“These are of the newer model. I suppose you know how to connect wireless gadgets to one another, right?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Now all you need to do is stab the antenna-looking thingy that came together with the C4 into the small hole on the brick’s side and connect the remote to the said antenna by using the wireless command on the screen. After you connected the C4 with the brick, the antenna should’ve already been activated, and it should be visible on the remote.”
“Y-yes! I can see it!”
“Good. Connect them and do the same for another three bricks.”
“Yes!”
Aria did as told while Darius continued on driving between the buildings. Thanks to her being a mage, her senses, sight, and dexterity were much greater than those of normal human being, doing her job with great precision and speed even while on top of a speeding bike on a bumpy road.
“I’m done!”
“Good.”
Hearing this, Darius came back on the destroyed main road, and from behind, the dragon appeared again from between the buildings, its large jaw wide open as it tried to bite onto the bike while mid-air.
“Shit!”
Aria wanted initially to form an arrow and shoot it at the monster, but her hands were filled with C4 bricks and a remote. She wanted to throw them for a second, but after seeing Darius reach out his hand, she refrained.
-BOOM!-
Darius' open palm sent out a shockwave that deflected the monster's jaws and also pushed the bike to the side. They landed fiercely, and after pulling the brakes, the bike finally stopped, making Darius let out a long sigh.
“Wh-what now?!”
The dragon was right in front of them, and Aria asked while feeling a sense of urgency as it seemed to rise in the air once again.
“It seems he’ll shoot out energy balls. Put the bricks in the bag and prepare some arrows.”
Having a mobile sniper by his side named Aria, Darius didn’t even think of grabbing his own gun from the side of the bike after he parked it.
-BZZZT!-
Just as he finished talking, large balls of energy were created between the dragon’s spammed wings.
“Shut ’em down, now.”
Mid-creating the balls, Darius commanded, and Aria executed, shooting volleys of arrows in quick succession and popping all the forming balls with the exception of one that she happened to miss. From the 24 balls, she missed one, perhaps because it was too bright to see clearly or because of panic, making her face turn pale.
“Good enough.”
Darius got in front of her, and with his hand extended, he snapped his finger, and the shockwave created dissipated the ball, a strong but inoffensive gust of electric wind being the only thing that struck them.
-POW!-
The ball was shot like a plasma cannon, sending sparks and lightning all around the area and raising a huge amount of dust that landed, especially on metals, after manifesting electromagnetic traits. Thankfully, Darius was quick enough to dissipate the miasma that created the energy ball; otherwise, it would’ve penetrated him like a hot knife through butter.
“Cough! Cough! I should also wear a mask...”
Being a mage and not needing a helmet or mask against the miasma, Aria started coughing from all the raised dust, the barrier in front of Darius still holding strong.
That was stronger than expected… Dragons really are on another level.
Although calm on the outside, his hand was slightly trembling after almost suffering a bone fracture from the impact. Thankfully, the projectile used only amassed plasma with no apparent weight behind it. If it were actually even a stone, at that speed, it would’ve made a hole through both Darius and Aria with ease.
That’s an ability a field-boss-tier Barak would use. Thankfully, again, this is just an adolescent Barak.
“Grrr~!”
Seeing its skills being dodged, nulled, or straight out blocked one after the other, the Barak growled irritated, and after raising up in the sky, the clouds seemed to come together right above it.
“What is it going to do now?”
“Raise the bar, it seems.”
Right after, lightning descended on top of the dragon, and all its glowing horns and spikes suddenly lit up, and its whole body started lighting up, making Darius remember what its next move happened to be.
“Get on.”
“H-huh?”
“Now.”
He dragged Aria on top of the bike again and quickly drove away from there, once again between the blocks.
-BZZZT!!!-
The dragon spammed its wings again, and one energy ball formed between its wings, this one growing larger and larger.
“Energy balls? Can’t I just shut them down again?”
“You turned too quick. Look again.”
“… W-wait.”
After turning her head to the dragon once more, she saw how the before little ball of energy was now as large as a whole building, covering the whole body of the dragon and still charging up.
“W-what is that?! Won’t it just blow up the whole area?!”
Happily, it has no weight behind it. So only a few buildings.”
“That’s still a whole area!”
Aria was visibly agitated, but Darius simply continued on driving away between more buildings, intending to using them to kill the explosion’s momentum when it will crash.
-BOOOM~!!!-
The ball was sent flying just as quick as the first one, and the area of destruction was simply incomparable, the shockwave completely obliterating the whole residence and buildings, while outside the destroyed area that seemed like a crater, ruins were now barely visible everywhere around through the thick cloud of dust, appearing like inside a sandstorm.
.
“… Are you alright?”
“I’m fine… I should ask you that… Are you fine, sir?”
“Probably not... Thanks for asking.”
While between boulders and buried by debris, Darius was on top of Aria to protect her from the debris while she was lying under him, a calm expression on her face since the debris couldn’t really harm her all that much.
“Let me help you.”
Seeing Darius unable to move, she used her mana-enchanted body to move the concrete and large rocks from on top of him and also release her own legs, raising them without that much of a problem.
“Phew…”
Having the weight lifted off his shoulders, Darius breathed out while sweating tiredly, checking to see if he had broken anything. Looking at him like this, Aria smiled amused while making sure that no other boulder risked falling on them, especially on Darius.
“I suppose you’re a mage only when it comes to controlling mana?”
“Indeed. My body's still that of a human. Enchanting my body with mana would only end in inner damage.”
“Then why did you try to protect me with your body? Did you perhaps forget who I am?”
She seemed amused by this, but Darius simply answered plainly, calming down his heart and trying to get up.
“I did forget. Problem? Ugh, damn it…”
Since his back was hurting so badly, he must have pulled a muscle. Aria couldn't help but chuckle for a moment at Darius' more human behavior because she had only ever seen his cool, calculating face.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“Stop laughing and help me find my bike... The bag must still be on top of it.”
“Here.”
She lifted a pillar of concrete, and underneath it, the bike was still whole and fine, with only scratches here and there being visible.
“…Good.”
Now that he had found the bike, it was time to get to the next plan. He injected a painkiller so he could ignore the pain for a while and start moving.
.
“Grr…”
Barak was growling tired after releasing a large attack, but it felt satisfied since it detected no foreign energy anymore. It wanted to release the stored energy within its pikes, but the next moment his senses made it tense up, a bullet flew towards its head at incredible speed.
-BOOM!-
“ROAAGH!”
Out of reflex, Barak turned his head to not have his eye struck, but the explosive bullet still wounded its head, dark blood dripping from the side where more scales got blown away.
“GRRR!”
Barak turned to the side and saw the inferior beings on the main road once again, one of them holding a large metallic stick in his hands and pointing it at him.
-POW!-
With a stifled sound and a large spark from the tip of the stick, another such bullet was sent flying, but this time the dragon was able to react, tilting his head and dodging the bullet while showing his teeth furiously.
“Woah, you can dodge that? Amazing.”
Darius grinned widely, but the dragon only perceived his laughing eyes as mocking. He growled furiously, and once again he roared, then spread his wings, focusing thunder all over its body.
“Yeah. Come at me.”
He accelerated the bike and drove away from the dragon, a remote in his right arm as he focused all his senses on the dragon.
-BOOM!-
An explosion resounded as the dragon lowered its body, and in a flash, he disappeared and was already right where Darius was a while ago. It’s whole body as if shot from a cannon.
Barak was more than sure this time; he had them for good, as they had no way of dodging this. However, it suddenly became aware that its body was moving slower than before rather than speeding up. He then observed a smirk on the human in front of him, and another sense of danger lit up inside of him, a flash appearing right in front of its face.
-BOOM!-
With perfect timing, Darius was able to activate the bomb right when Barak lowered its body, with the signal and the explosion activating by the time it was already right below it.
“Ugh!”
The shockwave pushed the bike as well, but Darius was able to keep his balance. However, what almost turned the bike off-balance wasn’t the shockwave from the explosion, but from the large monster that barely missed them from above, flying forward at incredible speed and finally crashing on multiple buildings.
“D-did we get him?”
Aria asked, unsure after she looked over Darius’ shoulder, but then he suddenly speeded up forward, making her almost go off balance and fall.
“Kya!... W-what are you doing?!”
She let out a rather high-pitched sound and surprised herself, then asked, irritated and embarrassed, trying to cover for the sound she unintentionally let out while acting annoyed.
but Darius simply chuckled as he explained while speeding on forward.
“The Barak got interrupted, and because of that, it must’ve suffered some damage. It has a hard time getting up right now, but this won’t take more than a few seconds for it to recover, so we better be fast to finish it off.”
“What? You want to finish it off? Not run away?”
“If we get the chance for that, why not take it?”
On more level ground, Darius accelerated toward the collapsed monster while driving up the sizable trail the monster had left behind. It crashed through a fair number of buildings, so the distance was rather consistent, but thanks to the area being clear of monsters because of Barak’s presence, Darius arrived just in time as the dragon was about to raise back up.
“ROAAGH!”
It roared threateningly at Darius after seeing him come closer and form between its jaws, a purple light was visible.
“I hate that skill of yours.”
Darius snapped his fingers again, and the ability got interrupted instantaneously, making the dragon just choke for a moment.
“Aria.”
“Yes.”
She stood tall, and after materializing a bow, in quick succession, she shot out multiple arrows, piercing one of the dragon’s inner wings and creating large holes through it.
“ROAAGH!”
The dragon roared in pain, and it made a quick turn while waving its large tail.
“Jump.”
Seeing Barak’s movement, Darius gave out the signal, and the strong tail-swing sent the bike flying through another building after the two were able to jump in time.
-TEAR!-
Aria jumped high in the air, but Darius made sure to be as close to the tail as possible, spinning mid-air and with his plasma knife, making a deep cut on the tail as it grazed past him and punishing Barak for its hasty move.
“GROWL!”
It growled in pain, and Aria used this opening to pierce the second wing. At the same time, Darius focused more mana on his palm and placed it on the floor, releasing a strong shockwave that sent him flying forward towards Barak.
“Wait. Darius?!”
Aria was startled by Darius' sudden move as he came dangerously close to a dragon. And she wasn’t the only one. The tinny creature flying toward it alarmed Barak, who also found Darius' sudden approach startling.
It waved its wing as if to slam Darius away, but he just used another shockwave to dodge mid-air and continue forward.
“Got you.”
His eyes were smiling right in front of Barak, making the monster get back in panic, instinctively feeling afraid in front of the human. But, because of the wall behind it, the Barack was unable to retreat more than that, ending up with a plasma knife being stabbed right inside its head.
“Grrr!”
Its head stabbed through, but it still had the energy to growl and trash its tail around in pain.
“Your vitality’s praiseworthy.”
He held tightly onto the monster’s head with the force of the exoskeleton from within the armor and focused more mana on the blade. A larger energy blade formed, and with all his might, he stabbed the sword-like energy blade through Barak’s head, killing it slowly as the vitality was sweeping out of it.
-BZZT- BZZT…-
Sparks flew off Barak’s body as residual lightning started leaving it quickly, making Darius’ skin, even through the armor, feel electrified.
After dying out even the last spark of life within the monster, the corpse collapsed with Darius on top of it, large clouds of dust raising in the sky as the area all around was only debris.
“Commander! Are you alright?”
Aria came rushing and saw Darius breathing heavily while holding his back, with visible pain in his eyes.
My body… it seems it got used to the dopamine and painkillers. The effects wear off much quicker than before.
He frowned in pain as he thought that maybe he should raise the concentration, even if that meant burning his own nerves and risking not feeling anything at all.
“Sir. Let me help you.”
“Wait. Let me take this.”
Darius dug deeper within the monster’s head and took out a bright blue crystal, collecting it in one of his pockets and then tapping on his wristwatch, while at the same time taking an energy pill and gulping it in one go.
“Captain Aria, I’ll ask you to please stay on watch for a moment. I’ll need to recover for at least 5 minutes.”
“Will 5 minutes really be enough?”
“We’re in the middle of a fully infested city. Do we even have the luxury of time?”
“Sigh understood.”
Seeing him unable to move from his back injury, she showed her concern, but Darius just shook his head, simply sitting down and regulating his breathing. At the same time, he continued to press on his wristwatch, a deep frown visible on his face.
The bike must’ve been compromised. I can’t connect to it no matter what signal I use or on which channel I try to connect. If all the antennas installed on the bike got busted, then most probably the electric circuits are now destroyed, and so most probably it no longer works even for driving. Sigh~ I wish at least the weapons on it were still intact. If not, that would be the second time I broke almost all my tools.
He felt somewhat relieved that he left some of his weapons inside Jack’s vehicle. Until the next squad of reinforcements appears with supplies and ammo, they have to not only survive there but also push through and regain at least a large enough part of the Dead City to build a new fort within these damned lands.
After 5 minutes passed, Darius was able to move again, although still in pain, at least better than not being able to move at all.
When Icarus buried him in debris from collapsing a building, back then Darius was on top of the building, able to minimize the amount by climbing the collapsing debris. But this time Darius was already at ground level, and the shockwave itself already pressured him, with the collapsing large boulders making it even worse. Sure enough, if not for the Field Boss-tier armor, he would’ve had his spine broken by all that weight. Suffering a bigger bruise or some micro-muscle ruptures was, in fact, a small matter.
Just to be sure, he also took another two painkillers and got up. Now he only got two more shots, one of dopamine and one of the painkillers.
“Are you alright now?”
She looked surprised at how he was able to move around after he was barely able to stand straight before, but Darius simply waved his hand with sweat filling his forehead.
“Agreeable… I need to find my bike. My tools are there, and I need to find the radio station to ask for someone to come and get us.”
“I can carry you there.”
“……”
Darius glanced at Aria, and he already pictured this woman, who was even shorter than him, carrying him on her back or in a princess-carry position, making him tilt his head and simply say,
“I already detected my bike. It’s just 100 meters from here. Let’s go.”
“Sigh~.”
She sighed with a smile while Darius just went on forward, his steps rushing as he wanted to avoid at all costs being carried as a patient. Especially as a superior, he had to avoid looking weak at all costs. Or else he would lose his authority in front of his people, but most probably in front of the other mages, them being the most difficult since they lacked discipline.
“Here.”
With the exoskeleton system incorporated into the combat suit, Darius lifted a wall of concrete from the top of his bike that got dented inward from the tail-whip of the Barak, and the sniper that was on the side was also completely torn in half and dented. He opened his backpack and saw the C4 bricks torn open. But because they were on the side and worked as cushions, some grenades, magazines, a gun, and other gadgets were still whole, some suffering a few cracks here and there.
“Those grenades seem way too unstable.”
Aria had a suspicious gaze after she saw the cracked grenades, and Darius was of the same mind. If the triggering system inside also cracked, then most probably it could detonate at any given moment from the smallest shock.
“In that case, we take just the necessities.”
He took from there a belt that he placed on and changed the position of his knife from inside his armor to inside the belt's sheath. Then he took his D-eagle, and after checking it twice, he saw that there was no problem with it, so he placed it on the belt as well. Took more magazines for the gun, then gently checked three grenades that seemed more whole, not daring to touch the cracked ones to take the ones from the bottom.
“Are you ready?”
“…”
Seeing the still-half-filled backpack with broken grenades, he felt like it was a waste to just leave them there. But after seeing more protein bars sticking out from the side of the pocket, a sudden idea struck him for a moment, his eyes shining dangerously.
“Hmm, almost.”