Trapped

(Chapter 53)

....

General Nazumoto and his boys were now camping in a forest that only had a few number of trees, it was already in the night, as the only source of illumination the sky offered was the bright crescent moon, and the twinkling little stars. They had decided to camp here for now. And also, multiple green tents could be seen here and there. It was inside these tents the soldiers were sleeping or taking a nap.

He and his troops suddenly appeared in the forest after the incident, and most soldiers were trying to imagine that what they had experience was some sort of trance. But of course they weren't that foolish, some pinched themselves, slapped each other, while others wriggled themselves vigorously.

Nazumoto told them not to panic, explaining to them that they had been teleported here. Whether through the help of a person, or by mere coincidence, that didn't really matter for now. Although it did matter for Nazumoto, still he decided to keep his worries to himself. Assuring them that they'll set off tomorrow.

Black, and faint white flames were puffing towards the sky, as few of the soldiers were still cooking with some dry sticks they found in the forest, as they talked to each other on the thing that happened just few hours ago.

As for where they saw the food they were eating, this was a forest. It had few trees but, was also filled with dangerous animals. Luckily, most soldiers here were gun users so hunting was a lot easier, as they even turned it to some kind of hunting competition. While others carried a few foodstuffs with them on their way out of the barracks.

"For the first time in my life, I really saw my life flash before my eyes." A freshman uttered with a nervous but proud smile as he wiped a drop of sweat off his forehead.

"Can't believe you are still whining about that." A man with broad chest, and muscular feature said.

"You would have been toast if I hadn't block that blast." Another middle aged man replied with a chuckle, before tearing apart with his teeth the roasted thigh of one of the many wild bulls their group had killed during the hunt.

William and Shinsui fell to this group, who were currently talking as they roasted and ate their food, since it was mostly meat they dealt with.

Before hunting, they had decided to split into different groups, fifty by fifty.

And after hunting, each groups with fifty members had decided to split their section even further, making them ten in each subsection.

"It's quite funny to see us implementing the things of the old." Shinsui thought, as he stared at the tip of the burning fire in which he and his group members sat round it, roasting, eating, jesting, and keeping themselves warm. His group had four females, and six males including him, making it ten in his own group after being split further from their original group of fifty.

Of course William and Shinsui were worried, in fact all of them in the forest were quite tensed at first, but later had their moods lightened by Nazumoto's strict words of encouragement.

Everyone enjoyed the moment in the forest, as they believed it was a hundred percent better than the clueless passageway they were stuck in before. Although some believed this dinner of theirs could be their last supper, others hoped they would get this over with by tomorrow.

Sitting on a large tablet-like stone, with his jaw resting on his clasped palms was Nazumoto who was quite deep in thoughts.

"I think I was really naive to think I could overcome the W-5 with this type of troop I took upon myself." General Nazumoto admitted. However, he did that inwardly.

On remembering the way Nate was murdered, he couldn't help but blame himself partly for what had happened.

"Well, I can't repair any done damages now." He thought with a smirk. "This is the perfect opportunity to murder every single member of the W-5 in city tinto."

"But before that, I need to know how we got stuck in that endless space, and why we got teleported when our lives were clearly in danger. And according to my few knowledge, none of my troop members had an ability similar to that." Nazumoto wondered. "The enemy sure know how to plot".

He gets up, reaching for his bag that was ostensibly light and flat, and after opening it, he removes his black jacket that was neatly ironed, and specially customized with the image of an eagle at the back of the cloth.

After wearing it swiftly, a white but condensed aura was slowly seeping out of his body, with his left eye slightly shaded.

"Blood will rain in tinto." He muttered.

*^^*

It was now morning, and with everyone gathered together in their military uniforms, it was finally time for them to move.

"Listen up!" Nazumoto echoed. "Yesterday wasn't as great as we would have wanted, as Nate and a few others, which estimate is around five hundred were lost."

"In spite of being not too important and great, they were still a soldier of the sangotaro force." Nazumoto said. "I would have liked to observe a minute of silence or two, but that would give our enemies more time to plan ahead. So why don't we use those two little minutes to scheme a death scene of your opponents who murdered your friends in your head."

While some of the soldiers which heard this gulped in excitement, others felt sick and uneasy in their stomachs.

"Since Nate had decided to leave us unexpectedly, I'll be assigning another individual to help with the dissemination of information from me to the rest of you during the battle." Nazumoto, the brigadier general announced.

Everyone paid utmost attention on hearing this, and wondered who Nazumoto had on his mind currently.

"William, kindly step forward!" Minamino ordered, as he stretched his palm open towards his direction.

A smile crept on Shinsui's lips, he had seen this coming so it didn't surprise him a bit unlike the others.

"Seems like luck always got him few steps ahead of you." Shinsui thought half smiling, referring to the friendly rivalry between Will and Fushi.

Another thing on Shinsui's mind was the uniform upgrade project he was currently working on for the military. It wasn't like the one they were using currently was bad, but the camouflage like color always left quite a distaste in Shinsui's creativity.

"Communication means during battles also needs to be fixed." Shinsui thought, as the picture of a walkie-talkie flashed in his mind.

"No something more dynamic." He added.

And like he imagined, a clear picture of an earphone came into his mind.

"It only needs a few adjustment." Shinsui said to himself.

After few minutes of continuous preparation, they finally set out of the forest. On walking a few meters ahead after exiting the forest, it dawned on Nazumoto. They were in the tinto city already. Only that they had approached from behind the city.

His grin disappeared as soon as it had appeared, after realizing this was a clear setup. The W-5 were already aware of their arrival.

"Listen!" Nazumoto announced with a booming voice that echoed throughout the barren field, while he stared at the ground furiously with scrunched eyebrows and clenched fists. Although his back was turned to the others, the steam coming from his body was wilder than that of a blizzard.

"We have arrived at tinto city, so be ready to engage the opposition as soon as you spot them." Nazumoto added. "Do not spare a single soul that works with the W-5"

"Engage your opponent?" An individual whispered.

"Yeah! I thought we were to locate them, and negotiate with them before deciding to battle or not?" Another inquired.

"We haven't even seen them yet." Another added.

Their comments wasn't surprising to Nazumoto anyway, as his level was a million times higher than them. Which was why only he could hear the faint footsteps of multiple humans and the rumbling sounds made from different vehicle's engine.

"We've been surrounded." William noted.

Most of the enemy's troops could now be seen vividly from afar, since it was a plain and barren field.

The intense battle of guns was about to begin.