Chapter 33: The Charge

“Certainly we’ve had some blessings! Miss Qiqi sent us quite an arsenal! You should come out and see for yourself!”

“If that’s true, I shall see it with my own eyes.” Qianye rose and followed Bao Zhengcheng outside.

After those recent clashes, Qianye won great respect with his battlefield performance. From an ordinary mercenary and an army outsider with no background, he had gradually become one of their most trusted comrades. Bao had to admit Qianye—nearly two decades his junior—seemed born for warfare alone, though his strategic talents couldn’t as yet be judged fully. His individual might and battlefield reflexes alone sufficed to place him at the center of any unit. Add to this his skill as an exceptional marksman, who holds the potential to swing any battle dramatically.

Just now, a group of warriors unloading crates from a pair of trucks caught their eyes. Hardly glancing inside, Qianye’s eyes narrowed the moment they spotted the identifying numbers stamped along each lid.

“Heavy ‘IronShield ‘ battle armours from the Imperium — One Hundred suits rated Level-Tier I, Sixty rated Tier II and Ten Tier III. One crate of force grenades, five hundred blank force-shells, plus—One heavy ‘StormBringer ‘ and Three multiple-barrel ‘Arclight ‘ heavy guns! Phew! We’ll definitely have our hands full this time,” Bao chortled with glee clapping his hands briskly.

The ‘IronShield’ battle armour — elite body plating issued only to premier legions’ battle-hardened troops — was not meant for any standard issue lists. A typical common platoon only sees it issued ten percent of the time; the Special Forces rate twenty. Only during national-level conflicts would reserves ever get increased.

But Qiqi had just pulled off a haul this large? Not only arming every one present adequately, there’s excess backup as well?

“StormBringer,” though a Grade Level 2 weapon, possessed uniquely optimized performance, significantly enhancing火力. Though only a Level-II firearms it easily rivaled many IV-rated ones in output. But it’s demand in force ammunition is prodigious aswell; even someone as powerful as Bao—a Fourth Tier soldier at base—with a full hundred shells fired within a single sixty-second spread, would leave any user’s force reservoir completely and totally expended!

Half the crates from this cargo delivery are dedicated ammo loads intended for the triple-barreled ‘Arclights.’

And those triple-barrels, once opened up on a target unleash terrifying devastation. A single full magazine burst could empty close to one-thousand heavy calibre rounds within one sixty-second span if one dared go so far unchecked!

Combined together now, enough weapons and armor to rival elite units’ arsenals lay before their very eyes—this single convoy of equipment must have cost at least Thirty Thousand Platinum Imperial Coins worth. At the mental valuation, Qianye briefly froze, then recalling Qiqi’s and Madame Lan’s “spend freely like rain” philosophy suddenly found himself quite enlightened regarding noble house conduct norms anew.

With a grin plastered across his face, Bao held the StormBringer, carefully test-installing every modular tactical attachment piece by piece before exclaiming lovingly, “Ah-ha! Only Special Forces should be worthy of wielding such toys like these… This time, the enemy won’t know what hits ‘em!”

Qianye chuckled. “With these guns, the HQ battle intelligence should already have followed through with them. We must read into that information together thoroughly.”

A moment later inside the command chamber, Qianye took out the military topographical map from the pouch envelope before unfurling it. Then his breath caught.

“A Sector-level command status intel dossier ?” Bao questioned with a start.

He then pointed to numerous marked annotations on the paper. Assuming Qianye hadn’t been clear beforehand, Bao explained the hierarchy systems at work behind military report categorization and markings before adding further context.

Instantly grasping Qiqi’s personal signature behind it all, they knew only her status made such high level battlefield data obtainable.

Ji Yuangjia, in his earlier message, had foreseen that the unit to which Qiqi belonged in the Everdark Continent shall soon commence major joint military operation, implying that soon in the House of Yin’s clan’s upcoming martial succession contest would start producing results regarding participants’ ranks and positions. If it had been deemed significant enough as a military enterprise, the access level Qiqi holds should have no barriers in procuring Imperial Expedition’s Sector-level command battle data. So she went ahead and forwarded the entire batch over to them with a personal touch. Bao wagered had she been given a whole Theater Commander’s report, no doubt she’d send that over too—right alongside a personal shopping list if it matched!

Bao figured her intent pretty much the instant Qiqi forwarded that file; with a sly sidelong smirk at Qianye he conveyed, without words, understanding exactly how this had developed behind-the-scenes all the same.

Pretending he didn’t notice, Qianye merely bowed his head again, continuing to focus deeply over the charts.

Not soon after, the platoon’s advisors and NCOs also began trickling inside at the call.

Assigned originally to the 17th Legion, their tactical advisor had spent over half of his military tenure embedded in the Everdark joint defense units. Though unfamiliar with every hidden path, he knew the region’s terrain better than even his own reflection.

With some scribbling across the parchment and a few exchanged murmured discussions between veteran soldiers, he finally placed a heavy finger and announced, pointing at an encirclement node on their foes’ maps: “What about striking here, SIRS? Seems perfect.”

“You had my vote from a distance,” chuckled Bao heartedly. “Take ’em here. Exactly what I had been considering.”

That was one of his preliminary thoughts from earlier. Qianye nodded approvingly without dissention: “Very Well — Announce full readiness, prepare our soldiers at dawn the following day. Discuss our full marching path in detail tomorrow afternoon.”

Forty-eight later, leaving a detachment stationed for defense, Platoon 131 under Qianye’s command departed to infiltrate the designated hostile zone.

Shortly after the company set out on their journey, their advance report already landed upon Gu Liyu’s desk.

Eyeing their projected ambush direction on the map, Gu allowed himself barely more than an icy smirk across his lips.

On the re-charted intelligence schematic before him were a pair of cleverly embedded traps; any ordinary tactician, whether greenhand or veteran, would choose them instantly for assault, unless perhaps someone with utterly absolute no grasp upon military theory even so much as drew up their battle plans.

His confidence rested firm in 131’s experienced men under Bao Zhengcheng, a former major reduced to the rank after his straightforwardness and honesty. Bao would definitely not allow himself to be guided into such an ambush blindfolded by his officers, Gu surmised smugly…

But what was true on those accurate front-line dispatch reports — multiple enemy columns were maneuvering rapidly towards that same direction marked upon those faked maps.

Even if successfully seizing their initial objective, Platoon 131 would find themselves straightaway swallowed into a surrounding pocket and likely trapped indefinitely. Escape, however, would prove far beyond simple planning!

Yet while Qianye’s chosen approach meanders across rugged terrain, and ancient ruins, spanning nearly half a hundred additional route-kilometers, he had advanced in seven days — drawing near to the objective.

No grumblings followed among his troops despite the longer than usual approach; on the contrary his leadership earned him admiration. Each time he’d gone ahead reconnoitering, they passed narrowly by enemy patrol parties without even the faintest of notice. With uncanny insight into enemy operations—be they Vampiric aristocrats or Lumberjaw Wargang scouts or Spiderkin raiders—again and again it looked nearly certain death, and time and again, he would emerge without injury, evading catastrophe with near-supernatural precision.

They now understand their officer’s former identity as a professional border ranger within the Bastien Domain — and indeed they joked between them how if every ranger had these instincts, The Empire’s recruiters should be enlisting solely from the hunters guild halls! Impossible… But undeniable.

While encamped, a fellow Sergeant—close comrade with Bao—mused aloud about Qianey’s background one evening to this.

With the hint of a knowing chuckle beneath his whiskers, Bao lightly flicked his finger across his friend’s sternum in jest and said, “Low-grade rank… but capable across any duty—tactic and logistics included. Yet… strangely few actual records on any command posts. Sound familiar?”

“Ahhh!” realization burst upon him. “So… He’s just like Major Ji Yuangja—right?” Indeed among many Captains serving within 17军团 the famed Ji Yuajia remains within their top echelons—rumored as once a candidate in consideration even toward an Imperial Blackguard recruit until his financial destitution allowed some House aristocratic bloodline to seize his hard-earned chance, pushing him from the path. Though he eventually would go to an entirely different but high-standard Special Operations legion, eventually gaining transfer and promotion within The seventeenth.

Bao only chuckled in good humour further. Among the middle-lower ranks officers of 17军团 aligned loosely along the ‘Yan’ faction line himself, his commission was owed partly due to Yin’s House protection and patronage. Therefore he’d watched this sort of scenario occur multiple times where influential houses often poach military talents directly from active units. First time laying eyes on Qianye’s almost effeminately refined appearance left him quite surprised originally. At first he’d assumed Qiqi was merely being too theatrical in her tastes — now he knew just how wrong those first judgements of his actually were.

And so it was at day eight, just as twilight bled upon the edges of dawn’s first breath the covert unit neared its target zone.

Now the pre-dawn stillness belonged to those beings whose senses bloom beneath shadow and gloom—darkness beings were now entering their slowest hour of waking, gradually returning toward a twilight slumber.

Of course, within the Forgotten March—the ‘dark-season’ held eternally; though many many leagues away above this broken realm distant skies might bask under dawn, here remained only endless eternal twilight — no morning ever rose here truly.

Camped within their ruined hamlet fortress below no watchful eyes roamed—two black lupine forms dozed lazily before the entrance gate, yawning wide periodically, their sentry shift barely more vigilant.

From a distance beyond a hundred meters off atop a hillock shadowy Qianye crouched, adjusting his Quad-Image telescopic sight, observing momentarily and then signaled. Seeing the sign confirmed Bao’s own grin stretched wide. He licked his chapped lips with delight. Strapping on his ‘StormBring’ Heavy Forcegun with expert familiarity. Then the hulking brute crawled silently forward toward the entry with an uncanny smooth grace unexpected of his girth—an immense bear of a man transformed with uncanny fluidity. Trailing behind him, nearly an entire hundred soldiers, all pressed against the land silently crawling forwards, closing the distance inch by inch unseen and unheard.

Then suddenly those black furred beast sentries twitched, rising abruptly to their fore-paws. As the beasts prepared to howl the alarm.

But the muffled rifle cracks broke the night first! A pair of .75caliber armor-piercers struck simultaneously—the wolves’ skulls detonated outward into crimson mist and gore as the beasts flung back by the twin impacts. Their corpses struck wall hard with heavy thumps—a resounding conclusion before most enemies could blink.

Their marksmen already reloaded, and the sights were already scanning further ahead.

Then Bao sprang into motion.

As the mighty soldier surged suddenly into sprint toward the main gate from prone, the entire unit behind began pouring from the cover in synchronized charge.

Behind the outer walls, bells and horns screamed alarms, and then chaos erupted.

The snipers’ unceasing thunderclaps sang with deadly rhythm. One head after another erupted violently atop their walls like bursting poppies—each shot catching the enemy by pure, unexpectant vulnerability as the defenders’ ranks dwindled alarmingly. Fewer than half fired shots blindly backward at the unknown assailants as desperate response — yet even that lacked accuracy or discipline. Against precision gunplay born from human hands — born killers by instinct — nothing could compare.

Still fifty meters from the barrier separating man from fortification, Bao raised his hand with a mighty fling—and like clockwork, twin force-enhanced explosive grenades whistled through the early morning mist directly into the open archway’s interior.

Two concussions in tandem roared outward — an instant later, their twin firestorm explosion blew the main gates inward with such intensity it was as though a hurricane force had collided. Any of the nearby creatures attempting desperately to close the heavy stone-iron door fell backward lifeless under the shockwave’s force.

Following behind his charge, fellow officers hurled additional force grenades. One explosion after another, screams and destruction followed in rapid sequence.

While basic infantry began their mass dash charging to exploit openings inside the outer defenses, Bao himself instead turned upward—climbing a lateral tower path flanked by his elite fighters of second tier battle-rank. Amid the scattered fire of panicked but poorly aimed return shots, Bao’s team poured accurate, deadly fire, clearing the walls of anything that still moved beneath their suppressive gunfire.

Exactly matching their prior reconnaissance—absolutely no anti-assault weaponry had been detected. The fort was as perfect as ideal for assault tactics by a standard infantry platoon.

And then, amid the smoke and flames of the war’s cacopphony, out of nowhere flew an immense shadowy shape! Nearly half the whole length of that bastion vanished beneath a looming, engulfing shade!

Out of their enemy ranks came this monstrous horror—its height neared that of Three full strides. The lower half consisted of spider limbs—each joint’s hair-like outgrowths long and wide enough compared to ceremonial knife lengths, shimmering like cutting edged blades themselves within the faint light.

Its towering upper body retained humanoid qualities — from shoulders down two great spider-woven upper arms each grasping tightly upon the massive four-strade-long metal spear.

Roaring as it leapt straight up along a wall face, with ease it vaulted atop in seconds. With the same momentum it lunged downward into a human target unprepared in mid-dive — his mighty four-striders’ point skewering an unsuspected Tier 2 battlefield veteran like the impaled beast he truly was. Lifting with ease its gore-spoiled spear high with their companion’s broken body, the monstrosity unleashed a war-bellow directly into Bao’s face—its declaration challenging him in personal combat. This, none other was the feared Grade Six Spiderkin warrior — their most feared horror yet.