When the first regulators' soldiers appeared on the cliffs, the defensive weapons opened fire on the enemies. The enemies charged forward, confident in the protection provided by their power armor. And yet their bravery soon left them, as defenders started mowing them down by the dozens. Not even power armor could withstand the constant intensity of the fire from hundreds of weapons.
Tiny gestured to her team. Normally, scouts only have command over a force of five other wolfkins. But with massive losses in Aranea’s team, she was forced to give Tiny command over the bigger numbers. Sonya still had command of five veterans, while Leila got command of five recruits, and the newly promoted scout got six green recruits under her command. Tiny trained her team for strictly long-ranged combat. The wolf hag was unsure about this at first, the Wolf Tribe members always preferred close-range combat. Tiny and her pack were hiding behind the wall, preparing to assist the defenders with their heavy weapons.
The wolf hag felt her doubts disappear when she saw how the six mortars added their voices to the defensive weapons. Aranea nodded as she saw how the enemy forms started falling apart. It was a weird feeling. She saw the Resistance right now, not as humans, but as numbers that her pack needed to thin in order to survive.
Enough with this. Aranea commanded herself. It was kill or be killed today, she will worry about losing her humanity later.
Beams of crimson color sliced through the air as Leila’s team joined the battle, appearing on the walls. The half-wyrm had taught the soldiers of her pack how to use energy weapons. Spirits only know what Leila had to do to persuade the command to arm wolfkin warriors with such expensive weapons, but for the time being, they were wreaking havoc on the enemy forces. While Tiny commanded her forces, constantly adjusting their arc of fire, Leila used an oversized energy rifle, adding her own personal contribution, fully trusting that her soldiers would carry out their responsibilities without her supervision. Her own weapon was a custom-made monstrosity that she brought from home. She explained that when the "old demon" used her on various missions, he granted her this weapon. The back of the weapon fit like a glove on her right hand, while the half-wyrm used her left hand to help aim the weapon. The trigger was located deep within the "glove" part of the weapon. Anything that this gun hit, it melted through, leaving wide wounds in the chests of enemy warriors. Aranea noticed that Leila was avoiding targeting injured enemies or those who tried to escape. It was good. They were no longer prey, and they actually aided state forces by instilling fear among enemy ranks. Each wounded enemy who escapes from the field of battle will put a strain on the enemy's medical supply.
Aranea noticed something else. The wolfkins in Leila’s team were missing from time to time. It was to be expected that, when compared to shardguns, laser weapons offered almost no recoil. Add to that a lack of time to properly train with such weapons and the Wolf Tribe's general distrust of such weapons, and this was the end result.
No matter. Aranea nodded to herself, standing tall on the wall of the shield station. They had an abundance of ammunition, might as well go all out for a change. Later, Aranea will ask snipers from the ranks of the normies to give pointers to Leila's pack. But for now, they had a battle to win.
The intensity of the fire forced the attackers to slow down, almost forcing them back. One by one, they were dying, their forms ended up being broken. The wounded screamed, trying to get out of the line of fire, but the entire cliffs were a dead zone. Try as they might, they were in the open. Aranea was unsure how to feel about it. On the one paw, she felt nothing as enemies died in front of her. On the other paw, she knew that killing wounded and prisoners was something that only monsters would do.
But do we really have any choice right now? She wondered, giving a signal to Sonya as the enemy soldiers advanced even further. Sonya and her pack raised heavy missile launchers, unleashing their own hell. These oversized weapons held up to three special anti-infantry missiles. When fired, upon closing on the enemy ranks, the main missile would split apart, unleashing a dozen smaller missiles stored inside. The smaller missiles would then end up raining down on a wide area. These weapons, unlike Tiny and her pack's mortars, were designed to be used at medium range.
Run already or surrender, you fools. What good will you do to anyone by dying here? Don't you have cubs back at home? Aranea angrily thought as the enemy soldiers still charged forward, almost oblivious to death. All too few tried to retreat.
The buzzing of the radar made her look up. From the cloud of smoke above them, new forms descended on the battlefield. Aranea looked up and saw who they were. These new enemies were strange, parts of their bodies were covered by power armor, while other parts of their bodies were made of gleaming steel. Some had half of their heads protected by armor, while another part of their heads was made of silvery steel. Bento tribe members. They were flying thanks to massive jetpacks installed into their backs. Like rockets, they crashed onto the ground before advancing soldiers of the regulators, lifting their hands before themselves. The bubbles of the shield came to life, protecting their allies behind them, and the advance of the enemy force continued. For a moment, a series of shield bubbles were visible to the defenders, but then they merged into one huge, elongated bubble of a single shield that covered the front-line troops of the enemies.
"Annoying." Ursico said, upon seeing how the shield was blocking the fire of the defenders. He quickly gave the order for the forward troops to step back.
"They can protect only the troops in the front. Weapon teams, armed with equipment that can shoot in an arc, just keep on firing at the enemies behind cyborgs," Tiny gave the order over the command channel as her team continued fire, "Don’t we have something to punch through these shields? If just one fails…"
Two defensive towers at the shield station fired their shells. Each of these cannons had a barrel with an internal bore of 180 mm, they were considered to be part of heavy artillery. But even their shells failed to penetrate the shield, the shells ended up being smashed against the shield.
"Clearly we don’t," Tiny answered herself in a sour voice, "Lieutenant! Please give the order for cannons to shoot over enemies."
"No! Wait, I have an idea," Leila quickly joined in, "Lieutenant, please give the order for cannons to aim at cyborgs to the left and right from the one in the middle. We have something that can crack the shield. And since their shields work in unison as a single shield, once cracked, it will briefly overload the rest of the shields."
"But what…" Tiny gasped in realization, "You are correct, it should have enough power to break through! Wolf hag Aranea, please fire your rail gun at the central enemy!"
Aranea quickly took her weapon and took aim. She was still afraid of this infernal thing. Even for her, a weapon like this was scary. Each time she trained with it, she was afraid that this weapon might end up maiming her allies by shooting… Through almost everything, really. Who knows, what the shockwave would do to soldiers in the trenches?
Enough with fear. Trust in your fellow soldiers. The wolf hag has pressed the trigger.
Just like before, she saw a hole in the enemy, before the noise came. The sound of hellish thunder assaulted her ears, the shockwave from her shot had thrown several soldiers off their feet. But in enemy ranks, it caused panic as the line of dead people was behind the ruined form of the cyborg. People fell like dolls, blood was spitting on the ground. Most of them died so fast that they probably failed to even notice the moment of their demise.
By the Spirits. I killed them. So easy and so casually. Is this how warlords feel about themselves? The wolf hag swallowed drool in horror. If this was what warlords were feeling when they were killing others, she never wanted to feel it ever again. No life should disappear from the world so easily, snuffed out like a candle. And yet she forced herself to take aim again. Kill or be killed… Dad, mom, forgive me, but I can’t let my allies die.
Electric discharges could be seen on the bodies of other cyborgs as some of them stumbled as the shield around enemy forces burst. The towers opened fire, tearing two other cyborgs apart, and Aranea fired again, feeling pain in her hands. Just two shots, and it was hard to even hold the weapon, even despite the aid of her armor, she felt as if someone had slammed a hammer across her palms, shoulders, and elbows several times. The wolf hag was half of a mind to fire another shot when a wall of fire rose up before advancing enemy forces. From the flames emerged the figure in the red cloak. The man wore a suit of archaic-looking power armor with no helmet. His face could be called handsome if not for his broken nose. His long black hair reached his shoulders. Already tall, his old-looking power armor made him look like a giant, his head without a helmet looked tiny on such a massive body. The person extended his hand toward the trenches.
"No, I do not think so, buddy," Leila calmly said, taking aim at his head and firing her rifle. The man's right eye was struck by the red beam. Instead of leaving behind melted-away meat and bones, the beam pierced right through the head of the man. A perfect black round hole was on the face of the smiling enemy, aside from the sudden empty space in the body of the enemy, there was no sign of damage. The person stood unconcerned, as if the missing eye and part of his brain were no bother to him. The man’s body suddenly shuddered, turning into flashes of fire. Fire flicked in the air before reforming himself back into the human figure of a man, but this time with no hole in his head. The enemy laughed and spread his hands wide. As if in response, the trenches ahead of him caught fire, and people inside were boiling to death within their armors.
"Burn, Reclaimers! Burn!" The man yelled, charging forward, a wall of fire closing in behind him. He was completely oblivious to the incoming fire from the rows of the defenders, fully devoid of any sense of self-preservation. And behind fire, enemy troops moved out. He stopped only once, when a pleading soldier in front of him begged for mercy. The man casually kicked the near-dead woman away from the fire, into the embrace of one of the cyborgs.
"Ideas?" Leila asked, firing again.
"Keep the enemy away from the wall." Aranea responded to her.
"Just kill whoever you can, we’ll figure something out later!" Tiny shouted from behind the wall while her team continued to fire.
The cyborgs tore through fire, using their jetpacks to rise in the air. Their hands changed during the flight. Their left hands were transformed into hooked blades, while their right hands were turned into automatic rifles. Some cyborgs were shot down by the defensive fire, yet most of them pushed through the fire of the defenders, descending upon people on the wall and upon defensive towers. Aranea switched her rail gun for a regular shardgun and evaded the slash of a cyborg that fell upon her. At such a close distance, she could not use her rail gun, the risk of hitting her own allies by accident was far too great. The fighter from the Bento tribe crashed at the stone where the wolf hag stood just a moment ago, leaving a cracked stone underneath his legs. His upper body turned unnaturally, turning one hundred and eighty degrees in order to face Aranea. She dodged the slash, and the enemy threw up his gun, taking aim. But before he could fire, she fired her own weapon, leaving holes in his skull. The foe's body took a single step forward, as if in disbelief of its own death, before collapsing on the ground.
Two cyborgs crashed to the ground near the defensive tower, something was coming from their chests. It took Aranea a second to understand that these were sticky bombs. The enemies planned to blow up the defensive structure. Two crimson beams hit each at the back of their heads, when sergeant Alek and his sniper team, who were hidden on a nearby hill, opened fire, eliminating the obstacles.
"Damn it!" Alek shouted on the radio channel as three more cyborgs crashed into the second tower, one of the enemies creating a shield to protect her comrades while they were busy setting up explosives. "We can’t hit through…"
"Excuses," The calm voice of Scarred One joined the radio channel. Her massive form appeared near the attacked tower. She had moved deceptively slowly in order to bypass the shield, but once inside, she caused carnage. Shamans rarely use any ranged weapons, preferring to follow traditions instead. And yet, when compared to shamans, wolf hags were children. While not as fast or fierce as warlords, shamans were still an elite force even among the Wolf Tribe. Their claws could cut through steel. Their speed could allow them to react to bullets. When the Scarred One fell on them, slashing them apart, the enemies saw firsthand the ferocity of this melee fighter. It was not a fight but a murder, none of them stood a chance. If they had been smarter or more desperate, they would have detonated explosives, but the bentos were the proud people who believed in their own superiority. This belief saw their mission fail as their broken forms fell from the roof of the shield station. "Shoot more, complain less."
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
"As you command, honey!" The sergeant laughed as he fired at advancing enemies, and the shaman growled at this familiarity. She held a half-broken cyborg in her embrace, the man had lost all his limbs, natural or otherwise. Aranea was preparing to give the order to spare him when the shaman threw him aside, leaving him to be picked up by the medics later.
More cyborgs flew over the wall, landing near Tiny and her team. Aranea wanted to jump down and help them, but she could not abandon her post. Her task right now is to protect the packs of Sonya and Leila while they are busy firing at the enemy, thinning the advancing numbers of the Resistance.
I can’t save everyone. Aranea said to herself, firing at the cyborg who tried to slash a member of Leila’s pack. The wolfkin nodded to Aranea and turned around, firing her energy weapon and killing the cyborg below the wall just in time to save the wolfkin of Tiny’s pack. My weapon is best suited for close range. All I can do is trust my pack. And in those who fight by our side.
The cyborg almost closed in on Tiny while the scout was busy reloading her mortar. The scout did not even bother to reach for the shardgun behind her back, all too concerned with giving orders to her pack. Even as the blade of the enemy moved toward her neck, she ignored the seemingly imminent danger. The slash never came, for the enemy body turned into dust when the mechanical suit of lieutenant Marveni landed nearby, opening fire with his disruptors. Marveni spent entire days sitting and sleeping in this suit, even going as far as eating and drinking within the suit. By now, he wielded it as easily as one could use one's own body. Tiny briefly thanked him, but Ursico had already turned his suit away, jumping on the wall and aiding the defenders. The shaman jumped from the wall, landing in front of Tiny.
"I must admit something. When I saw you as a cub, I was sure that you would be a burden to the Tribe due to the fact that you are a defective being. Therefore, I advocated for your death. Now, however, I can see that they were right about you. You can be of use to Tribe." The shaman told Tiny, standing still while another cyborg landed behind her.
"They? You know who my parents are…" Tiny briefly stopped firing, but then collected herself and continued reloading her weapon. She said to the shaman in a calm voice, preparing to fire, "I need to know. Please… And behind you!" She shouted, seeing how the cyborg raised the blade to spear the shaman.
"We will speak later." The shaman turned around and walked past the cyborg. A split second later, his body fell to the ground, slashed in three.
"Idiocy," Ursico’s voice boomed from speakers installed in his suit, standing over the ruined form of another cyborg, the poor fellow had been partially turned to dust by the disruptors, "They are losing too many people. This whole attack is nothing short of lunacy."
"I agree, but…" Leila said, lifting up the cyborg that was being held by her tail. Instead of killing the thrashing woman, she simply tore off her metal hands and broke her legs before throwing her away, saying, "It’s not like we can stop them from continuing to fight, right?" The injured cyborg was dragged away to safety by the medics.
"True, but we need all the help we can get. Ursico, it’s time to unleash the remaining drones, our people are getting slaughtered in the open." Aranea sent a message to the lieutenant as she saw one of the bunkers exploding in flames. The man in red armor simply melted through the wall of the bunker, stepped inside, and exploded a ball of fire within, burning everything inside, including people. The lieutenant's suit made a visible nod.
The command was sent, but no help came. The mechanical suit of the lieutenant turned around in confusion, and then two loud explosions boomed in the square before the main buildings. The vehicles that held drones inside of them exploded at the same time. Ursico demanded a report immediately, but Aranea could see that the life signs of guards on a square were suddenly disappearing one by one, one of the mechanical suits stationed there was also downed by an unknown enemy.
"Idiots!" A familiar voice laughed, and Yasen broke through the fire wall. Almost everyone took aim at him, but before shots could be fired, he made a throwing gesture with his hand, sending a trembling kinetic blast. It crashed into the defensive wall with a force greater than even an artillery shell, breaking stone and throwing people off the wall. Yasen laughed again and fired another blast, aiming for the shield station this time. Under the pressure of Yasen's power, reinforced stone walls designed to withstand rockets, artillery shells, and missiles cracked. Another blast hit it, and a hole was made in the shield station. Defensive towers fired, yet both shells were stopped by the wall of kinetic force around the leader of the regulators. Yasen's laughter came to a halt when Leila fired a laser beam at his knee. Not even the wall of force surrounding him could stop this attack. The metal melted, but withstood assault, protecting the flesh inside. Before flying back into flames, Yasen looked at the half-wyrm, no longer boasting or laughing.
"Alek! Why hasn’t your team downed him?!" Ursico shouted, landing on two mechanical legs and catching several soldiers before they could fall on the stone ground.
"My apologies, sir! We are also under attack, it's the greenies." The sergeant responded in a strained voice, sounds of energy weapons firing could be heard over the radio.
When three figures charged from behind it, fire almost licked the cracked defensive wall. The figure in a green cloak appeared on top of the wall. A wolfkin nearby pointed a shardgun at the figure and fired, but bullets only hit the cloak while the man in silver-colored power armor jumped up, landing behind the wolfkin. His armor was crafted to look exactly like a human body, replicating even the abs and ribs. The helmet was fashioned after an image of a smiling man with glasses and curly hair. The figure touched the back of the wolfkin and the shoulder of a nearby soldier. The poor man's shoulder had shrunk, causing him to scream in agony when the blood vessels and bones within this part of his body were brutally separated, his hand was no longer connected to his body and fell on the ground. Not even the armor protected the soldier against this deadly touch. The wolfkin never even had the chance to scream. His chest became the size of a rock, and his head, legs, and arms simply fell on the stone floor of the wall.
The figure in a blue cloak appeared next to a group of soldiers, and Aranea deduced that this one was most likely a female based on her slender build and smaller frame. Underneath her cloak, she was dressed in a lighter version of power armor, almost all metal plates were stripped from her to allow maximum freedom of movement. The exposed frame of her exoskeleton was visible on her slender body, the round helmet looked really thin. At the mere touch of her gauntlets, people fell to the ground. Aranea could see no visible injuries on the data feed that her helmet showed her, yet the screams of poor people indicated that they were in pain. The strange woman stepped on the throat of one of the soldiers, cocking her head as if wondering if she should kill him, then she simply walked forward, leaving the man alive and screaming behind her.
The warrior in red appeared at the wall, and at the shout of Tiny, almost everyone backed away from him. Even Sonya and her team obeyed, jumping away as fire appeared around him. While Aranea was jumping back, she noticed that Leila's figure was still standing on the wall, and her laser rifle was tossed carelessly to a member of her pack. Armor completely covered her form as fire reached her.
"Leila, jump away or…" Aranea shouted in fear, but the half-wyrm only shrugged.
"Don’t worry, wolf hag. We wyrms just build differently," The woman responded calmly when the fire covered her entire body.
The flame that boiled people in full power armor barely caused Leila to let out a chuckle. Her fist crashed into the head of the man, exploding him into a ball of fire. The body of a man disappeared, flames ran across the body of the half-wyrm. The man reappeared behind Leila and struck with his right hand. Leila dodged this punch, grabbing him by his arm. She threw him over herself, slamming him into the stone. Her wings struck at his chest like blades, intending to pierce his body and pin him down. The sharp metal has pierced his chest, and the lenses of Leila’s armor have slid back, revealing the light that was coming from her eyes. She intended to use her power to bind the enemy to her will, but once again he turned into flame that licked the armor of the half-wyrm, reappearing to the left of Leila and kicking her in the jaw with his leg, sending her massive body into the wall of the shield station. The half-wyrm gasped as she slid down across the wall, the shoulderpads of her armor beginning to slightly melt. She landed on two legs and accepted her laser rifle back from a member of her team.
Checking the weapon, she said: "I confess. I have no idea how to do him in or how to contain him. He seems to be able to regenerate from the flames around him and is able to create more flames at will. An annoying combination."
"Flames, huh?" Aranea said, trying to figure out something. The few remaining cyborgs and three strange new breeds all charged toward the breach in the wall.
"Shaman, take care of the man in silver armor, take notice that if he touches you, it’s all over. Leila, Tiny, deal with the woman, avoid her touch. I will take care of the fireboy. Ursico, Sonya, you hold the line here." Aranea commanded, jumping off the wall.
"Take care? How?" Leila demanded to know.
She just has to figure something out. This strange man can easily kill them all unless he is stopped. Aranea and the others charged into the breach as enemies were running ahead in the corridor, aiming to arrive at the generator room. The Shaman jumped to the ceiling, grabbed the stone with both hands, and leaped forward, landing in front of the man in silver armor, narrowly avoiding his grasp. A claw slashed forward, shredding the floor where the man had just stood up.
"Abyss take it all! She is so fast!" The man in silver armor said in fear, backing down to allow two cyborgs to step in front of him. He reached into his belt pocket and took out some small object. When he threw it, the object grew up to be a full-sized grenade and Scarred One jumped back, avoiding the explosion that collapsed the corridor before her. The path that led to the generator was sealed for the time being.
"Idiot," The woman yelled angrily, turning to face the pursuers, "We don't have time for this shit. Lalo! Make a new hole."
"Sure thing," The man surrounded by the flames replied eagerly. He pointed his hand at the wall of the corridor, only for his head to disappear when Aranea fired her shardgun. His body fell to the ground, turning to embers and reassembling itself in the nearby flames. He looked at Aranea and smiled, "Wolf hag. I've never killed one before. Nice of you to offer yourself for me."
"Let us speak with our actions, shall we?" Aranea smugly said, firing again and crashing into a nearby room. She hoped that this would be enough to provoke him, and she was right, the wall of the dining room was melted, and a ray of energy fired inside, melting several plastic tables. Lalo stepped inside, shrouded in flames, abandoning his comrades to face off against the rest of the defenders in the corridor behind him.
"To be honest, I kind of feel bad about killing your kind," Lalo chuckled. "It feels wrong to kill doggies. Animals are cute after all."
"We are humans, you bastard!" Aranea fired at him, and his form turned to flame as his neck disappeared. In a flash of fire, he reappeared near the wolf hag, raising his right hand over his head and slamming it down. Aranea barely had time to dodge as his punch crushed the stone floor where she stood just a moment ago.
"Good to know, then I can kill you with a clear conscience." The Regulator said cheerfully, raising his hands, and torrents of flame willed themselves into being, forcing Aranea to retreat even further.
Why is the firefighting system not working? Aranea thought during her retreat toward the kitchen that the floor was erupting in flames around her at the mere gesture of her enemy. They were supposed to… Wait! No one warned us about an attack on a square… Could this new enemy also have taken out our firefighting system?
When she reached the doors that led to the kitchen, the floor underneath her exploded, and she crashed inside in a torrent of fire and molten stone. Laughing, Lalo melted the wall before him, stepping inside after Aranea. She tried to reach for one of the fire extinguishers in the room, but at a single gesture from Lalo, they exploded and threw Aranea into the center of the room, sending her crushing into a table with frying pans on it. She felt how they began to melt, under the assault of the fire that shot into the room, even her own armor began to scream in warning, advising her to leave the area. What could she possibly do to…
And then she saw. On the ceiling were black dots, like the ones that Ursico showed her. Each of them supposedly contained powder that could be used to put out flames… She jumped back on her feet, quickly remembering all that she had seen about Lalo. It was not much, but one thing she was certain of. He loved going into melee after he reformed himself.
Aranea jumped back on her feet and stood under one such dot, taking aim at Lalo and firing. He smiled upon seeing how the holes appeared in his chest and disappeared. Her crimson eye caught the sight of the small dancing embers in the air as they charged past her, reforming to her left... The wolf hag has jumped forward at the last moment, evading the kick, and turned around, firing at the dark spot on the ceiling. A strange black powder fell from it, covering the man from head to toe. He did not vanish this time. He grabbed his throat and tried to gasp. Even Aranea was taken aback for a moment by how terrible this wheezing sound he was making every few seconds. Pure panic was in the man's eyes as he stumbled back, crashing into a wall, desperately making wheezing sounds, trying to inhale the oxygen into his lungs, but air just no longer went into his throat as something obstructed it. He clawed at his throat in desperation, leaving bloody scratches. A new breed like him could endure quite some time without air, but the sheer panic was doing him in, making him make foolish and wasteful movements. Aranea raised her shardgun and took aim at him, intending to put him out of his misery. Had she known how to save him, she would have offered help in exchange for his surrender, but as of right now... In her opinion, a quick death was preferable to slow suffocation. Lalo noticed her movement and gestured with his left hand. This simple gesture created a ball of fire near her shardgun, causing the ammunition in her shardgun to explode, ruining her weapon for good.
Before she could stand up, he turned toward the wall and pointed with his hand, releasing a beam of energy and melting it. Still making wheezing sounds, Lalo charged away from the building. The wolf hag wanted to charge after him but forced herself to stand down. They had to protect the shield generator. If it went down, the Resistance would annihilate the rest of their forces here with ease.