With the help of NVG, Sierra One navigated the underground tunnel without a hitch. The tunnel meandered but did not branch. So Sierra One kept moving forward.

Every 200 meters, a Disto Beacon will be plugged into the tunnel floor. Meanwhile, two pointmen armed with a Scorpion Evo A3SD stood guard eight meters ahead.

The 24th Disto Beacon had just been activated, when out of nowhere, an archer's silhouette entered one of the pointman's crosshairs.

Be-beep! Be-beep!

As soon as the archer took aim, shots were fired.

"Contact front! Contact front!"

At the same time, other archers appeared. Without hesitation, the two pointmen showered them with short outbursts while pressing forward side by side.

Behind the two pointmen, the other Sierra One members followed tightly.

Be-beep! Be-beep! Be-bebebeeep!

"Change!"

When one of the pointman knelt to change magazines, the Sierra One personnel behind him swiftly replaced him, so that the movement could continue without pause.

Within seconds, Sierra One arrived before the bodies of eight archers lying on the tunnel floor. To make sure there were no unpleasant surprises, every archer got an additional headshot.

A few meters behind the archers' bodies, the pointman found a turn. Cautiously, he peered in and found eight archers already in an aiming position. Not far in front of them, a trap wire crossed 20 cm above the tunnel floor.

Pointman immediately gave a signal of a booby trap, then requested the use of a flashbang before changing the magazine.

Sergeant Kurt quickly grabbed a flashbang from his waist, removed the safety ring, then showed it to the pointman.

As soon as the pointman nodded, Sergeant Kurt then threw the flashbang into the turn.

Baam!

Be-bebebeeep! Be-bebebeeep!

Without showing his body, the pointman fired a full magazine of spray and pray into the turn. Followed by two Siera One's personnel who stepped forward and shot at anything that was still moving.

"Threat eliminated, threat eliminated!"

As soon as a safe signal was given, one of Sierra One personnel with combat engineer qualifications immediately inspected the trap wire, then turned to Sergeant Kurt.

"This trap wire is designed to trip the target, without other tricks."

"Fuck me!" cursed Sergeant Kurt before taking a deep breath, "We just missed our chance to dig up intel."

The pointman who identified the booby trap immediately scratched the back of his head. "Sorry Boss."

"Naah, not your fault. I also will not take an unidentified risk to capture one or two weasels."

Two personnel were then stationed to guard the turn until Sierra Two arrived, while the rest of Sierra One continued the journey.

A hundred and fifty meters from the versus contact location, Sierra One finds a huge hall full of wooden crates. When Sergeant Kurt opened one of the wooden crates to check the content, all Siera One personnel instantly dropped their jaws in shock.

- - - - -

"Received and understood, we have a threat with an unknown number in the tunnel, Utah One, over."

After receiving the latest intel from the command center, Sergeant Marco turned to the paramedic who was examining two bodies sitting side by side and leaning against the tunnel wall.

"What did you find?"

"They were part of the group that tried to ambush Willy Fox. Both died from blood loss."

Sergeant Marco nodded slightly. "Well, then we'd better continue with our work."

Without wasting time, one of Utah One personnel stuck the Disto Beacon into the tunnel floor. But before he activated it, the pointman suddenly shouted.

"Contact front! Sixty Metro!"

Simultaneously, Utah One personnel dropped to the tunnel floor, then crept toward the pointman position. With pounding hearts, they observed the approaching three rows of huge shields.

Not long after that, the whir of arrows passed Utah One's position.

- - - - -

When he heard a group of people in green clothes gather near the entrance to the second storage room, Captain Skutt immediately ordered a platoon to eliminate them.

However, not long after that, he received a report that the platoon trying to ambush people in green clothes was wiped out.

The squad guarding the second storage room then reported several people in black clothes moving closer to their position. After that, contact with the squad guarding the second storage was also cut off.

Captain Skutt then led 80 of his best men to carry out a sweep. This time luck seemed to be on his side. As soon as a scout reported that several people in black clothes were gathered 60 meters from a turn, he immediately prepared a welcome party.

Captain Skutt and his men had been living in the underground camp for six months, and had simulated tunnel ambushes hundreds of times. So he and his men could fight in the tunnel very well.

In the leading position, six people carried three wooden shields covered with iron plates in pairs. The shield team moved side by side in silence, followed by twenty archers. Behind the archers, Captain Skutt led the spearman and swordsman.

As soon as all archers behind the shield team passed the turn, a salvo of arrows was immediately released.

The six leading archers deftly fired arrows, then ducked and retreated to be replaced by the six archers behind them. The process was fluid and fast so that the salvo of arrows could be fired almost without pause.

At first, Captain Skutt was a bit surprised that one of the people in black clothes noticed their presence before the arrow was fired. But that seems to be just a coincidence.

After a loud shout, no more sound could be heard from people in black clothes. A smile instantly spread across Captain Skutt's lips.

"Don't stop! Keep moving and pressing!"

"Sir, yes sir!"

Archers in front of Captain Skutt confidently firing arrows. While the spearman and swordsman behind him tightened their grip on their weapons.

Then, flash after flash appeared from the position of people in black clothes. Followed by a thumping sound of 'Tap tap tap ta-ta-ta-tap!' on the shield.

"Your arrows won't be able to penetrate our shields."

Captain Skutt muttered confidently, but the shield team suddenly collapsed, followed by archers behind them. Then, he felt a sting in his chest while his knees lost strength.

As his body collapsed onto the tunnel floor, Captain Skutt could hear the spearman and swordsman behind him frantically fleeing. Of course, most of them fell to the tunnel floor and didn't move anymore.

"How could it be?"

Captain Skutt muttered before his consciousness was lost for eternity.

- - - - -

Vex cradled a 2-kg gold bar marked with the Central Bank of Kingdom of Makai before turning to Carlos.

"Is this really pure gold?"

Carlos smiled before replying, "Yep, you can bite it to test it."

Colonel Meyer then added, "There's a total of 5 tons in the storage room that Siera One found. For other storage rooms, we're waiting for your green to check them."

Vex didn't answer immediately, but re-read the result of IDG's interrogation of several wounded guards captured by Utah One. Even though unfortunately the leader was dead, the captured guards still had some essential intels which were a great help for Vex, when what lay ahead of him was the pure unknown.

The intel were:

-- Underground gold mine with 600 guards and 1500 slave workers.

-- The owner of the underground gold mine is unknown, but judging by how the mine is kept secret, it is certain that the owner has no relationship with Kingdom of Makai.

-- The gold mine operations center is located 5 km to the north from Utah One versus contact location. There are three other storage rooms similar to the one that was found by the Sierra One.

Colonel Meyer looked at Vex deeply before asking, "XO, what are you worried about? We have a Tunnel War specialist."

"I'm not worried about the Tunnel War, but the owner of the mine."

"You want to avoid open conflict?"

Vex took a deep breath before replying, "Yeah, that's why we have to quickly find the owner and silence him or her along with anyone who knows the present of the gold mine.

At the same time, the gold mine must be seized and isolated as quickly as possible without attracting attention."

""Understood.""

Colonel Meyer and Carlos answered in unison.

*****