READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 120: Don’t Look Back
The ravagers had a big disadvantage when it came to fighting the antipunk artillery; it was impossible to take cover behind anything but small rocks and their own men’s corpses. All they needed was a gust of wind to push them forward and throw the antipunks off balance so they could advance quickly and gain ground. But despite the hundreds of ravagers trying to break in, none of them could get past the gate since their weapons couldn’t do much damage to the heavy logs and rocks of the walls. They quickly changed their approach by trying to pile up and climb, but the omens on top began shooting, and while the ravagers could fight back with their spears, they just didn’t have the right gear and weaponry to take over the gate.
But unlike them, Nitro was standing at a safe distance with the perfect weapon to open the way for them. It only took one man with a grenade launcher and one single good shot to seal the fate of the fight. And while no one in the battle saw it, he had just changed the course of it with the pull of a trigger, launching one charged grenade at the bottom of the gate, blowing up the crowd piled up in front, but most importantly, breaking the locks that held the wall together, and creating a hole big enough to penetrate the omens’ defenses.
The wall wasn’t completely destroyed, but one shot was enough to shatter the entire middle section, breaking the wall in half, with both ends starting to collapse and forcing the omens on top to leave their position. The giant hole in the gate was now on fire, and the flames spread through the wooden structure fast, even faster thanks to the flammable clothes and gear of the ravagers. But even when a few dozen of them were wiped out in a second, they only saw an opportunity to charge as soon as they noticed the fire, as when it combined with the rain, it began producing smoke rapidly, making it easier for them to divert the enemy’s attention and make a run for it.
The antipunks were disoriented and didn’t know what to do at first, so they kept shooting down the middle while forming a line to block the ravager’s path, only to be overwhelmed by the opponent’s rush. All the ravagers charged forward, pushing the antipunks back to the corner of the pass and the gate, clearing enough space for their forces to run through the gate. It appeared that the antipunks had no choice but to retreat, but they received some help to reclaim their ground from the ballistae and catapults. They fell back to let the heavy artillery advance, and after getting close to the frontline, it looked like they were about to fire at the gate to block the ravager army.
However, before they could reach their position and blast the area with rocks and bolts, Frost saw an opening to make their way to the gate before it was too late. Without saying a word, he jumped off the ledge and swiftly landed on some dead ravagers, half-buried in the mud. He was caught off guard by the uneven floor but quickly turned his attention towards the burning gate. The entrance only became more accessible since the wall was collapsing, so the ravagers spread out a bit to cover more ground, still blocking the path but giving more room for Frost to approach.
He didn’t hesitate and began running forward since there wasn’t much time before the antipunks pushed the ravagers back again. The rest of the team froze and couldn’t help but look at the chaos Nitro had caused with a single grenade. But as Frost was already charging into battle without them, Crisis followed right after. Panda was the second one to jump, crushing the corpses with his weight and burying them out of view before helping Candy and Tricky get down. Nitro joined them with a fearless leap, not even waiting for his teammate as he ran maniacally. And Kiwy landed with a swift jump, catching up to Frost in no time, forcing the others to follow their chief in command, and leaving the rookies sort of lost and unable to think.
The Heartaches didn’t hesitate and only took longer to jump into battle as they were at the back and had to wait for all their members to jump together. But now that they were heading to the gate as well, only EchoForce was left to find the courage to join. Cookie almost jumped with Crisis but stayed back with Saint to help him convince the rookies to leave the safety of the ledge and head straight into a gruesome battle that they seemed too scared to even watch.
Luckily, having Saint and Cookie check back on them appeared to bring them back to their senses as Shade waited for the Heartaches to run out of the way for him to jump down. He was followed by Zoey and Ace, but Chappy still seemed hesitant, though he didn’t have much of a choice when he saw Cookie and Saint leave as well. He looked back and saw a clear, relatively peaceful area behind him, but when he turned back around, he saw that everyone was already deep in the battlefield, so he had to jump as well. And while he was the last in line and farthest away from all the action, he was instantly overwhelmed and terrified of all the danger around him, to the point he dashed to the front to catch up with the Heartaches.
–Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!! MOVE!!– Frost shouted incessantly, urging the entire team to follow his exact movements as they approached the main battle area. They were still somewhat far from the center of the intersection, with some being too far back to hear him, but they all understood their clear and simple objective, so he didn’t have to say anything else to lead them. However, with the enemy right ahead, they couldn’t confront them and instead ran straight to the gate like all the ravagers on their right since they were ignoring them in an attempt to accomplish the same thing.
As the antipunks were held back by three lines of ravagers, a small gap formed between the frontline and the main ravager army heading to the gate. That’s where Frost charged, running behind the unaware ravagers and next to the panicked ones, who could have ended his plan in a second if they weren’t so focused on getting past the gate. Since they were too busy holding off the antipunks, the team had a small window to run without being noticed as only a few ravagers stayed and joined the frontline, and they could hide with the ones rushing north, though it wasn’t a very straight or direct path.
Even though Crisis could keep up with Frost, the rest of the team struggled to run at full speed, with the muddy ground slowing them down. On the other hand, Frost was now running through the middle of the ravager army alongside the enemy, like he was just another soldier heading towards the gate, but the rest weren’t able to blend in so easily. His dark clothes concealed him from the rest and even his team, who had to slow down to look for him and wait for more ravagers to pass by before continuing to advance. But as they halted and let the rookies and Heartaches catch up, they were suddenly forced to keep moving now that the antipunks were concentrating their troops to clear their way.
The first line of ravagers fending off the antipunk army was wiped out instantly as the antipunks now relied on their artillery to do all the work. Their rifles, as shoddy and weak as they were, still managed to overpower the ravagers’ spears, javelins, and bows, and they effectively killed any enemy in sight. The ravagers still tried to fight back but were losing ground fast as the antipunks cleared the sides first to flank them. To prevent more lines of them from blocking their way, the antipunks’ heavy artillery began engaging strategically.
The rookies were confused as to where to go, looking around frantically as they were squeezed between Crisis and the Heartaches. But as everywhere they looked was filled with either ravagers or incoming antipunks, they had to put away their weapons since it was clear they didn’t stand a chance if they tried to fight. Fortunately, they didn’t have to confront any enemies as they continued to be distracted by the other side, proving Frost right. But this was only for a while, as the bigger threat gained ground when the antipunks began shooting at everything that moved, meaning the team soon came under fire as well.
Crisis moved further right, distancing themselves from the antipunks at the cost of surrounding themselves with more ravagers. The Heartaches tried to follow the same approach, but they began scattering with the enemy once they were in imminent danger. A large boulder flew high above them until it landed at the back of the ravager army, smashing a small group of ravagers that the team couldn’t even see. But as the antipunks made their way closer to the middle, the artillery began shooting from outside, now shooting closer to the team. They were caught off guard by the ground shaking, as well as some of the mud splattering everywhere, but they still managed to take advantage of the diversion to make their way forward.
Crisis stayed back, but they were already looking for a way to join Frost as he was about to reach the gate alongside the first wave of ravagers. But the rookies weren’t so quick to think, and since they kept running straight, before they could react to the casualties around them, the wall of ravagers on their left was completely gone. They had kept a close eye on their enemy, always staying behind to not draw attention and sneak past them. But after briefly glancing at the rocks raining a few meters past them, the entire front row of ravagers had disappeared.
The wall of meat that once shielded them from all the bullets was no longer there, or at least no longer protecting them, since they saw everyone drop dead in the mud. The rookies began getting bombarded by the catapults as well, now that the antipunks had created a circle of rocks around the ravager army to trap them and lure them in. And while most of the heavy artillery was still aiming farther back to hit the ravager backup arriving, the antipunk infantry returned to take over the middle of the intersection once again, forcing the team to retreat alongside the ravagers.
–Back, back, back!!– Panda yelled at the rookies and Heartaches as he was left in command now that Frost was way ahead of all of them. The rookies followed his order without even thinking and joined the crowd of fleeing ravagers. They ran to the right, as far away as possible from the antipunks, until they were completely surrounded by ravagers again. But with Cookie and Saint still staying closer to the middle to keep track of Crisis, they had to hurry up since everyone else continued forward and was about to reach the destroyed gate.
–To the gate, now!– Cookie ordered before pushing his way through the ravager mass in their way. Despite him shoving several ravagers, they didn’t even think about it or even check who had pushed them; they continued to run, and so did Cookie. Saint didn’t hesitate to follow right behind, though he first looked back at his friends to see if they were following. The rookies had split up from the Heartaches and the rest, but while they were confused about where to go, they stayed close to Saint and began pushing their way to the front as well.
Frost had already reached the gate's entrance, which was barely holding itself together by the top. However, by the time he was there, the logs around the middle began falling inward and blocking the way. The wall was soon to be a big pile of fire covering the entire path, so Frost hurried up. But as he looked back for only the second time, he noticed he was alone, although this didn’t stop him from sticking close to the ravagers to not be out in the open.
The antipunks noticed the gate was falling and further helped it collapse by shooting bolts to break the foundations, forcing the ravagers and Frost to stay low. He was trying to spot his team, but it was difficult to look around in the middle of the chaos, and even when he could look past the ravagers, either dead or alive, the catapults had filled the pass with large rocks that blocked his view.
The antipunk army was trying to cut the ravagers off, and now that they had blocked the right side of the pass, they moved on to the gate, so Frost had to stop looking and just run past the gate before it was too late. But before giving up on the rest, right as he was about to charge through the gate, he saw Kayden and Agnus approaching, leading all the other Heartaches to the gate, but now without having to kill a couple of ravagers and push them out of the way.
Crisis followed close behind, though the team couldn’t properly gather around since they were split by the rows of ravagers flowing into the pass between the mountains. However, they still managed to spot each other and waited for the rest at the gate, sticking to the sides but not too close to the burning gate. They looked behind for the rookies, but they were nowhere to be seen, and they couldn’t wait any longer as the ravagers were pushing them deeper into the pass to avoid getting smashed by rocks or the flaming logs of the wall.
Frost eventually gave in and stayed behind the gate, and while the Heartaches tried to clear some of the entrance, they couldn’t stand in the way of the ravagers, so they were forced to hide behind the wall and continue blending in with the enemy. But with all of them now out of the antipunks’ sight, they also couldn’t see them advancing and getting closer to the gate, cornering the ravagers and EchoForce, which only created more distress for the team, especially Crisis.
–Where’s Saint??– Candy asked in concern as she tried peeking out the gate right as Ignatius joined the group after barely dodging one of the boulders shot at the gate. The antipunks had now completely covered the width of the pass with rocks, except for one tight path between the burning debris, where the ravager stream continued but took up most of the space. But while this didn’t stop them, it looked like the rest of the gate was about to fall down and block their only path for good, but only if they were far away, which the rookies appeared to be.
Before getting an answer, Panda pulled Candy away from the gate to not be seen by the ravagers, who somehow didn’t find her colored outfit strange and just ran past her. The team stayed in a corner of the left mountain and the gate, where they couldn’t even stand as the portion of the gate behind them was nothing but a short pile of burning wood. They also couldn’t talk or breathe much with all the smoke clouding the area, but they could still hear the massacre that the antipunks were causing as they began shooting in their direction.
The antipunks were making their way back to the middle, taking full control of the Pacific Pass as they secured both sides. This appeared to be useless now since the gate had been breached by half the ravager army, and with most of them inside the direct path to the base, they had no other choice but to shoot at the gate. They could take out large chunks of the ravager mass every second with their artillery, and even Crisis and the Heartaches could hear how effective their push was, though they could only worry about the rookies further back.
Right before giving up and moving forward without them, the team heard some distinctive frantic screams from Chappy. Cookie was leading the rookies through the last wave of ravagers, with the antipunks right on their tail as they shot at everyone running. They received some cover from a few ravagers that stayed behind to fight the antipunks, but they were shot dead in an instant by the swarm of antipunks closing in. They had the enemy flanking them from both sides and chasing from behind, and even if they stuck to the middle, they had to run through a barrage of bolts and boulders raining down.
Chappy and Ace began to panic, and even though they ran faster than anyone, they couldn’t get past their teammates with the little space they had, so they could only follow them anxiously. They also committed the mistake of looking back and seeing the sea of corpses left behind, including the many soldiers crushed by rocks. But as they were close to the gate now, this was enough to keep them moving. Cookie was already about to go through it, with Saint behind, keeping Zoey close as he held her hand. But Shade, Chappy, and Ace were slowing down due to the ravagers trying to get to safety and shoving them in the process.
With the antipunk artillery now fully focused on blocking the front by shooting at the gate, they created even more panic, and it was to the point that the ravagers on the back were pulling the ones in front to try their best to run away from the enemy. They were all the first to die, and not only did they fail to get past their teammates, but they harmed the others by slowing them down or making them trip, causing them to perish together as they were crushed by the falling rocks. So, the rookies began trying to push the ravagers away to escape their grasp, clearing the way, but are now starting to fight with others for their own lives.
Cookie had crossed the gate and quickly spotted the rest of the team, but he couldn’t even be relieved as the gate protecting them was on its last legs. The last remaining logs began falling as the top and right portions collapsed, crushing many ravagers right as they crossed the gate. Before they knew it, the safety they were trying to reach was no longer there, and they were only heading towards a narrower area where the antipunks could gun them down easier. Regardless, the rookies kept running and tried to join their teammates now that they had to make their way up the pass. And even when the gate was about to come down on them, they ran as fast as they could before they were trapped outside.
Saint and Zoey dodged a falling piece of burning wood while crawling underneath a blockade of debris and ravagers. They soon regrouped with the team just in time, as the entire right wall fell on top of the last wave of ravagers. In that group, Shade, Ace, and Chappy were about to cross, but one of the desperate ravagers on the back pulled Chappy, making him trip and smacking his face in the mud. Ace noticed instantly and didn’t hesitate to stop to pick up his friend, but he was pushed as well and couldn’t hold his arm for long before being dragged away by the horde.
Chappy struggled to get back on his feet, especially with the ravagers constantly shoving and almost trampling him. But that’s when Shade stopped running to go back, despite Chappy being pretty much the only one left in the antipunks’ reach. Almost all the ravagers had either died outside the gate or were already running up the mountain to reach the Cloudstar base. Only a few continued running, which distracted the antipunks for a few seconds, so Chappy and Shade managed to avoid death. But with the right wall tumbling down and crushing the ravagers in front of them, they had to stop, now left exposed and directly under antipunk fire.
Shade pulled Chappy up with a strong yank, and rather than thanking him, the latter just wiped the mud off his face and urged him to keep his head low. Ace was shoved to a rock by a now-dead ravager, but he got up, only to see that the antipunks were now trying to aim at them. The rookies couldn’t look back and kept running as they saw the rest of the team waiting for them. They spotted Saint and Zoey and focused on their frightened expressions to keep running while they tried to draw some attention away from the antipunks.
Ace, Shade, and Chappy could hear the bullets flying past them, mistaking the ones striking the ravages for their own bodies, though they did feel the force of a few nearly grazing them. Even when one of the catapults shot at them, the rock landed a couple of feet behind Chappy, and while it did knock them away, they stood up right away and kept running. They were mortified, numb to their exhaustion or pain, especially Ace and Chappy, who didn’t even seem to notice that the boulder that nearly missed them blocked some of the bullets that would have ended their lives. But they were alive, somehow, so while they weren’t aware that they dodged death when everything was out to kill them, and while they clearly feared every single bullet shot at them, they were focused on the goal, and it was right in front of them.
Chappy and Shade jumped through a small hole between burning logs, catching fire momentarily before the rain put it out. But with Ace trying to do the same, he tripped and fell, getting stuck underneath the debris before Chappy pulled him out. The last log fell and nearly crushed Ace, but he had made it to the other side just as the antipunks reached the barrier of burnt wood and corpses. But even when they were through, they couldn’t stop moving, and they were greeted coldly by the team as only Saint and Zoey helped them step out of harm’s way.
For a moment, the team was left alone, now that the antipunks had trapped themselves at the intersection. They were already trying to clear up the destroyed gate, though it was impossible as it kept burning violently, all from a single grenade. Despite the big barrier of flames between them and the enemy, it was useless now that they had to continue heading forward and try to catch up with the other enemy, only to then be able to get ahead of them to face their other enemy first. The rookies couldn’t celebrate or catch their breath, but they slowed the pace as they hid behind the collapsed wall for a moment before running alongside Saint and Zoey.
But even when they were safe now, they had to pursue danger once again, and Frost didn’t waste time explaining it this time; he only checked on the team superficially to see if they were all there before running after the ravagers. Without taking a break, the team followed, and while they managed to catch their breaths on the way, they were already drained of any energy or enthusiasm to continue the battle now that they were catching up to the ravagers. So, despite what they had just gone through, needing to rely on the ravagers, keeping an eye on the antipunks behind, and still only being at the bottom of the mountain, they delved deeper into the warzone as they headed up the pass.