As we rushed towards the outpost we soon got a full view of the battlefield.

There were dozens upon dozens of Lessers, Hounds running rampant on the battlefield and Lesser Gunner types shooting at anything that moved.

At least 14 Mediums, with Berserkers at work tearing the outpost walls down, decimating the defences and Medium Gunner types keeping any Walkers the defenders had in check.

There were also two Brutes, one was engaging a group of Walkers and the other was destroying the gate at a very rapid pace.

Worst of all, they were lead by a Heavy type. A Rager. (A 14 meters tall beast with plated hull-like skin, a pair of miniguns sown in to replace its left hand, a large spiked wrecking ball serving as the right hand and unlike normal Heavies that have one monstrous head, this one has a group of 3-7, bundled up like flowers sitting on his shoulders. The thing is double my size)

The underlings were carrying out the hard work whilst the Rager mowed down anyone who tried to escape with its miniguns.

Ragers are dangerous because when they are calm, they possess a near average intelligence, but when angry they can keep wrecking havoc for days.  It seems this one was keeping the outpost from sending a messenger to get help.

Measuring our odds I was certain we could not save this outpost, but I also knew that we did not have enough power to reach Aurora without refueling. So our fate was bound together with this outpost.

So, since I had no other choice, I got to work.

The biggest issue here without  a doubt is that other Brute, it is tying down 4 Walkers alone.

If we could have them aid the battle we could most likely take down the Mediums, opening more Walkers to help take down the remaining Brute and hopefully the Heavy.

As such, after ensuring Alicia was ready for this, we began carefully advancing towards the battle, whilst staying behind as many vehicles and such that we could, as to hopefully get as close as we could before getting spotted. We reached rather close, some 40 meters from the battlefield before the Hound types spotted us.

Knowing that we couldn’t get any closer I told Alicia to wait until I give the order, and then open fire, as I abandoned cover and began running into the battlefield.

It did not even take 5 seconds before a large amount of firepower was diverted to me, hundreds of bullets peppering the shield I kept in front of me, knowing it was the only way that I would make it through this I kept firing the C-3 on full auto, as I mowed down the Hounds that diverted to take me down, passing their dead mangled bodies without a pause on my rush right at the Heavy.

Realizing I was actually coming at him, the surprised Rager began shooting his dual minigun at me as I kept getting ever closer, I could feel the pressure and see the sparks from hundreds of bullets barraging onto the shield, whilst all I could do is pray it would hold. Thank god they are not armor piercing…

As I reached the Rager it swung its mace-hand whilst roaring at me, intent to squash me like a bug. But that was exactly what I had expected, as I dived past under the incoming mace, passing right between its 2 feet, it stumbling as it tried to turn around, but that did not matter right now, dangerous as it is. Among Heavies, a Rager is simply too huge for its own good, too bulky in its movement, too big for any decent action time.

As such I ignored the oversized mountain of death and kept moving, intent on taking down that brute.

Pov: Adam Rorke

‘What the fuck?!’

That's what came to my mind first when I saw the madman.

It had been a calm day, we were on our way back to Aurora after a successful skirmish and taking a rest at the local outpost.

But then the Old Beasts invaded.

Dozens upon dozens, I swear the landscape outside had become a fucking beehive of Lessers and Mediums lead by a single giant Heavy,

We had taken part in missions involving Heavies before, but never without strong allies or artillery support, but now it was us, a dozen security guards and a group of caravan guards against a horde lead by one of those things.

Mike said the thing is called a Rager, something that can slam a hole in an arcology wall if it tried.

Of course we were afraid. hell, we were nearly shitting our pants, but we had to try something. We had to survive.

In the chaos some tried to escape, others died before laying even a single hit.

‘We are the most experienced fighters here’ I realized, as I steeled myself for the task ahead.

“Mike, rally the security guards, help them keep the Berserkers outside or we will lose the civilians, the rest of you runts with me, we have to take down the brutes while the Rager is still looking down on us.” I did my best to rally defence, thinking the foe was underestimating us.

Who would have thought it was I who underestimated the foe.

Opening fire on the brute with my dual machine guns whilst Mike tanked and Lila and the rest tried to get shots in on its weak points we sought to take the Brute down quickly, but instead of keeping to Mike the brute went for Lila, sending her flying and tearing her Walker essentially in half with a single hit from its makeshift Greataxe.

Our formation quickly fell apart after that, and soon we were barely keeping alive, with our members getting picked off by the second.

But then a fucking madman came.

Rushing from behind cover right at the Heavy, mowing down Hounds in its path.

I remember myself swearing and crying in my heart:

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

‘Why did you join the battle you idiot! You could have gotten us help!’

...But there was nothing to be done, the fucking moron would be dead soon, as was evident from the rapidly closing mace of the Rager.

But then a miracle happened.

The madman dodged under the Rager and instead of engaging it, just kept on running, it was then I realized the goddamn nutcase was running at US.

As he got close he opened fire at the Brute we were fighting, dragging its attention. The beast roared and swung its greataxe, as to get rid of the new nuisance.

‘This time he will die’ I remember thinking disappointed in my heart, a Rager is huge and easy to dodge, but the Brute is faster and that walker is simply too bulky to dodge that axe.

But then the madman provided another miracle.

Instead of dodging the incoming axe he actually took it head on with his already near-shattered shield, it unsurprisingly broke apart on impact, but it stopped the axe and then a hand that I had not noticed before showed itself from behind the shield. Armed with a fucking nailer he shot a pair of thermic lances at the Brutes feet, pinning it down.

Realizing we had been just foolishly standing there like a bunch of retards, vulnerable on the battlefield, I yelled into the comms:

“What are you waiting for you fucking morons, the gods themselves have given us a chance, lets fucking take it!”

Shrugging off our surprise we opened fire on the defenceless Brute, effectively peppering its head for a full minute before it fell.

I was about to thank the bastard but whilst we were killing the beast, the Angel of Madmen had already run off.

So we instead started rendering aid to the caravan guards because this was the first chance we had to turn the tide.

And we would be even more mad than the madman if we didn’t take it.

Pov: Mc

After pinning the Brute down I left it to the walker group, judging from the marks of repairs on their hulls they have fought a decent amount in the past, they should be able to finish a defenseless Brute, at this point the Heavy had gotten back its bearings and opened fire at me.

I knew it was going to happen so I promptly made a new makeshift shield by jamming the bayonet through a Berserkers gut and kept it between me and the Rager’s fire, I used the hand that once had a shield to punch and sweep Hounds and Lesser Gunners from my way as I promptly rushed to where the other Brute was,

dragging its attention by shooting a thermic lance at its back.

The Old Beast turned around and came at me with a makeshift sledge hammer, standing there between 2 beasts stronger than myself I pinned the second Brute down, ducking to cover behind it, causing the still shooting Rager to shoot at its own unit.

This would probably not have been a lasting status-quo seeing as Ragers are rather intelligent, unless pissed off, so after removing the Berserker corpse from the bayonet and reloading the Nailer, I began firing my main gun at the Rager from behind the Brute, causing it to get pissed off and keep firing.

The Brute was roaring and screaming in misery as it was slowly getting minced to death by its master, desperately trying to reach behind itself or get its feet off the ground, to no avail, as any time it got close to releasing a leg I shot another Lance onto it. (Old beasts don’t fear death but they feel pain alright.)

Soon the thing was dead and I had no more cover to hide behind, but at this point the other Walker group had already finished off the other Brute, so I messaged Alicia

“Now.”

Alicia opened fire on the Rager, by now having been completely forgotten by the enemy, I was surprised but she had actually made her way behind a sturdy built old truck, allowing plenty of protection whilst shooting.

Her sudden participance was enough to distract the Rager for a moment, just long enough that I could escape from behind the dead Brute and allowing me a clear shot at the things miniguns, knowing that at this point it was all down to luck I unloaded all of my loaded thermic lances at the thing, 2 of which hit. Digging into the guns and the beast's flesh, breaking them. It always amazes me how well these things can eat through most material.

Having disabled the ranged capacity of the Rager, I aided the other pilots in clearing out the rest of the Mediums, whilst nimbly avoiding the giant bastard that had by now gone completely into rage mode.

It might be dangerous if it hits, but as long as it has no ranged weapons and is focused on me instead of the badly damaged outpost, the thing is essentially a harmless mountain of metal and flesh.

After cleaning the Mediums out, we finally focused on taking the Heavy down, with a lot of ammo and thermic lances we finally felled the Rager, during this work, I could feel the world slipping from me and at the end of it. I felt the world go dark.

Author's Note:

I had a bit more time today than usual, so I wrote this in one go, (take its length as my apology to low posting rate the last few days) No double posts in the near future I am afraid, but I should hopefully be able to get back to my chapter-a-day rate, so a new chapter tomorrow, If I end up writing more than one chapter in the future I will keep the extra in reserve, that is what the last few days have taught me, always have a few chapters in reserve...

Notify me on any mistakes I make. Thank you.