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Klein acted fast. Pulling his knife from the warg’s neck, he sheathed it. Switching to the rifle, he jumped to the roof of a house. He had done this so often before. Bipod down. Scope clear. Open optical connection. The HUD over his right eye filled with the new images. His third “eye” zoomed in on the pack.

A dozen wargs give or take in the square. One was more vibrantly colored than the rest. An officer? Klein fired. It crumpled as the bullet ripped into its skull. The other wargs jumped. One moved close to their fallen member. It also died. The rest scattered. Tracking another, he killed it with a shot into the chest. Before he could get another, they vanished into the amphitheater and under his arc of fire.

This was easy. The Battle of Noctis Labyrinthus had been much harder. The obsidian dust ripped into joint armor, cutting holes and hindering movement. The storms also caused paint to sanded away, leaving any unit trying to hind to resort to older and more complex methods. But the mines had to be and were held, barely. Weeks were spent in seesaw battles on the ridges of Noctis. Traveling the valleys was deadly. Snipers like Klein and mortar units from both sides made any attempt suicidal. The battle was decided by the mass deployment of Mechanized Armored Soldiers. The bipedal tanks brought the mobility and firepower needed to push the invaders back.

Looking over the edge of the building, Klein saw the other fighting. It wasn’t like he had been trained. Very loose organization. More individual skill than anything. His help wasn’t needed yet. A warg popped up out of the dip. Without turning his head, Klein took the shot. The bullet ripped through the beast’s neck.

To his side, there was an explosion. Like a string of fireworks, more followed in quick succession. Something burning splattered on his arm. Quickly patting out the flames, Klein looked at the greasy smear. A piece on some lifeform beyond his knowledge. Beneath him, the building groaned. Klein didn’t wait and jumped to another building.

The street below was a warzone. Multiple craters from whatever had blown up. Metallic dust drifted through the air. Several wargs were running around with their fur on fire. Klein finished them off. Any other enemies seemed to have backed off for now. Jumping down, Klein began to search for survivors.