Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 551 The Last Battle

Hughes didn't want to urge him any further, so he could only look at the mist in front of him and wait quietly.

When he re-entered the body of worker Hughes, he only slightly tugged the threads, and was immediately pulled closer to the link, so quickly that it was as if he were the one being linked.

Hughes had imagined many times how to communicate with Gwen, after all, his previous impulsive words had scared away the believers. This time, he had to be patient and take it one step at a time.

After all, he knew the identity of the person opposite him, but Gwen might not.

But he has patience, little Gwen doesn't.

"I need your help, Hughes. I need you to stop the skeletons. Once I weaken them enough, I can seize control and stop the white mist from advancing!"

Hughes fell silent. Gwen's words were incredibly revealing. How did she discover his identity? How did she confirm that the link was to her? How did she know she could communicate with him?
But the situation was urgent, and Hughes couldn't ask for details. He simply asked:
"What do you need me to do?"

"Kill a large number of skeletons, and then delay the White Mist's progress as much as possible. Every time a skeleton is killed, Bazel becomes weaker, and every time the White Mist slows down, his connection with the White Calamity becomes further away."

"Bazaar? What's he involved in? He's also entered the White Disaster?"

"I only found out that Bazel controlled the Bone Sanctuary after entering the mist. As long as I stay here, I can continuously gain knowledge!"

"Gain knowledge? Is that really true?"

"What's so good about it! Knowledge is pollution. If this continues, I'll be corrupted sooner or later. The only way is to take advantage of Bazel's weakened state and fight him for control of the Bone Sanctuary. If we fail, we'll all die!"

Hughes blinked, wanting to say that he was used to being dead and that it was just a matter of changing bodies, but he felt it would be impolite.

"What do you think the White Disaster is? It's just a mess created by those guys from the Silent Sanctuary. Now that even they've run away, who can control the White Disaster? You don't want Blood Harbor, which you've worked so hard to build, to just go down in smoke, do you?"

"."

"So together we'll hold off these skeletons and natural disasters. I'm still waiting to go back and open my fish and chips stand!"

“Gwen, we need to have a good talk after this battle.”

After saying all that, Gwen focused on seizing what she called "control."

Hughes originally intended for the expeditionary force to fight and retreat at will, but if he wanted to inflict heavy casualties on the skeletons, relying on the fortress was almost the only option. Once the expeditionary force boarded the train, its firepower would be greatly reduced.

This fortress in the North is almost the only large-scale fortification in the North. Although some stations and towers have been built in the middle, they are far smaller in scale than this.

Therefore, this fortress must be defended; it is almost our last chance. If we fail to hold the next line, we will almost certainly have to retreat to Blood Harbor.

Shaking his head to clear his mind of the jumbled thoughts, Hughes descended back into the body of Lord Hughes to listen to Ash recount the situation outside.

The fog was about to reach the fortress, and the machine gun positions at the front had to cease fire. Bombs from the airships fell close to the outer wall of the fortress, and the expeditionary soldiers inside gritted their teeth and persevered.

Should we continue to hold on?

Alexei called out to Ash, but Ash just pursed her lips and stared at the white mist so close to her.

The firing of the dragon breath cannons greatly slowed down the advance of the fog wall, but it was only a delay. The skeletons continued to regenerate stubbornly. Although the recovery speed had slowed down to the naked eye, the expeditionary force could not hold out for much longer.

The light screen of the Dragon's Breath Cannon dimmed slightly, and white mist spread over the outer wall of the fortress. Now, the main force firing had become the Banshee.

The discussion has already reached a fever pitch in the spiritual connection.

"The fog has already seeped into the fortress!"

Each region should report on the situation.

"The entire Third Sector combat unit has fallen; the fog is advancing too fast!"

"Sector Seven is still holding out; there are no warheads protruding outwards here." "What about Sector Five? Was Sector Five wiped out?"

"The Fifth District has already been incorporated into the Fourth District; their positions are being lost the fastest!"

This can't go on!

"Lord Ash, we can't stop the white mist!"

Ash took a deep breath. She wanted to do something, but she couldn't help. This wasn't a battlefield where she needed to charge into battle, and no matter how strong she was, she only had six hands.

Gunfire had already begun near the command post. Ash followed Alexei and the others out of the building. The front line had retreated to this point, and the expeditionary force soldiers were right next to them.

In the end, that was all she could say.

"Hold on a little longer."

Hang in there a little longer.

Such pale and powerless words were neither questioned nor ridiculed.

Alexei threw his hat aside and went to personally explain the logistical matters to the messenger.

The soldiers around her glanced at her, gritted their teeth, and fired while chanting sacred texts.

The noisy banshees continued their clamor, but their dragon breath cannons never stopped firing.

The front line was teetering on the brink of collapse, but everyone persevered and never gave up.

Ash suddenly recalled the battle to escape the merfolk's enslavement. Back then, the Banshees needed to use their innate abilities to make decisions and reach a consensus. Now, they stood on the front lines based on their own will.

The sounds of chanting sacred texts and the roar of machine guns resounded around us like a great bell.

The steel in the hands of the expeditionary force spewed flames, and their will was as firm as steel.

"Our lord is right behind us!"

Someone shouted, and the soldiers roared in response, unleashing a hail of bullets at the climbing skeletons. Ash silently removed the dragon breath cannon from her heavy armor, and then, a brilliant burst of fire swept across the entire battle line.

The expeditionary force's battle lines were slowly retreating, but their resistance was becoming increasingly fierce.

Willpower, flesh and blood, concrete—high walls stand before the surging tide of white bones, pinning them firmly to the ground.

At some point, the white fog stopped advancing.

A sharp-eyed soldier noticed that the white mist seemed to have receded a little. He shook his head and quickly chanted the name of Hughes, thinking it was just an illusion.

But gradually, more and more soldiers pointed at the fog and shouted.

The surging wall of fog slowly receded before everyone's eyes, then accelerated, and in just a short while, all the fog that had invaded the fortress was expelled.

The fog dissipated, but the skeletons remained in the same spot. As they charged forward, they suddenly sensed something was wrong. Turning back, they saw that the fog had lifted, and their empty eye sockets revealed a human-like bewilderment.

The expeditionary soldiers who had been lying prone at their firing positions stood up, their cold gazes falling on the skeletal figures.

Ash stopped and smiled as she listened to the message transmitted through the mental link.

That was a familiar voice, those were the commands she loved—

"attack!"

(End of this chapter)