Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 627: Section 440: Malin Guyatt (1)

Chapter 627: Section 440: Malin Guyatt (1)

In the woods, the straight-line distance of 700 meters and the actual walking distance are two different things. Malin’s side had already completed all preparations for the defense line. According to intelligence from the Druid Master and information Jason obtained from satellites, the several thousand-strong Chaos forces were still nearly two hundred meters away.

The good news was the terrain from there to here was quite clear. The light cavalry who drew in the Chaos troops even caused some casualties—they cut across the rear of the Chaos forces, taking down dozens of followers before returning with the enraged Nagoth troops hot on their heels.

The half-giant lad did well, Malin noted as he watched them cross the floating bridge at the narrow beach—the bridge was sturdy, but its range had already been measured, and the cannons on the high platform behind lowered their barrels, ready to blast the bridge and the Chaos forces on it sky-high at any moment.

"They’re coming," Malin observed as he saw the Nagoth troops emerge from the bushes, watching the ladies and missies pretending to be clueless civilians on the riverbank let out screams and scamper to the sides. He saw the Nagoth troops roaring as they crossed the bridge, some of them too impatient and diving directly into the river, only to struggle a bit before disappearing without a trace.

"I’ve detected Nagoth souls, there might be Great Unclean Ones," Clovis pointed to the right flank of the Nagoth forces—that is, to the left from Malin’s perspective. Malin immediately followed her direction and saw those little things screaming as they leapt into the water, then disappeared as if they had melted away—Holy Water posed a deadly threat to these corrupt offspring.

Malin immediately relayed this discovery to Duke Brice, the legendary figure stated that if such a Great Unclean One should appear, he would stand up and face it.

The damned Nagoth took several casualties before realizing there was something wrong with the water, so in a fit of rage, they stormed onto the bridge.

By this time, the protruding U-shaped beach head was packed with various Nagoth units—local followers armed with all sorts of strange and exotic weapons; the Nagoth souls were shrieking as they launched an assault, and what appeared to be creatures from an outer plane were amassing—deformed and twisted like the orcs, their bodies covered with hair and two huge, curved horns.

"Goatmen? No, goatmen don’t look like this," Lillim was somewhat shocked, and Malin cast a Soul-calming Spell on her: "Those are Beastmen."

With knowledge from his forebears surfacing in his mind, Malin explained those monsters that wore only strips of cloth around their waists, then he pointed to the horned humanoids, "Those are Pus Hosts, Nagoth’s legions from another world, these seem to be their vanguard."

"If they win here, what we will face in our world is the army they summon after sacrificing our flesh and souls," Faye fell into silence, but eventually smiled and shook her head, "We won’t let their plans succeed."

"It’s just a pity that the long-distance teleportation portal only supports one passage of three hundred people and needs a long cooldown." Nova looked at the factory guards from Carterburg, Malin said they were militia, but Nova felt that these so-called militia were like the proud young men from the royal guards of her kingdom.

Only they weren’t arrogant. Besides that, they performed even better than the guards.

"Great Unclean One spotted! It’s on the opposite side of the riverbank." Clovis alerted Malin: "See it, that bald guy, really disgusting."

Malin glanced at the creature, finding it truly revolting—the Chaos creature’s head was covered in pustules and cysts, its tongue, long enough to move on its own, protruded from a throat lacking a chin.

Its whole body was rotting away, holding a rusted sword, its belly a gaping void.

"It can still be considered alive like this? That thing is completely rotting away," Malin shook his head, watching it step onto the floating bridge, raising his hand to snap his fingers.

The gunfire was the first to ring out, with swathes of Nagoth units falling. Bullets blessed with killing power pierced through the bodies of the Chaos, ultimately setting them alight.

The Great Unclean One blocked the bullets with its sword but failed to stop the cannon shell that hit the bridge surface beneath its feet, and the next moment, the Great Unclean One plummeted into the river along with the swarming Nagoth souls.

"It shouldn’t die just like that, should it?"

Clovis just finished speaking with some unease when everyone saw the creature emerge from the downstream riverbed.

While the Holy Water inflicted damage, even though it didn’t kill it, the white mist emerging from its body indicated enough that the Great Unclean One was in trouble.

"I’ll confront it," Duke Brice, carrying his greatsword, walked towards the Great Unclean One.

"The Chaos monsters are charging the lines!"

"I’m going to the front," Malin said, leaping down from the platform, raising his shotgun, and pulling the trigger on the charging goat-headed monsters with longswords. The hollow point bullets, as expected, penetrated their skin, then threw the Chaos demons back onto the ground.

The second hollow point bullet struck another goat-headed creature in the head, shattering its skull, and it fell to the ground.

Malin grasped the pump with his left hand, and with a flick of his right, silver powder material enveloped the approaching Nagoth souls, then a flash of pure white Flame Burst turned them instantly to ash, which the wind took and scattered.

Regaining control of his firearm, the goat-headed creatures had by now charged into the first trench and had undoubtedly shattered the stone slabs before tumbling into the trench, some impaled, some killed, others struggling to climb out.

The goat-headed creatures behind them leaped over the trench, but the Nagoth souls could not and after toppling many of their companions, these little wretches crossed the trench by stepping on the still-struggling goat heads.

But most were blasted away by the Flame Burst Spell Formation—short legs are truly an indescribable tragedy.

Malin emptied seven bullets in one breath and then saw a ram-headed monster holding a long staff.

A caster? With that doubt in mind, Malin pushed the remaining bullet near the ejection port into the chamber, reset it, and then raised his gun to pull the trigger at the Beastman.

The Beastman, who was trying to cast a spell, took a steel-cored hollow point bullet to his left chest, causing a great blast of blood mist, and knocking him back midair.

Taking two bullets from the bullet holder, one to reload the chamber, one placed in the reserve clip, Malin ducked to avoid an incoming axe, broke off his reloading work, pulled out the revolver from his waist, and pulled the trigger at the trash-throwing fellow, putting him down with three shots. Malin then returned the revolver to his waist and picked up four bullets, pushing them into the cylinder in two goes, flipped the firearm, and pulled the trigger at the largest axe-wielding Beastman. As an unarmored unit, it couldn’t withstand the penetration of the steel-cored hollow point bullets, and two consecutive shots sent the bullets through its neck and chest.

A Mage cast a Flame Burst Spell Formation into the ranks of the Beastmen, igniting many of them while Malin quickly reloaded the cylinder with four bullets—the cylinder full, feeling calm, he raised his gun and pulled the trigger at the Beastman charging with a battle flag, bringing him down with a bullet through his chest.

After completing his reload, Malin pulled the trigger at another Beastman attempting to grasp the flag; the steel-cored bullet penetrated the latter’s head, making him history, and then Malin watched as a Beastman behind him had his head blown open and collapsed.

Was this one bullet through multiple targets?

Luck really is on my side.

While marveling at this, Malin once again tossed his hand, and this time Silver Powder appeared on his right side, igniting some of the ram-headed Beastmen and Nagoth spirits that had crossed the second trench.

Malin heard the sound of a machine gun, and the Beastmen on the right fell like harvested wheat, while the Nagoth spirits stopped at the unbroken slabs. However, they too were halted by Dwarves wielding flamethrowers, spraying blessed oil from their weapons—flames engulfed the front of the defense line at once, and numerous Nagoth spirits became as brittle as genuine children when facing the blessed oil.

But the Beastmen still broke into the left side of the defense.

Malin signaled to Matilda next to him, and then, holding his shotgun, he moved forward to the left, continuously taking down Chaos.

While reloading, Matilda stepped forward to shoot past Malin. As soon as Malin finished reloading, she stepped back to reload, and Malin continued forward.

The Beastmen who broke into the trench were stronger than humans in terms of strength, making the exchange ratio unsightly, but Malin quickly made it to the left side. He started by firing a shot that turned stone into mud, clearing all the slabs that had allowed Nagoth spirits to pass through, which not only made these little bastards go underwater but also halted their assault. Without these minor annoyances nipping at their feet and necks, the Beastmen were just targets.

At a supply point, Malin restocked twenty number 8 shotgun shells, lamenting the difficulty of resupplying—because only a very few could use a number 8 shotgun without injuring themselves.

After emptying the last bullet, Malin stepped aside, and Matilda, who moved up to the front, pulled the trigger at the Beastmen wrestling with their own soldiers.

Malin once again pressed the reserve bullet into the ejection port, then raised his gun and pulled the trigger at the Beastmen rushing over from outside the trench.

Matilda stepped aside, letting the Beastman’s corpse fall into the trench, then pulled the trigger at another Beastman appearing outside the trench; hit by the shot, it didn’t strike vital parts and continued to charge screaming.

Malin loaded the first bullet into the ejection port, reset it, and killed the Beastman outside the trench.

Then, he loaded the second bullet into the chamber, reset it, took four bullets, pushed two into the cylinder, and placed the second in the reserve clip.

Raising his gun, he killed a Beastman that was pouncing on Matilda. "Your turn to reload." After speaking, Malin drew his revolver to kill the noisome pus host that had charged at them.

Throwing the emptied revolver, Malin used it to knock over another pus host, then raised his shotgun, and with a shot, brought down the third pus host that was drawing near.

Next, he operated the pump, his right hand holding the gun turned the fourth pus host into a true corpse, and his left hand picked up four bullets, and with his right hand flipped back, pushing the bullets into the cylinder.

"Your Grace! Move aside!" came the call of a Dwarf from behind, and Malin turned around, grabbed Matilda, and dove into the teleportation channel.

The next moment, the two reappeared on the central defense line, with flames sweeping again through the ranks of Chaos on the left flank.

When the flames died down, Malin took Matilda back to the left side.

Before that, he had switched to another revolver and replenished his bullets.