Chapter 974: A Tunnel with One Entrance

[Commanders. All branches are clear. There are no more rooms and no more enemies outside the main entrance.] The away team leader reported.

[Destroy any and all sigils and alien writings that you see. I have no idea what they mean, so some of them might be ways to let more enemies into this section of the tunnel.] Khan ordered.

Max checked the recorded layout of the tunnel complex and frowned.

"Does this look like a barracks to anyone else? I think that these tunnels were created specifically as staging areas for the warriors when they arrived from the other layer.

If my theory is right, the chamber complexes will all be separate, and they will all have a summoning room near them. They're bringing in their forces through these tunnels, where they are hidden from the locals." Max suggested.

"So, they set up a single room in advance, possibly from the other layer, and then dug bunkers around them when they happened to be next to them in real space?

I don't know whether to call that insidious or pure genius. But I must say, I'm impressed at their tactical adaptability." Khan replied with a hint of respect for the warriors.

They might fight and look like brutes, but when it came to strategy, they knew what they were doing, and they had created a supply line that their opponents couldn't touch.

[Back away from the entrance, the heavy weapons are coming down the ramp.] The Android squad leader informed them.

Max nodded at Nico, then stepped forward with Huntress Khan to put the three of them at the bottom of the ramp, and then fired their Fusion Flamers up toward the surface.

They risked serious damage to the concrete, but the combined heat of three Fusion Flamers would create an inferno right up to the bunker and clear the first wave of enemy heavy weapons.

The light-duty Fusion Flamers used by the Mobile Suits couldn't be used constantly, even if they weren't afraid of trapping themselves underground, and after a few seconds, they were forced to back off and allow the enemy to approach down the tunnel again.

There was a pinging noise that Max recognized as grenades rolling downhill, so he activated an energy barrier just around the corner from them so the explosions would happen out of sight and mostly blocked by the bend in the tunnel.

"Incoming grenades." He informed the Hunters, who couldn't see what was happening from their positions in the other rooms.

The explosion was deafening, and the ground rumbled with the force of the explosions, making all of the Hunters cross their fingers for luck until the noise ended and the sound of boots replaced it.

[Back off to the back of the room. Let them down the tunnel so they don't do anything drastic.] Khan ordered.

That would also prevent plugging the tunnel with corpses and let the rest of the team in on the fight.

They had all arranged themselves in the secondary rooms so they could see into the main room from some angle, allowing them to target the enemies that got inside without risking a deadly crossfire.

Khan and the door guard took positions along the closest wall so they could attack from the peripheral vision of the entrants, while Max and Nico stood along the far wall with a better shot up the tunnels but in clear view of the incoming enemies.

It was a more risky position but also a more damaging one.

Back when they were still Kepler soldiers, neither of them would have willingly taken this spot, but times had changed, and they had the confidence that they could avoid major damage from these warriors.

They weren't going to make it easy, though, and the entrance of the room filled with fire right before three large warriors with heavy grenade launchers rushed through.

They barely got their first few rounds off before they were cut down, but more were right behind them with those standard-issue rocket-propelled grenades.

The explosion was concentrated and intended to breach armour like a crude and makeshift version of a Mass Driver. But for as crude as the technology was, they were still quite effective and seemed to have been proven in battle many times over.

All of the warriors were completely confident in their weapons, showing years of familiarity with the same tools that only a veteran soldier could have.

Unlike the drafted shock troops of the human infantry, these infantry were battle-hardened veterans, used to being on the front lines and facing down superior firepower with success.

After a few waves of instant deaths, they changed tactics. Another wave of grenades was hurled into the room, contained by portable energy barriers set up by the Hunters, and then a row of warriors with shields charged down the ramp with heavy machine guns.

That was much more effective, and the barriers that had stopped the grenades crumbled in an instant, freeing the Mobile Suits to return fire.

Max saw the moment that they realized that there were more than two of them in the room. The adaptive paint had hidden most of them in the shadows, and the two Hunters in the corner had been overlooked until they started to shoot.

They didn't let up on their fire toward Max and Nico, but the group behind them, a dozen melee fighters, spread out to charge both occupied doors as well as the two Hunters in the room.

All of them had heavy shields made of the same materials as their armour. The Mass Driver rounds had barely done any real damage before the enemy was in close combat again, hacking and stabbing at the Hunter team.

These seemed to be junior troops, though, and they weren't as fast as the first berserker that they had fought.

Max's claws took a head with his first swipe and then deflected a blade on their way to impale another fighter.

This armour was lighter as well. The design looked similar, if possibly less mutated, but the appearance was deceiving.

"They're light infantry. Shock troops. Anyone who can prepare to fire on the ramp. The next wave should be heavy weapons, and I don't doubt that they will shoot through their own troops to get to us." He ordered.