Matilda followed the direction of Kimmy’s finger. Her gaze settled on the crater between the two refinery towers.

Even from this distance, she could see the ground pulsating faintly.

“Target located,” she muttered. Her hand moved to the comm unit.

“Strike Team Actual to Golden Eagle.”

Static crackled in response.

“Send it, Strike Team Actual.”

“We have visual confirmation of the hive’s core and its location. Requesting artillery strike on marked coordinates, over.”

Inside the armored SUV, Hans paused on the other line. Quicker than I expected.

He stared at the Radar display on his map. Matilda’s position appeared on the radar, situated near the two blue dots—Kimmy and Yunera.

Northeast, almost four kilometers away, he was surprised. A ping flashed right after—the coordinates blinking onto the screen.

300 meters from target.

It was close, but not as close as he thought they were.

“Request approved,” Hans leaned back slightly. “Iron Hammer, stand by for fire mission. Get in position.”

“Roger that, Commander.”

The two Hellhammer artillery tanks rolled forward slowly, their massive hulls grinding across the highway.

Once they reached a clear stretch of road, both vehicles halted. Hydraulic stabilizers slammed into the asphalt.

Thud.

Thud.

The long artillery barrels began to rotate as the turrets slowly aligned toward the northeast.

Inside the lead Hellhammer, the gunner adjusted the targeting display on his screen.

“Coordinates received.”

A pause.

“Target distance: four thousand two hundred meters, north-northeast.”

The barrel lifted slightly.

“Gun one, aligned.”

The second Hellhammer followed.

“Gun two at the ready. Waiting for command.”

Hans studied the radar display for another second. Strike Team Actual and the advancing army were still outside the crater perimeter.

Safe enough to continue, but I should heed them a warning.

He pressed the comm again.

“Golden Eagle to all units. Be advised: Artillery fire mission imminent. Coordinates marked on your Radar. Careful on your approach. I say again…”

Hans repeated his words.

“Iron Hammer.”

“Ready for fire mission, Commander.”

Hans’s voice remained calm, though inside him, a throb of excitement pulsed from within.

“Fire.”

The first Hellhammer roared.

The massive artillery cannon fiercely kicked backward as the shell launch to the sky.

A shockwave rippled through the surrounding road, blasting dust away.

The nearby infantry instantly went prone, not daring to receive the impact head-on.

A second later—the next Hellhammer fired.

Two shells screamed through the gray sky toward the district.

Matilda and her strike teams saw it from afar. The 203mm shell traced an arc so high that they barely saw it approach until it struck the target.

The shell punched straight into the center of the crater.

For a split second, nothing happened.

And then—the explosion tore the ground apart.

The shockwave erupted outward, ripping metal pipes from their foundations and shredding the exposed flesh around the meteorite shard.

The earth bulged upward before collapsing back down. Chunks of concrete, steel fragments, and torn biomass rained across the crater.

A momentary silence enveloped the area. And then—the second shell hit.

The already-mangled biomass tore another chunk of its flesh. The tremors moved deeper beneath the surface, thrumming not only the pipes but the foundation itself.

Hans’s army braced the impact and halted their advance.

Concrete and soil were thrown around; the dust stirred up high, hindering their vision.

Seconds later, the commotion stopped. Everyone peeked over, their eyes searching for the result of the strike.

“Impact confirmed,” one of the Vanguard gunners reported. “Direct hit, Iron Hammer.”

The dust slowly settled over the shattered refinery complex.

Through the smoke, something emerged. The flesh around the crater had been blasted apart.

At the center, the jagged meteorite shard lay down there, partially exposed.

It pulsed in pink once, then again, this time harder than the last. The ground beneath the refinery trembled in despair. The once-retreating zombies suddenly shifted their strides back to the army.

Thousands of infected surged forward like a rising tide, roaring hoarsely together with the hive’s rage.

“Contact returning to fight,” Big Rhino’s gunner shifted the turret. “Coax, MG! Suppressive fire!”

“Gunner, loaded!”

“Firing!”

Boom!

Flesh and bullets met once again, dyeing the asphalt with blood and brass.

War Elephant and Siege Bear joined the fray, shelling the advancing wave left and right.

Corpses were strewn along the road, blown apart by the unending explosions.

Far behind the main tanks, squads of infantry flanked the wave, reaping zombies one bullet at a time.

On the left, Spear One advanced behind a broken delivery truck.

“Grenade out!” An Army Soldier warned.

The blast shredded a cluster of infected rushing from the small alley.

The Machine Gunner stepped forward, his weapon roaring as the rest of the squad pushed behind him.

“Brute!” The squad leader pinged behind a box of metal crates. “Eagle Two, shoot this thing to death!”

The first bullet knocked it back. The second shot it to death.

“Thanks for the assist, Eagle Two!”

Their fight continued.

Despite the combined arms, the hive never wavered. It answered with a deafening tremor beneath the refinery, inciting every zombie inside the sector.

The horde yelled like a crowd on strike, shortly quietened by the barrage of gunfire.

Matilda observed from the rooftops.

“Hive activity spiking, Commander!”

Finally in your death throes? Hans snorted in disdain. “Iron Hammer, pound that thing to death.”

The radio didn’t respond—the artillery did.

The second wave of shells screamed across the sky. It struck the crater like a falling star.

The explosion blasted the exposed biomass apart, sending tendrils thrashing along the broken refinery ground.

The hive answered yet again, stirring vibration beneath the earth. It was a roar felt through bone and concrete.

The second shell followed not long after. It punched beside the meteorite shard, almost cracking it apart.

More flesh was torn away.

The underground tremor returned—weaker this time.

The third shell struck moments later, swallowing the crater in fire and dust.

The ground convulsed. as if it was about to die. And the hive roared again—a broken, fading cry that trembled through the entire sector.

Then the fourth shell fell, uncaring of its plight.

It shot straight into the deepest pits of the dark hell—answered by silence.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep