novelraw Chapter 381 Book 6 - 42 - Slog
Chapter 381 Book 6 - 42 - Slog
As the bears piled into the slough that had formed just beyond our lines, I knew I made a mistake. The mess of mud and recycled biomatter had been thick enough to bog down Antithesis of all sizes, so having my bears charge in, which were far heavier for their size, meant that many sunk up to their waists.
One or two even sunk up to their necks.
I immediately halted the assault and had the bears retreat back to the Kodiaks. Although they couldn't throw out the same weight of fire, the armored vehicles could easily carry my forces over the worst of the muck and deploy them on the solid ground at the far side of the swamp.
"I see the assault is off to a good start," Nora chuckled as she watched the badgers wade into the mud so they could haul out the bears that had sunk in too deep and could not get out on their own.
"I may have gotten a little excited and not thought things through," I admitted. "It's just a temporary setback. The Kodiaks can fly my forces across the mud and deploy them on the far side."
"That's true… but what about the Mauler? It's far too heavy to fly," Nora replied.
I slowly turned and looked at the gargantuan tank. The whole reason I'd gone with a super heavy chassis was to keep the price down and make the thing easier to reproduce. Considering that most modern militaries and PMCs relied entirely on ground-bound armor, I didn't expect to encounter such a major downside so early.
"Don't worry about it, Boss. The Mauler can take it!" Dusty exclaimed, his voice echoing over the speakers embedded in the top of the massive tank.
"Are you sure? If you get stuck…" I started.
"Then we can call down a set of heavy lifters to pull the Mauler out and move it to the far side," Dusty said. "The mud is, on average, two to three feet deep. That's barely enough to scratch the Mauler's undercarriage. Trust me, she'll make it."
"Alright," I agreed hesitantly, "but if it ever seems like the Mauler is going to sink deeper or get stuck in the mud, stop immediately. The last thing I need is to lose the cornerstone of our strategy in a mudpit before it ever sees action."
"It's seen action, though; it killed those Twenty-Eights, remember?" Dusty replied cheekily.
"That doesn't count, and you know it," I snapped. "And I'm serious about the mud. If you lose the Mauler, you'll never drive anything other than a Kodiak again."
"I'll be extra careful," Dusty promised solemnly.
"Good," I replied, before clamouring up the side of the massive tank to stand on top. "Because I'm coming with." Once I was up, I turned back towards Nora and extended a hand. "Want to come?"
"Oh no, I'll take a Kodiak, thank you," she replied, holding up her hands. "If you get stuck out there, the assault force will need someone to pick up the slack,"
I stepped back a little and put my hands on my hips. "That's what my squad is for!"
"Can we go now?" I heard Bob yell from the back of one of the Kodiaks. "The Antithesis won't punch themselves!"
I couldn't help but smile. "The big bear has a point," I said, before glancing down at Nora. "If you're not coming with me, I'll see you on the other side."
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"Good luck," she exclaimed. When she turned to head towards the nearest Kodiak, I stomped down on the top of the Mauler with my foot. "Alright Dusty, let's get this show on the road."
"You know, you don't have to kick the top of the tank to get my attention. I can hear you just fine through the comm system," he grumbled.
"It makes me feel like I'm taking charge," I told him. "Besides, with all the tech that went into this thing, it would take a direct hit from my rifle to even scratch the paint. I'm not going to hurt it by stomping on it."
True… I'd still like to keep it pristine as long as possible. As a matter of pride," Dusty replied. Below me the Mauler's engines roared to life, sending a low vibration through the hull. "Hold on tight, here we go."
The massive tank surged forward, passing between the mass of Kodiaks and plowing into the swamp before us. I half expected it to sink into the quagmire and come to a complete stop then and there, but it didn't. The thick mud didn't even slow it down.
Since most of the bears had retreated off the front line, and the Mauler was surging forward, most of the Antithesis turned their attention towards it. A wave of Model Threes and Fours launched themselves into the bog, throwing themselves into the mud in such numbers that they were starting to create an impromptu bridge built on top of the backs of the Models that had sunk in the mud but hadn't suffocated yet.
As I raised my rifle, Dusty's voice echoed out of the speakers. "Try not to move much up there. We're warming up the secondary turrets, and I'd hate to hit you accidentally."
Behind me, about halfway between the main cannon and the front of the tank, two armor panels lifted up and slid to the side. As they did, two smaller turrets rose up and locked into place. I caught a faint, familiar hum, the sound of capacitors charging, just a moment before the two rotary laser cannons in each turret opened up and just hosed down the Antithesis lines.
The weight of fire was so intense that it actually pushed the smaller Antithesis back, out of the muddy area and back onto solid ground.
With the smaller models pushed back, the larger ones could rush forward. Although the rotary laser cannons could chew through their heavy armor after several seconds of concentrated fire, they weren't as effective against the large models as they were against the small ones.
That was okay, though, because the Mauler had plenty of other weapons to deal with them.
As the Mauler rapidly approached the far side of the swamp, the main turret swiveled towards the nearest mass of Antithesis, and the missile racks mounted on the side of it fired.
Although the Mauler's missiles weren't as powerful as the ones the bears toted around and couldn't be fired in Volleys like the ones on the Ursas, they still had enough power to deal with this lot.
A single missile lanced out to strike a Model Fourteen directly in the head, triggering an explosion that disintegrated half of the overgrown armored centipede and ripping open any other Antithesis in a twenty-foot radius. Those that survived would almost certainly die of trauma or blood loss before they became a problem.
"I hate to have to resort to the missiles this early, but if we extended the side coilgun sponsons,they could get caught in the mud," Dusty moaned.
"It's fine, the missiles may be a more limited resource, but that's why they're there. To deal with the masses and keep this thing moving," I laughed. "If you're so worried about the ammo supplies, get this thing out of this mud pit and back onto solid land where it can do some real damage."
"Yes ma'am!" Dusty replied, gunning the engines.
The Mauler surged forward, crushing the last few Antithesis in its way, hit the edge of the mud pit, and launched itself up and out of noman's land.
It was actually a little funny how clear the demarcation between no man's land and the area beyond was. The Shatterstorm cannons had been firing so frequently that there was a literal wall of compressed carbon spikes embedded in the ground at the far end of Bear Force One's engagement range.
As the Mauler settled, I took a moment to look around. Despite being untouched by our weapons, the area beyond the deadzone looked just as desolate as our previous combat area. Although untouched by weapons, the mold had completely devastated the area.
It looked like all the foliage and animal life on this side of the battlefield had been completely consumed. Where there was once a mighty forest, all that remained was a thick carpet of rapidly decaying mush that was once the fungus and a couple of heavily decayed logs.
Looking at it now, it was no wonder that the Antithesis could sustain their assault for so long. The fungus had spread for kilometers in every direction, consuming everything between its leading edge and the hive. Since it had been expanding in every direction, that meant the level of consumption would have been exponential, providing more resources for the Antithesis every day.
It's a good thing that we had Bern, and the other more scientifically minded Samurai on our side… I couldn't imagine what would have happened if it had been allowed to expand uncontested.
The Antithesis continued to charge our position, trying to overwhelm the Mauler, but before they could even get close, the first wave of Kodiaks swooped in, raking their lines with heavy coilguns and disgorging squads of bears to combat the oncoming menace.
It would only take a few minutes to reform our lines, and once we had, nothing would stand in our way. The last remnant of the war on Mars would fall, and we'd bring an end to this madness once and for all.