant, yet also come to an end just as suddenly. When the final Winged Mutant Human had its throat slit by a player who had emptied his magazine and drawn a combat knife, the gray horizon finally began to glow with the first pale light of dawn.

Without anyone realizing it, the soldiers inside the military base had fought through the entire night!

Although Little Feather's sub-entities were still battling the Na Fruit puppets for control of the land, the latter no longer posed any real threat.

As the soldiers clad in biological exoframe were gradually wiped out, both the Winged Mutant Humans and the zombies became nothing more than soulless shells, mindless corpses driven only by instinct. Such a disorganized rabble was clearly no match for the army of Little Feathers.

Completely Yiwuing the corruption from the Guardian Manor Plains was only a matter of time...

News of the victory quickly spread throughout the entire coalition army. Learning that the enemy had been routed, the tightly wound nerves of countless soldiers finally relaxed. Many simply collapsed onto the ground, while others stared blankly at the countless corpses scattered across the battlefield.

The thick stench of blood filled the air, and the entire military base had become a sea of gore. The intensity of this battle had far exceeded what most people could have imagined. After all, the combined population of most settlements across the wasteland wasn't even as large as the number of corpses in any random part of the battlefield.

The only ones who remained relatively calm were the Wislanders, some of whom had already queued outside the cafeteria carrying their mess tins.

Perhaps back on the western continent, that was considered nothing more than a small engagement...

Besides them, the calmest people in the entire coalition were naturally the players. Not wanting accumulated fatigue to interfere with their daytime gaming, some had already returned to their clone cabins to rest. Others who hadn't managed to secure a save point didn't waste any time either. After grabbing a quick meal, they began helping the NPCs clean up the battlefield.

On the eastern side of the military base, the Southern Construction Corps had marked out a stretch of land specifically for piling up corpses. Trucks hauled bodies out of the military base and dumped them there, waiting for the Creepers created by Little Feather to transport them away.

Looking at the mountain of dead bodies, Mosquito couldn't help sighing. "Holy crap... the Xilande Empire is gonna be paying through the nose for this one."

He didn't even need to ask to guess that, aside from the expendable clone cannon fodder, the Ratfolk of the Xilande Empire's Expeditionary Force had probably suffered the highest casualties.

Those guys really had it rough. All they had wanted was a few full meals. They hadn't committed any unforgivable crimes. At most they had entertained a few thoughts in their head, but they had been driven around like cattle by their officers, living miserable lives and dying ignoble deaths.

Standing beside him, Construction Boy glanced sideways at him. "... Why do I feel like the Xilande Empire isn't the one losing the most here?"

Mosquito blinked. "... What can you possibly mean?"

Eye Owe Money reminded him. "Weren't you planning to collect their grain?"

The corners of Mosquito’s mouth twitched and he coughed awkwardly. "I only said I planned to collect it... They never managed to grow it, did they? So obviously I'm not collecting anything."

Although he said that, the thought of all that free money slipping through his fingers still pained him, and he couldn't help smacking his lips regretfully. Not making money was a loss in itself. He would have to figure out some way to make up for that hole!

...

Meanwhile, outside the temporary research facility at the Guardian Manor Military Base, rows of tents bearing medical insignias had been erected across the open ground.

Half an hour earlier, the Enterprise's medical team had departed from Dawn City Airport. They had now arrived at the front lines of the Guardian Manor Military Base, where nurses and doctors from Ideal City were tending to the wounded soldiers.

In truth, before being converted into a temporary research facility, the reinforced concrete building had originally been designed as a reserve medical center. It was only because there had been too few casualties that it had later been repurposed for research.

The open space in front of the building had likewise been reserved specifically to accommodate casualties exceeding projected numbers.

However, neither the Southern Construction Corps nor any of the coalition members had ever imagined that the area would be used. It was before the coalition had even entered the Ocean Edge Province, no less!

After all, judging from the first two battles, the Torch Church hadn't seemed particularly formidable. Their defensive positions had collapsed with barely a push...

Just as Chu Guang was visiting the wounded, Li Jinrong, commander of the Southern Construction Corps, limped over toward him. His arm was wrapped in bandages, apparently from a gunshot wound, most likely inflicted by one of the clone soldiers from the Army of Glory. After all, they were the only ones using guns against the coalition.

Although the Ripper Rifle wasn't particularly sophisticated, a full-powered rifle round was nothing to scoff at.

Fortunately, the bullet had passed cleanly through his arm without striking any bones or arteries, nor had it remained lodged inside. Because of that, the injury had hardly affected his work at all. He hadn't even bothered seeing a doctor, simply bandaging it himself and getting back to work.

"Aside from the Army refusing to cooperate in investigating the Army of Glory’s casualties, we've basically finished tallying the coalition's losses. The heaviest casualties were suffered by the Xilande Empire's Expeditionary Force. Many of them were poisoned the moment the fog rolled in..."

Chu Guang frowned. "How many did they lose?"

Li Jinrong swallowed before continuing. "Including the missing, around 14,700."

If Little Feather hadn't managed to save some of them, the number would likely have been even higher.

Even though Chu Guang had already expected the Xilande Empire’s Expeditionary Force's casualties to be horrific, he still found himself involuntarily holding his breath upon hearing the figure.

Nearly 15,000 people... Only 20,000 of them had successfully made it to the frontline in the first place. Their losses had approached three-quarters of their entire force!

Seeing the grave expression on Chu Guang's face, Li Jinrong hesitated before he continued, "The commander of the Xilande Empire’s Expeditionary Force hopes the coalition can provide compensation to the families of the fallen soldiers... They were the breadwinners of 14,700 families. They came here for the common destiny of all mankind. Their families deserve more than just ashes and medals. They should also be supported by those who survived because of their sacrifice."

Hearing those grandiose words, Chu Guang couldn't help but feel the corner of his mouth twitching.

The breadwinners of 14,700 families? More like livestock belonging to some plantation.

He had never been to the Poro Province, but that didn't mean he was ignorant of what conditions were like there. He was certain that even if he managed to obtain compensation from the Academy or the Enterprise, or even paid it out of his own pocket, not a single coin would ever reach the families of those soldiers. Most of it would end up lining the pockets of some noble. Or perhaps straight into Babita's own.

Yet at that moment, he found himself thinking of a friend who had died far too young. In a certain sense, he now stood in much the same position. He could simply ignore those people, and no one would blame him for it. Even General Babita himself, after thinking it over later, would probably feel embarrassed for having made the request.

After all, those Ratfolk had contributed virtually nothing to the battle. In the end, they had only managed to accidentally drag down their own allies, to the point where even the Army, the faction closest to them, found them more of a burden than a help.

But if the seeds in one's pocket were never planted, then no matter how many seeds were accumulated, the wasteland would remain the wasteland... even if they ultimately won the war.

After a long silence, Chu Guang finally spoke. "Tell Babita that the coalition is a military organization, not a welfare institution. But the coalition acknowledges the sacrifices those people made. If he truly wants to do something for those fourteen thousand seven hundred fallen soldiers, then have him properly record every one of their names, families, and home addresses. We will provide appropriate compensation, through resolutions approved in public, to the families of every fallen soldier, as well as to the communities they belonged to."

Li Jinrong nodded solemnly. "Understood!"

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