Chapter 303
Kyle exhaled, looking at C.H.A.D.D.’s map of the area. They’d only been advancing for a couple of kilometers before the drone began detecting sings of life deeper into the jungle. Hundreds of weak E Grade signatures were picked up, all working in unison as they built fortifications. Moreover, the fungal soldiers were also hard at work beneath the surface, expanding a network of subterranean tunnels.
The jungle beyond was already mostly cleared out, as if a meteorite had impacted the ground. From their vantage, Kyle saw a sprawl of multicolored fungi that spanned dozens of kilometers in the distance. A large violet mushroom loomed over all the others from the center of the impact crater, and even at this distance Kyle could feel the telltale echoes of C Grade energy.
Reviewing the assignment information from his nav bracelet, their goal was to halt the advance of the fungal colony, driving their forces toward the heart of the affected area and creating a firmer perimeter. Looking at the sheer amount of ground they’d need to cover, Kyle didn’t feel good about the plan. The D Grade mercenaries were powerful, certainly, but they could only cover so much ground.
“Fighting through that is going to be a mess,” Garth growled. “Arianna, watch my flank. I’m going to try to get off a strong opening shot and draw their attention. Joseph, once they start getting drawn out, I need you to get as much fire out as possible.”
Kyle nodded at the plan, then looked back at Joseph. “How do you see your skills working against numbers like these?”
“I can get a few good volleys off before I need to give myself a break,” Joseph said. “I don’t want to use too much energy, just in case we get into a bind.”
“If I’m hearing you right, the biggest issue is your overall mana reserves, and not cooldowns on your skills, does that sounds correct?”
“Yes?” Joseph said, uncertainty in his voice making it sound like a question more than a statement.
“I’ve got an idea,” Kyle said. “Just keep your skills going until you feel that your mana is getting too low. If these things are as weak to fire as they’re supposed to be, you’re going to be the key to our group’s success.”
Joseph paled a bit, but nodded, his hands clenching into fists. “I’ll do my best.”
“Are you done chatting back there?” Garth called as he drew his blade. Kyle could feel the ambient mana being drawn into the weapon as the older man’s skill began to take form.
“Go ahead!” Kyle called to him, as a crimson glow appeared around his body, Ignition blooming to life.
Garth took aim at the nearest group of E Grade mushrooms, and unleashed a wave of slicing energy directly at them. Wait, there’s more to it, Kyle realized, watching the air behind the blade of air ripple and explode in a two-pronged attack. Another strike was on its way directly afterward, ripping through the fungal soldiers and destroying many of the smaller mushroom caps that were just beginning to take root.
The response from the fungal soldiers was immediate, with hundreds rushing directly toward their location. C.H.A.D.D.’s scans indicated similar activities happening around the edges of the fungal crater as the other mercenaries began their attacks. At least Corthian was spot on about their initial response, Kyle thought.
“Joseph, now!” Garth shouted.
Kyle felt mana gathering behind him, and extended a tendril of Parasitic Resonance as Joseph began raining fiery devastation against the approaching horde. Hundreds of flaming spheres detonated against the advancing fungi, each explosion adding to the sea of flames that was beginning to appear.
After nearly thirty seconds, Garth turned to look back at Joseph, a concerned expression on his face. “Joseph, don’t push yourself too hard. You need to conserve some of your power.”
“I’ve still got plenty of mana,” Joseph replied, seeming more confused than Garth. “I don’t know what’s going on.”
“Just keep going,” Kyle said, maintaining a slow trickle of energy to the Fire Mage through Parasitic Resonance.
Garth raised an eyebrow at Kyle, before turning his attention back to the inferno before him. Kyle smiled, enjoying using Parasitic Resonance the way the skill was originally presented all the way back in E Grade. Despite the unquestionable power it offered him in terms of offense, it was, at its essence, a support skill. Coupled with the inflow of mana from Ignition, Kyle could turn himself into a constant mana battery, at least for the E Grades.
Still, it wasn’t a perfect solution. Eventually, despite his attempts to precisely control how much energy was sent to Joseph, Kyle knew that the strain from the constant bombardment would take its toll. Of course, by the time those repercussions raised their heads, Joseph would have burned through a huge swath of the fungal colony. Something Kyle doubted the fungus would allow.
As if on cue, C.H.A.D.D. flashed a warning. [SIX D GRADES ARE MOVING THIS WAY, QUICKLY.]
“Joseph, Arianna, get behind me,” Kyle said, stepping forward as he drew his forcehammer batons.
Garth took a stance, blade held parallel to the ground. A moment later, five blazing figures darted out of the conflagration, rushing toward Kyle and Garth. He heard a sharp intake of breath from behind him as Joseph reacted to the presence of the D Grade auras, but before they could even get into melee range with Kyle and Garth, the veteran swordsman launched another devastating attack, slashing into each of the approaching D Grades, and knocking them back into the flames.
There’s five of them, where’s six? Kyle thought to himself, feeling for anything unusual through Auric Perception. He felt a subtle shift in the mana around him, just as C.H.A.D.D. flashed a warning. Beneath!
“Garth, jump!” Kyle immediately activated Repel, blasting the loamy soil away as a tunnel network was revealed below the raging fires. One of the D Grade mushrooms was at the vanguard, and was bracing itself against a column of other E Grade fungal soldiers following behind.
He felt Garth beginning to pull in energy for another attack, and in a moment of inspiration, connected a tendril of Parasitic Resonance to his friend. Pulling fire-affinity mana out of Joseph, who was still launching blasts of flame, he pushed it into Garth while being careful to keep the equilibrium of the mana together.
At the last moment before Garth launched his Skyrend, Kyle saw flames begin to dance around the blade. Those embers turned into a torrent of fire as the attack ripped into the cornered mushrooms, their stealth attack from the narrow tunnel turning against them as they had no room to escape.
Still, the D Grades weren’t going to go down easily. The group that Garth knocked back into the flames reemerged, and Kyle found himself pressed as he unleashed wave after wave of Repel to blast them back into the fires. Moreover, in his experiment, he’d drawn too heavily from Joseph, who was beginning to pant.
Garth was slicing away at the D Grade that was leading through the tunnel, and Kyle kept his focus on blasting the others back into the quickly-fading flames. With most of the fungal caps burned away, Kyle got good looks at the twisted and scarred visages of the D Grades. They were humans, once. Before this… thing had gotten to them. He didn’t want to connect to them with Parasitic Resonance. Filling the last few percent of the Core of the Parasitic Devourer with more twisted creatures wasn’t an option.
He felt a snarl crossing his face as he began to attack with more ferocity. He saw the twisted abominations in his mind’s eye. His scars ached as he remembered the work of that twisted monster, Zierlan. And here he was again, forced to fight people who had no control, simple victims of something monstrous they couldn’t have fought.
As one of them attempted to run past him, Kyle jumped back, placing a palm on its chest as he activated Repel in the most focused blast he could manage. Just die. Something clicked in his mind as the force seemed to enter the mushroom’s body, then exploded outward, destroying its entire torso. By now, Garth dispatched his first opponent, and was working on the second. Kyle wasn’t going to give him any more.
He replicated the feat against the next D Grade, though the two that followed didn’t work as well. One was blasted back into the sea of flames, while Kyle only managed to blast a hole through the chest of the other.
[DR. MAYHEW, CALM DOWN.]
Kyle snarled as he dropped lower to the ground, catching the D Grade with the hole in its chest with a Repel from below, knocking into the air and back into the fire. Garth was wrapping up against his opponent, the regeneration slowed to a crawl against the constant attacks.
Taking a deep breath, Kyle composed himself. Tension he hadn’t realized he was carrying slowly released from his back as he looked out into the fading flames. Neither of the D Grades he’d knocked into the fire returned, though Auric Perception and C.H.A.D.D.’s map confirmed that they’d both perished; unable to regenerate through the constant heat and damage inflicted from Kyle’s attacks.
Repel might not have been super effective against the C Grade hodags, but against enemies as weak as the infested refugees, each blast struck with near-fatal force. The fact they’d been able to withstand as many blasts as they had was a testament to their resilience. Kyle could understand why Corthian Mining hired as many mercenaries as they did; it would be an arduous task securing a perimeter against such tenacious foes.
“That was incredible, Uncle Kyle.”
He whirled to see Arianna standing behind him, an expression of mixed fear and admiration in her dark eyes.
“I’ve come a long way from squishing beetles,” Kyle replied, trying to offer a smile.
“I don’t think I could have fought even one of those things,” she said, looking from Kyle to the remains of the mushroom soldiers and back. “Is this always what it’s like to fight at D Grade?”
“As D Grades go, these are pretty weak,” Kyle said. “There are a lot of worse things out there, Arianna. Don’t be in a rush to face them.”
Before she could respond, a deep voice interjected. “You can say that again, kid. Still, hell of a job getting them taken out.” Garth looked past Kyle to Joseph, and called to the young man, who was still a little wobbly on his feet. “And that was some fine work from you, too. Really impressive flames.”
Joseph smiled at Garth’s praise. Kyle thought he looked a little paler than usual, though a use of Identify ruled out any issues from the fungal spores, instead indicating general instability in his mana network, likely due to Kyle’s interference.
Satisfied Joseph would be alright, he turned to Garth. “So, what comes next?”
“What do you think?” Garth said. “We regroup until some more of the fires go out, then we keep pressing inward, and hope we don’t get flanked.”
Kyle nodded. “That works for me. I’ll take the first watch.”
[NO. YOU ARE ALL GOING TO GET SOME REST AND CONSUME YOUR RECOMMENDED ANTIFUNGAL. I WILL PROVIDE A WATCH, AND ALERT YOU ALL IF ANYTHING CHANGES.]
Kyle was about to argue, before Garth chuckled. “Just like old times. You heard the drone, Mayhew. Rest up. Doctor’s orders.”