Chapter 305
“That things is Rathman?” Kyle questioned, looking at the monstrosity gathering power in its tentacle arm. Suddenly, the pieces started to click in his mind. The one shooting projectiles had been part of Rathman’s group, too.
“No doubt about it,” Garth growled, launching a Skyrend at the heavily mutated man. The whiplike arm launched a wave of red lightning in response, the skills meeting midair and cancelling one another out.
Kyle used Identify, trying to get a better sense of Rathman’s specific abilities. Other than the absurd Vitality, which was par for the course for everything infected by these mushrooms, Intelligence and Willpower were the next highest attributes, followed by respectable levels of Endurance. He wasn’t sure if his Repel strategy would work against the more durable opponent, but decided to try.
Drawing Rathman’s attention with a weak blast of Repel, Kyle closed the gap between them in a flash. Crimson electricity washed over him, though the attack’s lack of focus meant it did little other than lightly singe Kyle’s skin. Power coursed through Rathman’s tentacle arm as it grasped toward him, and Kyle rebuffed it with a Repel coming from his shoulders and neck, while also resting a palm against the abomination’s chest.
Rathman was blasted backwards, the mushroom armor along his chest blown open, though his body wasn’t completely destroyed by the attack. The tentacle arm whipped out at Kyle again, this time lashing toward his face. Reflexive Evasion kicked in, and Kyle leaned back while raising his right forearm to intercept the blow. The strike was heavy enough to knock Kyle back a step, leaving a scorched line across his arm that began to heal.
Before Kyle could respond, he felt another rush of mana from behind him as Garth launched a Skyrend at the opening in Rathman’s armor. The strike caught him squarely in the chest, opening a wide slash while the wave of destructive force behind it bisected the man entirely.
[DR. MAYHEW, PLEASE EXTEND YOUR LEFT ARM TOWARD THE BODY.]
Kyle did as he was instructed, feeling vines creep down his forearm before lashing out toward the two halves of Porter’s remains. Both sides of the body were beginning to wriggle and extend tendrils toward one another, but as soon as the vines connected, they began to sizzle. Kyle caught glimpses of scarlet beneath the vines, and recognized them as the sundew petals with their potent acid. That’s one way to deal with the regeneration, Kyle thought.
C.H.A.D.D. was getting more and more comfortable weaving in different applications of the World Tree Seed, and not for the first time Kyle was glad that he and the drone were allies. The fact that C.H.A.D.D. could have defeated the mutant on its own, without the need of additional support, was proof of how powerful his companion had gotten.
Kyle felt a sense of pride through Pack Leader’s Instinct at the thoughts, though it was quickly replaced by concern.
[DR. MAYHEW, I AM DETECTING A LARGE SUBTERRANEAN MOVEMENT JUST OVER A KILOMETER TO THE EAST. IT IS DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND THE SPECIFICS, BUT A NUMBER OF THE E GRADES HAVE BROKEN OFF. THEY ARE CARRYING SOMETHING, THOUGH IT APPEARS TO BE SHIELDED FROM CONVENTIONAL MANA DETECTION.]
“Damn,” Kyle said, turning to run to Garth. “We have to go! C.H.A.D.D. just picked up some of the E Grades moving underground to the east, and whatever they’re doing, I bet it’s not good!”
Garth nodded, falling in line as he sent an update to the monitors in orbit.
[DR. MAYHEW, THE OBJECT IS BEGINNING TO DRAW IN POWER.]
“How much energy is it giving off, C.H.A.D.D.?”
[IT IS NOW AT A LOW D GRADE LEVEL, AND STEADILY CLIMBING.]
“And still no idea what it is?” Kyle pressed.
Garth’s nav bracelet pinged, and he swore. “Well, there’s another one on the opposite end of the battlefield, closer to Malcolm’s position. The sensors are picking up both.”
[UPPER D GRADE POWER IDENTIFIED, DR. MAYHEW. I ADVISE THAT YOU GAIN MORE DISTANCE.]
By now, Kyle and Garth had arrived at the mobile shelter.
“Get inside!” Garth ordered. Mary Ellen and Joseph both nodded from the roof and disappeared, Kyle and Garth getting inside the front door a moment later.
“What’s going on?” Arianna asked, gesturing to a flood of messages from her nav bracelet. Several of the Corthian teams had taken heavy casualties as the elite D Grades appeared, with many of the mercenaries forced back. As bad as that was, Kyle knew understood that the presence of the elites was just a distraction.
By now, even from the protection of the mobile shelter, Kyle could feel faint echoes of the building power from whatever was being smuggled underground, its power now in the early stages of C Grade.
“The damn mushrooms are springing a trap, and we’re not going to stick around and find out what it is,” Garth replied.
Just then, the sound of an explosion rang out, followed by the habitation rocking slightly. There was a moment of silence, before an urgent message broadcasted through all of their nav bracelets at once.
TWO C GRADE ENEMIES HAVE ENTERED THE BATTLEFIELD, ONE AT THE NORTH, ONE AT THE SOUTH. MALCOLM CORTHUS IS ENGAGING THE SOUTHERN THREAT, ALL UNITS PREPARE TO RETREAT. SPORE COVER IS BEGINNING TO EXPAND, SHUTTLES WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE. A FULL EVACUATION HAS BEEN ORDERED. AS IT IS SAFE TO DO SO, PREPARE AN ORDERLY RETREAT BACK TO THE SKY BRIDGES AND TELEPORTERS. HOLD THE ENEMY BACK AS LONG AS YOU ARE ABLE.
The message left the room stunned for a moment, and Kyle saw the fear and uncertainty on the others’ faces. Joseph grabbed Mary Ellen’s hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, a small gesture of hope in the face of near-insurmountable odds. Garth’s team was on the far side of the jungle, and without a shuttle, the journey back to the teleporters on Kertan Six would be long and dangerous. Only made more difficult by the waves of fungal soldiers pouring out of the heart of the fungal colony.
Before Kyle could speak, another message rang through his nav bracelet, followed in short order by another.
Kyle,
C Grade is nearby, multiple teams already taken out. Not sure if I can escape, need to fight. Thank you for everything. If I don’t make it make sure the bastard dies.
-Tillienne
Kyle’s heart pounded in his chest. As powerful as she was, Tillienne wasn’t ready to fight a C Grade alone, not yet. None of the D Grades he’d met from the Mercenary’s Guild were at that level. Still, a glimmer of hope appeared in his chest when he read the second message.
Mayhew,
C Grade is nearby. I want to fight it. Come help, if you can. Should be fun.
-Skippy
If Skippy was there, he and Tillienne might have a chance, especially with the other D Grades for support. He looked back to the room, to the frightened people within it, and at Garth’s resolute face. Garth would stay with his team, and fight to his last breath to give them a chance to escape.
“Garth, I need to go. Skippy and another friend are out there, and if we work together we might be able to take the C Grade down and clear a path for evacuation. If not, we can at least buy you time.”
“Are you sure about this, Kyle?” he asked, a look of concern on his face.
“No,” Kyle admitted. “But I think it’s the best chance we all have.” Giving C.H.A.D.D. a mental nudge, he continued. “We’re going to leave a few more of the chaddlings to help support you as you go, they should be able to help hold a line and offer more protection.”
With that, four more of the acorn-like soldiers were summoned out of the World Tree Seed, appearing inside the cramped quarters. Garth’s team looked at them with expressions of shock and disbelief, which Kyle could appreciate. After all, to them, he just summoned a handful of D Grades out of nowhere.
Fortunately, Garth did a better job keeping his composure. He nodded, turning to grab some vials of the antifungal potion, then tossed them to Kyle. “Then take these with you. Last thing you want is to be stuck waiting in quarantine at the teleporter because you spent too much time out in the spores.”
Garth’s expression softened. “Take care of yourself out there, Kyle.”
“You too, Garth.” Kyle turned to the rest of the team, before meeting Arianna’s eyes. “Take care of yourselves, and get back to the Hub safe. You’ve done what you can here.”
She gave him a small nod, and he took off, running toward the overwhelming aura of the C Grade in the distance. The sky was completely gone, covered in a haze of grayish-purple spores that seemed to swirl and float through the air.
[I FEEL COMPELLED TO NOTE, DR. MAYHEW, THAT GETTING INTO THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE TO DROP AN ORBITAL STRIKE MAY NOT BE A POSSIBILITY.]
“I know, C.H.A.D.D. Hopefully with Skippy and Tillienne, we won’t need it.”
The words felt hollow as he spoke. The aura he felt was at least the equal of the mutated hodag. While it felt less malevolent, it was also more stable, appearing to have stronger foundations. He rushed past a large crater, which he understood to be the epicenter of the explosion where the C Grade was released, and less than a minute later he came to the scene of a pitched battle.
A dozen of the D Grade mercenaries surrounded a creature our of nightmares. Four large, twisted legs on a bulbous base supported a towering mushroom stalk, easily four meters tall. A mushroom crown, this one pitch-black, rested atop the stalk, with two thick arms made of twisted flesh coming out of each side of the crown. Long twin blades were fused to each hand, almost resembling a propeller. They were made of a dull gray metal Kyle recognized to be from a Corthian Mining spacecraft.
As he got closer, one of the arms struck out toward a standing mercenary who was too slow to dodge. The blade pierced the man’s side, and in a flash of motion the weapon was ripped in a wide arc, creating an opening in the circle of mercenaries and bisecting the unfortunate victim.
A blast of fire and wave of wind were shot from the other side, in an attempt to take advantage of the opening, but the second blade spun in the air as energy coursed through it, a wave of mana dispersing the attacks. As the creature turned, Kyle saw a face on the front of the mushroom crown, expression frozen in a soundless roar of rage.
It was a face he hadn’t seen for years, one that he hadn’t encountered often, but had left an impression. This was Reynolds, Victor DeRosa’s right hand. Like Rathman, he’d been warped into this monstrosity. And now, there was no doubt in Kyle’s mind who was behind this. I should have killed him when I had the chance. The thought was cold, harsh, and he truly meant it. DeRosa was a blight, and all the signs pointed back to this being Victor’s work.
With a snarl, Kyle released a focused blast of Repel, aiming for one of the thick legs. It slammed into it, shifting the creature slightly off-balance. At the same moment, a massive silver arrow slammed into one of the monstrosity’s shoulders, the attack too fast for it to react. Kyle recognized the familiar attack as Tillienne’s, and he felt a small bit of relief that she was still in the fight.
Just as he thought it, another power erupted from nearby, and Kyle saw a diminutive figure shrouded in flames approaching with incredible speed. In a buzzy, whining voice, Skippy complained, “Hey, you started without me! No fair!”