Chapter 423 – Work
Private Rhys Chapman moved with his squad as they advanced into the Exclusion Zone. The artillery barrage had taken out most of the buildings in the area, the ones that had survived years of abuse and neglect from the goblins, at least. Incendiaries had lit fires, causing distraction.
He was Bravo Team, Third Squad, Charlie Company, 1st Ranger Battalion. In the hour since the major bombardment stopped, they had pushed down from Boynton Beach, into the Dunes Road neighborhood. Decent time for covering a bit more than two miles, considering that they were shooting and killing goblins where they found them, and pausing to verify kills. Slower than they could move, with their System-enhanced bodies, but faster than this kind of advance would have been in pre-System times.
It felt strange, not having access to the System. Oh, they’d trained for it in the special SIF Training Field at Hunter. But it still felt wrong, not being able to use any of his active skills or active abilities on his gear. Thankfully, his body didn’t feel any different. He was still as strong, fast, and tough as ever, and the stats on his uniform, armor, and weapons were still there. He just couldn’t use any of the active abilities.
The [Infantry Combat Uniform] had enchantments to increase the wearer’s STR and DEX, making every infantryman on the field stronger and more agile than they normally were. It also provided protection from contact chemical weapons and some Fire Resistance, and had a passive enchantment to keep the wearer comfortable, no matter how hot or cold it was. The [Ranger Infantry Armor] and [Ranger Infantry Helmet] gave a bunch of extra Defense, and extra CON, as well as defense against mental attacks. The [Ranger Infantry Mask] was a gas mask that provided the wearer with clean air to breathe, making them immune to gas attacks, but also had a Flare Resistance skill, protecting them from flash-bangs, glare, and gaze attacks.
His M4A1 and M17 both had durability, self-repair, and anti-jamming enchantments on them, making them hard to damage and reliable. The active effects weren’t working, of course, but having weapons that won’t jam or get damaged is enough. And his melee options had durability, self-repair, and armor-piercing abilities as passive effects.
Then, there were the passive effects of his class and profession. He was a Level 20 Ranger / Soldier. Ranger boosted DEX and WIS, making his shots more accurate, and helping him both spot enemies and overcome illusions. Soldier boosted STR and CON, giving him more power, and more survivability. Ranger also had passive skills which helped with his marksmanship, and those were still working, even in the SIF. Soldier, on the other hand, helped with weapon and armor proficiencies, along with access to passive skills which could help in long-running battles.
Rhys knew he was better off than some of the others in his squad. He’d looked at the skills on offer, and mostly stacked passives from the Class, Profession, and General offerings. Not as flashy as some of the others, when the System was up and running, but far more reliable, and he didn’t run out of stamina or mana nearly as quickly as some of the others. As a bonus, his [Trapfinding], [Danger Sense], and [Survivalist] skills were all passives, as well. Which is why his Team Leader, Sergeant Zara Barnes, put him on point.
Rhys took a breath as he fired, taking another goblin center-mass. The goblins were beginning to get organized. Not in formations, of course. But they were starting to shake off the effects of the artillery barrage, and were beginning to mass into groups. They might be dumb creatures, but they weren’t stupid. Even without the System, or any active abilities, the gunfire wasn’t subtle, and the death cries of the goblins they killed were attracting attention.
Whump. BOOM!
Of course, grouping up only gave Private Tony Weiss, Bravo Team’s grenadier, a nice target for the M320 grenade launcher attached to his rifle. High-explosive 40mm grenades were always good for taking out lightly-armored groups of targets, and the rest of the team, as well as Alpha Team nearby, could take out the remainder, no problem. So long as they didn’t give the goblins time to really organize or learn how to use their magic without the System’s help, this was going to be a walk in the park.
He squeezed the trigger as another goblin popped up. It was only after the goblin fell, and a secondary explosion from his grenade went off, spreading chunks of goblin all around, that he realized that had to be one of the Goblin Alchemists. A good reminder for him not to get cocky. Primitive weapons and improvised explosives could still kill, and while the medics might have trained to be able to use some of their active skills while inside the SIF, a Healer / Soldier, like they were, wasn’t going to be able to regrow a severed limb in the field, or treat the really bad burns.
“Good shooting, Rhys,” Sergeant Barnes said, next to him. The Sergeant was a Fighter / Soldier, but she’d taken more active skills. She’d learned to use some of them without System assist, of course, but she was still working with maybe half her usual kit, and she knew it. But that is why the Army put people in teams and squads. Strengths and weaknesses covering for each other and all that.
“Just saw movement, Ma’am. Didn’t see the grenade until it was blowing up.”
“That’s fine, Private. Orders for this op are simple. If it isn’t human, kill it. The only humans in the zone are us Rangers, so there’s no problems, there.”
“Sergeant Barnes!” That was Staff Sergeant Devan Walter, Squad Leader for Third Squad. “Drones are showing targets gathering ahead. Estimated numbers about two thousand. Defensive positions while Weapons Platoon and the 1-9 instruct them on why that’s a bad idea. Fourth Squad is setting up field of fire with the Mark in case they decide to come our way.”
Explosions were the order of the day when it came to taking on hordes of enemies. Mortars and artillery blasted the landscape up ahead, and Rhys heard the screams of goblins. Then, he saw them. A tide of green fury, wearing mismatched, primitive armor, if they had any armor at all, and more than a few running forward with severed limbs to use as clubs! Like something out of a fucking horror movie.
Fourth Squad gave their answer to the incoming greenskins with the roar of Alpha Team’s M240L and Bravo Team’s Mark 48. The 240L was loaded with the [Expanded Ammo Pouches], while the Mark 48 had [Expanded Ammo Boxes], but both of them were able to hold 10,000 rounds. The beastly things were a machine gunner’s dream, but Rhys had heard Fourth Squad complaining that they had to do all the reloading for the pouches and boxes themselves. Which meant that, if they had too much fun, they’d need to spend literal hours loading the pouches back up.
The only bright spot, as far Fourth Squad’s griping was concerned, was that the [Belt Reloader] item produced a seemingly infinite amount of disintegrating links for the belts. Supposedly, magic made the links appear, and they disappeared after use. This meant they weren’t littering, which someone probably cared about, but what Fourth Squad really liked was that they didn’t have to haul around physical belts that might drag or get caught on things, and they didn’t need to worry about maybe running out of links before they ran out of rounds, if supplies were compromised.
The bright spot, as far as Rhys was concerned, was that the guns still put lead downrange, and without any magic or system tricks to protect them, the greenskins were learning very fast how bad long-ranged cordless hole punchers could be. His own rifle barked as they closed in, adding to the fire from the rest of the company. The mortar teams weren’t letting up, either, as more explosions ripped through the charging horde.
Sergeant Barnes tapped him on the shoulder. “Private Chapman, you’re the closest thing we have to a dedicated marksman in the team, so start looking for officers, or equivalent. Private Weiss, Corporal Jones, and I will focus on the rank and file.”
Barnes didn’t wait for a reply, even as he said, “Aye, Ma’am,” and got to work. Corporal Adam Jones on the M249 was more than happy to apply himself to the rank and file, and Tony loved making enemies turn into a red mist. Barnes focused on ensuring none of the goblins that slipped through the cracks got close enough to be a problem. And Rhys? He started hunting.
As he scanned the field, he saw a few ‘special’ goblins, the ones that counted as officers. The one with a goat skull on its head, despite the fact that there closest thing there were to ‘wild goats’ in Florida were feral goats that used to be livestock which lived up towards the panhandle. Probably a Goblin Shaman. Goat skull wasn’t a substitute for a proper helmet, and it sure didn’t keep Rhys’s bullets from piercing the goblin’s chest, or spraying the shaman’s blood on the goblin behind him.
A big, orange goblin-like thing stood in the middle of the horde. Hobgoblin, according to the briefing file. Variant evolution that was bigger, tougher, and stronger than the normal goblins. Also smarter, but that was not a high bar to clear. This one was also wearing a steel plate as armor, and had an actual helmet, of sorts. He pulled the trigger, but the steel plate stopped his bullets cold. And then the hobgoblin produced what looked like the door from an armored car that it was using as a shield. More importantly, the thing looked angry.
Before he could shout a warning to Sergeant Barnes, there was the distinctive crack-whoosh of the Carl Gustaf from Fourth Squad’s Goose Team entering the fight. He knew Gooses were carrying a [Multi-Thread Gunner Magazine]. Which was a fancy way of saying that someone took the standard Haley Strategic Carl-Gustaf Pack from before the Initialization, and made each of the four slots hold thirty of the 84mm rounds, without the thing weighing more than a normal four-round pack. Of course, even with the attributes the System offered, firing too many rounds from that gun was going to see you needing some healing magic, just from the shock waves.
Thankfully, the HEAT (High Explosive Anti-Tank) round proved that an armored car door and a steel plate were no match for something designed to put holes in APVs. The top half of the Hobgoblin was now a good six feet from the bottom half, and neither was looking like they’d be back in the fight, ever. Rhys started scanning for more priority targets.
A flicker of something caught his eye. Shadow, moving wrong. He turned, and fired, just as the shadow became flesh. Bullets splattered goblin brains as the Goblin Ambusher discovered that its stealth was not as effective as it thought. However, the steel knives it was holding would have definitely put Sergeant Barnes in a bad mood if they’d hit her.
“Good cover, Rhys!” she called out, her eyes still focused on the task at hand. There’d be time for other talk once they were through entertaining their guests.
Rhys scanned, and found another Goblin Alchemist going by the bandoleer of crude grenades it was wearing. Round hit his chest, and a cloud of green gas erupted, melting the flesh from all the nearby goblins. Must have hit one of the Alchemist’s grenades. Even with the [Temporary Blessing of Kuronoth], that would not have been fun to get on the receiving end. Definitely didn’t want to know what kind of acid they were using for that, and so long as they weren’t landing in his squad, he didn’t care, for now.
The goblins, now short their leaders, and cut down to almost fifty survivors, turned, and began to run, trying to escape. The machine guns didn’t let that happen. After all, the goblins all needed to die to cleanse the dungeon. More importantly, if they ran back to other leaders, some of them might be smart enough to figure out tactics that would make this a far bloodier affair.
Sergeant Barnes whistled to get their attention. “Bravo Team, form up. Verify corpses and ensure there are no survivors in the mix. Come on, boys! You know the only reward for good work is more work!”