Chương 159: Chapter 157 – Uncoordinated Exchange

Cole shoved a new magazine towards his gun's grasping tentacles and ran—or rather, lurched forward. The withering curse wracking his body sapped his strength further every second. It wouldn't be long until he was in a similar state to Morganstern when she'd been cursed, needing to be carried off of Curahee. Probably he'd be worse, since while Resilience was one of Morgan's highest enhancements, it was one of Cole's lowest.

As the creature leapt for the cover of the tree line, it slowed, hanging in the air as though it had Cole's ability to reduce its own falling speed. But it wasn't that. Morganstern dashed out from between two trees, bringing her hammer around and over her head, driving it down into the back of the cultist zombie. Caught in a time-dilation bubble, it was nearly helpless.

The creature dropped, sandwiched between the barrier preventing the hammer from slamming into its back and the other side of its barrier keeping it from slamming into the ground. Stressed from both sides, it didn't last long. Morganstern used the momentum of the first blow to swing her hammer around for a second. The zone of slowed time didn't seem to affect her hammer, which hit at full speed. This time the shield shattered entirely.

The head of her hammer forced the slow-motion creature all the way to the ground, splashing a cloud of spores and orange ooze from its crushed midsection. The expanding cloud moved in slow motion until it filled out a spherical shape, defining the edge of Morganstern's ability, where it sprayed out into a fine mist. The zombie mage scrabbled on the ground, bottom half limp under the crushing force of Morganstern's hammer that had turned its spine to calcium dust.

Even as Cole watched, mycelium lashed out, tying new connections and giving life back to the severed nerves of the lower body. Cole turned back to the trees.

"Wayland, get out here now!" The Kicker tryout vaulted over a fallen tree and sprinted onto the ridge, eyes wide and fixed on the downed mage. He went a little pale at the carnage but slung his rifle and ran alongside Cole until they reached the downed mage. He held out both hands. Cole felt the pop of charges being burned.

"I cursed it, but it won't last. It's too strong. Now or never!" The creature tried to open its mouth and scream, but Morganstern put a boot on the back of its head, forcing its jaws shut.

"No you don't, you fucker! Fasil, you're up!" Not just Fasil, but Ari as well, emerged from the trees. Ari had his paired axes with cool blue flames wreathing the blades, ready to defend his brother. Fasil came out holding his gnarled staff overhead, where an orange glow began to brighten the top. Threads of fungal fiber shot out, snaking through the air and stabbing into the Beast Cult mage. Fasil closed his eyes and grit his teeth.

"Fasil?" asked Morganstern, hammer raised overhead for a finishing blow, should this fail.

"Hold on," he shouted back.

"It's almost… Got it!" A blue flare sped down the connecting threads and into the zombie. It immediately went slack. Tentatively, Morganstern removed her foot and took a couple steps away. She keyed her radio.

"Arley, if this thing moves, put a spike through its head." The threads between Fasil's staff and zombie melted away, but the reanimated mage remained all but motionless. Fasil himself fell to his knees, sweating. Ari dropped the axes and rushed over to him, but his brother waved him off. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"Fuck this thing is strong," he said.

"I had to let the others go just to get it into my domain. And I don't know how long it's gonna stay there."

"What's the play, Morganstern?" asked Cole. Wayland put a hand on his shoulder and he felt the soothing relief from the blood curse wash back over him. She looked up at him, grinning.

"Honestly, I didn't think this would work, so I didn't think that far ahead."

"Morgan!"

"Fine, yeesh. How many charges you got?"

"Most of 'em," said Cole, slinging his rifle and dropping his pack. He pulled the quick-release tabs on his plate carrier as well to shed as much weight as possible. Morganstern gripped the mage by what would be the scruff of its neck and pulled it upright. It stood, just as still and listless as it had been on the ground. Cole leaned down, and she heaved the fungal zombie across Cole's shoulders like a sack of feed. It was surprisingly light, mostly dry skin, bones, and fungus with the rest mostly rotted away.

"That curse is going to start hitting me again when I get too far from Wayland,""My ability isn't infinite range, either," said Fasil. He frowned.

"At least I think it isn't."

"Then we better not waste time," said Morganstern. She put her hands on the Beast Cult mage and burned another charge. The weight shifted strangely on Cole's shoulders.

"I just bought you a little more. Go." Cole could still feel the sword strapped to his pack on the ground, so he burned its ability for a speed boost, angled himself south, and took a running jump into a Meteoric Leap. Apparently the mage no longer counted as a friend or enemy. It was just cargo. Cole launched into the air with the stinking, fetid form of the Beast Cult mage on his shoulders. He could hear the mycelium wriggling behind him, patching the creature back together.

The creature shifted on his back, fighting Fasil's ability. The sequence of leaps and gravity shifts had become almost second-nature to Cole. He burned another charge for more altitude, then kicked on his armlets to extend his glide as far as he could. He dropped through the canopy, already burning another charge before he'd even landed. He barely touched down before taking off again, already having covered over half the distance to the FOB despite being weakened by the curse.

But Wayland's blood buff faded mid-jump, leaving Cole feeling like acid burned beneath his skin. He landed in a stumble, shockwave splatting an unfortunate scale hound against a tree. Cole burned another charge, but this leap barely covered half the distance of the previous one, and when he landed, he found himself completely unable to activate his ability. The stars of his charges flickered and dimmed in the back of his mind.

Suddenly, even the skeletal frame of the mage became a monumental burden, and it shifted on his back, moving Cole's center of gravity. He collapsed, spilling the knitting creature into the peat. The curse had drained his enhancements to the point where he might as well not even have a class, anymore. With all the willpower that remained to him, Cole forced himself to his feet. The southern ridge was close, now—less than a kilometer away.

He wrapped his hands around the ankles of the squirming mage and leaned back, dragging the creature inch by inch. But he could barely move himself. He slipped in the damp ground, falling back against the trunk of a tree, gasping for air. A crash of something moving fast through the thicket made Cole pull his sidearm from his holster and point it into the trees. Ketchup emerged into view, red-faced and puffing. He looked from the zombie to Cole.

"You look like shit," he said. Cole lowered his sidearm.

"I've felt worse," he croaked. He nodded down to the mage.

"Relay, right?"

"Hell of a baton," said Ketchup. he moved over to the zombie, that was now hissing softly and jerking its head back and forth. He picked the mage up like it weighed nothing. This time when he burned his ability, the speedster really did seem to disappear. Without the enhanced Acuity, even if his vision hadn't been blurry as shit, Cole just couldn't track something moving as fast as Ketchup, now. He leaned his head back against the tree and tried not to let the roiling in his stomach escape out his mouth.

A few minutes passed. Suddenly, Ketchup appeared in the clearing, again, and this time he pulled Cole over his shoulders into a fireman's carry. Cole felt too delirious to keep his eyes open. He just listened to the rush of the foliage whipping by until he passed out completely.