- Oliver -

"Watch out!"

Oliver was focused on the enemies before him; however, amidst the chaos of war, he didn't notice an Ork running while brandishing what seemed to be a gigantic sword. Alan, a bit farther away, saw what was coming toward the boy.

Unfortunately, he only had time to jump and push Oliver forward, preventing his friend from being struck by the enormous sword and receiving part of the attack on his armor himself.

Alan was thrown several meters away with the abdomen of his armor destroyed and some broken bones.

Oliver was still stunned by what had happened, but Katherine and Isabela didn't waste any time. The two advanced to attack the Ork mercilessly. Forming a pincer movement, each struck from one side while Oliver drew his pistol to attract the monster's attention.

Each shot seemed to just graze the Ork's skin. However, the girls' attacks appeared to be causing some real damage. Isabela managed to land two punches to the monster's stomach, making it bend over, while Katherine made several cuts on its legs, arms, and torso.

As the creature bent over and roared, Katherine plunged her sword into one of the monster's eyes, finishing it off once and for all.

Ding

Oliver heard the sound of the system, but instead of checking it at that moment, he preferred to run to Alan, who was still down.

"Are you okay?" Oliver asked.

"Yes, it was just a scratch," Alan replied.

Neither wanted to imagine if the attack had hit him directly.

The girls approached with a worried look. They had barely entered the main square and were already having trouble advancing.

"I'll support Alan; you two clear the way. I think the Orks have some resistance to lasers—my shots—so I'll focus on their eyes to at least provide support," Oliver explained.

"Right," Katherine agreed while Isabela was looking at the square.

Alan leaned on Oliver's shoulder to keep walking. He could feel that something in his ribs was broken. "Damn it."

"Anchor! Anchor! No. No." They heard someone shouting in the square. It seemed to be a short boy with large, thick glasses and a strange mustache. He was swaying while holding the body of another boy who had lost one of his arms and both legs.

The sight made all four of their stomachs churn; that could easily have been Alan. Oliver slapped himself twice, chastising himself for his irresponsibility and trying to increase his concentration in the battle.

Oliver looked back at the square, waiting for a good moment to advance. Holding Alan by the waist and with his other hand gripping his pistol, he began to advance, shooting at any opponent ahead. He sought openings and spaces to dodge through.

He couldn't use his [Observation] on most opponents; however, he had learned a lot about how to dodge by observing how the enemies usually attacked.

When any Ork got too close, Isabela or Katherine would move forward to divert them.

'I'm running low on blood; I need to be careful,' Katherine thought. 'I can't become a burden.'

After crossing the square, they were one step closer to the objective. They could finally see the entrance to the bunker with the teleporters. However, unlike their expectations, no one was there—not even a line of people seeking refuge.

The group began to walk slowly toward the entrance, but they soon understood what had happened. As they approached the excavation, they saw four Orks climbing up, with one dragging a human body by the legs.

HUARK

The Ork babbled, throwing the body near the group. Oliver recognized who it was; they had talked to him. It was the soldier who had helped them when they arrived at GL581.

‘Damn,’ the boy thought.

"What do we do? Th-the teleporter must be broken if they're coming out of there," Isabela stammered. Oliver could see the girl's hands trembling.

"Let's go to plan B," Oliver said. "We get out of the city and hide."

"And if plan B fails?" Isabela asked.

"Then we'll have to create a plan C," he explained.

The girl didn't feel very confident, but it was the best they had.

The group began to retreat to avoid being attacked by the four Orks. However, they noticed that none of the Orks stopped looking at them.

When Oliver took the first step back, one of the four Orks leaped, brandishing two axes. Katherine, however, was expecting such a move and went to meet the Ork. When their weapons clashed, the girl came out the loser, being pushed away.

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"Huff," she breathed deeply, recovering from the impact. "These are stronger."

"I'll set you down here; I think I'll need to join in," Oliver said to Alan, who nodded.

Seeing the level of one of the opponents, Oliver preferred not to leave room for error.

[Prometheus]

He activated his best ability. Enveloping his limbs with Energy coming from his gauntlets, he prepared for the attack.

The other three Orks also jumped and advanced against the group. One charged at Isabela, another at Katherine, and Oliver had to hold off two of them.

However, this wouldn't be a problem. The boy noticed that the Orks didn't take them seriously; they didn't know their levels but had possibly already killed so many recruits that they thought all were at similar levels.

Oliver advanced against one of the Orks, concentrating his energy on this attack.

'Even if I lose an arm, I need to take them out of the fight,' Oliver thought. 'When we have more numbers than they do, the fight will be fine.'

Before both Orks could react, Oliver was already beside one of them, landing a punch on the monster's stomach. The force was so tremendous that the creature's abdomen exploded in a cloud of blood and guts.

The other three Orks became alert upon seeing one of their own die so quickly.

"Don't give them space. Let's finish them off," Oliver said.

The girls didn't need more motivation. As soon as the two they were fighting decided to retreat, they took the opportunity to gain momentum. For the first time, Isabela chose to use her boon, jumping against one of the Orks, accelerating her speed and punch to the point that the beast could hardly see her.

Although her punch wasn’t as powerful as Oliver's, it broke some bones and hindered the Ork.

Meanwhile, Katherine used [Blood Rose] again, thrusting her sword into the Ork's stomach and exploding him from the inside out with her blood thorns.

Only one Ork remained, and Oliver jumped toward it again. With his other arm, he landed another punch, exploding the Ork's legs.

The group was exhausted, having spent almost all their energy, but they had eliminated the strongest enemies they had encountered.

Alan walked limping toward the group.

"Is it worth checking what's in the teleporter room?" he asked.

The others didn't know what to say. "If it's still working, would we know how to use it?" Oliver asked.

However, none of the other three responded.

"Then we shouldn't spend more time than necessary inside the city," the boy concluded.

As soon as he finished speaking, a few more missiles hit the city, knocking down several buildings.

"Will we have to go through the security gate again?" Isabela asked. Retracing their steps would be a long journey, and the gate might already be overflowing with Orks.

"There was a communication tent nearby; maybe there was a map out of the city," Katherine remembered.

"Makes sense," Alan agreed.

Before Oliver could suggest that the group search for the tent, they heard a noise coming from the top of one of the buildings.

HUARK! HUARK! HUARK!

The sound seemed like the laughter of an Ork, if Orks were capable of laughing.

Oliver searched for where the sound was coming from but didn't expect it to be from the building right next to them. The boy looked up to see what was on the rooftop.

His blood ran cold when he saw what was watching them. It was just an Ork, the same height and seemingly as strong as the others. However, his skin wasn't gray; it was red.

"Run!" Oliver shouted. "Spread out!"

BOOM

Before the group understood what Oliver was shouting about, a small explosion occurred in front of them. The Ork had jumped from the top floor of the building straight to the ground, breaking everything in his path.

"What's happening?" Alan asked.

There was no need for an answer. When the dust settled, he saw the red-skinned Ork walking slowly toward them.

All four of them knew that this type of monster couldn't even be compared to the others.

[Prometheus]

Oliver activated his powers again. This time, he was no longer worried about what might break. If he got out alive, that would be a bonus.

The boy jumped at the Ork, aiming to kick the creature's face.

However, the monster raised one of his arms and quickly blocked the kick. Oliver felt all the pain of the impact. With a quick movement, the creature grabbed his leg and threw him against one of the nearby building walls.

‘It's our end,’ Alan thought.

Without reinforcements, none of them would get out of there alive.

Alan tried to muster the rest of his strength to advance against the monster.

"Run, I'll hold him off!" Alan shouted.

[Gravity Lock]

He tried to concentrate all his power to create an ultra-dense gravity field, preventing the monster from advancing. The power was so immense that he himself had difficulty staying within the area, even though his ability had a reduced impact on him.

Katherine and Isabela didn't know what to do. They didn't want to flee and abandon their companions, but the enemy before them wasn't something they could defeat.

Alan stared intently at the Ork, trying to maintain concentration on his powers that, until that moment, seemed to have stopped the beast. However, the next moment, the Ork took a step as if Alan's powers didn't affect him.

SPLAT

With a swing of its arm, the Ork’s blade cut the boy in half, severing his legs from his torso.

"NO!" Oliver shouted from the depths of his lungs.

Oliver was wounded and afraid a moment ago, yet now, the only feeling within him was a deep rage that would burst if he didn’t do anything.

With their remaining strength, Isabela, Katherine, and Oliver attacked.

However, the Ork dodged each attack as if the three were moving in slowly. The monster threw two punches—one at Isabela and another at Katherine—who were thrown dozens of meters away. As for Oliver, it paused for a moment, observing the boy's rage, and with a swift movement, severed his right arm with his claws. To finish, it punched him in the face. Like the girls, Oliver was hurled against one of the building walls.

HUARK! HUARK!

The Ork seemed to laugh at the trio's plight.

Oliver's consciousness was slowly fading.

‘Is this how it will end?’ he asked himself. ‘But I haven't even started yet.’

His last feeling was of being dragged by his remaining arm before finally passing out.