Chapter 92: Chapter 91, The Storm Trap
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The Battle Nuns were on the right track.
The factory, already blasted into ruins, was of little value to shell anymore. The half-destroyed ruins provided better cover for survivors and were sturdier than a normal factory building.
To take it down, it still relied on the infantry assault.
If it had only been the armed workers as the opponent, two infantry battalions would have been more than enough to handle it. The number of armed workers still alive wouldn’t be that large, and they lacked heavy weaponry as well as military skills. Even if they seemed fearless in the face of death, it was just a matter of time before all were killed.
With the skills of the governor’s soldiers, even in the bloodiest of close-quarters battles, the actual losses would be quite limited.
They just needed to kill those in the blue robes.
And that’s exactly what the nuns were doing.
Indeed, they were doing it well, with courageous actions, leading the soldiers to start advancing again.
Moreover, after getting a clear picture of the situation on the battlefield, the commanders of the 2nd and the 6th battalions participating in this fight also planned to increase the frontline soldiers. Thus, four infantry companies were thrown into the frontlines of battle, including the only company with a special number in the entire troop–Abandoned Cave Company.
With the Battle Nuns systematically striking and eliminating the blue-robed in large numbers, without the ‘artillery’ support, the remaining armed workers found it extremely difficult to continue their desperate resistance.
The situation tilted back in favor of the governor’s soldiers.
Under such circumstances, the battle should have been drawing to a close.
…
After Gu Hang arrived at the scene and briefly met with Perbov, Lambert, and others commanding the outskirts, he used telekinesis to lift his body high and survey the battle from above. The situation seemed approximately as described.
By rights, this should have eased his worries significantly.
The nuns of Saint Mercy Lily were putting in a commendable effort against the Heretic Cult; the soldiers, accompanying the battle, were in high spirits. Although there were some casualties, it was entirely within the acceptable range.
Although a factory was wrecked, this should be the only place within Revival City still capable of mounting a large-scale armed resistance. Once this was over, the job would be considered done. This show of force was a warning to the remaining Alliance elites, leaving them with no chance to resist, trembling under the slaughter wielded by Lambert.
However, Gu Hang felt a sudden surge of unease at that moment.
It was as if a great disaster was about to take shape right before his eyes.
He directly activated Spiritual Vision to inspect the entire battlefield.
Gu Hang saw many specks of Storm Heresy reactions.
Those armed workers had been preemptively implanted with some kind of heretical power that could be detonated after death, or even while they were still alive.
The specks of Storm Heresy that Gu Hang saw were likely these, under normal circumstances.
As for others that were strong or weak, those had to be the cultists in blue robes who had exposed themselves. They were being fully assaulted by Saint Mercy Lily and were dying fast.
If things continued at this rate, in a few more hours, before the sun set, the entire factory area would be thoroughly cleansed.
In conclusion, at a glance, Gu Hang didn’t see any problems.
So what was that earlier feeling of unease all about?
Could it be that it wasn’t a spiritual warning at all, just his brain glitching from recent exhaustion?
Thinking this, Gu Hang felt somewhat relieved.
Of course, that would be for the best.
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Otherwise, if there really were a crisis, then that would be troublesome.
With that thought, Gu Hang took another glance at the battlefield.
Still no problems… Wait a minute?!
Gu Hang furrowed his brows deeply.
It wasn’t that he saw anything new, but he realised he might have missed something.
The dots of light that symbolised Storm Sorcery seemed a bit too numerous.
According to the reports from Perbov about the previous state of the battle, even if any armed workers died, their bodies would be used as land mines and fired out as cannon fodder.
The corpse bombs that were used up, of course, shouldn’t still have light dots.
And when the nuns of Saint Lily started to show their power, targeting those blue-robed Cultists, the soldiers followed suit, dealing with the remaining armed workers.
Without the control of a sorcerer, the dead bodies wouldn’t detonate on their own. But even so, the soldiers kept their distance from those bodies that hadn’t exploded, ensuring they wouldn’t be blown up by some Cultist sorcerer who hadn’t been eliminated in time.
The problem of how to deal with these remaining bodies would be troublesome, but at least for now, they didn’t pose a threat to the battle.
However, the number of light dots that Gu Hang saw didn’t quite match the number of workers the soldiers had killed and those who were still stubbornly resisting in the center of the ruins.
Moreover, many of the Storm Heresy light dots overlapped with the positions of the soldiers.
He had thought before that it might be the soldiers accidentally getting too close. But upon closer observation, it became clear that the soldiers had no idea they were standing next to the bodies of armed workers.
It was normal for one or two people to be careless, but for so many to be overlapping was anything but normal.
Did they have a death wish?
Impossible.
Considering the previous situation, Gu Hang was startled to realize: Were those the bodies of the workers who had died in the bombardment, buried under the factory ruins, triggered by hundreds of previous shellings?
They were implanted with the energy of Storm Sorcery just like the others and could also be used as corpse bombs.
It was just that because of the previous shelling, a large area of the factory buildings had collapsed, burying many bodies or even living people under the debris.
But being buried didn’t mean they were no longer a threat.
What if these thousands of corpses were to detonate at the same time beneath the rubble?
It would be like thousands of compressed air bombs exploding underneath, releasing shockwaves and air pressure that would blow the seemingly solid and stable semi-ruined site into the sky.
For those deeply entrenched within, the consequences would be catastrophic.
The four infantry companies of the 2nd and 6th battalions would probably be annihilated, not to mention even Georgette’s six Battle Nuns, who might suffer greatly from this one wave.
After understanding the risk, Gu Hang didn’t even have the time to communicate with Perbov, Lambert, and others.
His order, transmitted through the means of spiritual energy shaking, resonated across the entire battlefield:
“I am Gu Hang, I command everyone to cease fighting and evacuate the factory area.”
“Repeat, evacuate the factory area immediately!”
To prevent Georgette, who was not his subordinate, from misunderstanding his orders, he specifically pulled a spiritual energy communication line to her, sending his voice directly into her ears: “This place is likely a trap, evacuate first, we can make long-term plans later!”