"Charge!!!" Jane Hawkwood screams at the top of her lungs as she and her soldiers of fortune charge up the rubble of a crumbled gatehouse, sword and shield in hand. The remnants of the defenders fight back in response as crossbow bolts are fired and swords clash. Sparse pockets of controlled, chaotic fighting begin to form, bathed under the brilliant 'Starlight'.
The momentum of the battle here is clearly one-sided. The defenders are already battered from salvos of howitzers and field guns, so there are only a few of them left who are willing to fight off the attackers. Most of them simply surrender on the spot. Those who continue to fight are easily outnumbered, isolated, and killed.
Meanwhile, behind the frontline, which lies only about 10 meters away from the remains of the ruined gatehouse, a green-draped forward assembly tent is hurriedly set up.
Inside it, a foldable table is placed along with a set of bulky communication devices surrounding it. On top of the table lies a rudimentary map of the castle that was drawn by a 'Rat' who had been brought into their service, utilizing Valeria's deep coffers.
"Report! All Stormtrooper squads have breached the castle flanks!" the signaler on standby at the communication devices reports as he decodes the Morse code.
"Good, Tell them to continuously send us situational reports, and also pass the message to headquarters." Elena commands, her eyes fixed on the map.
Minutes pass as the 1st Riflemen Company shows up to reinforce the line with even more modern weaponry such as rifles and general-purpose machine guns. They assemble into neat lines, waiting for the next instruction beside the forward assembly tent. One of their commanders, Stahl, the commander of the first section, comes inside the tent and salutes her.
"Stahl, First Section Commander of the 1st Rifle Company, reporting for duty!" Stahl shouts enthusiastically as he salutes her.
She salutes him back and gestures for him to come closer. Then she begins explaining his mission.
"I want you to form a defensive perimeter at the courtyard entrance and set up an MG nest there." She explains the plan as she points down at the map.
"Understood, my Lady Marshal. What are the rules of engagement for the operation?" he asks in reply.
"Same as always. But beware of friendly fire, our Stormtroopers are still fighting in the area. They'll come to the rendezvous point here after they clear the wa—
As she speaks, the signaler snaps his head toward her, his face pale as winter snow.
"Miss... our Stormtroopers... have encountered some problems..." he says in a shaken voice.
-----
"Retreat!!! As we were trained, conduct a delaying action!!!" Konrad shouts loudly as he gives the command. The wound on his arm spews more and more blood like a raging torrent, nearly sending him into a state of blood-loss shock, around him, more and more of his men are wounded or killed by the earth-burrowing monsters as their scythe-like claws shred into the chainmail gaps between their half-plate armor.
His men quickly reform their battle line into a covering-fire and fallback formation, preparing for an orderly tactical retreat despite the chaos at hand, as more and more creatures charge at them from underground.
One machine gun is always set up and firing at the creatures, while another quickly falls back to take up a new position in an orderly fashion, the shots of rifles and submachine guns support them as the vice commander takes command in place of the now-unconscious Konrad.
As he looks around him, he swallows his saliva in horror as the hedges reposition themselves into a new maze-like pattern while they are focused on the monsters beneath the dense mist.
He now has to choose between two simple choices: retreat left or right.
In that split second, he chooses right, trusting his Stoßtruppeninstincts.
They retreat backward for a while, for none of them knows how long, since all their brainpowers is dedicated entirely to the situation at hand, every step matters and every shot counts.
Tar-like, acidic black blood from the monsters splashes across the area, melting away the grassy earth of the courtyard as more and more corpses of both men and monsters fall to the ground.
The fight goes on and on until the mist begins to dissipate, making way for a clearer view of where they are retreating.
It turns out they are not back at the crumbled wall where they started, but in a wide grassy field between the hedge maze and the gatehouse.
-----
"Run here!!!" Stahl screams through the non-electric megaphone in his hand.
Around him stands an entire line of riflemen and machine gunners taking cover behind fallen rubble. Behind them, the entirety of the Whitehawk mercenary company holds their myriad of weapons tightly in a loose formation, ready to spring into action as a reserve if the firing line collapses.
What remains of the First Stormtrooper Squadron runs for their lives toward their comrades' line. Their muscles flex and strain as they jump and dash to take cover behind the rubble alongside their comrades from the 1st Rifle Company.
Then… the tide comes...
Almost a hundred monsters follow them, burrowing and slithering out of the mist, charging madly into a raging storm of withering gunfire.
Blackened blood splashes through the air as the pasta-strainer-like corpses of the monsters pile up across the field. Bullets tear through everything in their path, shredding the monsters' bodies as if they were nothing more than twisted practice dummies.
Stahl shouts encouragement as he fires.
"If it bleeds, we can kill it!" he yells while pulling the trigger, sending a whirlwind of bullets toward the monsters.
The tide turns out to be nothing more than a weak stream of water, as every creature is instantly turned into a pile of corpses under the overwhelming firepower.
Such is the power of modern firepower, which shall one day allows mankind to thrive.
And thus, the crisis comes to an end…
Or was it?