Chương 24: Collapse

The gunfire spread across the battlefield narrowed onto the Tier-3 Needlefoot. Dozens of rounds blasted and deflected off the hardened carapace of the centipede-like creature.

"I got it!" A man just down the trench from me pulled a rocket launcher off his back and aimed—only for a quill to sprout out of his face.

"AGH!" His corpse fell over backward, and pulled the trigger. The rocket whizzed off backward, and the backblast knocked several people off their feet. The rocket itself perfectly skimmed right over the ground. It slammed up into the undercarriage of the cargo truck parked back behind the convoy. Boom! The cargo truck, alongside most of our supplies, erupted into a fireball. Ordnance kept safely inside the truck was set off in a chain reaction, and sympathetic explosions rocked the battlefield.

The two hummers closest to the cargo truck were likewise blown up.

"ARGH! HELP ME!" An agonized scream ripped out of the gunner. Fire erupted up out of the blasted hummer, and scorched him with every second. Just like that, the defensive line started to shatter. The chittering swarm moved in closer and closer with each passing second, led by the Tier-3 Needlefoot.

"KeeEEK!" Wooden spikes surged up out of the trenches and flung forward toward the swarm. The Yggdren charged out alongside them. The wooden spikes easily skewered through the lesser Needlefoot, and opened a path toward the Tier-3. I dropped the assault rifle to the side, and pulled out my vi-rifle once more. The receiver hummed, and bolt after bolt exploded out toward the giant Needlefoot. They precisely scattered across its face and eyes, blinding it and opening up an opportunity for the Yggdren to attack.

The bark-skinned man charged forward with a massive log battering ram—and was instantly caught in the Needlefoot's mandibles as its head snapped to the side. It twisted, and pulled him off the log he'd been riding. In one, brutal jerk of its mandibles, the man was ripped into bloody chunks and scattered across the surrounding swarm.

"KEEEEK!" Morale instantly shattered across the line. The syndicate members, those that were still standing, started to back away. It started a terrible loop of less firepower, which allowed the swarm closer. With the swarm closing in, more people's morale started to shatter.

"Hold the line!" I shouted, and kicked up a grenade from a corpse. If we backed out now, where else were they planning on going? I pulled the pin, and tossed it toward the closest arm of the approaching swarm. It exploded into shrapnel— Clank!

"Ugh." My head jerked backward, and a passing quill from the Tier-3 bounced off my helmet. I staggered back away from the trench as my ears started to ring. I blinked a few times—and the swarm was upon me. My puffed-up tail spiked to the side in alarm. On pure instinct, I slammed the butt of my vi-rifle forward to catch a lunging Needlefoot. The blow caught it on its head, and staggered it back just enough for me to get my barrel wedged into its eye. A flash of gold erupted from the barrel.

A spray of superheated bodily fluid splattered across my armor. I pulled the relic axe Quinn had gotten me, and slashed forward toward another one. The golden-glowing blade hissed, and tore through the carapace like it wasn't even there. In the span of moments, I slaughtered three more of them. Fire erupted from behind me, and the swarm let up slightly. The other hummers finally pulled around to set up firing positions.

With the remaining heavy guns opening fire, a gap was created just long enough for the defensive line to stabilize. More importantly, the APC finally got into position to start suppressing the Tier-3 with its much more powerful cannon. Heavy shell after heavy shell exploded against the hardened carapace of the Tier-3. I slammed my head forward, and cracked a mandible reaching for me. My boot followed up, and punted the Needlefoot back toward its buddies. I snapped my rifle up and executed three more.

"ARgh!" A scream erupted from behind me. I jumped back into a dropkick, and catapulted a Needlefoot off a man just before it could rip his throat out. Before I even hit the ground, a dozen bolts flicked out and scorched a path through the thing's brain.

"Form up behind me!" A shout came from just over the top of the trench. A blast of molten slag erupted, and killed a dozen more calamities. The Awoken, his halo hanging brightly behind his head, sat in the gunner seat of a hummer. In between heavy-caliber rounds, he wove molten javelins into his attacks. Quills launched at his face. The man skillfully used molten metal shields to block and protect not only himself, but also the hummer from taking serious damage from ranged attacks.

Even more molten metal condensed down into a brightly glowing ramp attached to the front of the vehicle. The hummer roared, and earthen spikes jutted up to create a ramp for it. Another Awoken, this one the driver, jumped the trench toward the calamities. Earth spikes continuously shot out to control and kill the swarm. The two moved in on the Tier-3 and launched attack after attack using their mobility. With the two lieutenants taking charge, the rest of Hades managed to get a reversal started.

I stomped on a crippled Needlefoot's head and checked our situation. There were about twenty or so of us left of the original fifty something. A flash of silver drew my eyes to Amanda, who'd somehow managed to survive the initial attack. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. With the immediate trench recaptured, I set up a firing position once more and suppressed the Tier-3.

A molten spear slammed into the creature's head right alongside my shots, and true damage appeared for the first time. It recoiled backward, and let out a horrid screech—one that was immediately halted as a molten spike slammed up into its opened mouth and incinerated its insides.

"Yeah!" A shout came from one of the nearby defenders. With the Tier-3 down, a rally started once more. The firing line slowly rebuilt itself, and the tide of bugs was held back. Explosions wrecked the battlefield, disrupting and disorganizing the enemy further. I dropped down against the trench wall, and swapped magazines. A syndicate Enforcer next to me trembled fiercely, and failed to stick his magazine back into his rifle several times. All the training in the world couldn't prepare for live combat.

I grabbed his arm, and dragged him down into the trench just as a hail of quills hit the back wall. A terrified whimper erupted from the Enforcer. I grabbed his shoulder, and shook him.

"Look at me!"

"S-sir!" The Enforcer's wide, trembling eyes flicked to me. Good, he could at least still follow simple orders.

"Take a breath." I ordered, and snatched a magazine from his plate carrier. I smoothly slammed it up into the receiver and pulled the charging hammer back.

"In four, out four!"

"Y-yes, sir." His eyes cleared slightly, and I snapped back up to continue firing into the horde— Boom! A bus sized Needlefoot lunged up out of the ground. It slammed into the valiantly prowling hummer with the two Awoken in it. Before either one of them could even react, the vehicle was flattened with them both still inside of it. Molten metal sprayed out in every direction almost like a decapitated snake coiling after death. For a moment, the entire battlefield ground to a halt.

Guns still fired, and Enforcers still kept the tide of calamities back. The air itself thrummed with tension, though. A silent war of nerves erupted across the half-rallied expedition team.

"R-retreat!" One of the three remaining lieutenants shouted from further down the trench. It only took one.

"Fall back to the—" A Needlefoot snuck up behind him, and ripped him down into the trench. He disappeared around the line of the trench, though his screams lingered. They were horrid, broken things that continued for far too long as he was ripped limb from limb. The last orders of the man didn't die with him. Beside me, the Enforcer I just tried to calm down turned tail and flung himself up the other side of the trench. He only got halfway before a quill slammed through his arm. It was joined by several more.

One snuck through the gap of his helmet and killed him instantly. I angrily blasted the Tier-2 hiding in the fringe of the forest, and checked the situation while laying down covering fire for those attempting a retreat. There were ten people left, including two lieutenants. Three hummers had been overrun and torn to pieces by the tides of calamities, and the APC was the only thing still holding the line. The three other hummers were already backed up to the ship—one of them being the turretless command car.

I kicked off from the trench wall, and flipped over a Needlefoot approaching from behind. My tail whipped to the side to help me maneuver. Midair, I lined up a shot and smoked the calamity. It collapsed into a smoldering mound, and acted as a spring board to smoothly flip over the backside of the trench. The Tier-4 thundered over the trench just down from me, and shrugged off everything flying its way. An Enforcer was hit directly and simply turned into a paste of red.

A rocket exploded against its leg, causing it to stumble slightly. It didn't impact the Needlefoot's charge toward the APC. I popped up a bandolier of grenades off a corpse using my tail, and ripped out the pin. I tossed the bandolier back toward the rapidly filling trench to provide cover toward other retreating expedition team members, and sprinted back toward the ship before it could even go off. Mid sprint, I saw the Tier-4 slam the APC heavily on the side to start a contest of strength.

The cannon blasted it point blank one round after another. A lieutenant nearby stopped fleeing, and instead stretched out his hand toward the APC. A red halo appeared, and the entire APC started to glimmer eerily.

"Explode!" Boom! My grenade and the APC exploded at the same time, sending a shockwave across the battlefield. It knocked me off my feet, and sent me into a slide. My arm caught on a rock, and ripped back awkwardly in the opposite direction from the rest of my body. Pain shot up through my nerves. The ground felt so, so very comfortable underneath me. I blinked, and my head dropped down in exhaustion. Ringing filled my lupine ears, and made everything fade away.

"Get up!" A familiar voice cut through the ringing. I instinctively staggered up to my feet to obey, and fired blindly behind me. The ringing started to fade, and I sprinted toward the last bastion of resistance. I glanced behind me to find the Tier-4 staggering around. It lifted its head to rally the rest of the calamities—and then tipped over. It's dead eyes glared at me as the freighter's lights flashed across its head. Its half sheared off head. It collapsed heavily, crushing a slathering of smaller Needlefeet.

The Tier-4 was dead, but the damage was already done. By the time the retreat fully ended, there were only three of us left. The other two, a one-armed Amanda and the last of the lieutenants with the explosive power, cowered behind Heron. The giant hadn't moved a single step from the entrance to the ship, though he opened fire into the horde with a LMG.

"Blow them the fuck up!" Amanda shouted at the Awoken while clutching at her bloodied stump.

"It only works on things entrusted to me!" The man cried out, and tossed a rock toward the swarm. It exploded the instant it got close to them. Heron grabbed the man, and crammed him into the hummer before he could even hope to resist.

"There. Entrusted. Now go."

"I…" The man took one look at Heron's serious face, and froze.

"We won't be able to get back."

"We don't have time for this." I ripped Amanda's rifle off her strap. The magazine still felt entirely full as if she hadn't fired a single shot. I popped open the door and rigged it onto the gas pedal of the other hummer. It accelerated forward, and slammed into the approaching swarm.

"All yours!" Exploder's halo flashed, and the hummer turned into a fireball of destruction. It ripped right through the swarm. Or what was left of the swarm, at least. Bug parts flew in every direction, and the ship behind us was peppered with light dinks. The seemingly endless tide didn't refill the gap like they did before. The Awoken tried to imitate me, and the second to last hummer sped forward. He jumped—only to be hit with a quill and impaled into the side of the hummer.

"ARGHH!" The hummer slammed into the trench, and dropped down into the largest section of the horde. A moment later, his agonized screams cut off— Boom!

"Keep firing." Heron coldly ordered me without seeming to care that we just lost our last lieutenant. I silently followed orders, and lifted my vi-rifle once more.