Doomsday Pillars

Two hours after the battle has started.

BOOOOOM!!! BOOOOOMM!!!

Two consecutive explosion sounds could be heard echoing from the north and south side of Sydney city, signifying the complete destruction of the two connecting bridges leading to the city center.

With the destruction of the two bridges, the center of attack for the zombie hordes moved to just three points. Even though that meant the zombie horde would focus their attacks on those three points, the limited terrain and small areas to protect made it easy for Sydney's army to effectively deploy their limited number of soldiers. 

But in just two hours of combat, of the 10 battalions on the entire battlefield that came face to face with the zombie hordes, except for the 11th and 12th battalions that had their own job, each had lost 10 - 20 percent of its members on average. These statistics truly illustrate how cruel and terrifying the battle was this time.

The highest number of casualties occurred at the Sydney Gate's defense line, whose protected area stretched for more than 3 kilometers, which was relentlessly flooded by thousands of zombies.

Inside a tall building that is temporarily used as a command center, a male officer with a 3 star insignia embroidered on his shoulder was seen rushing into the room. A man watched the captain who had suddenly entered and spoke..

"What happened, captain? What's with the rush?" said the man calmly.

"C-Colonel Angus, the defense line can not last much longer." said the captain breathlessly because of his run earlier.

The Sydney Gate's 3 kilometers defense line has been guarded by 6 battalions. 6 battalions means that 6 thousand soldiers are simultaneously holding back the zombie horde. So theoretically, that 3 kilometers line was manned by 2 fighters per meter, which under normal circumstances was enough to deal with normal monsters especially when every soldier was at least an Earth realm fighter.

Unfortunately, the current situation that they were facing was not normal at all. The number of zombies invading the defensive line was 10 times more than the number of troops assigned to guard. Their numbers are simply not comparable.

After 2 hours of non-stop fighting, most of the soldiers had fired all of their bullets and could only start using the tier 1 and tier 2 artifacts at their disposal. Which means that the combat strategy has slowly begun to shift from long range attacks where soldiers suppress and injure hordes of zombies using their firearms to close combat where casualties are more frequent.

If this current condition persisted and no changes were made, there was a high chance that these 6 thousand soldiers would definitely be physically and mentally destroyed in the next 1 hour. And what happened next after the destruction of the army was the doomed Sydney city and its citizens.

Colonel Angus stepped onto the balcony of the room he now occupied while the captain stood there at the table. He quickly cast his gaze towards the distant battlefield that was filled with smokes and various faint sounds of battle. His gaze was filled with worry, worried about their uncertain fate in this battle.

He suddenly remembered the words of that colonel from Indonesia who said that they would not last more than 4 hours if they continued to carry out the strategy they had planned. He shuddered at the thought of what their fate would be if they didn't blow up the two bridges and stubbornly defended it. He hated to admit how accurate the man's prediction was.

The colonel then noticed a red smoke rising from one of the posts. A signal indicates that the squad guarding the place has failed to guard the post and the zombies will immediately break through the defensive line.

"Captain, come here!" shouted Colonel Angus.

"Yes, Colonel?" replied the captain as he walked to the balcony.

Colonel Angus pointed his finger at the red smoke and said "Hurry and send 2 squads there to fill in the gap!"

Turning his head in the direction the colonel was pointing at, the captain quickly replied while giving a military salute. "Yes, sir!"

The captain immediately left the room to organize the reinforcements. Seeing the situation, Colonel Angus could not help but sigh helplessly. 'We are doomed…'

They no longer have any reserve troops that can be deployed. Nearly all of the 12th Battalion, which was supposed to guard the rearguard and headquarter, was sent to the Sydney Gate battlefield to close the gap.

The Colonel squeezed his frowning forehead and laughed wryly at himself. "4 hours? It's a miracle to last 3 hours."

He shook his head and was about to continue when he saw two red smoke appearing at the posts. The sight made him laugh wryly in his heart, bringing enormous frustration. The colonel was just about to step in and help out in person when he suddenly saw 3 more red smoke rising from other posts.

The problem the Sydney Gate faced was that the defensive area was a line, meaning that to defend the Sydney Gate they needed to spread their army widely which made their limited number of troops a problem. Because when one of the posts inside the defensive line was broken, they had to fill in the gap immediately so the zombie horde could not penetrate that point.

When the defensive line is breached and the zombies rush through the broken point, the horde can choose to attack the army from their side or behind which is a really dangerous situation. So it would be better for the Sydney army to retreat when the defensive line is broken.

The appearance of another 3 red smokes brought the feeling of helplessness to the Colonel's firm heart. The colonel could only shook his head again and was ready to give the order to retreat when he saw the 11th Battalion led by the colonel from Indonesia coming to help from behind in the distance.

"They are finally here!" said the colonel with a sigh of relief

Arief and his 100 Special Death Squad soldiers have reached the mid stage of Sky realm stage before this. Led by them, the 11th Battalion charged forward, jumped over the roof of the buildings and began to cut down and kill all the zombies who crossed the line.

Several flashes of artifacts can be seen as Arief and his men bulldoze through the zombies using their various artifacts, mowing them down as easily as wild grasses. Colonel Angus was amazed at how effortless it was for Arief and his team to clean up the zombie hordes.

Not long after, the Colonel, who was still amazed, noticed the sudden appearance of the shadow of the building he was in, even though the sun was supposed to be above his head. He immediately turned around and saw in the window a bright ray of light appeared behind the building where he was currently. The light was so bright that the shadows of the buildings were very dark but strangely it did not hurt his eyes.

Colonel Angus quickly walked over to the window and saw another two bright lights. The three bright rays then formed into 3 rows and before long, a barrier with a translucent blue glow covered the 3 kilometer long area behind the Sydney Gate.

Colonel Angus suddenly realized that Colonel Arief was already beside him without him noticing. He almost cleaved the man with his ax artifact due to how surprised he was.

"W-What the..? Since when were you here?" asked the Colonel, putting away his ax.

"Just now." answered Arief calmly.

"Thank you for coming and the timely assist. Was that the barrier that was mentioned earlier?"

"Yeah"

"That's amazing. But, why did you put it at the back of the line?" asked Colonel Angus, puzzled.

"I did that to make sure we could fight without worrying that the zombies that had passed us could harm civilians." Arief answered.

Nodding at the man's words, Colonel Agus breathed a sigh of relief. "That's great." However, he suddenly realized something and asked. "But… doesn't that mean we're stuck here with them?"

"Correct"

"W-Why?" Colonel Angus in confusion.

Glancing at the man, Arief opened his mouth. "Colonel Angus, these zombies will not stop until all of us are eliminated. Don't you agree with what I said?"

"Ahh… Yes, I agree." answered the man with an awkward nod.

Arief continued his words. "And that barrier could not hold on forever." 

Colonel Angus was silent when he heard that. Looking at the man, Arief patted his shoulder and said.

"Don't worry, Colonel. We will have more barriers soon."

Right after Arief finished speaking, two bright lights appeared again and penetrated the cloud. It then formed the same barrier on the right and left of the Sydney Gate area, leaving only a 1 kilometer gap in the Sydney Gate defensive line.

"There you go, Colonel. We have succeeded. Now, we need to focus the remaining soldiers from the 6 battalions into that 1 kilometer gap."

Colonel Angus was speechless when he saw what was happening before his eyes. At that instant, the sense of helplessness and frustration he felt instantly vanished as relief took over. With the appearance of the barrier, the area that needed to be defended was reduced, allowing the military to deploy 5 to 6 soldiers per meter to guard the defensive line. He can also start doing a wave strategy whereby the 6 battalion soldiers split into two and defend alternately.

Arief then said. "My job is done."

Colonel Angus hurriedly turned and said. "Yes,you have my gratitude. You just saved countless lives with these barriers, Colonel. But, what are you going to do now?"

Arief pulled out a giant sword from his storage ring and said.

"I'm going to the front line now. I need more exercise."

Before Colonel Angus could answer back, the middle aged man had already jumped from the fifth floor and ran towards the front line with a calm smile on his face.

Arief really wanted to run forward and break through the zombie horde, looking for the stage 5 zombie who was thought to be the mastermind of this attack, but the safety of the soldiers came first. 

And, it might be a good idea to wait for Alex and Jerry's team to arrive.

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