76: Chapter 76 Defending the Banquet Hall

The Governors Mansion ballroom.

The gilded doors were tightly barricaded with sofas and dining tables, and shards of glass mixed with blood covered the marble floor.

Wade crouched behind the door, his Bolter down to less than half a magazine.

"Colonel, ammunition!"

A soldier rushed over, hunched over, and handed him two spare magazines.

Wade caught them, weighed them in his hand, and his expression darkened further.

Not enough.

This little ammunition wouldn't even hold back a single charge.

He only loaded one magazine into his weapon, shoved the other deep into the innermost layer of his tactical vest, and whispered an order to the soldier beside him: "Three-round bursts, no full-auto spray, make it count."

Outside the doors, the jeers of the noble private army came through the door panels, loud enough to make one's ears numb.

"Listen up, you scum inside! Release the hostages immediately, or we'll leave your corpses intact!"

"Not releasing them? Once Brigadier General Valerius twists your Governor's head off, I'll skin you alive with my own hands!"

Wade didn't say a word, just glanced at his wrist terminal.

The signal bar was still blank; all-band communication was completely jammed.

In the corner of the ballroom, the seventeen heads of the rebellious noble houses were tied up and thrown on the ground, their fine clothes wrinkled, their faces filled with terror and resentment.

The fat, pot-bellied baron struggled to lift his head and roared: "You Underhive scum, prepare to die!"

"Brigadier General Valerius's moon-class cruiser will crush your Governor just like an ant!"

Wade glanced back at him without saying a word.

Another noble nearby immediately chimed in, his voice shrill: "Once the Brigadier General's cruiser arrives, the entire Governors Mansion will be razed to the ground by Macro Cannons! If you let us go now, you might still die with your bodies intact!"

Wade withdrew his gaze and pressed back against the door panel, watching the movement outside through the observation hole.

He knew clearly in his heart that these fools were right.

The outcome of this battle didn't depend on the ballroom, nor the Mid-Hive; it depended on space.

Whoever controlled orbital air superiority would win.

Hawke had gone into space with Fu Haoran. Wade didn't know how the battle was going up there, but he knew one thing—they hadn't lost yet.

The communication jam actually made him feel relieved.

No news was the best news.

"Colonel!" A soldier lowered his voice, gesturing towards the window.

Wade crouched and crept over, peeking through a corner of the curtain.

On the roof of the opposite Governors Mansion building, several dark figures were setting up a cannon, adjusting the angle.

A melta-cannon.

"Damn it." Wade cursed through gritted teeth.

The private army couldn't wait any longer.

Once the melta-cannon was set up, a single shot would melt through the ballroom's alloy doors.

He looked back at the ballroom.

Because of the need for stealth during the raid, he hadn't brought many men.

He had diverted a group to guard key passages along the way and had to spread others to cover other windows.

The manpower at the main entrance was only about a hundred, including a dozen wounded who were barely holding on behind cover, but outside...

Looking at the growing number of noble private soldiers, Wade knew clearly that with just these few men, they couldn't hold out for long.

He took a deep breath, walked to the corner, and crouched in front of the young wounded soldier.

The boy's face was pale, his shoulder grazed by a stray bullet, the bandage wrapped around it still seeping blood, his hand gripping the rifle stock so tightly his knuckles were white.

"What's your name?"

"Ro...Ron, sir."

Wade tugged at the corner of his mouth, offering a faint smile, then pulled out his spare pistol from his waist and shoved it into his hand.

"Take it. When they charge in, you hide behind the wounded, aim before you fire, and don't panic."

The young soldier gripped the gun, his hand still shaking, but he nodded heavily.

Wade stood up and walked back behind the door.

He felt for the last fragmentation grenade at his waist, gripped it in his hand, hooked his finger through the safety pin, and stared intently at the door that could explode open at any moment.

"Brothers." His voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears.

"The Governor is gambling his life in the sky for the future of our Hive City, and we must risk our lives underground to guard his rear."

"He hasn't retreated, so we cannot retreat."

"Don't embarrass him."

No one spoke; there was only the crisp sound of rifle bolts being pulled.

Everyone gripped their weapons tight, pressed their bodies against cover, and stared fixedly at the door.

Outside the door, the humming sound of the melta-cannon charging grew louder.

The private army Commander's countdown came clearly through the door panels.

"Five!"

"Four!"

Wade turned back and glanced at the soldiers behind him.

Forty-seven men, forty-seven pairs of eyes fixed on him, and not a single one retreated.

The noble baron in the corner suddenly burst into hysterical laughter, roaring along with the countdown: "Three! Once the door blows, you'll all be fed to the void worms!"

"Two!"

Wade tightened his grip on the grenade, slowly stood up, lowered his body slightly, and prepared to charge.

"One!"

BOOM!!!

The deafening explosion rang out instantly.

The melta-cannon's high-temperature jet melted straight through the heavy alloy door, and the entire panel collapsed inward with a roar, slamming into the ground and kicking up a sky full of metal shards and dust.

"CHARGE!! Kill them!! Save the house heads!!"

The roars of the private army soldiers shook the plaza as they charged into the ballroom, holding their guns and stepping over the scorching hot metal fragments.

Wade faced the fire, yanking the safety pin of the grenade hard.

"For the Governor!"

He raised his hand and threw the grenade accurately into the crowd charging at the front.

The explosive fire erupted instantly, knocking the first row of charging private soldiers to the ground, where they rolled in a ball, screaming.

But more private soldiers kept pouring in, their dense muzzles aimed at the soldiers behind the cover.

Wade raised his Bolter and pulled the trigger.

Bolter rounds exploded in the narrow space, sending flesh and blood flying.

A soldier beside him was hit in the chest by a laser beam and fell to the ground with a muffled grunt.

The soldier next to him immediately took his place, his muzzle spitting tongues of fire.

Gunfire, screams, roars, and the clashing of metal all blended together.

Wade didn't know how long he had been fighting; he only knew the gun barrel was so hot he could barely hold it, and his palms were slick with sweat.

He emptied his magazine, reached for the last spare in the inner layer of his vest, and just as his fingertips touched it, he heard a muffled grunt from behind him.

The young soldier Ron had been grazed on the arm by a stray bullet, and his pistol had fallen to the ground.

Two private soldiers aimed their guns and rushed around the cover toward him.

Without a second thought, Wade tossed aside his empty Bolter, drew the power sword from his waist, and lunged sideways to block in front of Ron.

The blade glowed with a pale blue energy light, slicing through the opponent's gun barrel with one strike, then following through to slit the throat of the leading soldier.

But more private soldiers had already surrounded them, trapping him and the remaining dozens of soldiers in the corner of the ballroom.

Wade gripped his sword, back against the wall, breathing heavily.

He glanced out the window from the corner of his eye.

In the pitch-black space, there had been nothing.

But just then, a brilliant silver-white point of light suddenly cut through the dead silence of the darkness.

It was like a meteor falling toward the ground, dragging a long tail of flame, moving at an astonishing speed, rushing rapidly toward the Hive City.

No one knew whose reinforcements these were.

The private soldiers also saw the meteor, and their charge came to a sudden halt.

The entire ballroom suddenly fell into an eerie silence.

Only that meteor continued to fall rapidly through the darkness, growing brighter and brighter.