As they approach the North of the garrison, Dante starts to see the tracer rounds firing from the allied gunners- laying down suppressive fire as the garrison moves to the East side of the continent. Towards old Vi, where the relocation site is situated.
“Where shall I drop you off?” Cal asks.
“Get us close to that gunner,” Cassie says, pointing to the gunner nearest to the shield.
“Copy that,” He responds before turning in that direction.
The expanse of the Krix military slowly reveals itself as the Humvee makes its way uphill- The moment they have a clear view, the horizon is swarmed with hundreds of machines. Spiders, droids, humanoids and others that Dante hasn't seen yet. All of which look as though they're on standby, standing still and waiting for their orders
Vehicles that hardly look like machines organically tumble across the landscape with their pulsating, black gel bodies. The massive army slowly approaches as it sends one line of offence at a time.
The sight of it alone sends a chill down Dante’s spine as he realizes why they didn't go on the offensive- with those numbers, it’s impossible to win. The only thing keeping them alive is the integrity of the shield, glistening blue as it takes fire from a few of the Krix ‘vehicles’.
“What are they doing?” Nadia asks as she leans forward to peer through the front window.
“Waiting,” Cassie responds.
“What for?” Dante asks.
“An opening,”
The humvee drifts beside the gunner unit, where a large, machine gun sits on top of a tank-like vehicle whilst smaller units of humvee filled with troops follow beside it.
“Here we are,” Cal says as the Humvee matches speed with the gunner.
“Thanks, Cal,” Cassie says as she stands up to open the hatch of the Humvee.
“Anytime,” Cal chuckles.
Dante climbs out of the Humvee after Cassie and is immediately startled by the loud crash of energy exploding against the shield. Blasts that look as though they would take out the entire garrisons brighten the night-ridden landscape in a sea of red.
He jumps onto the side of the gunner tank before Nadia follows suit and Cassie points to the shield, “It looks like things are going according to plan,” she says, before pinging the status of the shield-
_OVERWATCH: UPDATE FROM HEIR
_DETAILS: Shield is at 84%.
_NOTE: 52 hours to relocation site.
“We’re still on schedule?” Dante asks.
Cassie nods before her expression stiffens. She squints in the distance and crosses her arms, “It’s a bad sign,”
“What is?” He asks.
“All of it,” She grunts, “They're planning something,”
“Preston, I need the drill beam to fire to the North West,” She adds.
“Copy that,” The Commander responds over comms, “ETA. three minutes,”
A shot to the North West would go straight to the centre of all those dormant units. It makes sense considering they're all fish in a barrel at the moment.
“They’re easy targets,” Nadia comments.
“It’s not that simple,”
“Then why fire the drill beam?”
“To get a reaction out of them. If they've been planning something this whole time then we got here lat-”
A sudden shock wave ripples through the entire garrison, nearly throwing Dante off the gunner when Cassie grabs his shirt to keep him onboard. The three of them look towards the shield where a mushroom cloud fills their field of view and creeps its way above the shield.
_NOTE: Shield is at 66%.
“Shit,” Cassie says, scanning her surroundings.
“What was that?” Dante panics as he shuffles his footing.
“A smoke screen,”
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Dante looks back to the North West, realizing that the view they had of the entire Krix army is now covered in smoke. Another chill passes through Dante is their newfound blindness.
“They’re digging!” Cassie yells at the top of her lungs, “Preston-”
“On it,” He responds before a notification appears on Dante’s HUD.
_OVERWATCH: UPDATE FROM COMMAND
_DETAILS: The Krix have begun digging. Prepare for battle to the North West.
“What do we do?” Dante asks with worry as his nerves begin building.
“Fight,” Cassie says, leaping off the tank.
“Drill team firing in ninety seconds,” Commander Preston notifies them.
The Humvees in the area all come to a halt and the troops within them pour out and begin assuming position amongst the rubble and atop the collapsed buildings.
“Ready up,” Cassie orders as her energy blades eject from her arms.
“Yes, Heir,” Dante and Nadia both confirm.
Nadia’s whips drop to her side, surging with energy that suggests she’s used all of her mana. Dante creates his Hula-blade, and rests it on his shoulder, across his torso.
_HP: 100
_MANA: 35% REMAINING
_DETAILS: 81/230
Thirty-five percent should be a decent reserve, Dante thinks to himself- still uncertain of his limits. If I need to, I can add more, he prevents himself from overthinking.
“Spiders!” A soldier yells from a distance, alongside it are the distant hums of laser fire.
Like a wave, Dante can hear the commotion approaching. A swell of holes erupts from the ground around them as the nearby soldiers open fire at the dirt.
A red marker beside Dante when he turns his head to see three claws emerge from the dirt.
_TARGET: A
_KRIX: SPIDER (TIER FIVE)
_HP: 100
Without hesitation, he rotates his blade over his head and into his arm. Slashing at the protruding legs before the spider emerges from the ground.
_TARGET: A
_KRIX: SPIDER (TIER FIVE)
_HP: 87 (-13)
He successfully slices off one limb, but the other two evade him.
“Behind you Dante!” Cassie yells, prompting Dante to turn in her direction as another spider-like creature lunges at him.
_TARGET: B
_KRIX: SPIDER (TIER THREE)
_HP: 100
“Ah-” Dante raises his blade in a panic, and stammers in place.
The Krix spider vaults two legs at Dante, each revealing a blade at the tip that’s almost the size of Dante.
The sound of Cassie’s energy blades ripping through steel sends a moment of clarity to Dante before the spider in front of him is split into two.
_TARGET: B
_KRIX: SPIDER (TIER THREE)
_HP: 0 (-100)
“Focus!” She orders with a deep stare into Dante’s eyes.
Dante nods and turns back to face the first target, which makes its way out of the hole. Dante takes a brief moment to take in his surroundings- blinking to the bright flashes of lasers that whizz by as he realizes the swarm of spiders scattered amongst the garrison like a plague. He’s never seen so many red targets in his life, and he’d never imagined it would look like this.
The OWS assigns targets to each member on the battlefield, it's determined by proximity and various other data points that Dante can't really remember right now. His mind is racing through all the training he’s had, trying to gather a coherent plan but he can't think straight. All he remembers is to go through the list of targets that he is assigned by the OWS. From A to Z if he must.
_TARGET: B (New)
_KRIX: SPIDER (TIER FIVE)
_HP: 100
_TARGET: C
_KRIX: WYRM (TIER FOUR)
_HP: 100
“Shit,” Dante hesitates as he notices Target A sprinting with four legs in his direction.
He shifts his foot and oscillates his blade as he gets into his stance. He briefly looks at Nadia and Cassie, who are each caught up with their own gang of Krix.
Cassie has to deal with two wyrms and two spiders, all tier three- whilst Nadia is dealing with the same as him. It’s no surprise they have multiple Krix focused on each Zo’an. Dante may not be the most skilled, but in the Krix point-of-view, a low-tier Zo’an is more of a threat than any soldier.
As Target A lunges at Dante with two of its claws, he steps to the side, and swings his hula-blade up and through both of the legs, severing them completely.
_TARGET: A
_KRIX: SPIDER (TIER FIVE)
_HP: 54 (-46)
The spider crashes to the ground, briefly flailing as it tries to reposition itself with its newfound stumps. Dante steps towards, raising his blade to deal a finishing blow when the tail of Target C’s snake-like body of steel smacks Dante in the stomach, sending him crashing into the door of a nearby humvee.
_HP: 67 (-33)
_MANA: 35% REMAINING
_DETAILS: 81/230
_NOTES: Multiple broken ribs.
That was a direct hit, Dante squirms as he gets to one knee. Picking up his Hula-blade and spinning it around his body again. I haven't been trained for this. He worries as he faces off with the three Krix in front of him.
“Come at me,” He aggressively mumbles under his breath.