CHAPTER 131: Cleaning Up
Adam hadn’t just been watching Spence. He had also kept his attention on his friends fighting. He couldn’t fault Tom and Lucas from playfully bickering, even as they took their opponents seriously. Brittney didn’t let it stand though as she kept egging them on.
“Seriously, you boys!” she taunted them. “I have barely any offense and I’m still going to finish before you.”
[Counter Strike] activated on her hammer after she took a mantis scythe to the shield. Even as the exo-shielder brought its arm up to block it, the hammer slid to the side and hit one of its joints, cracking it. The odd faced creature chittered as that limb dropped to its side.
The uncounted blades invader took the opportunity to make a barrage of slashes at her. She had noticed that while it was quick, it didn’t seem to have a lot of stamina and was slowing down. [Parry] took care of one attack, [Deflect] stopped another with her shield, then a third did no damage thanks to her [Absorb Damage] skill.
As a fourth slash approached, she used [Shield Bash] on its chest. The invader was thrown off balance and it stumbled into the exo-shielder. They were tangled up, then a group of warriors surged from the surroundings and hacked at the limbs, rendering the two invaders unable to get back up.
While the fights had gone on, the lower-level invaders had been retreating, replaced and pursued by the Sentinel Army. They had respectfully waited until the outcome of the fights were decided before interfering.
Once her opponents were down, Brittney slid over to Adam and leaned against him.
“Those slackers can’t even finish what they started. Guess they need a little girl to bail them out,” Brittney said intentionally loud enough for everyone to hear. Chuckles circled around them, including from Spence who stood watching the fights with critical eyes.
“Don’t worry boss,” said Tom as he lightly stepped sideways with [Quick Step] to avoid a clawed glove from the disemboweler. [What’s Not There] activated as the swipe from the Kabuterci passed through open air. “I’m just playing around. You know, practicing. I’m not at all struggling against these speedy ankle biters.”
Tom’s sword swung forward using [Illusion Strike], aimed for the scavenger. The invader seemed able to tell what was illusion and what wasn’t, dodging an unseen strike as the projected attack missed. The disemboweler was practically frothing at the mouth as it tried to get through Tom’s trickery.
“Lamar, can you help Tom out?” Adam asked loudly.
In no time a powerful arrow blasted from the crowd and entered the scavenger’s shins. It stumbled forward, and Tom once more used [On Your Knees]. The small invader dropped forward, snapping the arrow and screaming at the pain it caused. Tom’s sword flashed with [Long Reach] and [Quick Strike] as he thrust it forward and pierced the creature’s chest.
The disemboweler was almost at him when one of the Assunax landed on him, burning the Kabuterci. Tom stabbed forward and caught the disemboweler in the stomach while avoiding the fire.
“You did that on purpose,” Tom complained to Lucas while glaring.
“Sure did,” said Lucas. On the ground in front of him was the other Assunax, its flame almost out and the body silhouette that they had seen through the fire was revealed to look like a burnt wooden figure. No discernable features to it.
Further back the Labesati Lava Spewer was clutching its throat as it kneeled on the ground with a sword sticking through it. The stone impacter was still up and glaring at Lucas, part of its rock armor crumbling off it. It seemed hesitant to step forward but unwilling to retreat.
A wave of Sentinels came forward and toppled it from behind, holding it on the ground though it struggled. The strength it showed wasn’t enough to overcome them.
“There. I took five and you only got one,” Lucas said to Tom.
“Bull hocky!” exclaimed Tom. “I would have had the little guys. You cheated!”
He walked up to Lucas and poked him in the chest while muttering, “[Baffle].”
Lucas flashed as he used his own skill [Followup], putting his hand on Tom’s shoulder and pushing him. Unable to avoid the force of it, Tom instead used [Quick Step] to turn the force around and return to the front of Lucas.
“Is that how it is, former boss?” asked Tom threateningly while posturing.
“That’s how it is,” Lucas’s deep voice rumbled. Then Lucas seized up and spasmed before falling on his butt as electricity crackled through him. Tom pointed and started laughing when Alissa’s fist smashed into the back of his head, sending him face first into the dirt.
“Knock it off you two,” said Andrea as she stood over them menacingly.
“Yes, ma’am,” they both said as they stood up.
Tom went to put his arm over the larger Lucas, but Lucas beat him to it. They still pushed back and forth on each other.
“Now isn’t the time for messing around,” scolded Brittney, reminded of a Three Stooges skit.
“Now is always the time for messing around,” said Tom with an impish grin.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Adam decided to ignore them for now and turned to find Elias and Carlos.
“What’s the situation?” he asked them over the crowd. The earth slid to the side, moving the people standing on it, to make room for them to walk through.
“Invaders are on the run with groups of Sentinels returning from pursuit. Two thirds of the refugees have been evacuated,” answered Elias.
“How many did we kill?” Adam asked Carlos.
“Probably close to 15,000,” he answered. “There were quite a few attacking the back of the motorcade but when we got there to reinforce, they were already retreating.”
“Was Commander Rexus there?” asked Spence, still standing next to Adam.
“Nobody especially strong was back there,” answered Randall from the crowd. “There were a few regular soldiers still defending, though they had a lot of injured and dead. The healers are taking care of them.”
Spence frowned. The commander and a few others from his unit had said they were going to reinforce it. Where could they have headed, he wondered.
“Good job, everyone,” said Adam before raising his voice. “Get your hits on the bosses. We’ll see how many they can take before succumbing.”
“You aren’t going to kill them outright?” asked Spence. A lot of people turned to look at him. He felt uncomfortable with everyone acting like he should already know the answer to that.
“Waste not, want not,” answered Tom. “We all share the wealth.”
Labesatis “Stone Impacter [27]” was slain. 4,246 shared XP gained.
Labesatis “Lava Spewer [32]” was slain. 4,823 shared XP gained.
Kabuterci “Disembowler [26]” was slain. 3,919 shared XP gained.
Kabuterci “Scavenger [29]” was slain. 4,067 shared XP gained.
Gohralluh “Power Driver [24]” was slain. 3,659 shared XP gained.
Gohralluh “Skeletal Splitter [28]” was slain. 3,834 shared XP gained.
Assunax “Essence of Embers [33]” was slain. 4,911 shared XP gained.
Assunax “Incendiary [35]” was slain. 5,004 shared XP gained.
Anthromanty “Uncounted Blades [28]” was slain. 4,274 shared XP gained.
Anthromanty “Exo-shielder [24]” was slain. 3,823 shared XP gained.
“No control crystals on the big ones, boss,” announced Tom. “The mantis guys are called Anthromanty. It feels like someone just mailed it in while naming them. I didn’t find gold on the leprechauns but they both have a good-sized bag of [System] currency.”
“[System] currency?” asked Spence in surprise.
“Bases allow us to spend currency to buy things or to use certain features of the base,” explained Adam. “We need all we can get.”
“You sure we should be telling Punchie here so much?” asked Tom suspiciously.
“He works with the general. I’m sure we’ll be joining forces soon enough,” Adam said, surprising his friends at how upbeat he sounded at the prospect. He even gave Spence a pat on the back, causing Spence’s face to scrunch up in confusion.
“Time for cleanup. Elias, oversee things here. Joseph and Randall, see if you can get the other group’s vehicles running since we don’t have enough space for all the evacuees and our people. Salvage anything worthwhile from the invaders’ corpses and their supplies.”
“Woo! Looting!” shouted Randall. Joseph enthusiastically high fived the much larger Javier and Francis, both of which had to rub their oversized palms due to Joseph’s high strength stat.
“Andrea and Alissa, can you two make sure those two don’t steal too much?” asked Adam.
“Sure thing, Darling,” answered Andrea, causing Randal and Joseph to groan.
“Lamar, check on the healers and support to make sure they don’t need anything else. I’m taking Brittney and Lucas back to greet the general. Radio us if there are any problems.”
“I’m coming too, boss,” said Tom.
“Don’t cause any trouble,” Adam said strongly.
“Wah, buh, I would never, boss!”
The entire mass of soldiers burst out laughing at that. Even Spence shook his head, able to tell a troublemaker when he sees one.
***
Spence looked at the throngs of the Sentinel Army. The soldiers were cheery and comfortable with each other. They were made up of all ages, from teenagers to young adults, to middle aged, and there were even some seniors thrown in. There was no discrimination there.
They didn’t seem to have a strict hierarchy, but it also wasn’t so loose as to be chaotic. Though to a man and woman they all listened to Adam and his group of teens and young adults. It was perplexing for a man who came from the military to see this arrangement seem to work. He wondered what they would be like with more discipline and experienced leadership.
He had seen them orderly and well formed, as well as frenetic and aggressive. None had died that he had seen, and they really did “share the wealth.” Not only was it such a difference from the army, but it was an extreme comparison to what his group had survived over the last few months. With a slightly carefree attitude he couldn’t imagine this group having lost nearly the numbers that his people had.
It was unnatural that they had this level of success without the structure to achieve it. It was nearly impossible to train, coordinate, and control this number of people, especially civilians. There must be magic or something like it involved, which put him on alert.
Then came the central group. The commander and general had shared some of their videos with him. They had seemed like ridiculous movies, unrealistic in what people could do or survive.
A part of him was ready to take joy in the failure of teens so high on themselves, losing when trying to solo bosses, proving that it was all fabricated, but that didn’t come close to happening. They had been in control from start to finish. Plenty of people had been ready to step in and they had fought well, using their skills and solid combat techniques. Spence wasn’t even sure if Gregor could have managed that, though of course the commander could have.
Which left him wondering once more where the commander had gone. That led Spence to shrug to himself. The rear of the convoy had survived, so he was sure Rexus had gone somewhere that mattered more. Maybe to hunt down some of the invaders themselves or to get a base of their own.
Regardless, Spence was sure the commander would appear where he was most needed, like usual. Gregor was already on his way to Jackson, and that guy was a special kind of tough and crazy, more gifted than anyone he had met before, pre and post [System]. For now, Spence would take a breather, hop on one of the transports, and enjoy not being in a death parade. At least for a little while.
***
Cruxannith’cz’Jurzax stood on top of the roof with her eyes closed and her other senses open. One after another the soul crystals in her hands had broken. She had started with five but was now down to one. She reached into it with her skills and felt around the other end.
It was connected to a specific soul, but did not give her access to that soul. The soul crystal also didn’t give her the ability to know what was happening on the other side, just to get a sense of the mood of the carrier. It also gave her an idea of direction and distance.
The bearer of the other crystal was moving fast and in the direction she expected. The broken crystals meant that their carriers had died. She had expected nothing less. This last crystal was the necessary one. The one she had predicted would survive.
She breathed in and out, taking joy in a plan well executed. Another breath in and out contained a mental toast of all her wants coming true. Then one last time she reached into the crystal and felt its location.
Her head turned to follow the distant connection as her gaze turned towards Jackson.
“It’s time,” she said with a huge grin.