Leaning against the back of a rock, the Sergeant muttered under his breath when suddenly the back of his tactical glove emitted a rapid beeping sound and flashed a red light.
The Sergeant abruptly lifted his head and looked to his comrades, "We've hit a mine, someone's sneaked in!"
As he spoke, a violent burst of flame suddenly erupted not far on the east side of the hillside.
Boom!
The intense explosion sent shockwaves directly through the mountain down to their feet.
Seeing this scene unfold, everyone knew without needing the captain to speak that something had gone wrong.
The Sergeant stuffed the infrared telescope into his chest and raised his rifle, "Let's go, give those sneaky rats a taste of fun. Bench, you and the rookie stay behind, I don't want this kid to die on his first outing."
After speaking, he moved down the slope as swiftly as a monkey.
A team immediately pulled down their visors, fully activating the tactical helmets, and quickly moved toward the direction of the explosion.
Only then did Mu Fan realize he might have underestimated the strength of these seasoned warriors; on the rugged, rocky mountain roads full of debris, they moved swiftly with rifles in hand, barely even looking at their feet.
It was clearly due to their familiarity with the path from walking it so often.
"Turn off infrared detection, switch to optical night vision."
After running about three hundred meters, the Sergeant leapt behind a rock shelter, looked over his six men, and barked out loud.
This was the Fire Hills region, where infrared detection would be rendered useless under temperature interference.
"Grenade launchers ready, load grenades, angle at 30 degrees, low-pressure launch!"
Holding an explosion-proof shield, Mu Fan could only watch dry-eyed as the soldiers systematically pulled out grenade launchers from their backs and, following the instructions, ready and then pulled the trigger.
Bang, bang, bang.
A series of pneumatic explosion sounds ensued as six grenades arced over their rock shelters and flew toward a location not yet visible in their line of sight.
Boom, boom, boom~
A bright burst of flames arose, and the intense explosion's smoke completely enveloped the area. Mu Fan, standing dryly behind with his shield, clearly saw the ignited debris from the grenades' detonation create a magnificent scene.
A large plume of rising fiery smoke looked incredibly splendid.
When the first shot rang out from their side, it immediately exposed their position.
Within two seconds, intense gunfire erupted, and countless sparks exploded just outside the rock shelter Mu Fan and others were leaning against.
"With the density of this gunfire, it definitely isn't just a few, but anyone who dares attack is seeking death. Let's keep them all here today!"
"Rookie, cover me for a bit."
With another low growl, Mu Fan raised his shield and peeked out half of his body as the Sergeant quickly pulled out his rifle, swapped the grenade launcher aside, appeared from behind Mu Fan, and in that brief moment locked his sight on a startled figure outside the fire.
Bang!
A shot was fired, and in Mu Fan's eyes, the head of the figure shattered like a smashed watermelon, instantly bursting apart.
Finally, the combat between both sides began.
"A, you go to 10 o'clock for suppressive fire, Butter you go to 4 o'clock for sniping, Bench you..."
"Rookie, come back, get ready to move with me."
The shield Mu Fan was holding suddenly echoed with a series of clacking impacts, but the sounds were nowhere near as powerful as those from the previous Night Heron attack.
Taking advantage of the moment, Mu Fan had already scoped out the situation below.
In the shadows outside the intense explosion, about a dozen figures swiftly dispersed.
At this moment, the faint blue glow from the Pulse Rifles was particularly noticeable in the dark night.
Even though they had been ambushed, the number of enemies was still greater than Mu Fan's group; the relentless bullets continually chipped away the outer layers of the rocks, making it difficult for the members of the Night Patrol Team to stick their heads out to shoot.
After initially taking them by surprise using terrain advantages, the Night Patrol Team's advantage quickly diminished.
"Adapting to the terrain this fast must be our old friends, those seasoned warriors from the mountain troops. In that case, use the staggered rock passageways for positional slicing, leading the enemy toward the minefield as much as possible."
"Disperse! Rookie, you're with me!"
Finally, the team of seven completely spread out, and Sergeant Daniel, being the squad leader, naturally took on the task of carrying the rookie.
It can be said that only by staying close to him was the rookie truly safe.
Mu Fan lowered his head and raised his shield, following Sergeant Daniel's pace in a rapid run.
If you looked closely, you could see that each step Mu Fan took landed precisely in the footprints previously made by Daniel.
Mu Fan stepped exactly in those footprints, perfectly syncing with Daniel's pace and speed.
So, when they had finally dashed fifty meters, a breathless Daniel, leaning heavily on a rock, couldn't believe his eyes when he saw Mu Fan, who appeared like his shadow, right behind him.
"Did you just shield yourself like that the whole way, are you really a private?"
"As real as it gets."
Mu Fan, not even out of breath, which made Daniel's face a spectacle, but at that moment he had no chance for more words, only nodding affirmatively while catching his breath.
At that time, a voice rang in their ears, "Be careful, the enemy has released Mechanical Spiders."
"Indeed, it's those damned mountain troops, watch out for avoiding! Avoid!"
Mu Fan's ears twitched slightly, hearing amidst those gunshots a small dense rustling sound.
Then the transparent high-strength explosion-proof shield gently shifted, and Mu Fan peeked out.
There, about knee-high Mechanical Spider robots were rapidly spreading out with six legs moving swiftly.
Mu Fan also took the chance to clearly see the soldiers of the Frontier Army of the Empire, adorned in gleaming silver metallic Combat Uniforms, each wearing a white helmet.
Compared to his own side's soldiers, Mu Fan felt that the enemy's look truly fit that of interstellar warriors.
Sergeant Daniel dashed out, his trice repeated firing detonated two Mechanical Spiders, then quickly withdrew and said to Mu Fan facing him, "You know how to shoot, right? Pick up the gun and start firing at those spiders. Just keep them from getting close, each of them stored with high-explosives enough to blow us sky-high. Our enemies surely have limited spiders, once we are done with these critters, it'll be our turn to strike."
After that, he tossed his large Pulse Pistol over.
"I don't know how..."
Mu Fan caught the gun and blankly replied.
Sergeant Daniel on the other side also felt stunned. A soldier who doesn't know how to shoot?
Is this some kind of joke?
"Never mind, just keep it for self-defense for now,"
Really had no time to mess around with a newbie, Daniel rolled again and resumed firing, and those spiders started getting shattered one by one.
Mu Fan also witnessed the old soldiers' attacking tactics.
Their firing angles and precision were incredibly shrewd, meanwhile taking utmost precautions to preserve their own lives, never considering the aesthetics of their stances.
In Mu Fan's view, this resembled his initial wilderness adventures slaying Fierce Beasts.
Only by preserving one's life, could one inflict the maximum damage upon the enemy.
For some reason, Daniel's estimation seemed to have erred; the number of spiders was far more than he had imagined.
"Ah!" A painful scream suddenly transmitted through the radio channel.
"Damn it, Butter got hit, those spiders are coming, fuck!"
Boom…
A blazing ball of fire erupted at the spot where Mu Fan's team of seven used to be.
Daniel's eyes immediately turned red.
The battle had just begun, and they were already down a man, dead permanently.
Now, only five were truly firing because, without Butter's sniper cover, the pressure had drastically increased.
"More spiders are still appearing, the other side must have brought a Mechanical Expert, probably behind some cover over there, I can't see it from here."
"Not found yet."
"Haven't seen anything."
"Damn it, continue to disperse, search for the Mechanical Expert."
...
"Sergeant, can you hold off those spiders' offensive?"
Daniel, who was intently firing, unexpectedly heard a question close by, from the private holding the explosion-proof shield and a pistol, appearing as ridiculous as a city police officer.
"Nonsense, of course, I can."
"Sergeant, if we take out the few guys releasing the spiders over there, can we win? Or at least, does it increase our odds?" Mu Fan sincerely asked.