Using the massive, hand-carved stone pillars and towering piles of unrefined iron ore as high-cover concealment, John pressed forward along the primary rail line. His AN/PVS-31A night vision goggles bathed the pitch-black tunnels in a crisp, high-contrast monochrome field, while his maxed-out Combat Perception filtered every echo bouncing off the damp cavern walls.
Eighty meters in... clear.
One hundred and fifty meters in... the main rail track split into three parallel supply lanes, expanding into a massive subterranean processing artery.
Thick, sulfurous smoke rolled off open iron smelters ahead, clogging the air with choking ash and heat. Through the gloom, the metallic clatter of heavy picks and iron chains grew deafening.
John dropped to one knee behind a heavy steel mine cart filled with raw ore, bringing up his FN SCAR-H. He adjusted his grip on the angled foregrip and scanned the processing floor.
The central hub was crawling with hostiles.
[Local Radar Active]
[Target Identification: Iron-Claw Orc Laborers (Level 35 - 38) x24]
[Target Identification: Iron-Claw Orc Berserkers (Level 44 - 46) x8]
[Target Identification: Iron-Claw Orc Enforcers (Level 46 - 48) x4]
[Total Hostile Signatures: 36 Entities]
A dozen muscle-bound Orc Laborers were hauling iron crates onto flatbed rail cars, overseen by eight towering Berserkers wielding dual serrated battleaxes. Stationed atop wooden catwalks twenty feet above the rail tracks were four heavily armored Enforcers armed with massive, mechanical repeating crossbows mounted on iron tripods.
At the far end of the processing hub, behind a massive iron portcullis, sat the base of the primary freight shaft. The thick, steel-wound cables of a massive mechanical cargo lift stretched upward into the darkness of the cavern ceiling, vibrating with steam-powered kinetic energy.
"Thirty-six hostiles between me and the haul line," John whispered into his headset mic, his voice deadpan behind his tactical mask. "Choke points are tight, high ground advantage belongs to the crossbow tripods."
He didn’t bother creeping around. In an enclosed subterranean kill zone against thirty-six target signatures, stealth was a temporary luxury—overwhelming fire superiority was a necessity.
John opened his system menu with a razor-sharp thought.
"System! Deploy M249 SAW light machine gun on the mine cart!"
FLASH!
A heavy, matte-black M249 Squad Automatic Weapon materialized on the top lip of the steel mine cart, resting firmly on its integrated bipod. It was pre-loaded with a 200-round polymer drum of 5.56x45mm M855A1 Enhanced Performance Rounds.
John swapped his SCAR-H to his back, seized the spade grip and handguard of the M249, and aligned the iron sights squarely with the nearest wooden catwalk.
"Time to clear the high ground."
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
The M249 roared at eight hundred rounds per minute, sending a continuous stream of tungsten-tipped penetrators and bright red tracers tearing through the dark.
The heavy 5.56mm M855A1 rounds shredded the wooden support beams of the left catwalk in milliseconds. Splinters exploded into the air as the high-rate-of-fire barrage walked straight through two Orc Enforcers, shattering their iron breastplates and blowing them off the platform to drop twenty feet to the stone floor below.
[Target Eliminated: Iron-Claw Orc Enforcer (Level 46)]
[Target Eliminated: Iron-Claw Orc Enforcer (Level 47)]
GROOOOAR!
A chorus of furious, guttural war cries erupted across the processing hub.
"Intruder! Kill the flesh-thing!" the remaining Enforcers bellowed, cranking their heavy tripod crossbows around while the eight dual-axe Berserkers charged down the rail tracks, their heavy iron boots pounding the gravel like diesel pistons.
THWIP-THWIP-THWIP!
Massive, three-foot iron bolts slammed into the steel mine cart, showering John in sparks and metal shavings as he ducked behind the heavy plate cover.
John’s maxed-out reflexes reacted instantly. Without rising from cover, he unclipped an M67 fragmentation grenade from his chest rig with his left hand, pulled the pin with his thumb, and cooked it for two seconds before tossing it in an overhand arc over the mine cart toward the remaining elevated catwalk.
"Frag out!"
KABOOM!
The M67 detonated mid-air right beside the tripod mount. Three thousand steel fragments blasted outward at hyper-velocity, shredding the remaining two Enforcers and collapsing the entire wooden structure into a heap of burning timber.
[Target Eliminated: Iron-Claw Orc Enforcer (Level 46)]
[Target Eliminated: Iron-Claw Orc Enforcer (Level 48)]
"High ground cleared," John growled.
He popped up over the steel mine cart, grabbing the M249 once more as the eight Berserkers slammed through the smoke, their dual battleaxes raised high to split him in two. They were thirty yards out and closing fast.
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
John laid his finger flat on the trigger, sweeping the M249 in a controlled, deadly horizontal arc across the choke point.
Hot brass rained onto the stone floor in a continuous stream. The M855A1 rounds hit the charging Berserkers at point-blank range, the hardened steel penetrators punching through thick iron armor, shattering shoulder joints, and tearing through muscle.
Blood sprayed in hot, dark fountains across the rail tracks as three Berserkers buckled under the sheer stopping power, their heavy bodies tripping over one another in the narrow passage.
CLICK.
The bolt on the M249 locked back empty.
Five Berserkers were still coming, now less than fifteen feet away, their yellow eyes burning with bloodlust as the lead brute swung a massive, four-foot iron axe directly at John’s neck.
John dropped the empty light machine gun, his maxed-out Combat Perception tracking the whistling axe blade in near slow-motion.
He ducked smoothly beneath the horizontal swing, stepped inside the monster’s reach, and drew his FN FNX-45 Tactical in one fluid, blinding movement.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
John drove three heavy .45 ACP (+P) Armor Piercing rounds directly into the lead Berserker’s exposed armpit and rib cage. The monster gasped, its momentum dying instantly as its lungs were pulverized at contact distance.
John pivoted on his heel, using the dying Berserker’s fourteen-hundred-pound frame as a human shield as two more axes slammed uselessly into the corpse’s back.
Reaching over the dead monster’s shoulder with his left hand, John pulled the pin on his second M67 frag grenade, shoved the live explosive straight into the collar of the second Berserker’s iron armor, and kicked both brutes backward into the remaining pack.
"Take it!"
John executed a violent combat roll backward behind the mine cart.
KABOOOOOM!
The enclosed space magnified the blast wave exponentially. Overpressure and steel shrapnel blew the remaining Berserkers into mangled pieces, painting the cavern walls with black blood and iron fragments.
[Target Eliminated: Iron-Claw Orc Berserker (Level 44) x8]
[Target Eliminated: Iron-Claw Orc Laborer (Level 35) x6]
[Calculating Experience...]
The surviving eighteen Orc Laborers froze in sheer terror. Armed only with pickaxes and iron bars, they looked at the smoking pile of severed limbs that used to be their elite vanguard, then at the solitary human standing in the drifting cordite smoke with a smoking hand-cannon.
John reholstered his FNX-45, unslung his FN SCAR-H, and snapped a fresh 20-round magazine of 7.62x51mm AP into the magwell.
CLACK-CLICK.
"Out of my way," John growled.
The laborers dropped their pickaxes and scattered into the side tunnels like panicked rats.
John didn’t bother chasing them. He marched past the smoldering pile of bodies, stepping straight up to the massive iron portcullis guarding the freight shaft. Through the thick iron bars, he could see the massive, steam-driven mechanical cargo lift sitting on the tracks, loaded with tons of refined iron ingots—and an iron winch lever waiting on the control platform.
Beyond the lift, the vertical shaft stretched straight up into the ceiling.
John raised his SCAR-H, blew the heavy iron padlock off the portcullis gate with two well-placed 7.62mm rounds, and kicked the steel door open.
"Time to take the elevator," John muttered, stepping onto the freight platform.