Published: February 10, 2025
Chapter 2: Battle at the Gates
The phrase "soldiers at the gates" is well-known to everyone, but very few can truly understand and witness it, especially in peaceful times.
However, in the apocalypse, such occurrences have become increasingly common, whether the ones appearing at the gates are human comrades or mutated beings.
So when the mutant legion launched a full-scale assault, even the humans who had been defending the city for many days momentarily lost focus.
Was this how human wars were fought before firearms were invented?
And wars that could muster such a number of soldiers have historically been rare; each one was a battle of national survival.
Now, could this also be a battle of fate between humans and mutated beings?
This thought arose in the minds of countless people at that moment.
The next thought was that these mutated fools hadn’t used their full strength before!
The previous days of offensive battles were indeed fierce, reaching a boiling point at the most dangerous moments.
Everyone thought that the most intense attacks from the mutant legion had already occurred, overwhelming and relentless day and night; looking back, it was indeed not easy to endure.
But compared to now, humans discovered that at that time, it was still lacking in many aspects.
Although everyone was attacking before, there was actually no significant strategy; it was merely relying on the bloodthirstiness and ferocity of the mutated beings.
Humans clung desperately to the city walls, barely managing to hold on with the help of various weapons and equipment.
But this time, the attack had just begun, and everyone personally felt the difference.
The specific difference could be summarized in four words:
Level! Coordination!
The mutated beings no longer attacked purely on instinct as before; instead, they coordinated under a higher-level organization, using methods that were almost similar to humans.
How do humans attack?
It’s about maximizing each person's abilities and utilizing every resource.
These mutated beings did the same; this time, those with strong bodies and defensive skills were at the front, ranged attackers at the back, with other beings in between.
The front, middle, and back were divided into several smaller tiers; for example, ranged attackers were arranged according to their shooting range, not just shooting randomly, but under unified command to ensure continuous attacks and pressure on the city wall.
Moreover, it was evident that the mutated beings were divided into different types; although there was no air force, the other types had clear divisions of labor: those charging the city, breaking down doors, burrowing underground, digging walls, breathing fire, spewing mist...
Almost every mutated being's specialty was effectively utilized, making the entire battlefield seem like it was engulfed in chaos, yet upon closer observation, it was organized rather than disorderly.
In this aspect, they were even stronger than humans.
The troops that had exited the city had just taken advantage of the gap created by the eighth-level monster's defeat to seize the Earth Yellow Pill Golden Statue, escorting it backward.
There was no choice; when the mutant legion hadn’t fully mobilized, humans could still rely on their passion to fight outside the city, but once the mutant legion launched a full-scale assault, the numerical disadvantage of humans became apparent.
If they didn’t retreat now, they might face being cut off and surrounded, leading to complete annihilation.
The humans on the city walls were desperately covering the retreating team, and the King Hongxiang, who had just taken over the defense at the hole created by Ye Zhongming, decisively abandoned the posthumous child warriors who had left the city, ordering others to block the hole with heavy rubble.
Inside the city was also not peaceful; some unknown creatures, despite numerous defenses, had managed to break through several tunnels from underground over the city walls, unleashing countless mutated beings and plunging Cloud Summit Villa into the flames of war.