NOVEL NEXT Chapter 85: Shaking Off
With a twist of joints and the knee, Quagmire leaped from the tree and landed softly on the ground, as he prepared excellently on the way out before making escape routes, he could leap from tree to tree, but that would easily get him surrounded, so he went down, to shake the platoon of ghouls.
He has taken many ghouls, yet their numbers are still well above fifty, which would mean it would be difficult for him, but he would try to shake them off and potentially ambush them again from afar.
Such a large group of ghouls would wreak havoc in his base, thus he went in the opposite direction of his base, which would mean he would get farther and farther. The safety of his base is a priority; he has immunity to the world's virus, thus he could be wounded at any time and not die of infection.
With that in mind, he dashed forward and jumped from bush to bush and turned in a zigzag line with each tree that he passed by. The ghouls, meanwhile, strengthened as they may be, still have weakened joints and muscles as their body starts to degrade over time.
Before all of that, he first placed his rifle back in his inventory, grabbed his pistol from his holster, brought it forward, and with a sway of his hands, moved it in another direction. Now the pistol was pointed at his side, and with his eyes forward and zoomed in using the eagle's eye, he pulled the trigger, and a resounding bang reverberated through the small area he was in, that travelled no less than a few dozen meters.
It was a quiet yet loud when near, but not loud enough to attract those from kilometers away from his position.
The bullet travelled at almost the speed of sound, and with the force of a mountain, struck its target with deadly precision. The ghoul that was leading the platoon was struck on the head and fell backwards, in an untimely second death.
Upon seeing their commanding officer, the rest of the ghouls were agitated and roared with ferocity. It was then quieted down as another figure took the lead, most likely the next one in rank. With that, the platoon that was sent in a momentary disarray was back into formation and is on the move once again.
Unfortunately, it seemed that the ghoul that took over this time did not just give chase, but was smarter than the rest. Every time Quagmire would take a shot, the ghoul would hide behind a tree, jump down into the ground, and get cover in the bushes. Quagmire, upon missing all his shots, switched over to a new target.
With a flick of a button, the magazine was brought out, and after grabbing another one from the inventory, he placed it back inside and started aiming it again with a sway of a hand. Knowing that the new leading figure of the ghouls was this smart, he deemed it a threat, as its potential for further development was terrifying, and so he must nip it in the bud as early as possible.
The ghoul leader, who had just come out of the bushes, raised his hands and made some rapid movements. The ghouls in the back saw this and understood the leader's intention. The entire group of ghouls split into two and moved from opposite sides of each other. Quagmire, upon seeing this tactic, was left with his mouth agape.
"Pincer Tactics!" Quagmire exclaimed as he repeatedly pulled the trigger on his pistol, and once it ran out, he replaced it with a new one.
Now the stakes have just become higher; thus, with each step the ghouls take, Quagmire, to the best of his abilities, took two to three steps with a large stride to further increase the distance between them. Once enough distance, according to his judgement, was made, he stopped to unload bullets towards his foes.
Unfortunately, the enemy leader was too smart, as he barked numerous orders, one of them includes to take cover. Not only that, ghouls from nearby started to gather and join the ranks of the ghouls, the ghoulish platoon that have significantly decreased in numbers, started to swell once again.
Quagmire, seeing that swelling numbers, started to get nervous, but he never let it consume his heart nor his mind, and so he started to get even more serious. With a sway of his hands, he grabbed numerous stick grenades from his inventory, and with each turn from trees, he threw them with precision, just enough to cause significant damage to their numbers.
The stick grenades landed into confused ghouls and exploded into a large ball of flames and fragmented metals. The army was reduced significantly, but not enough. The enemy leader growled in anger as it realized what Quagmire was doing.
With each throw of stick grenades, it was then replaced with a pistol, and what followed was a barrage of bullets. Ghouls,, despite being smart, were then ordered by the leader to hide, as they had no choice but to reduce casualties, and with that, Quagmire was able to escape in a sea of flames.
Quagmire, every hundred meters he reached, he would change direction, and would throw grenades from the other direction, and with what he was able to shake the ghouls off, he continued for a few more moments, and when the place had finally gone silent and with no ghouls on sight.
With a twist of the ankle, he changed direction and climbed up the nearest tree, and once he was up, he jumped from tree to tree, and observed the ghoulish army he saw from a significant distance.
Firstly, he calmed down his rapidly beating heart, that was lit up by the fire of adrenaline, once it was cooled down, he started to silently observe their movements, and once he was sure they were of no significant threat, he brought out his bolt-action rifle and lowered his body, so that he may not be seen.
After all, he cannot leave such a large group of ghouls near his base; it would be a threat to his peace.