COI C96
At the center of Mihayara district, where it stationed the recall of their people. Large numbers of adventurers appeared with webs sticking on their bodies. The men from Stranding Island disinfect the webs without a single notice. The goblins wash them thoroughly, the dwarves securing them into a quarantine, and the men take their equipment and check for any signs of demonic corruption. The adventurers are fine with no little bruises among their bodies. Disappointment crawling to their thoughts as they face the demons’ monster for the first time, continuing its scheme on their overpowered items.
The men from the island identifies their gears. “No changes happening nor fragments of its rune affecting their equipment. They say there is something wrong, and this is not what cause them in their condition”
They look at them to be fine and the adventurers’ interaction is limited to a daze. The adventurers can be able to go back to the front with good physical conditions, except for their numbing faces. The men found one of them starts to speak out as they groan in pain with their hands grabbing their heads.
“. . . Error, forced activation by hackers. Strong indication of powerful sources succeeded against UI system defenses, recommend an upgrade to secure against this breached . . .”
The adventurers look at it in on screen. The people with high tier mana control are able to recover faster than they had expected. Others that didn’t master their mana are still in a daze. They see the men approached them as they explained what happened.
“Are you alright? You are one of the few able to recover from the daze”
He looks around and see the others he is not familiar with. Stayed with their dumb look of their faces leaving him to understand what happen.
Another call from the men “More people, but they are in a group. For some reason, this group recovers faster than the rest of the adventurers. They must be the people from the other district at the north west”
The adventurer thought is much. The defectors are able to separate the full utilities from the UI. Limited to what they needed and many more to balance out their powers through their experience, UI (partially), and conditions of their bodies. He made him think the possibilities would occur if the unrest getting worse through this moon cycle.
City Guild staffs and other residences from Chojima are taking care of the wounded. Not much else they could do that everyone either daze or unconscious, the people from Stranding Island are able to handle them with their spirits and rituals. The final stage of recovering for the adventurers are sending them to the bunk tents. Bunk after bunk on each bed as they remove the uncomfortable equipment they are wearing. Armors, long lose clothing, weapons, and other miscellaneous accessories almost dangling caught at the corner of their bed.
One of the receptionists from the guild see one of the Enders, it’s been a while to see him in front of her. That small bottle tricks still boggles her mind that small robot hid away from her camera. She approaches to him out of surprised
“Hello!”
Haw carries one of the dazed adventurers. Barely remembered who she is, but her eyes give it away. He huffs at her and she was confused by his reaction, he said
“Hair dyes, I almost can’t recognize you. I see you remember me since the quest I requested”
The receptionist changed her hair color, her brunette color hair instead her natural hair color. She forgotten about it, but her curious grew wilder since the past months that he was involving with the guild with more surprises. First off from her gaze is the gossip.
“Can I talk to you for a while? I want to talk to you since rumors are getting wild”
“A while . . .?!”
He looks for the beds for any vacancy, while the receptionist waits patiently leaving her eyes on him.
Nanami and Shinji burst open the tent and shouted out his name
“Haw! Sweety! Let’s . . . Oh you . . . trying to sly to take our man, would you?”
They smirk at the receptionist as she blushes and said to him immediately. “No! Your side of the story are all about this and that, you don’t have a good story about him and his adventurers”
They played with her and teased a bit. Haw looks at her and the other two. He waves his hand telling them he would like to be excused. The two understands and let him go. The receptionist looks bleak reaching her hand to him.
“Haw?”
The two pulled her out of the tent and said, “You still don’t know about him”
“You can’t tell how committed he is doing his job”
The receptionist flustered “I just want to know how he is doing. I want to hear adventurers about their side of the story. That video from the Island about their duels have my interest”
Shinji leans her head away from her as she looks rather embarrassed “Yeah, our side of the story is too spicey but what gives you the right idea to talk to him in the middle of the sieged”
“I know, but everything shouldn’t be problem with dealing with them. They are out and all we did are to watch them until they wake up”
After their quarrelling, they are talking about the rumors getting big and everyone is suspicious of criminals are working alongside with the defense. It gives them an unnerving feeling that they do it because to pardon them or they also agreed that this is the only city they don’t want to ruin. Nanami said to the receptionist
“I get it what you mean, are you still scared what happened during the fall of the dust”
“My apartment is so close to where the realm is, hanging on between buildings, filled with surveillance with my neighbors’ footage”
She turns around realizing she said it out loud.
Haw comes in and hears about it. “So that awhile talk was about it, wasn’t it?”
He brought them to another place where they meet Ironno supervising the vacant tents. Ironno is reading through the complex building drawings where he was commissioned to make saferooms. Ironno sees Haw with his girls and another woman are heading here. Both of them look directly in the eye, and he coughs out of intrusion. Ironno throws away his papers on the ground
“Another one”
Haw’s girlfriends react “another one?”
Ironno gives them a booklet, they open it and saw a big list and locations that needed to be built for preventing anything happened to their homes. All of the clients are women and mostly found at the northern residences in Mihayara district, locations they look at is not found from the request. That is the place where Nanami and Shinji lived. The receptionist sees it and writes down the list of people she suspects to be eyeing on her building she resides. It was done, and Ironno takes it, the drawings, waves his hand, and walks away from them.
Haw takes his leave and return back to the tents. “Seems most people in Mihayara district are wanting that service. U’ecin is making a living if he decided to stay here a bit”
Nanami and Shinji watch him go and turned their conversation to their co-worker “Haw knows much is happening in this city, huh?”
“Oh, our darling. I didn’t know that you have problem in your area”
“Most likely, but I’m on queue somehow. I still want to talk of him though”
Nanami slyly said to her “You could”
“No, but I would love to join you guys . . . with everyone else”
“It’s fine, once this is over. We will have a party, make sure to invite someone or we’ll be flirting for the entire night”
“Augh!”
The reports reach to the command post, many adventurers from the second lines and the others won’t able to recover sooner from the unidentifiable runes. King pinches between his eyes from the frustration he had to go all through. Advisor listens to the reporter about the runes forcing the second line to use their failsafe and can’t recover from the runes’ effects. The battle is now favoring to the monster horde. The orders called from Manager Kubo and old man Ban are on the way to their groups to resist the assaults as long as possible.
“Sir, we are able to secure against those monsters as we found their pact leader. Only thing left now are the remaining adventurers are keeping their distance at the same time secluding each other from its web”
King orders the reporter discreetly “Good, isolate its leader and take it out quickly before . . . What’s with that look?”
The reporter means well but the face of uncertainty made King doubted what he reports. The reporter reluctantly responds
“. . . The monster is the hive mind . . .”
“What’s it that really mean a hive mind?”
Old man Ban approaches to them daunting the term too, yet he guessed. “I think he meant that they are like bees, its queen can’t be separated from its drones”
King looks at the battlefield with his binoculars across the distance where the monster leader is at. Its numbers dwindle from the elves’ dust fog as the remains scattered across the field. The look at the reporter’s face seems to be hard to understand of how they are doing is fine. Then he finds the leader, synergized like a unit. The monster’s shell looks majestic of how it looks. The beetle like creatures with no heads and arms are protecting the leader that has a head and limbs. Clearly what they meant about hive like monsters. Pack with runes with every carapace on its shell, a head that has a pike like horn, its razor-sharp forearms with its four needle edges on its tips.
Everyone follows where King lays his eyes on and see the monster for themselves. Manager Kubo sees the artillery is already firing it as she listens to her radio
“The target resisted the shots. It is heavily armored with runes. That needle head monster is the only target couldn’t be taken down with our wooden rune cannon balls”
“Copy, refocus on supporting the frontline. The insects’ invasion will cause a hindrance when it reaches your line of defense”
“Copy, over”
The advisor hears the call from the commanding in chief. “Sir! Our supplies are running low, were forcing ourselves back. We are able to destroy the swarm limpers and also the root bites. The enemies persist to push further coming from the ground, and my men are flanked from the headless beetles at our back. Request to regroup to the chokepoints”
He goes back to the screen and sees the map of operation. They can regroup to the far west, but it will be vulnerable to the east side. The toll roads will be overwhelmed and taken from the invaders. The monsters will be at the Taiyou Industries soon.
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Manager Kubo looks at the map and the plan set to go west to protect the residential district, Fuku City, while her district will be invaded. She recommended for him “Go for the northern west side of the city, I have reserves at my district if you are concern about it”
“But it leads to the shore where the forestation located. We can’t afford the time to search loose monsters to that direction”
Bokushi Hidari stands asides and pushes them away from each other, they let himself through. “Stop arguing. We stretching thin than we need to be. We already evacuated the people to South Shore Bay, and they hide in, what they called, a city guild sphere”
The police chief calls back “Repeat! Request to regroup to the chokepoints!”
The advisor is getting hesitant, they don’t know why what’s so important of him not giving the order for not letting Taiyou Industries be to the monsters. Does he had a plan on that area, or is there something they had plan there? Old man Ban takes his transmitter and said to the police chief.
“Regroup! Your leader is having trouble over this end”
The police chief complies as she is getting desperate “Orders received, we . . . Bzzt”
The signal is jammed again, the advisor looks at the map again and sees the swarm returns with another batch. He looks at the old man who stared right at him with caution.
“The enemies have signal jammers. You don’t have enough time to argue when they are attacking”
The old man moves slowly back to his seat as his legs starts to tire out, leaving the transmitter on the table. The advisor clinches both of his hands and excuse himself out form the group. Bokushi Hidari expected much, he moves elsewhere and checking his group for any problem.
The cult leader pulled out his device and signaling to the others for the next stage to respond the attacks. “. . . Yes . . . So that’s what he is planning . . . More you say? Not even the manager knew about it . . . Ugh, the signal is getting weaker . . . Yeah, I’m still here . . . !!!. . . Laugh* of course, because we believe in a free market”
He closes his device as he looks at the advisor behind his back. The cult leader will be expecting more of the advisor’s decisions and the other officials when the siege is over.
The screen shows that everyone is now mobilizing, where the regroup were sent to the west, others to the center, and the east full on retreating to the Taiyou industries. The camera is focusing on the toll roads are now overwhelmed by the monsters. One particular monster with roots on its body. The sight of it approaching to the structure where the power grid is. The part of the building already shut off its power, but it was too late, the remaining power inside the grids are absorb from the rooted monster.
It begins to grow fast as the district leaders realized what it is doing. Everyone is shocked to see it. King wonders why there is a monster that absorbs electricity in this apocalyptic world, while Enders Bridge has power according to the adventurers who went there. They now understand what the locals’ tales were not exaggerating, according to them, a myth about a plant that feeds on electricity. A strange plant or a forgotten plantation from another world to collect lightning storms, Ampstalk (brokenly translated) or Kulhi they called them. The chance of it being part of the horde is now showing it as a hybrid.
It covers the toll road leaving it entirely being covered from one single tree. The branches curled as it forms a ball, a magic ball appeared and only glows a spherical light. Everyone from the east area sees it quickly overgrown and cover the facility with vegetation. The toll road is taken over and the barrier starts to deform where the tree weakens it. After that event, the call already been sent to the Stranding Islanders
“. . . Don’t forget everything that the demons made are hybrids. That plant is a hybrid of the ampstalk but it still needs electricity to grow. Get rid of the wires that connect to that facility. Cut it off or it will grow itself to the city”
King looks at the situation getting dire. The adventurers are able to hold off but the time they have now is getting too long. He calls out to them as the orders are getting more reluctant to act. Gordon never feels so defeated in front of a demons’ puppet.
“Retreat!? We are taking too much time. We need to defeat that thing”
Lower ranks are slowly used up what magic control they have including their magic weapons. Their large amount of mana can’t suppress enough time to their will
“The remaining drones are protecting that huge thing”
“I can’t say if you can’t do it Sir, but your best companions were taken out from their runes”
The monsters moved forward as Gordon rains them again with his earth spike.
One of the monsters already burrow through then immediately being pierced from Gordon’s pikes. White fluids spurt out to the surface. The monsters dug it out the dead to the surface and continue its burrowed path. Gordon continues to fend off the rest of the monsters drowning the area on its own white blood. The monsters gathered the fluid as it solidifies, then it spews it out like a web. Puddles of white blood collected, and endlessly rain the adventure with their own blood, trapping them and forcing them back to their rally point. He steps back
“Everyone, pull back to the inner barriers. We have stall enough”
Somewhere displaced to the west, the frontline personnel made it safely as they need to regroup to the chokepoints. They don’t know how the others are from the other side, but the boss monster retreat and attack the barrier. The people watch the barrier being destroyed and the roots resurface and rooted it. They thought the invasion would be simple and the elves will be able to stall them in lower numbers. Through the scouts outside of the city, the monsters are endless as it stretched further downward. The boss monster guided its drone and gathered in one place. The runes it had is monstrously affecting the frontlines, weakening their confidence from the failsafe exploit.
Their failsafe can’t be removed and it is difficult to fight against the demonic runes. These monsters’ runes are able to bypass the citizen’s power and forced it on them leaving with side effects. Daze, numb, or unconscious, they suspect to be the stings or the webs’ contact. The webs are in a mix of different insects or monsters’ blood in white pigment. A centipede like fluid or not, the demons are able to make a hybrid of it. More and more adventures a pulling back as the monsters are retreating to the city barrier.
Team Platinum and the other low-ranking groups were able to get out with the frontliners and improvise the choke points. MRage disgustingly disturbed the partial information he received from the scouts.
“80% of the horde is being distracted! And all of those demons’ puppets already existing among them were taken out repeatedly. Yet the monsters here are as big as we thought, the elves won’t cycle through for tomorrow”
Nera lies down and checks the time “Early morning, 5AM. Now we are at 10AM. The fuck! We are attacking that beetle head for the past four hours. Our second line get pulverize only to a web”
The police look at the situation in their position. “This is not going to be good. The west border is secured but the east border is overwhelmed. We lost our kill box because of our lost supply chains”
The lieutenant ordered them to their new assigned position in the west chokepoint. He examined the situation as if they are fighting against no ordinary monsters. Other officers gathered around him as the results put them into a conclusion. Their defenses are failing. Failing their morale even further as they continue bicker about it.
“Did the higher ups know about the intelligent life controlling those monsters?”
“I heard it was controlled by demons. They’re too well prepared attacking us, and there is no stopping how they breached us so fast in an entire morning”
“Demons or not, they were able to sneak inside with the insects through the city barrier. It able to use magic to make portals to summon those beetles at the second line. Then causes the supply line to cut off where the disturbances of the insects jamming our signals and the web in the surrounding areas. We need a better way to stop the demons instead fighting its minions”
The adventurers look at the horizon of the northern border, already swarmed and the dust fog kept the rest of the horde in check. It carries the dust within them and starts to slowly leak into the fog, causing it to lose the effectiveness of its breach. Time is running out, if they reach the next day. The rest of the monsters are slowly getting out from their nests. A call from their superiors had announce the next stage of their plans.
“To all able bodies, pull back and relocate to the blockade close to the city. We have underestimated the capabilities of the siege. Forced barrier shift is commencing, head to the highways as the new border of defenses”
They look up and the barrier is slowly going inward. The outskirts of the northern city barrier are reshaped into an irregular sphere where section of the barrier enclose inward to the city. Everyone is retreating further, and carrying the blockade materials with their magic. The city barrier is being deformed to the north and north east absorbing the mana as the monsters grew more alive. The third line is now becoming the front and forced to go to the north west side of the border. Leaving no space in range to the north east side, they look around and see the devastation of the web turned into the monsters’ base.
The massive insects follow the barrier and the stretch of the roots are coming to the webs. It grows strong and stretch up to the surface, the web is left behind and dissolving through the roots and the fogs together. Absorbing that mana from the barrier, the fog loses its effectiveness to all the exposed monsters. The monsters who were inside the city barrier were phased through the shrinking barrier. The fog lost all of its crystallization to its body as their aura is protecting them. They follow the barrier to the north city then sway north east where the road toll is. The workers in Taiyou industries see the barrier is being pulled close to their area.
The ampstalk tree had been grown and take over the road toll. Its ball of magic grabs the barriers stretching and siphoning what magic holds. Corrupting parts of the city barrier as it stretches like a blanket and using it to protect itself from the exposure. The monsters gathered there and sheltered themselves from the battle. Few of the artilleries take aim at the tree. A few long projectile firings to its position, The tree controls the city barrier and shield itself against the bombardment made it difficult for the citizens for future counterattack to the east.
Another report sends to the command post. “That’s negatory Ma’am, another failed firing rounds to the north east area. We can’t take aim at that target”
The manager slams both of her fists to the table as her workers are having trouble fighting and transporting through their artillery line. She asks them “Is there any more ammunition?”
“Affirmative, all fabricated wooden cannonballs carved in runes are as affected than we gladly made it to be. Last barrages were able to take out the flying insects and vulnerable monsters destroying most of its runes when hit. We can continue to do trickle shots to any available heavy weapons remain in their positions”
A failed first phased of their defenses. Knowing too well that the cheats they have are setting back by the exploit, old man Ban calls out the volunteers to resupply and ready the saferoom where the Enders made. He grumbled down in their situation.
“Not knowing much of this world, really makes me wonder how those guys from Rune Isles were able to hold it so well. Where’s that researcher you mentioned? I want a good old real problem solver as I am aching for an answer for this”
They all wanted it too, the Enders and the people from Stranding Island is becoming more a reliability now as they want their part of the city to engulf by monsters.
The leaders from the Stranding Island appear to them as they see the situation more difficult than they had expected. The dwarf leader said to them “We properly evacuated your kins to your desired location. I admit, I never thought you people will be able to fight against years of the demons’ developed creation. I might be wrong”
The goblin leader is confused to see they are in now. “The tactics you have are still effective for the reserve lines, but I never know you use magic shared the same mana. The demons’ power is able to control your people mana”
Elf leader shakes her head and covering her eyes from what she is witnessing “The main cause I’ve you mention before was those failsafe, right?”
All of them couldn’t say anything else, the key weakness they have is their personal UI were able to be controlled by others. The elf couldn’t say much of how new for her to deal with that problem while the other leaders kept their mouth shut as the plan should’ve work, if the citizens secured their will power against who can overpowered them beside their excess magic. The idea is to use the barrier as the main shield and use the personnel’s arsenal to battle through waves of monsters. They planned it out to secure their weak points. The reality is that their mana feeds those monsters, endlessly keep fighting until all of the mana runs out.
It was repetitive tactics used against the monsters in Rune Isles when it comes to attrition. The Enders did effectively with variety of using mana. Except there is one vital equipment they have to fully stop the monster from feasting the excess mana. Sadly, it won’t be that safe to the citizen’s mana hoarding. Unless they are willing to remove the UI completely, they will be endangered themselves against a powerful invader. One of the leaders said
“We have to bring ourselves to the front. There are no other solutions to stall them effectively. The citizens are feeding them more than destroying it”
Manager Kubo agrees “Yeah, our artilleries are able to fight against them without getting forced them back to the rally points. Be it may that the price of your men being endanger from our faults”
They look at them as if there is no other choice to let their own people to sacrifice for this city. The district leaders know too well they are not going to throw Horsin men to save their sorry lives. The elf leader shows a provocative tone in her voice.
“You better not. You are all well prepared for this and the protection of your people hid down south to the shores. You people will be able to lose a few lands. When the fourth moon cycle comes, it is the best chance for your city to restore all of your territories”
Old man Ban expects this much, he remembers the war stories from the documentary how fight inside the city will secure for the defenders. The problems now are the monsters in drove. It is like facing rats infesting their homes, they need to get rid of it soon before it populates. If the monsters go inside the city deeper, the most strategic choice he can think of is to secure the surface and seal up the areas where it is difficult for them to them out like the sewers. He said,
“We have no other choice but to let them in and destroy them in the inside”
The district leaders look at the old man as it was something terrible. The cult leader thought so until he realized something useful for once. He said it out loud
“The city’s securities. We can able to lure them there and snipping them in the inside of the buildings. It would be too late for us to handle them as the monsters are bringing different species that we don’t know it can do. Are the monsters now capable of breaching or destroying the infrastructures?”
The goblin leader answers him “They can, I heard stories happened in east mountain how the underground network with numerous collapses being dug by those monstrosities. The city will definitely be broken down into ruins when it is digging through your building’s foundation”
The look of their eyes hearing the possibility to use their city as a trap for those monsters, there is some lose ends and probably segregation zones for the people to stay away from. This idea put them in worse decisions, King had no say in this that his district, the South Shore Bay, is far away from the infestation will uprise. This is the going to be a problem to turn the city into a semi dangerous wilderness as they hope to get away from it. The manager slams her fists on the table.
“NO! The people have entrusted us to protect the entire city, not letting other parts of the district to be the home of those monsters! I’m sorry Mr. Ban but I’m not taking the plan”
The old man sighs in relief “Me too, I was too busy thinking about the historical warfare but our city is not a fortress”
The cult leader smirks a bit and wipes of his sweat from his head. That was a bold idea, but too much of a cost in their livelihood. King response with determination “Great, then we have to stall a bit and my team will try again”
The advisor asks “Again? For what exactly”
“My scouts found people near the dungeons. I mean near the west mountain. If we able to make a deal with them, we might delay the siege and distract them long enough for the others to recover”
King looks closely on the map where the locations of those people were. His scouts had given him the coordinates where they are now, and few are near their area. He gulps down his dried throat and hoping they can contact with them too. One of the scouts entered the command post uninvited, the fort leaders see him branded on his hood. The goblin is shocked
“Look at him, he got the poky”
The King’s scout said to them with the very last breath as he is about to fall down “They’re hostiles”