Chapter 15 Elden City
Eri and the convoy that escorted her to the stadium, returned back to Elden city. The titanic gate looming above them casting a shadow, vivid figures from the very top of the wall appear from time to time while long and large barrels peek from them. Eri sighed to herself and was already keen on immediately reporting her findings to the city officials before heading back to her apartment and resting for a while.
Mind already at its wits end, Eri watched the city streets pass by like a blur, people scarcely got out of their homes in these times. Eri jumped up a little when the car she was riding in suddenly hopped over. 'Voice…' Her thoughts began to focus back on the being she had met with, recalling how the voice was soothing and calm like a loving mother. It took all of her will to not fall for its beguiling tone and tempting warmth that called for her. She steeled herself and constantly checked herself mentally, paranoia crawling on her back as she tried to recall everything and absorb and deduce if something was either wrong or missing on her memories.
Eri knew that she couldn't easily trust something as unknown as the Voice and their Children, they were already an unknown force that could easily rival New Gen and the Republic. Fortunately, Eri was not the one to get a headache on planning about how to interact and countermeasures for such a force. She could practically see the piling stress that is about to fall on her colleagues' heads and a few weeks of overnight work in the office. Then Eri felt the vehicle stop, looking towards the front of the car, she spotted one of the cities defence corp Spider Artillery Walkers. These things were multi-terrain artillery that were used or long ranged napalm strikes on when the infection began to spread to smaller cities.
Eri briefly remembered that there were still artillery shells for sieges and long range attacks but the Walkers were primarily used to napalm shells. "What's going on?" She asked towards the driver, who was also confused. "We're confirming right now, Ma'am." He replied, it was only then that Eri noticed the guard sitting on the front passenger seat was gone and was standing beside the door of the car, pressing her finger at the back of her ears. Probably asking Eden HQ on why the Walker corps were moving.
The guard outside turned towards the door and put her hands on the handle before a bolt of blue nearly hit her cheek, leaving a small scratch before it met contact with the car roof leaving a burn mark. "AMBUSH!!!" She yelled before pulling out a sleek metallic and silver pistol with a pulsing green line on its barrel, grip and body streamlined with minimal bulk. The Guard then pressed something on the side of her forehead before her right eye glows cyan with a holographic screen that was barely noticeable. She pointed it towards where the hot came from and fired a green bolt. From the driver's swift movement, Eri found herself bent down and hidden behind the driver's seat. "Stay Here and Hold on!" The Driver shouted before he proceeded to back up the car while other guards and even a few soldiers pushed forward and began to fire at the roofs and the fake soldiers of the Walker corps.
"What the –!!!" Eri heard the driver exclaim before a huge force hit the side of the car and made it tumble for a few metres away, Eri went unconscious while the driver wriggled and groaned, trying his best to loosen himself and crawl out. Eri then groaned in pain, her arms hanging down with a small cut on her right cheek. Her body aching in certain places that met contact with the car roof and cement ground. With a groan she began to crawl out of the turn over car, slow and careful in not letting the glass pierce her skin too much. Ears ringing and gaze slightly blurred but slowly recovering.
She then felt hands on her armpits before she felt being dragged away. Mustering what energy she has, she moved her gaze to the one dragging her. The Driver who had a small wound on his forehead, still dripping with blood, his sunglasses gone and suit all tattered and torn in some areas. He was speaking to her, but with her ears still ringing not to mention she could feel something wet spreading somewhere on her body. She knew instinctively that she was bleeding, but with her body aching in pain, she couldn't tell where. The ringing slowly disappeared and what she heard next was a cacophony of shouts and orders, alongside the blast of Xervo Pistols and Titan Rifles.
'I…Need to…Report back to…' Eri's thought before she felt herself being heaved up and her back leaned on something hard and rough. The driver that dragged her out of the battle, looked at her up and down and began removing his coat and crumpled it before placing it on her lower right abdomen. The pain intensified, causing her to let out a shout before she tried to stop herself from shouting more. Eri could already hear the battle slowly coming to its end, with the gunshots becoming more sparse. "Hold on, Ma'am, the medics are on their way." The driver assured her while keeping the pressure on her wound. With the blurriness completely gone, she saw the both of them were not the only ones to take cover. Behind the driver were a bodyguard and a soldier, both of them peeking out from their spots before ducking down again. Looking around, Their hiding spot was actually an alleyway that was a dead end. "What's–What's happening?" Eri directed her question to the two behind the driver. The soldier, who was holding a Titan X1 Assault Rifle, answered her question. "Enemies are retreating, a lot of us are injured and a few dead," The soldier peeked out the corner again before returning. " Hostiles have fully retreated and a few of us are pursuing them." The soldier finished, her body's tension disappeared slightly yet her grip on her rifle tightened.
A series of footsteps running at them caught their attention, swiftly, both soldier and bodyguard pointed their weapons to that direction while the driver moved his body to cover Eri, slightly adjusting his weight on the wound causing her to wince. "Friendlies and Medics!!!" A shout broke out, before five soldiers and 3 medics entered the mouth of the alleyway, the soldier and bodyguard already lowered their weapons. The driver looked back before he slightly shifted to the left when a medic kneeled down beside him and placed down their bag. At this moment on, they cleaned and checked the wounds Eri suffered before they pulled out a finger sized ointment before removing the cap and proceeded with spreading all of its glue-like contents all over her wound. Eri opened her eyes wide and her pupils shaking, she gasped out in pain and took a large inhale.
Such action caused more sting on her wounds and the irritation the medicine gave her. Much to the dismay of the medic, Eri wriggled and resisted the hold the driver and bodyguard had over her, preventing her hands from getting close to the wounds. Saliva dripped down her mouth and reached her neck. "Ms. Eri, don't try to scratch your wounds!" The driver chastised while he and the bodyguard on the other side of her held down her arms. 'Itchy!!!' Eri inwardly screamed, the medicine had a mixture of painkillers in it, the itch was the only thing causing her discomfort.
On the other hand, the medic was already finishing the gauze they placed on the wounds before they reached for the bandages on the small pouches on their belt. "Don't worry, this won't take long." The medic vainly assured her, their eyes not leaving the wounds and hands calmly wrapping the bandage over it. It shows how used they are to these sorts of reactions. The ointment was a diluted version of a few medicines mashed into one. It serves to maintain their limited supply of medicine that they barely get through and make.
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'So comes the march of beasts and monsters' A centipede-like beast the size of an average teenager's waist and as long as two people, wrapped around a Tanker's neck with its multitude of scythe-like appendages tapping like a beat of sorts.
TING~TING~TING TING~THUMP~
It repeated this continuously while the Tanker it coiled around too followed the beat with the thuds of its log-like legs. Then echoing thuds followed suit before a cryptid mellody of groaning wood and chittering of monsters joined the choir, the wet slither and synchronised movement from numerous steps of bugs came after with the slight muffle shuffles and guttural groans.
Then the very ground slowly started to vibrate and shake, the long dead wither branches of bushes were then pushed aside or trampled as wolves whose night-like fur where needle thin and pointed, bone white carapaces on its shoulders, elbows, face, underside, and shoulders.
AWOOOOO!!!~
Letting out a reverberating and echoing howl, Their height was as tall as a 5 '10 person, its width as wide as a metal cart and length half the length of a drone. 'The Hunters are a good mix with the Blades,' John from inside of the Host, which he temporarily called his centipede creation. He had gathered all of his creation from the main pool only with the units that stayed on the second pool were meant as reinforcements. 'They're only weakness would be the reliance on numbers and strength of such numbers.' John focused his gaze on the Hunter's for a little while before he moved his view and sensed his units. Approximately, there's about 5,910 units here currently with a reserve of 4,879 on the mountain pool. Even then, John left 20 Blades to protect the main pool for any unforeseen events.
The beat still continued, the Wave was already in the territory of the wolves. When they passed, John noticed the reduced numbers from patrols and injured wolves amongst it, even the Wolf King was nowhere to be found and John thought that it was staying in its cave or staying near its peak in the centre of their territory.
'Maybe after this I'd send a Host or two towards the city.' John contemplated a little before he began planning. 'The ambush the wolf king's memories showed me,' John moved the Host to raise up and peer into the clearing a few hundred metres ahead. 'The clearing ahead has some sort of digger mutants or infected worms.' John sent an order to the Wickermens and Siege Beast.
A couple of groans and huffs, John sensed these two units changing their position up front and began encircling the clearing. 'Test fire.' John ordered before the sound of continuous bangs fired the first volley. Once the entire wave reached the encircled clearing, all that was left were numerous holes that were filled with black needles that sometimes radiated an orange purplish glow. After a few moments, the ground began to tremble as a loud sound of rumbling.
Along with it, an area of the clearing rose up like an air pocket expanding before it collapsed and a large circular mouth filled with needle-like teeth rose from the hole. It reaches high in the air equivalent to two stories high (20 feet tall) and as wide as a metropolitan train (2.9 metres). The mutant was spinning clockwise reminiscent of a drill. 'Well, now I'm quite sure it's a worm now…' John thought as a few pebbles hit the Host's head and a ball of mud landed on Amalgam's head. The Worm Mutant stopped in motion before facing the contingent of Wickermen and Siege Beast on the left side.
Opening its mouth wide, it let out a loud harsh and deep rumble. 'Siege Beast charges your cannons.' John ordered before the siege beast on that side pointed their wrapped tentacles on the mutant before it began to unwrap from their form and began to fuse into large individual cannons that appeared rigged and spiked. The Beast adjusted their position before the depths of the barrel a purplish light began to charge up. 'Wickermens, distract the worm.'
The Wickermen's began to fire their heated needles at the worm causing it to gain piercing wounds.
The Worm's skin was tough and thick, the little wounds the Wickermen managed to cause were only done by continuous fire on the same spot. 'Hmmm…' John hummed in interest, the Worm's hide is indeed a good idea to research for added defence on some of his units. Then noticing the Siege Beast's cannons were fully charged, letting out bolts of purple lightning from time to time along with the sound of hissing. 'Wickermen distract it, Siege Beast, fire specifically on these areas.' John seperated the Sige Beast into two groups to fire on its upper torso and its connection to its lower torso.
The Siege Beast of the two groups let out guttural growls as an affirmation before adjusting their positions to somewhat aim at the worm. The Wickermen kept firing upon the worm making it chaotically dodge and using its upper body to swing around the ground. It managed to break a part of the encirclement by hitting a few Wickermen flying. 'Fire when you have a shot.' John sent out another set of orders. A few of the Siege beast fired balls of purple lightning, some missed and flew towards the sky or hit the ground, while a few others managed to hit the targets but only leaving slightly noticeable dents on its hide.
'Interesting, its hide is far thicker and tougher than I thought.' John examined the dents as clear as he could, noticing slight tears on its skin but not deep enough to cause it to bleed. 'Maybe research with this specimen could result in me updating certain units.' Another barrage fired after a while, after some misses the majority of the projectiles managed to hit the same spot as last time, even if it was around the dents.
The Worm let out a strange strangled cry as its lower half was bleeding with gaping pits while its upper half had started to tear open and let out squirts of blood. John let out a hum, the Host mimicking it into a cute chittering sound, as a pool of dark red blood that reeked of decay and trash. It struggled a few more before a final round of needle bullets from the Wickermen towards its wounds on the upper torso, falling to the ground and started to bleed out far faster from the puncture points of the needle bullets. 'You! test out the clearing.' John ordered an unlucky drone that was beside Amalgam, the drone followed his order and rushed towards the clearing on all fours.
John then moved his focus to the few Wickermen that were thrown out of the encirclement. A few of the Wickermen bodies had some of their limbs crushed or bent, John was surprised that just a quick swing of the mutant Worm's body managed to cause such damage while the rest of the Wickermen were not much wounded other than a few gashes and friction scratches.
Returning back to the unlucky Drone he sent forward to check, John saw it was already near the mutant's body and began to poke and prod at its wounds. Maybe an attempt to aggravate it to check if it's still alive. 'That Drone has no fear…' John thought to himself while also shamelessly ignoring the fact that he ordered it to go. 'Three Siege Beasts are to carry the body back to the main pool along with the Wickermen that are too damaged to march alongside the Wave.' John ordered before he let out another order to continue the march.