The 8mm Gauss rounds ripped through the air.
Hypersonic metal spikes slammed into the chest of the Type-II Mutant.
Green ichor and shattered armor plates exploded outward.
The massive creature staggered before the impact hurled it backward, crashing into the swarm of hybrids behind it.
The horde didn’t stop.
The monsters climbed over the corpses of their own kind and continued charging.
Inside the left bunker, two C-14 Gauss Rifles spat fire without pause.
Spent casings rained onto the alloy floor, ringing like metal hail.
Leon Drake stared down the tunnel.
The ramp was nearly eight meters wide.
Two rifles inside the left bunker alone couldn’t completely seal the approach.
There were obvious gaps in the firing lanes.
The right bunker had only Helena with her Bolt Pistol.
Its firepower wasn’t even close to balanced.
Several smaller hybrid mutants sprinted along the right wall, trying to slip through the dead zone outside the crossfire.
Leon glanced at the resource panel.
After Big Guy had salvaged the scrap and finished building the Supply Depot, Barracks, and two Bunkers, there was still a little left.
“Ada.” “Run the Barracks at full capacity.” His orders came immediately.
“Deploy two Marines.” “And one Medic.” [Command confirmed.] [Barracks production sequence initiated.] A deep mechanical hum echoed from the Barracks behind them.
Its red and blue status lights flashed in alternating patterns.
Three humanoid silhouettes slowly formed inside the energy matrix.
Less than twenty seconds later…
The warp field faded.
Two Marines in dark blue CMC-400 Heavy Powered Armor landed heavily on the alloy floor.
A Medic in sleek white light-powered armor appeared beside them.
All three immediately reported in.
[Current Resources] [Minerals: 150] [Vespene Gas: 50] The small fortune Leon had just accumulated was nearly gone again.
The corner of his mouth twitched.
Building a Terran base felt amazing.
Going broke felt just as real.
“Marine Three.” “Marine Four.” “Take the right bunker.” “Seal the gap in the defense.” “Medic.” “Stand by behind the bunker.” The two new Marines shouldered their Gauss Rifles and sprinted toward the right bunker.
Helena was already crouched beside one of the firing ports.
Holding her Bolt Pistol with both hands, she had just emptied a magazine and was reaching for another.
Three hybrid mutants had already closed to within five meters.
Their mouths opened wide, exposing rows of jagged teeth.
Green acid bubbled deep inside their throats.
Helena reached for a fresh magazine.
Suddenly…
Two massive armored figures squeezed in beside her.
The Marines occupied the remaining firing positions.
The black barrels extended through the firing slits.
Triggers were pulled all the way back.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
The right flank’s firepower exploded upward.
Supersonic metal spikes wove together into a deadly web.
The three hybrids were shredded before they could spit a single drop of acid.
Green blood splattered across the tunnel walls.
Four C-14 Gauss Rifles now created overlapping fields of fire.
Anything that approached was cut down instantly.
Bodies piled up.
Severed limbs flew through the air.
Leon nodded in satisfaction.
The bunker’s blind spots had disappeared.
Helena paused while reloading.
She turned toward the two heavily armored soldiers beside her.
Imperial tactical doctrine was perfectly clear.
Elite infantry with armor and firepower like this were meant to be spearheads.
They were supposed to charge.
Break enemy formations.
Tear straight through the front line.
Not hide inside bunkers like heavy machine gun crews.
“Commander.” She couldn’t hold back any longer.
“Soldiers of this caliber…” “Their armor and firepower are nearly comparable to veteran Terminators.” “Keeping them inside fixed fortifications where they’ll endure acid bombardment…” “That’s wasting them.” She tightened her grip on the Bolt Pistol.
“They should be leading assaults.” “Breaking the alien formation.” Leon never looked back.
“Helena.” “Watch the front.” The swarm had been pinned halfway down the tunnel.
Yet their numbers were overwhelming.
Several smaller hybrids climbed along the walls and ceiling, avoiding the Marines’ horizontal fire.
They leaped onto the top of the bunkers.
Several streams of concentrated acid splashed across the outer armor.
A harsh sizzling echoed inside the bunker.
The heavy composite plating smoked.
The outer layer softened and blackened almost immediately.
Helena gripped her pistol tighter.
She was about to suggest falling back deeper into the maintenance station.
Then…
The rumble of heavy treads echoed nearby.
The yellow SCV rolled beside the bunker.
Ignoring the acid raining down around it, Big Guy drove straight into the danger zone.
The high-frequency plasma welder pressed against the damaged armor.
Brilliant sparks erupted.
The corroded holes filled rapidly beneath molten alloy and fresh welding material.
Within seconds…
The damaged armor looked brand new.
Helena froze.
While repairing the bunker…
The SCV casually grabbed a chunk of riot vehicle armor with its mechanical claw.
It tossed the scrap into its reactor, melted it down, and used it as fresh repair material.
On Leon’s resource panel…
Minerals dropped slightly from repairs.
Then immediately climbed again from recycled scrap.
As long as there was metal…
The bunker could keep repairing itself.
Helena slowly lowered her weapon.
She finally understood.
This wasn’t an ordinary bunker.
It was a steel wall…
That could grow back.
A piercing shriek echoed from deep inside the tunnel.
The sound was so sharp that the alloy walls vibrated.
Even more mutants poured into view.
This time…
Four Type-II Mutants led the assault.
They moved faster.
Their armor was thicker.
Two of them charged straight through the Gauss fire.
They reached within two meters of the left bunker.
Their bone scythes crashed into the outer armor.
Sparks exploded everywhere.
The pressure on the defensive line skyrocketed.
“Marine One.” “Marine Two.” Leon kept his eyes forward.
“Stim Packs.” Inside the bunker, both Marines pressed the injector mounted on their forearms without hesitation.
Combat stimulants flooded into their bloodstream.
Their breathing instantly grew heavier.
Muscles bulged beneath their powered armor.
The rate of fire from their Gauss Rifles surged.
The steady bursts transformed into a relentless storm of automatic fire.
Metal spikes became continuous streams.
The two Type-II Mutants at point-blank range were shredded in seconds.
Their carapaces exploded apart.
Their organs spilled across the floor.
Helena’s expression changed.
The Imperium also used combat stimulants.
A single injection could double a soldier’s combat ability.
The price…
Organ failure.
Permanent nerve damage.
Even survivors usually became cripples.
She noticed both Marines’ faces turning red.
Their trigger arms began twitching uncontrollably.
That should have been their limit.
Then the Medic behind the bunker moved.
She raised the medical module on her left arm.
Two pale blue beams passed through the narrow firing slits and landed on the Marines.
No prayers.
No physical contact.
Only cold blue light.
The redness faded almost instantly.
The muscle spasms disappeared.
The Marines continued pouring fire into the swarm without missing a single second.
Helena stared at the two blue beams.
She finally understood Leon’s defensive system.
At the front…
Steel bunkers that could repair themselves endlessly.
In the middle…
Heavy infantry driving their firepower beyond human limits with stimulants.
Behind them…
White-armored Medics repairing the damage before it could take its toll.
Beside them…
An SCV constantly rebuilding the walls.
None of them were overwhelmingly powerful alone.
They strengthened each other.
Every weakness was covered by another unit.
This wasn’t an Imperial defensive line built from courage…
Faith…
And mountains of corpses.
This was an entirely different philosophy of war.
Cold.
Ruthlessly logical.
Almost unfair.
But unbelievably effective.
The endless swarm remained pinned twenty meters away.
Green corpses piled into a hill of flesh.
The kill counter on the tactical display climbed higher and higher.
Every so often…
The SCV stopped repairing, rolled a few meters forward, and activated its recovery system.
Concentrated biomass was extracted from the piles of corpses.
After purification…
It was converted into Vespene Gas.
“Ada.” “Resource report.” Leon looked toward the mountain of dead mutants.
[Current Minerals: 85.] [Recovered Biomass Converted.] [Vespene Gas +150.] [Resources continue increasing.] Watching the numbers rise finally improved Leon’s mood.
The longer the battle lasted…
The richer he became.
It felt even more absurd than the game.
Still…
He didn’t relax.
Helena had already warned him.
A mutant uprising with more than five hundred creatures always had a higher-order command organism behind it.
A command creature wouldn’t care how many expendable monsters died.
It would keep searching for a way to break the defense.
Sure enough…
The swarm suddenly stopped charging mindlessly.
The creatures split apart.
A broad path slowly opened through the mountain of corpses.
A sharp sulfurous odor drifted out of the darkness.
Leon rested his hand on the grip of his customized Gauss Pistol.
Heavy footsteps echoed through the tunnel.
Each step made the metal floor tremble.
Then…
A monster twice the size of a Type-II Mutant slowly emerged from the darkness.
Unlike ordinary mutants…
It had no bone scythes for close combat.
Its back was covered with swollen sac-like organs.
At the front…
A massive organic cannon slowly took shape.
Deep inside the barrel…
A sickly green light rapidly condensed.
Ada’s voice rang out.
[Warning.] [High-density corrosive energy detected.] [Recommendation: Do not attempt to withstand the attack directly.] Leon stared at the biological cannon.
“You didn’t need to tell me that.” The eerie green light suddenly flared.
The entire tunnel was bathed in a sickly emerald glow.