At ten o’clock in the evening, Valentin led two hundred elite members and headed straight for an abandoned factory in Northmoor.
When they were three hundred meters away from the factory, Valentin had the vehicles stopped, and they proceeded on foot to avoid alerting the Apex.
The wind was strong that night, making it chilly, but Valentin felt no cold. Instead, a burning desire for vengeance boiled inside him.
The two hundred men hurriedly approached the abandoned factory, taking precautions to minimize noise. The scouts, who had been monitoring the situation ahead, reported to Valentin about the movements of the Apex members hiding in the factory.
Except for a few individuals who went out to purchase daily necessities, dozens of people remained inside the factory.
Ten minutes later, Valentin approached the abandoned factory. Standing twenty meters away, he took out his night vision binoculars and carefully surveyed their target for the attack.
In his field of vision, dim lights illuminated several Apex members guarding the iron gates. They chatted while smoking cigarettes to keep warm.
In the distance, there were also sounds of clinking bottles.
“Are they celebrating? Drinking? Hmph, tonight, no one will be able to get out of there alive.”
Recalling the suffering he endured that afternoon, a surge of fighting spirit filled Valentin. “Callum, I’ll make you pay!”
Without any further strategic planning, Valentin, with his numerical advantage, waved his hand, and more than a hundred men immediately rushed in.
The remaining dozens of men behind them lit their torches and agilely followed suit, their hands wielding ink-stained machetes.
“Kill them!”
Seeing that nearly all his brothers had charged forward, Valentin waved his hand fiercely and the remaining sixty brothers followed him into the fray.
In an instant, this rundown factory that had been abandoned for over half a year was filled with the murderous presence of Axe members. The few Apex members guarding the entrance immediately screamed and scrambled to hide inside.
“Enemy attack! Enemy attack!”
Members of the Apex shouted in a frightened tone, “The Axe is here!”
Witnessing their opponents cowering in fear and fleeing, the morale of the Axe surged even higher. They quickly stormed through the gate and crossed the grassy field towards the factory.
They saw the members of Apex darting around in chaos. Just as they were about to rush across the last stretch of ground and ascend the stairs to the second floor, the floor suddenly shook, swaying as if an earthquake had struck.
Then, a dozen people lost their balance and fell to the ground. Before they could get up, they heard a loud crack.
The entire floor gave way with a thunderous crash, dropping at least three meters.
“Ah-”
The Apex members screamed in panic as they fell into the pit, as if they had landed in a quagmire, sinking slowly into the ground.
No matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t pull themselves out.
The members of the Axe behind them quickly stopped, secretly relieved they were further back. Otherwise, they would have likely fallen in too. But before they could fully rejoice, a sudden barking erupted from behind the group.
Valentin instinctively turned to look, only to see a pack of dogs, their tails dragging torches, charging toward them.
“Oh my god!”
Valentin had only heard of fire formations in ancient times, but he had never seen a fire dog formation before. He was momentarily stunned.
In that split second, several dogs rushed into the back of the group, barking loudly and biting at anyone in their way. The torches crackled, adding to the chaos. The members of the Axe instinctively panicked, screaming as they pushed forward to escape.
They even knocked over comrades who didn’t know what was happening in front of them.
Some realized something had happened behind them but were unable to resist the force pushing them forward, resulting in more screams echoing in the dilapidated factory.
Finally, the pit was filled with bodies, and the stampede came to a halt. But dozens of the Axe members had fallen into the pit and couldn’t climb back up.
The mixture was thick and sticky, and no amount of struggling helped.
“Ah-”
Valentin, who had dodged the crazed dogs and was pushed to the front, was furious when he looked back and saw the scene.
The ground had been completely hollowed out, filled with half a meter of gooey sludge, while the surrounding area was slick with oil, making it exceedingly slippery.
Those who fell in had almost no chance of climbing back up. Fortunately, the Apex had shown some restraint. If they had used sharp blades, dozens would have already been dead.
The Apex were truly cunning.
Valentin ordered his men to drive the fire dogs away, then shouted at his few remaining subordinates, “Quick! Pull them up!”
The group lowered their blades, attempting to rescue their comrades, but as they pulled, their feet slipped, and they too fell into the pit.
At that moment, six large lights turned on, dazzling Valentin and the Axe members. They instinctively raised their weapons in defense, but the bright lights made it difficult to see, leaving them in a precarious situation.
Then, Callum appeared with dozens of his men, grinning at them and feigning surprise.
“Well, well, who comes to visit at this late hour?”
Then Callum shouted, “Oh, it’s Valentin! Sorry for not welcoming you properly!”
“You should have notified us, at least let me send someone to greet you.”
Callum rubbed his large bald head, full of swagger. “Look at this mess with so many falling into the pit. It’s quite a sight.”
Valentin seethed. “I underestimated you!”
Callum chuckled, “Our brothers were just full of energy and had nothing to do, so we thought we’d dig a pit for fun.”
“Had I known you liked it so much, we would have made it deeper!”
He feigned regret.
Valentin gritted his teeth and shouted, “When I catch you, I’ll chop you into a thousand pieces to appease our brothers!”
Then he turned and raised his arm, calling out, “Brothers, attack!”
Though dozens had fallen into the pit, Valentin still had one hundred and fifty men. He believed that victory would ultimately belong to him.
Suddenly, hot water rained down from above. The Axe members at the front were caught off guard, scalded by the hot water.
They dropped their weapons, cradling their faces with both hands, jumping around to ease their pain as cries filled the air. The rest instinctively backed away to avoid becoming targets.
Valentin was furious. “What are you afraid of? Charge!”
Dozens of the Axe members yelled and surged forward.
Callum clapped his hands, and dozens of men emerged from both sides, hurling stones and bricks down at them.
“Ah! Ah! Ah!”
The Axe members screamed in terror, desperately trying to dodge, but many were still injured by the falling debris. A brick even hit Valentin on the shoulder, forcing him to seek shelter under the eaves of a corridor.
Some Axe members attempted to enter the workshop, only to find the doors welded shut, completely inaccessible.
Six Axe members made their way to the stairs leading to the second floor, just as they were about to rush up when a torrent of slick oil came pouring down, causing them to slip repeatedly.
After finally climbing halfway, they suddenly noticed a massive old stone table hanging above them. With a thunderous crash, it fell.
The stone table injured several Axe members and completely blocked the stairs leading up.
“Damn it! You cunning fox!”
Valentin and his men sheltered at the end of the corridor, thinking they had dodged the falling stones. Just as they were about to sneak up and attack Callum, they heard a cracking sound from the ceiling.
Then came a series of loud crashes as the roof above the corridor collapsed, crushing over a hundred Axe members.
With the roof of the corridor collapsing, visibility opened up, and the Apex members above began throwing stones and bricks.
Within ten minutes, nearly all of the Axe members had been injured, and Valentin looked around, his expression grave. Only about twenty or thirty people were still able to fight.
The rest were severely injured, and he felt incredibly frustrated. “Callum, come down and face me in a duel!”
“Ha!”
Before Valentin could decide whether to fight to the end or make a final escape, several hoses dropped down from above, spraying air.
At the same time, a large cloud of red powder began to float through the night sky. Valentin felt a burning sensation in his nose and mouth, followed by uncontrollable sneezing.
“Chili powder!”
The first floor quickly filled with the spicy scent. Even though the Axe members covered their mouths and noses with all their might, the chili still harmed them.
“Ah-It burns!”
“Kaff kaff kaff!”
Amid the swirling chili powder, the remaining fighting force among the Axe members dropped their weapons and collapsed to the ground, trying to relieve their pain.
Valentin struggled to clear his throat, attempting to expel the chili powder from his system, but no matter what he did, it only made him feel worse.
“Fight your way out!”
After shouting, Valentin organized his men to charge toward the door while simultaneously calling for help from the headquarters.
“Whoosh!”
But as they charged, he was the only one moving forward. Before he reached the door, several large nets fell, ensnaring him completely…