Chapter 377
The tunnels became a claustrophobic nightmare. The thick webbing caught at the ratmen’s feet, slowing them down. Fungal lamps were snuffed out by hybrid scouts, plunging the tunnels into near-total darkness. The ratmen’s heavy breathing and the relentless skittering of claws were the only sounds.
One by one, the ratmen fell.
The ratmen team regrouped in a narrow junction of the tunnels, their backs against the rough, web-coated walls. Steam hissed from their rifles as the whirring of gears echoed in the confined space. Skrag barked orders, his gauntlet’s pilot flame illuminating the determined faces of his comrades.
"Hold this ground! Make them pay for every step!"
The hybrids came in a wave, their chittering claws and glistening fangs a nightmarish blur. The ratmen fired, the steam rifles releasing sharp bursts of superheated mist that seared through the air. The first wave of hybrids fell, their carapaces hissing and cracking under the scalding onslaught.
"Push them back!" shouted one of the engineers, cranking the lever of his shoulder-mounted steam cannon. A jet of boiling steam shot out, enveloping the tunnel in a thick, scalding cloud. Screeches of pain echoed as the hybrids retreated momentarily, their momentum slowed by the brutal defense.
But the hybrids were cunning. From the ceiling, one dropped silently onto a ratman who was reloading, its fangs sinking deep into his neck. He screamed, flailing as the creature dragged him upward into the darkness.
"Focus fire on the walls and ceiling!" Skrag roared.
Steam-powered exosuits hissed as ratmen shifted their aim, their rifles and flamethrowers spraying streams of heat and flame across the tunnel. The hybrids responded with ferocity, darting in and out of the steam cloud, using the terrain to their advantage.
One hybrid lunged at Skrag, its claws aimed for his chest. With a snarl, Skrag activated his gauntlet’s flamethrower, engulfing the creature in a torrent of fire. It screeched, thrashing wildly before collapsing in a smoldering heap.
"Cover me!" shouted a scout carrying a bulky contraption—a makeshift steam bomb. He dashed forward, ducking under a hybrid’s swipe, and slammed the device onto the tunnel floor. The bomb hissed and sputtered, releasing a pressurized blast of steam that filled the tunnel with scalding heat.