Truth did all he could. He lay face down in the dirt and tried to clear as much of the explosive energy as he could, while, as a precaution, sneaking in a long, slow, silent breath. Who knew when he would take another?
The strange dogs scattered themselves around the perimeter of the playground, not willing to test the interior. Truth didn’t know how dense the cosmic rays were in there, but he had noticed that he was picking up fresh doses of the flesh shredding stuff as he lay just beyond the fence. Not a huge amount, compared to before. Under other circumstances, he would consider it a prime, if testing, place to cultivate. Under the current circumstances, it made him wish he trusted his lungs and nerves enough to scream with frustration.
And if wishes were witches we could all have a party. He would just have to deal as best he could.
Time drifted past. Truth admired the way his fifth aperture was filling up. Nowhere near full, of course, but the fact that it had reached halfway was… well it was proof that someone or more accurately, several people, were interfering. This wasn’t just fast. This wasn’t even monstrous. This was, as far as anyone on this rock knew, impossible. No human body, no matter how well refined, should be able to adapt to that much energy, this quickly.
It was a basic point of cultivation. Those endless rounds of cycling energy through the body didn’t just fill your apertures. They tempered the body, got it more accustomed to enduring the harsh cosmic rays that were the basis of magic. It’s why a Level One was so much physically stronger than a Level Zero- they had undergone that tempering. It might not be true body cultivation, but the difference was still that big. It was the basis of how elixirs worked too- the medicines protected your body and the invisible internal channels that carried the energy from your skin to your apertures. It wasn’t that elixirs held more energy, elixirs allowed you to absorb more energy.
Not this much energy, though. If there was a pill for this, it was made by special order by those ancient monsters at the top of the alchemy towers. Though at this point, his fear and reverence for such beings was… greatly diminished. They might be able to slap the top off a mountain, but so what? They would only ever be powerful in this, lowest, realm. He still had to be cautious of them, certainly. But afraid?
He felt a little knot of high energy particles try to burn through his spinal cord, right up near the base of his skull. He quickly suppressed them and tried to wear them away with cultivation, but the nine worms couldn’t be anywhere, and they certainly wouldn’t be rushed. The energy flowed through him as quickly as he could manage, but it wasn’t exactly fast.
Yes, under the circumstances, he could admit to being afraid of those old monsters. He was also afraid of dogs that needed to mark their territory, organ harvesters with enchanted saws, most demons of any power…
Oh Hell, he had Thrush’s summoning token on him. That must be utterly annihilated. He would see if he could resummon the demon later. Hopefully he hadn’t come to any harm. The Tongue was looking downright cheerful as it bathed in the energy pouring into the first aperture. Understandable. The core of the blade was a fragment of a true angelic weapon. This level of cosmic energy might be lethal to him, but it was mother’s milk to the sword.
“Base to Silver Four. Maintain observation. Red Squad is being deployed to secure the Primary Anomaly Site. Retrieval team is incoming to recover the Secondary Anomaly. The Secondary Anomaly can only leave with them. If any other force attempts to acquire the Secondary Anomaly, you are ordered to take all necessary action to prevent their success. This includes destroying the Secondary Anomaly.”
Truth could hear the relayed message. He couldn’t hear the scout’s response, but he imagined it was extremely colorful. A lone scout, who may or may not have the support of a pack of dogs, was expected to secure a leathally energetic corpse against a squad of elite soldiers.
“Sure. Yeah. No problem. Destroy the body? How exactly do I do that without blowing myself up. Incidentally, these suits are the only thing keeping us alive, so how long do you reckon I can keep my jersey clean in the scrum?”
Truth understood the scout’s frustrations. He sympathized with them. What working stiff hasn’t been there? But since he was the ‘corpse’ to be hauled away, he did have a few minor concerns. Starting with, who were these guys, exactly? Starbrite? The Jeon Army? Some specially trained forces from some top clan or reclusive family?
Not that he could do much about it. Just… try to keep ahead of the damage. Waiting to be hauled away.
He couldn’t keep track of the time. The sun hadn’t risen yet, nor was the sky lightening. Which, given it was summer, meant that it must be either the middle of the night, or just before dawn. Good time for running ops.
Truth’s ears were sharp enough to pick up the footfalls of the squad closing in. They weren’t being particularly sneaky. Sounded like at least a squad. There was a series of whistles and clicks. He heard the dogs move around. “Identity confirmed.” Sounded like one of those enchanted dogs. Must be verifying the relief squad.
“That the Second Anomaly?”
“Yes Sergeant.”
“Anything that wasn’t in your report?”
“No, Sergeant. All quiet.”
“Any change in the energy levels?”
“I didn’t get close enough to check after the first time, Sergeant.”
There was a grunt. A few seconds later, Truth saw a pair of silvery boots in front of his nose.
“Reading at 452 TEMs. It’s jumping around a lot, mostly higher.” A different voice this time.
“Still lethal. Approach the Primary Anomaly. Stop if it reaches ninety percent of the suit tolerance. The rest of you, set up around the perimeter of the playground. Check the buildings. If the interior is safe, use them for cover.” The Sergeant did an admirable job of making this all sound crushingly routine.
“Sergeant, I can’t get any closer. The second I try to step past the Secondary Anomaly, the levels jump to 520 TEMs, and if I lean in, it jumps to more than 700. At a guess, the energy levels in the playground exceed 1,000.”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Sounds like a ‘not us’ problem then. At least no one will run off with the site. Heh.” The sergeant thought he was funny. Horrible.
There was another series of clicks and whistles. There was a response, then-
“HOSTILE! HOSTILE!”
“RED SQUAD, ATTACK!”
There was no sudden hiss of needlers, or crackle of spells. There was, however, a lot of screaming. Steel crashed against steel, and he could hear the wet chunk sounds he knew were a blade parting flesh. Almost immediately afterward, there were screams. It seemed Truth had guessed right. The energy vacuum here was intense. Everyone, even those who couldn’t cultivate, had picked up a tiny amount of energy, just by walking around the city and eating the food. The pain as it left the body was, apparently, enough to make an elite soldier beg for death.
It was over fast. In a fight where even a superficial wound could be fatal, what could it be but fast? There was the sound of feet running off, and the screams of the wounded.
“Shit! Shit! Sergeant’s down, Corp.”
“No shit. Any of the dogs make it.”
“Uh… yeah, one of the code-”
“Grab the fucking dog and bring it here, asshole!”
Truth heard some muffled noises. “Red Squad to Base. Encountered hostiles in the Dead Zone. Not sure who they are, but they have armor like ours. We drove them off with losses, but some escaped alive. We are down to five effectives and ten severely wounded. Recovery team isn’t here yet. No damage to the Secondary Anomaly or-”
There was a different sort of chunk noise. “Deploy to Base top speed.” The words came out in a gasping wheeze. More hissing and thuds. Sounded like metal tips hitting concrete.
“Squad Two reports they aren’t able to break contact. It’s going to be an extraction under fire, Sergeant.” Different voice this time, still speaking Jeongo.
“Alright, grab the body and shove him in the sack. Any ID on the ops?”
“None, Sergeant. Their armor looks kind of like ours though. Ah… both sets of armors.”
“Praeger. It’s been a couple of hours and we already have a three sided fight.”
“Four, Sergeant. Squad Two is fighting those lizard things.”
“The lizards could be working with these guys. Let’s not invent enemies. Any reason you haven’t bagged this guy yet, Private?”
“Any time I get close to the body, the energy readings spike. I don’t know how we can get him in the bag.”
“Oh fer! Look, dumbass. The head is the furthest point from the playground, right? And he has hair, right? Do you see where I am going with this?”
“Sorry Sergeant, but… no.”
“How did you get through potty training, let alone basic? You still wearing diapers, Private? Watch and learn.”
A rough hand grabbed Truth’s hair and dragged him away from the playground. The relief was immediate. Without the constant bombardment of fresh high-energy particles, his cultivation was able to make immediate progress in cleaning up the damage. It would take a long time to fix everything, but at least he wasn’t trying to patch the boat in the middle of the storm.
“Heavy bastard. Kowalski, Ren, you two lend a hand. He’s heavy.”
There was the sound of something unzipping.
“Lay the bag out next to him and lift him in?”
“Works.”
He was grabbed under the arms and by his feet. “What’s your guess? Bum or spy?”
“What?”
“He doesn’t look like he’s from Jeon, and he’s muscly as Hell. So he’s either a laborer or a soldier. And he’s dressed like a bum, so… bum or spy?”
“He could be from Jeon.”
“Nah, with a forehead like that? And when was the last time you saw someone so bulky around here?”
“On my mother’s grave, if the two of you don’t shut up and get him bagged up, you will be going in the bag with him.” The Sergeant’s voice was urgent. “We need to be clear now.”
“Sergeant?”
“We have eyes on us. I can’t see them, but they’re there.”
Truth was jammed in and the bag was zipped up. Interesting material- he could feel some of the residual energy on him bouncing off the inside of the fabric and hitting him. Could it be related to the suits? This really wasn’t his area of expertise. The bag was lifted off the ground. The ride out was jolting and profoundly uncomfortable. He didn’t let it distract him. Every second he could clear out more energy was a second closer to safety.
There was another series of hissing chunk noises.
“CONTACT LEFT, CONTACT-”
There was a rushing noise this time, it didn't sound like human feet. A different sort of hissing. From an animal, perhaps. Or lizards. A few moments later-
“Clear.” A new voice this time. He had never been so popular in his life.
“We still have contact with that other squad. Privates Blue and Yellow, take the lizards and draw them east. We’ll take the package to evac. Exfil per Plan C on your own.”
“Yes Sir!”
Sir? Was he being hauled away by an officer? Would this meteoric rise never end?
“Let me save you a trip.”
“Contact!”
“LOWER YOUR WEAPONS NOW! It doesn’t have to be like this. We’re all pro’s. We’re just after the package. You are surrounded and outnumbered. Don’t be stupid.”
“Yeah, I’m surrounded and outnumbered, and I’ve got a bottle of Hellfire Corrosion in the bag for just this situation. We drop the bag, and all that anyone gets is sludge.”
“Guess I’ll be unlucky, then.”
“You want to find out what happens when a high energy anomaly gets hit with a liter of Hellfire Corrosion in a null-magic zone? Cause I’m guessing it’s pretty spectacular.”
“Mmm. Let me clear up some confusion for you.” The voice sounded unbothered. “I’m not a merc. I’m not some ancient family’s hidden force. You are facing the Army of Jeon here, son, and we really will shoot you and pick up the pieces afterward. You brought crossbows. So did we. You got snipers trained on you now who will put a bolt through your brainstem if you get even slightly funny with me. There is no way you walk out of here with the package. You hear me, son?”
There was a pause.
“Well. This is awkward. We’re Team Seven, from Internal Security.”
There was another, longer, pause.
“Not to change the subject, but do you hear hoofbeats?”
“Ah shit.”
“CONTACT FRONT! CONTACT FRONT!”
Truth didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. They were in the early stages of what looked to be a truly global war, the apocalypse was breathing down everyone’s neck, and now a civil war was breaking out in the government.
Was this what would happen every time he visited a friend?