Chapter 130: Ambush and Battle
Chapter 130: Ambush and Battle
"Wait, something's not right", Liam said suddenly, his senses on high alert. The sound seemed too loud, so he pulled a telescope from his pocket and scanned the sky. To his surprise, he saw at least a dozen Falcon Helicopters approaching. Instinctively, Liam cast a Life Detection Spell, revealing that many people were hiding in the surrounding buildings.
"It's a trap, be careful", Liam warned. As he spoke, red laser beams shot out from the buildings, and several figures in Steel Brotherhood uniforms appeared from the windows.
"Damn!" Liam directed the robots to form a shield and a defensive line, blocking the ambushers' line of sight while he and the others retreated toward Diamond City.
Just as they reached the entrance, the gates of Diamond City closed, a move orchestrated by the Steel Brotherhood to trap them.
"What do we do now?" Liam asked, crouching behind a pillar and shouting to the Knight beside him. At that moment, everyone was returning fire. Since all three factions had brought their elite forces, no casualties had occurred yet.
"This is a Steel Brotherhood plot. There's a Jammer nearby, so the house can't teleport us out. Don't you Militia have someone inside Diamond City? Why don't they open the gates for us?" the Knight shouted back amidst the gunfire.
"Our Militia has only been reformed for a month, and we haven't even trained our first batch of low-level commanders yet. Apart from Sanctuary Hills and the castle, the rest of the Militia are temporary allies. I suspect the Militia inside Diamond City has been turned by the Steel Brotherhood. After all, this is one of the few large gathering points in the Federation, and I find it hard to believe the Steel Brotherhood hasn't infiltrated it", Liam replied, extending his wand and using the newly learned Soul Lash to knock down several heavily armored Steel Brotherhood knights. Soul Lash was one of the new spells Liam had mastered in this world. Since most humans here wore armor or even heavy Power Armor, many spells were ineffective against them. However, their soul defenses were relatively weak, so Liam had chosen soul-based attacks to counter the heavily armored foes.
Liam and the Knight then turned their attention to Desdemona. Seeing their gaze, Desdemona sighed and said, "We've been operating in small, dispersed groups to avoid being caught all at once. Even if we have people inside Diamond City, we can't contact them now. We didn't find any issues during our checks, so it seems the enemy was well-prepared."
"Alright, if everyone is out of options, we'll use my backup plan", Liam said. He then pulled out a Signal Gun and ran to an open area, firing three Signal Flares into the sky.
The Signal Flares were specially designed to fly high, visible across most of the Federation. Naturally, the Steel Brotherhood members in the approaching Falcon Helicopters could also see them.
"You should know that the Major Factions of the Wasteland now possess some dangerous technologies. This time, we can lure out their leaders and eliminate them, then deal with the leaderless factions. This way, we can protect technology in this region and eliminate the threat of its misuse", Elder Macsen said to the Steel Brotherhood Paladins beside him in the Falcon Helicopter.
Suddenly, several Signal Flares rose slowly from their destination. Then, smoke rose from several locations on the ground, and black dots emerged from the smoke, arcing toward where the Signal Flares had been launched.
Finally, these black dots struck the buildings surrounding the plaza in front of Diamond City, causing explosions. Black smoke and orange-red flames billowed from the windows of the buildings. Over the radio in the Falcon Helicopter, panicked calls came through: "We're under heavy fire and suffering severe losses. We need immediate support."
When Elder Macsen arrived at the destination, the battle was already over. The plaza was left with only a pile of Militia robot debris and numerous casualties from the Steel Brotherhood.
"What the hell happened here?" Elder Macsen angrily demanded, standing before the Paladin in charge. It was no wonder Elder Macsen was so furious. After a quick tally, it was clear that the Steel Brotherhood members involved in the ambush, except for the small squad that had already seized Diamond City with the help of the Militia traitors, had been almost completely wiped out. Especially those Steel Brotherhood members who had been hiding in the surrounding buildings; the attack had collapsed the structures, causing a large number of casualties.
"I—I don’t know", the Paladin stammered, beads of cold sweat rolling down his forehead. "We don’t know what happened. After the Signal Flare upgrade, we seemed to be hit by an Artillery Strike, and then the buildings collapsed. The Jammer hidden in the building was also damaged, and then they all disappeared in a blue electric light."
"You are relieved of your duties. Take off your Power Armor and get to the outpost", Elder Macsen said, turning to the Paladins behind him. "We’ve suffered a temporary setback, but it’s no matter. We will soon have the absolute power to crush them..."
While Elder Macsen of the Steel Brotherhood was ranting, Liam and the others were in a meeting room of a house, discussing the day’s events.
"Thank you so much today. If it weren’t for your preparations, we probably would have died there", Knight said, still shaken. Desdemona nodded in agreement.
"I just felt that the Steel Brotherhood wouldn’t be so easy to compromise with, so I ordered the Militia in the surrounding outposts to pre-measure the parameters of the plaza in front of Diamond City. If anything went wrong, they were to fire artillery to create chaos and cover our escape. I didn’t expect such good luck to destroy the Jammer in the first round of attacks", Liam said calmly.
"Since that’s the case, we have no choice but to go to war with the Steel Brotherhood. What should we do next?" Liam asked the others at the table.
This question sparked a discussion, and they ultimately agreed to strike first and secure the Beryllium Oscillator from the Nuclear Fusion Plant. The threat posed by the Steel Brotherhood's large robots was too great to ignore.
They decided to act immediately, as they didn’t know if the Steel Brotherhood would also send people to get the Beryllium Oscillator. The task was given to Knight and Liam, as they were the only ones immediately ready to engage in combat.
Upon being teleported to the top of the Nuclear Fusion Plant, Liam saw several Falcon Helicopters flying in the distance. It seemed the Steel Brotherhood had also thought of this and taken action.
Liam instructed Knight to retrieve the item and quickly set up multiple weapon turrets he had prepared on the rooftop. He then hid the generator inside the building and connected it to the turrets with wires. Finally, he placed a Disillusionment Charm on each turret.
With everything in place, the Falcon Helicopters approached the rooftop. Liam quickly connected the power, and all the turrets began firing at full capacity.
The five or six approaching Falcon Helicopters were caught off guard and were easily shot down by Liam’s prepared firepower. This bought Knight enough time to secure the item without immediate interference from the Steel Brotherhood.
Thank you for reading, and please consider recommending this chapter. It means a lot.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
Report
