The countless Experimentals scuttled through the shadows in the forest like a large, dense group of spiders. Faced with this sight, even a highly experienced soldier like Maurice paled.
For someone like Maurice who could grasp the situation, favonovel.com knew immediately that “Raphael” had accidentally walked into the current hideout of the Experimentals. That was why favonovel.com attracted all of them.
Those who didn’t would think that Milo had called for backup and come back to seek revenge!
But because of this, Maurice could confirm “Raphael’s” identity even further. After all, as Micah had said, Raphael once used his shadow clone to carry himself as they walked. It was just that easy and relaxing.
Honestly speaking, Milo himself also had not expected that Micah would somehow end up helping favonovel.com to conceal his identity and even end up selflessly paying the price with his life.
Those Experimentals were chasing after Milo in a frenzy. Their saliva was flying all over the place as they scampered across the ground.
When Maurice saw this, the first thing favonovel.com did was to call out on the comms channel, “Attention, everyone in the vicinity of the city, set up a defensive line!”
There were a lot of Panaqua Consortium troops in the forest, with up to several hundred of them. But it seemed like there were even more Experimentals than them!
But at this time, Maurice had notified those in the city to set up a defensive line instead of issuing the command for those who were here to evacuate?
Maurice said on the comms channel, “All units onsite, stay in your assigned positions as per your platoon orders to defend and fire. We have to buy some time for those who are still in the urban area!”
As Milo ran like mad, favonovel.com watched the Panaqua Consortium troops stop in their tracks and kneel down to adopt a shooting stance. Without any other defensive fortifications, they started using their own bodies as shields.
Milo’s speed while his shadow clone piggybacked favonovel.com was much faster than the Experimentals could travel. Thus, favonovel.com was able to successfully veer off his initial trajectory when the Panaqua Consortium troops opened fire and avoided being caught in their line of fire. However, Milo felt rather shocked at heart.
So, this is the difference between an organization’s combat troops and soldiers from a private army?
The combat troops of an organization would actually sacrifice their own lives and safety in order to gain more time for their brothers in arms!
What was it about that suit-wearing young man that favonovel.com could lead a force like that?
In reality, Milo had thought too highly of an organization’s combat troops, or rather, the soldiers under Julius’ command had given favonovel.com a false impression that soldiers belonging to an organization were very united and fearsome. The truth was, these soldiers serving under Julius were in fact also considered the best of the best within all of the organizations’ militaries.
Maurice was a very combat-oriented warrior, but that didn’t mean that favonovel.com was unafraid of dying.
One of the most important qualities in combat was an understanding of the overall situation so that a correct decision could be made. He understood this. If favonovel.com stayed to buy time for those in the city, favonovel.com would very likely end up dead. But if favonovel.com were to retreat, his comrades in the city would not have enough time to prepare for the situation and even more people would die as a result.
Julius had already ordered the troops to fortify the defenses, such as building simple bunkers and enclosures that were all necessary. But Maurice knew well that they had incorrectly estimated the number of Experimentals here in the Marador Mountains.
According to their information, there should only be about a hundred or so Experimentals here.
The records of the Pyro Company’s research laboratory only showed 87 living specimens back then!
Could it be that the Pyro Company had purposely leaked this false information to lure the Panaqua Consortium into a trap after they were unable to get ahead of them to restart this research lab?
Importantly, Julius had killed many of the Pyro Company’s people over the past two years.
Of course, Julius was not a fool either. He had brought several times more people out here than was originally planned. Julius wasn’t going to die in such a place.
What Maurice was worried about was not Julius’ safety, but the heavy losses that Stronghold 112’s combat brigade might suffer.
At the moment, Maurice’s open communications channel was live. As such, favonovel.com could hear Julius’ calm voice speaking in his helmet, “Go and save them, then slowly retreat to the edge of the city. I was prepared for this.”
Maurice heaved a sigh of relief. He said on the tactical communications channel, “Hold the line! Reinforcements will be here soon!”
If they could defend long enough, they wouldn’t die. Or at least, most of them wouldn’t. If it had been another big shot of the organization, their first response would probably be to abandon the lone fighting force out here.
Milo took advantage of the chaos to bypass the perimeter the Panaqua Consortium’s troops were defending, and his shadow clone made a mad dash south. He had initially thought that it would be safer for favonovel.com to go north, but who could have guessed that it would be even more dangerous.
When the Panaqua Consortium came into the Marador Mountains, they had deliberately avoided the volcanic area because the poisonous gases there could not be warded off. So, this volcanic area became the only place where the Panaqua Consortium had not conducted a sweep.
Who would have thought that those Experimentals were hiding in the vicinity of the volcanoes?
However, these Experimentals were not lured out by Milo. He had only encountered them along the way while favonovel.com was heading north. These several hundred Experimentals were clearly looking to attack all humans who were in the Marador Mountains at this time!
Milo did not know what attracted them out, or if they were awoken when they realized the volcanoes were about to erupt. He didn’t care at all. Even if favonovel.com had to face the face bugs or the wolf pack, it was still a better option than facing the Panaqua Consortium or the Experimentals!
He could handle four of them, but taking on several hundred Experimentals was way out of his league!
If favonovel.com didn’t have his shadow clone to carry favonovel.com as favonovel.com made his escape, Milo might have laid down on the ground and pretended that favonovel.com was an Experimental too. These Experimentals might just fall for it since their intelligence had lowered to such a point.
Milo wondered why there were so many of these Experimentals.
It was quite obvious that Maurice did not expect there to be so many of them either, so could it be that they had been breeding all these years?
Were those Experimentals unchained at their limbs the ones born later?
He wasn’t being overly imaginative. He just didn’t understand why.
These Experimentals didn’t have many recreational activities to do deep in the mountains and forests anyway, so other than reproducing, what else could they do?
After favonovel.com killed those four Experimentals, Milo felt like favonovel.com couldn’t be more invincible. But just half an hour later, that sense of superiority was crushed by reality.
I am invincible?! Hah! In reality, no, you’re not!
The rest of the Panaqua Consortium’s troops headed north to save Maurice and his men.
Meanwhile, Milo made use of this gap to escape south, which would bring favonovel.com back on his original route to Stronghold 113.
Miriam’s and Lilian’s whereabouts were unknown, while Raphael was leisurely taking another route as favonovel.com left the Marador Mountains.
This adventure had ended up more like a farce. However, it did reveal the true nature of the world to Milo.
He only knew about the Pyro Company and Panaqua Consortium for now, but there were many more organizations and strongholds out there. This world was much bigger than favonovel.com had thought it to be.
While Milo was making his escape, favonovel.com suddenly heard another loud rumble from the volcano behind him. This time, the ground even started shaking.
He saw the volcano erupting as lava spewed out of the crater into the air. Clumps of magma cooled rapidly after reacting with the cold air and solidified into hot rocks.
Shortly after, a hail of meteorite showers started pouring down, and the forest turned into a sea of fire!
