The sounds of artillery fire continued to echo from behind, but Zhang Ge had already predicted that the forces of Chaos would attempt a counterattack to reclaim the Bell Tower. The troops that had originally been stationed inside the tower had dispersed into the surrounding streets to avoid suffering heavy losses from the enemy's artillery before their assault began.
When the thundering explosions from the shells paused for a moment, the Bell Tower, now diminished by yet another section, was covered in a thick layer of Flesh Carpet, which gradually spread downwards as numerous Daemons emerged from within.
Were they going to abandon the Bell Tower?
Clearly, that was not an option. The open area surrounding the tower was one of the few remaining spaces nearby, and the final defense would certainly rely on it.
However, being wrapped in that Flesh Carpet would likely lead to a terrible fate.
Zhang Ge pondered for a moment before asking the Guard Captain, "Do we have any incendiary bombs?"
"Yes."
At this, he nodded and gestured for the Guard Captain to sound the alarm. As the piercing whistle echoed toward the surroundings, the surviving Guard soldiers returned to the tower under the cover of their vehicles.
Around them, units like the Chimera were doing their utmost to use their mounted weapons to suppress the Flesh Carpet and those Daemons, but despite the heavy blasts and energy beams striking down on the horrors, they only sprayed blood and chunks of flesh without slowing the relentless consumption of the tower.
After a brief period, the advancing Guard soldiers encountered a large number of Daemons before reaching the Flesh Carpet. A torrent of Hellgun fire erupted from the front-line soldiers, blasting apart the repulsive, meat-like grotesqueries.
However, the soldiers quickly realized that the sheer number of emerging Daemons was overwhelming, and the shockwaves from their grenade attacks were ineffective against them. Thus, they could only engage in fire while gradually falling back to buy some time.
Fortunately, the time they bought was more than enough for Zhang Ge's preparations below.
At approximately one hundred fifty meters off the ground, rows of incendiary bombs and thermal bombs were deployed along the walls of the current level, with several support structures receiving special attention.
Soon, this deployment, which did not take long, was completed. As the watch signal sounded, the personnel responsible for the setup retreated, and the upper troops were ordered to withdraw quickly before the designated time arrived.
With every second ticking down, the moment finally came. As the remote demolition charges attached to the outer casing of the incendiary bombs activated, a sea of flames erupted at that level.
The intense heat, enough to threaten the Daemonic forms, licked at the accumulated combustible materials, rapidly spreading the fire. The inferno even burst through the windows, accompanied by thick black smoke that adhered to the tower's outer walls.
Under such extreme heat, the building's ceramite was quickly heating up, and its strength gradually diminished.
It was only when even the thermal bombs, designed to be as stable as possible, could no longer withstand the flames that the collapse began.
The flash from the thermal explosion lit up almost simultaneously; as the supporting structures crumbled, the towering giant over a thousand meters tall emitted a long, mournful metallic wail, reminiscent of a dying whale, painfully piercing through the unending cacophony of gunfire.
Perhaps for several centuries, this great tower had stood unwavering on this land, slowly tilting over in the firelight. Gravity aided its acceleration until it finally crashed onto other buildings, generating another metallic roar that reverberated through the air, as the upper portion of the bell tower crumpled into a twisted heap of debris scattered along a straight line.
The collapse of most of the Bell Tower effectively prevented the Flesh Carpet from engulfing the entire structure, while simultaneously reducing the height of the remaining tower to lie far below the surrounding buildings. In the shadows of those lofty spires, it would be difficult for artillery shells to strike the tower without targeting its summit.
However, it was clear that the forces of Chaos did not expect to resolve this solely through a single round of artillery.
Unending howls echoed from the distance, and the cultists, who had no intention of hiding their presence, surged forth like a tide.
First to enter the firing range were the large numbers of turned civilians. These poor, maddened creatures had lost most of their rational thought; not only could they not follow tactical commands, but even a handful of them was uncertain whether they could operate their weapons effectively.
But there were simply too many of them.
So many that even a small area of attack could easily mobilize thousands.
They flooded in from the streets and extended their weapons out from the windows of the buildings. As a scarlet energy beam ripped apart one victim's body, another stepped into the blood to take his place in the firing position.
Even with the Chimera providing supplementary heavy fire, the best conditions only existed in relatively open areas. In these spaces, heavy explosive shells could transform the ground into a mound of flesh in mere seconds, temporarily staving off their insane charge.
Yet, with such a large number, the enemy's firepower inevitably began to converge, and even with carapace armor protection, casualties among their ranks started becoming unavoidable.
As a Guard soldier leaned out of the window once more to fire, a laser beam struck his already battered chest plate. This time, the armor, having reached its limit, shattered, and the explosive backlash carved a terrifying gash in his chest.
Nearby allies swiftly pulled him back, and the medicae took over. While this was usually the correct judgment, in such an environment, with the thick taint of subspace, a wave of Chaos energy surged through the breach into his body.
First, his organs began to battle against one another, followed by the bones and muscles. He struggled to warn his comrades, but soon discovered he could not control his own vocal cords, forced to endure the extreme agony while feeling the alien entity take shape within him.
However, the sounds of his body thrashing still drew Zhang Ge's attention.
Without hesitation, Zhang Ge shifted his aim and fired a round that shattered the soldier's helmet, sending a spray of brain matter and blood onto the medicae trying to assist him.
The medicae, momentarily stunned by the sudden alteration, wiped the viscera from his visor, while Zhang Ge continued to fire into the soldier's wound, noticing that the medicae still didn't realize to distance himself. He strode over and kicked him aside.
Drawing his power sword from his waist, he slashed down on the twisted, pulsing thing escaping from the various wounds. The sword's auxiliary disassembly field finally brought peace to the corpse.
Surrounding soldiers, lacking experience fighting Chaos, instinctively cast their eyes towards the scene. Observing it, Zhang Ge calmly reminded them, "If you see a fallen comrade showing signs of life, use your weapons to help them end their suffering. Also, do not stack the bodies carelessly; they should be collected by the medicae and taken to the top level, placed into the burning piles."
———— 🌟🌟 ————
ps:Support and join my Patreon
patreon.c@om/chenc11 [Remove @]
You can read up to 20+ premium chapters.