Fate Online: Shadow

Chapter 528: Fallen Comrades

Smash!

"Damn it! We've been duped!"

Coming out from a hidden basement door, Monk spotted a perfectly intact vase, grabbed it and angrily smashed it on the ground.

"What happened? Did you guys take them out?" Genesis came running inside, panting and covered in sweat.

"We were duped, no one was here!" Monk yelled angrily as he walked past his friend to the outside of the now partially destroyed mansion.

"Sh*t! Let's leave then! How much time do we have?" Genesis cursed as he angrily stormed after Monk, followed by Benny behind him.

"Two minutes, but it won't be enough to fully escape from here. Chances are, whoever is coming has a high chance of finding us" Benny replied as he looked at his watch.

"We'll have a hard time escaping if that happens, let's hurry up!"

The three men hastily made their escape from the mansion and towards the direction of where they parked their vehicle.

On the other hand, a convoy of ten military vehicles had just recently arrived near the outskirts of the mountain. Where they made a turn towards the mountain road leading to where the mansion was situated.

"Sir, we've lost contact with the Bravo Team and there's also no response from Blade Dancer" the radioman sitting on the backseat of one of the Gaz Tigr reported. The expression on his face was filled with remorse as he figured out that those people might have already died.

The commanding officer of this company barked at the driver, "Step on it! We can't let those guys get away!" his voice was coarse and the repeated tapping of his finger on his arm couldn't hide his anxiousness.

"Yes sir!"

Suddenly, the Gaz Tigr at the front suddenly picked up speed and the rest quickly followed suit.

When the military convoy arrived at their destination, what greeted them was the destruction of nature in the surroundings, the partially collapsed mansion and most noticeably the numerous bodies lying everywhere.

Seeing the scene before his eyes, their commander grew furious and barked, "Move in threes and look for them! Those bastards couldn't have possibly gotten away this fast! They must be near!"

"The rest, see if there are any survivors!"

"Colonel, do you think…Colonel Sanders is in association with them? After all, we would have arrived on time if he didn't try to hinder us on our way here" a soldier bearing the Captain's rank cautiously brought up the subject that happened to them on the way here.

"We can only assume, and with the volatile situation of this country, we can't hastily point fingers as a single mistake could lead to a civil war"

The colonel already had some suspicions earlier but as he mentioned, they can't just accuse someone without any solid evidence.

"Sir! I've found one still alive!"

Suddenly, a soldier frantically ran out from the direction of the mansion and yelled at his superiors.

"What?! Quickly take me there!" Bewildered, the Colonel quickly moved and followed after the soldier inside the mansion.

The soldier led them towards the basement where they quickly spotted their medic crouching beside a bloodied soldier leaning against the wall at the end of the stairs.

"Sir!"

"S-sir…" the wounded soldier weakly called out.

"What is his status sergeant?" the Colonel asked while coming down the flight of stairs.

"He'll survive sir. He should thank his luck that the bullet went through his shoulder and didn't hit anything major but we'll have to send him to the nearest hospital as fast as possible to lower the chances of getting his wound infected" the medic reported.

The colonel nodded at his words and turned his attention to the surviving soldier, "What's your name soldier?"

"2nd Lieutenant Romanov of the 23rd Battalion sir" the soldier weakly replied.

"Alright, get someone to send him to the nearest medical facility. We'll leave the questioning when he's stable enough not to die" the colonel ordered the medic who quickly asked one of the soldiers to help him place the soldier on the foldable stretcher and quickly ferried him to the surface.

On the other hand, the colonel had begun exploring the basement and made their way through a long corridor that leads to somewhere unknown, and it didn't take them long to reach the end as when they made a turn, they were immediately met with a dead end.

"What the...so they weren't kidding around when they said that this was all a trap" the colonel muttered under his breath after they reached the end of the corridor.

The end..there was nothing notable at the end of this corridor except for the obvious wall that marks the end of the path.

There was absolutely nothing at the end, which earlier explains why Monk and Benny looked incensed and annoyed when they surfaced from the basement, especially the former, he was pissed!

[Sir…they're gone. There's only tire tracks left behind from where they could have possibly camped. There's also no signs from the drone, sir] Moments later, the colonel received a report from one of the soldiers that were sent out to pursue the enemies.

Half expecting the outcome, the colonel couldn't help but still feel annoyed, "I understand. Everyone regrouped at the mansion. No need to continue the search, continuing to pursue them at this point is useless. Let's just take care of the bodies of our fallen comrades"

[Copy that sir]

Thinking about the soldiers they lost tonight, the colonel couldn't help but clench his fists in frustration.

"Just what is happening to this once great nation? The soldiers who were meant to protect this nation and its people are now being used at the whims of those jackals in the Central Government" he murmured and the soldiers who were accompanying him happened to hear his words and they also started to realize their current situation.

Hunting dogs for the rich and powerful, who live or die at the whims of their master.

"Let's go! We're leaving this place"

The sound of heavy footsteps echoed throughout the enclosed corridor, but none of the soldiers noticed the dangerous glint in the colonel's eyes.

"Is that the last of our comrades?" the colonel asked.

"Yes sir, that's the last one" answered one of the soldiers beside him while looking at the soldiers carrying the last body onto the back of a truck.

Then there was silence following that as the soldiers just watched their commanding officer whose eyes never left the mansion ever since they came out.

"Burn it down"

"Pardon?"

"The mansion, burn it down. Then call the fire station once we leave the mountain's vicinity" the colonel ordered as he turned around and made his way back to his vehicle.

"Yes sir" the soldier answered firmly and he couldn't hide the sadness in his eyes, but it was immediately replaced by a fierce glare as he ordered the soldiers around him in an overbearing manner, "What are you all still standing there for?! DId you not hear the colonel?! Get the damn gasoline and burn the mansion down!"

"Yes sir!!"

'Farewell comrades'

The soldiers all had the same thought as they watched the fire consume the mansion.

Once the military convoy reached the main road, they immediately saw and heard the familiar noise that a fire truck would create which were on the road ahead and soon the two groups drove past each other.

Behind them, the fire had clearly grown larger than what was intended.

"Sir, I think we just started a forest"

"Shut up!"

The colonel was clearly flustered at the turn of events and decided to ignore the obvious chaos they left behind.

Yep, these bastards just started a forest fire at this point.