Dark Ruins Dawn

Chapter 38 Breakout
At the foot of the mountain, in the desolate wilderness, a horde of corpses surged in from all directions like a burst dam, completely surrounding Nan Yiwei's convoy.

Tataji and the Apocalypse Cult did not confront each other directly; they all hid, and somehow managed to attract the largest zombie horde in the area.

The human convoy retreated frantically, not daring to stop for even a moment, but soon, their rear was also surrounded by the horde of zombies.

At the command of the assault regiment commander, armored vehicles and tanks were ordered to form a circular defensive line, and then armored soldiers were ordered to fill the gaps.

The battle quickly escalated to a fever pitch.

“Da da da da—!”

The Vulcan cannons of the two "Baron" mechs roared, spewing out scorching bullets that cleaved two bloody furrows in the horde of corpses.

A swarm of drones roared out, hovering in the air, blasting hordes of zombies into dust with machine guns and miniature rockets.

"boom!"

Each roar of the tank's main gun blasted a huge gap in the horde of corpses.

The soldiers, relying on the defensive line built by armored vehicles and tanks, fired calmly, bullets raining down like downpours.

Inside the exploration vehicle, Lolo excitedly took out his terminal to record a holographic video, showing no fear whatsoever.

"Weiwei, look! It really looks like a game! These fireworks are so beautiful!"

Nan Yiwei frowned.

Although she was also shocked by the scene before her, she felt no beauty, only the cruelty of war.

"Roar--!"

Amidst the horde of zombies, the colossal zombie monster finally makes its appearance.

They overturned an armored vehicle with brute force, withstood bullets, and struggled to break through the defensive line.

The battle in the sky also began to turn around.

The overwhelming swarms of red corpse birds no longer swooped down mindlessly.

They formed a blood-red "sea of ​​corpses," using their bodies to crash into the drone's propellers.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

One drone after another plume of black smoke as they crashed out of control.

Without a large number of fog lights, the eerie fog spread rapidly as the zombie horde arrived.

"Zi la...Zi la..."

A series of noises came from the communication channel, and soon all communications were cut off by the eerie fog.

Even though Lolo was slow to realize, she noticed that the battlefield situation had been reversed, and the relaxed expression on her face disappeared.

"Weiwei, should we be alright?" Luo Luo's voice softened, replaced by unease.

"It should be fine." Nan Yiwei wasn't entirely sure either.

The soldiers on the outer defensive line looked grave, sensing something was wrong.

Their forte is defensive warfare, not open-field battles like this, where they are too vulnerable to attacks from all sides.

With the help of the eerie mist, the wounds on the zombie horde healed faster, and the shattered pieces of flesh on the ground slowly wriggled and pieced themselves back together.

The commander felt a headache coming on. Their biggest mistake this time was not bringing fire soldiers.

If these healing zombies are not completely burned, they can easily be resurrected.

The ground defenses are actually quite solid, but the most difficult to defend against are the Red Corpse Birds, as there are simply too many of them.

"Da da da da——"

The dense barrage of drone fire was no match for the Red Corpse Birds' suicidal attack.

They are now completely surrounded by an endless horde of gray zombies, with no way out.

The collapse of the defenses began in the air.

The remaining drones were completely overwhelmed by the red corpse birds, and the last aerial fire support disappeared.

The flock of birds then swooped down, their target not being the tanks and mechs, but the exposed soldiers.

"Ugh—!"

A soldier's helmet was ripped open, and a red corpse bird frantically pecked at the flesh and blood on his neck.

The number of wounded immediately increased.

The soldiers on the defensive line had to divert their attention to raising their guns and firing into the sky.

The monsters seized the opportunity and continued to ram the armored vehicle with their massive bodies.

"Bang! Bang!"

The car body was in a terrible state, with rivets flying off one by one.

"We're almost out of ammo!" a mech pilot roared in the team channel, his voice filled with despair.

The regimental commander stared at the dwindling ammunition reserves on the tactics panel, his eyes growing increasingly bloodshot.

"Attention all units!"

The battalion commander's voice was transmitted to every soldier through the internal channel, cold and resolute.

"Prepare to break out!"
"Tanks two and three, advance! Baron mechs, clear the left flank! All infantry, retreat into formation around the reconnaissance vehicle! We must fight our way through!"

No soldiers raised any objections; there was no turning back anyway.

"Boom! Boom!"

Two tanks blasted a gap in the horde of zombies ahead.

They then advanced like two steel beasts, crushing the remains of the zombies.

The Vulcan cannons of the two "Baron" mechs roared again, but this time, the ammunition belts were spewing out intermittently.

They unleashed their last bullets on the left flank, creating space for the convoy to turn.

"Keep up! Everyone keep up!"

The soldiers roared and used their bodies to protect the sides of the exploration vehicle. When they ran out of bullets, they smashed it with rifle butts and stabbed it with military knives.

The exploration vehicle moved forward amidst violent jolting, with sticky flesh and bone fragments beneath its wheels.

Luo Luo and Nan Yiwei looked out the window at the faces contorted by screams and the splattering black and red blood, their faces turning deathly pale.

Nan Yiwei never dared to mention anything about equality of life or that mutants' lives were also lives again.

In the end, this battered force managed to tear a gap in the horde's weakest point.

They abandoned nearly 70% of their soldiers and most of their heavy equipment, like a pack of stray dogs, barely managing to escape the sea of ​​death.

Of the more than 1,000 men who set out as the assault team, only 300 remain, all wounded and covered in blood.

However, a new despair arrived.

They had barely broken free of the zombie horde a few kilometers when they were met with a hail of bullets that had been waiting for them.

Tataji and the Apocalypse Cult's ambush forces emerged from the shadows on either side of the ruins.

"Fire!"

The ratmen's weapons are varied, ranging from simple iron-pipe rifles to creaky Gatling ballistae.

The fanatical followers of the Apocalypse Church, brandishing sharpened steel pipes and shouting incomprehensible slogans, charged forward fearlessly.

"Shhhhh-"

Countless arrows came from all directions, unable to penetrate the armor, but causing fatal penetrating wounds to ordinary soldiers.

The human side has superior weaponry, but they have just gone through a bloody battle, and their ammunition and personnel are exhausted.

The battle between the two sides turned into a primitive and bloody war of attrition from the very beginning.

The commander's eyes turned completely red as he watched his trusted confidants, who had followed him for many years, fall one after another into pools of blood while protecting the exploration vehicle carrying the "distinguished person."

A young soldier emptied his magazine and, without hesitation, drew his blade and lunged at a zombie that was trying to approach the exploration vehicle.

"Pfft!"

The blade was deeply embedded in the monster's eye socket, while the monster's claws pierced through his chest.

An armored vehicle was overturned by several lionmen, and the commander's deputy had half of his body crushed.

He lay on the ground, precisely shooting down each enemy with his pistol, until a fanatic pierced his neck with a steel pipe.

After running out of bullets, another soldier detonated the last grenade he was carrying, killing himself and the Apocalypse cultists who rushed at him.

The exploration vehicle's exterior was already covered in bullet holes and claw marks, and every violent jolt made Lolo scream inside.

"Roar--!"

The two "Baron" mechs were completely out of ammunition.

They abandoned all ranged attacks, using their massive mechanical bodies as their last weapon.

They rammed, trampled, and swung their heavy mechanical arms, smashing hordes of fanatics into a bloody pulp.

"How can these humans still be so ferocious!"

Tataji looked at the horrific scene before him, a hint of fear flashing in his small eyes. These dying humans were too difficult to deal with.

If the fighting continues, our own troops will be wiped out.

"Retreat first!" it commanded sharply.

The ratmen troops retreated swiftly and decisively.

(End of this chapter)