Chapter 39: The Battle of the Mountain Pass!
'Thinking'
"Talking"
[System]
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- 9 Miles away from the Trikru Border -
- 3rd Person -
*THUMP!*
*THUMP!*
*THUMP!*
The Azgeda army of two thousand marched in twenty-by-twenty columns down through the rough terrain of the Appalachia mountains. Their spears were pointed to the sky and their shields were raised high; their heads were raised even higher. Most of the Azgeda soldiers wore fur and boiled leather in white or grey. Though some were different they wore more formal like clothes that you would see at a formal event not in a march to battle. Every single one of them had the same quality, they all had scarlet red eyes.
A couple hundred yards away in a deep and thick brush near a creek sat a disguised metallic giant that was made for one single purpose. War. The giant mech stood at nearly fifteen foot tall and was armed with a 125 mm cannon and a GAU-8/A Avenger Gatling Gun that was traditionally armed on the U.S military's famed A-10 Warthog.
The leaves rustled in the wind as the Azgeda army marched right on by without a thought in the world that they were being watched by a machine that could decimate a hundred of them with ease.
"This is Johnson, I have eyes on the Azgeda army marching on the Trikru border, over." Johnson said on the radio located inside the mech.
"Copy that Johnson, wait for the front column to pass by until opening fire, over."
"Copy that, this is Johnson, out."
*THUMP!*
*THUMP!*
*THUMP!*
As the front column passed by the checkpoint the mech's Avenger Gatling gun began to spin and not a few milliseconds later had already fired three-hundred rounds into the column of Azgeda warriors.
*BRTTTTT! BRTTTTT!*
In an instant the first few columns of Azgeda warriors broke. The ones that were still alive attempted to turn around and run for their lives, while the others laid dead on the ground riddled with bullets and with body parts blown off.
*BOOM! BOOM!*
The 125 mm cannon let loose two shells killing even more and sending dirt, mud, and other pieces of debris to go flying in every which direction.
Azgeda mages quickly tried to stop the assault by erupting large rock walls to stop the gun fire but one shell from the cannon caused the walls to go crumbling back to the earth. Different attacks ranging from arrows, spears and even bolts of attack magic flew towards the mech and harmlessly bounced off it.
*BRTTTTT! BRTTTTT!*
Another three columns of Azgeda warriors and even a few mages went down into the dirt and after stepping out of the tree line and into the open and one more cannon shot the Azgeda turned tail and ran back from when they came with fear piercing their hearts.
*BOOM!*
Another cannon shot and another dozen Azgeda troops flew up into the air before falling back to the ground and impacting it with force. Then suddenly a lance of red liquid flew over the retreating Azgeda troops and impacted the mech directly in the head causing the mech to be sent a few steps back.
The pilot of the mech looked through the screen that allowed him to see the outside of the mech in shock. What weapon had done that? Then another lance flew and impacted the mech forcing it to take a few steps back once again, and then another one.
*BOOM!*
In a fit of shock, confusion, and anger Johnson fired a 125 shell into the pathway sending dust and debris into the air allowing Johnson to catch a break and reorganize the mech and get prepared for whatever was coming next.
"Well, well, well. I don't think I've seen a combat mech since the 2040's. Where did you get such a thing?" A voice asked through the smoke. After Johnson chose not to respond the voice continued. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter seeing as you will just be a pile of scrap metal in the next few minutes anyway."
As the dust began to clear a man walked forward and stood at a height of 6'3 and has red bangs and thick eyebrows, while the rest of his hair is deep brown. At the top, and back of his hair it is the same length, however a long section is kept in a braid that can come over his shoulder on the left side of his neck. A hair tie is at the end of the braid. A single piercing is in each of his vampire pointed ears, his eyes are scarlet red, and his mouth is full of fangs.
The supposed man smiled before raising both of his arms and creating two massive lances made purely out of blood. "Now, die for me, will you?" the man asked as he threw the two lances forward at blistering speed.
- The Mountain Pass -
"You think they're on their way?" A soldier asked the group of mountaineers he was hiding up on the rock face with.
*BRTTTTT!*
"If that's any indication, then yeah I think they'll be coming soon." One of the mountaineers responded.
A few minutes later, the first group of Azgeda came sprinting through the pass. At first it was a small group of thirty or forty but as time went on the number continued to grow. Until eventually there were nearly seven hundred Azgeda warriors all lurched over struggling to breathe.
"All units, commence operation: Boulder." Came the voice of command on the sergeants and other commanding officer radios.
The entire force of thirty rangers, twenty-one mountaineers, and one-hundred Arkadian soldiers all leapt out from their hiding places and dumped magazine after magazine of brass and silver bullets alike down towards the recuperating and now retreating Azgeda army.
As the battle continued to rage on with the Azgeda army in a desperate attempt to fight back launched waves of arrows and threw hundreds of spears. Some even tried to climb the rock face but to no avail. That's when the built-in headset within the Arkadian soldiers came on and surprised them.
"This is your King speaking and in honor of our first true battle of this new war. What better way to celebrate it than with some classic battle music!" Their King announced confusing them. That was until static began to be heard which soon transitioned to the sound of marching snare drums, an electric keyboard, and an acoustic guitar.
♪I am a soldier and I'm marching on; I am a warrior, and this is my song. ♪
♪ I've got the reach and the teeth of a killing machine with the need to bleed you when the light goes green, best believe, I'm in a zone to be, from my Yin to my Yang to my Yang Tze. ♪
♪ Put a grin on my chin, come to me, 'cuz I'll win, I'm a one-of-a-kind and I'll bring death to the place you're about to be: another river of blood runnin' under my feet. ♪
♪ Forged in a fire lit long ago, stand next to me, you'll never stand alone.♪
♪ I'm last to leave, but the first to go, Lord, make me dead before you make me old. ♪
♪I feed on the fear of the devil inside of the enemy faces in my sights: aim with the hand, shoot with the mind, kill with a heart like arctic ice ♪
♪ I am a soldier and I'm marching on, I am a soldier and I'm marching on.♪
♪I am a warrior, and this is my song, I am a warrior, and this is my song. ♪
As the music continued to play the soldiers' morale and subsequent enjoyment of the battle began to rise. Along with now booming Artillery that were firing shells over the nearby ridge and sometimes directly impacted the Azgeda troops. The Azgeda realized that this battle was not one that they would win and swiftly called a hasty retreat through the mountain pass, past the Arkadian soldiers.
Not even one of them made it through. It was a total, utter defeat.
Azgeda with a force of two-thousand men lost to a force of one-hundred and fifty-three. Losses on Arkadia's side: none. Injured: seven. Azgeda losses: One-thousand seven-hundred and thirty-two. Azgeda Injured: Two-hundred and sixty-eight.
Once the remaining survivors were divided up into prisoner groups the Arkadian soldiers attempted to contact Johnson the mech pilot.
"Johnson, do you read? Over." The officer in charge, a captain named Jack said into his radio.
*STATIC*
"Johnson, do you read!? Over." Jack said again into the radio, this time with concern lacing his voice. "Damnit!" Jack said, placing his radio in his back pocket. "Cullen! Lead a platoon over there and check on Johnson. Make sure he's alive, and if he's not made sure the mech is."
"Yes, sir!" Cullen yelled as he straightened up and saluted before grabbing the soldiers he needed and making a dash towards where Johnson was last located.
- Cullen's Platoon -
As Cullen and his team came up on the ambush sight, they saw the obvious signs of a battle taking place. Craters littered the ground as did Azgeda bodies, nearly all of them had body parts blown off. There were even entire torsos that were gone leaving only the legs to lay there aimlessly.
"Split up! Find that mech, we need to get it back to Arkadia as fast as possible." Cullen shouted out causing the platoon to form up into three separate squads before going off into the woods in different directions.
Not even ten minutes went by before they found it. The mech was lying down face first in a small creak that was filled with blood. Not only that but blood was also covering the mech from nearly head to toe. They looked towards the top of the mech and saw that the hatch into the mech was opened and a bloody handprint was smeared on the side.
When they climbed onto the mech and investigated it they found no one to be inside. Inside the mech there were obvious signs of bleeding on the head rest, indicating a head wound. And a few splotches of blood were on the cracked view screen, indicating that he had spit out a few gobs of blood.
"What the fuck happened here?" One of the soldiers questioned.
"It doesn't matter. Whatever took Johnson is long gone, just call it in. We won't be able to do anything about this thing on our own." the sergeant said to the radio man.
"Copy sir." the man said as he reached for his radio.
- Appalachia Mountains -
- Arthur Pendragon -
I hated being out here when my soldiers were fighting and dying on the battlefield but in order for me to get back to Arkadia as fast as possible, I needed to leave and meet the Grey Wolf Queen immediately. I could only hope that with the tune I played for them it spurred them on to victory.
"Arthur are you sure they're not leading us to our death?" Octavia whispered to me as we hiked up a snow slope.
I briefly glanced towards Leon who was leading our party of seven and saw his ears subtly twitch. This bastard could hear everything we were saying.
"You are leading us to your Queen, right?" I asked as I began walking in front of Octavia and my two accompanying royal guards.
"Of course, the entrance is just up ahead." he said continuing to walk forward without looking back.
After that we continued to walk in an uncomfortable silence before eventually the sky began to clear and the sun broke through. The sun broke through and shined down onto the mountain face in front of us lighting up the rock face in the early morning darkness.
"There it is home of the Grey Wolf Queen." Leon said pointing towards a cave that was emitting a great light and had sharp spikes like teeth jutting out from the mouth of the cave.
"Let's go meet the Queen." I said to Octavia as we made our approach.
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A/N: I know this chapter and the past chapter were short. That's because school just started back up and the shit tires me out. So, as of right now the daily chapters will probably turn into a chapter every 2 or 3 days. Also, after this chapter I will be taking a short break for a few days, probably until this weekend. I want to put out good stuff, not short chapters that will take 30 seconds to read. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you in the next one!