Above the parched desert, the sky shimmered with magnificent aurora-like light, while countless black specks writhed like patches of mold.
Within this borderland filled with the Rainbow Bridge and the Hell Blood Road, sandstorms blew eternally.
An overturned armored vehicle lay stranded on the ground. Thick smoke rose alongside the signal flare calling for help, blending into the gunpowder haze that blanketed the desert, utterly inconspicuous.
Outside the makeshift defensive fortification built around the overturned armored vehicle, the shrieks of the Hell Swarm came one after another.
A Nightmare Demon shrouded in gray-black mist prowled through the ferocious beast pack. It was in no hurry to attack, instead patiently wearing down its opponents, driving the cheap cannon fodder to launch assault after assault until its enemies were completely out of ammunition and supplies.
Inside the fortification, bloodshot eyes stared fixedly through the firing slits at the beasts lurking outside. Red-hot gun barrels slowly shifted from target to target, intimidating the restless monsters.
In the gaps between the thunderous gunfire, there was only hoarse cursing.
The one-eyed combat engineer spat on the ground and seized the time to repair the cracks in the steel plates with a welding torch, cursing hoarsely, "Fuck those goddamn deliveries."
"Fuck those goddamn emergency missions!"
"Fuck those goddamn emergency reinforcements—I support the whole world every day, but nobody ever comes to help with my college loans!"
The other soldiers remained silent, hurriedly maintaining their weapons or catching their breath.
The sergeant major seated at the front was enveloped in a heavy, crude Powered Exoskeleton, as immovable as a rock. He ignored his subordinates' complaints and merely sharpened an old dagger in silence.
Sparks burst from the gaps in his armor with every movement. The steel frame still bore marks of emergency welding and repairs, while the