436 Chapter 436: Yao Cai Mountains (1/2)
”All right, people! Stay sharp! We'll be approaching the Yao Cai Mountains in 5 minutes! Lock and load, ladies and gentlemen!”
Brent was barking out orders to the mercenaries secured under safety hatches inside the transport bay of the hovercraft. Soldiers snapped magazines into their rifles, cocked them and then checked to ensure that their rounds were fully loaded. Other warriors double-checked their weapons, to ensure their Divine Devices were in good, working condition. The last thing a soldier wanted was for his weapon to lock up or fail him in the middle of a life-and-death battle.
”Who's the biggest badass in the galaxy?” Redfield yelled.
”The Marine Corps!” the mercenaries roared back. I did a double take at that. What the fuck? Were the Silver Wolves pretending to be Marines?
”That's right! We are the biggest, toughest and most badass soldiers in the universe!”
”Oo-rah!”
”Semper fi!”
”Um…aren't you guys mercenaries and not marines?” I ventured uncertainly, wondering if they were going to tear me a new one for raining on their parade. As I expected, everyone swiveled in their harnesses to stare at me.
”For the Emperor!” one of them shouted.
”Your faith is lacking, kid,” another one added. ”Humanity will claim our rightful place in the stars. We shall stamp out all xenos and heretics. The Emperor's will manifests in us, and we shall execute his Great Crusade once more!”
”Are we even in the right story anymore?” I asked, feeling a headache building up in my temples. Fortunately, I didn't have to listen to their answer to that question because the pilot chose that moment to holler a warning.
”Contact!”
”What is it?” Brent demanded, unstrapping his harness and proceeding to the cockpit. The pilot glanced back at him, flustered.
”Uh…looks like a flock of Demonic Drakes. Approaching from our two o'clock at high speed. They will be upon us in sixty-four seconds!”
”Evasive maneuvers!” Feng Hai ordered from his seat, which was right at the front. He was consulting a holographic data slate…I mean data pad. ”Gunners, blow those flying turkeys out of the skies. The rest of you, brace for impact!”
”Roger that.” Brent turned back to the rest of us and returned to his seat, strapping his harness over himself once more. ”You heard the flyboy and the boss. Strap yourselves in, we're in for one hell of a ride.”
This ain't good…
I felt a sudden jerk as the hovercraft jinked, presumably to avoid incoming fire. The Demonic Drakes' jaws yawned and torrents of unearthly fire rolled out, bathing the gunship in destructive energies. The enchanted hull shimmered, but held strong, its defensive wards repelling the flames. The gunners swiveled the turrets around and unleashed a hail of plasma bolts in the Demonic Drakes' direction, the superheated projectiles charged by their wielders' mana.
Inhuman screeches filled the air as the Demonic Drakes banked and swerved to evade, but a few of them were caught in the rapid hail of deadly bolts, their wings and body torn apart by the azure projectiles. Several simply combusted, their bodies reduced to ash from the sheer heat of plasma. Others spiraled downward in a deadly crash, meeting their end on the earth below.
Shrieking in dismay, the Demonic Drakes broke off and dispersed, scattering in different directions. The gunners continued to send hails of plasma bolts after them, and the hovercraft seemed to shift slightly underneath us, only for Feng Hai to issue a new instruction.
”Don't pursue. Our objective is not extermination. We're not here to clear the Yao Cai Mountains of its indigenous life. Leave them be, and find a spot in the mountains to settle down.”
”Roger that, sir.”
The pilot obeyed, and the gunship swerved away from the fleeing Demonic Drakes. The vibrations appeared to grow, and I shut my eyes, waiting for us to land. I hated leaving my fate in the hands of others. Even though I knew it was necessary, and that there was no way I would have the mana or stamina to fly all the way here on my Constellation spirits, it was just an instinctive thing.
I could tell that the mercenaries felt the same too. They were all either fidgeting anxiously or resorting to some tic that helped alleviate their nervousness. Some glanced around incessantly, others shut their eyes, and others calmed their breathing through meditative exercises or mental conditioning. We didn't know when we would come under attack again.
”There's a clearing by the foot of the closest mountain, designated A,” the pilot reported from the front. ”An open valley that's currently free of monsters. Permission to land there?”
Feng Hai nodded, masking his own tension with practiced ease. ”Sounds good. Set us down in the clearing, and we'll take it over from there.”
”We'll continue to circle around for as long as our fuel can last us, to offer fire support.”
”Much appreciated.” Feng Hai nodded in approval. He had chosen his men well, and none of them had let him down. Even Anastasia had impressed him with prior performances, and had saved the group a few times with her knowledge of poison.
”We leave no man behind.” That was Feng Hai's motto, and the rallying cry behind the Silver Wolves. It also explained why they were so loyal to each other. They knew the whole group would sacrifice everything, even if it was to save just one person, and thus they were more than willing to sacrifice themselves for others.
”Stupid.”
”Only idiots sacrifice themselves for other people.”
”I'm sick of reading about 'nice' and 'good' characters. I want ruthless MCs!”
Feng Hai raised an eyebrow when he saw the rift tear open between our dimension and the fourth wall, and he sent a few wind blades through to decapitate the edgelord readers who were leaving juvenile comments on the right. As their headless corpses toppled over, his lips curled into a sneer.
”That ruthless enough for you, assholes?”