Chương 71: Chapter Seventy-One: The Veil Guards Let Loose

Heading back toward the others, I can see clear signs of distress riddled throughout the remaining members of Squad Five. Kathryn, Nikki, and Wade practically burn Vince with their eyes, while Henry comforts Benny and Sandra just stares at the fight still going on beyond the wall. It's clear that Vince ended up confessing to the others while I was away, like I had hoped. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the confession went over very smoothly.

"So Sara's death was for nothing!? She died because you didn't think we had the nerve to handle a bit of new information? Death is Certain. That's the name of this difficulty. We need every edge we can get, yet for some reason, the guy we trusted to lead us WITHHELD INFORMATION THAT COULD HAVE SAVED HER LIFE!" Kathryn screams at Vince in a very rare display of anger.

"Look at Angus! He almost died too! Congrats on barely saving one life, Mr. Hero! Hope you're proud of yourself!" Her voice breaks at the end, and tears stream down her cheeks while Nikki holds her shoulder for comfort. I'm sure Nikki would also be losing her shit right now if it weren't for her mental skill keeping a lid on everything. Luckily, the girl knows better than to let her emotions take over at such a high-risk moment like right now.

Instead, she just forces herself to glare daggers at Vince, which the fact it still has such a sharp edge even through <Process> speaks to how pissed she is regarding his admonition. Vince says nothing as they continue to berate him, but when I approach, the angry team members turn to me for support. Kathryn even steps back for a moment for me to butt in, yet I remain silent and just shake my head.

"Sebastian! Aren't you going to tell this guy off too? He had the gall to treat you like an outsider and lie this entire time! I've seen you do more than anyone else here this entire wave! You have to be pissed at him too, right?!" Wade speaks up, attempting to diagnose how I am feeling due to my uncharacteristic silence.

"I don't blame Vince. There is no point in getting mad now. What's done is done. Get angry at the real source of Sara's death." I state shortly. The army man's posture straightens slightly from the previously guilty slouch he had been sporting beforehand. The rest of the group is stunned into silence for a moment, and I watch them all give me a mixed bag of emotions at my resolute statement.

"WHAT?!" Nikki finally speaks up, her rage finally leaking through her mental skill while Kathryn half-heartedly attempts to restrain her with tears tears still pooling in her eyes. It's clear Nikki is on the borderline of cussing me out, but a voice shuts her down.

"That's enough." Sandra says out of nowhere, taking over command.

"We can't lose ourselves right now. We can worry about this after the rest of us make it out of this. Sebastian, what did the platoon sergeants say?" She questions me, clearly trying to force the group to facing the real threat at the moment.

"We're on our own pretty much. Brian wants to use our team as a scapegoat and put us on infiltrator duty. If we let any more inside the Veil, it'll be over for us." I report. The others who are still upset can't seem to believe Sandra and I's behavior, but it's clear we need to move forward regardless, so I continue breaking down the situation with her while running a hand through my short hair.

"Do you think we need to worry about him and Tobias as long as we do our job?" She asks.

"We'll need to keep a close eye on them regardless. He let some info about his level slip, and he seems really confident in his ability to take us all on despite our new gains."

"I'm guessing he is over 100? The infiltrators seem to be knocking on the door of triple digits from the couple I saw you fight. If you can beat them safely, how much more dangerous do you think the Veil Guards are?"

"I don't think we have a chance as it stands now. I don't know if hitting level 100 offers some sort of new boost or something, but the fact they are experienced and intelligent fighters themselves is a whole other issue. These infiltrators are made to get inside and kill off weaker troops, they aren't anywhere near as dangerous as someone who is actually level 98 with a whole set of skills at their disposal and who knows what else." I clarify.

"Alright then. Let's look at those two as necessary evils for now. Let's just do our jobs and try to get any extra levels out of this before it inevitably goes to shit." Sandra turns to the rest of the group after I explain the situation, and she slips into the role of leader without hesitation while Vince stands silently off to the side, knowing he will have to accept his sideline role for the foreseeable future.

"Wait a second." I interrupt. Even though it seems like she was just about to get us up and moving again, Sandra still hesitates for a moment to turn toward me. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

"Is there something else?" She wonders.

"Everyone needs to check their notifications for anything relevant from now on. I know that seems kind of stupid to say now that everyone is aware of what's happening with the floor, but we should be checking it for ourselves as well. I haven't looked over my Status yet or anything, but if anyone catches hints of new quests or something, they should tell the others. They could be a matter of life or death by this point." I finish seriously. Sandra lips purse before she nods along.

"That's a good point. I'll let you guys know right now; I hit level 50 recently and I got a new quest with a weird message, but I also noticed after I hit level 51, my stats stopped increasing by one like usual. I haven't had time to check the quest or figure out what's going on with the attributes, but as a warning: allocate your free points wisely from now on." She warns while staring pointedly at me.

My body feels significantly colder for a moment, and I gulp unintentionally while listening to the new information regarding our attribute points.

"Nikki, can you take care of the infiltrators with Sebastian?" She asks, turning away from my shocked state and getting back on topic.

"…Yes." The younger girl grounds out while clearly struggling not to lose it once again.

"Good. Wade, if you can figure out how to key <Search> into the mix of this, take some pressure off of Sebastian so he can focus on the horde. Use your skill to see if you can spot the invisible bugs with Nikki's guidance." She commands. My middle school friend is also clearly still upset, but he nods at Sandra's words and gives me a glance before instantly experimenting with his skill as she directed.

"Kathryn, Henry, and Benny, join Sebastian and I on the platform's edge. We are going to manage the wave as best as possible since we have the best ranged abilities. Henry, be Benny's shield and supplier for now. If you see any easy kills on the ground, use <Blink> to secure a few more levels for yourself, but don't get greedy." All people mentioned gather themselves and get to work, leaving only Vince standing off to the side.

"What do you need me to do?" He asks the silver haired woman.

"Take Angus and see if you can't find any more healers around the neighboring stations. Kathryn and I stemmed his wounds for now, but if he doesn't get help soon, he'll be following after Sara." The man who is heavily injured himself doesn't say a word and gently grabs Angus with his free arm before taking off toward the main gate.

Sandra and I begin walking toward the platform's edge to join the rest of our ranged team, but my gut passively fills with dread due to her previous talk about the other notifications I missed regarding a new quest and the sudden importance of our free stat points.

"Don't worry about Pawl." She says out of nowhere.

"Benny saw him run for the stairs before the first infiltrator even attacked. I don't know where he went, but if I had to guess, he is probably safer than the rest of us right now." My steps falter for a moment, and she glances over her shoulder to stare at me in slight confusion. Looking in her grey eyes, I can tell she isn't lying. Since regaining my wits after Vince stopped me from pursuing the other invisible Freylith, I hadn't even thought about my best buddy one time. I can't believe how selfish I have been.

What if he had died while I was too busy getting my rocks off on testing my skills? Shame wells up in my throat, but I force myself to push the feeling down a bit. As long as my friend is still alive, I can still make it up to him. Unfortunately, the knowledge that I had completely forgotten about him after the infiltrators arrived makes my skin crawl.

"Thanks for that." I whisper, genuinely grateful for her words. Even with the clamor of battle going on, I can tell she hears my expression of gratitude as a corner of her mouth lifts slightly. Without any more words exchanged, we both reach our new positions, and I deploy a new version of my mana-minigun to begin raining death upon the Freylith horde once again.

The others begin their own ranged salvos, and I cautiously slip back into a weaker version of <Fixation> while the tides of war shift back into place on the horizon. The entire encounter with the infiltrators didn't even take twenty minutes to get under control, yet the majority of our ground troops have been slaughtered.

Off to the far left and right, I see Veil Guards in shimmering armor attempting to balance the losses incurred by the ambush, yet I know that at this point, the human forces will not last much longer if this continues. A thundering boom and dust cloud echoes from the bottom of the wall, signaling that Brian has also finally entered the fight as well. With our front-liners in tatters, the metal man uses strength I hadn't witnessed before this to begin bulldozing through the pressuring wave of bugs.

His presence on the front line used to be a big deal, but now, it's on an entirely different level as shattered husks of Freylith go flying in all directions. The man's power is unrivaled on the field, and it would seem any scratches or battered portions of his armor were nothing more than examples of simple wear and tear rather than any actual injuries sustained from the enemy. Soon enough, I begin to see clusters of bugs nowhere hear Brian also fall dead in a blink.

Glancing to my right, I see Tobias also standing on the far end of the platform with his bow drawn. While he beings to rain death upon the enemy, I see Brian move to the left side of the field away from Tobias's area of fire. It would seem that there all of the Veil Guards have taken to the battlefield in their respective stations due to the change in condition of the war. With the guards out all at once and releasing their full power, it appears that the bugs are no longer in control.

I'm unsure if this is some sort of last resort tactic the guards have in place for every wave, but the strategy seems to be fairly sound, with Tobias covering the right side of our station and Brian taking care of the left. Our lacking ranged support is no longer as pressing of an issue as before, leaving some slack for the rest of the recruits to finally get back to their positions and fight on. Some time passes, and unbelievably, the war actually seems to resume its natural push and pull just like from before.

The difference now is that our troops no longer have any room for breaks, so the wave slowly becomes a dangerous battle of attrition. The Veil Guards might be able to carry the majority of this war now, but one thing is certain: If the wave continues to sustain the spawn rates of Freylith this way, we have no chance of winning.