Carnage City: A World at War Novel (World at War Online Book 6) Read Online Free PDF

map of the city, then zoomed in on the general location of the tunnel exit. “Looks like it comes out on the lake shore, which matches with what Selene saw. We might be able to send a river craft up to it to figure out what’s outside.”
    “Won’t that attract attention too?” Bryce asked.
    “Nothing out of the ordinary, I’d think. We’ve had patrols out on the lake trying to find a way to get ashore. We could probably just pass this mission off as another one of those.”
    Cody frowned as he looked down at the map. “Assuming we do figure out everything, where are the assault troops for this route coming from? My battalion can’t spare anything.”
    “Neither can mine,” Lex said.
    Nora nodded. “I know. I’ll talk with Anna about it. Black Wolf will spearhead the operation, of course, but I’ll see if we can get Redd Foxx or Barghest to help out. Probably Barghest.”
    The entire affair concerned her. Even with their extensive experience in urban combat, this was a bad situation. Nora knew full well they were probably going to die in droves. And even though this was a game where death wasn’t permanent, dying still stung.
    The radical changes to World at War Online were having their desired effect. While before death was merely an annoyance, now it was a significant setback. It took weeks for a veteran soldier to train back up to that level after they were killed, and that severely reduced the combat effectiveness of units involved in intense combat. Their only comfort was that their enemies had to deal with the same problems.
    Nora didn’t hate the changes, because they were needed. Dying had become far too cheap in the original game, merely an inconvenience that warped players back to a certain location. Larger companies and alliances could often win by simply swamping their enemies in an endless tide of bodies. But the new system made that much, much more difficult.
    Human wave tactics were still possible, but they now could prove to be extremely costly. Less skilled troops would remain that way if killed time after time, drastically lessening the effectiveness of the attacking unit. Adding veteran troops meant risking a valuable asset that could take weeks or even months to properly replace. It made medics very valuable, and many players very leery of taking risks.
    It meant attrition had to be factored into the planning as well. Now they not only had to consider how casualties would influence the immediate battle, but how they would affect the situation days or weeks later. It made things more realistic, but it also gave them yet another thing to track.
    “Can you get in contact with Barghest right now?” Bryce asked. “Last I heard they were deep behind enemy lines.”
    “Oh yes, we have ways,” Nora assured him. “The messaging system, for one, and we can extract them by helo if we need to move them to another spot.”
    “Still, that takes away a unit that can do a lot of damage to Ragnarok’s supply lines.”
    “We can deal with that. The only reason we’re raiding right now is to buy us time, anyhow. If we take the district than it becomes less important.”
    And maintaining that balance would be crucial. They couldn’t afford to let Ragnarok have their way, but they also couldn’t let themselves get distracted. They needed to remember their objectives and always work toward them.
    It was why they had abandoned Green Bay, even though they had spent huge amounts of time, effort and equipment to capture it in the first place. The city was a prize, to be certain, but it served no real purpose in the grand scheme of things and robbed the main front of vital troops. As a result, Hydra Command had made the calculated decision to bring Magic Battalion south, where they would be more useful, and leave Green Bay to the enemy.
    Nora had advocated for the decision, even though it stung as well. They had no room for sentimentality, not when they were going up against a tough opponent like this.