Chapter 153: The Siege of Utul (2)

Kyle cracked his hands as he surveyed the landing site. A plush toy with a human hand still attached peeked out from below the slab of concrete, but he paid it no mind, instead focusing on the battle.

Already the drop-troopers were spreading across the city, taking advantage of the surprise attack to storm the city. Kyle too, kicked into action, targeting the nearest cannons with his drop squad that accompanied him. His helmet continuously blurted out radio communications from various ADCON squads.

[Anti-air cannon 44B taken out.]

[Heavy resistance at Sector 2A. Requesting backup.]

[Advancing towards walls now. Neutralising enemies.]

The trained ADCON drop-troopers were the cream of the crop, filtered from the tens of thousands of soldiers and recruit that Kyle had received over the last month or so. Only those who could survive plummeting more than five hundred meters in a padded metal coffin was chosen, the pods built on short notice thanks to Hayden.

As such, the remnants of the industrialist soldiers were no match, caught off-guard by the sudden drop attack. Kyle did not blame them – he had chosen to attack in an hour when no one expected it in broad daylight. Have to move fast.

“Kill anyone who fights back. No prisoners.” Kyle ordered the drop-troopers, none of whom baulked at the order. Urban combat was a disaster, and all of them knew how bad it could get after having fought through the streets of Tenar. Every human was a possible enemy, and none of them was about to let themselves get backstabbed.

He sprinted down the streets as more and more drop pods began to land all around him in various locations, creating localised battle zones that forced Harrison’s troops to spread out even more. Kyle exploited the gap and rushed the largest emplacement nearby.

The anti-air cannon was guarded by more than two dozen soldiers, an assembly point for Harrison’s forces. However, Kyle did not care about strategy nor tact, quickly charging head-on and using his Version 0 exosuit to deflect the incoming gunfire.

Penchant for Violence!

Kyle became a veritable storm of death, mowing down the soldiers with his heavy variant rifle and warhammer in a brutal combination of close combat, shredding through all of them in a single instant. The EXP he gained from the kills was now barely a drop in the ocean, the next level up far away. The ADCON troopers who followed him barely had to do anything with Kyle this strong, instead focusing on capturing the anti-air cannon.

Instead of aiming the cannon upwards, the ADCON troopers swung the cannon down and aimed it right at the walls, where other artillery cannons were mounted. “Take them down!”

Harrison’s wall guards were taken by surprise when the anti-air cannons within the city began to blast at them instead, chipping off the top of the walls and damaging the emplacements.

“Nox, Feldon, push up the troops now!”

[On it!]

The main attacking force of ADCON began to push forwards towards the walls of Utul from the front, war machines and wagons rolling in while hovercrafts escorted them from above. Kyle’s diversionary tactic was working, forcing the military to split their resources to defend the city from the drop-troopers as well.

Kyle and the ADCON troopers continued their rampage, blasting through the various districts. However, Harrison’s forces mobilised quickly, immediately deploying reserves to stem the damage.

As professional as the drop-troopers were, they were unable to fight against such overwhelming numbers. Only three hundred of them had dropped into the city, including Kyle, while they were up against close to a division’s worth of soldiers.

Instead of clashing head-on, it became a guerrilla fight, with each ADCON squad hiding in the depths of the mountain city, picking advantageous fights and ambushing soldiers who strayed too far away from their reinforcement allies.

It was only Kyle’s squad that continued unhindered, pushing all the way through to the factory zone. Kyle was aiming at neutralising the military production capability of Harrison’s forces. Even if he did not capture Utul today, he would ensure their resupply strength would be heavily diminished.

Unsurprisingly, Kyle began to face more and more resistance the further he pushed into the factory zone. Soon, even his exosuit could not keep up with the constant barrage of pellets and high explosives, with even mortars and cannons being used against him. War machines blasted his position as he took cover in a bombed-out factory, hiding behind the husks of brick walls along with his ADCON squad.

The firefight was furious, the air continuously filled with pellets, the loud rumbling sound of the warmachine’s engine and the screams of fallen soldiers. Kyle continuously fired back, keeping his ADCON soldiers alive as much as possible. He could not save everyone, but Kyle wasn’t about to let his precious trained soldiers go to waste if he could help it.Updated from novelb(i)n.c(o)m

“Sir, that warmachine got us pinned down!” An ADCON soldier yelled to Kyle, who nodded as he dropped his heavy-variant rifle.

Aero-Shoes!

“Don’t worry; I won’t kill you. We have a lot to talk about.”

Instead of being afraid, Harrison’s grin only got wider. “You can talk to me after you get through him.”

“Who?”

“Me.” A voice suddenly appeared behind Kyle, prompting him to swing violently behind him. Instead, his hand was caught by a tight grip from an old bald man wearing what seemed to be a pure red robe. His eyes glistened with energy, and arcia energy seemed to ripple underneath his skin.

Kyle quickly attempted to spin his body outwards to kick, but the old man immediately twisted Kyle’s arm into an arm lock. The strength was overwhelming, unlike anything Kyle had experienced so far in this world.

Harrison laughed at the sight of Kyle squirming and attempting to break free. “That’s right, Kris Greyborn. This mage is going to kill you!”

However, the old man suddenly extended his hand towards Harrison’s face, the engravings on his palm lighting up and shooting forward a bolt of pure arcia. The bolt instantly tore through Harrison’s face and head, killing him immediately.

Did he cast arcia energy through my Negation Field? Kyle knew the skill was still active but did not expect there to be people who could ignore the effects of the skill.

“I detest those who try to use me. His survival was not part of the deal anyway. But there is one more thing I detest. Heretics who use the name of my Goddess in vain, spreading false lies to others and misleading them. Are you a heretic?”

M.G.Driver

TL;DR Hiatus from now till 16th October 2022

Discord and Patreon members would have known about this from July, so I apologize for the lack of information thus far.

My wedding ceremony has always be slated to be on 22nd September, and originally I thought I could handle doing daily chapters up to that point. I have already been married for two years, and originally planned not to have a wedding.

Unfortunately, both relatives, family and friends have put consistent pressure on what i personally consider banal stuff, basically non-stop stress for virtually no reason other than 'oh my god you haven't done anything' like relax, all i got left is choosing a song, and it's done, easy.

Regardless, this means I cannot upload chapters to scribblehub for the next month. Right after my wedding I am going on a honeymoon, one of my first trips since COVID began and some quality time with my wife. Having written 5k-6k words per day starting from 1st april until 1st July, I had been on quite a streak, which allowed me to build 200 chapters in less than half a year.

The pace was fine, but the Royal Road incident was a double whammy.

During this period, I don't expect to reply anywhere else other than Discord, so you can stay in contact with me there.

I will still endeavour to have book 2 out by 22nd September (e.g all scribblehub chapters replaced). The new book 2 rewrite should have about up to ten more new chapters of content to better soldify Harrison, Mornero and the devestating outcome of the war. Desham would have proper effects and consequences, and Kyle would have been seen to have a much better grasp or 'control' of the situation, where he profits off the misery.

I think the main reason for the burnout or the high drop rate of book 2 is all due to the numerous number of setbacks, as well as Kyle's continued personal intervention. I aim to reduce his personal battles, increase delegation, and show his direct impact on the Versian economy even in the pre-war phase.

The entire sequence of the war would be overhauled as well, but for this coming week I'm aiming to focus on Chapter 70 - 120 for cleanup.

After my honeymoon, I do not forsee any further complications, and will strive to maintain daily chapters once again. It's been a month since the RoyalRoad incident, and theoretically I should have gotten 'over it', but emotions aren't that easy, isn't it?

Anyway, I've been comissioning art for Black Market in preparation for its amazon debut next year. Here are some of the work-in-progress art.

If you're an artist as well, feel free to draw any fanart of Black Market. Regardless of the quality of your art, I will feature your art in relevant chapters etc including your social links. If you're looking for comissioned work, I'm open to discussion as well, just ping me on Discord.

Also, I'm looking for translators that are willing to translate Black Market into other languages. I am willing to support with raw chapters as well as HQ cover art and such. If you're interested, please drop by my discord, or drop me an email at [email protected]

Thank you all for reading. With the completion of the siege of Utul, we now return to Raktor for the final showdown between the Seven Snakes and the Ardent Cretins (after i return from my honeymoon)