Chapter 247 Cloud Peak Defense Battle (Part 2)
The screams echoed incessantly within the defensive line.
Thorn's latest attack, combined with the boulders thrown by the Corpse Apes, resulted in dozens of casualties, including several Evolving persons who were not spared.
The defensive line experienced the greatest chaos since the battle began.
"Hold the line. Hold the line! Stay calm. If we panic, we're all dead!" Candice shouted while running back and forth to stabilize the defense. She kept on firing, taking down one zombie after another.
The roar of William's sniper rifle was almost continuous. Any target that posed a threat to the defensive line, including two Corpse Apes, was ruthlessly taken down if it appeared in his sights.
After his precise and fierce attacks, the offensive of the high-level zombies slowed down, reducing the threat to the defensive line. The survivors gradually stabilized and resumed their fierce shooting.
However, the zombie horde used this opportunity to advance further, now only 100 feet from the defensive line!
At this distance, as long as one wasn't nearsighted, they could already see flesh in the zombies' mouths.
Seeing the zombie horde cross the warning line, Candice shouted while pulling the trigger, "Ordinary people, retreat to the third defensive line as planned! Evolving persons, stay put!"
The two assistants she had chosen immediately began organizing the ordinary soldiers to retreat.
At this moment, a section of the zombie horde suddenly collapsed. It turned out that the hidden trenches in front of the defensive line had come into play, causing a large number of zombies to fall in. Unlike the simple trenches from the previous battle for food, these trenches were now filled with steel bars or wooden stakes. Any zombie unlucky enough to fall in was either impaled or hopelessly trapped.
Moreover, with ample time, the trenches were deep, causing at least a thousand zombies to fall in at once.
However, before the survivors could cheer, the zombie horde filled the trenches with their sheer numbers and continued to advance, stepping on their fallen comrades.
The remaining survivors fired fiercely, trying to slow down the horde as much as possible.
Less than half an hour had passed since the battle began, and the warriors at the first defensive line had already killed over three thousand zombies. But for a horde of over twenty thousand, this number was too small.
The first defensive line had the most people, the highest morale, and the most traps, yet it couldn't hold for even an hour and was on the verge of being breached.
William felt somewhat helpless. Despite ordering his men to shoot without regard for losses, the results were far from what he had expected due to factors like poor marksmanship. Also, without grenades or other area-of-effect weapons, the killing efficiency against the horde was poor.
In his previous life, facing such a zombie tide, after the initial gunfire, it would come down to close combat. Back then, half of the Evolving persons were professionals with high evolution levels, accustomed to facing danger head-on. The combat style was vastly different from now. If they fought like that, the Evolving persons should charge at the horde, deliver a heavy blow, and then retreat in an orderly manner, which would have a completely different effect. Unfortunately, the current Evolving persons didn't have that capability.
With most of the firepower suppressed, the zombie horde advanced faster, quickly closing the distance to 60 feet. The survivors began to retreat, as the high-level zombies could cross this distance in moments, making it too risky to stay.
After emptying their magazines, dozens of Evolving persons began to retreat quickly. They would fall back to the second defensive line, take a brief rest, and continue fighting, triggering the traps in front of the line as they went.
Candice led a group to fortify the third defensive line, while Jack and William took the Evolving persons directly to the second defensive line.
The second defensive line was under the command of Natalie. She had completely shed her former naivety, growing into a figure as capable as Michelle and Candice. In terms of personality, she was more aggressive and decisive. Compared to Candice, she was as ruthless as Michelle, if not more so. William even saw a hint of ferocity like Gemma in her.
Most importantly, Natalie was loyal to William, second only to Gemma. Unlike Michelle and Candice, Natalie's loyalty had no principles or limits. William's words were the highest command; she didn't care why, only how.
Under her control, the second defensive line was noticeably more stable. Anyone who showed even a hint of hesitation, let alone attempted to retreat, was mercilessly whipped back into line.
The addition of the Evolving persons significantly boosted the confidence of the ordinary soldiers stationed there.
Due to the Evolving persons fighting while retreating, by the time William and his group reached the second defensive line, the zombie horde was already close.
Drawing from their previous battle experience, the Evolving persons opened fire first. Although the zombies didn't fall in large numbers, they were dying at a visible rate. Nearly a hundred Evolving persons, with each shot, killed dozens of zombies. By the time the horde was a few hundred feet away, three to four hundred zombies had been killed.
This was the power of the Evolving persons. With their all-around physical enhancements, their combat advantages were fully displayed.
The intense gunfire once again echoed over Cloud Peak Mountain, and the previously seen scenes of flesh and blood flying reappeared.
This time, however, more people were prepared. The barrage of bullets didn't weaken at all; in fact, it grew even more intense.
Even though Natalie was shouting for everyone to aim carefully and fire in bursts, those in the heat of battle instinctively held down the triggers.
Bullets were poured out as if they were free.
Seeing this, Darryl and his men were stunned. Cloud Peak Manor had previously given them some bullets, only a few boxes, but it was enough to show how wealthy they were. Just those bullets alone could be exchanged for two bottles of one-star Evolution Elixir.
But when the battle started, they saw that even the ordinary people had an unlimited supply of bullets. They felt that this wasn't a battle but a money-burning contest.
Darryl and his men grew deeply fearful of this group's strength. If they won this battle, Cloud Peak Manor would gain at least twenty thousand level-one Magic Crystals, hundreds of level-two Magic Crystals, and some level-three Magic Crystals. At an average exchange rate of one hundred Magic Crystals for one bottle of one-star Evolution Elixir, they would have two hundred bottles of Evolution Elixir.
The total number of Evolving persons nearby was about two hundred.
In other words, if they won, Cloud Peak Manor would become the most powerful force in the area.
They were a force to be reckoned with, and Darryl swore then and there that he would never cross them. Not if he wanted to live to see the next sunrise.
As the second defensive line's battle began, Sasha and her men, along with Gemma and Pill, moved into their predetermined positions behind the zombie horde.
