Chapter 25
Lyndis chased the fleeing elf commander through the trees. the superior size and gliding abilities of the exo-mecha allowed her to keep the enemy in sight, in spite of the elves superior speed and dexterity. She realized she could be rushing into an ambush, but she refused to let this particular group of elves go. They were responsible for far too many dead human soldiers. There was also the possibility they were planning to regroup and attack either the rescue group, or the rest of Savage Company as they attempted to link up with the hostages.
Either way she wasn’t willing to let them go unopposed. Besides, she had a special upgrade to her exo-mecha suit. Oblivious, or perhaps uncaring of her pursuit, the elves continued their escape through the forest, angling towards the location of the Captain’s cell beacon. Soon after the direction change, the elves sped up significantly, leaving Lyndis far behind. The sensors built into her suit allowed Lyndis to follow their trail, but she knew that she likely wouldn’t be able to do much if the elves chose to meet up with their reinforcements and go back after the rescue team.
Without stable comms to the First Sergeant, she couldn’t be sure how many elves had left, just that it’d been enough for the rescue operation to begin. Normally the size of her suit and the close proximity to base would have guaranteed her good comms, but the elves had damaged some of the radio infrastructure in the civilian populated areas, and without satellites, running through trees, she couldn’t seem to get a connection stable enough to warn the First Sergeant or the base what was happening.
Soon another item began competing for her attention. Another pesky blue system box pop-up.
Message received
Notifications paused during combat.
Priority message received.
Notification settings disregarded.
Congrats! Level 5 Attained!
Your species’ natural urge to mate and pass on your DNA has been activated.
Your Body has become overloaded with (Life) energy!
For the next 24 hours you will experience a significantly enhanced sex drive.
Quest Chain Awarded: Dual Cultivation!
Seek out a suitable partner within the next 24 hours and practice dual cultivation, exchanging your Yin for their Yang. Alternatively erect a containment barrier around your Yin core.
Warning: Failure to complete this quest will result in death!
Rewards: [System Initiates Guidebook], Access to system shop
Possible additional rewards: [Yin core], [Dual Cultivators Bond], +1 level, offspring
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
Countdown timer [23:45:00]
Lyndis hadn’t thought she was close to leveling yet, having only reached level 3 during the earlier fight next to the river. The system must have finally decided to give her some credit for the kill box back at the airport. Or maybe killing such high level opponents represented a significantly higher challenge, and thus a significantly higher reward? Lyndis decided that once she completed the level 5 quest, and got the [System Initiates Guidebook], she’d spend some time studying it to see if she could answer her own questions.
Lyndis slowed to a stop, considering her options. The roar of jet engines overhead had her looking up. Instead of the distinctive wing shape of the B-2 bomber she was expecting, there were three boxy elven transport craft flying in formation, going the same direction the elves had been going. In spite of the sounds of their engines, the three aircraft were traveling somewhat slower than Lyndis would have expected, and She made a split second decision to follow them. She would let them get a bit ahead, and follow the distinctive heat trails that her suit’s sensors highlighted for her. She wanted the element of surprise now that she had time to properly consider the elves setting up an ambush. And if the elf commander did end up meeting with reinforcements, the Intel on where their airships were going could be very valuable indeed.
*******
First Sergeant Dirk Cabral sat in a growing puddle of water. He’d forgotten how bad is sucked to have a soaking wet ass in the cold of early morning. The hole he’d dug out under a tree’s roots had initially been dry, but the sandy swamp dirt didn’t stay that way. Soon he was sitting in about 4 inches of water, and it’d only gotten worse since.
The elf that Dirk had been watching through his optic suddenly stopped walking its patrol route. it tilted it’s head to the side, as though it were listening intently to something. Then it nodded and it’s lips moved, forming a reply. The other nearby elves didn’t seem to notice until the one he’d been watching called them together with a loud voice. Dirk couldn’t make out what was said, as the elves seemed to be speaking some kind of code, or something the system wasn’t translating properly. Shortly after the elves huddled meeting was called, half of the guards left in a rush, headed into the forest toward the airport. This was the opportunity Dirk had been waiting for.
He carefully reached up and tapped the PTT button on his comms rig three times, signaling the base that the rescue operation was starting. Then he slowly counted to 10, before shoving his bag forward and forcing his frozen muscles to propel him out of the whole and into a quick walk towards the prisoners.
Dirk watched the captain motion to one of the nearby elves, and then activated some kind of ability. The elf turned an ashen gray color, and shortly after burst outward, flesh and bones seemingly turned to the same flaky ash like substance as the color indicated. The other elves took notice of that, and Dirk opened fire, carefully aiming for the inverted triangle of eyes and nose on his target’s face.
Dirk triggered his [Bullet Hell] and [Intimidating Presence] spells at the same time as his shot connected, snapping the elf’s head back. [Intimidating Presence] made itself known as the elves all turned toward him, wary looks on their faces. Dirk wasn’t sure if [Bullet Hell] had activated properly until he took a follow up shot at the same elf. Instead of firing off a single round, the magazine emptied and hundreds of rounds were suddenly filling the area, traveling at all sorts of odd angles.
An instant of panic gripped Dirk’s heart, before he realized none of the rounds seemed to impact with any of the POWs or the other soldiers, only seeming to affect the elves. In spite of their initial surprise and hesitation, it didn’t take long for the elf guards to react, drawing various kinds of blades, and looking to engage in hand to hand combat. SFC Ming rushed forward, her family heirloom blade rippling with a faint green energy. As soon as she engaged with the elves, she triggered a spell of some kind, and a swirling storm of spectral blades joined the fight, slashing and hacking at her enemy.
On Dirk’s left, SPC Wallace gripped a glowing golden machine gun, sending an absolute hail of golden projectiles streaming into the guards. the other members of the rescue team unleashed what abilities and spells they had to contribute, and combined with the captain’s unnaturally powerful abilities, it didn’t take long to kill all the guards that’d stayed behind.
The civilian POWs seemed to be in some kind of trance or were heavily sedated. They followed orders that the Captain or Dirk gave, but didn’t seem to be aware of their surroundings, and wouldn’t answer any questions. Both Dirk and Captain Williams agreed that they needed to get the POWs away from the camp in case any additional elves showed up. They began herding the civilians into the forest, headed for the rendezvous point.