Chương 389: Book 6 - Chapter 50 - Architect

"Dusty, do you think you can handle that thing?" I asked, using the Mauler's intervention as a distraction and darting behind another Kodiak. As I did, several of the bears sprawled out around it suddenly bolted upright as their reboot sequences finished.

"Fuck! Don't scare me like that!" I hissed at the nearest one. It didn't reply; it just picked up its rifle and helmet from where they had fallen and trudged off towards the combat still happening at the cavern entrance.

"Don't worry, Boss, the Mauler and I have this!" I heard Dusty reply as he unloaded the Mauler's second cannon directly into the side of the Scorpion thing.

"Good man," I muttered. As I ducked around the corner, I spotted Bandit tucked up against the side of one of the overturned Kodiaks. I took a moment to confirm the Antithesis' apex predator was still focused on the Mauler before taking a chance and sprinting across the small gap.

"Still alive, boss?" the fox asked, without looking over at me.

"It'll take more than an Antithesis abomination to get rid of me," I replied quietly.

"What's the situation?"

"Our forces down here are coming back online, but I'm still trying to reconnect to all our ground troops," he said before finally glancing over at me.

"You should have added additional EMP protection to the chameleons."

"Yeah, well, I didn't expect the Antithesis to build a massive burst EMP system into the structure of their hive," I replied.

"If we get out of here, remind me to update the EM shielding on everything. Again."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll remember this time," Bandit muttered.

"And if you don't, I'm sure Deadbeat will be willing to beat some sense into you." I peeked around the side of our improvised cover, back at the ongoing conflict. Apparently, the Scorpion had survived the Mauler's initial barrage and was now being bombarded by the missile racks. That probably wasn't a good sign.

"Can you tell me where Nora is?"

"She's stalking the scorpion from it's back right side, trying to find an opening," the bear said.

"Probably not the safest maneuver, but it makes sense," I grumbled, before placing my hand next to my ear and calling my comrade. [Teddy, you still alive?] Nora asked as soon as she picked up. [You know, you're the second one to ask me that in the last two minutes,] I grumbled. [Yes, I'm alive. How about you?] [That thing knocked me around a little when I tried to slow it down, but since it was focused on you, I managed to avoid any significant damage,] she replied. [Where are you?] [Cowering behind a wrecked Kodiak a couple of dozen feet behind it,] I replied. [Seemed like the safest option while it duels with the Mauler. You still have that virus bomb that Bern gave us?] [Of course, why?] Nora asked. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. [Because our best option is to set it up while that thing is distracted. Although I'm sure Dusty and the mauler can take it, who knows how many of those monstrosities are running around down here,] I said. [If we're going to get out of here alive, we need to knock out that EMP before they can fire it again. We were lucky to walk away from the first burst. I don't know if we'll be able to survive a second.] [Not to mention the assault force should be arriving in the area soon. If they're not properly shielded and they get struck with it, the results could be disastrous,] Nora added.

[Yeah, that too,] I muttered before taking one last look at the brawl that was happening across the cavern. Somehow Bob had gotten involved and was throwing Kodiaks at the thing. Since the scorpion was still distracted, I snuck away from our impromptu cover. [I'm heading towards the central pillar, let's try and meet up near what used to be our front line.] [Sounds good, I'll see you there,] she replied before cutting the line.

I quickly wove my way between my reactivating troops and made my way towards our shattered front line. It didn't look as bad as it did five minutes ago. There were several bears up again and standing in formation, which meant that our defenses wouldn't completely fold if the Antithesis started pouring in through another entrance.

"You ready to go?" Nora asked as I ran up.

"Ready as I'll ever be," I replied, glancing at the messed-up pillar sitting in the middle of the room. The smaller Antithesis was still there, wandering around the strange bulb, occasionally sticking one of its long, lanky hands into a pulsing pustule and manipulating something before moving on.

"I'll deal with the creepy fucker while you plant the device," I said, hefting my rifle.

"Alright," she replied, nodding lightly. I took off across the space between our forces and the central pillar. The fact that there wasn't a horde of Antithesis between us and the pillar weirded me out. Usually, the Alienswould flood the area the instant they detected intruders, yet after fighting all the way here, the main body of the swarm hadn't followed us in. As we sprinted across the open area, the small creature in the middle of the room turned towards us.

At this distance, I could make it out much clearer, although I kind of wish I didn't. The beast had dozens of unblinking black eyes in its disgusting, grub-like head, all of which focused on me. It had a massive scar down the side of its head, covering the top four eyes on the left and extending the entire length. Honestly, I was a little surprised that it was still alive and aware with a wound like that. Most creatures would have died instantly if they lost that much of their head.

Unlike other Antithesis, this one didn't engage me when I saw it approaching, but it didn't retreat either. It just sat there, staring at me. When I got close enough to be sure that I wouldn't miss the thing, a distance that was a lot shorter than it should have been, I raised my rifle. As I did, the creature opened its distended, multipart mouth and shot something at me. The thing didn't move other than opening its mouth, so the almost casual way that it fired at me caught me off guard.

The projectile struck me in the right side with enough force to rip right through my shields, sunder my armor, and tumble me to the floor. Pain shot through my body, and for some reason, I couldn't control my right arm. As soon as I stopped tumbling enough to regain control of my body, I grabbed my rifle in my left arm and immediately threw myself to the side. I didn't know if the thing could rapid-fire, or if it would target me again, but I wasn't willing to take any chances.

It was a good thing I did, because just as I leapt away, a six-inch bone needle embedded itself into the ground where I'd been standing. As I sailed through the air, I twisted my body, aimed my rifle the best I could using just my offhand, and opened fire. Unsurprisingly, I missed far more shots than I hit, completely saturating the area around the monster. However, I did hit it a couple of times, and those few shots ripped through the thing.

The rounds ripped off several insectoid legs and its rightside lower arm and put a handful of fist-sized holes in its torso. Yet despite all these wounds, the monster didn't fall. It spat some sort of viscous red liquid onto its hands, then slathered the apparent salve onto its wounds. The substance instantly hardened, preventing it from bleeding out.

It apparently didn't appreciate getting ripped apart, because it scowled at me, at least as much as a bug-shaped abomination could scowl, and started to open its mouth to spit at me again. However, before it could, its head snapped upwards, looking behind me at something that made it think twice. The abomination jumped straight up, and as it did, two massive insectoid wings erupted from its back. It hung in the air, just for a moment, before zipping around behind the pillar and disappearing.

"Evelyn, fuck! Are you okay?" Nora yelled as she sprinted over to me.

"Of course," I replied casually.

"I gave just as good as I got. Why?"

"Evelyn… your arm's gone," she whispered. I frowned and looked at my shoulder. About three or four inches below the shoulder, my arm had been severed, spewing blood all over the place. I glanced back at where I'd been standing when the engagement started and found the offending limb lying a few feet away in a pool of blood.

"Well… shit!"