PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

340 Chapter 340 The Battle Of The Bitter Winter (4)

Watching as their lieutenant began to engage a group of four panthers together, both Claire and the rest of the squad worried for his safety but didn’t have the time to do anything about it now that two panthers were pointing their claws at them.

Claire’s efforts were barely enough to hold off one of the panthers while Silvia struggled to hold off the other, the rest of the squad members trying to use cover fire to hold off the beasts and slowly subdue them.

But they soon realized how naive they were, without the combined efforts of Claire and Silvia it wasn’t possible to contain these panthers whose strength and speed allow them to quickly go from offensive to defensive.

Although Panthers weren’t faster than bullets, these were at least faster than people using guns by several folds.

One of the panthers found a momentary opening in the group’s containment and lunged at Silvia, her ice-cold eyes showing a brief moment of panic but clarity returning to them as a purple glow slowed the panther enough for her to dodge.

This time it was Claire’s turn to be in danger, due to her being distracted and concentrating her telekinetic strength on restraining the panther about to attack Silvia, the other panther quickly made its way to her through the hail of bullets.

Claws at the ready, saliva dripping from its jaws ready for the kill when it suddenly staggered, twelve gunshots coming from another direction as the bullets non-stop impacted the panther’s back.

With bloodshot eyes, the panther tried to move forward leaving behind a trail of blood made up of all the blood falling from its wounded back only to be met by the point of a translucent revolver before the panther’s head exploded into pieces.

Now with one of the panthers dead, Silvia and Claire managed to join forces to completely suppress the second panther who soon fell to a disadvantage.

.....

Back at Desmond’s side, now with his modified Haenel Mk556 aimed at the remaining two panthers, a rather sadistic expression that slipped from his lips before the low sound of the gas mechanism on the gun was followed by several tungsten bullets piercing with brutality the vital points of the two panthers that failed to react in time.

“Master.” As soon as Desmond heard Revna’s voice in his ear again, he couldn’t help but inwardly curse when he became aware of a group of strange shadows creeping from the command center on the north wall.

Even Desmond felt intimidated as nearly a dozen black panthers bolted in his direction, leaping and diving into every available shadow like bloodthirsty sharks.

Due to the strange way the panthers seemed to swim in the shadows, Desmond found it somewhat difficult to hit with the assault rifle, like a tide of darkness the panthers closed in seconds.

It took Desmond too long to adjust to its movement patterns so by the time the bullets began to land, Desmond only had enough time to shoot four of them down.

With his squad tired behind him, Desmond knew he couldn’t hold off the remaining panthers and that if these got past him at least half of his squad would die so he was forced to reveal even more of his true strength.

“Damn it, I’m going to run out of mana at this rate.” Desmond cursed as two gusts of wind burst out from under his feet giving him an incredibly high instantaneous acceleration as metallic mana condensed on both hands into two sinister-looking metal claws.

With both arms wide open, Desmond met the onslaught of the panthers unleashing a double death claw strike.

Blood and chunks of flesh flew through the air with at least three panthers falling straight to pieces and another two panthers collapsing to the ground as these quickly bled out.

Desmond for his part had several cuts on his face and his kevlar suit showed several scratches that soon acquired a slightly reddish tint, he had had to take at least a little punishment to be able to face so many strong enemies directly; especially when he used to be used to relying on his skill and not in pure strength.

Having stood guard on the defensive wall for hours and now has been through a couple of grueling fights, Desmond’s body felt the weight of using at such high power for so long that added to the minor injuries he sustained made Desmond momentarily fatigued giving the three remaining living panthers a golden opportunity.

From Desmond’s side of the squad, they had just witnessed his lieutenant’s ridiculous power but quickly realized that Desmond’s effort was no small thing that put him in a dangerous situation.

Then a powerful telekinetic yank took hold of one of the panthers as Claire stretched her hands forward concentrating every ounce of her mental strength, her eyes glowing a deep purple for a moment before said panther was thrown into the air out of the wall to a drop of almost fifty meters.

Out of nowhere a thick spike of ice emerged from the ground right in front of Desmond impaling a panther that failed to stop its momentum before the spike of ice protruded from its back.

And accompanied by a guitar-playing that Desmond still found annoying, the last panther felt its leg snap in two causing it to collapse to its knees in front of Desmond.

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A tired but satisfied expression-filled Desmond’s face as he realized that his squad could cover his back, a bit of an odd expression to have while breaking someone’s neck, but Desmond was always an unconventional person.

Releasing the skull of the panther kneeling in front of him whose neck he had just broken he turn around, Desmond’s expression returned to its usual strict neutrality and he yelled at his squad, “What are you waiting for? a pat on the back and a beer? In case you didn’t notice the artillery guns almost completely stopped along with half of the defensive armament, believe me, we don’t have time to rest; what’s more...”

Having made it this far, Desmond turned to look again at the north wall command post from which no sound came and said, “If I’m right, everyone inside that command post is dead...if the other walls have similar situations, then we just lost our entire chain of command, and half of our defensive weaponry is temporarily disabled.”

Only then did Claire, Silvia, and the rest understand the seriousness of the current situation, from the way it sounded, the city was already as good as lost, but from the expression on Desmond’s face although it seemed serious; he didn’t seem desperate which calmed his squad a lot.

Soon as Desmond’s squad advanced towards the command center of the north wall, they were noticing that the number of dead soldiers seemed much lower than they expected, it seemed that although many gunners died, the number of secondary casualties was not high due to almost all of the panthers on the north wall ending up concentrating on killing Desmond only to fail in the end.

Once again it was as if Desmond was already expecting something like this that’s why his expression didn’t change at all even when he walked into the command center to find the bloodbath that had occurred there.

Unknown to the people behind, Desmond had already sent Revna in her shadow form to check out the interior of the room before arriving in person.

It was almost a coincidence that as soon as Desmond and his squad entered the place, the radio on Desmond’s shoulder began to blare again with status checks from every major station on the battlefield.

When it came time for the command center on the north wall, Desmond took his radio, and as he looked at the half-eaten corpse of Lieutenant Clay; Desmond replied, “Lieutenant Astryd here, the north command center has been eradicated, all officers and personnel perished; Lieutenant Clay has been confirmed killed in action.”

That was by far the worst news that had come out of the radio, the north wall had always been the most difficult to defend at the same time that it had great tactical importance, perhaps that was the reason why it suffered a greater attack than the rest from the walls where only half a dozen black panthers were seen.

“Lieutenant Astryd, reinforcements will be sent shortly and a new officer will be placed in command of the north wall, you and your squad will continue to act independently... your achievements will not be ignored and our losses will not be in vain.” Commander Rundert’s voice was solemn but the man found it difficult to hide the anger he felt at this moment as he gave orders.

Desmond looked around him, at the mangled corpses, the bloodstains reaching the ground, and the reluctant faces these people had before they died; these were men and women who swore to protect those who reside within these walls and did so until their last breath.

And for the first time today, what was on Desmond’s face was not a fake smile or the excitement of the battle, no, this time it was anger and cruelty: “Understood, I will collect this debt with blood Commander”

An aura of malevolence spread from Desmond as the mana began to react to his anger and like a taunt, a mighty howl reverberated across the north wall signaling the entrance of an incredibly powerful mutated beast.