Chapter 323: the calm before the storm

Spurt!

Clark pulled his spear out of his opponent’s chest as the executioner vomited blood uncontrollably, the poor terrorist had a pale deflated expression on his face as he saw death directly before him.

Clark placed his legs on top of his chest, added pressure to the deep gorge there, and looked straight into the terrorist’s eyes.

The executioner gasped, the features of his face distorting as his already weak hands held the captain’s leg with a pleading expression on his face. No one loved death, not even a terrorist like him.

He was barely living by grasping tight to the juice still left of his lungs, his eyes were already dilating but he tried to hold tight to life.

His mouth opened wide, they kept on opening and closing slowly, forming pleading mouth gestures but Clark did not give a damn about him. The next moment, he stiffened and it ended.

Another terrorist life just left the world again.

This night alone, thousands of terrorists already lost their lives, this one was just like a drop in the vast ocean of deaths.

After doing the deed, Clark finally raised his head to look at the aftermath of his actions. Brushing his long hair aside with his free left hand, the dismaying sight presented itself before him.

Electric sparks erupted frequently, lighting up the night with their currents to better decorate the scenario of destruction currently present.

A few kilometers around where he stood was an epitome of destruction.

Collapsed buildings, overturned and burning vehicles, an overturned earth like land that suffered from an earthquake, a ground filled with mutilated bodies and corpses, and most especially the overwhelming thick smell of blood.

The battle already stopped; of course, it was bitter but the Vatican soldiers still came out on top in this base.

A few hours ago, after Clark defeated the biggest terrorist base with the Black Dragon Battalion of the Dragon military division, he took them from there and went on a rampage around the city.

From that time till now, they ran into 5 still ongoing battles with terrorist bases at various locations. With their addition, all the terrorist bases evaporated like a solvent separating from its solute.

As they killed with impunity across, more soldiers joined them, making their force bigger as they continued their rampage to hunt other terrorist bases.

After going through 5 of the bigger terrorist bases, they finally arrived at this current base, the 2nd biggest base inside the city whose offensive was originally being led by the leader of the Dragon military division.

As soon as Corporal Cinnabar confirmed that it was Captain Clark who came, he relinquished all authority to the big man. Clark took over with grace and ended the bitter battle with a bang.

In just 15 minutes since they arrived at the battlefield, the overwhelming reinforcement tipped the favor in the side of the Vatican soldiers and all the terrorists were crushed to meat paste.

None of them survived, and because there was no equivalent of Commander Pizza here, Clark had his free will to go for the head every time.

It was just 15 minutes, but the battle already ended. Looking at his brave soldiers who looked on at him with fervor and zeal burning in their eyes, Clark felt pride well in his heart.

He raised his hand holding the spear. “For Vatican City!”

“For Vatican City!” “For Vatican City!”

The soldiers responded with fervor, even those of the Dragon military division were excited and proud. They were making history.

The feat that they already accomplished seemed easy, but comparing it with previous years offensive would show how successful they were.

Clark wanted to continue their rampage across the city, but he held himself back. According to the message that he just got from his commissioners, almost all the terrorist bases were annihilated already.

Knowing this only brought him more pride, he felt like his head was swimming in the fluffy clouds.

He didn’t ask more about the statistics, that was the job of the analysts, he was a soldier. He loved working with results more than sitting out the process which led to the result.

“Count the dead and give me a report”. He turned and ordered Sergeant Maria who was already like his makeshift assistant after being together with him for hours already.

It was already 4:30 in the morning, which meant that the sky was now super dark. As they said, the darkest hour of the night was just before dawn.

At his orders, the soldiers immediately went to work again. They started searching through the overturned earth with their special military scanning devices, scouring every hidden hole under the ground.

Boom!

Suddenly, the earth got torn apart and 2 figures rushed out. The soldiers were surprised but they reacted immediately, rushing after the 2 terrorists that previously faked their death.

They were just normal terrorists; they hardly posed a threat and were disposed of after just 3 interceptions. This incident did not bring any alarm to the soldiers, they already experienced those countless times.

A few minutes later, Sergeant Maria finally presented a detailed report to the captain. “Captain, this is the updated report”.

Taking hold of it, Clark quickly scanned it and skimmed through it with his implant. In just a little over 2 minutes, he got all the information that he wanted. He jumped all the unnecessary statistics and focused on what he wanted.

1875 terrorists died here, including 8 executioners who were 1st rank high-grade soldiers, and 2 who were 2nd rank high-grade soldiers.

Among the Spartan force, 10 soldiers died.

The casualties did not make any of the soldiers grieve though, theirs was a meager amount and was negligible compared to what the terrorists suffered.

“Thank you, sir. Without you, my soldiers would have suffered much more”. Corporal Cinnabar was not the emotional type, but he found it right that he should thank the captain’s effort.

This was his most successful military campaign to date and it was all because of this Captain who always left him wondering, he felt missed feelings.

“No worries”. Clark waved his hands nonchalantly.

“What do you think?” He turned to face Sergeant Maria. “Should we push on till all the terrorist bases in the city are annihilated, or should we use this opportunity to rest and recover ourselves?”

The Sergeant was stunned for a moment as she did not expect her opinion to be asked. She was left speechless for a moment, but she quickly recovered her nerves.

“I’ll advise that we push forward till we confirm that all the terrorist bases are destroyed. That way, we’ll rest knowing that a significant part of our plan is already done”.

“Ok”. Clark nodded before turning to the Corporal. “What do you think too?”

“I agree with her”.

“That settles it. Rally the soldiers, we’ll be leaving very soon”.

“Yes, Captain”.

“Wait!” Clark suddenly stopped them; a solemn expression dominated his face as he focused like he was communicating through his implant. The 2 soldiers let him be.

“How many terrorist bases are remaining?”

Sergeant Maria quickly answered. “From the updated report a minute ago, only 4 terrorist bases are still standing”.

“Abandon them and tell the soldiers to retreat, we need to regroup”.

“Sir?”

“The terrorists at our borders are already coming for the counter-attack, and they are coming fast and heavy. We need to react accordingly or we would lose more than I bargained for”.

“What force are we talking about?”

Clark took a deep breath. “All of them!”

“I’ll spread the information immediately sir”. Sergeant Maria answered immediately before bolting out of the room with her Corporal.

As soon as both soldiers left the makeshift strategy room, Clark turned to face the only light illuminating the room with a serious look on his face. His eyes narrowed into slits.

He knew that once the terrorists outside came, that is when the real fight would come. He was confident in his plans, but the world and everything living in it was always subject to change.

He wondered how really big the terrorists assigned to Vatican City were. Are they enough to fill his bloodthirsty teeth? He really anticipated the clash.

As soon as the news was spread across, all the Vatican soldiers that were originally branching across the city like a plague suddenly stopped and started retreating.

The remaining 4 terrorist bases were confused, but the soldiers did not give them a second glance as they all executed the orders of their Captain.

They retreated as smoothly as they attacked, organized and orderly.

They had to rest a little before the main clash. Even if it was just for an hour, it meant a lot in how sturdy they could hold their ground.

In just a few minutes, the city that originally bordered on the extremely active side became silent and calm. But this was not the normal calm though, this was the calm before the storm!

…

The Grade 5 lockdown was still on so the terrorists could not communicate freely yet, but the Vatican soldiers were using a 10g network without interruption to transport the orders of the higher-ups.

At the depths of Vatican City, in the central government building, the 5 commissioners sat at a round table in the underground bunker that was under the building.

They all had a serious expressions on their faces after reading the message that Captain Clark sent to them. They received special attention and were in a safe place, but they didn’t feel safe at all.

About 5 minutes ago, they already convened for the last time with the other diplomatic leaders of the city. They already finalized the plan, now it was just to implement it. Despite this, they were still quaking in their boots.

“Chill out, old men; I’m here”.

All 5 commissioners’ serious expressions crumbled. They revealed a bitter smile on their faces as they turned to face this soldier. “Dicksh…”

“It’s Corporal Dickson”. The soldier’s face darkened.

“Sorry, we’re sorry”. The head commissioner quickly apologized.

Hearing this apology felt like music to Dickson, a smile lit up his face. “Don’t worry, with me here nothing is gonna happen to you. You got to trust me bro, and your leader also. You know, I saved his sorry ass lots of times in the past”.

“Yes, we know”.

The commissioners were speechless, but they were secretly glad that Clark brought someone like this to protect them. Since Dickson arrived, his mouth never stopped running like a tap, speaking non-stop.

Though they’ve never seen him fight, as someone brought by their leader, they were inclined to trust him. Feeling a little safe from that, the head commissioner finally stood up.

He looked at the other 4 commissioners, after getting silent consent from them he finally hit the virtual button that was before him in mid-air.

As soon as he hit it, he heaved a huge sigh of relief as if he just let down a burden that has been bothering him for a long time.

Since over a decade ago when he became the head commissioner of this city, this was the first time that he had to make this ultimate decision.

“We already did our part, now it’s to wait for the soldiers and the captain”.

“Don’t worry about that”. Dickson grinned. “It would end faster than you ever expected”.

[Hey guys, here's the compensation chapter that I promised. Another one is coming.]