ดาวน์โหลดแอป
79.88% Out of Space / Chapter 536: Trust

บท 536: Trust

The New World, The Old Kingdom of Foral, ???

Blue Thunder was enjoying the look on Saphia's face when she tried the dried rations for the first time. Suddenly, he jerked his head around, his nostrils sniffing the air suspiciously before he roared out a warning, "CONTACTED!"

Stamford and the rest were taking having their rations when Blue Thunder's warning came. They dropped whatever they were doing and whipped out their weapons, each one of them taking aim at four directions. "Where?"

"We are surrounded!" Blue Thunder whipped around and growled at the trees while Saphia looked around in confusion. Blue Thunder seeing Saphia's confused reaction, quickly shoved her to a tree that could give her some cover. "Saphia, stay down!"

Suddenly dark crossbow bolts came piercing through the foliage at Blue Thunder who quickly rolled over, showing his armoured spine and tucking in his wings and head. The crossbow bolts harmlessly bounced off his most armoured part of his body and the figures in leather and plate mail came screaming out of the trees.

"CONTACT LEFT!" Stamford yelled as he snapped his submachine gun at the charging enemy. His compact weapon rattled loudly as he fired in short controlled bursts. The heavy .45 rounds of the SMG easily punched holes through the leather mail armour wore by the assailants and lifeless bodies toppled down. "Blue! Hold the right!"

Blue Thunder gave a roar of acknowledgement, as he used the bulk of his body as a barrier. His deadly spiked tail whipping in a low arc and smashed away half a dozen enemy warriors who came into his range. More crossbow bolts came flashing towards Blue Thunder and crew, most of which missed or were unable to pierce through Blue Thunder's thick scales, but still some managed to penetrate Blue Thunder's defences which blood slowly dripped out.

A crack of lightning slammed into Blue Thunder's neck, making him yelp in pain as the magic melted his scales and scorched the flesh underneath. Blue Thunder roared out in anger and sucked in his tummy before he breathed out a column of flames right back at the mage.

The crossbow wielders and the mage screamed as Blue Thunder's flaming breathe washed over them and ignited the surrounding foliage. Blue Thunder's rage attack stunned the rest of the assailants as they paused in their attack and stared aghast at the carnage.

Suddenly, draconic roars burst out from above and half a dozen Razorwing dragons broke through the canopy of the thicket. Blue Thunder faced up and answered back their challenge by spitting a fireball right into the centre of mass of one of the medium weight dragons as it struggled through the thick branches and trees.

It screamed as the force of the fireballs slammed it back into the canopy and smashing through some of the thinner branches. The rest of the Razorwings landed and under the urging of their riders, they charged at Blue Thunder.

Stamford and the rest ran out of the way of the dragons and continued to engage the rest of the assailants who had renewed their vigour. Bodies dropped as bullets found their target and the attacked faltered and the survivors' morale broke.

With the enemy forces in retreat, Stamford turned his attention to Blue Thunder who was facing off five Razorwings. The trees around their battle long been smashed off their roots, and the earth churned up by the massive beasts. The battle was like some kind of Jurassic movie with the dragons snapping at each other, whipping tails and slashing with their claws and wings.

Blood spattered across the destroyed landscape as a Razorwing took an opportunity attack at the back of Blue Thunder. Its dagger length claws ripped a patch of scales and flesh off Blue Thunder, making him roar in pain and anger. In response, he flicked his mighty tail at the attacker, smashing the Razorwing into the stumps of a broken tree, dazing it.

The rest of the Razorwings leapt in at this moment of distraction. Their powerful jaws attaching themselves onto Blue Thunder's flanks and neck. Despite the differences in their weight groups, the combined weight of four Razorwings was enough to pin Blue Thunder down. The five dragons tumbled onto the ground and Blue Thunder fought tooth and claw for his life.

Stamford seeing the situation turning sour, quickly ordered, "Engage those dragons! Keep them off Blue Thunder!"

The .45 rounds were not powerful enough to outright kill the Razorwings, only enough to cause pain and annoyance. A couple of the Razorwings were even too enraged and frenzy that they ignored the shots fired by the UN aircrew. They continued their attacks on Blue Thunder while the rest turned their attention on the aircrew.

Stamford raced across the ravaged landscape and thankfully found their heavy weapons still in one pieced, removed from Blue Thunder's harness mounts and laid out on an oilcloth ready to be cleaned when they had made camp. He quickly grabbed a can of ammunition and slapped it into place and racked the bolt back.

He braced the MG - 1 against the top of a fallen tree trunk and squeezed the trigger, sending a long burst right at the trio of dragons chasing after the rest of his crew. Red hot tracers intersect the leading Razorwing and bullets riddled its flanks, blowing bits of flesh and blood all over the forest.

The Razorwing stumbled down and thrashed about in pain while its rider who had climbed off its back before the dragons' fight, came running over, screaming something incoherent. Stamford gave him a short burst of .338 and the rider slide to a halt next to the dying dragon.

He switched targets, giving the other two dragons a hearty dose of lead before he grabbed another can of .338 ammunition to reload. By this time, Blue Thunder had more or less emerged the victor in the rumble. He had one of the Razorwing's neck in his jaws and with a mighty jerk, he snapped the vertebrae of the crying Razorwing and tossed its limp body to the side.

The remaining Razorwing limped back weakly from Blue Thunder's stare as its natural survival instincts took over. It flattened both its body and wings on the ground in submission to Blue Thunder's strength, while its frightened rider screamed for it to fight.

The distinctive rattle of a SMG ended that rider's tirade and Dek and rest, covered in leaves and soil joined Blue Thunder at staring at the prostrating dragon. Saphia sneaked a peek out from behind a tree from which she had been hiding and watching the battle, let out a soft sigh of relief. She slowly joined the group surrounding the trembling dragon.

"What now, Boss?" Dek asked as he gave the huffing Blue Thunder a once over of his wounds. "We got a dragon prisoner..."

"Finish it," Stamford ordered coldly as he carried the MG over. "It's crippled and we have no room for prisoners."

Blue Thunder growled and he suddenly snapped his jaws forward, gripping the wounded dragon by its neck and breaking it. Once the deed was done, he slumped on his hindquarters and let out a loud groan. "Ow... I am bleeding..."

"Of course you are, you big pussy!" Stamford let out a relieved sigh. "Dek, set up a MG and keep watch. Luth, check the bodies! Barkley, tend to Blue Thunder. I doubt those assholes will be back for another round but still keep alert!"

"Yes, Sir!" The men called out as they got to work. Blue Thunder had plenty of wounds, mostly caused by bites and slashes. In many places, his scales were torn off or broken, exposing bloodied flesh underneath. Stamford quickly found Blue Thunder's aid kit and carried it over to Barkley who was shaking his head at Blue Thunder's wounds. He was thankful that they had taken off the aid kit and was treating his injuries before, or the first aid kit would have been likely destroyed in the fight.

Already, Blue Thunder's harness was shredded and broken straps dangled here and there. Pouches holding spare equipment were ripped and its contents either damaged or thrown off somewhere. Stamford gauged that they had to take out the spare harness and make repairs if they were to ever safety ride on Blue Thunder.

Surprisingly, while they were treating Blue Thunder's wounds, the quiet black dragon had come up next to Blue Thunder and was even licking at some of his wounds. Stamford sighed and pushed away Saphia, "Don't let his wounds, it might cause infection later!"

Barkley carried over a few ration cubes that did not get destroyed in the fight and piled them next to Blue Thunder. "Eat some, and r regain some of your strength!"

Blue Thunder gave a weak grunt as he laid down with his body spread out. He picked up one of the ration cubes and started chewing softly, his eyes closed as fatigue swept over his body. As Stamford and Barkley worked on Blue Thunder's wounds, Saphia crept over closer to Blue Thunder until she was leaning against his flank which Stamford shooed her away as she got into their way.

"How did they find us?" Barkley asked as he rolled duct tape over a bandage patch to keep it in place. "They clearly knew where we are if they could ambush us the first time."

"And now, they could even find us so quickly in this thick forest!" Barkley remarked. "Something isn't right! Could... it be that Intel guy sold us out?"

"Possible, but unlikely..." Stamford shook his head as he washed the wound. "Intel won't spend a million gold crowns just to pull something off like this."

"I suspect..." Stamford stopped his work and looked at Saphia who was hovering nervously over their shoulders. "Our culprit is right here..."

"Her?" Barkley frowned as he too stopped his work and stared at Saphia who gave them a confused look. "How?"

"They must have put a tracking spell or something on her," Stamford said as he stood before Saphia. "As for what spell..."

"It's the damn collar!" Barkley hissed. "It's the only thing that came along with her from the auction house!"

"Yes," Stamford nodded as he stared at the crystal encrusted slave collar at the base of Saphia's neck. "The auction house has no qualms in selling us out..."

"Shit!" Blue Thunder let out a curse as he tilted his head over. "Those bastards will pay for this treachery!"

"Don't waste your strength!" Stamford shook his head at Blue Thunder. He dug inside his pocket to remove the crystal controller for the collar around Saphia's neck. When Saphia saw the controller in Stamford's hands, she flinched back and even tucked in her tail in fear.

Stamford frowned as he weighted the controller in his hands before he gestured to Saphia. "Stay!"

He approached the clearly frightened dragon and hesitated for a moment before he inserted the controller into a slot and turned it like a key. With a loud click, the slave collar snapped out and fell off. He backed off quickly, unsure if the black dragon without the control of the slave collar would attack them or take the opportunity to run away.

Stamford kept his hand close to his weapon as he eyed the black dragon and watched her closely for her reaction. To his relief, the black dragon appeared to be delighted at the removal of the slave collar as she reached up to give her neck a good rub and did not show any intent in attacking or running away,

Instead, she waddled her way and laid down next to the napping Blue Thunder, and even took a few bites of the ration cubes. Stamford gathered up the slave collar and controller and placed them inside a bag. "Alright, if they have some kind of tracker, this would be the culprit."

"We better hurry up," Stamford added. "It's best we find another spot to rest... The enemy will be back and the stench of blood here will draw more trouble to us if we linger longer!"


ความคิดของผู้สร้าง
Neobear Neobear

Advance chapters are available on Pat-reon

https://www.patreon.com/neobear

-----

Join the discussion in Discord

https://discord.gg/A8Tm86V

-----

Donate/Support me via Paypal now!

https://paypal.me/neobear

-----

Concept sketch of UNS Vengeance

https://www.patreon.com/posts/44110768

Or view it in my discord!

บท 537: The Stand

Stamford glanced back to see dozens of tiny figures appearing at the distant forest edge from which hours ago, they had come out of. Blue Thunder was too hurt to be able to take into the skies, and hence, they could only trek across the forest and grasslands, heading towards their destination.

Seeing their pursuers hot on their heels, Stamford could only increase their pace. There wasn't any point in keeping stealth nor hiding their tracks as it was almost impossible to hide the tracks of two dragons that weight as much as a tank! At least the skies were clear as there no longer was any more flying dragons coming to pester them, thought Stamford. They must had decimated all their enemies' dragons in the previous fight.

"Boss, they are roughly an hour distance behind us," Barkley, their navigator said as he measured the distance between them with his thumb. "They will gain on us sooner or later."

"We are too exposed here," Barkley continued as he gestured around their surroundings which consisted of a hilly grassland. "We need to get into some kind of cover!"

"I know," Stamford replied as he pointed to the dark blue trees in the far distance. "We can lose them once we get into that forest."

"It's still two hours or more of travel for us," Barkley pointed out. "They will overtake us by then!"

"Leave me here and ride on Saphia's back!" Blue Thunder sighed. "I will catch up with you guys once I feel better..."

"Shut it!" Stamford snapped as he ignored Blue Thunder's words. "We are all sticking together! And Saphia isn't trained nor has the endurance to carry anyone in flight!"

Blue Thunder lowered his head as he aimlessly plodded forward, "Sorry guys, I can't carry you all out of here..."

"I said shut it!" Stamford growled at Blue Thunder. "Save your damn energy and keep moving rather than whining!"

With that said, Stamford turned to the rest and asked, "Any claymore mines?"

"Nope," Luth replied as he was in charge of logistics. "We did not expect to be doing any ground humping..."

Stamford frowned as he looked around before picking out a site. "We can drop an ambush on them at that hill..."

"We hit them hard enough for them to scatter and buy some time for Blue Thunder," Stamford said as he looked at the two dragons trudging side by side, cutting a trail through the knee length grass. "They going to need to rest for food and water soon or they won't be able to keep their pace..."

The rest nodded as they knew what Blue Thunder needed most right now was food and rest to recover his wounds while Saphia was too out of shape due to her long imprisonment and general lack of exercise and training. Even the crew was tired as they were not trained like the Army or Marines to continuously trek long distances.

They continued trek behind the trail made by the dragons and slowly climbed up the small hilltop. Large rocks formations littered the relatively flat summit and offered an uninterrupted view of their surroundings. Blue Thunder flopped down tiredly in pain as his breathing became laboured after climbing the slope. Saphia followed his lead and laid down albeit in a more refined manner.

Stamford wiped the sweat off his head and slipped his cap back on. His legs were burning from the climb and he could see everyone was spent. Quickly, he made a decision, "Break out the heavy weapons! We make a stand here!"

The rest nodded and they started unloading the weapons off Blue Thunder's back. Stamford carried one of the MGs and set it down on stone outcrop while Dek dropped cans of ammunition down and calling out, "Conserve the ammo! We only have so much left!"

"Luth, Barkley! See to the dragons' need!" Stamford ordered as he loaded the MG. He removed his binos out from and scanned the figures following their trail. He made a mental count before he lowered his binos and eyed the skies. "Dek! See anything in the air?"

"No, boss!" Dek called back from the other side of the summit. "Only saw some movement at the forest edge but nothing moving near us!"

Stamford brought his binos up and watched the approaching force. They were dressed in leather mail and carrying long spears and shields with belted swords. Some carried bows and crossbows hung behind their backs and there were even several riding those half croc half raptors like mounts.

"I count about eighty," Stamford called out. "How many you see?"

"Make it a hundred!" Dek yelled back. "There's another group of twenty on my side moving through the grass!"

Stamford hurried raised his binos and scanned Dek's sector. After a quick scan, he spotted another group pushing through the knee length glass, moving in parallel to the main force about two hundred meters away. He frowned and he started scanning his side, checking if there's another small party pushing the same way. "Shit..."

"I got another party of twenty or so moving to our right flank!" Stamford said. "We need to suppress the main group and also prevent those two parties at the flanks to flank us!"

"Luth! Barkley!" Stamford turned around and called out. "You guys done?"

"Almost!" Luth replied back. He unwrapped the wax paper protecting the ration cubes and piled them before Blue Thunder and Saphia while Barkley worked on some of the reopened wounds and replacing soiled bandages on Blue Thunder's body. "Eat up, big guy! You too, girl!"

Too tired to complain, Saphia picked up a ration cube and slowly chewed. Blue Dragon did so with more gusto as he laid there flat on his belly sharing a meal with Saphia. Seeing both dragons eating, Luth let out a sigh of relief and he started unloading the casks of water for them to drink.

"Hurry up!" Stamford called out again. "The party is about to start!"

Barkley ripped the roll of duct tape and slapped it against Blue Thunder's wounds, making sure it was firmly stuck to his scales and holding the gauze in place before he dropped everything into the first aid box and rushed over to the edge of the hill.

Stamford gestured to the remaining machine gun and ordered, "Grab the last MG and cover our centre!"

Barkley nodded and he picked up the machine gun and ammunition can with each hand and half ran forward to a rocky outcrop. He dropped the machine gun and laid prone next to the outcrop and started fiddling with the weapon.

"Done, boss!" Luth came running over next, his submachine gun out and ready. He came to a crouch next to Stamford and awaited his instructions.

"Take over here," Stamford pushed himself up before he made a chopping gesture in front of the machine gun. "That's your firing arc! You are covering the right flank! Got it?"

"Yes, boss!" Luth took over the spot vacated by Stamford and snuggled the machine gun close to his body as he checked his firing lanes.

Stamford ran over to Barkley and repeated his orders, "You are covering our front!"

Next, he went over to Dek and said, "You're covering our left flank!"

The position of the three machine guns formed a triangle shape, each covering their own sectors. Once satisfied that the men knew what they needed to do, Stamford returned to Barkley and climbed up the rocky outcrop and took out his binos.

"Guys! Make ready!" Stamford called out as he observed the ambush ground. The enemy was about three hundred meters from the mil dot reticle shown. He waited until the majority of the main force was closer before he ordered in a surprisingly calm voice, "Barkley, you are cleared to engage!"

Barkley snapped the safety lever with his thumb and squeezed the trigger without hesitation. He had kept the cross hair of his 1.5x reflex sights on one of the figures sporting a red feather on his helm. The MG - 1 jumped in his hands and slammed painfully against his padded shoulder as it roared thunderously.

Stamford caught brief snatches of tracer rounds flickering downrange into the main group which was caught flat footed. The sudden thunderous roar of the machine gun rolled down the hill and flocks of feathered wyvern and animals were frightened out of their habitats.

The enemy surprised and confused, remained rooted on the spot as they tried to make sense of what was happening, allowing bullets to mow them down easily. Inexperienced and untrained to deal with modern firearms, the enemy trained in cold steel tactics, hunkered down as if facing arrows and spells instead.

They raised their shields up and the mages in the group threw up defensive spells out. The two smaller scouting parties at the flanks came rushing forward towards the source of the thunderous roaring and spellfire, only to meet a storm of lead fired by the other two machine guns.

The two scouting parties at the flanks did not fare as well as the main force as they had no mages in their parties and like the main force, they rushed forward, not thinking even once to lay down prone for cover and instead charged forward to close with the enemy as fast as possible as they were trained, resulting in both parties getting decimated.

The main force protected by magic had formed into a square and was making its way up the slope. The single machine gun was unable to deplete the magic barrier fast enough and the distance between the two forces closed. Stamford seeing the situation not good, yelled a warning to Dek and Luth while ordering Barkley to cease fire as not to waste ammunition.

Stamford drew his sword bayonet out and held it reserved gripe in his left hand while holding his submachine gun in his right and braced himself for the melee to come. Barkley had scrambled up to his feet and held the MG - 1 by hip, his left hand holding on to the bipod stand like a forward grip as he readied himself.

A victorious cheer came from the slope as the first heads appeared over the ridge and bodies started scrambling to the top. Stamford stepped back as he saw the telltale shimmering magical dome still protecting the climb enemy. "Fuck!"

An overzealous soldier charged forward upon spotting Stamford and the rest. He came running out of the magical barrier and Stamford smiled as he popped a single shot right at the soldier, sending the soldier sprawling down before his feet, dead before he hit the ground.

Seeing one of their own dead just like that sent the rest of the soldiers into a rage as they all charged as one. Barkley went down on one knee as he braced his elbow on his knee to support the weight of the machine gun and let it rip.

Men screamed as bullets cut them down while the magic barrier flickered wildly in a mad display of shimmering colours. A bolt of lightning cracked across the knife fighting range and Barkley went flying back with a groan, his chest smoking. Stamford roared out angrily as he saw Barkley went down and all hell broke loose.

He parried a spear with his sword bayonet and blew the owner's handsome face away with his SMG before he shot down another assailant behind the faceless soldier. His mind barely registered the magic barrier disappearing as his whole focus narrowed down to just a few feet around him.

Spearheads were thrust at him from all angles, some he managed to block or dodged but one thrust hammered against his side, his trauma plating blocking the stab painfully. He emptied his SMG at his assailants, granting him some breathing space as he gasped in pain.

Somewhere, he noticed the sounds of gunfire and he knew the rest were still fighting. He stepped back from the semi circle ring of spears aiming at him and he did a quick reload of his weapon when a draconic roar broke out behind him.

An angry Blue Thunder came out roaring and a spew of flames burst out from his gaping mouth like a flamer and turned the hilltop into a screaming inferno.


ความคิดของผู้สร้าง
Neobear Neobear

Advance chapters are available on Pat-reon

https://www.patreon.com/neobear

-----

Join the discussion in Discord

https://discord.gg/A8Tm86V

-----

Donate/Support me via Paypal now!

https://paypal.me/neobear

-----

I will be taking a 2 week break until next year 2021~ Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year!

Load failed, please RETRY

สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์

ป้ายปลดล็อกตอน

สารบัญ

ตัวเลือกแสดง

พื้นหลัง

แบบอักษร

ขนาด

ความคิดเห็นต่อตอน

เขียนรีวิว สถานะการอ่าน: C536
ไม่สามารถโพสต์ได้ กรุณาลองใหม่อีกครั้ง
  • คุณภาพงานเขียน
  • ความเสถียรของการอัปเดต
  • การดำเนินเรื่อง
  • กาสร้างตัวละคร
  • พื้นหลังโลก

คะแนนรวม 0.0

รีวิวโพสต์สําเร็จ! อ่านรีวิวเพิ่มเติม
โหวตด้วย Power Stone
Rank 200+ การจัดอันดับพลัง
Stone 6 หินพลัง
รายงานเนื้อหาที่ไม่เหมาะสม
เคล็ดลับข้อผิดพลาด

รายงานการล่วงละเมิด

ความคิดเห็นย่อหน้า

เข้า สู่ ระบบ

tip ความคิดเห็นย่อย

คุณลักษณะความคิดเห็นย่อหน้าอยู่ในขณะนี้บนเว็บ! เลื่อนเมาส์ไปที่ย่อหน้าใดก็ได้แล้วคลิกไอคอนเพื่อเพิ่มความคิดเห็นของคุณ

นอกจากนี้คุณสามารถปิด / เปิดได้ตลอดเวลาในการตั้งค่า

เข้าใจแล้ว