Chapter 253: a desperate struggle death

According to the king of demolition, those exact 2 devices already saved his life dozens of times during his daring adventures around the Himalayan peaks, so Clark didn’t hesitate to buy it.

The loud noise being made by the drilling machine was extremely piercing to the ears, it vibrated with boundless energy as the thousand-year-old rocks beneath were carved aside.

Josh being the one who operated the machine felt the vibration the most, but he bit his lips and persevered, pushing it forward with all his might.

As soon as the others landed in the narrow tunnel that was being drilled by Josh, they entered a battle formation immediately.

Clark handed his guns to both Diana and Benny. This time, they were relegated to act as the ranged support with Anna.

Though they were primarily melee-soldiers, shooting a gun was not hard for them, especially in such a narrow passageway. Despite this, Anna was their leader whose mission was to direct them.

3 of them stood at the back closely behind Josh, while Clark and Dickson stood at the front controlling the extremely heavy U-14 device.

Thud!!

As they predicted, the alpha ape did not hesitate before jumping down here to meet them. They were prepared though, they all attacked in various ways.

Due to the narrow tunnel’s restriction, none of their attacks could miss and the powerful movements of the ape were restrained a bit by the old solid rocks surrounding them.

This was the plan- draw the ape to an unfavorable position, then bombard and stall it till they either escape or it gives up.

Clark and Dickson quickly pointed the device at the large ape as soon as it landed. As soon as they activated it, the air seemed to tremble a bit as its fearsome domain descended again.

The U-14 device was a technological gem that could project the atmosphere of a heavy gravity planet.

Grii!!

The ape growled angrily on seeing its movements slow down again. Its bones felt countless times heavy, and it took him countless times more effort just to raise its legs to move forward.

It was extremely familiar with this device, the king of demolition used it against him when the latter escaped from him a few months ago.

Tu! Tu!

Before it could take a step, under the leadership of Anna, the group of 3 shot at it without holding back. Bullet shells dropped, making clinking sounds in contact with the rocks as the bullet heads impacted its thick hide.

Blood seeped from its skin a little, but most of the bullets left only scratches on its thick skin.

Roar…!!

It roared angrily and bolted forward despite the suppression of the U-14 machine, Clark and Dickson also retreated at the same time as Josh already drilled a sizeable distance away.

This quickly became like a siege battle as the ape pursued while they defended, retreated, and retaliated at the same time.

Despite this setting, the ape kept on getting closer to them. Only the sniper shots being sent at it by Anna impeded its movements a bit, but it was all inconsequential.

All 6 soldiers felt their hearts on their throats but they didn’t dare stop to rest for a moment or to even wipe the sweat away from their foreheads.

After crossing a distance of about a kilometer underground, darkness already covered most parts of the tunnel but the ape was still pursuing them relentlessly, and the distance was now closer than ever.

Clark and the others didn’t worry about the darkness as they had on their night vision goggles, what they worried about was the ape’s speed and tenacious will.

As it moved forward, its eyes were trained on the U-14 device, it clearly intended to destroy the device as soon as it got close enough.

Clark felt worried but there was little that he could do. If the device was destroyed, they had no other hopes of emerging victorious against the monstrous strength of the ape.

Despite his reluctance, the inevitable finally happened.

After shooting repeatedly for about 30 minutes already, the gun wielded by Diana finally depleted its energy. She quickly tried to change the energy reactor but this small dip in offensive proved deadly.

The ape’s speed immediately took a great leap after this as the rocks flew wildly under its foot, it arrived before the U-14 device in just 20 seconds.

Bam!!

Its enormous right arm swiped down as the device suffered the full brunt of the immense applied force. At this time, Dickson already rolled backward while Clark jumped at the rock wall.

As soon as the device was destroyed, the ape finally felt liberation from its struggle. It tried to rush at Dickson, but a sharp object suddenly stabbed at its face from the side.

Clark had a fearsome expression on his face as he thrust his spear into the face of the unsuspecting ape. It went only about a few inches in before the alpha’s thick skin muscle hindered its advance.

Blood flowed from its stabbed cheek, but it already reacted angrily by swinging its arm at the side.

Clark abandoned the spear immediately and swiftly ducked, rolled to meet his comrade while at the same time bringing out a new spear from his bag.

Boom!! The ape rushed at him only to be greeted by Dickson’s shield. Dickson’s face went pale as he coughed out blood from the impact, despite this he still did the needful.

Instead of flying backward from the kinetic force, he inclined himself downwards as his back quickly hit the floor.

Before the ape could react, his sword stabbed viciously at its reproductive organ, prompting a loud wail from the alpha.

“Take that! Even if you have a skin made from stone, your third brother can not have it too”. Dickson snorted despite the dangerous situation that he was currently in; he was under the ape.

Seeing the blood and feeling the pain striking from its lower region, the ape went berserk immediately.

Its hands and legs flailed wildly, kicking left and right as the foundation of the tunnel quickly started shaking. The hard rocks at both sides caved in from the forceful blows.

The soldiers suffered the impact as they started rocking disorderly due to the tremors.

Before the ape’s flailing legs could flatten Dickson, who was under it, Clark grabbed at him and pulled him away fast.

“Run!!” He yelled. They no longer had any chances of fighting the ape evenly, escaping was their only option.

Josh immediately started working extra hard as he increased his drilling speed, sweat fell down his brows like waterfalls. He was completely drenched but he hardly cared.

Seeing them trying to escape, the already blood-eyed ape turned to glare at them resentfully.

Its kick tore the rock floor under to fragments as it bolted forward in pursuit, it already had an unforgivable grudge against these daring soldiers. It suppressed the pain biting at it and focused only on its targets.

It took only a few seconds before they clashed again, this time against all the soldiers except Josh who was paving the path for them.

All of them suffered various degrees of injuries from its first strike alone, clearly reminding them of the bitter truth that they had no chances in an even battle situation.

“Josh, take us back up!” Clark yelled again after analyzing the situation.

The sweaty 3rd rank high-grade soldier obeyed immediately as he exerted all his strength to redirect the tip of the drilling machine upwards. The machine immediately started drilling back up.

The tremors of the ongoing battle already made him freak out completely, he did not even dare look lest he gets distracted from his purpose.

In just a few blows, Clark and Dickson being the main attackers already suffered crippling damage but they still held on. They just prayed that Josh should breach back to the surface faster.

When they get back to the surface, what would happen? Clark did not think of that yet, all he knew was that staying down there was no longer viable.

“Perhaps, we’ll all die today”. He laughed bitterly as he supported himself back up to clash with the ape.

The ape’s arm movements and force were just like those of the dinosaurs of legends, completely tyrannical. It was not fighting a battle at all; it was on a rampage.

“Clark, think of something, my shield is already at its end. I’ll break any moment from now”. Dickson’s anxious voice sounded again, breaking the chaotic noise of battle reverberating across the tunnel.

“I’ve breached the surface”. Josh’s yelling voice sounded down at almost the same time.

“Start retreating!” Clark bit his lip before yelling out also.

They all felt saved. Josh’s yell felt like a rare oasis dropping at their path when they were stranded in a desert, the feeling could only be described as refreshing.

They all started retreating immediately with the motive of climbing back up, this tunnel was already a dead end.

They quickly started climbing while sending down attacks at various intervals to stall the ape who was tightly on their tail, they had no moment of respite to rest at all.

Bam!! Bam!!

Seeing that they were about to escape, the ape angrily banged its fists at the wall of the tunnel, prompting another round of vibration. This time around, it affected the soldiers.

Anna, who was originally at the very top of the escaping soldiers suddenly lost her grip on the rocks due to the vibration. Her legs slipped next as she started falling back down.

Eyes widened in shock, Clark could not react on time to save her, Dickson could not, Benny was the only person who reacted on time.

At the same moment that she started falling, his hands stretched out. He grabbed her on the waist, her weight dragged him back a bit but he quickly stabilized himself.

At this same time, the still stunned Clark and Dickson that were originally below them already climbed past them reflexively.

Benny intended to continue his climb but he suddenly felt a tight hand grab his legs, holding him firmly in place.

Time seemed to have slowed down for a moment as every one of the soldiers stopped on their tracks and looked at their 2 comrades in shock.

“I’m sorry, Clark. I’m sorry, Diana”. Benny whispered before using all his might to throw Anna back up, he dropped back down due to the inertia from the force that he applied.

Bam!!

The alpha ape did not miss such an opportunity as his enormous arms quickly slammed at the side, turning the unfortunate human into a bloody paste.

Benny died immediately.

Diana and Clark suddenly stiffened on the place that they stood on, they looked at this scene with dazed expressions of disbelief on their faces.

“Clark! Clark!”

Clark felt that he heard his name being called but he hardly paid attention, his eyes were still clouded by the shock of what just happened. He could see the ape climbing rapidly to his position but he remained stiff in one place.

“What just happened?” This question kept on ringing in his mind.

As the ape extended its hand to grab him, another hand arrived first, hugged him from the back before rapidly taking him away.

The last thing that he saw before leaving the tunnel was his friend’s blood, flattened flickering armor, and pieces of his black climbing uniform.

[Thank you for reading this chapter, I really appreciate it.]