Chapter 893: Fighting back
Before The Cataclysm, brown bears could already grow to a length of 2.8 meters. How terrifying was it now that they could grow up to 6 meters after The Cataclysm?
Most mattresses used by humans only measured 1.8 or 2 meters in length.
When these brown bears ran madly in anger and hunger, even the ground trembled.
After the brown bears evolved, they gained stronger muscles, internal organs, and even tougher bones. When one of the brown bears broke free from its cage, the barbarian who got crushed under its paw was like a baby in front of it.
That white smoke was produced by igniting an unknown material. While it enraged the brown bears, they did not break through the white smoke to attack the barbarians to the north. Instead, they quickly rushed in the southerly direction of the Pyro Company troops.
Just like back on Mt. Das.h.i.+, the barbarians were able to disperse schools of fish with a small bone fragment from an unknown creature. And now, the barbarians mastered a way to drive away bears. This northern tribe seemed like they only knew how to fight savagely, but they secretly had a unique trump card.
The Pyro Company troops kept pursuing north without stopping. They were still separated from the brown bears by thousands of barbarians who had been chased here from the forest.
However, when the barbarians heard the sound of heavy footfalls north of them, several dozen old barbarians took out goatskin pouches.
The goatskin pouches were meant for storing water. But when they opened the stopper and poured the contents on the ground, it was all blood!
This was the blood of brown bear cubs!
The barbarians had been plotting this for a long time. They first replaced their elites on the battlefield with the elderly barbarians and misled the Pyro Company troops into thinking the expeditionary army was close to defeat. Then they lured them north before releasing the brown bears that had been starving for days.
But this was still not enough. The barbarians took the brown bears’ cubs they had captured and killed them in front of their parents. This was to make the brown bears remember the scent of their cubs’ blood. After that, they quickly injected an anesthetic into them before they became completely enraged.
When the barbarians poured the brown bear cubs’ blood onto the ground, the Pyro Company troops behind them did not think too much about it. They simply believed the blood was from the barbarians.
When the Pyro Company troops stepped on the blood as they pursued the barbarians, their boots were stained with the scent of the blood.
The Pyro Company troops could already hear the sound of heavy footsteps approaching from in front. After the 6th Division’s P5 commander received this news, he immediately ordered his troops to be on the alert and slow down their pursuit.
He suddenly remembered P5092’s warning and thought to himself, ‘Could the barbarians really have laid an ambush for us?‘
For a moment, he felt a little regretful. Actually, he knew the 6th Division had already pursued too far. The five Pyro Company divisions had separated from one another.
But not everyone could remain calm and collected at all times like P5092, Zhang Jinglin, and Qing Zhen. Otherwise, there would be famous military leaders everywhere.
As the saying goes, time makes the man. Such heroes emerged among tens of millions of people. In the annals of history, others could only serve as these heroes’ foils, and some would not even qualify to serve as their foil.
A moment later, the Pyro Company soldiers farthest ahead could see the brown bears. When the brown bears caught a whiff of the scent of blood on the soldiers’ feet from a distance, they wholly ignored the barbarians running in front of them and rushed straight for the Pyro Company troops with a furious roar!
This made P5031 of the 6th Division wonder why the brown bears did not attack the barbarians but headed for them directly instead. Could the barbarians control the brown bears?
Normal humans were unable to differentiate between the scent of bear blood and human blood, nor could they guess at what the barbarians were trying to do. However, the scent of the cubs’ blood was like a constant stimulant to the brown bears’ nerves with every second that pa.s.sed.
The Pyro Company troops did not bother with the fleeing barbarians anymore and focused their firepower on the brown bears instead.
However, even the heavy machine guns could only penetrate about 20 centimeters into the brown bears’ skin. At this stage, it could not even pierce through the fat layer of the bears!
Although they could make the brown bears bleed a little, it was at most like being p.r.i.c.ked by a needle. There was absolutely no chance of killing them this way.
Furthermore, after smelling the scent of their cubs’ blood, the more they got hurt by the Pyro Company’s increasingly intense firepower, the more enraged they became.
As the Pyro Company had pursued the barbarians too closely, they were only a few hundred meters away from the brown bears when they appeared. For the brown bears, this distance could be covered in less than ten seconds.
The dozens of brown bears were loping like huge prehistoric beasts. As they trampled the ground, their paws. .h.i.t the ground and thundered, producing a drum beat.
An E-34 tank locked onto a brown bear and opened fire. With a loud explosion, the tank shook from the recoil of the barrel. The armor-piercing bullet pierced straight into the organs of the brown bear before detonating.
As blood splattered everywhere, the brown bear fell limply to the ground. But it kept staring in the direction of the Pyro Company until its death because it smelt the scent of its cub over there.
The armor-piercing bullets were meant to be used on enemy tanks, but they were now used to fight the bears instead.
P5031 was slightly relieved. Since firearms and explosives could still work effectively against the bears, it was good news. Then he ordered all the E-34s to fire on the brown bears.
Amid the chaos, dozens of E-34s launched a round of artillery fire. As explosions boomed, the sight of the nighttime artillery fire resembled a brilliant fireworks show. It was just that there was a huge killing intent within it.
The tank sh.e.l.ls traced a straight, red-orange trajectory in the night.
But the brown bears wised up. They changed direction while attacking.
Although some of the brown bears suffered severe injuries to their legs, they were still able to move quickly in anger. Only hatred in their scarlet eyes and the scent of their cubs’ blood kept them going.
Moreover, there was barely any distance between the two sides. In the blink of an eye, the brown bears charged into the Pyro Company troops!
A huge shadow loomed over the Pyro Company troops as the soldiers were forced to look up at the brown bears when observing their movements. The moment they made contact with the brown bears, the foremost Pyro Company infantry started to fall. It was not that they were weak but that the weapons they were holding were totally useless against the brown bears. After the soldiers finished firing all the rounds in their magazines, the brown bears were still unscathed.
But if the brown bears wanted to kill them, there was no need to make any unnecessary movements. All they needed to do was charge at the soldiers and trample them under their paws!
When a brown bear approached an E-34, it knocked it over easily with just a nudge of its shoulder.
Although the soldiers who encountered the brown bears started to despair, an unusual burst of power surged in their desperation.
P5031 quickly ordered, “Use the RPGs and howitzers. Deploy the Razor Sharp Company and attack. Don’t be afraid of death!”
He finally calmed down. Although the brown bears were difficult to deal with, they were not impossible to kill.
Some soldiers even rushed at the brown bears with satchels of TNT. The Pyro Company had always been fearless in battles, so there was no retreat to speak of for them.
But at this moment, the expeditionary army to the north had received the barbarians who were fleeing from the Pyro Company. A high-ranking general of the expeditionary army looked at his compatriots who were in a sorry state and said calmly, “Good work, all of you. The expeditionary army will remember how you risked your lives to secure victory for us. Go and rest now.”
After that, he turned around and looked at the main forces of the expeditionary army. These were not only the troops who had been attacking the Pyro Company’s front lines initially but also troops who had rushed over from the w.a.n.g Consortium’s front line at Mt. Daniu. The general said, “It’s getting impossible to live at home in the North, so let this fertile land become our new home. Gentlemen, kill the enemy!”
With that, the general personally charged south, wielding his gigantic axe in hand.
The dozens of brown bears were just weapons they used to charge at the enemy’s formation. The real battle was only just starting. However, it was too late for the Pyro Company to set up a new defensive line while the brown bears rampaged through their ranks.