Chapter 266: A Help From A Fox

Ronan scanned the approaching infected while his men continued firing. "There. The left side is moving slower. If we push through that group, we might be able to open a path."

"Then wait for my signal."

Jade steadied her breathing and watched the horde. The infected on the left were indeed slower, but she couldn’t tell whether it was a weakness or another trap.

Still, staying where they were was becoming more dangerous by the second.

"Now!"

The Pathfinders concentrated their fire on the left flank.

Several infected dropped immediately, creating a narrow opening that Ronan’s men began pushing toward.

For a moment, it looked as though they might actually break through.

Then one of the fallen infected moved.

Jade’s eyes widened as white tendrils crawled out from beneath its torn clothing, wrapping around the damaged flesh and pulling the wound together.

The body jerked upright before lunging toward the nearest Pathfinder.

It was new, she had never seen that before. Was it possible that they were evolving? The hive mind might get smarter and even stronger the more it gets information .

"Shit! What the hell?! It’s still alive!"

The Pathfinder barely raised his rifle before Ronan shot the infected through the head.

Another one climbed back to its feet. Then more followed.

Jade gritted her teeth. She wasn’t a book smart like Patrick or someone who was able to summon anything out of nowhere like Gideon. But even she knew this wasn’t good news.

"Don’t assume they’re dead until they’re down for good!"

The warning came too late for one of the younger Pathfinders. An infected he had already shot suddenly grabbed his leg, dragging him off balance as white tendrils wrapped around its arm.

Two of his comrades pulled him free and finished the creature at close range, but the brief disruption was enough.

The opening disappeared. More infected surged into space.

"Back together!" Ronan shouted. "Don’t chase them! Stay with the formation!"

The Pathfinders regrouped, but their line had already lost its shape.

Several men were bleeding, ammunition was running low, and the constant pressure was beginning to wear down even the veterans.

Jade fired at another infected rushing toward them and watched it collapse.

It stayed down this time.

"Keep shooting the ones with the white growth!" she ordered. "If they get back up, shoot them again!"

She didn’t know whether it would work. It was simply the only thing she could think of.

The infected pressed closer.

A woman with a broken axe slipped through the formation and struck him across the shoulder before Ronan shot her.

Another infected immediately took her place, forcing two men to drag their wounded comrade backward.

"Jade!"

"I see it!"

Jade moved toward the opening, firing until the infected in front of her dropped. She barely had time to reload before another group came from the opposite side.

The formation was breaking.

Not all at once, but enough.

One section buckled whenever another was reinforced, and every attempt to stabilize the line gave the infected another opportunity to attack somewhere else.

The smart ones never stayed where the Pathfinders had concentrated their fire. They shifted, waited, and attacked the moment someone moved.

Jade’s breath became heavier as sweat rolled down her temple despite the cold.

’They’re learning.’

She couldn’t explain it beyond that. These weren’t soldiers, and they weren’t fighting like soldiers.

Most of them were still nothing more than infected civilians throwing themselves forward with knives, hammers, axes, and whatever else they had found.

But some were different. Those were the ones tearing Jade’s defensive line apart.

"Ronan, the ones holding back are watching our movements. They’re waiting for us to expose another gap."

"I’ve noticed. Every time we reinforce one side, they shift toward the other. They’re not attacking where we’re strongest. They’re waiting for the moment we have to move."

Jade fired at an infected trying to slip through the right flank before looking toward him.

"Then stop reinforcing blindly. Keep the center intact and let the outer men fall back before they get isolated."

Ronan immediately shouted the order to his men, but the infected were already moving again, forcing the Pathfinders to adjust before they could fully recover their formation.

A violent impact came from the right as several infected crashed into the Pathfinder line.

Ronan fired at the nearest one, then slammed his shoulder into another before finishing it with his rifle.

"Second line, move up!"

The command barely left his mouth before another group attacked from behind.

"Behind us!"

Jade turned and fired.

The pincer had closed.

The Pathfinders—that weren’t as much to begin with—were now surrounded in the middle of the square, with infected pressing from the front, both flanks, and the streets behind them.

The evacuation routes were still open, but Jade knew that if their formation collapsed, the horde would spill straight into them.

"We can’t stay here!" one of the Pathfinders shouted.

"We stay," Jade answered immediately. "We need to hold them back as long as we possibly can."

"But we’re being surrounded!"

"And the civilians are still moving. Hold the square!"

Ronan looked toward her for a moment before raising his rifle again.

"You heard her! Nobody breaks formation!"

The Pathfinders obeyed, but their movements were no longer as clean as before.

Some were limping. Others were covered in blood that wasn’t all their own. Their ammunition was running lower, and the infected kept coming.

Jade fired until her magazine was empty, then reached for another.

Before she could reload, a sudden explosion shook the square.

The sound was so powerful that several Pathfinders instinctively ducked.

A massive chunk of granite crashed into the street between the two attacking groups, crushing several infected beneath it and throwing the rest backward.

Jade froze.

Another slab came down from the opposite side, followed by another.

The pincer was suddenly torn apart.

"What the hell...?"

Ronan stared toward the source of the attack as several of the infected stumbled away from the newly created barriers.

She didn’t lower her rifle.

The granite wasn’t something Freebound would normally use inside Climber Rift. The canyon was too interconnected, the buildings below were too crowded and careless destruction could bring down structures or block evacuation routes.

Whoever had done this either didn’t care about that risk or had decided the situation had become bad enough to justify it.

"Keep your eyes open!" Jade shouted. "Don’t assume it’s over!"

The Pathfinders immediately took advantage of the opening, pushing the nearest infected back while the granite separated the two sides of the horde.

Then Jade noticed something strange.

The infected closest to the granite continued attacking.

But farther back, several of the ones that had been moving with frightening precision had stopped.

Jade’s eyes narrowed as she noticed several of the infected near the newly formed barrier beginning to withdraw.

Most continued attacking without hesitation, but the ones that had been moving with greater precision were slowly backing away, choosing not to expose themselves while the others kept the Pathfinders occupied.

’So you know when to retreat.’

She barely had time to process the thought before another wave of granite smashed down farther along the street, forcing the remaining infected away from the defenders.

A group of armed men emerged through the gap.

They moved with confidence, spreading out and firing into the infected that tried to approach.

Unlike the Pathfinders, they weren’t trying to preserve the streets or buildings. Their priority was simply to break the pressure surrounding the square.

Jade recognized the insignia on their clothing.

Merchant Guild.

Her grip tightened around her rifle.

The men advanced through the newly opened path, and behind them came a familiar figure dressed far too elegantly for the battlefield.

A black veil covered half of her face, while the other half remained hidden beneath the falling snow.

Lin Yue stopped several meters away and calmly looked across the ruined square.

Her eyes curved into a faint smile.

"Jade," she called, almost as though they had simply met at another business negotiation.

"I’m afraid your settlement has become quite the troublesome investment."

Jade’s expression soured. She was genuinely grateful for the help, but anything that came from this fox was never free.

Lin Yue always expected something in return, and this favor would become another debt, one that couldn’t simply be repaid with aberrant cores or whatever money was still worth in this ruined world.

Freebound already had plenty of debts to her.

With a quiet sigh, Jade lowered her rifle. "Lin Yue, as expected, you’re still fashionable even in the middle of a war."

Lin Yue’s eyes curved into crescents above her veil, making it impossible to tell whether she found the situation amusing or distasteful.

"Of course. Not even a thank you. As expected of Pathmadre, your diplomacy skills are just as stunning as they were when we first met."

She approached with an easy elegance, the sound of her heels barely audible against the snow.

"Come. We need to discuss this."

Jade gave a short chuckle and glanced toward the battlefield. "Don’t you see that I’m in the middle of something important?"

"Clearly." Lin Yue’s smile remained as she looked past her toward the struggling Pathfinders.

"But anyone with eyes can see that you need more hands. I can give them to you, but you’ll need to be honest with me."

She paused, then tilted her head slightly.

"And I’m being kind by giving you a private place to discuss how messy your disaster management has become. Your choice, Jade."