CHAPTER 118: In the Midst
Lamar had been furious. He might not have shown it, but this was a dumb plan. This had always been a dumb plan. Of course they didn’t have the strength to rescue the captives. These idiots who decided on it and went along with it…well, clearly they didn’t know Adam’s will since the guy made it clear that his friends came before strangers; killing invaders before rescuing people.
He had hoped that Nick would run. There was no telling how fleeing would mentally impact a guy used to winning, but Lamar was sure that Adam would be able to do something about it with his mind abilities. Lamar couldn’t leave his friend behind, and Nick was the one in the most danger. He might hate himself for abandoning these people, but what good was a meaningless sacrifice?
Besides, they were still close enough to the entrance that escape for Lamar was only a cast of [Withdraw] away. These suicidal idiots could run too if they weren’t so fixated on death. Just not until Nick got away. Really the main threat was that watcher.
It had surprised Lamar as much as the Scyrric when Nick had charged the boss and took out the watcher. Nick was not the self-sacrifice type. Yet Lamar knew exactly why Nick did it.
Seeing his friend rush to his death had made him even angrier. Unfortunately, Lamar didn’t have anything he could do. Arrow after arrow he had shot to try and give Nick a chance. Some at the overseer, and some at random riot enforcers to create a distraction.
Now he was out of arrows. Both the testudinate metal arrowheads and the regular arrows, too weak to puncture even their scales. Lamar needed some way to create the damn arrows on the fly. He had never thought about how limited being an archer was.
He could only watch as Nick was captured. Nick had made a hard choice, and Lamar would soon have to as well. He stowed his bow, useless without more arrows. Then he grabbed one of the Sentinel Army’s signal callers.
“Sound the retreat,” Lamar demanded of the man. The man looked back at him as if he was crazy.
“We must rescue the captives and make these invaders pay,” the man shouted back, his eyes filled with madness. “For The General!”
Lamar grabbed another support and once more demanded, “sound the retreat!”
“We can still fight!” the woman responded, turning back to casting buffs.
“By the time they can’t fight there will be no way to retreat”, Lamar mumbled, still able to hear Nick’s screams above the din of battle.
That was enough for Lamar. There was no way to save Nick, no way to save the captives, and the attitude of these people combined with his anger put a halt to any guilt he might feel from leaving. It was time to leave. Lamar had done all he could, even allowed his friend to give in to the madness, partly causing this situation by not siding with Nick when talking to these nutjobs.
It was time to go.
Using [Withdraw], Lamar found himself outside of the translucent walls. A second use of it moved him to the distant tree line. He breathed a sigh of relief as he felt himself once more outside the Scyrric base territory. The feeling wasn’t quite tangible, but the difference between inside the invader base and outside created a strain in his mind.
Lamar began to walk, trying not to think of Nick. While Lamar was powerless to do more now, once he got to Jackson and returned, he would unleash his fury. And Adam’s. There was no doubt that Adam’s fury would eclipse his own.
As he walked, an increasing vibration filled the air. The ground rumbled almost imperceptibly, noticeable only due to his hunter skills. Lamar shook his head and used language that his parents wouldn’t approve of. The vibrations increased as the air seemed to come alive with a hostile energy.
Without a second thought, Lamar turned and ran back towards the base.
“That punk couldn’t have been three minutes earlier?!”
Soon the vibrations grew into the rumble of an engine pushing high speeds on the straight, empty road that led from Thompson’s Station to the enemy base, though there was another chaotic pounding accompanying it. Lamar spared a look behind him and what he saw forced him to move faster.
He had expected the motorcycle to be Adam, air rippling around him like a mirage in the desert, rage painted on his face. What he didn’t expect was the hundred aliens chasing after him. They looked like a weirdly drawn sci-fi space rabbit. The expressions on their faces weren’t readable by Lamar, but it was clear that they were expending every bit of energy trying to catch Adam.
“Make way!” shouted Lamar as he re-entered the base. He shoved people out of the way until they noticed him. There was confusion and resistance to it, but none were strong enough to resist Lamar.
The resistance stopped as the noise increased. The humans looked back and quickly opened a path. The Scyrric were even more confused, with the humans creating a weak point they could be struck through. Even the overseer had stopped paying attention to Nick, still dangling in his grasp, as he looked at the base entrance.
The roar of the motorcycle became audible as everyone waited. Then that roar of the vehicle turned into the roar of Adam as he rocketed through the throngs of humans and into the invaders. The roar was picked up by all those in the Sentinel Army, imitating Adam’s sound while unable to use the same power.
The intensity of Adam’s roar froze all the Scyrric. Those fighting looked in horror as the humans rushed them in their moments of incapacitation. The riot enforcers were frozen, though for less time, unsure if they should move from their spots to support their brethren. Even the overseer paused for half a second, eyes going wide in surprise.
“The aberration came,” whispered the Scyrric. Then he shouted at the twenty remaining riot enforcers, “Get him!”
Nick’s body, with red, yellow, and white fluids coming out from wounds under his jacket, was unceremoniously dropped to the ground. The overseer instead turned to watch Adam, a look of concentration taking over.
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On his way in, Adam had been wielding his large, triangular sword. It was as long as his motorcycle, with a thickness and weight that were ignored through Adam’s strength. He swung the sword low, taking out the legs of any Scyrric in reach. The stunned enemies had no chance to block or dodge as they were cut down.
It only took a moment for Adam to reach the area where the riot enforcers had been stationed. They were already in motion, moving to attack him. Planting his foot on the ground, Adam used the force of the motorcycle to spin in a circle, sword out to maintain space. He released the motorcycle, practically flinging it into the back of the groups attacking the other humans. They couldn’t handle its weight or heat as several were crushed and burned, with other lizards moving the bike from off their comrades.
Adam faced up to the oncoming riot enforcers. He swung his oversized sword with two hands, and it cut one Scyrric in half at the midsection. The swing hit a second riot enforcer in their armor. It wasn’t able to cut through the armor, but the power of the attack was enough to crush the side of the armor, the inside of the lizard man, and then to throw him into another, sending them both sprawling.
The sword was quickly brought up to face the 17 riot enforcers still standing. This time they approached more cautiously, with shield bearers in the front. Everyone, including Adam, could see that his blade had been dulled and slightly deformed where it had hit the Scyrric armor. Using his full power would just render Adam’s weapon useless.
Still there was no hesitation from him as he made to step towards the closest shield carrying riot enforcer. As he stepped, he disappeared, and a clang sounded from a shield three Scyrric away. Adam was there and instead of using his sword, he had used his right fist, punching that Scyrric’s shield downward. Adam moved his sword to the left hand in a reverse grip and dragged the blade along the Scyrric’s throat and then neck as he spun to the lizard’s back.
Scyrric “Riot Enforcer [26]” slain. 4,242 XP gained.
Now behind the shields, Adam went after those with only melee weapons. The ones he swung at were well trained and they would step back on his attack, but others would try to get closer from the sides and back. Adam had positioned himself to be surrounded.
He still wasn’t concerned. Three more of the riot guards were knocked away or killed with his swings. One stab took a lizard man in the stomach, and the enemy tried to hold it there but was instead bodily lifted on the sword and became added weight swung at another.
Still, it limited Adam’s motion. Within twenty seconds the circle had closed and the Scyrric were trying to dog pile Adam, their own strength-based classes preventing him from using his full motions. He had to abandon the large sword and switch to his own broadsword and a combat knife.
Lamar had followed Adam as quickly as he could. He ignored the normal soldiers, who were having trouble recovering from Adam’s [Incapacitating Shout] and were being overwhelmed by the humans’ newfound ferocity. Lamar only had Nick’s body in his sight.
Pulling out his bow and releasing the clasp, turning it into a staff with sharpened ends, Lamar went to the riot enforcers. Any that were on the ground but not dead, he quickly put an end to.
Scyrric “Riot Enforcer [26]” slain. 3,461 shared XP gained.
Scyrric “Riot Enforcer [28]” slain. 3,734 shared XP gained.
Scyrric “Riot Enforcer [25]” slain. 3,402 shared XP gained.
Scyrric “Riot Enforcer [26]” slain. 3,511 shared XP gained.
There were still eleven piled on Adam, trying to overcome his strength through numbers and mass. They stabbed due to the lack of room. The shields and axes were useless in this scrum, making it look like a bunch of drunken frat boys wrestling.
Lamar used their focus on Adam. Each Scyrric removed from the group would make things easier for Adam, so Lamar targeted their weak points. He didn’t need to kill them, just reduce the strength they could use. A stab behind the knee, or to the neck. Penetration under their tails, or for one, right under the chin. Those caused the riot enforcers to fall to the ground as Lamar aimed strategically.
When the numbers pressuring Adam fell to six, three more went flying from the pile. One with a leg bent the wrong way, two others bleeding badly from gashes in their necks. Adam roared once more, standing straight.
“Leave him,” ordered the overseer, causing those who could still move to back off entirely. “Go help our brethren with the vermin.”
Lamar looked at the bedlam behind him. The humans had done well in the initial surge, but the Scyrric would have gotten control back with their training and numbers. Except, none of the combatants knew what to make of the rabbit people. They had rushed through the gate, past the humans, and were now moving like a swarm of bees, each rushing a different Scyrric. They left whatever cut they could with the small, curved knives. Once they scored a cut, they would dash off to another enemy while more rabbit men would come in from new directions for a cut.
The Scyrric were thrown completely off guard by these tactics. The rabbit aliens didn’t even look like they were doing much damage. With a hundred of them swarming, constantly moving, and no intention to actually engage in combat, the humans were able to push forward and get the deciding blows.
Only four riot enforcers looked whole, which wouldn’t be enough to turn the tide, but as expected the fight would come down to Adam and the overseer. Lamar kept his distance from the riot enforcers and moved in a circle away from Adam and the overseer. He made a line to Nick.
The body was in bad shape when he arrived. There was no way to put pressure on the numerous bleeding gut wounds, and Nick was breathing weakly while unconscious.
“You might need to invest in a bit more vitality, buddy,” Lamar said softly to Nick, as he gently lifted him in both arms. The fighting was still intense everywhere, and Lamar wanted to get Nick to safety, but it seemed like getting heals was more important.
Lamar turned towards the only area he might find healers outside of combat, the captives. There were two Scyrric among the thousands of captives, menacing them and occasionally stabbing one to make them scream. The screams had lost effectiveness a while ago, so now the Scyrric were just watching the battle, a bit of fear emanating from them.
The two invaders looked to be laborers as they had tags for “Squawk Hearer” and “Rubbish Pile,” completely appropriate in Lamar’s opinion. As he approached, they came at him with swords. Without disturbing Nick in his arms, Lamar planted a flat kick into the rubbish pile, and then high kicked the squawk hearer in the jaw, flipping him backwards.
The captives scrambled to get out of the way of their landing.
“I need anyone with a heal,” Lamar said over the sounds of fighting. The captives watched him but didn’t move or speak.
“You saw what this guy did to rescue you,” growled Lamar uncharacteristically, anger rising in his voice. “You, you, and you get over here NOW!”
Having pointed to three people with “Support [0]” on their tag, he pushed others, shaking people out of the way.
“Y-yes,” the three came over as far as their restraints allowed them to.
Lamar gently nudged a fifty-ish year-old man that was next to Lamar’s feet.
“Take the dagger from my belt and cut your restraints, then cut those three free and anyone else who has a heal spell,” ordered Lamar.
It took a bit of doing, with several threats from Lamar that he regretted using, but he didn’t have time or patience right now. Five healers were made to stab each of the Scyrric once, then Lamar stomped on their necks to finish them off.
Scyrric “Squawk Hearer [12]” slain. 529 shared XP gained.
Scyrric “Rubbish Pile [14]” slain. 697 shared XP gained.
Once the healers had gotten a few levels, they all began healing Nick, trying to stabilize him. He didn’t immediately wake up, but his complexion became more normal though still a bit pale, and the wounds had closed. Lamar then gently put him in a clearer area than the captives occupied and helped the freed men cut the restraints of the rest of the captives.
Taking one last look at Adam, Lamar trusted that he would win this fight, even if Adam was already on the ground with a knife in his side and a sword pressing towards his face.