36

Sounds of gunfire, explosions, and screams could be heard echoing from the city to the defensive line, located about 3 kilometers away from the city's streets. It's only been a short wait of half an hour, but it felt much longer. These fighters have been in a couple of battles before, but all of them realized that the current battle will be on a much different scale.

The battle line was separated into three parts; the center, the left wing and the right wing next to the shore. All ten battalions totaled more than 10.000 fighters. Farell also planned to make the battle as a way to improve these fighters, therefore he thought it's important to keep Dario's five battalions together in the right wing. He shared the other 5 battalions of Star Army he brought from Bali into two parts; the center area and the left wing. Donnie took 2 battalions together with the Tiger Platoons and the convict fighters to defend the left wing with a total of 3.000 men, while Farrell kept the other 3 battalions with a total 3.000 men right in the center area.

Currently, right in front of them were the returning fighters led by Donnie, who have been chased by the hordes of undead. There were hundreds of thousands of them; walking human corpses, pale skin, bloodied faces screaming and chasing like wild animals. The fighters tightened and prepared their weapons, shield, and spears... All standing behind hundreds of funnel pits, waiting for Farell's command.

"Steady... Steady...!!"

"Reinforced the left wing!! More hordes heading to the left wing!"

"Snipers ready!! Aim at the red zombies!"

"Steady... Steady..."

"Fireeee....!!!"

Bang!! Bang!! Bang!! Bang!! Bang!! Bang!!

Tratatatatatatata Tratatatatatatata

KABOOOMM!! KABOOMM!!

Sniper shots, machine gun barrages, and grenade launchers poured heavily at the advancing zombie hordes. The sudden rain of fire created chaos among the undead and stopped their momentum. Heads blew, bodies got pierced and were thrown to the ground… The wave behind them got stumbled but quickly moved back up and continued their attack, but this time at a much slower pace.

"Fighters ready!! Spearman to the front!! Spear wall!!"

Hundred of thousands of zombies drag into the funnel pit and crash between each other, their advance was significantly stopped. Thousands of these zombies also got pierced by the sharp wooden poles.The hordes went into the pit but only one-tenth of it came out. The one that manages to get through the funnel pit also got pierced by the fighters spear walls.

Pa!! Pa!! Pa!! Pa!! Pa!! Pa!!

"Close the gap!! Tighten the line, don't let them in!!"

Donnie's Tiger Platoon and the convict fighters quickly joined the left wing formation. The left wing had fewer soldiers and the convict fighters gave more challenge to the formation, but Donnie and his 50 special forces Tiger Platoon made the difference, each of them was already an experienced peak stage Mortal Realm fighter.

All the fighters on the left wing and center wing, although not all came from the army, each of them had consumed at least one spirit stone or has eaten mutated beast meat. They at least had the strength of the mid-stage Mortal Realm, many already reached the high stage and some of the experts were already peak stage fighters. This increase in strength plus experiences made normal zombies no longer frightening for them.

Looking at the left wing performance, Even with twice the numbers, Dario found it difficult to hold the right wing. Dario's 5 battalions of men were all the survivors of the Indonesian Army posted in the Surabaya base. Most of them were trained soldiers, but these army soldiers have less fighting experience especially using edged weapons. Many of these 5000 men also haven't consumed any spirit stones.

"Hold the Line!!!!"

"Firearm troops aim at that red zombie's group on the right!!"

Tratatatatattat!!Traatattatatatata!!

"They are too fast. The frontline can't hold it anymore!!"

"Dammmnnn!! We need more reinforcements in that area!!"

Three hundred men were seen rushing into the right wing, these were the reserve soldiers prepared for the battle, they wore black clothes and orange bandanas. They were the Madurese fighters led by Ruslan. These fighters were mostly fishermen experts in spears, this time they were given unique shield made from the mutated crabs. They're much lighter and stronger than the normal shields, they also came with sharp edges and pincers that could be used to kill the undead. The past one week these Madurese fighters were groomed in the art of the spear and shield. They were also given some mutated crab meat and spirit stones. All of them already reached high stage mortal realms.

Pa!! Pa!! Pa!! Pa!! Pa!! Pa!!

Ruslan with his usual recklessness charged too deep… As the leader of the units, he was given more spirit stones and already turned into a peak stage Mortal Realm expert. Like the famous saying, with great power comes a great itch to abuse it.

Thanks to these Madurese fighters, the right wing became stabilized, the line was reformed and the zombie killing restarted. All ten thousand fighters collectively had their fair share of zombie killing. The scene turned into a massive zombie slaughter. Within minutes, skewered zombie bodies started to pile up. The ones they need to watch out for were the mutated red zombie... These red undead could run faster and jump higher, naturally, they started to jump out of the tunnel pits... but.

BANG!! BANG!! BANG!!

The sniper team was ready behind the line. Wave after wave of zombie hordes were facing the same situation... Every 15 minutes, the battle line switched its frontline fighters with reserve soldier at the second line. After less than one hour at least half a million zombies died... but within the horizon, the 3 kilometers distance between have been filled with a sea of zombies. The fights got harder each time, and zombie bodies started to pile up so that it became difficult to hold the battle line.

Commander Farell gave the sign for the next tactic to commence...

"It's time, light it up!!"

"Yes, sir!!"

CLICK!!

KABOOM!!!KABOOM!!!KABOOM!!!KABOOM!!!

Right in the middle of these millions of zombies, dozens of C4 explosives that have been installed previously blew up simultaneously. The front fighters also threw flaming torches into the funnel pits and instantly the hundred funnel pits turned into a blazing fire... The pits have been filled with gasoline, and with just a simple spark, the hundreds of thousands of zombies inside the pit were burnt.

"Retreat to the second line!!"

The explosion and fire created a few minutes of opportunity for the battle line to retreat back to the second location 200 meters behind.

"Stand ready... quickly reform the battle line!"

This second battle line had a simple ditch in front of them... its main purpose was only to slow down the advancing zombies... but all the advancing zombies needed to pass through the burning funnel pits and piles of zombie corpses...when they reached the ditch their forces were already thinned down by lots.

Farell moved right in front of the frontline standing shoulder to shoulder with the frontline fighters and raised his saber... The hordes have managed to pass through the funnel pits, more and more zombies came closer.

"Everyone, this is it. No more tricks! It's now the chance to prove yourself... Trust every brother next to you. We will hold this line! Right wing! Left Wing! Star Army! Fight!!"

SLASH!! SLASH!! PA!! PA!! SLASH!! SLASH!!

The most common attack was to cut or stab the zombies' heads. With a solid defensive formation, this act could easily resist the normal zombies... The main trouble was still the mutated ones that were able to jump out of the fire and wreck the fighters' formation.

Farell checked the time and realized the whole battle has been going on for two hours. The fighters needed to hold the line for at least another two hours. Farell could only hope Alex and the group who went inside the city center found what they were looking for and were able to get out safely.