Dual wielding volcanoes, killing through the west

“To tear everything down and start over…is that what you fucking mean?!” Igor was shocked and furious, and slammed his fist on the wall, but he quickly realized that this was indeed something Laro would do.

The arrival of the Golden Company was unexpected, so the plan was temporarily suspended.

I reckon they originally planned to rely on the Thunder Fury Gang's small force to fight Red Center to the death.

If I can win, I will; if I can't, I'll detonate a bomb and we'll all die together. What I can't have, you can forget about getting a single bit of.

Just as he was about to turn and leave, a tall, dark-skinned man suddenly appeared from around the corner, grabbed him by the throat, and slammed him against the wall with a thud.

With a clatter, the kerosene lamp fell to the ground.

“Wait…wait a minute, I recognize you…” Igor was most afraid of people who wouldn’t listen to reason and would attack right away, so he quickly said, “You’re Laro’s subordinate, right? You should know me, I’m Mule! And a member of the family.”

"By order of the White Horse, entry is prohibited here!" the man said coldly.

"Look around, there are bombs everywhere... Think clearly, Laro must have made you stay here to wait for his signal before detonating them, right? What about you? He didn't even consider you... Ugh!"

The man's expression remained unchanged, but he tightened his grip slightly. "I only obey Mr. White Horse's orders!"

Damn it, assassins!

Igor felt a chill run down his spine. With Laro's charisma, cultivating these people wouldn't have been difficult for him. He kept wondering how these assassins would make their appearance. Assassinating Old Zhang seemed unlikely; they'd be lucky to have survived.

In retrospect, he underestimated Laro's determination... and madness.

He could persuade a group of people to willingly die for him. He could calmly blow up the entire family fortune he had accumulated, just so that no one else could have it.

"White Horse instructed that no one is allowed to sabotage the plan. If anyone does, they will be killed without mercy..." The man pressed down on Igor's head and said coldly, "You're the same, Mule."

……

"laugh!"

"..."

The man was somewhat surprised. At first, he felt like he had been bitten by a mosquito, but soon the tingling sensation turned into pain.

Lower your head.

A slender sword pierced through her chest, and then, the moment it was pulled out... blood gushed out like blueberry jam in a cake.

"Boom!"

The man was stunned for a moment, wanting to say something, but he only coughed up blood and collapsed to the ground.

"Huff... huff..." Igor gasped for breath.

"Are you alright?" Amy wiped her Swift Sword, picked up the gas lamp, and held out her hand to him.

Bathed in light, her profile appeared as beautiful as a goddess in Igor's eyes.

Chapter 380: Without killing, hatred will never cease.

"Oh... if I weren't a dwarf, afraid of wasting your life, I would have confessed my love to you." Igor recovered his composure and finally had the strength to laugh. "What brings you here?"

“Mr. McGill persuaded me to come. He said I needed protection. Although I don’t quite understand, this is clearly your home, isn’t it?” She glanced at the corpses on the ground and sighed, “It seems that even your own home isn’t necessarily safe.”

“With family like that, it’s no wonder,” Igor sighed. “See? This is Laro’s backup plan.”

Amy squinted for a long time, unable to decipher the English on the box. Only upon closer inspection did she realize it was bundles of explosives. Startled, she quickly put the kerosene lamp on the ground. "This... is he going to blow up Tianma Town? What's his motive?"

“What he can’t protect, no one can get. That’s the logic.” Igor sighed. “It’s not just Tianma Town… Once Hongzhong wins, they will definitely move into Rongma Town. I estimate that there are a lot of these explosives buried underground in both towns. Once he’s sure he can’t win, he will send a signal, and the suicide squads he’s been keeping will detonate the bombs and blow this area to smithereens.”

"Absolutely, we cannot let this happen!"

“But… we can’t be sure right now, Red Center will definitely win.” Amy was somewhat conflicted. After her understanding of the Zorael family was repeatedly challenged, she was unsure whose side she should be on. “Aren’t there a few mercenaries from the Golden Company who said they wanted to avenge Rancho? Maybe…”

“You still don’t understand Hongzhong enough, kid.” Igor shook his head, his tone very certain. “To be honest, unless he kills himself, I can’t think of anyone who could kill him.”

----

"Bang bang bang bang bang-!!"

A hail of bullets rained down, and in an instant, the men and their horses at the forefront were riddled with bullets. Puffs of blood exploded on their bodies, their deaths gruesome and horrific. Such concentrated firepower clearly couldn't be achieved by simply piling up manpower. The cannons they had been hoping for hadn't been fired, but it was obvious that the Zolael family still had a trump card up their sleeve in Tianma Town.

"Damn it...it's a Gatling gun!" Theon immediately pulled on the reins, cursing as he shouted to the men behind him, "Dismount, get down and take cover, quick!"

The two children, having never seen anything like it before, had only ever fought against bandits and gangsters. This was their first time on the battlefield, so it was understandable that they were caught off guard. Mike and Calaway each grabbed one of them, pulling Mei and Alana off their horses and finding cover against a wall. Bullets rained down like a storm, sending splinters of wood and scattering dirt and stones everywhere.

As for the chieftain, he didn't attack head-on. Instead, like Angel Eye, he stayed away from the battlefield and attacked from the flank. Since his strengths lie in infiltration, archery, and assassination, we can only wish him good luck.

"They even managed to get their hands on this? That's fucking unbelievable..." Calaway pressed Alana's head down, drawing his revolver and trying to fire a couple of shots at the enemy. But the enemy's firepower was overwhelming, and if they peeked out even slightly, they might be blown to bits.

Even without Lao Zhang, the remaining members were no pushovers. The Red Center Gang members were like a sharp knife, piercing straight at Laro's turtle-like formation. Relying on overwhelming firepower, they managed to tear a gap in the enemy's defenses.

After the defensive line was breached, some people were responsible for dealing with the remaining members of the Thunder Fury Gang, while the others rushed straight to Tianma Town to support their leader.

Then, what awaited them were two Gatling guns positioned at the street corner, providing overwhelming firepower.

"What do we do now? Grenades?"

"No, don't go out! Don't move! It's too risky!" To keep his voice from being drowned out by the gunfire, Theon could only shout at the top of his lungs, "At this rate of fire, the Gatling gun barrel will soon overheat and be unable to withstand it! At that point, we must stop firing, or it might explode. We'll move after that!"

……

More and more corpses lay on the ground. Most of the civilians living in Numa Town had never seen a Gatling gun before. By the time they realized it, it was too late; they were all shot to pieces because they couldn't dodge in time. The initially high momentum of the charge thus came to a halt.

This is also the first time that the casualty ratio between the two sides has exceeded one to one.

The high death toll in the civil war was largely due to the advancement of weaponry, which made it easier to take lives.

Theon was indeed a weapons expert, no doubt about it, but the preparation time he had was extremely limited, only a few days. Furthermore, he had ridden a long distance from White Torch Town. Bringing even two modified firearms would be the limit.

His rival, on the other hand, had been operating in this area for decades.

In critical moments, accumulating time becomes an absolute advantage!

……

"Hold the gun, the barrel is about to overheat!" the gunner in charge of firing shouted.

"Why are you looking at me? Didn't I already tell you what to do?" Daniel glared at him and shouted angrily, "The Red Center Gang is right across the street. Bring in new ones, quick, quick!"

Rather than disassembling or replacing components, their approach was far more extravagant: they simply replaced the entire Gatling gun with a brand new one.

But this thing was also quite heavy, almost equivalent to a small field artillery piece. Seeing that his underlings had been struggling for a long time but still hadn't been able to push it to the designated position, Daniel was getting impatient.

In a single stride, he rushed out from behind the man-made cover, grabbed the gun barrel and support, and pushed it to the firing position specially prepared for him—a carriage lay across the gun to shield the shooter's body, leaving only the ten barrels of the Gatling gun exposed so he could fire to his heart's content!

It's said that twin brothers often share a special connection, and Daniel firmly believed it. He was the first to sense it on the night Ruwen died. However, he never mentioned it to anyone, and no one asked.

Tuku, Rancho, Luwin… more and more brothers were dying at his hands, and he had always longed to settle this blood debt. But Lalo assigned this task to a mercenary he had only known for about 48 hours. However, in Hector's eyes, Lalo was his most valued son, naturally the next leader and the overall commander of this war. He would not doubt his orders in the slightest because of personal feelings.

Just like his and Ruwin's names, draft horses, or Shire horses used for carrying heavy loads, they silently bear the weight placed on their shoulders by their families, as if they were destined from birth to dedicate everything to their families.

Since he couldn't kill Hong Zhong himself, he would kill his confidants and subordinates, which would at least comfort his younger brother's spirit in heaven.

"ah---!!!"

His roar was drowned out by the rough gunfire of the Gatling gun, or rather, it was absorbed into it, pouring out along with the bullets.

Theon, suppressed by gunfire, showed no fear, only extreme resentment. He had secretly gripped a grenade, ready to throw it at any moment and blow them and their vehicle to smithereens.

……

If we don't kill, how can hatred be quelled?

This was true for the two brothers who had lost their younger brother; the only language they could communicate with each other was bullets and explosives.

Chapter 381: The Arrival

“Whoosh——!!”

Once people get used to the sound of bullets leaving the barrel, they become complacent about the sound of arrows. After all, who would have thought that on a battlefield where Gatling guns and grenades are so powerful, someone would still be using bows and arrows to kill people?

Using this advantage, the chieftain concealed himself in the shadows of rooftops, corners, and alleyways, firing deadly arrows in succession to attack Tianma Town from the side.

Concealment and efficiency cannot coexist in one person; the chief chose the former, and naturally could not also possess the latter. But he still managed to make his way to the pass guarded by the Thunder Gang, which was where the two Gatling guns were located, by relying on his bow and arrow, his dagger, and his silent walking skills honed in nature.

He climbed into a building window, crouched down, and peered out from the inside, trying to plan his attack route.

Unlike the previous loosely scattered enemies, this was a pass that had to be held, and they were quite concentrated in one place.

Near a machine gun, there were at least seven men, using the carriage as cover to set up the machine gun and provide suppressive fire. The chieftain's house was long gone; he couldn't see the village entrance, but he could guess it was littered with corpses.

"These damned guys have a unique talent for making killing weapons..."

The chief cursed in a low voice, but no matter how much he cursed, he couldn't make those two machine guns disappear into thin air; he had to deal with the tough guys head-on.

When facing groups of three or fewer, he could handle them with ease, killing one with an arrow and then another with a throwing knife before they could react. This routine was almost ingrained in his instincts, flowing smoothly and naturally, a kind of "first-meeting kill." The last one was often caught off guard, and he would quickly close in and slit their throat with his knife.

In this way, the infiltration was completed silently. Compared to the chaos of gunfire on the front lines, it was as if he was playing a different game all by himself.

But... that's definitely not enough to deal with the current situation.

"A grenade?" The chief took a grenade out of his satchel, gave it a thumbs up, and roughly estimated the distance from here to the Gatling gun.

It was quite far, but with his arm strength, throwing it there shouldn't be a problem. Even so, it would only be enough to destroy one of the machine gun outposts, because the two outposts weren't connected but scattered. Detonating one would alert the people in the other outpost.

But it will definitely cause them confusion.

We have no choice but to take a gamble. We'll gamble that the Red Center Gang members on the front lines can seize this opportunity, organize a decent offensive, and break through this defensive line!

After making up his mind, the chief took a deep breath and took out a grenade.

"Boom-!!"

Just as I was about to throw it, I suddenly heard a strange sound coming from the ceiling above me. It sounded like something had suddenly hit the roof.

then……

A figure suddenly leaped down from a high place and charged straight into the stronghold in front of him.

……

"What?! You... what are you?!"

Caught off guard, the gang member, in his haste, hadn't even turned his gun around when he was grabbed by the ankle and thrown out like a sandbag. His body spun countless times in the air before finally slamming heavily against a store sign with a "thud," then slowly sliding down to the ground covered with spent shell casings, where he lay motionless.

On the front of that sign, there was a human-shaped outline, the flesh and blood of which had been squeezed and deformed.

"ah----!!!"

After the half-man, half-beast roar, the man leaped forward and shoulder-rammed the carriage blocking his path, sending it crashing to the ground with a thud. With a single punch, he smashed the carriage's planks, then, gripping them with both hands, tore a gap in them as easily as ripping a tissue. Then, he spun rapidly, fists clenched, using his left leg as a pivot; the sheer force of his movement exuded power. At least, in the chieftain's eyes, this seasoned hunter, he was no different from any other ferocious large carnivore—a mountain lion, a cheetah, or a wolf.

"boom----!!"

The powerful kick struck the carriage, immediately denting and deforming the wheels. The carriage was nearly destroyed by the force of the blow.

This kick turned the carriage, which was being used as cover, into a billiard ball struck by a cue stick. It slid across the ground for a moment before crashing into another stronghold. Most of the huddled Thunder Gang members didn't have time to escape; they were struck in the middle and wiped out in one fell swoop!

……

"What the hell... What is that thing? How could this be..." Daniel was also affected, but perhaps it should be said that he was lucky. He was not hit by the carriage, but by a wheel that had broken off from the carriage, which hit his left arm.

The immense kinetic energy instantly destroyed his size, but compared to the underlings who were smashed against the wall by the carriage and died instantly, this result was not bad.

He instinctively looked towards the center of the dust cloud. The gunfire had long since ceased, leaving only a strange figure standing there, motionless. Its hands hung naturally at its sides, its feet slightly apart; even just its silhouette floating on the dust was enough to create a near-perfect silhouette.

Is that a person?

Daniel was unsure; no matter how he looked at it, it didn't seem human at all, more like a wild beast with a human form...

Or deities.

With a sudden, overwhelming sense of rage, hatred, and fear, all rushed into Daniel's mind. He understood: if God truly existed, then in the unseen realm, He had answered his prayers, bringing the name he had been constantly chanting before him.

The question is, do I really still have that courage?

……

"ah----!!!"

He suddenly roared and pulled a short-handled axe from behind him—like his brother, he liked to use axes, though in slightly different ways. Ruwen preferred to chop people with an axe, while he was more adept at using it as a throwing weapon. This was quite different from a dagger; it demanded a great deal of strength and accuracy from the user.

Close range, throwing axe, headshot—this is his signature move.

With his left arm broken, it would inevitably affect his strength. Daniel gritted his teeth and threw the axe.

The two are only seven steps apart. At this distance, the axe can directly shatter his spiritual sense and splatter his brains!

The axe blade stopped abruptly when it was less than an inch from his forehead.

He held the axe handle firmly in his hand.