Now inside the pass to the Cloudstar base, despite it being more enclosed than the cross behind, they were more exposed than ever since they now had to check above. The two large mountains blocked both sides, so they could only head forward, having to watch out for the threats on top. The enemies resumed the fight, but not exactly in the direction they expected, as the team heard the conflict above, trading shots from each side and creating a constant stream of bullets in the sky. But since they were sneaking past the conflict, trying to stay behind the ravagers, they could only focus on what they had encountered ahead as they slowed down.

–Remember, don’t look back, just keep running up. Watch out for the sides, there are hidd-...!– Frost shouted and tried to warn the team as they caught up to the back line of the ravagers in their way. But before he could finish his sentence, they were startled by the ravagers in front being taken out in a split second.

Everyone stepped back and watched as the ravagers came under fire from both sides. They couldn’t see past the horde blocking the pass, but it was clear that their enemy was in the front and instead was hiding on both flanks. But since they could only find mountains on their sides, the confusion left everyone panicking until Crisis quickly spotted the small windows set at their feet level. There were holes tucked away on the sides, concealed by foliage and rocks, that served as camouflage and cover for the omens hiding inside the mountains. They could fire both ways freely and safely, effectively turning the pass into a death trap with only two ways of escaping.

The ravagers continued forward despite getting shot at from both sides since they had no chance of fighting back. Not one of them turned back and tried to leave, so the team was able to stay back and out of harm’s way for now. But with the ravagers rushing forward together to reach the top by any means necessary, it meant that the team had to follow and outrun them to complete their objective. They were in the same position, with the only difference being that they had a bit more time to think and willingly run through what seemed like a certain death. And while it was scary for some to face, Frost seemed unbothered and appeared to be waiting for the perfect opportunity to run.

–WAIT! We can’t just run through that, we’ll die!– Saint shouted right before Frost could make his move, prompting him to turn around immediately to shut him up. But despite everyone else agreeing with Saint, they all stayed quiet and listened carefully to an impatient Frost.

–We’ll be the only ones they’ll have to shoot if we stay here. Let’s go!– Frost replied belligerently, convincing the entire team after not much consideration. They didn’t have time to think about the plan, but there was no need to, as he was already ordering them to get in position, forming a single line behind him to align with the middle of the pass.

–Stick to the middle, shove them to the sides, and let them fight. We have to hurry up before they kill all of them and we’re left exposed…– Frost added tersely, to which everyone nodded, though some still appeared confused, mainly the rookies, but they tried to follow everyone else and position themselves between Crisis and the Heartaches. The team got in formation hastily as the ravagers were already distancing themselves from them, but with everyone aligned evenly, they waited for the signal to begin charging forward.

–GO!– Frost shouted, giving the order for the team to follow him as he began running straight into the massacre. He was so loud that he managed to draw the attention of some of the ravagers ahead, but it didn’t matter as they got shot anyway. The other ravagers were more focused on running for their lives and dodging as many bullets as possible to see how far they got, which made it difficult for the others to catch up as they continued scattering.

Frost swiftly ran to the back of the ravager army, stepping into the line of fire for a brief moment, but only exposing himself to the hidden omens on the bunkers for a second before squeezing his way into the ravager crowd. The omens couldn’t react, but they did sense some movement at the back and focused fire in that general direction as most of the ravagers were lagging.

While the enemy couldn’t differentiate a single man running from all the others, they kept an eye on the rest of Crisis, who tried to follow right behind Frost before getting overwhelmed by bullets flying across their path. Kiwy and Panda were next, and the latter deployed his shield, but with two directions to cover, he chose to point his shield forward. Since it was wide enough to block most of his field of view, it helped protect his teammates behind. After successfully blocking a few dozen bullets, Panda, Kiwy, Tricky, and Candy were able to join Frost in the middle of the ravager army.

Nitro was too slow and had to run completely exposed, and while he did get shot at, it looked like the omens didn’t know where to aim, so they only ended up shooting at his bag, completely missing. They tried tracking him before he blended in with the ravagers, and Saint took that as an opportunity to run and cross the open space between the team and the army. But with all their movement, they drew even more attention to the rest of the team, who were now aware and blocked the way of anyone trying to approach.

With a wall of bullets ahead, the rookies and Heartaches had to wait for the omens to stop trying to shoot at them. They weren’t in direct line of sight since they stopped between two bunkers, staying safe in a blind spot, though the more they waited, the further away from the ravagers they were. It looked like the number of bunkers found ahead only increased, so the omens kept shredding the ravager army exponentially, which Crisis took advantage of.

The panicked enemies were easy pickings for the omens, and they also created a diversion for Crisis as they stuck close to the middle of the pass, using the ravagers on their sides as cover, and making their way deeper into the mass to have even more protection. They still couldn’t avoid confrontation as several ravagers got in their way and prevented them from continuing to run, so they resorted to shoving them out of the way. But as they ran alongside the ravagers in the middle, they started noticing that their numbers were dropping fast, consequently exposing them to the omen gunfire the more they ran. And despite this, they kept running without even checking on the rest of the team.

So far, Frost’s plan was working, at least for Crisis since they had already made it halfway up the pass. They always stayed behind ravagers, even when they dropped dead, since they could grab a few to use their bodies as meat shields momentarily. But the further they ran, the more pressure was on the rookies to begin running. Chappy and Ace grew frustrated at the sight of the others getting away from them while they couldn’t even move without getting shot. But they weren’t the only ones getting anxious by the thought of being left behind; the Heartaches were just as impatient to move to the point where they broke the formation to stand beside the rookies and run together.

Zoey was the first in line as well as the first to notice the Heartaches breaking off the formation and stepping up to the front line. Cookie, behind her, tried to stop them but couldn’t do much with the entire squad disobeying orders. He almost instantly gave up on sticking to Frost’s plan, but Zoey kept staring at them with apprehension, now trying to step back. She was just as confused as Chappy, Ace, and Shade, despite not minding changing the plan. But as they kept looking forward and waiting for the omens to stop shooting at them, the distance between the ravager army and them was now over three times as big as the one Crisis had to run through.

There was a trail of corpses on their way, but that barely provided any protection. This didn’t appear to discourage the Heartaches, though, because as soon as the omens shifted their attention to the back line of the ravagers, the team resumed moving, with Agnus and Cookie now leading them. The rookies fell behind, but with the Heartaches forming a single row to run together, they were garnering the most attention from the omens, who began shooting at the young warriors immediately.

The team only had a split-second window of leverage where they got to run as fast as possible without any threats. But as soon as the omens saw them running across the pass together, they didn’t hesitate to shoot blindly, trying to shoot past the corpses lying in front and spray everyone running across. The unusual formation appeared to have caught the omens off guard, who at first just saw a couple of the squad members, the ones on each end of their line. They were fooled by the angle of their line of sight, but as some of the Heartaches gained more speed, the formation began to show the real number of enemies they had to shoot at.

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The Heartaches were under fire, but from the rookies’ point of view, it looked like they had formed a wall that covered the entire width of the pass, and despite bullets flying from both sides, they weren’t being hit somehow. The amount of gunfire scared them off and they stayed behind, as it looked like at any moment the Heartaches would fall one by one and they would be the ones following shortly after. However, they continued running pretty much alone and without any cover, like Crisis. And thanks to all the Heartaches remaining in formation, sticking close to each other, and running around at the same pace, no one overtook anyone, forcing the omens to shoot at them as if they were one single unit.

The formation proved risky but effective since the omens couldn’t catch up, even when they tried shooting at their feet. And while the Heartaches were able to run past the bullets without someone getting caught in the crossfire, they were so close to the sides that the omens were bound to hit at least at some point. The rookies slowed down to not run straight into the bullets that flew past the Heartaches, but they were conflicted on what to do as they saw the other squad putting themselves in danger.

Not even Cookie could keep up with them, but not due to the speed since he was more skeptical of their formation, so he stayed behind with the rookies to observe what happened. The Heartaches were about to catch up to the ravagers and Crisis, though the latter could not be seen now that they were deep inside the army, almost reaching the front line. But before reaching them, they came across a section where the omen hiding spots were found every eight feet or so, and on top of that, the openings for them to shoot through were no longer just located at the bottom of the mountains. More holes were at the level of their torsos and heads, and they were wider, so their field allowed them to cover every inch of the pass.

Crisis had gotten past it by staying low and avoiding getting shot by always running next to ravager corpses to block the bullets shot at their feet. On the other hand, the Heartaches had barely any protection to block any of the enemy’s attacks, but at least they were now drawing the omens’ sights, letting the rookies run. All the corpses behind them, mixed with the mud, made it hard for them to keep up, but most of the bodies actually blocked the holes and prevented the omens from shooting at them. And while the enemy never ceased fire, they couldn’t see what they were shooting at, and even when they struck something, they couldn’t confirm the kills.

This forced the omens that were previously attacking them to change spots to keep up with the larger ravager army ahead, and not long after, the rookies were able to run freely. Without anyone shooting at them, they still hesitated to follow the Heartaches close behind as they were running to the back row of the ravager army, which was getting decimated by the staggering and immeasurable number of bullets flying from both sides. The omens were firing so much that they were hitting each other, but they couldn’t even bother checking for friendly fire as their excessive gunfire was successfully taking down every ravager in sight.

–There is no way we are crossing that!– Chappy shouted in fear and almost indignation at the sight of the carnage ahead. He almost turned back while the rookies tried to join the Heartaches and continued running alongside them. But now that the ravager troops were dwindling, with more corpses than running soldiers, and the number of spots from which they were getting shot at increasing significantly, the ravagers started to panic and broke formation. But unlike them, Crisis hadn’t suffered any losses, so they persevered and kept going forward, something that the rookies and Heartaches were having a hard time replicating.

–We gotta keep going!– Cookie responded aggressively as he grabbed Chappy and looked back to wipe the doubtful expressions off the rookies’ faces. He didn’t manage to convince them much, but they did notice that they had an opening to catch up with the rest of the team, as it looked like the omens were running out of ammo.

After running hopelessly for about a minute and getting more than three-quarters of their forces wiped out, the ravagers realized they wouldn’t make it to the end of the pass with all the omens ahead. Even if some made them, they would have such little manpower that it wouldn’t have mattered, so they tried to conserve the remaining soldiers once they were surrounded by omens and getting shot from all directions. And there was no better time to change their approach than now, as the omens had to reload, finally giving the enemy a chance to fight back despite not being able to see them properly inside their hiding holes.

In a desperate attempt to defend what little they had left, the ravagers scattered, with even the ones in the middle breaking the tight formation they had. Crisis was forced to reevaluate their strategy as well, now that they couldn’t stay hidden between the scarce ravagers. But even if they could continue hiding, all the ravagers had stopped running entirely, now trying to stay in place to fight off the omens around them and clear the way. They helped take on the omens, but since there were more ahead, their decision left the team in an awkward spot as they could only watch in the middle of chaos.

–What are they doing??– Panda asked in disbelief and frustration, seeing the ravagers suddenly spread out in all directions to fight the omens without a clear plan. It was obvious where they were getting shot at since the hiding holes were covered by distinct foliage and rocks, and the ones higher were completely exposed, but even then, the ravagers couldn’t do much against the omens. Their approach only resulted in them perishing faster since they were only making it easier for the omens to shoot.

With their formation broken, Crisis took cover behind Panda’s shield as he stayed in the middle of the bloodshed, having to turn to both sides back and forth to protect the squad from the crossfire. Thankfully, the omens were still only focusing on the ravagers, but Crisis would soon be the only ones left to attack, so they began worrying when they noticed that the army had been reduced to a few dozen. They were very close to the end of the pass; they could see the top, which only frustrated them more since there was only one last stretch to run to reach their goal. But since they had to keep running despite being completely exposed to the omens waiting ahead, Crisis took some time to reconsider the plan.

For now, they stood still, waiting for the Heartaches and rookies to catch up, but even if they were all together, they couldn’t do much against the omens, and they had the proof right in front of them. Once the Heartaches reached the massacre, they stayed back with the rookies to watch as the ravagers around Crisis were dropping dead at an alarming rate. It looked like suicide, and even when some managed to attack the omens, there were just too many holes to clear. At least they drew attention away from the team, but it also ensured they wouldn’t get any meat shields to protect themselves once all of the ravagers died. But to prevent this, once Crisis spotted the rest of the team, Frost had already formed an alternative plan to get out of this situation.

–Alright, let’s give them a hand…– Frost muttered apprehensively, turning back to his team and the squad to search for assistance. They were all doubtful of the idea, but with seemingly no other option, they all nodded hesitantly. However, out of all of them, Nitro turned enthusiastic and way too supportive of Frost’s plan, and without receiving a direct order, he loaded up his grenade launcher and aimed it at the nearest omen hiding spot, one that was very hidden and almost inaccessible to the ravagers.

The Heartaches and rookies waited in confusion as they saw Crisis discuss a change of plan briefly. While they tried to figure out what they were plotting, it was soon revealed when Nitro blew up one of the omens’ bunkers higher up on the right, completely engulfing it with flames with a single shot. The aggressive blast knocked back many ravagers nearby and also scared off some of the omens in the bunkers adjacent to the one that blew up. But while most of the enemies continued fighting, it was when the omens crawled out of the explosion on fire, screaming in pain as they got stuck, that the others were warned to leave.

With one of the bunkers blowing up, the omens started panicking. They looked for the cause of the explosion and ceased fire for a moment, prompting the ravagers to charge with everything, now just jumping into the holes to break into the bunkers. They could finally fight back, and the team couldn’t even see most of it. Nitro tried to take advantage and follow up his attack, but Frost stopped him from blasting the antipunks and omens, and instead, he pointed at another hole ahead that was much closer to them.

Nitro lowered his weapon and picked up one of his many hand grenades strapped to his waist to set it off before handing it to Frost. With a depraved grin on his face, he gladly received it and quickly tossed it into the hole, where the grenade rolled inside slowly before blowing up the bunker, forcing others to come out. The omens higher up couldn’t stay in place as the foundation below them was no longer stable, so they didn’t hesitate to jump off to the pass, where they were met by ravagers waiting to beat them up.

–That’s it, let’s kill them!– Saint shouted in excitement after seeing the omens finally come out of their hiding holes to give them a fair fight. He was about to pull out his sword to begin killing some omens in front as well, but Frost held him off, now drawing Crisis’ attention by turning around and facing north to stare at the end of the pass.

–No, let’s keep going and hope they stay busy. I’m sure they’ll kill each other…– Frost ordered decisively, receiving some disapproval from Saint, but the rest didn’t try to argue. The rookies and Heartaches were more tempted to join the fight now that the omens were on the ground or trying to escape their bunkers. But as much as they wanted to help the ravagers, they continued following Crisis now that they were heading straight towards a deceivingly empty section of the pass, which would be the last stretch before reaching the top.

| GATHER UP THE PIECES WHEN THE FIGHT IS DONE

THEN YOU’LL FIND OUT LIVING REALLY CAN BE FUN |