Reaper Descends

Panicked people stumbled across the green fields, traversing the towering Halsen fields. Thick barley stalks were knocked down and trampled in swathes, the sweet scent of sap mingling with the stench of blood and rotting corpses.

The man-eating monsters nimbly chased the panicked Halsen people through the wheat fields, pouncing on them one by one. Some tried to fire at the Zerg with their rifles and shotguns, but these sporadic shots were quickly drowned out by the roars of the alien monsters.

This escape was doomed to failure; no matter how far they ran, the Swarm would catch up and devour them. They were still far from the city, and news of the city's attack by the Zerg had circulated long ago.

For the people of Halsen Farm, the nightmare had only just begun.

A young brother and sister were driving a combine harvester across the fields, their wheat-colored faces filled with terror and despair. One was sixteen years old, and the other was only twelve.

Their parents were among the first victims of the Zerg since they appeared on the farm. The two hardworking and wise couple, along with the entire rural complex, were transformed into a horrifying, sinister, and twisted Hybrid of chitinous carapaces and deformed tissue.

This harvester is quite old; it became an important member of the Foss family when my sister was just born. Now, this old, large machine rumbles and spews out thick smoke as it laboriously crosses the field ridges and heads toward the solid road.

Before the Confederacy forces in Halsen were completely wiped out, people at least had some idea of where to escape to. They could go to heavily guarded military bases or densely populated cities, where at least there were launch ports for evacuating the planet.

Now, all hope has vanished, farms are in ruins, and factories and cities are billowing with black smoke. Where can the helpless people escape to?

Zerg are everywhere.

The vast agricultural region of Halsen is an endless plain, where large vehicles and machinery are not affected by the rugged terrain. The only problem at this moment is that the harvester's fuel is running low.

"Ister, fire two shots behind you to scare those monsters away." Loran Foss, the older sister, seemed to imbue the harvester with a soul in her hands, always managing to avert disaster in the most critical moments.

"They're not afraid of bullets or gunfire, they're not even afraid of Aunt Erin's screams." Ister leaned out of the passenger window, took out a shotgun his father used to hunt birds that were ravaging the crops, and fired two shots.

The Zergling, with their bright orange carapaces and thin wings, failed to kill the harvester. They practically hopped after it, following closely behind its taillights. Ister, unfazed by these monsters, even spat at them a few times, displaying the fearlessness of youth.

"No matter what it is, if they don't give up, little brother, we'll be caught sooner or later." Loran trembled as he looked up from the fuel gauge, his purple lips shaking as much as the old cockpit frame of the harvester.

"Everyone in town is dead—Aunt Erin, Kos, Aiur Billy—it's just us left."

"I know you like Aiur," Ister said.

"But I heard he died without any dignity."

Ister looked at her trembling sister and said, "If they catch up with us, I'll kill you first, and then I'll kill myself."

"I've seen how Ireland died; he was still alive when an alien dog ate his lower body," he said.

"Don't say that, Ister, we will survive, we will," Loran said. "The harvester's radio channel received a broadcast from the Human Revolutionary Army not long ago; they are finally coming. I tried sending a distress signal with the old equipment; someone will definitely come to rescue us."

"Don't be naive, Loran. They won't come to save farmers' children. Remember what those soldiers told us—they can't even save themselves, how can they save us?"

"Augustus Mengsk's Revolutionary Army is different; they're different from the Confederacy's Marines." Loran bit his lip, seeing two leaping Zergling through the glass next to the harvester's driver's seat.

She didn't know if those were the same ones that had been following them from the beginning, since all the Zerg were the same.

"How are they different?" Ister retorted to her sister as usual, but in her heart she also hoped that Loran was right.

"They're going to jump up!" the older sister screamed, tears streaming down her face as she wiped away the unstoppable tears to keep her vision clear.

Just as I was speaking, with a clang, a howling Zergling leaped up at incredible speed and climbed onto the combine harvester's barn. The screeching sound of its sharp claws scraping against the harvester's metal shell was so piercing it sent chills down my spine.

Both siblings could hear the ripping and scraping sound of the alien monster crawling across the roof of the car; pieces of sheet metal were even being torn off.

The older sister, Loran, tried her best to make the old car, which was already at its maximum speed, go even faster, but because the fuel was running low, it even gradually slowed down.

For a few seconds, the scraping sound stopped abruptly, and the siblings even thought for a moment that the monster clinging to the roof had been thrown off. At that moment, the harvester was driving into a road that was bumpy and uneven due to bombing, and the vehicle was shaking incessantly.

"Has it left?" Loran asked cautiously.

"I don't know." Ister clutched the shotgun tightly; it was her father's only keepsake and, at this moment, the only thing besides the harvester that could protect them.

After a moment of calm, a monster with a bright red crown and a long, serpentine snout suddenly emerged from the car window on Loran's side. It opened its gaping maw, full of sharp teeth and fangs, with rows of razor-sharp teeth and bits of flesh clearly visible.

Loran was so frightened she almost jumped out of her seat. Like a startled goose, she stretched her neck and screamed:

"Do something, God, do something! Ister!"

At this moment, the Zergling had already extended its front claws, smashed the car window, and poked its head inside. Its bright red, gaping maw was almost touching Loran's cheek.

"Bang!" Ister fired from her sister's side, smashing the monster's face with a single shot, but it only howled once before turning its head and stretching out its claws to grab Loran away.

With a calm and collected expression, Ister fired several shots in quick succession, then stood up and smashed the monster's wounded face with the butt of his rifle. But the monster clung tightly to the car window frame, seemingly oblivious to pain and unwilling to retreat. He fired almost all his bullets, and finally, with fearless courage, looked directly into the monster's eyes and fired a shot into its gaping mouth, finally bringing it down.

To make matters worse, the old car let out its final whistle and slowed down. At that moment, both Loran and Ister knew their lives were about to end.

The Zergling surrounded the harvester, which was about to stop. Dozens of dim yellow eyes were fixed on their prey, which was about to be captured. The Swarm never lacked patience.

Ister activated the mechanical arm of the harvester, which was covered in sharp blades, via the control panel. These blades, capable of easily pulverizing the dry roots of barley, spun at an extremely high speed, instantly crushing the Zergling that jumped onto them.

"Die!" Ister nearly smashed the control panel that was about to fall off, and at the same time, Loran gritted his teeth and turned the harvester around, using the last bit of power to crash into the oncoming Zergling.

At first, when they were in dire straits Zergling, they drove the harvester and killed a few Zergling. But these agile Zerg immediately dodged the sharp cutting blades by leaping and dodging, just like grasshoppers in the field. The harvester, which was much larger than them, seemed clumsy and slow.

More Zergling dodged the rotating cutting blades and leaped onto the harvester, furious as if they wanted to dismantle the giant machine.

By the time the harvester finally came to a stop, Ister had run out of bullets and could only watch helplessly as more Zergling closed in. His sister, too terrified to cry, simply sobbed and awaited her death.

Ister grew up on a farm, and his independent personality made him much stronger than other children his age.

He once aspired to become a general, and from a young age he began reading about ancient Earth heroes such as Alexander, Caesar, Augustus, Napoleon, and the legends of Galactic heroes, but these dreams will ultimately remain just that—dreams.

However, at this very moment, the Zergling clinging to the outside of the harvester's cab reacted before the two siblings. They all looked in one direction, muttering uneasy purrs like wary cats.

"Look," Ister said to her sister.

"That way," he pointed out the windshield.

At first, they were just dark shadows, but then their wings became clearly visible. The roar of the jet engines grew louder, the sound echoing across the fields like waves of wheat, and the alert Zergling responded with even louder howls.

Hundreds of feet high, soldiers who looked like they had wings on their backs descended from the sky, the orange-red flames spewed from their jetpacks behind them resembling the tail feathers of a phoenix.

Almost in the blink of an eye, they were in front of the siblings amidst the bangs of Electromagnetic Rifle and the explosions of grenades. Silently and relentlessly, they used their weapons to reap the lives of the Zergling from their elevated position. Some wielded dual pistols, others held Gauss Rifle, and several flying figures carrying large bundles of Electromagnetic Grenade were indiscriminately throwing bombs down.

Amid the chaos, Ister could vaguely make out the Korhal Revolutionary Army insignia on the shoulder armor of these aerial acrobats. Their combat uniforms were basically consistent in style—deep red combat uniforms with shimmering gold trim.

Almost all Reaper wear helmets and breathing masks, but there are always some true warriors and tough guys who choose to abandon them.

In addition to some veterans of Korhal, the Reaper Company also includes outlaws from the Deadman's Port, rock enthusiasts from the slums of Haj who spend their lives chasing thrills, and criminals from Altera.

The majority of these criminals are from Altera. On this hellish prison planet, they have developed a ruthlessness and cruelty that ordinary Revolutionary Army soldiers do not possess, and they are willing to do anything to achieve true victory.

Marshal Augustus Mengsk had personally promised that once the Reaper of Altera distinguished themselves on the battlefield or retired, all their sins would be wiped clean. In any case, their record of killing so many Zerg was enough to turn these scum who once struggled to survive in the gutter into heroes.

The Reaper of Altera wore only a few breathing tubes to avoid suffocating during high-speed flight, and they always believed that their distinctive rooster-like hairstyles could intimidate the enemy in battle.

The Reaper swept over Ister and Loran like fighter jets, without pausing for a moment, and then flew off in another direction.

The Reapers, known as Reaper, are not kangaroos or desert jerboas that are adept at traversing slopes and hills. Just as jetpacks provide them with power, the Reaper can use these backpacks to stay airborne for extended periods.

The Reaper of the Revolutionary Army always descends from the sky, and no one has ever been able to catch them.

Reaper flew off into the distance, searching for another group of people who needed saving, disappearing as suddenly and unpredictably as it had arrived.

Before Ister and Loran could react, two more Revolutionary Army transport ships painted in gold and red landed in the wheat field, their thrusters burning a large clump of thriving barley into charcoal.

Soldiers clad in red Power Armor filed down the gangways on either side of the transport ship, forming a defensive line at the landing site shoulder to shoulder. Then, more transport ships appeared in the clouds above, some of them much larger than APOD-33. It was hard to imagine how many fully armed soldiers were carried on those ships that cast huge shadows on the ground.

Ister pulled his sister, who was stunned by the intense emotional turmoil, off the harvester that had almost been shredded by Zergling, and walked towards the soldiers, because he was certain that he and his sister were safe.

The soldiers did not stop Ister from walking toward one of the transport ships; they were simply focused on what was directly in front of them.

The transport ship didn't initially seem particularly remarkable, but as Ister walked toward it, two sergeants in stand-up collar uniforms descended the gangway first, followed by officers with imposing bearing but no rank insignia on their shoulders.

Finally, a corporal and a slender red-haired woman in a tight-fitting suit stepped down, followed by a high-ranking commander wearing a dark gray cloak and a military cap with a gold wolf insignia.

This face was familiar to Ister and his sister.

Marshal Augustus Mengsk, known as the leader of the Korhal rebels who brought destruction.

"Give them a cup of barley tea and some chocolate," the marshal said. "Those two poor children must be terrified."

I was busy moving today, and I feel really bad.