Chương 68: [1.68] Invasive (Part 2)

Doo da do da doo. Despite the looming seriousness of the situation, likely due to her Imp mind, Gelic couldn't help but enjoy the hike through the woods with her companions. Her mother never took her camping or anything of the like, only really getting proper outdoorsy experience during cross-country runs and field trips. At some point, there had been a group camping excursion in college, but that had been in cabins, and everyone had been on their phones most of the time.

To make the experience even better, she found a really cool stick at one point and had been swinging it around. It was a bit odd why she was enjoying the moment so much with these Summoners she barely knew, listening to them chat about Sect nonsense that she didn't remotely understand. Were- were they her friends? The first friends she'd made since leaving school and suffering through big-girl life? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe she was too scared to ask and be rejected like with Xinder.

Time for worrying about silly things came to an abrupt halt when Rastille quickly bent down and plucked her from the ground just as she was about to head into a forest clearing before setting her back down behind him.

"I wouldn't go any farther than this tree line, Gelic. Our estimates put the rupture potentially expanding as far out as just a few feet ahead at most. And you might want to find something to hunker down against, because this thing could pop at any moment." All around the tree line, Summoners from other Sects filed into place, seeming to have similar intel. Things were actually getting serious. Gelic found a knocked-over hollow log that she could just about squeeze into.

But before she could cram into position, she flinched when something swooped down toward her, thinking the event had kicked off.

"Easy, it's just my Bound," the big man quickly intervened.

"This is Himpo." [Demon | Alias: Himpo | Demon Rank: Hellion | Status: Bound]"Erm, hello, Himpo." Gelic waddled over to him and held out a hand to see if he'd shake it. Though she wasn't quite sure what she expected to happen, since his hand was otherwise preoccupied. In a sense, she felt a bit of kinship with the Hellion. At his core, he was basically just a puffball, too, though his face had a bit of a monkeyesque quality to it. The big difference between the two, however, was the arms.

Gelic had short, stubby arms that sort of got lost in her fur and stretched out from her ball self. For Himpo, though, they were definitely distinct appendages. From the sides of his round body, which was also his head, were two large, long human-like hairy arms. They were about as big and jacked as any adult male she'd ever seen. And the Demon was using those arms like legs, walking around on his fists to make his main self tower about a foot and a half off the ground, making him taller than the Imp.

Himpo shifted his weight to one arm and picked up the other, using it to shake hers back. Despite the lad's absurd buffness, the handshake was surprisingly tender and delicate.

"Ewwo," the Hellion responded with a soft voice. Its demeanor was a stark contrast to the insane strength it clearly had, mimicking Rastille himself. They were a good pair, better than Gelic would have been had she become his Bound. Admittedly, there was a weensie bit of irrational jealousy when she'd heard he'd found someone else, having moved on so quickly, but that was completely gone, now. In the middle of the handshake, however, things got a bit tense.

The ground started to shake, so Himpo picked up the Puffball and quickly stuffed her into the hollow log where she'd been trying to hide. He then went and wrapped his arms around a more properly rooted tree with his wide wingspan. Xinder took to the skies to escape the shaking, and the three Summoners all grabbed onto the Ghoul trunk, since it was weighty and had plenty of handles. Himpo had done a good job, since Gelic found herself well and truly wedged.

But he had put her at an angle, purposefully or not, that gave her a perfect view of the eruption. On one of those field trips, Angelica had actually seen a real geyser. It had been of a decent size, kind of about her width, and shot water roughly two stories into the air. That had been neat, and she thought it was about as cool as it got with them, but it was completely and utterly overshadowed compared to what she witnessed next. At the center of the clearing, the ground thumped.

A big bulge appeared in the dirt, with cracks streaming around the area. Then there was another, heftier thump, which made the initial bump even bigger, into what could only be called a land bubble, with several smaller lumps around the edge. And finally, like a gross pimple, the whole thing popped, cartoonishly peeling up the ground as the area exploded with force. Holy frits! Gelic couldn't help but feel a bit deceived about the number of Malignants they were expected to face. It wasn't less.

No, definitely not less. So much more, countless more. A stream of deranged horrors flooded out of the ground, and true to its name, burst into the sky in one cluster as a mighty geyser, going so high it practically looked like they touched the clouds. In that moment, Gelic quickly gave herself an Order, wanting as much insurance as possible for the fight ahead against the overbearing horde. Angelica, do what you can to help defeat the Malignants, get as much Essence as you can, but play it safe.

Whatever it takes, make it out of here alive! [Order Accepted] At its apex, the stream dispersed, and Malignants went flying in all directions, scattering them across the woods, behind the line of Summoners. A few crashed down back into the wrecked clearing, splatting like big lumpy gross drops of rain. After that, things really kicked off quickly. The majority of their competition ran backwards through the woods, aiming to target the dispersed Malignants rather than fighting the big group.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. By the time Gelic wormed her way out of the log, the area was actually pretty quiet; for human activity, at least. If she excluded the big masses of monsters in the clearing just a few feet away that were struggling to get their bearings after their violent birth into this world. Of course, it didn't take them long to figure out their existences. Some started to slowly shamble their way in the direction of Vulgrest.

While the more developed among them set their sights on the array of Summoners and Demons.

"Xinder and I will tear through the woods and clear as many loose stragglers as we can." Vystal took the lead in the situation, quickly barking out a set of orders, the regular kind, not the Summoner kind.

"Rastille, you hold the line here. Gain as much ground as you can, and make sure they see just how much the Zenmoon Sect is contributing.

"Sperado, snipe any more that blast into the air, and if something big crawls out of that hole, let Eliah off her leash. Gelic, you back them up and take care of anything that slips through the cracks." Everyone nodded to her in response, having no qualms with their assignments, so the woman turned and sprinted through the woods, her pet bird soaring behind her. Looking around the big circle, most of the other Sects seemed to have similar ideas, leaving their heavy hitters behind at the hole.

It became more and more craterous as the Malignants started to move, lumbering in various directions, the brittle ground cracking beneath their feet and collapsing over and over again, sloping back down into the expanding abyss. That gave the fighters time to finalize their formations, but when the first real wave came screeching forward with their advance, Rastille couldn't help but add his own efforts to the terraforming.

"Ready, Himpo?" he called to his Bound.

"Let's do a Hammer Rain!" The big-armed monkey jumped onto the head of Rastille's sledgehammer and was then launched into the air from a mighty swing. When the Hellion was sky-high, the Summoner pulled up his weapon once more, and a surge of energy pulsed through it. More hammers appeared out of thin air—much larger ones, about the size of cars—and littered the sky. Himpo prepared his own attack, whipping his arms back.

Just like the weapon, more fists appeared in the air, and they all came crashing down, each one smacking into the back of the manifested metal. As the name foretold, the giant hammers came raining down into the clearing, completely crushing all who fell victim to the downpour. I woulda called it Meteor Shower, Gelic critiqued. Mostly, she was just trying to feel less inadequate when comparing her own capabilities to the amazing attack.

If they could keep that up, it really would be fine to leave the frontlines to just Rastille and his chimp chum. Such a devastating attack probably used up a lot of MP, however, so they could probably only use it a few times. She couldn't help but wonder what Skill allowed them to do that. Maybe something that was Fabrication mixed with Destruction. She'd have to ask later. Yeowch! Suddenly, Gelic felt a stinging bite, as if the biggest mosquito had come to suck her blood.

She quickly spun her body, trying to find the bug that dared to prod her. But there was nothing in sight. Suspecting Skin flared for just a moment, only for a second nosh to flood pain into her rump before she could understand the source.

"Gah, jeez, what the heck?!" She did a full circle, but still no sign of her attacker. At least until she saw a whole bunch at once. Leaping from the ground, several sets of teeth were flying at her. Attached to those teeth were small, fishy Malignants, which she could only liken to piranhas. Not having enough time to defend properly, she covered her face with her arms, which were all promptly bitten.

Before she could retaliate, the mini-monsters vanished, back into the ground, surely circling around for another assault. Inspired by her comrades, Gelic spawned a Frostbite ice hammer, thinking she'd have an easier time swinging something big and blunt with the help of Bash rather than trying to skewer them out of the air. [Gained 4 Essence]"Haha, I got one!" She cheered proudly as one of the bitey Malignants exploded to Essence from her vengeful swing. Shame that it gave basically nothing, though.

Well, not nothing, it was enough for Auto-Color, which she wanted to purchase immediately, but it was not the time nor place. In fact, knowing that it would only serve as a distraction, Gelic requested that all DGS gains be silenced for the duration of the fight. Ah, frits! The rest of the fishies didn't like what she had done to their kin. At least a dozen jumped at her at once. And since there were so many, her focus was too split, and she missed all of them with her own ability.

Fortunately, her Order kicked in on the backswing and adjusted to wham two of them into dust. It seemed content to let her try for herself first before directly taking control over her body, when she failed, since she was genuinely attempting to do her best without it. But it only helped a little from the incoming assault. She was hit with sequential snappings, each digging into her skin and ripping away tufts of hair. [Health: 19% | Situation Critical | Healing and defense recommended] W-wh-what?!

How had it gotten so low?! Gelic was in such disbelief that she double-checked her system screen. Sure, each attack taken had hurt a good bit, but not an amount that felt like it was putting her near the brink of death. Maybe adrenaline was distorting the pain too much. Apparently, these little fishies weren't so weak, after all. They had BITE. Damn, okay!

She found herself automatically moving two portions of poisoned food from Second Stomach to her main gut, letting the health regeneration from Poison Eater kick in. Her Order had beaten her to the punch. As for defense, she was trying, okay! But the things were wily. What else could she do, a shield, maybe? Before any decisions could be made, another barrage of biters attacked her, even more this time; like, two dozen, or some absurd amount that she couldn't count. Just where were they all coming from?!

Were they multiplying, or did they just have that many friends? That was when a simple nature fact flung to the forefront of her mind. Fish travelled in schools, so of course there'd be a lot, which apparently transferred to their Malignant counterparts. [Health: 11% | Situation Critical | Escape recommended] Despite her best Order-assisted swinging defenses with the hammer, and killing a good few more of them, the vast majority got through, causing her to lose all the Health she'd just gotten back and then some.

The regen was still working, ticking her back up a few percent almost instantly, but it was recovering slower than she was losing it. Now she really saw the perks of the Instant Digestion Skill. It was definitely going up in her lifeplan, assuming she lived past this to even have a lifeplan.