"Something's happening inside!" shouted the rat shooter through the walkie-talkie.
Gunfire echoed from within, and people began rushing toward the source of the noise.
"Copy that," the colonel acknowledged the sniper's report and quickly relayed the information to Kenthelion.
"Tell the troops to begin the assault," Kenthelion ordered, his expression darkening.
"Boss... something disgusting just came out!"
The sniper took aim, focusing his scope on a grotesque devouring beast charging out of the wreckage—alongside Mark and Rangbing.
"Weren't the devouring beasts supposed to be trapped inside?" Kenthelion muttered, confused, as he watched the creature tailing the others. But it was already too late.
A sharp shot rang out.
A laser beam seared through the air, striking the devouring beast that had just emerged. It let out a final screech and collapsed.
At the same time, the 188th Regiment under the Armageddon Steel Legion surged forward. Hundreds of heavily armed soldiers disembarked from Chimera armored vehicles, surrounding the stranded troops with swift precision.
"Nobody move! Drop your weapons! I repeat—drop your weapons!"
Seeing the aggressive Stormtroopers, Mark hurriedly warned, "Sir! Be careful—too much noise will attract more Devouring beasts!"
A deep roar followed—
"HROAAAH!!"
The Devouring Beasts that had been chasing Mark earlier suddenly burst through the outer wall and began slaughtering everyone in sight.
Amid flashes of lightning and pouring rain, a massive figure appeared from the shadows. With one giant hand, it grabbed the neck of a Devouring Beast.
Click.
The sound of metal locking in place echoed just before a jagged axe revved up and tore through the beast from bottom to top, shredding it into pieces.
Mark: "...…" (Frozen in shock)
The towering figure turned toward the soldiers and spoke in a deep, commanding voice:
"Alright, sir. So this is the so-called threat? Nothing more than a bug. Now, tell your people to drop their weapons and raise their hands."
At that moment, the Stormtroopers and the soldiers of the Armageddon Steel Legion simultaneously raised their blasters and flamethrowers, aiming straight at the hunters.
"God… all hope lies above…" someone muttered.
Suddenly, a few Tech-Priests emerged from the rear of the unit. As they laid eyes on the gravity armor before them, a collective sigh escaped their lips.
"Hey, hey, hey! Don't touch that gravity armor—it belongs to Captain Mark!" Mo Cheng shouted urgently from the team.
He stared at the group of robed figures, their bodies intertwined with machinery, gently caressing the armor.
"Where did you find this antique? This… this is the Ohm Messiah! A true masterpiece! I can't wait to witness its machine spirit!"
"What's wrong with you people? It's just gravity armor! Haven't you seen one before?" Mo Cheng snapped.
"Gravity armor? Do you actually use this in combat?" one of the priests asked, astonished.
"Of course, but only elite warriors are allowed to use them!" Mo Cheng replied, with a slightly mocking tone.
"By the Omnissiah! These people are actually using such a divine relic in battle… that's blasphemy against the Machine God!" one of the priests gasped as he reached for a censer to sanctify the armor.
"Whatever floats your cog," the colonel muttered.
"Move it aside."
"Oh? You still intend to do it?"
Just as Mo Cheng was about to protest again, he saw one of the Tech-Priests extend several massive mechanical arms from beneath his robe and begin lifting the armor carefully.
"What… is that thing?" Mo Cheng asked, staring at the outstretched arms with suspicion.
"What do these weirdos even want?" Ran Bing, standing next to Mark, asked quietly.
"I don't know. Let's just wait and see,
Mark was someone who always saw the bigger picture. He didn't believe that a few dozen of his people, even with some gravity armors, could actually defeat hundreds on the opposing side—especially when those gravity suits looked like ancient relics.
What is wrong with these people?
As the captain of the hunters, Mark could tell at a glance that the man clad in red gravity armor was anything but ordinary. The Devouring Beast—creatures that could normally tear through dozens of soldiers with ease—hadn't lasted more than a few seconds in the hands of that man.
What the hell are these superstitious fanatics doing now?
The Stormtroopers sneered openly as soon as the Tech-Priests appeared. Blasters ready, they tried to shoo the priests away, clearly annoyed. But in the blink of an eye, even the Stormtroopers became oddly obsessed with some of the scanning drones the priests had brought along, mumbling things like "Machine God," "Praise the Omnissiah," and other nonsense that only a true cultist would say.
Unbeknownst to them, the Tech-Priests were just as dismissive of the Stormtroopers. When they saw how crudely the troopers repaired their weapons, one of the senior priests nearly had a mechanical meltdown.
In short, the relationship between the two sides wasn't just bad—it was abysmal.
This wasn't news to Kenthelion. He received reports like this all the time. Especially from Castellan, who was always sending complaints. In response, Kenthelion had to constantly smooth things over—sometimes by sending Tech-Priests to work with Star Wars personnel, while in other places, he simply handed over command to Alice Claire Redfield or Ada Wong and let them handle the chaos.