Necromancer, What the Heck Is a Summoned 055? Section 48

"I don't want to die..."

Chapter 78: Who Can Be a Survivor

Death was a funny thing. In peaceful, prosperous times, you might still have some choice in whether you wanted to die.

In a war-torn age like this, how long you lived really had nothing to do with what you wanted.

A faint buzzing sounded.

At some point, Chen Mo had stepped onto the edge of the smart gimbal, a controller in his hands. Behind him, a large object ringed with miniature propellers shot straight up from the ground and climbed into the sky.

It was the last three-in-one Big-Headed Eagle loitering munition.

While the loitering munition ascended, Chen Mo turned to the soldier wailing on the ground-or rather, to everyone present-and spoke with utmost seriousness.

"I'm not from here. I've had a rough journey, running for my life, and I shouldn't have trusted anyone."

"But I met Commandery Princess Liushuang and Master Locke. You've helped me several times."

"I met Luke, Old John, and other honest, kindhearted civilian mercenaries."

"And I met a magic instructor whom I'll always respect and remember."

"Of course, there's Captain Peiwen too!"

"I almost thought everyone in this world was a good person like that!"

"I should thank you and those bastards outside for reminding me!"

"This world is still fucking filthy!"

A buzz sounded from the gimbal, signaling that the loitering munition had identified and locked onto its targets.

Chen Mo pressed the launch button hard. At the same time, Little White's rifle rattled out a crisp, sustained burst behind him, sending bullets straight into Eliel's head.

He had held off on firing until now because he didn't want the gunfire to alert the enemies outside prematurely.

But the loitering munition taking off from the ground had already made enough of a spectacle. The enemies slowly closing in outside halted cautiously.

They were an elite patrol from Gaoshi Territory.

Before this, Gaoshi Territory's vast forces had combed the area around the suspected target again and again.

Never mind the magical beasts of all sizes on the mountains, or the pheasants and wild boars in the fields-they had practically wanted to dig out every beetle and earthworm beneath the dead branches and fallen leaves and verify their identities.

They had made some gains, catching scattered soldiers in hiding, villagers fleeing the fighting, and even several long-established bandits from the Emerald Duchy, making a modest contribution to the region's crime clearance rate.

But they had failed to find Cloudmist Territory's young commandery princess.

Gaoshi Territory had been forced to expand its search.

Because of Peiwen's resolve, Gaoshi Territory had obtained no useful information and could only resort to the most cumbersome method: searching by brute force.

To prevent another situation where large groups couldn't find the target and small ones couldn't win a fight, Marquis Valen had personally directed the operation, splitting the main company-level forces in two. Each team had around sixty men and was assigned mages from the army.

More than thirty such search teams had been sent to scour the northern bank. When they ran into the Emerald warrior who had come to surrender of his own accord, this elite squad was overjoyed.

A few questions revealed that only a handful of old and weak people remained. What was there to wait for? A fortune beyond imagining was right before their eyes!

They placed a magical restriction on Eliel, the Cloudmist Territory sentry, and let the traitor go ahead. His return would put the other side at ease and lull them into complacency.

The search team kept a little distance behind, planning to sneak into the village and capture everyone in one fell swoop.

What greeted them was the last Big-Headed Eagle Chen Mo sent their way.

When the metal creation abruptly rose into the sky with a deadly hum, Gaoshi Territory's elites were instantly on guard. The well-trained soldiers quickly closed ranks and assumed defensive positions on the spot.

That was really unfortunate.

The loitering munition sent by Eastern Xia had a default setting: when its operator issued an area attack order without specifying a precise strike point, the Big-Headed Eagle would choose the "area with the highest concentration of identifiable life-forms" and bomb it.

In other words: bomb the biggest crowd!

It was the same principle as bombing the biggest target in a battle on Blue Star.

The enemy formation consisted of a main force in the center, with wings spread to either side and mages bringing up the rear.

The infantry cluster huddled together behind raised shields was undoubtedly the loitering munition's first choice of target, though that also left the enemy detachments and mages outside its attack radius.

The search team's mages had, as usual, fallen behind with a few attendants.

As the battlefield's "glass cannons," mages had an almost instinctive fear of fighting in narrow streets. To them, the low earthen houses, cramped lanes, and clutter piled everywhere were all deadly traps.

So the closer they got to such an area, the more unconsciously they positioned themselves as far from the front line as possible.

This "deep-seated fear of street fighting" had actually become their lucky charm at this moment.

To the search team's three mages, one in the lead and two assisting, everything ahead looked like a grand magic show. After a thunderous blast that set their hearts racing, surging flames seared their eyes.

The infantry in neat ranks were swallowed by the flames in an instant, then hurled out by the shock wave. It was rather like a gaping, bloody maw taking a savage bite of watermelon and spitting the seeds out in a rapid patter.

Well, charred black, they were much the same color, and some were missing more than half their bodies when they were spat out.

The core thermobaric effect had barely unleashed its destructive force when a second layer of deadly flame followed. White phosphorus powder was scattered by the shock wave, turning into countless dancing, clinging white flames that could not be extinguished, offering warm comfort to the soldiers at the edge of the blast.

A few seconds later, when the lingering force of the heat and shock wave had eased somewhat, the third layer of poison gas began to spray and spread.

The stuff couldn't come out too early, or the shock wave and heat of the flames would destroy it instantly.

This loitering munition descending from the heavens had seriously wounded at least two-thirds of the team's soldiers. The troops at the center of the blast lay dead and wounded in a shambles, while the squads on the wings were also affected to varying degrees.

In the end, only a relatively intact flanking squad on the right wing and the shaken mage squad trailing far behind survived by luck.

What Chen Mo hadn't quite expected was that, faced with such an attack, the enemy did not scatter. After a brief pause, they charged into the village.

Chen Mo had never experienced a large-scale war on the Starry Continent. When elite forces clashed, there was an unwritten rule on the battlefield: when facing an attack by mages, especially powerful ones, the only option was to advance, never retreat.

Using obstacles to close the distance quickly and kill the opponent or force them to relocate was the only way to survive.

If they fled, even the nimblest scout couldn't outrun magic pursuing them like a shadow.

So the remaining members of the Gaoshi squad, realizing there was a high-level mage in the opposing camp, immediately pushed forward. The commander of the right-wing squad shouted at the top of his lungs, "Don't be afraid! There are only a few of them. Charge..."

A mouthful of poison gas choked the command back down his throat.

The howling north wind spread the poison gas over a wider area, but also weakened its effects.

But no matter how much damage the loitering munition had done or how many casualties the enemy had suffered, as long as they weren't all dead, a battle that had reached this point would ultimately have to be fought face-to-face.

Chen Mo had chosen the house carefully. It stood alone, with open ground around it and no cover for the enemy to use.

Using the small courtyard wall as a makeshift fortification, Little White, the Starry Continent's number one skeleton gunner, swept a magazine of bullets across the ground and dropped two Gaoshi warriors trying to charge over in a crouch.

Green Pine warriors were shot down one after another as they charged. The little skeleton, alone with his gun and supported by Chen Mo's grenades, sent six or seven of the advancing professional warriors to their deaths in just over ten seconds.

Against a defense of firearms, even limited ones, and even when their operators were not particularly skilled, it was still far too cruel for an attacking force armed with cold weapons.

Crimson blood left long trails through the village.

As he pulled the trigger once more, Chen Mo suddenly remembered something Peiwen had once told him.

There were no heroes in war, only survivors!

Chapter 79: This Is War

The front ranks of Gaoshi Territory's search team fell one after another like trees being chopped down, but their deaths were not in vain. Under their cover, the enemy mages finally reached attack range and unleashed their first volley of explosive flames.

The earthen wall sheltering Little White, who had been holding the very front, was blown apart, and flying clods of earth buried the little skeleton beneath them.

But that was all right. A skeleton didn't care about physical disabilities. Even with his spine smashed, he could still shoot as long as his forearms could move.

Why else would people say the undead and firearms were such a good match?

The first volley of explosive fireballs was followed by a second.

The enemy mages might have been lower in rank than old Locke, but the attacks of professional elemental mages were far beyond anything an old fellow like Locke, who had crossed over from another field, could match in either power or accuracy.

Taking advantage of the chaos caused by the magic attacks, a Gaoshi warrior charged in at high speed, bursting through the wall.

Cloudmist Territory's warriors went to meet him.

Although only this handful of people remained, their overall formation still looked reasonably proper. The team had two warriors: Commandery Princess Liushuang and the last remaining guard.

The little girl's eyes had gone bloodshot from the series of blows she had suffered. With a countercharge, she wedged her small body into the breach in the earthen wall, wielding her brilliantly shimmering longsword in a blazing curtain of sword strikes that advanced without retreat.

Though the charging warrior was clearly higher in rank than her, he could only struggle to fend her off.

After all, she was a noble, one whom the marquis had specifically ordered captured alive.

The team also had one and a half mages. Master Locke, a support specialist focused on healing and enchanting, did his best to throw a few less-than-practiced fireballs between flashes of white healing magic.

The other half was Lady Linda. This aged follower of the God of Wisdom, who was still only at Stardust rank, chanted loudly with a pale face.

Finally, there was Chen Mo, serving as both gunner and grenadier. As the team's second-best shot, he braced his light sniper rifle and blew the top of the Gaoshi Territory lead mage's skull off with three shots while the mage was passionately trading spells with Locke.

Through the scope, red and white matter splashed out in an elegant arc beneath the setting sun.

Whenever distant enemies withdrew from his line of fire, he relied on the drone's rough positioning to toss a grenade outward from time to time, keeping the enemy's close-combat troops from approaching and filling the gap in firepower left by Little White, who was pinned beneath the earthen wall and could no longer reload.

Enemies who actually got close were left to the warriors at the front.

Although the enemy mages had twice singled out and destroyed two drones, this was no time to worry about the loss. If they went down, so be it.

Using a drone to take a spell that might otherwise have landed on him was a huge bargain!

Without overwhelming power capable of withstanding bullets and grenades head-on, ordinary soldiers faced nothing but a naked slaughter. After more than twenty minutes of fierce fighting, the brief, frantic clash finally came to an end.

The attacking enemies were annihilated. Faced with this bottomless pit of merit, the remaining enemy forces finally ran out of courage and fled wildly. Chen Mo pulled the trigger and claimed two more lives.

But he didn't chase them-fatigue, ammunition, and unknown dangers all kept him from pursuing too far.

In the end, several dark figures disappeared into the distance.

Cloudmist Territory's side had also paid an extremely heavy price.

The warrior was thoroughly dead, and Lady Linda's chest had been pierced by a flying sword from the enemy warrior who had broken through the wall. It was clear she couldn't be saved.

Master Locke himself had also paid a heavy price. An unidentified spell had grazed the left side of his body, tearing his mage robe and ripping open his flesh. Blood soaked the gray-white robe.

He slumped weakly against a remnant of wall, gasping heavily. Every breath seemed to tug at his wounds, bringing a painful spasm.

During the battle, this master of holy healing who had changed professions had cast all his protective and healing skills on Chen Mo and Liushuang, leaving the two of them as clean as if they had just stepped out of a bath.

Well, some healing spells did come with a dust-cleansing effect.