Chapter 407
Chapter 407
Each of the two helicopters carried a door gunner, each gripping a multi‑barreled weapon that resembled a Gatling gun. The massive guns, secured within the door frames, were definitely the ones Catalina’s group had invented.
One of the choppers swung into a tight turn, bringing its side to bear so the gunner could line up a clear shot at the nest. He took aim and opened fire. The barrels spun rapidly, unleashing bursts of crackling energy that tore through the air.
The shots struck the nest, scorching a jagged trail of deep pockmarks across its surface. A moment later, the door gunner eased off the trigger, his gaze sweeping over the massive structure as he studied the damage he had inflicted on the organic matter.
Jake knew that any damage dealt to the pulsating mass of a nest regenerated almost immediately. The deep hollows carved out by the door gunner’s weapon lingered briefly, like scars in living flesh. But within seconds, they swelled with quivering organic matter, knitting themselves back together.
The process was somewhat slower than usual, however. Instead of stitching the wounds instantly, the organic matter took two or three seconds to completely heal itself. This proved that, while the weapon didn’t seem capable of dealing permanent damage to the nest, it was at least more effective against it than anything humans had previously used.
The survivors in the helicopters seemed visibly encouraged by this. After a brief moment of respite, the door gunners in both choppers sprang into action once more. Positioned at opposite sides, they opened fire on the nest. Energy shots streamed from their guns from two different directions, brightening the night.
Energy weapons had always outclassed conventional firearms, a truth Jake had discovered firsthand in his battle against Miller. Encased in a hulking mech and wielding a powerful energy cannon, Miller had lain in wait outside the dungeon, ready to ambush Jake the moment he emerged. The energy weapons Catalina’s group had invented seemed to be as powerful as Miller’s energy cannon had been.
Bolts of energy tore through the air, momentarily leaving blue traces in their wake as they struck the sides of the nest. For a fleeting instant, it felt as though the relentless barrage might actually break through, leaving lasting damage on the nest if the humans maintained the same volume of intense fire.
A flicker of worry tugged at Jake’s thoughts. Survivors had long been improving their gear and weaponry at a gradual pace, but the looming threat of the Ravage Contamination had ignited a surge of innovation. Now, they were working relentlessly, multiplying their efforts to push the boundaries of their technology in a desperate bid to stay ahead of the danger.
The two choppers continued to unleash a relentless barrage of energy shots, gouging deep hollows into the nest’s sides. Their sustained fire seemed to do the trick, denying the structure any chance to regenerate the wounded sections. Jake watched with unease. He was troubled by the fact that the humans were succeeding where he had failed. Despite his own efforts, he’d never managed to inflict any lasting damage on the nests.
He couldn’t help but wonder just how powerful those weapons were and how much damage they could inflict on him if humans ever attempted to use them against him.
Questions churned in his mind: how many resources had gone into crafting the door gunners’ current armaments, and were these the only ones in Catalina’s arsenal, or were more concealed back at the base? While he had known the group was working to develop advanced types of weaponry, he hadn’t been aware of the specific details.
From the open doors of the two helicopters, the gunners kept unleashing two relentless streams of energy fire against the nest’s walls. Only a few seconds had passed since the attack began, but they had already managed to inflict visible damage on the organic mass covering the walls.
However, as a few more seconds passed, Jake realized they were no longer inflicting any visible damage on the nest. The hollows they had first drilled remained at the same depth, despite the continuous energy fire directed at them.
It appeared that the organic matter encasing the nest had layers of varying strength. The outer shell, though tough, could still be breached with enough force. But the deeper one went, the denser and more damage-resistant the material became, its durability increasing with each layer.
The door gunners kept unleashing volley after volley of energy fire at the rock, but they couldn’t inflict any further damage. While their weapons were more powerful than regular firearms, they still lacked the sheer power needed to pierce deep enough to breach the core of the nest.
Eventually, the door gunners ceased their fire. They paused, examining the superficial damage they had inflicted. As they did, the organic matter had already started knitting itself back together, slowly mending the wounds. The process was slower than its recovery from weaker types of weapons, but judging by the pace of the healing, the nest would be whole again within a few seconds, leaving no trace that it had ever been damaged.
While Jake was too far away to sense the emotional state of the humans in the helicopters or use his mind-reading skills, he could still tell they were frustrated upon seeing how little damage they had inflicted and how quickly all their efforts were being erased.
The door gunners held their fire, and for a brief instant, Jake wondered why. Then it clicked: their guns were dry. The crew moved swiftly to reload, but these weren’t conventional magazines they handled. Instead, the weapons fed on some sort of power cells, capsule-shaped and inserted directly into the firearms. Moments later, the door gunners opened fire on the nest once more.
On one of its walls, a lump began to bulge outward, swelling at an alarming rate. The protrusion twisted and grew, quickly morphing into a humanoid monster. When the transformation was complete, the monster didn’t fall to the ground. Instead, it clung to the wall of the nest, its body pressed tight against the surface as it prepared to strike.
The monster twisted its body toward a nearby helicopter, then launched from the wall with explosive force, like a coiled spring released. It streaked through the air, closing the distance in an instant. But the pilot reacted instantly, wrenching the aircraft sharply to one side. Metal screamed as the creature’s claws raked across the chopper’s belly, but they found no purchase, leaving it to tumble to the street below.
Another creature took shape along the nest’s wall, then hurled itself toward the second chopper. Like its predecessor, it fared no better. The two pilots maintained a wide berth from the nest, ensuring they had more than enough time to respond to any threat.
The door gunners kept firing at the nest for a second or two before something unexpected happened. From one of the nest’s walls emerged what looked like an enormous tentacle. It snaked through the air with terrifying speed. Mid-swing, its form rippled and hardened, the fleshy mass sharpening into the gleaming edge of a colossal blade.
It struck the first helicopter. The pilot reacted instantly, pulling hard on the controls, but even his sharp reflexes weren’t enough, as the attack came too fast, and escape was impossible. With a single, devastating swing, the enormous blade cleaved through the helicopter, ripping apart its fuselage and shattering its rotor blades. The mangled halves spun downward before crashing to the ground in a heap of twisted metal.
Neither Jake nor the survivors had been aware that the nests were capable of something like that. After witnessing what happened to the first chopper, the second crew realized they needed to maintain a much greater distance from the nest to avoid meeting the same end.
But just as the pilot banked the craft to pull away, the nest lashed out once more, its sudden assault cutting short their retreat. From the wall of the nest, another colossal tentacle exploded outward, whipping toward the remaining aircraft. This one didn’t twist into a sharpened blade, though. Instead, it kept its natural, agile form as it crashed with bone-jarring force into the helicopter’s side, sending vibrations shuddering through its frame.
It must have possessed an adhesive grip, just like Jake’s, because the moment it caught the chopper, it began to draw it inexorably toward the nest. The tentacle slid back, folding into and becoming one with the pulsating organic structure. A heartbeat later, the helicopter crashed against the nest’s wall, the rotor blades splintering into jagged stumps as they met the unyielding surface.
The helicopter clung to the wall, as though fused to it by some unseen force. Slowly, it began to sink into the strange, pulsating mass, disappearing inch by inch. Within seconds, the nest enveloped the aircraft entirely, swelling into an unnatural lump on its surface. The bulge quivered for a moment, then gradually compressed until the wall returned to its disturbingly uniform state, as if nothing had ever happened.
Whatever became of the helicopter was anybody’s guess. Had it been stashed away somewhere deep inside the nest’s hidden recesses? Or consumed and broken down, fueling the organic structure with a surge of energy? Jake could only speculate.
With the two choppers taken care of, the night streets fell quiet once more.