Chapter 263: another variable archenemies

3 black humanoid silhouettes moved swiftly across the snow-filled mountain range, hiding their trails by moving and blending with the shadows surrounding them.

Extreme cautiousness was radiating from them, making them seem as inconspicuous as dead trees.

They wore white cloaks to cover their climbing uniforms, this time they also covered their heads with white hoods to further blend with the environment.

Josh, Anna, and Diana moved swiftly in a tight formation that let them watch each other’s back. Their eyes shone like those of eagles, this region was too dangerous for them to let their guard down.

After the king of demolition revealed the good news to them that a few of their subordinates survived, they became extremely enthusiastic to rescue them.

Only a tiny difference could separate them from drug addicts as their faces were filled with sturdy devotion for this mission.

Josh was the temporary leader of this group. He stood at the front with his oversized exotic rifle strapped to his back and his sword held tightly in his hand; Diana and Anna flanked him from both sides.

Shhh!

He suddenly squatted down and made a no sound sign to both female soldiers, they understood what he meant and squatted also.

Their hearts were beating rapidly as they thought of various terrifying scenarios, they wiped the sweat from their foreheads but the unshakable determination was still on their faces.

According to the king of demolition, to get to their subordinates, they had to pass through a region close to Grey Fur’s animal kingdom.

They didn’t have to show themselves though, they just had to take a long detour and bypass it. Despite this, it still left them freaking out, the trauma wrath on them by that ape was unforgettable.

Bam!

Josh erupted from his position all of a sudden, having already pinpointed the position of the intruder with his sharp senses. In one stab, the poor red Panda exobeast was stabbed to death.

The Panda looked cute but it was an exobeast, so it had to die. Josh did not have a change in expression, he nodded at the ladies expressionlessly and they continued their journey.

This became a common occurrence during their journey as they assassinated various stray exobeasts before the poor fellows could even see them.

Advancing like this, another 2 hours quickly passed and they finally started seeing the layout of the animal kingdom that wreaked them about a day ago.

Seeing this sight, the 3 of them stood still as complicated emotions flashed through their eyes. Their friend, a lot of their subordinates, and comrades died and were buried here.

It was hard not to feel indignant and the yearning for revenge, but they knew better than to court suicide.

This scene brought bad memories to Anna, making a pang of guilt strike at her heart again. She didn’t know when, but her head reflexively turned to glance at Diana.

“It’s ok, it's not your fault. I don’t blame you, I really don’t”. Diana sighed before answering like she knew what was going through her comrade’s mind.

“Thank you”. Anna was relieved.

Diana just nodded back at her.

“We need to take a large detour, there’s no way I’m about to stay anywhere 2 kilometers near this death hole”. Josh finally spoke, interrupting them.

“According to King, this will delay us for an hour but it’s worth it. Let’s go”.

They no longer delayed; they took a sharp turn to the right before quickly disappearing in the never-ending snow.

After crossing the territory of the dreaded Grey Fur, they finally started locating the track that King pointed them in. It took them another 4 hours but they finally saw trails of their subordinates.

They first saw blood and rough footsteps, probably caused by a fierce battle. Seeing this made their hearts sink further, it was not easy for soldiers to survive in this region.

The soldiers did a good job though, meticulously using clever means to hide their trails after the location of the battle. But as their leaders, Diana and Anna just needed a little more effort to crack through their means.

They knew that they were getting closer, but they didn’t know how close.

15 minutes later, they came before a large cedar tree. Its tall frame and broad branches formed a very nice shade, granting relief from the snow to anyone that decided to seek refuge under it.

As they passed under the tree, Diana hesitated but she spoke in the end. Wait!”

“What?” Josh and Anna turned to face her at the same time, their face already alert in preparation for any battle.

“Umm…, something is not right. We saw the last fading footprint a few hours ago. If they traveled so far without rest, then they will surely be exhausted by now. And seeing this tall tree…”

Anna was also catching up to her point. “You mean…”

Rustle!! Boom!

Hearing the sound of leaves moving, all 3 soldiers dodged to the side immediately as a sharp spear stabbed down at their position the next moment.

Before they could react, other weapons were used on them simultaneously as 7 other shadows dropped down from the tree to support the first one. Their ambush was perfect, only the execution had some flaws.

With his barely working one hand, Josh advanced like a ghost as his sword swiftly slapped 3 of the shadows down immediately. This was when they finally saw the ambushers well.

All 8 ambushers were dressed in white with white hoods on also, but Diana still caught sight of the familiar black climbing uniform underneath their white cloaks for a brief moment.

“Josh! Stop!” She quickly shouted as the battle drifted to a stop immediately after Josh retreated on hearing her.

The 8 soldiers were still battle frenzied, staring at them with such intensity that seemed like their eyes could shoot lasers. Despite this, desperation was now showing in their gestures.

It seemed that their ambush having failed impacted them a lot, they were now on their wit’s end.

“Jakes…” Diana raised one of her hands to form a calm down gesture before she spoke softly.

The 8 soldiers stiffened immediately after what she said.

“Jakes, Rose, Martha, is that you guys? She asked in the gentlest tone that she could muster.

At this moment, the soldiers finally reacted after identifying the voice of their leader’s second in command. They were almost breaking down in tears, their hands shook agitatedly.

Diana finally removed her hood on seeing this, she felt pity, guilt, and sorrow bombard her heart on this sight.

“Staff Sergeant Diana, yes, yes it’s me Jakes”. One of the soldiers finally came out, his face filled with relief like he finally found an oasis in a barren and dry desert. The feeling was refreshing.

Anna also removed her hood at this moment with Josh doing so also.

“Sergeant Anna”. A surprised voice called out from the ranks of the other soldiers.

Hearing this, Anna felt a weight lift from her soldiers. For a moment there, she thought that all the Daland soldiers died and only Spartans survived.

In such a scenario, she didn’t know what she would have done. Thank God that at least one survived, she was grateful.

Seeing the familiar figures before them, all the other soldiers finally removed the hood hiding their faces. The survivors finally came into light, 5 Spartan soldiers and 3 Daland soldiers.

Seeing this, Diana and Anna did not mind if they were men or not. The joy of finding survivors overtook their hearts, they embraced them all in a heartwarming embrace.

At least, this could alleviate the burden and stress that they’ve passed through for the past few hours.

“Hmm!” Jakes flinched and grunted a little as Diana hugged her.

A few seconds later, she let him go, her face becoming serious again. “You’re injured?”

“Yes”. Jakes had a sorrowful expression on his face.

“What happened?” Though Diana felt reluctant to know exactly what happened, she still asked from the stand of a leader.

Jakes sighed. “It’s a long story, but we want to know first. Where is Major Clark? Where is Corporal Dickson? Where is Sergeant Benny? What about the mission, are we forfeiting it?”

The questions that were thrown at her made her dizzy at first, but Diana gritted her teeth and answered.

“The mission is still on, both Major Clark and Corporal Dickson are the ones who entered the ruin after we found it. They ordered us to go back and look for you guys, and here we are”.

Jakes was relieved on hearing this but he still caught a loophole in her reply. “What of Sergeant Benny? Why didn’t he regroup here with you guys?”

Diana closed her eyes, her lips quivering a bit as she struggled to mouth out something, anything from her mouth. In the end, it was just too hard to forget about what happened, it was still eating at her emotions.

Seeing this, Jakes understood the hidden meaning immediately. “I’m sorry for the loss, Staff Sergeant”. He bowed his head a bit.

“Don’t worry, forget about that. Tell me exactly what happened after we left”. Diana steeled her face and demanded.

Jakes nodded. “It was a fierce battle. After you guys left, we followed the Major’s orders and separated in various directions to make the picking out and kill situation a little more difficult for the beasts”.

“It was working at first, but the beasts soon started coping with it”.

“We started dying in droves, succumbing to the unrelenting attacks of the horde of beasts”.

“We would have all surely died, but at the last moment the king of demolition came to our help. Through his help, 15 of us were able to survive and start escaping immediately”.

“3 of us were severely injured, 2 couldn’t make it far on the way as we didn’t have access to any first aid materials. They died with the conviction of the mission still on their minds”.

“After over 3 hours escaping, we finally lost the beasts. We thought that it was over but unfortunately for us, it was just starting”.

“We didn’t stop as we wanted to get a significant distance from the beasts, this proved detrimental as an exobeast attacked us and we lost another brave soldier”.

“We were now down to 12”.

“As we were exhausted, we found a place to rest but unknowing to us, we just left the lion’s den into the cobra’s nest”.

“We encountered Mocan soldiers”. Jakes’s face became heavy.

“What?” Diana was shocked this time.

“We encountered Mocan soldiers, they killed 4 of us immediately and only the 8 of us escaped with injuries. I’m pretty sure that they are right behind us now, still tracing our trails”.

Diana felt a storm erupt in her mind. “How did the Mocans get here? I thought they didn’t find out about the ruin”.

“I don’t know”. Jakes was helpless.

Whoosh!

Josh reacted fast by diving forward, pushing both soldiers from the danger at the last moment.

Diana felt a hot sensation on her cheeks, the high-caliber bullet passed just beside her face. Her armor finally activated to cover her face but what happened still left her feeling goosebumps.

“They are here”. Jake’s heart sank.

Hearing this, Diana’s face grew ferocious, her blood boiled. “Enter a battle formation immediately”. She bellowed.

“Let’s show these Mocan dogs what we are made of!”