Chapter 88 - Mission Failed
Once Del heard that he didn't move an inch. He didn't move because he was not stupid enough to expose his exact position to the security details. These guys were professionals, they would immediately aim at Del once he made a sudden movement. They were more armed than Del had previously expected.
"Del, they've spotted you, should I engage?" Anna asked via the radio.
"Shoot at anyone that you can get, but be careful, alright?" Del said via the audio.
"Solid copy," Anna said.
Del cast a material barrier right around his body to protect himself from whatever they were going to fire. It was better to be safe than to be sorry.
Anna fired her gun from the west direction.. Hitting one of the security details on its head and killed him. The energy shield protected him from the whole bullet, but not from the tungsten penetrator that the copper jacket covered. Headshot turned out to be the only way to kill them.
"FIRE!!!"
Three security details came out of the windows. They aimed their rifle in the north direction. The security details fired their rifle. The bullets flew in Del's direction. Once the bullet hit the ground, the bullet created a large fireball explosion that covered a small area. That kind of explosion was dangerous, no wonder many people died when trying to assault this mansion.
A barrage of explosions appeared in front of Del. 'Damn it, they have a mobile fireball launcher, what in the actual heck do they have? They're scary.'
BOOM
One of the explosions landed right beside Del. Throwing him away and he landed on one of the trees. The flying dirt dirtied his clothes and the stones created fragmentations that wounded him. A bunch of stones flew to his head, creating many small wounds.
'Damn it, I hope they didn't break the stinger,' Del wiped the blood from his face.
"Del, do you copy?" Anna asked, her tone was worried. She wondered whether Del got killed or not.
"Loud and clear, but I think we have been compromised," Del said.
"Should I use your machine gun?" Anna asked.
"No, don't. It will compromise your position, I will get out of here as soon as possible, but if I am sure that they have found me, all hell break loose. You're free to do anything," Del said.
"Solid copy," Anna said.
Del dragged his body behind a tree and he peeked. Ten security details came out of the mansion and the three that were flying landed on the ground. Two new security details flew to the sky and the three security details reported their current situation. Del didn't have any directional microphone, but he was sure that he had pissed them all.
"Del, there's a lot of them, are you sure you don't need any backup?" Anna asked via the radio.
"No, if they catch your attention, it would be way more dangerous," Del said.
Del checked his body for any injury. Blood was coming out all over many holes inside of his body. Before he knew it, pains were coming out all over his body. He didn't feel fatigued yet, but his blood loss worried him. If he started to feel fatigued all over his body, it would be game over.
Too much blood loss and he would lose his body function. He thought of stopping the bleeding, but did he have enough time to do that? The security details had begun to move towards the north direction. If he didn't move, he would get spotted.
He put his assault rifle on his back. He started crawling on the ground to get away from the security details that begun to search for him. Underestimating the security details was his biggest mistake, he should have used something else, such as a tank if he could afford one.
"Del, do you hear me, one of the people is coming in my direction, should I engage?" Anna asked.
Del looked around him. There was no way he could get out of that forest alive, it was better if Anna distracted them. Anna still could move freely, but Del couldn't. He might be wearing camouflage, but it didn't mean that he would be invisible. It meant that he would need to be moving from that area.
"Engage," Del whispered to the microphone.
Anna aimed at one of the security details on the sky. She fired her M16 in a burst towards the direction of the flying security details to wound them. The two security details that hovered on top of the forest dropped dead and fell to the ground and made a loud noise.
"WE HAVE A SECOND SHOOTER! ECHELON A! MOVE TO THE WEST!"
Del had no idea what Echelon A was, but eight security details flew to the sky and aimed their rifle in the west direction. They bombarded the west forest mercilessly even worse than before. This time, one of the smaller trees even fell to the ground from the fireball explosion.
'How strong are these guys?' Del wondered.
So far, these security details had a weapon that had the same strength as a mobile automatic grenade launcher. Even though the fireball didn't spit out metal fragmentations like real grenade launchers, they were still very dangerous. These veterans really wanted to kill him because Del and Anna had killed three of their buddies.
Del threw one of the smoke grenades in the middle of confusion. He threw the smoke grenade in the direction of the security detail that came after him. The smoke popped off and covered the area with thick white smoke. Del used that opportunity to get out of that area. The security details were coughing from the smokes, and Del tried hard to make sure that he didn't cough.
"SMOKE! TIGHTEN YOUR POSITION!"
'If this assault happened at daylight, I would be dead a long time ago,' Del looked at the security details that kept searching for him, even in the thick smoke.
Del continued crawling on the ground to move out of the forest. He hoped that his blood didn't leave too much trace, but he would be damned if they noticed the dark blood on the dark forest. It meant that these veterans would be harder to shake than he expected.
He worried about Anna, "Anna, do you copy?"
"I'm fine, Del, I'm getting out of the A.O. This is too hot for me," Anna said.
"Get out while you still can, over," Del replied.
"Anna out."
Del continued to crawl and crawl. At first, it was easy, but it became harder and harder and those veterans weren't exactly giving up in searching for him. They were searching by kicking or opening any bushes with the tip of their rifle. It was simply terrifying. They seemed to be more disciplined than the Elbanian SF too, maybe because they relied on firearms that forced them to be more tactical.
Del looked behind him, then he saw one of them, smiling and grinning while aiming his rifle in his direction. Del gave a quick response by shooting his M16 at the direction of that personnel. The person flinched after Del fired ten rounds at that person's torso. The rifle that the person held accidentally shot him in the leg.
"CONTACT! 10 O'CLOCK!" One of them shouted.
"[Defensive Spell: Material Field] [Force Field Modifier +10,000]," Del chanted his spell as he injected a syringe filled with painkillers on his injured foot.
It was no time to be stealthy anymore. Del immediately dashed for the end of the forest to lost his pursuer. They wouldn't get too far from the mansion since they didn't want to risk losing their employer. Once he got out of the forest, he would be safe.
Suddenly, explosions started appearing left and right as Del ran as fast as he could while firing his M16 at the enemies behind him aimlessly. Del felt that bullet was able to penetrate his material wall and hit him in the body armor and his legs but the painkiller kept his body from passing out from the pain.
"Del, where are you? I'm out of the forest," Anna asked from the radio.
"I'm on the edge of the forest, prepare yourself in a defensive position with your machine gun, I will get out of the forest shortly with God knows how many security details are behind me," Del said.
Del looked at the sky, one of the flying security details was flying high on top of him. He was the one that bombarded the area around Del. There was no way a 5.56 round would be able to reach that altitude, but the forest also prevented him from acquiring the target while running. Unless he could get out of that forest, he would be trapped.
He kept running and running until eventually, he got out of the forest. He saw Anna was laying down with his machine gun. She was aiming at the forest and eventually pulled the trigger of his machine gun and sprayed the whole forest with bullets.
Del continued dashing until he reached Anna's position. He opened the antenna of the stinger and fired it at one of the flying security details and blew him off the sky. The rest of the security details retreated back to the forest.
"We did it, you managed to get out, bro," Anna commented.
Del felt wobbly. His vision was blurred. He dropped the stinger to the ground. He then muttered, "Mission… Failed." His body fell to the ground from the loss of blood.