Chapter 14

February 16th, 2043Huisede Islands, Minotaur Village

"The forest is more active then it ever had been since we came here."

"That noise, is that the doing of the humans? What are they doing out there?"

"There's smoke bellowing out from a distance! Are they setting fires across the island?"

"More of those thundering birds are approaching again!"

The minotaurs had heard the disturbance within the forest of the island as thunder and loud cracking emanated from a far distance. Overtime the noise had creeped closer and closer with each passing hour, and now they were starting to see smoke rising up from somewhere as well as thunder from metal birds flying over the island.

Said birds returned again, only this time they flew directly above the village and let off a thundering roar as they did so. The inhabitants ducked down and cuffed their ears due to the noise being so painfully loud. As they passed, several large fireballs erupted from the tree lines followed by several earth shattering 'booms'.

Recently however, two dragonfolk, flying around the coast for safety, had reached the village and explained what was now happening.

"The humans have arrived and have begun to advance inland to eradicate the shadow creatures from the island! Our kin are working with them right now to aid their efforts!"

"The queen has sent word to ready your warriors for battle! The time is now to clear out this island and ensure the safety of our future generations!"

Now the village warriors were readying for the upcoming battle, pasting battle paint across the fur of their faces and fastening armor made from bone and wood. Every bull partaking was being armed with spears, clubs, and bows. They gathered around and drank wine while feasting on fish and fruit for what may possibly be the last day of either some or many.

Chief Bartus Brighthorn would be leading his fellow warriors into battle as he stood before them in front of the gates that protected their village from the threat that awaited them outside.

"Warriors, today is the day! The day we draw out our weapons and fight with all the strength deep within us!" He spoke out loud before his fellow bulls. "We've been through a lot. Through hardship, grievance, and suffering. Forced away from our homes and turned away to this land which has since done everything in it's power to kill us all. But today that ends! Today we fight this land and face all it sends to kill us! Today we don't fight for all we have left! Today we fight for what the future may hold for us and our future generations! Today we fight for the survival of our tribe, and stand as an icon of strength for all who are minotaur! So hoist your weapons, bring out your fury, and steal your resolve! Today we shed the blood of our foes on our weapons, the ground, and our fur!"

Three hundred warriors all lifted their weapons of choice into the air and let loose a night battle cry. Signifying their readiness for combat.

"To battle!"

The massive doors swung open as the large bulls all charged out for blood with fury burning in their eyes. A massive fight would take place this morning, and much blood would be spilled.

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Meanwhile...

The marines, working in cohesion with the dragonfolk, have been making effective progress over the hours as they continued making advancements and securing more area of the island from where they initially started.

The marines now numbered in about four hundred with over a hundred warriors and sorceresses from the dragonfolk fighting beside them. Drones were also multiplying their effectiveness as they were able to cover and secure ally territory with every push they made.

Island Four, which was down south from Island One, was also undergoing the same situation as four hundred marines had been deployed to clear out more monsters that occupied the island with elves, and serpentines. The MARSOC team sent there had made contact and established friendly relations with both races in order for the MEU to work with them in clearing out the island.

Staff Sergeant Garrison, who happened to be the younger brother of Captain Garrison, had pulled his team out of Island Three in the middle of the archipelago after encountering nothing but a destroyed village of minotaurs and felinians, or as they referred to them as. Since arriving at Island One to assist Jone's team and the MEU already active there, Island Three had become victim to multiple napalm strikes to set the entire island up in flames and kill everything on it. To need to send marines if all there are is hostiles. If one were to look from the coast, they would see several several large plumes of smoke coming from the island as it burned away all the foliage. Islands Five and Six had no inhabitants on them so they too were assigned for eradication through napalm. All the other islands were populated with beastfolk and would receive reinforcements from marines once the other ships arrived.

The voice of Lieutenant Issac Smith called out over the radios of every marine.

"You heard him men, we're moving south to link up with friendlies! Get your gear up and push forward! Western line with cover our flank!"

The marines picked themselves up from their positions and began advancing south down the island. As they did so, they encountered a lot of resistance from multiple small waves of hostiles consisting of wolves and manticores that charged forward to try and stop them.

To provide cover to their right flank, the USS Winston S. Churchill was designated strike coordinates for cruise missiles to hit. If there were any hostiles on their right flank, the missiles would kill them all before they could attack the marines and risk cutting them off from their logistics.

About two minutes after moving out, several cruise missiles rained down and hit west of the marines. The loud explosions from the huge balls of fire drowned out the shrieks and wailing that ensued with the level of destruction.

"Goodness gracious, those were bigger than before." Mira stated as she traveled with the marines, staying close to Robert and the rest of Dagger squad. "Were those more bombs being dropped from those... you talked about earlier?"

"Nah, those were cruise missiles. They launched from a ship off the coast that's supporting us. Things are very powerful."

"I noticed. So why are we moving again? I though we were gonna hold until everyone else gains more ground over the island?"

"Plans have changed. The minotaurs have now started to move out from their village, so we're going to meet up with them to bolster our fighting prowess. We're limited on manpower at the moment, so every soul counts at this point."

"I see. Alright then, let's go meet the minotaurs!"

They continued making their way south of the island, coming close to the shore where they occasionally spotted Mark VI boats and RHIBs driving by in the water. They were very effective at keeping the shores clear of hostiles as they engaged with overwhelming firepower from a position the creatures had option to retaliate against. They avoided contact with the water at any cost.