"Return fire! Return fire!"
"Damn it, they've got grenades!"
"It's Aogiri Tree, those filthy dogs!"
"Kill them! Kill them!"
Kicking off with a grenade and following with relentless firepower, Aogiri's squad moved with precision, American-style, overwhelm with bullets, avoid close combat. Each ghoul wielded an AK-47, ammo plentiful, clad in full gear: bulletproof vests, masks to shield against airborne suppressant from grenade blasts. As long as their clothes held, they were safe from suppressant rounds.
The rival ghouls, though numerous, were outgunned. Most carried pistols, with a few stolen AKs from Aogiri, but their ammo was scarce. They hadn't bought from Altair, so they rationed what they had. Now, with no choice, they unleashed every AK they'd grabbed, trading shots with Aogiri.
"Go to hell!" The sudden resistance caught Aogiri off-guard but didn't faze them.
"Another grenade!" Ayato Kirishima commanded from above. The frontal team lobbed a suppressant grenade into the enemy crowd.
Boom! The grenade burst, spraying a mist of Altair's custom suppressant. Unless every inch of skin was covered, contact meant losing ghoul powers. Stripped of their abilities, the rivals' speed and strength plummeted, leaving them outmatched and suppressed.
"Those bastards have new weapons!" A rival ghoul cursed.
"Why are they so loaded? Damn it!"
"We can't keep this up, use it!"
"Yeah, use it! If they brought this many, let's take them all out!"
Their leader, enraged, stormed to a crate and yanked out a launcher, the RPG-7 stolen from Aogiri. Its loss had infuriated Gecko, as it was their trump card. They'd planned to save it, but with their group facing annihilation, they had no choice.
Loading a rocket, the leader charged out, shouldering the launcher. "Die!" He aimed at Aogiri's clustered troops and fired. The rocket screamed forward.
"RPG!" Aogiri's frontline shouted, diving for cover.
Boom! The rocket detonated at the group's center, unleashing fire, shockwaves, and suppressant mist. Shrapnel tore through vests, bulletproof but not rocket-proof, exposing skin. Eight ghouls from two squads instantly turned human.
"Return fire!" Unlike their foes, Aogiri's training under Altair held. Still combat-ready, they scrambled up, spraying bullets. Rules be damned, they fired wildly, lobbing grenades like candy, their ammo reserves deep.
The RPG-wielding ghoul was gunned down instantly. The rest were crippled by grenade blasts. As the rivals focused on the frontal assault, Aogiri's first team struck from the flank, and the fifth team rained fire from above. Three-directional barrages overwhelmed the enemy.
The forty-plus ghouls couldn't withstand the coordinated assault. Their usual tactic, swarming head-on, left them blind to flanks or high ground. Basic team tactics, learnable from any squad-based game, were beyond them. Most ghouls, barely literate, fought on instinct.
In the end, Aogiri's twenty-man team eradicated the forty-six ghouls at the cost of three squads turning human. No surrenders, every rival died. To Aogiri, killing other ghouls was routine. Non-members? Expendable.
It was odd, ghouls, despite shared struggles, fought each other instead of uniting. Their society, built on individual strength over teamwork, fueled by minimal education, prioritized personal power above all.
"Recovered the RPG?" Ayato asked, landing to check with the cleanup crew.
A team member nodded. "Got it. We didn't know who stole it before, but now we do. The launcher's intact, and we found seven spare rockets. We're good for seven shots."
"Nice haul!" Ayato grinned, pleased.
"How's our damage?"
"One critical, seven minor injuries. Rest are fine."
"Better than expected. The instructor said keeping criticals under ten percent is a pass. We passed."
The team member nodded, relieved. "Let's move. Get the critical case back for treatment, patch up the rest."
"Yes, sir!" They scoured the battlefield, collecting usable weapons and ammo, then escorted the wounded to the vans for evacuation.
But as they reached the vans, Altair leapt out, jabbing a finger at Ayato. "Why the hell didn't you shoot during that last wave?"
***
Every 5 reviews and 200 power stones, a bonus chapter will be dropped.
(5,10,15, 200, 400, 600, and so on then two bonus chapters will be dropped, 1 for 5 reviews and 1 for 200 power stones, so that's 2 bonus chapters!)
And if you want to read more than 50 chapters early, feel free to visit pat re on. com / Xelenea (remove space).