The sound of clashing steel and the screaming of exhausted soldiers rolled over the lively batelfield while more and more groups of Sphinx washed over the courageously fighting humans that were still standing steady with determination as they faced their certain doom.
It has already been hours since the soldiers took up their weapon in the early morning and multiple days since the begining of their suicide mission, so it was no surprise that even with all the positive thinking they could muster, after being constantly subjected to the sight of their dying comrades all around them even the strongest fighter started slowing their movements in despair as there didn't seem to be an end to their war.
"Keep it going. After this wave of Sphinx we will have a little break to regroup again."
Suddenly, in the midst of all the yelling and splutter of bodies and blood, a cold and monotonous voice floated steady and strongly over the heads of the heavily panting fighters in the field. And even though the whole battlefield was loud and chaotic and everyone was busy defending their own life, the sound still determinately carried itself into the ears of every human present in the war as if the person spoke right to them, injecting the tired soldiers with a load of chicken blood as the hope they got from hearing their captain's words ignited a new flame in their hearts.
General Sun was standing in the middle of the battlefield, slashing his sword through the arm of the Sphinx right in front of him while stepping back half a step to get out of the way for the razor sharp claws that were about to slash through his back. Another one of the creatures appeared in the spot of their dead friend and the man speedily raised his sword to stab it into the wide open mouth of the enemy. With the precise and fast movements of the General, more and more of the dangerous creatures fell dead to the ground, giving some of the surrounding soldiers time to breath.
In this manner Sun Zhilong continues to charge over the battlefield from left to right while forcing his sword through the limbs of the Sphinx in quick succession, bringing down each and every one of the monsters he attacked without letting his strength or speed drop at all, all the while keeping an eye on the rest of the area for any unforeseen development. Luckily such a situation didn't occur though until the wave of Sphinx slowly died down because of the steadily increasing sand in the air from the blowing wind that worked to cover the Sphinx senses.
"Captain!"
The black shadow of a person with a high raised sword could be seen running through the thickening sand of the wide field while loudly calling for the General. But because of the strong wind and the scattered corpses of the sphinx, the person seemed to have trouble finding who he was actually searching for.
"Captain! Captain!"
Sun Zhilong calmly pulled out the sword that was still piercing through the chest of his last enemy and wiped the green mucus on his military pants before lifting it into the air, just like the yelling person, and calling towards him.
"Liu Chen."
After waiting for a few more minutes, a muscular man with short, disheveled black hair and the same army green clothes appeared in front of the waiting Sun Zhilong and hit his left fist against his right chest in greeting.
"Captain. The Sphinx have pulled back because of the sandstorm. It is estimated that we have about five hours before the storm dies down."
"How many casualties?"
"About 8 thousand sir."
Sun Zhilong frowned in thought when he heard the number of dead soldiers from his Vice Captain.
When their team was send to Samadon in the beginning, there were about fifty thousand soldiers divided into fifty small teams. But now, not even a week later, the number of still standing people have already been reduced to one third.
"What about our available equipment?"
"There are still some smoke bombs, two barrels of green water, a few cans of inflammable gas, a handful barrier stones and some flare rockets. At the speed we are using our supply they will run out in about two days."
The green water, or how the Soldiers liked to call it, was a stinking, dark green liquid that was created out of the blood of a wind lizard and some poisonous plants. This disgusting mix had a very penetrating smell and if used against the Sphinx, it could confuse their senses and weaken their fighting power for a short while. But it wouldn't work against such a huge amount of Sphinx they were facing. The same with the rest of their resources.
"Two days, huh? Call the team leaders for a meeting."
"Yes. Captain."
Liu Cheng thumped his fist against his chest again before taking large steps over the huge amount of corpses littering the ground until he reached the metal gate of their temporary camp.
The entire space was already packed with sweating and dirty soldiers resting their backs against everything they could find, so it took the Vice Captain some time to find and inform all of the relevant people and then arrive at the huge white tent in the middle of the space.
Meanwhile, Sun Zhilong walked over the battleground with slow steps and stabbed his sword in all the Sphinx that he came across that were still moving until the sand in the air became too much to make out much of the surroundings.
Only then did the Man give up on the monsters and walked up to the rusty gate of their base to erect an invisible barrier to shut out the biting storm outside.
When Sun Zhilong finally stepped through the opening of the huge white tent, the people he was expecting to see were still nowhere inside, so he could only stand on the other side of the round folding table with his arms crossed while waiting for Liu Chen to lead in all the relevant men. As soon as the entrance of the tent dropped behind the last team leader he finally opened his mouth to talk.
"Our resources are getting scarce, we only have about one third of our forces left and our mission is still far from over."
The other people in the tent dropped their heads in despair by the hopeless situation. No one said anything in response to the General's words as all their thoughts turned around in circles until they stopped abruptly with only one question left.
'Will they never see their Familys again?'
"The situation doesn't look good for us, that's true. But it won't be over so easily. I don't plan on giving up without a fight. Even if I only have my sword left to wield and even if I am the last person standing on the battlefield. I will not go down and give those people who send us here a reason to celebrate. What about You?"
A shudder passed through the hearts of the team leaders when they lifted their heads and looked into the black eyes of the General. They were shining with a fierce light as they passed over each of the soldiers present, piercing deeply into their soul.
Liu Chen was the first to wake up from his momentary daze and with a determined expression on his face and the faith that he held for his captain, he took a deep breath and stepped forward.
"Captain. I, as your vice Captain, will always have your back. No matter what dangers may be ahead. You can count on me."
Only after the vice captain showed his determination and the General turned his eyes to look at the team leaders next did they have the courage to step up front as well.
"We will follow Captain in life and death."
"We won't give up as long as we have your orders to fight."
"We are always proud to be a part of this squad and won't give our enemies the chance to trample on our pride."
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A few hours later, the Soldiers that had been resting their aching Bodys on the open ground of their base had already stood up and strapped their sword on their waists when the General exited the largest tent in the entire base, followed by the vice captain and the team leaders.
The planning of their next actions that had been going on for the entire duration of the sandstorm had finally come to an end and ignited the peoples hearts with new hope for survival as they excitedly gazed at the vice captain to receive their orders.
"Listen up guys. In a bit the Sphinx will return to the battlefield again, so we have to move faster than them."
Liu Cheng paused for a second to muster the state of the men in front of him before giving out the orders the General had given him before.
"Get all of the smoke bombs, green water and inflammable gas we have left in storage and create a semicircle around the battlegrounds. At one spot of this circle there must be an opening just big enough for five Sphinx to pass through at the same time. This will slow down their movements and give us a bit more time. Go and prepare. The rest of you will go with your squad leaders to position 4, 5, 11 or 15 and protect the flanks of your comrades."
"Yes, sir!"
The thousands of soldiers moved as soon as the last words of their vice captain fell and speedily made their way to the storage on the far end of the camp to get their hands on all the materials needed or ran after the few team leaders left in their squat and followed them to their corresponding position . Only Liu Chen and Sun Zhilong stayed rooted on the same spot and kept watching the chaos of moving bodies in front of them.
"Captain. We don't have much time left. The sand storm has already receded. The Sphinx won't stay away for much longer."
As if someone had heard the worries of the Vice Captain one of the hurrying soldiers anxiously sped towards the two of them while holding on to one of the green barrier stones.
"General, Vice Captain. It's not good. We just tried activating the barrier stones after setting them on the semi circle and most of them didn't work anymore. After looking closer there seemed to be small cracks on some of them that were leaking the energy. Now it's all gone. But the last time we checked our stocks, there wasn't a problem with the stones. Now there are not enough stones anymore to patch up the semi circle and the Sphinx have already appeared a few kilometers away. It will only take them another ten minutes to arrive."
Liu Chen's expression turned dark in an instance and he couldn't help his voice for raising sharply in despair.
"What? Are you sure it was checked properly?"
"Yes, sir."
"Captain. What should we do now? Is this the end?"
The Man in question had his eyebrows tightly locked together as he was deeply thinking about an answer he could give to calm down the soldiers mood. But even after multiple seconds past, Sun Zhilong still couldn't come up with a better plan or glimmer of hope anymore. Luckily before the Man's silence could be interpreted wrongly another Soldier came tumbling towards them from the direction of the Battleground with baffling news.
"General. General. There is something going on with the Sphinx. Those creatures are suddenly acting very strange."
"Strange?"
All three men turned towards the newcomer when they heard his words and raised their eyebrows in confusion.
"Yes. The Sphinx have arrived at the barrier we tried to construct and a fight broke out. But the suddenly the Sphinx all froze at the same time and then they turned around and started biting and scratching at each other. The scene is in complete chaos now. We are eagerly waiting for Generals orders."
Sun Zhilong couldn't understand what was going on at all so he gestured for Liu Chen to follow him to the front lines to look at the situation at hand.
The first thing the General saw when he finally arrived next to the stupefied Soldiers was the horrifying scene of the Sphinx ripping and gnawing at each other or them selves as if they had gone completely crazy. Multiple of the creatures had already fallen to the ground in a pool of green mucus while their friends continued to trample on them.
Suddenly a bright bleu light twinkled at the corner of Sun Zhilong's sight and an intense shudder passed through the Man's soul as his eyes came to an immediate halt on a green clothed figure standing on a tall rock surrounded by Sphinx.
The youth had a tall and straight stature while holding a glimmering bleu light raised high up in the air. His coat and pants were the green army clothes that Sun Zhilong couldn't be more familiar with and the pale complexion coupled with the stray strands of black hair that fell in front of the others face, the person had an ethereal beauty that the General couldn't pull his eyes away from.
After standing motionless in the middle of the Sphinx a bit longer, the youth lowered down his slender arms again and put away the light he had been holding onto until now and then pulled out a long sword from his waist and leaping off of the rock, disappearing in the turmoil of Sphinx.
A sudden fear washed over Sun Zhilong's heart when he couldn't catch sight of the youth anymore and before the Man knew what was even happening, he had already cast every thought aside and rushed into the massive sea of creatures in front of him to follow the Soldier.