Bab 61: The Slum Offensive I
The night had descended, accompanied by a gentle rain that darkened the sky and hushed the streets. The slum, typically alive with its own rhythm, now echoed only with the patter of raindrops. The tranquility shattered when the rhythmic footsteps of a massive army disrupted the silence—a ground invasion unfolding in the heart of the slum.
In response, the residents, oblivious to the military's sinister intentions, sought refuge in their homes, assuming the soldiers were targeting rebels. Little did they know that the true objective was the eradication of every inhabitant.
The military, divided into fifteen divisions, each consisting of two hundred soldiers, the military initiated their assault from the slum's western entrance. Meanwhile, the assassin and his followers, avoiding direct confrontation, tactically retreated through the intricate network of narrow, dimly lit alleys, enticing the soldiers to follow.
A Sergeant approached Captain Dialla with a report, "Captain Dialla! We've spotted the terrorists retreating into the alleys!"
"These cowards want to play hide and seek! Very well! Divisions one and two, hunt down those rats to the dead end! Divisions three to twelve, continue marching through the main street! The rest, join Sergeant Whitlock to 'clean up' everything inside the buildings!"
The soldiers responded in unison, "Yes, Sir!" But Whitlock's reluctance was evident.
Dialla, in high spirits, turned to Victor, "Hahahahaha! Victor! Which part of this game do you prefer? Chasing the rat or doing the cleaning?"
Victor, attempting to conceal his discomfort, replied, "I think I'll stay by your side, Sir."
"What's wrong? Why do you seem afraid? You've survived the war in Nisaeria! This should be entertaining for you!"
"I'm not afraid, Sir. I just..."
Dialla interrupted, "Come on! Take a look for yourself; they are fleeing! I might have overestimated that cursed assassin and his men."
"I choose to fight alongside you, Sir. When the assassin shows up, I'll help you catch him alive, make him kneel before you, and make him pay!"
"Hahahahaha! That's my comrade! Finally! You understand me well, Victor!"
"Thanks, Sir... Wurghh!!!"
"What's wrong, Victor?!"
As they conversed, Victor succumbed to the overpowering stench of the slum, rushing to the roadside to vomit.
"Oh my, oh my dear Victor... Indeed, This place is a cesspool of foul smells... It should have been cleaned up long ago. I wonder why anyone would choose to live here..."
Victor, still recovering, apologized, "I'm sorry about it, Sir. Wurghh... I really can't withstand... Anymore... Wurghhh!"
"Victor, just get inside the tank and stop making me feel sicker of it!"
"Yes Sir… Sorry Sir…"
"Sergeant! Hand over the wireless phone to me!" Dialla demanded.
"Yes Sir!"
"Division one! What's the status now? Are those rats still fleeing?!" Dialla inquired.
"Captain! They are running into deeper alleys! It's so dark and narrow in here! Some of us couldn't even fit inside while carrying our weapons!"
"They must be fooling us, trying to escape! Keep chasing them no matter how dark or narrow the alleys are! It's not a never-ending alley! Chase them till the end!"
"Roger that!"
Following Dialla's orders, Division One ventured into the dark, narrow alleys. The division split up to pursue different targets. The foul smell in the alleys was even worse than on the street. The soldiers struggled to withstand the overwhelming stench.
As they advanced deeper, they realized it was already a dead end and nobody was there. When they planned to take a U-turn and exit the dark alley, they heard something falling from the top of the building.
"What's that sound?" a soldier asked.
"Too dark! Can't see anything!" another soldier added.
"Something hit my head! Hey! It's a small rock!"
"Ouch! I also got hit! Damn it! It's a hard piece of rubble!"
"HEY! Look up there! It keeps coming! And it's bigger!!"
"Must be a trap! RUN!" the team leader ordered.
"WAH AHAH!!"
"Leader! Man down! Right in front of me! A big piece of rubble smashed right on his head!"
"Run for your life first! There are more coming! WAH AHAH AHAH!!" The leader's voice suddenly disappeared after screaming.
"Sir!? Sir!!"
"No response..."
"Team leader down!! What shall we do?"
"Just shut up and keep running!! Don't stop!!"
The dark, narrow alley, only wide enough for a single person to cross, became a death trap. The followers of the assassin continued to release heavy building rubble down the alley, decimating the soldiers. The soldiers ran for their lives, but due to poor visibility, they couldn't escape fast enough.
The small team of Division One was entirely wiped out inside the alley without sacrificing any of the assassin's followers. Meanwhile, another team from Division One faced a similar situation in a different alley, but this time they were not attacked by hard rubble.
"Where the heck are they?! I truly saw them run into here!" a soldier from the second team exclaimed.
"There's no way they can escape from here! Search around carefully!" the second team leader instructed.
"Yes Sir!"
The alley where the second team was situated had worse visibility, being narrower compared to the other alleys. The soldiers could only see the small edge of the moon, dimly glowing in the sky. However, the moon suddenly disappeared from their sight, and the alley became completely dark. The soldiers could see nothing but infinite darkness.
"Sir! I can't see anything! What happened?!" a soldier yelled panickily.
"Me too! Feels like we are trapped inside a coffin…" the second team leader replied.
"Sounds scary, Sir… I didn't sign up for the military for this…"
"Me neither…"
"Sir! The sky has even disappeared! I still saw the moon just now!"
"Yeah! I know! All of you, don't panic! Just turn around and find the way out right now! I've got a bad feeling about this!"
"Hmm?! Sir! The alley is becoming brighter…" a soldier said while looking up.
"Brighter…? HOLY HELL! It's a huge flame, and it keeps falling on us! RUN!!!" The second team leader ordered.
"WAHHHHHH!!!" All the soldiers were yelling and screaming.
Before the flaming objects fell on them, some soldiers were pushed by others and eventually fell to the ground. They called for help, but the others were running wildly for their lives, stepping on them in the process. Those fallen soldiers were trampled mercilessly.
"RUN!!!!!"
"Help!! I'm stuck!"
"I can't run anymore! WHOAHAHHH!!!"
The burning object fell on the soldiers, and the whole alley was lit up brightly. The assassin ordered his fellows to use an extremely large construction tarpaulin, covering the alley from the rooftop once they saw the soldiers deep down inside. They lit it up and released it into the alley, burning those soldiers to death. The entire second team got incinerated instantly inside the alley.
As for the third team in another alley, they, too, faced their tragic fate, encountering the angel of death. The assassin's fellows fired their shotguns aimlessly down the alley, reaching their hands out to the rooftop to protect themselves from the soldiers.
The alley turned into a shower of bullets. There was no place to hide or take cover. The entire third team was wiped out in the simplest but most brutal way. The fourth team also met their end in the alley. The entire division, consisting of two hundred soldiers, was completely wiped out within a few minutes.
"Cap... Captain Dialla! Division two! Division two reported that the entire division one has gone!" The Sergeant reported nervously.
"Sergeant! What do you mean by gone?! There were two hundred of them! TWO HUNDRED!"
"We do not have the details, but they really are gone…"
"Impossible… Are you telling me that our finest troops were just killed by those terrorists?"
"It seems so…"
"I don't believe it… What's the status of division two? Have they got them yet?!"
"They are still chasing! Those terrorists are familiar with the alleys, and our men keep losing their tracks!"
"Stop giving me these excuses! We've won wars in other people's lands! This damn slum is inside Kothern! It's our land! There's no way we will lose!"
"But Sir… Division one just vanished inside those alleys… Don't you think it's a trap or something…?"
"Even if it's a trap, how can a tiny mousetrap catch an elephant? Use your brain, Sergeant!"
"Understood, Sir! I will pass your order to them! Division two! Use everything you have to hunt them down now! Did you copy?!"
"Roger that!"
The assassin stood atop a distant building, watching the unfolding chaos. He took out his monocular, fixed it on Dialla, and grinned excitedly and sinisterly. Muttering to himself like a maniac, he reveled in the scenario.
"Hahahahaha!! Bang!! From this distance… If I had a sniper with me, your head would be gone, Dialla… Hahahahaha!! I can't help but imagine the moment you'll be dead right in front of me!"
"Leader!"
"Yep! How's everything going so far?"
"Our fellas have taken down a division in the west alleys!"
"Casualties?"
"None! What a miracle!"
"Hahahahaha!! This isn't a miracle! A miracle is something like a human born from a fallen meteor! I would rather say this is the art of a genius!"
"Huh?! Well…"
"It's reasonable if you don't get it! You just haven't seen everything yet!"
"Probably like what you said… But your genius tactics are working perfectly!"
"We are just like eagles from above, hunting down our prey on the ground!"
"Indeed! You've turned those smelly alleys into a real hell that we've never seen before!"
"I'm just kind of sick of soldiers, especially when they always describe the battlefield as hell or something… They've never seen the real one yet… So, I purposely created the real path to hell for them!"
"Sounds crazy though… But, we have just one concern right now."
"What is it?!"
"How are we going to deal with a thousand soldiers charging on the main street? We can easily take them down in alleys but not on the main street…"
"I've ordered some premium, golden, and shining stuff to deal with them! But I haven't received it so far… I wonder where those couriers are right now…"
"Golden… Shining?"
"Yeah!! Hahahahaha!! "Modern delivery services—always tardy and behind schedule!" I guess we have to do something to slow them down until my parcels arrive! Follow me!"
"Alright! What is your plan?"
"We have to fight them face to face!"
"Face to face?!"
"Don't be afraid to die! If you can trigger your gun faster than them, then you will survive!"
"But we are no experts like you!"
"Hahahahaha!! Although I said fight them face to face but… Just only for a while! Then we are going to flee again!"
"I see... Although fleeing tactic doesn't sound like something we can boast about… But as long as we can win, we will do whatever it takes!"
"That's right! It's not about how dirty the trick is… the only thing that matters is who will be the last man standing! Actually, fleeing is not a tactic! I just purposely want to do it! Hahahahaha!!"
"Huh? Why?!"
"Nothing special… I just simply want to piss their commander off! Hahahahaha!!"
'What a scary maniac…' The follower thought.
"Ask those fellas in the west to stop engaging those soldiers and regroup with us!"
"Okay! Team three! Did you hear me?"
"Yeah! We are engaging the soldiers in the alleys!" Team three replied.
"Just retreat and join us in the center area! Leader wants to deal with those marching troops on the main street!"
"Got it! Fellas! Retreat!"
"Leader, they are coming back. Are we just leaving those soldiers in the alleys like that? I thought it was a good chance to eliminate all of them…"
"Just leave them! They have gone quite deep inside already… I guess they must have lost their way and are crying for help! Hahahahaha!! Most importantly… Our main target is not there… He is hiding behind the soldiers on the main street…"
"I see... But what should we do to slow them down on the street?"
"While attacking is the best way to stop your enemy, don't forget the importance of defense too! Remember those ballistic shields we got from the police headquarters? Although not as many as I expected."
"Is that strong enough to withstand those heavy machine guns and rifles?"
"Maybe… I'm not sure though! Hahahahaha!!"
'He's a real maniac!'
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
TsukasaFrier
TsukasaFrier As we venture into new volumes, I want to extend my deepest gratitude to the readers who have been with me from the beginning and those who've joined along the way. Your presence makes this journey truly special. Thank you!
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