Chapter 48
First Sergeant Dirk Cabral made the wise choice to wait outside the church and see what sort of monstrosity the elves had managed to capture. He doubted that either of the two elves who’d poked their heads out were out of the fight, but by the same token, they were likely not in a position to contribute meaningfully, at least for a few moments.
Another roar echoed from the church, shaking the ground even as far away as he currently stood. He expected some kind of lion or bear based on the loud proclamations of animal rage, but as this would only be their second encounter with local mutated fauna, he kept his expectations in check.
It didn’t take long for the obviously mutated creature to exit the building after the second roar. It just didn’t do it in the way any of the soldiers had expected. A flash of golden light, snowy white wings, and shaggy brown fur erupted from the church’s stone-tiled roof, sending bits of masonry, wood, and shingles flying.
The creature was definitely a product of the system. Massive white and brown eagle wings flapped rhythmically, keeping the monster in the air. Shaggy brown fur covered the ursine body complete with massive clawed paws. A long sinuous neck full of golden scales attached the reptilian head to the rest of the body, and to round it all out, a massive scorpion stinger tail hung down, inverted from how it would have normally sat, likely allowing the monster to strike at its prey from the air.
Dirk quickly concluded that this was a Chimera of some kind. The tail of a scorpion, the body of a bear, the wings of an eagle, and the neck and head of some kind of golden-scaled snake? Most assuredly, this was nothing that’d happened entirely naturally. The only snake that was entirely yellow, let alone golden, was native to Australia if Dirk’s memory served, and there had never been a grizzly bear sighting in Georgia.
In spite of this all going through his mind, Dirk engaged the large monster almost immediately. This was going to be the kind of custom-made predator that the elves had cooked up somehow with system assistance, and he didn’t think it’d go down easily. As a result, he grouped his rounds closely into the creature’s face, trying for a critical hit in its eyes. For a moment he thought he’d gotten lucky even after most of the rounds simply deflected off the scales, as he watched one round impact the eye directly.
That hope died a quick death. The creature simply blinked, and Dirk realized it had nictitating lenses covering its eyes. And the inner covering was obviously strong enough to stop a smaller caliber rifle round.
With the face a no-go, Cabral had to make a choice. Either target the wings in the hopes of shattering what should hopefully be relatively fragile bones, grounding the creature. Or he could target the stinger, looking to disable the monster's most lethal attack. Both options were worth pursuing, but he likely only had time for one before the elves got back in the fight. Hopefully, by that time, some of the soldiers from the main element would be in range to see what was happening and join the fight.
Even with his heightened perception and razor-sharp instincts, Dirk almost missed the creature’s neck rearing back. He had just enough time to yell out a rushed “Get down! Incoming!” Before the creature performed the impossible.
A brilliant stream of azure-tinged fire poured out of the damn thing’s mouth. It wasn’t a snake’s neck, it was a dragon!
Dirk had managed to dive out of the way and roll across the grass after noticing what had happened, but the other two soldiers with him weren’t as fortunate. One was directly in the breath weapon’s path and was likely burned to a crisp without even realizing what was happening. The other was a bit further toward the edge of the stream of flames, suffering horrible burns across the right side of his body, screaming in shock and pain before passing out.
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When the attack ended, Dirk lost sight of the beast, which was probably one of the worst outcomes for him. Without some way to know where the next attack was coming from, he would have to get some cover, or at least a reasonable amount of concealment between himself and the monster. That meant continuing the original plan. He'd need to get inside the church and face whatever the elves had there rather than facing down the unknown outside and exposed.
Dirk jumped up and sprinted straight for the church’s wide double doors. The darkness beyond changed from sinister and hostile a mere minute prior to welcoming and protective now. Even knowing that there were at least two elves inside, it was better than facing down a fire-breathing draconian Chimera.
He took the steep staircase 3 at a time, springing forward and into a roll as he cleared the top step, hoping to avoid any attacks the elves might have prepared while he had been focused on the monster outside.
Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately for future Dirk, the two elves were nowhere in sight, and Dirk allowed himself a fraction of a second to take in the important details of the building. The Chimera had lept through the roof near the back left corner of the building, which was as close as it could get to where Cabral and his men had been moments ago.
In a moment of inspiration, Dirk realized the creature was at least part animal, and might feel the need to eat what it no doubt considered its prey. Crouching, he shuffled quickly towards a window, popping his head up and scanning for the creature. His guess proved true. The monster was swooping down, seemingly with the intent of landing near the charred remains. Dirk let his muscle memory take over, aiming for the wings. He needed to ground the damn thing before it could do any damage to the unprotected infantry likely marching down the road.
Some properties of the feathers served to deflect most of his rounds, but his main objective had been filled. He wasn’t about to let some elf-forged monster eat his soldiers. The beast emitted another earth-shaking roar, following it up with a short breath of fire straight up into the air.
Dirk hoped that jet of flame would alert Captain Williams that not all was as it seemed, and bring the heavily armored tanks forward to engage the beast. In the meantime, he’d do his best to keep the monster distracted and hopefully confined to the area. He just hoped help would arrive in time.
As the draconic eyes locked onto the window that Dirk was firing from, he triggered another burst of rounds, and then ducked and rolled away, following the hopefully solid outer wall. Solid or otherwise, the monster’s fury couldn’t be contained, and its giant stinger lashed out, destroying the window and wall that Dirk had been standing behind.
With the wings and face proving to be well protected, and making an educated guess about how thick the bear fur and hide would be, Dirk found himself limited to attacking the scorpion part of the Chimera. Taking an unexpected opportunity, Dirk emptied a full mag of .277 fury rounds into the tail-like appendage. At first, the rounds pinged off of the chitin, whining away in almost all directions except back at him.
However, near the end of the mag, one section of the tail seemed to buckle and partially shatter under the assault, looking a bit like a very darkly tinted bulletproof window would, with spiderweb cracks forming around the area. As the bolt of his M7 battle rifle locked to the rear, the last round spent, the creature uttered another roar, this one more in pain rather than anger. Dirk guessed his rounds had finally managed to penetrate.
If the elves didn’t make another appearance, if he didn’t run out of ammo, and if he was correct about how close the main attacking force was, he might actually be able to survive this encounter.
That thought was put on hold as an armored black figure radiating an aura of extreme cold dropped down from the shadowed eaves. The figure landed with one knee on the ground, and one bent, as though bowing before royalty. Both of the figure’s black gauntleted hands splayed out on the floor, and as the figure rose, Dirk realized the figure wore a tattered black cloak.
The being in the suit of black armor strode purposefully forward, grabbing Dirk by the shoulder. “What in all the nine frozen hells do you think you are doing?” Cabral yelled as he fumbled for his sidearm. The thing's grip was cold enough that he remembered feeling his shoulder muscles freeze solid before he passed out.