Mark felt Karter’s voice come through the connection at the same time he heard him over his comms.
“Be advised, NAS has arrived on the scene. The remaining defensive forces will move to reinforce all buildings and the exploration division will be sent out along with teams from NAS and the Loyalists. If seen offer your assistance.”
Mark could feel Karter’s intentions. He needed them to form an assault team to deal with the threat of the colossus.
Their strategy would no longer work and they needed to adapt before it got too close.
Trusting the man, Mark gave the signal that he was pulling back.
As a result, Karter had the lights turned back on across the four buildings. Each had its own defenders and the thought was that the remaining Ghasts would hopefully scatter between the towers and lessen the burden on each, but it was a gamble.
Mark pulled in his shield, giving others time to get their spells in place before he left them for good. When the construct finally slinked its way up the corners of the roof back into Mark, the remaining fighters were ready with their own measures.
The swords made of Aura and Mana rushed back to Jonathan and dissolved between them. By now Mark could see the Ghasts were beginning to split up.
Jonathan's voice rattled through the area.
“Get to the bottom, the rest of you find cover and stay strong!”
Mark moved toward the edge right in front of Sam and Jonathan, nodding to Gibby as he passed.
The sounds of fighting below exploded from the building as Ghast began to weasel their way in.
Mark didn't hesitate and dove straight off the edge in the direction he had felt her Aura.
For a moment he allowed the air to scream past his eardrums, simply allowing gravity to pull him towards the earth as quickly as it could.
Ghasts saw him, and he chased them off with a swatting motion and liberal use of [Force bolt].
Near the base of the hotel, when the jagged rocks loomed, Mark engaged [Telekinetic control] sapping the force from his approach to terminal velocity. When his boots touched down on the asphalt, he realized that he hadn’t even needed his construct to support himself. Sam and Jonathan touched down in front of him and then took the lead. Jonathan followed the trail of Aura through the air and they came to a small lot between two low-storied buildings where people were gathering. From here Mark could make out a good number of NAS’s people and beyond them, the creature approached. It was still a couple of blocks away but it had an entirely different feel when they were level with it. The aerial view failed to capture the sheer size of the thing in front of them and its ever-looming eyes.
Mark's gaze was torn away when he caught several familiar figures. Lisa, Nathan, Major Liam, and Mr. Jeffrey had gathered and were talking animatedly amongst themselves.
Lisa’s back was to them observing the creature with her arms folded and thumb to her lips. A fresh scar painted her features as it tore horizontally from her cheek to her ear, spanning down to her neck.
As they approached she must have felt them because she glanced back but then returned to look at the approaching beast.
“Glad to see you lot are alive, now I heard what Mr. Dureal wants but how are we going to go about it.”
Mark could sense no hostility, nor blame in her voice, only a direct question.
Appreciating it Mark responded.
“I’m relieved to say the same. As to what we can do to stop it, a creature of that size must have a weak point, perhaps a core or brain we can sneak inside and destroy.”
Sam nodded and followed up on Mark's words.
“There was also a high chance there will be Corrupted humans, near or on that thing so we need your strongest members.”
Major Liam spoke with a scowling face.
“We need to establish an obstruction to avoid any further advance, not send our strongest on a suicide mission.”
Nathan looked at the Major with his usual cold stare; the guy looked better than earlier.
“At this rate, the only real option is to advance”
Mark frowned at this, up ahead their people were dying and all they were doing was talking.
Sam must have come to the same conclusion because her next words came out fast.
“We’ll do both, We can drop in with an aerial team and have our casters line the streets with flames. As you said it might slow it down, just be careful of the Ghasts.”
Major Liam wanted to argue but both their Order and NAS were already gathering their people.
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“Wait! I won’t throw my people into a desperate ill-throughout mission.”
Jonathan looked up at Major Liam with a steely look.
“Then don’t, because right now all we have is desperate plays left. There’s very little time to sit and think this through. Every second we buy you cost the lives of our friends and family. So help or get out the way.”
Jonathan turned and began walking across the parking lot, Mark and Sam followed along with Lisa and Nathan in tow, and strangely enough Jeffrey as well.
“Who can’t fly? Because this is going to be a sprint all the way” Sam turned back to look at the others.
Nathathan was capable of flight but he would have to carry Lisa, while Jeffrey took out a pair of boots that looked to be coated extravagantly in a sheen of black feathers.
By now Mark could probably fly them there himself without much effort but if they were going up there, then having a method to escape was necessary.
Mark wished they had a couple more fighters on their side but this would have to do for now. He kept his mind off their own missing ranks as they took to the air as a group.
Mark had not even risen above the second-story block of apartments when a Ghast came at him with its tail raised. Mark killed it with a thread of steel and continued to ascend.
Their team got no shortage of attention as they rose towards the dark clouds. Corrupted attempted to swarm, but they were rather swiftly cut and burned from the world.
As they advanced toward the beast, the number of flyers lessened, replaced by bolts of acid from the tides of Ghouls below. One simple construct blocked almost ninety percent of the barrage from below them. Their journey forward became more difficult when they got in range of the barbs attached to the body of the creature.
The things were shot out at great speed to pierce a target and reel it in, but once again Mark blocked it. These were significantly more difficult to defend against but he managed in the end. When they crested the lip of the beast Mark made out a bulbous tumor under the skeletal cage of ichor.
The rest of the space was empty of mouths, eyes, and even barbs. The flat ebony surface had the look of masoned stone, polished to reflect light. The entire outer edge framed the center structure like one large plaza. Further increasing the grandeur of the building at its core, its loneliness reminded Mark of a mausoleum.
He didn’t get to inspect it for long though, as a flash of light near one of the outer walls came hurtling towards them.
Sam shouted moving to intercept the line of black lightning. Mark had his construct ready but Sam shouted him off. The bolt arrived and smacked into her extended hand, crackling around her body like an errant charge. Then, with a grunt, a fresh bolt of neon blue lighting returned towards the source of the attack. Smacking into the wall and scrawling a line in the hardened ichor walls.
Smoke rose blocking their vision for an instant, Sam was panting, but not from the execution of the spell. It was more like she was struggling to contain her aggression. Mark realized it was Tristan before the smoke even cleared.
When it did, Mark could make out four individuals in total. One was Tristan and the other three were Corrupted humans of varying sizes. One stood out because he looked like his body had meshed with a Titan, and his flesh had been stretched over his frame like some horror movie reject, yet it still glared up at them with intent in its eyes.
Slowly the six of them began to lower themselves into the plaza, keeping an eye out for any hidden barbs they may have missed.
Fighting this team in the air would make it harder for their Aura users. When Jonathan, Lisa, and Jeffrey touched down on the creature, the four Corrupted came down from the wall. Sam, Mark, and Nathan remained a couple of meters in the air, watching for the attack.
The closer the Corrupted humans got the angrier Sam looked, darkness and electricity writhing off her arms as though flame from a candle.
Mark wouldn’t give them a chance, he would fire the moment they were in range, but then Tristan's voice bounced across the space.
“You must be confident if you brought two crests directly to our door. Or have you come to make a deal? Regardless, you humans stand in the realm of the Monache, that alone is reason enough for me to kill you and collect what is ours.”
Mark could not take his eyes off the creature. As human as Tristan looked, the thing was Corrupted and frankly, the last one to see Donny alive.
He never intended for the words to come out –for what could he expect from creatures like these– but Mark found himself speaking before his brain caught up.
“Where have you stashed Donny? We know you have him.”
Tristan paused and cocked his head, though his face remained blank.
“Is your name Mark by any chance?”
The longer the creature stared at him the more uncomfortable Mark felt. A gradual smile was creeping onto the man-thing’s face.
“I can show you where he is, but you have to come alone. Your friends can remain here with my brothers and sister.”
Mark stared at Tristan. Would a creature like this show Mark there just because he asked, could he trust him? A better question was how did he know Mark’s name. Had they tortured Donny?
Drawing his brows together Mark bit the inside of his cheek, the pain helped. He wanted so badly to know where Donny was. Making his decision Mark stared into Tristan’s eyes and took a step forward, separating from the group.
“Fine, show me.”
Tristan's grin widened and he stepped around the left of them. When they had landed, the center structure had been to their backs, so that they could face towards the outer walls. Now it looked like Tristan was making his way toward that structure by skirting around them.
Lisa and Nathan were frowning and Jeffrey just looked thoughtful.
“Mark, what the hell are you thinking? Get back here!” Lisa hissed.
Mark glanced back at her, giving her a calming look, and took another step towards Tristan.
As they got nearer, Mark checked to see if the other three were keeping their end of the bargain. The other Corrupted humans remained still while they watched them all.
The Titan horror was easily the largest and the other two had human frames. One was a woman with delicate spider-like features, while the other was a young man who could not have been older than sixteen. They remained stationary, watching Mark as he crossed the halfway point.
When Tristan neared the limit of their range and Mark was nearing the Corrupted, he gave the signal.
The link, which had been filled with their silent mental conflict was set ablaze. Sam who had been against the plan as soon as it popped into Mark's head was the first to act. Releasing darts of fire from her fingertips aimed at Tristan. While Jonathan used a skill to launch himself forward with an explosive jump.
Even as close as he was Mark’s construct would not reach in time to do any lasting damage, but his words came out through clenched teeth.
“On second thought, I’ll find him myself! Everyone! Attack!”
The wall of power stretching out of Mark fell forward sectioning Tristan off with them.