Austronesia People's Empire, Imperial Majapahit, New Guinea, Irian Jaya, Jayapura Papua, Jayapura Mining Station, Dungeon Level 2, Entrance of the Boss Room.
1st Year of The New Age, Thursday, 2nd Week, 3rd Month Of Abraham.
The men of Platoon 2 formed up silently next to the double doors leading to the final room of the dungeon, where they expected the Boss of Level 2 to be inside and waiting.
A soldier from Section 2 of Platoon 1 cautiously tested the door handle, giving it a gentle pull until it opened just a tiny crack.
He turned and nodded to his Section Leader, who returned his nod and the soldier pulled out a flexible fiber camera scope. He crouched next to the crack as he carefully inserted it through the opening.
Using a handheld device, he began to observe the interior of the room.
As the scans earlier taken from Platoon 3 had shown, the room stretched over 50 meters deep and 20 meters wide. The night vision of the camera only penetrated roughly 20 meters before everything was too dark and unclear to scope more.
The soldier twisted the camera left and right, trying to take in as much of the room as possible, while Eurylochus watched the feed on his tablet.
"Looks clear," the soldier whispered. He checked his motion and heartbeat tracker issued only to point men, and couldn't find any movement nor heartbeats, only static showing up on the screen. "Damn, too much interference, either magical or natural here." He whispered to his Section Leader.
Eurylochus keyed his mike and gave the order quietly to the whole Platoon, "Go deliberate. Slow and steady."
The soldier stowed the camera scope and unslung his weapon, taking a deep breath to steady his nerves.
"Go!" His Section Leader slapped his shoulder, signaling him to move in.
The soldier pulled the door open wider and stepped inside, immediately moving to the right. His section mate followed, covering the left, while the Section Leader came in third, covering the middle.
The soldier receiving another slap on his shoulder pushed in towards the corner of the room, and as he moved deeper into the room, his flashlight beam swept over pillars and many tall blocks of stone scattered throughout the area.
The rest of the Platoon entered, section by section, until all four sections of seven men each had taken up positions, covering the entire area.
"Move in," Eurylochus ordered, and the men moved up, checking every corner of the room.
The beams of their flashlights cut through the darkness but seemed to be swallowed up after just a few meters. It was as if the darkness in the pillared room absorbed all light, making it feel almost alive.
"Sarge, I don't like this much," One of the soldiers from Section 1 whispered next to Eurylochus.
The unease in his voice mirrored the growing tension in the room. This was the moment before the storm, and everyone could feel it.
As the platoon advanced deeper into the room, the terrain became increasingly treacherous. Massive chunks of rock, some as large as half-tracks, lay scattered haphazardly all around the area, partially blocking their path.
The stone pillars with carvings similar to those in the first room. The temperature appeared to drop, and a thick creeping fog appeared ahead of them, eliciting a chorus of curses from the men.
"Halt," Eurylochus ordered as he stared at the fog, assessing the situation. "Point men, what do you see?"
The point men, equipped with infrared goggles, strained to peer through the mist, but the vapor revealed nothing.
"Nothing, Sarge," came the frustrated replies. "No heat signatures, no movement on the sensors either."
"Pop flares. Light up the place!" Eurylochus commanded.
The point men dug into their pouches, pulling out flare guns and fired into the fog. Four blazing balls of reddish light erupted out and streaked into the haze, illuminating it briefly as they hit the ceiling and bounced to the ground.
Then, a chilling howl erupted from within the fog, sending a wave of tension through the men. Weapons were instantly raised as the soldiers ready for anything.
"Back! All sections, fall back!" Eurylochus shouted. "I want distance from the fog, now!"
"I got movement!" one soldier called out in alarm as his motion tracker beeps rapidly, detecting something within the fog. He backed away, eyes wide as he tried to pinpoint the source.
Suddenly, dozens of fluff balls bounced out of the fog, and the soldiers instinctively snapped their rifles up, ready to fire. But before they could pull the trigger, a deep roar broke out from within the fog, freezing them in place.
"Back!" the Section Leaders barked, urging their men to retreat further from the fog and whatever was inside.
The glow of the red flares cast long eerie shadows of something moving within the fog towards them. By this time, the platoon retreated back to the far end of the room where the exit was and took cover among the rock debris and stone pillars, while their hearts pounded in their chests.
"That doesn't sound very good," one soldier muttered, trembling slightly, "Sarge, permission to ready the prototype?"
Before Eurylochus could respond, reptilian shapes dashed out from the fog while moving with terrifying speed.
The men opened fire and their rifles spitted rounds at the hissing creatures.
"Contact!" the soldiers yelled as they engaged the leaping lizards.
Two of the Support Earth Golems joined in with their autocannons roaring as the 20mm rounds shredded through the Dino swarm with ease.
But despite the support, the situation quickly deteriorated. Screams echoed through the chamber as some soldiers were hit by globs of corrosive acid spat by the lizards, the caustic substance melting away through their armor and flesh. Others cried out in surprise as long fleshy tongues lashed out that glued to their bodies and pulled them with overwhelming force towards the creatures' tooth-filled gaping mouths.
Soon enough, the soldiers of Platoon 2 were overwhelmed by the sheer number of dino lizards swarming out of the fog. Cries for help and shouts of alarm echoed through the chamber as the men fought desperately to hold their ground.
"There's too many of them!" a soldier yelled in panic.
"They're everywhere!" another shouted, as he swung his rifle to and fro, trying to target the fast-moving lizards.
"Help! Someone!"
Eurylochus, barely holding back his own frustration, cursed as he wished they had a machine gun or two.
"Grenades!" he yelled. "Use them now!"
Several yells of "Fire in the hole" followed after his instruction, as the nearby soldiers took to his order, pulling out a pin attached to the head of a cast iron oval-shaped metal ball, triggering a heat rune, that slowly heats up to over 300 degrees, which will ignite the black powder packed inside the grenade.
Unlike their previous grenade models, these do not have a safety lever and require the operator to throw the grenade once the heat rune was activated, as the heat rune will hit the ignition temperature of the black powder within 3 to 5 seconds.
The grenades flew over the heads of the besieged soldiers, landing among the herd of dino lizards and detonated one after another, spewing out lethal shards of shrapnel, tearing and stunning the creatures within the blast radius of three meters each.
Due to the sudden grenade barrage, the pressure against the soldiers dropped as the lizards cringed in surprise and confusion from the explosions, allowing the soldiers to rapidly take advantage of the situation and turn it around.
The soldiers fired their automatic rifles and shotguns into the cluster of dino lizards, gunning down the remaining of them with heavy lead bullets blowing away scales and lizard flesh, drenching the rock ground with dark red lizard blood.
Just as it happened suddenly, the lizards retreated back into the fog in terror from the onslaught by the human army.
One soldier spat out a glob of blood from his mouth from a cut in his mouth after being struck in the jaw by a whipping dino lizard's tail. He gave his machete sword an expert flick, flicking off the blood as he returned his sword into his scabbard attached to a tactical rig on his left thigh. He then transferred his emptied revolver to his right hand and started reloading it, while his eyes scanned the ground for the rifle he'd lost somewhere in the melee.
As the lizards disappeared into the fog, Eurylochus' voice could be heard over the cries of pain and curses.
"Check your ammunition! Medics to the wounded! The rest keep watch and be at the ready!"
The soldiers, still on edge, quickly followed his orders. Medics rushed to aid the injured, while the uninjured soldiers reloaded their weapons and scanned the darkened room, ready for whatever might appear next from the ominous fog.
The brief respite gave them a moment to regroup, but Eurylochus knew this was far from over. The enemy was still out there, hidden in the darkness, and they had only just begun to test the strength of his men.
He moved among the men, seeing the carnage wrecked by the dino lizards. The ground was littered with the remains of those unfortunate enough to be caught by the creatures' corrosive acid. What was left of them were just skeletal remains, smoking and bubbling, with a few intact arms and legs as gruesome evidence of the deadly attack.
The acid had eaten through everything, armor, weapons, and gear, leaving the survivors with burns on their exposed limbs.
The lucky ones, on the other hand, managed to remove their armor before the acid ate through them, but still suffered burns on their arms or legs.
The medics were working frantically, using water and medical supplies to neutralize the acidic burns and Eurylochus quickly ordered everyone to pass their water over to the medics to use to wash the acid off the victims.
Other than the vicious acid attacks, the rest of the men mostly suffered cuts and bruises from the claws and bites which, given a healing potion, managed to stop all the blood and mild poison inflicted from the lizards.
"Sarge, we got ten deaths, all from the corrosive attacks," a nearby soldier reported. "Another eight are in critical condition from the burns, and four more are seriously injured after being mauled. We've got twenty-eight with varying degrees of wounds, but they're still combat effective."
Eurylochus nodded, his expression hardening as the soldier continued, "The men are doing fine despite the losses and injuries," he jerked his head towards the fog in the distance, "And it seems like they are massing again."
Without hesitation, Eurylochus issued his next orders. "Plant claymores. I want a two-tiered defense line. Evacuate the wounded, now."
The soldier saluted and headed off to relay the commands before ordering out instructions to the rest of the platoon. Men then began deploying claymores and organizing defensive positions. The severely wounded were carefully strapped onto foldable stretchers and carried toward the exit by the medics, who worked fast but gently.
Eurylochus keyed his radio, switching to the Platoon leaders' channel. "Apache Two to Apache Three, over."
A crackle, followed by a steady response, [Apache Three, send.]
"Apache Two, request immediate medevac and support, over."
[Apache Three, Roger, ETA five mikes, out.]
Satisfied, Eurylochus ended the comms and scanned the area. The soldiers were ready and their lines set and weapons at the ready. The atmosphere was tense and the men were alert as they awaited the next wave. The medics moved with haste, ferrying the wounded out of the kill zone.
"HERE THEY COME!"