Chapter 442: A war of meat grinders
Translator: Editor:
Cherokee had expended lengthy efforts and blood to capture that Thanator. Even without mentioning the harm and damages inflicted on his clansmen and the destruction of his home, to capture another beast as powerful as it would require at least 6 months, possibly 30 clansmen lives, unending plotting and an awful load of luck.
Hence, one could imagine the state when the powerful Cherokee had discovered clear trails of his enemy’s escape, immediately roaring a furious command to pursue urgently. This time, he no longer bothered with leaving any clansmen to protect their home, because there was seemingly nothing valuable left worth protecting. Furthermore, the entire hierarchy of the Mosake clan, be it male, female or the elderly, were all warriors. Their only difference lies merely in the disparity of their strength.
Cherokee was definitely not a recklessly irascible individual. Presently, the major portion of the clan’s wear and tear was mainly due to internal aspects and materialistic goods. Instead, the fighting prowess of the clan could only be described as enhanced by rage rather than declining. It was obvious; the hidden enemy in the darkness would only resort to such underhand means, going round the curves and skirting the corners, because their strength was inadequate. Therefore, they only needed to directly crush them, totally decimating them before they could even flee; that would suffice to smash all cradles of schemes the enemy were harbouring!
Relying on a pair of highly magnified binoculars, Sheyan could easily differentiate out Chieftain Cherokee from the other na'vi warriors. This wasn’t because the chieftain was modelled uniquely, or had peculiar bone structures, or having the back of a tiger and waist of a bear, or had a starkly different facial appearance. Instead, it was due to that exceedingly menacing Thanator he mounted beneath his waist.
In stark contrast to one’s imagination, Cherokee appeared essentially like a frail old man. His back was crooked and his face filled with cut like wrinkles. From his left shoulder till the bottom of his right rib, was an exceptionally glaring scar! It was as though, if his injuries sustained were even more severe previously, it would’ve directly chopped him into two!
The only perceiving irregularity was his eyes, an insidious chill hidden within the incisiveness; like a rapid grinding saw, slowly carving away at one’s mind as if it was sawing timber!
In the face of an immense hatred, any superfluous words were futile. The Mosake clansmen faced the foreign and massive succulent base, the enormous alien meat organs, the queer structures that were messily squirting starch fluids; then, they very brazenly…….dispatched the most units under their control, as multitudes of cannon fodder viperwolves charged forth! (meanwhile on the viperwolves’ faces – why is it us again :( )
The Sunken Colonies started unleashing their maroon tendrils, impaling towards their foes hundreds of metres away. Their positioning fully encompassed the base in a circle, hence there wasn’t a single blind spot in their defence. Needless to say, the proceeding events were analogous to the beast tides of before. Ultimately, without the right conditions, success wouldn’t follow. Thus, the Mosake clan’s first onslaught suffered a thwarting defeat. The only war fruits of the nearly 300 viperwolves could only cause 3 Sunken Colonies to erupt into a fountain of blood. Instead, their carcasses were swiftly decomposed and absorbed by the ‘Creep’ carpet.
“I wasn’t wrong right!” Mcdh’s tone already contained a stifling fluster. “The first probing assault of the Mosake clan was already so effective. Though 30 Sunken Colonies appears extraordinarily impressive, without massive congregations of zerglings blocking its front, it would become relatively weak. It isn’t too late to leave now.”
“No hurries.” Sheyan chuckled gently. His gaze was fixated towards the back of an arachnid lair. Suddenly, a greyish giga-cocoon surfaced over that plain region, and wiggled repeatedly; as though the creatures within were eagerly on the verge of drilling out.
Consecutively, most of the Mosake clan warriors could already fathom their enemy’s prowess clearly. They began booming sonorously as they charged in; with a force comprising a mix of viperwolves/ direhorses/ sturmbeest as the leading close combat fleet, with slingers tailing behind as the long range squad. However, never ever forget, every na'vi individual was an excellent archer! Positioned at the rear, the threat they posed was the most fearsome.
Some of these master beast-tamers were identical to snipers like Mcdh on the battlefield. Their ejection of their two metre long arrows, smeared with concentrated venom, was like a spectacular nightmare. Even those organ structures that had been struck were rapidly withered away in time, degenerating to a wilted state.
The remaining 28 Sunken Colonies were practically eroded away at an astonishing pace. Mcdh’s countenance was utterly downcast, fortunately for him, he had already recovered some basic strength needed for escape. Yet for some unknown reason, he suddenly felt a strong urge to witness the trio’s faces being slapped by the palm of cruel reality; to gloat at the horrified and startled expressions they were about to reveal!
“This is fine too. I reckon the suggestion that I’ll raise later, will then be valued greatly.”
Mcdh couldn’t help but thought gleefully to himself. He had enough of this trio occasionally and carelessly exposing haughty expressions of confidence, as if they had cards up their sleeves. Such purposeful carelessness had kind of deeply damaged the degree of conceitedness Mcdh had.
“They should know, even Zi had to remain courteous to me. Even Prince Stalo, someone who could already touch the doors of the Awakener realm, had to cower in the face of my gun! If not to revive her, why would I even be bullshitting with you guys for!”
As he held a deep conviction for the coming success, Mcdh remained indifferently arrogant as he strolled towards the trio and solemnly advised.
“Gentlemen, in view that these fleshy buildings can still earn us a precious 30 seconds duration, we should leave now. The only consequence of staying, would be being squeezed out of their drainage system, after passing through the digestive tracts of those uncouth wild beasts and barbaric aboriginals!”
Sheyan turned his head over, his expression actually portraying a sly smirk – one that undoubtedly caused relative disappointment and dejection to Mcdh!
“Ho, my friend, do you think this is the end? No, a marvellous performance is about to commence!”
“A marvellous performance? ……..I, what, heavens…...what is that thing!” Mcdh’s pupils suddenly shrank back.
Standing in his current position, he finally saw that breeding giga-cocoon stealthily hiding behind that towering lair! Right at the instance the final Sunken Colony exploded, it coincidentally sounded off the advanced ‘Nydus Worm’ gateway of the arachnid race rupturing out from the cocoon, as it stood uprightly erected!
A humongous malevolent gateway that could fold space and ‘teleport’ units in a split second, once again towered over the lands of planet Pandora!
A dozen plus Ultralisks coupled with epic hordes of zerglings flushed in like a flood, pressing forward insatiably with hysterical vigor, as they clashed head on with the incoming Mosake clan warriors!
At this moment, the Mosake clansmen had already invaded into the ranks of the arachnid base, even destroying several organ structures by now. Therefore, per the agreement between Mother Nature Eywa, the arachnid’s retaliation wasn’t considered violating the regulations at all. Amidst the mournful blood-curdling screams, both parties collided with unequalled ferocity.
(TN: recap, the agreement’s fourth condition was that the earlier 3 restrictions could be temporarily lifted if anyone initiates hostility against the Blackthorn tribe)
Sheyan’s warfare methodology resembled a reef that stood upright against the raging gales and violent waves; waves after waves enveloping him, still he persevered amidst all perilous situations! Leaving an impression that once both sides clashed, then the fight would not cease until one suffers a pulverizing defeat, where bones would shatter and disperse into oblivion!
Right now, when the Mosake clan and the arachnid race collided, they resembled two simultaneously and speedily whirling meat grinders; insanely engulfing each other’s lives in the process of overlapping!
As flesh and blood splattered and scattered, several arachnid organ structures were forcefully pounced on and exploded. It looked as if the entire state was exceedingly disadvantageous to the arachnid side. The Mosake clan beasts hordes had already infiltrated within a third of the base; the misty pollution of blood stench in the air acted like adrenaline, as it aroused the bloodlust of every creature.
Instead, Cherokee observed the situation’s development with a gloomy countenance. Standing tall beside him were 13 others, each were powerful riders having dominion over a legendary creature. Hammerhead-Titanothere rider Authe had originally been part of these 11, but he had already fallen into eternal slumber inside Mother Nature’s embrace.
The entire battlefield had once again sunk into an awkward war of attrition. Dozens of sparse zerglings along with 1-2 Ultralisks would always stream out from the Nydus Worm at crucial moments, critically reinforcing the crumbling battlelines. The present impression was that the arachnid defence lines would be infiltrated at any second; however, no matter how much strength they exerted, the herculean and incomparably tough Mosake clan warriors constantly failed by a thread!
What they needed was just one thread!
Perhaps this thread could be a few viperwolves, or perhaps just a single slinger. If only they could supply in a few more sharp arrows, to utterly collapse the obstinate tenacity of their foes…….yet in war, such words like ‘if only’ or ‘perhaps’ didn’t exist.
This state persisted for roughly a minute, before chieftain Cherokee raised the scepter gripped in his left hand. Then he pointed towards 3 legendary beast-riders behind him.
In comparison to several viperwolves, a single slinger, and few sharp arrows, the wholesome might of 3 legendary beast-rider magnified theirs by a hundred, or thousand folds!
At present one could perceive; chieftain Cherokee’s character was exceedingly resolute and daring. Once he decided to fight, then like a lion seizing a rabbit, he would throw in an extravagant amount of strength! Seeking for just one strike, to thoroughly smash his opponent!
But after the 3 ‘second to none’ legendary beast-riders roared thunderously and charged into battle, the arachnids of the battlefield swiftly executed a single move.
They abandoned 3 blocks of organ structures that were originally strictly guarded, proceeding to shrink their defence circle, squeezing inseparably closer together. Simultaneously, 7-8 drones begun incubating new Sunken Colonies on the ‘Creep’ carpet. After this one retreat, the situation immediately returned to normal. Meanwhile, the demolishing of those few gigantic organ structures roughly tarried the beasts for scarcely 30 seconds.