The Hell Hound Wave

After some time had passed and breakfast time had elapsed, Akihisa issued orders to his subordinates to gather.

Akihisa began to check on each of his team members until he found one person who hadn't gathered.

"Where's Ren?"

"Um, it seems he's still asleep. I'll go wake him up," replied Nishino. As Ren's roommate, she was the most aware of Ren's current condition.

She then went to Ren's room. Nishino opened the door and found Ren changing clothes. She quickly closed the door again while reminding Ren, "Hurry up, the captain has been waiting for you."

"Just a moment."

Shortly after, Ren emerged from his room in full uniform along with his weapons.

"Let's go."

The two of them joined the others without saying a word.

Akihisa nodded as he saw Ren and Nishino arrive. After ensuring that all his team members had gathered, he began his speech.

"As you all know, the monster waves are getting bigger. Currently, the Naraki stronghold's leaders have decided that mercenaries can't just help from afar with snipers. The situation has changed so that genomancers alone are no longer sufficient to deal with the Hell Hound waves this time.

As a solution, all mercenaries are required to participate in a frontal war against these monster waves. However, considering the possibility of monsters entering the stronghold, it was decided that the fortress gate would only open a few times a day.

The first is in the morning, from 07:00 to 07:30. The second is during the day, from 12:00 to 12:30. The next is from 17:30 to 18:00. For this reason, it was decided to divide the mercenaries into two shifts: morning and evening. Z army happens to be in the morning shift, so we need to leave soon.

Does anyone have any questions?"

Akihisa's explanation prompted whispers among the fourth squad members. It was clear that frontal warfare was much more dangerous and casualties among mercenaries were expected to increase. This meant that some of them might die in this war.

One of the fourth squad members finally raised their hand.

"Yuri, do you have a question?"

"Captain, suppose the morning shift suffers some losses and puts the monster waves in a favorable position. In facing great danger, will the fortress gate be opened to help the morning shift escape?"

"The fortress will only be opened according to the schedule I announced. There will be no exceptions."

The expressions of everyone changed drastically.

"C-captain, will the gate not be opened even if we are in danger of mass destruction?"

"No, no matter what happens, the fortress will only be opened according to the schedule."

Insane! Even experienced mercenaries couldn't hold back their complaints. This arrangement clearly indicated to the mercenaries that the only way to survive was to endure from morning until noon. Losing meant massacre and annihilation.

"It seems you don't have any other questions, so get ready. The fortress gate will be opened soon," said Akihisa, ending the conversation.

The pressure this time was very heavy, even someone like Nishino could only sigh thinking about the danger they would face.

"I didn't expect Nishino to be afraid too," said Ren, who was beside her.

Nishino looked at him disgustedly and snorted, "All humans fear death."

"Is that so? I think there are always exceptions."

Ren remembered his time at Komorebi Kuyo. Clearly at that time, Ren didn't care if he died, unlike his current self who had ambitions and hopes for the future.

Nishino wanted to respond, but then she remembered her father.

"You're right, there are always exceptions."

Ren raised his eyebrows, surprised by Nishino's response. Unfortunately, they didn't have time to talk. Squad fourth, led by Akihisa, joined other mercenaries to gather in front of the gate.

Someone who appeared to be an important official from Naraki stronghold gave a brief speech to encourage the mercenaries. After the short speech, the gate slowly opened. The front row, filled with genomancers, marched toward the dangerous outside world of the stronghold.

Gradually, the mercenaries followed the genomancers out of Benteng Naraki.

Some couldn't hide their nervousness, some pretended not to be afraid, and some laughed manically as if anticipating the upcoming battle. Ren observed the various expressions displayed by the mercenaries.

Ren stepped out of Benteng Naraki, the view of the high walls now disappeared. A vast landscape entered Ren's sight. For a moment, he enjoyed the beauty of nature.

The next moment, waves of monsters began to appear in great numbers. From left to right, Ren could see Hell Hounds barking towards the human forces.

The waves of Hell Hounds began to run closer like a flood. Ren gripped his assault rifle tighter. He ran forward, seeking a somewhat safer position. He was in the second row, kneeling to make it easier for those behind him to shoot at the waves of monsters.

The genomancers didn't join the rows but instead ran straight towards the waves of Hell Hounds. They did this to prevent direct collisions between mercenaries and the dog-like monsters.

Without genomancers filtering the movements of the Hell Hounds, the group of mercenaries would never have a chance to win.

Ren activated some of his felis ignis powers to sharpen his vision. His attention was drawn to the striking figure of Mizuha among the other genomancers. She was one of the genomancers not wearing heavy armor, only clothes made from monster skin. Her agile figure and dual pistols easily caught attention.

He then pulled the trigger and fired several bullets aimed at one of the monsters about to attack Mizuha. The Hell Hound was disturbed, and Mizuha took advantage of it to climb onto it and shoot both of its eyes until they shattered.

Mizuha waved briefly to greet Ren before continuing to fight other monsters. Ren himself shifted his focus to another target.

With sufficient ammunition and enthusiastic genomancers, the human forces could still hold back the monster waves.

However, some negligence from the genomancers could allow a group of Hell Hounds to escape and attack the mercenaries, ultimately causing deaths. About a dozen mercenaries died due to the negligence of the genomancers.

Fortunately, squad fourth had Akihisa. Several times when a group of monsters escaped from the genomancers' watch, Akihisa managed to lead his squad to retreat in time.

It could be said that squad fourth's performance was stable, not too outstanding but also not bad. If there were no problems, they should be able to withstand this wave of monsters until noon.

But sometimes, problems arise suddenly.