Chapter 53: First Battle Loss
Su Xiao walked out of the temporary command post; he wanted to see the battlefield situation with his own eyes.
"Roar!!"
A continuous chorus of howls came from afar, a black tide 'surging' forward—it was a horde of charging Parasite Warriors. Their skin was gray-black, their bodies covered in scale-like keratin layers, their hands were sharp claws, and black tentacle-like appendages hung from their backs like hair.
Some of these Parasite Warriors still ran upright, while others, deeply parasitized, charged on all fours.
"Samuwa! (Unknown Language)"
A humanoid monster over three meters tall, with threadworms swimming in its pupils, let out a shout. It was a Twisted One, a rare individual among the Parasite Warriors. In a state of deep parasitism, it possessed strong combat power while also commanding a certain number of Parasite Warriors.
At this stage, the Teyatu Civilization's command system was simple, unlike the past with its various ranks and positions. The current ruling structure was:
Teyatu Emperor → Three Knights → Twisted Ones → Parasite Warriors (Bottom Tier).
Twisted Ones could occasionally be seen on the battlefield, indicating that this type of monster was not rare. As for the Three Knights Kingsley mentioned, they had yet to appear. Presumably, these were the three trusted subordinates of the Teyatu Emperor during the civilization's heyday.
The Parasite Warriors surged in overwhelming numbers, the ground trembling slightly from their charge.
Inside the allied trenches, soldiers aimed their rifles, sweat beading on their faces. To be honest, none of them had fought in a war before. The Southern and Eastern Continents had been at peace for too long; over 85% of the Alliance soldiers had little concept of war. The rest were soldiers from steel warships who occasionally clashed with sea beasts.
"Hold steady!"
A lieutenant in the trench shouted. From his wide-eyed expression, he was nervous too. This scene was indeed unprecedented. The enemy charging toward them was like a black tide, their teeth sharp, their eyes filled only with ferocity. Even from a distance, the lieutenant seemed to smell the stench of the enemy.
"Fire!"
Bang, bang, bang...
Rifles were fired one after another. Every dozen meters along the trench edge, a single-barreled heavy machine gun over three meters long was mounted. Each had a hand crank on the side and a magazine on the other, with long ammunition belts trailing out.
Rat-a-tat-tat~
Glowing red bullets left the muzzles, nearly linking end to end.
The dense barrage seemed to tear through the air, delivering a crushing blow to the charging Parasite Warrior horde. Bullets pierced their bodies, causing the struck areas to explode.
For a moment, the front ranks of the Parasite Warrior army fell in droves, covering the ground with shredded flesh. The threadworms inside still writhed, blood soaking the soil, steaming intestines spinning away, and a stench of decay spreading.
The concentrated fire from the frontline soldiers formed layers of bullet screens. The Parasite Warriors fell in rows, not only failing to close the distance but actually being pushed back from the trench.
Seeing this, the soldiers' tension eased significantly. A soldier, barely twenty years old, pulled a magazine from his side and inserted it into his rifle, ready to step up the intensity.
A whoosh reached the young soldier's ears. Just as he looked up, a taut white threadworm embedded itself in his forehead.
The young soldier's expression twisted violently. His flesh surged, and his pupils rolled erratically in his eyes.
"Hey, what's wrong with you?"
A private patted the young soldier's shoulder. A wet, slippery sensation met his palm. With a pop, the young soldier beside him exploded, blood splattering all over his face. Threadworms stuck to his cheeks, neck, and chest.
These threadworms quickly burrowed into his body. He let out a piercing scream, flailing his arms wildly. Moments later, he collapsed into the trench, his forehead pressed against the dirt. Fortunately, his body didn't explode, preventing the threadworms inside from scattering.
Dead threadworms flowed out of the soldier's wounds along with the blood.
This scene repeated itself throughout the frontline trenches. Any soldier hit by those white threadworms would explode within 2 to 3 seconds, like a threadworm bomb. The scattered threadworms caused secondary damage to nearby soldiers—hitting an arm or leg meant severe injury, while hitting the torso, neck, or head meant certain death.
The trench held a total of 8,270 soldiers. Within minutes of the battle, casualties exceeded 3,000. This was due to a miscalculation of the enemy's abilities, with most soldiers dying from the subsequent spread of threadworms.
Gunfire rang out incessantly, explosions followed one after another. The rear artillery units continuously shelled the enemy with cannons. The air was thick with the smell of blood, scorched flesh, and gunpowder.
A soldier huddled in the trench, pulled out his dagger, pressed it under his armpit, and whimpered as he used brute force to cut off his entire left arm.
Gritting his teeth, saliva spraying from between them, he rested for a moment before picking up a short-barreled gun with relatively low recoil, stood up, and fired a few shots outside the trench.
"Don't retreat."
"Deserters will face court-martial."
Bang, bang!
"This is the consequence. Get back in the trench. No retreat without orders!"
Shouts and gunfire continued. Some of our soldiers began to flee, which was normal. Soldiers are human too; fearing death is not shameful. What makes someone a warrior is staying on the line despite that fear.
Our frontline was in a bad state, but the charging Parasite Warriors were worse off. The soldiers' marksmanship was excellent—their first shot was almost always to the head, the second to the heart, and the third to the left or right leg. Though their fighting spirit was lacking, their aim was absurdly good. Even when firing rifles with magazines on full auto, they aimed at the head-level line.
The Parasite Warriors' weakness was at the parasite site, but if their heads were destroyed, they lost most of their judgment and would die within 5 to 12 minutes.
"Filthy Sea."
A large claw pressed into the ground among the Parasite Warriors. Dense threadworms spread across the earth, even reaching the front trenches.
Screams of agony came from the trench. Several soldiers, their flesh chewed to shreds by threadworms, crawled out of the trench but died shortly after.
"Humans, still so weak."
A Twisted One, covered in black tentacles, spoke. The threadworms on the ground around it coiled back, quickly burrowing into its arm.
"The King's servants, kill them all."
The Twisted One let out a low roar. Just then, a shell fell from above and stuck into the dirt beside it with a thud.
The Twisted One glanced at it and ignored it, taking a step forward.
Boom!
An explosion erupted beside it. Shrapnel flew, engulfing it in flames. When everything settled, the Twisted One crouched on one knee, most of its black tentacles blown off.
It looked up ahead. Just as it was about to charge into the trench and tear apart everything alive, the sound of orderly footsteps came from the distance ahead—reinforcements had arrived.
"First Squad, fire!"
Bang, bang, bang...
Gunfire merged into a continuous roar. The Twisted One had nowhere to hide. It grabbed Parasite Warriors on either side, but it was futile.
Seconds later, the Twisted One turned into scattered flesh on the ground, still writhing. In a trench dozens of meters away, a soldier hoisted a large bomb, pulled the double rings, and tossed the iron lump out.
Thud. The iron lump landed in the Twisted One's remains and exploded.
After most of the frontline trench soldiers were killed or wounded, reinforcements finally arrived. It wasn't that they were slow; the enemy had spread out after the initial charge, forming a semicircular line against our defenses.
The Second, Fourth, and Fifth Corps were all engaged. The Third and Sixth Corps couldn't move—they had to defend the rear. Only the Seventh Corps was responsible for reinforcements. As for the First Corps, these superhumans couldn't be deployed lightly unless it was critical.
The enemy's first offensive lasted two hours before stopping. Enemy casualties were hard to count—limbs and remains littered the ground. Our side had over 27,600 soldiers killed. Undoubtedly, the first exchange favored the enemy.
The Parasite Warriors were too numerous, and the soldiers didn't understand their attack methods, suffering heavy losses. Even if they had been briefed beforehand, actual combat was a different story. Dying from threadworms invading the body was too painful, and the deaths were too horrifying.
Inside the temporary command post, Su Xiao put down the battle report. The initial setback dropped our morale to 82 points, even with the War Lord's boost. The Alliance soldiers had never experienced war, and this wasn't a fight to defend their homeland. In their understanding, this was an invasion of the Western Continent. Some things they wouldn't grasp, but that was understandable—after all, they were the ones facing the enemy on the front lines.
Su Xiao had anticipated this. Given the Parasite Warriors' tenacity, the initial casualties were actually lower than he estimated.
Now that the temporary base camp was stabilized, it meant one thing: the researchers from the Eclipse Organization were about to set up a large spatial array. Using the Western Continent and Gaman City as corresponding nodes, they would teleport soldiers from Gaman City in batches.
Su Xiao had only brought 287,000 soldiers. He didn't think that alone could conquer the Western Continent; subsequent reinforcements were key.
According to statistics, the total population of the Southern and Eastern Continents exceeded 890 million. This was a near-modern world with guaranteed healthcare and livelihoods. Plus, the Southern and Eastern Alliances had friction for years, so their soldier numbers were naturally substantial.
Once the reinforcements arrived and our total forces on the battlefield exceeded 300,000, the War Lord title's bonuses would fully activate.
That would be the time for a counterattack. For now, letting the enemy enjoy their little victory was fine.
...
Twenty kilometers from our base camp, large wooden sheds and mud huts were built here. This was one of the largest lairs for the Parasite Warriors, now used as a wartime nest.
The Parasite Clan had lost most human traits, shifting from live birth to egg-laying, like the threadworms inside them.
The Tyrant sat in front of a mud hut, with Guang Mu, Shui Ge, and others nearby.
"The situation seems pretty good."
Guang Mu had learned the results of the first engagement. A Perception-type had compiled rough intelligence: the enemy suffered heavy losses. A few more rounds, and they would surely be routed. No matter how you looked at it, the Western Continent camp had the upper hand.
This gave Guang Mu a strange sense of satisfaction. She had been badly burned by Bai Ye-style legion tactics before—mentioning it brought tears to her eyes.
Hearing Guang Mu's words, the Tyrant lit a cigar, took a deep drag like smoking, and said:
"That side bombarded the coast for over five hours. I thought they were strong. But when the real fight started, that's it?"