Chapter 68: Three kilometers
Two small jade-color planes were heading into the heart of the jungle canyons. They had to fly low to be able to drop the assaulting team accurately. Teleporting into the thick of the jungle was contraindicated, one could be teleported right inside of the tree, killing him instantly.
When the small stones came towards the planes they knew that the time was right. The green apes of the canyon utilized the hard rocks as a missile. It was the first line of the defense. Individually a rock couldn’t harm a hunter, but hundreds of them catapulted with the unnatural strength of the apes could even damage the force field.
The gravitational field was the best countermeasure against green apes. Its unique feature was - to reflect and shield from any object that had made contact with the field at a high speed. Anything thrown by apes couldn’t go through beyond the gravitational field. But if the apes decide to walk in they won’t encounter any resistance.
Entrance into the cave, home of the ape colony, was at the foot of the canyon that was 3 kilometers afar. The last kilometer was covered by trees and plants making it impossible to land from the air. While two kilometers before that point, mostly top of the canyon, was a place of habitat for thorn and poisonous plants, which also made landing a difficult task.
So anyone who wanted to reach the entrance of the cave had to walk the last three kilometers fighting endless apes.
3000 meters left.
Two planes made two separate deliveries, the first was the team members with jetpacks for their convenient alighting. And the second cargo was an armored vehicle that had its gravitational field on.
Dost used his own force field to protect the team while descending. After they all took their seats in the car, they drove as fast as they could under the fierce barrage of stones, branches, sometimes even fruits and vegetables, and thick logs that apes prepared beforehand in case of intruders.
The vehicle had a huge blade in front of it, to push the soil, rocks, and rubble so all the barricades that apes built were for naught. In no time the armored bulldozer reached its limit of clearing the road. It was near where the canyon started. Two tall walls stood by both sides creating a natural path, one kilometer long, leading to the cave.
2000 kilometers left.
The team abandoned the vehicle taking all the equipment that they would need. Hundreds of angry apes kept throwing all sorts of things at them. The gravitational field device died two times, causing Kutch to replace it. They had three more left.
“This is the corridor where all of the hunters who dared to come here ended. I hope we will succeed.” Kutch gave a signal to move.
The path between the two walls was five meters wide, but they still walked close to each other. Annoyed apes were screaming on top of their lungs. Hundreds of screams made the surroundings turn to resemble hell.
A bit intimidated, the team moved on. Each of them understood that they will be done if the field happens to turn off. They still had Dost with them but he tried to save his energy for the upcoming maneuver that they planned to do.
“DOST!” Yon shouted looking upward.
Without a delay, Dost created a force field. A white-hued dome covered all of them, even the gravitational field, in a split second. Only then he turned his gaze up.
Two massive rocks, each the size of their car, were falling from the top of the canyon. Yon made the right decision to let the Dost know. The sheer power of the mass and the acceleration of a falling rock could easily wear out the gravitational field. Then the next one could slam them to death.
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With a deafening thud the first stone broke apart, tiny pieces rained sliding by the Dost’s dome. Right after it, came the second one with the same result. Very few hunters could pass by that point.
When they checked their vicinity, the car that they left had been disassembled by outraged apes. Mighty monkeys slammed their fists at its frame, pierced its metal cover with their razor-sharp fangs. Torn apart parts had been smashed upon the ground or rocks.
“Eat this!” Kutch said with a crooked grin and pushed the button of the remote.
The zapping sound accompanied by an electric explosion extended for over ten meters. A wave of electricity like thunder knocked out every single primate. Approximately twenty apes were the victims of a sudden attack leaving about two hundred more guardians of the entrance.
“Now we run.” All members of the exploration started to run towards the cave at the end of the narrow corridor between two canyons.
Falling rocks, trees, and barricades on the road, obstacles were relatively easy to go through. The real struggle was when it left less than five hundred meters before the targeted place. Raging apes threw themselves into the battle. The gravitational fields couldn’t compete with an assault.
500 meters left.
“Now!” Kutch and Yon moved towards the edge of the force dome with a machine gun in their hands.
The hunters had permission to kill no more than 10 animals for a team. And capture no more than a hundred. Based on that law Kutch ordered stun machine-guns, with shock bullets. A single bullet had a hundred milliampere and one hundred thousand volts, which easily could kill a human.
Kutch and Yon went to opposite sides from each other and remaining inside the field they pulled out only the barrel of the gun. A non-stop five hundred bullets came out of their guns. When they finished half of the ape army was on the ground jolting in spasmodic pain. Their muscles tightened and extended, restricting them from standing up, and soon most of them were unconscious.
The team resumed their marathon towards the cave of the apes.
200 meters left.
When the assaulting team could see the end of the journey, they saw the main obstacle in front of them. Fifty or so primates stood firm blocking the way. When the team stopped their run another fifty came from behind. They were surrounded.
At the same time, several apes jumped from the canyon with their both fists joint ready to be slammed down upon the field that protected their dire enemy. Dost had to use his resource.
“This is scary. Yon, we must go for the second round of shock bullets. I assume this is the last line of defens--” Kutch couldn’t finish his sentence. One of the apes dug himself a tunnel to reach inside of the dome wall.
“Get him!” Kutch gave short order to Yon who was the closest to the mole-ape.
Yon jumped to the air and descended his spear’s flat side on top of the primate’s head. The next one appeared near to Kutch, who shot it with the shock bullet from his machine gun.
“Move, move. There are more of them.” Very soon gunplay took place inside the dome. Even Dost used a gun to take care of the endless apes coming out from the soft soil.
Each second the team walked towards the cave entrance more protectors emerged from the ground only to go to sleep from the stun guns.
Yon, who was covering the rear, switched to the gun too. Even if he preferred his loyal spear, swinging it became more and more difficult in a small space.
He felt that someone grabbed his ankle a bit too late when a hulking strength pulled him down into the soil. In a sudden surprise, he had no time to react and was half sunk already. Yon tried to shoot into the ground blindly in hope that he would catch the ape which was dragging him. He was glad for the electricity-proof clothing that they remembered to buy.
Only after spending half of his magazine, he was able to get rid of his abuser. By that time only his head was visible from the ground; many other apes came out from the place that he had to protect. Thanks to his spear that stuck in the ground and didn’t let go of Yon to the depth of the ground he managed to stay inside the dome. With a great struggle and Dost’s help, Yon freed himself and resumed his defense. He was glad for the electricity-proof clothing that they remembered to buy.
Meanwhile, Kutch went out from the dome for a brief moment to threw shockwave hand grenades towards the living wall of apes that blocked their way. The electric shock made them faint and a wave from the explosion scattered their bodies away.
After half an hour of intense battle with enraged primates, the team reached the entrance but instead of going in, they moved to its side, firmly established their position making sure to come close to the wall, and waited.
“Are you going to be alright? How long can you hold your shield, Dost?” Yon was concerned, their life wholly depended on Dost’s resource.
“He will be fine, don’t worry. This shield can be on for weeks. Instead, get ready to repel those.” The usual irritation of Kutch, when the topic was about Dost, couldn’t be hidden from any observer.
Yon looked forward to seeing the army of apes that came to their senses. All of them, in unison, were moving towards them. “I hope you are telling the truth. Hurry up Safo Nur.”