As long as you have the courage, fierce ghosts go on maternity leave.

Chapter 369: The roles now reversed

In a desolate and dilapidated land, a thousand people were rapidly advancing. The abandoned base was just thirty kilometers away from the defense base. Even while accommodating the pace of everyone, it would take only thirty minutes for the awakened soldiers to reach there at full speed.

"Commander!" As the team was moving forward, a scout who had been sent ahead hurried back and addressed Alexander, who had been temporarily appointed as the commander of this unit: "We might have to take a detour. There’s a beetles swarm five kilometers ahead. If we continue, those damned beetles will detect us!"

"A beetles swarm? How big?" Alexander inquired.

"Just a small one, but there are quite a few, looks like two to three million!"

The scout thought for a moment and then added, "There are two small hills on the right that can block the beetles’ senses. If we take a detour through there, it would take at most twenty minutes to bypass the swarm!"

As expected of veteran elite soldiers, they were efficient and thorough in assessing the situation and even offered the optimal suggestion.

Without the obstruction of the Mist, the sensing ability of the beetles swarms here was even stronger. In this area, a beetle could sense the presence of living beings from three to five miles away and would swarm towards them.

Following the scout’s advice would indeed save a lot of time compared to the alternative route.

However, this ’optimal’ plan was clearly not to Alexander’s liking. He shook his head and said, "Are you joking? Just two to three million? This isn’t an obstacle, it’s a gift! We are pirates... ahem, everyone, get ready for battle!"

"Commander, are we really going to fight?" The scout hesitated.

One thousand against two million seemed like a huge disparity in strength. But in reality, it wasn’t an impossible fight, especially since these soldiers weren’t like the survivors in the real world who could only fight with bricks. These were well-trained soldiers, and they had mysterious technology!

Along with the appearance of the beetles, a large number of meteors fell from the sky, which were white stones capable of emitting a highly active forbidden force.

This forbidden force was not like the ones in the real world or the Mist world; it was purer and much more active. Even the black beetles would be rendered useless by the intensely invading forbidden force.

It was because of these stones that humanity found a way to fight against the beetles, allowing ordinary people to establish bases.

The survivors had developed the use of these stones to an extreme extent. The white nets used for defense, the terrifyingly powerful turrets, and the modified firearms, were all applications of these white stones.

In fact, the entire defense base was essentially a gigantic bomb. Triggering any defense tower would create an intense explosion covering a range of over ten miles with these terror-inducing white stone bombs, a last-ditch effort to buy time for the rear bases to retreat underground.

There was also a simpler use for these white stones - using them as hand grenades.

Using the corpses of beetles as a trigger, they could create a violent explosion, instantly generating a large area of Mist, killing all beetles within several meters’ diameter, even more effective than high-explosive grenades. However, this method was a wasteful one-time use of the stones.

Moreover, with survivors now trapped in small bases, the available white stones were just a limited stockpile transported from various places. Using them meant depleting their scarce resources. That’s why, despite the increasing casualties during previous beetle swarms, Atos was reluctant to use these stone grenades.

This time, to successfully complete their mission, Atos had nearly used up all the stockpile. Each soldier had at least twenty to thirty of these grenades wrapped around their waists, and their backpacks were filled with them. Armed with these and their firearms, dealing with the beetles wasn’t difficult. But this was the last of the defense base’s stockpile, causing the scout to feel reluctant.

"What’s there to hesitate about!" Alexander rebuked, "We’re not the only base with these stones, the main base behind us surely has more! Besides, we can’t eat them, what’s the use of taking them underground? It’s better to use them to their full potential!

A two million strong beetle swarm, with a significant number of Ferocious-class, is a different scenario. In a defensive battle, they can run, and we can’t pursue, but it’s not the same here!"

"Well... alright then," the scout conceded, seeing Alexander’s firm tone.

The group quickly got ready, removing their backpacks and hanging the white stone grenades in easily accessible spots on their front, and then began checking their firearms.

"This is your first battle as awakened ones, stay sharp, and don’t hesitate to use the white stone grenades. After this battle, each of you should be able to level up at least once! Move out!"

With these motivating words from Alexander, the team continued their advance.

Not far ahead lay a deserted small town. The town was now overrun with black beetles, with more flying in the sky.

Unfortunately, apart from the defense base, there was no food left in the world for them. Thus, they lay on the ground or flew aimlessly.

Suddenly, a beetle on the edge of the town, perched on a rooftop, swiftly took flight, heading straight towards Alexander’s position.

The entire beetle swarm instantly entered a Rampage State. Like a dark cloud, they surged up, casting a massive shadow as they swiftly headed towards Alexander’s position.

To them, it was the scent of food, a long-missed feast.

Alexander seemed to share the sentiment, eyeing the approaching black beetles, he shouted loudly, "Brothers, our chance for leveling up and fortune is today! Wipe out this beetle swarm, leave none alive!"

The thunderous sound of flapping wings resembled rolling thunder as the sky filled with beetles swarmed towards Alexander’s direction. A soldier, nervously gripping a white stone grenade in his hand, sweat beading on his forehead.

Although they were elite and had fought beetles before, even possessing Ghost Energy and being so-called awakeners of this world, this was their first field encounter with a beetle swarm.

In the base, even facing numerous black beetles, they had defense towers to bombard most of them from hundreds of kilometers away. The white nets provided additional protection. As long as the beetles didn’t breach these defenses, their job was simply to shoot. Even if some black beetles broke through, they were few, with a few hundred or a thousand considered a large number.

Moreover, there was Atos, a Prince-level power, responsible for intercepting most black beetles and those of Soldier or General class. But out here, in the open fields stretching for miles without a single tree or building to obstruct the view, the sight of a million-strong beetle swarm, like a tsunami, was overwhelming. That these newly awakened soldiers still stood their ground was a testament to their training.

Alexander, seeing the tension among his troops, was nervous they might accidentally pull the pin on their grenades, causing friendly fire. Fortunately, these were disciplined soldiers. Despite their fear and nervousness, they avoided such elementary errors.

"Pins out!" As the beetle swarm drew closer, Alexander commanded.

A thousand soldiers lined up, simultaneously pulling the pins from their grenades.

"Throw!" After silently counting for a few seconds, Alexander ordered again.

Grenades arced through the air towards the distant black beetles. Without needing further orders, the soldiers methodically repeated the process – pull a new grenade, remove the pin, count, and throw.

Boom! Boom! Boom! A series of explosions erupted from within the beetle swarm, forming a barrier of white mist in the blink of an eye.

Countless black beetles were torn apart on impact, and many more that rushed into the white mist were magnetically drawn to it, developing white spots on their bodies before plummeting from the sky.

A rain of beetles fell hundreds of meters in front of the soldiers.

Without a host, the highly pure and active white mist, apart from what seeped into the beetles’ bodies, quickly dispersed into the surroundings, no longer posing a threat to the swarm.

Following the first wave of grenades, a second wave was launched, and the white mist rose again with intense explosions. Seeing the effect of the first wave, the confidence of the soldiers in the rear surged, and their actions quickened.

Dozens of grenades were thrown in less than a minute by each person.

With thousands of soldiers, this amounted to tens of thousands of white stone grenades. If not for safety concerns, which necessitated a three-second delay before explosion, they could have exhausted all their grenades in that one minute.

The damage inflicted by tens of thousands of white stone grenades in the dense beetle swarm was horrifying. In an instant, more than half of the two million-strong beetle swarm was annihilated.

The remaining few hundred thousand were only spared because Alexander’s forces were too few and the beetles did not attack in a completely consolidated formation. There were always some beetles that managed to breach the blockade from above and below.

The soldiers, ready with their guns, faced the breaking through beetles. However, the beetles were already panicking. Instinctively, beetle swarms in this world would start to flee once their numbers decreased by more than half.

The firepower of Alexander’s troops was so fierce that the beetles lost over half of their numbers before they could react, and those at the forefront were already close to the military formation.

The sudden death of their companions left the beetles somewhat bewildered. The smell of blood ahead instinctively drew them forward, but the rapid decrease in their numbers also urged them to flee. Torn between these two instincts, the front line of the beetle swarm halted momentarily.

"Switch to firearms, fire!" Alexander didn’t hesitate to give orders when the beetles stalled.

A thousand soldiers immediately raised their modified guns and started shooting frantically.

This was unlike the past in the base. Although there were nearly twice as many soldiers back then, they had to be careful not to damage the white nets, so they could only fire in bursts. Even a few thousand beetles breaking through the blockade could cause massive casualties.

But now, out in the open, the soldiers could fire without restraint. Moreover, having reached at least the evil spirit level, their accuracy was considerable. A thousand soldiers firing madly could overwhelm any number of black beetles.

Soon, the panicked beetle swarm started to flee. "Chase them!" Alexander ordered without hesitation. A thousand soldiers, guns in hand, chased after the fleeing beetles.

Chasing a beetle swarm was unprecedented.

Since the appearance of the black beetles, the world had been faring slightly better than the real world, thanks to the energy of the white stones. However, humanity was on the brink of extinction, barely surviving in a few bases. Defense was a struggle, let alone counterattack.

The thought of pursuing the beetles after a victory had never crossed anyone’s mind. In the defense base, even after a victory, no one dared to chase outside the base, as leaving meant certain death.

Now, the roles were reversed with the black beetle swarm becoming the fleeing party.

This was a situation the soldiers, long tormented by the beetle swarms and almost having forgotten what victory felt like, could not resist. They pursued relentlessly with their guns, driven by a newfound zeal.

It was only when Alexander noticed that his troops were almost chasing the beetles out of sight that he hurriedly ordered them to stop pursuing.

Of the more than two million black beetles, a vast majority had been decimated by the initial grenade barrage, followed by the relentless gunfire and chase from a thousand soldiers. The beetles, despite their numbers, were not much faster than the soldiers, and only a few tens of thousands managed to escape alive.

"All personnel, consume the beetle corpses on-site to enhance your strength!" Alexander commanded after the pursuing soldiers returned.

Without ceremony, he began absorbing the essence from the beetle corpses right there. Regardless of whether this world was a fantasy or not, Alexander’s innate Ghost Skill and storage rings were not present, and he couldn’t take the beetle corpses with him, so naturally, the best course of action was to utilize them on the spot.

As Alexander had anticipated, without defense turrets or white nets, many of the two million beetle corpses were of the fierce ghost and Ferocious ghost. After more than half an hour, all soldiers had elevated one level in strength, Alexander included, reaching the Prince level.

"All soldiers, the target is the abandoned base. Continue forward!" Alexander commanded, leading his now more powerful unit towards their next objective.