“Go ahead, Lord Allistor.”
“Sam! George! We got another void titan! Coming at the Citadel this time. I need you and your Howitzer crews here right away!”
“Shit!” Sam’s voice answered first. “It’ll take maybe ten minutes to get everyone together and get there.”
“I’m on my way. Our gun’s already there, but my crew is scattered. I’ll get Nigel to alert everyone and we’ll meet you there.” George responded.
Allistor didn’t need to alert everyone at the Citadel, the roar of the approaching monster had everyone moving already. Even those who hadn’t fought one of the giant monsters before recognized the sound as bad.
Reaching the top of the wall, he pulled the .50 cal sniper rifle from his inventory. Leaning against the parapet, he scanned the area. The Citadel sat on a rise above the city, and the extra elevation of being atop the wall gave him a commanding view of their surroundings. It only took him seconds to spot the beast moving in their general direction. It towered above the trees in a patch of forest to the south of him, on the other side of the airport.
A sharp whistle from behind him caused Allistor to turn. Another directed his gaze upward, where he found Dean waving at him from the guard post atop the tower. He had the .50 cal that Allistor had given him when a dragon attacked the Citadel. Dean pointed toward the oncoming monster and shouted, “That thing’s at least eighty feet tall!”
Allistor thought he was about right. It was significantly larger than the one they’d battled before. Both in height, and in bulk. This one had a wider head, with twin sets of horns that curved backward from the top and sides. When it opened its mouth, the jaws were lined with dozens of sharp teeth, each the length of Allistor’s arm or longer. Its legs and lower body were obscured by the trees, but Allistor could see bulging shoulders and biceps rippling with muscles. It appeared to have moss, shrubs, and even a small tree growing across its back. Dark leathery skin stretched tight over its massive rib cage as it took in a breath and roared again. Allistor felt the wall vibrate underneath him. A wall that five minutes ago had felt impenetrable and secure.
Now, looking across a mile of open land at the thing, Allistor thought maybe it could simply step over his wall if it wanted to.
Using his rifle scope, he took a closer look.
Xar’ Dakra
Void Titan Elite
Level 30
Health: 187,000/187,000
Even as he Examined the monster, it stepped out from the trees, smashing a few of them to the ground like they weren’t even there. The thing was a walking tank, with an enormous health pool, skin that looked tough as iron, and sharp claws at the end of its fingers and toes. Its arms stretched down past its knees, giving it a reach of maybe fifty feet or more. Allistor continued to watch it through his scope as it stepped out onto the airport grounds and crushed a service truck under one foot.
Allistor heard a shot from above. The creature was well within range of Dean’s weapon, being about half a mile away and moving closer. He observed the monster pause as the round struck it in the face, carving a divot out of its cheek. Black blood began to ooze down its face as it roared again and beat one of its three-fingered, clawed hands against its chest.
What came next surprised and terrified Allistor.
The monster’s roar of pain turned into words.
“Yyyyooou will diiieeeee!”
Allistor and everyone else within miles of the creature froze. His heartrate doubled, his stomach sank, and, somewhere in his core, his soul shuddered with fear. Of all the monsters they’d encountered since the apocalypse, none of them had been capable of speech. They’d seen no evidence that any of them were even sentient, or operating at a level above the instinctual need to hunt and feed, and simple self-preservation when they fled.
A moment later Goodrich joined Allistor atop the wall. “Holy shit, did I hear that thing talk?”
Allistor just nodded, his mouth too dry to speak. He set the bipod of his rifle atop the wall, chambered a round, took aim, and fired. He watched through the scope and his round shattered a tooth in the monster’s open mouth. Goodrich fired several rounds from his own rifle, as did several others who’d joined them atop the wall. Another blast from Dean up on the tower, and Allistor reloaded and fired. This time his round struck just above its right eye, causing blood to ooze down onto the orb.
Xar’ Dakra
Void Titan Elite
Level 30
Health: 185,100/187,000
At this rate the thing would reach them and demolish the entire Citadel before they even whittled away half its health. Every second, more people were joining him on the wall, firing as rapidly as they could. Allistor realized that for most of them, it was still out of range.
“Nigel, loudspeaker please.” He waited a moment, then shouted, “Hold your fire!”
Nigel transmitted his words up and down the line, and the firing quickly ceased. Allistor continued. “I know it’s a big target, and hard to miss. But for most of you he’s out of range. Hold your fire until he reaches the base of our plateau here. For those using hunting rifles with better range, aim for its face!”
Sporadic fire resumed as his people with long guns that had the proper range began to focus on its face. Allistor took another look, seeing multiple lines of ichor dripping from tiny holes, so small on the giant visage as to look like pinpricks.
“Nigel, put me through to every one of our facilities, loudspeaker please.”
“Go ahead, Lord Allistor.”
“Listen up people! We’ve got an eighty-foot tall void titan attacking the Citadel! I need every available fighter here ASAP. Leave a guard force at each Stronghold, and bring whatever big guns you have. Including your plasma rifles.”
Another quick look at the approaching titan to gauge its speed, and Allistor took off down the stairs. Helen and Nathan were charging up toward him, and he turned them around. “Come with me! We need to distract this thing.”
The three of them ran to the motor pool, where Allistor scanned the vehicles. His first instinct was to use one of the Juggernaut style vehicles. But there was a good chance they were about to get stomped, and he didn’t want to waste the expensive tech. So, he chose one of the Humvees with a machine gun mounted on top. “Nathan, you’re on the gun. Helen, you drive.” He hopped in the passenger seat, and they took off. Nigel opened the gates for them, and they shot down the switchbacks as fast as Helen could manage it without tipping them over.
The creature was very nearly at the base of the plateau when they reached it. Helen gunned the motor and aimed the vehicle straight at the monster’s massive right foot, which was already planted as the left foot raised in the air. Nathan tilted the gun as high as it would go and shot up into the creature’s crotch as they approached, then switched to the foot when he lost the angle. Allistor fired his brand-new plasma rifle out the passenger window at the right foot as well. Just before they reached it, Xar’ Dakra planted his left with an earth-shaking stomp and began to raise the right foot. The heel was barely off the ground when they shot past it, rocketing down the road behind the monster.
Allistor leaned back and shot the giant in the ass with a couple rounds of plasma before they got out of effective range. The weapons did a lot of damage, but they were short distance weapons, a few hundred feet at most.
“Head over to the airport!” Allistor shouted over the gunfire as Nathan emptied a belt into the monster to hold its attention. “We’re gonna kite this thing for a while, until our people can get the big guns set up. Maybe tire it out a little! And honk the horn if this thing has one!”
Helen did as instructed, yanking the wheel toward the airport entrance while pounding on the horn in the center. Xar’ Dakra roared in answer as he clumsily spun around to follow. Helen didn’t let off the speed as she extended the distance between them. Allistor didn’t blame her one bit. It was like having a high rise with claws and sharp teeth chasing them.
And when it final
ly got turned in their direction, its long loping strides quickly began to eat away at their lead. Nathan, no longer firing as he needed to reload, began to panic. “Uhh… Helen? Need to go faster. Punch it! This thing can run! Like, seriously, go faster!”
She punched the accelerator and the engine screamed as the heavy armored vehicle increased speed. Finished with his reload, Nathan fired a few test rounds to be sure the weapon worked properly, and to keep the giant’s attention.
They blasted through a closed chain-link gate and tore past a few private hangars out onto the runways. Helen slowed and turned to the left, watching in her mirrors as the titan turned as well. His inside angle meant that he caught up a little more, and the wheels began to skip with the impact of its every step.
Nathan began to fire up at its crotch again, which seemed to annoy Xar’ Dakra quite a bit. It roared and put on even more speed, clearly planning to stomp them into fertilizer. Allistor reversed himself, sitting on his knees in the shotgun seat and leaning out the window to fire back at the titan. Helen watched the mirrors closely, maintaining her course until Allistor and Nathan were both screaming for her to do something. She could see the shadow of a massive foot block out the sun above them, and shouted, “Hold on!” before she cranked the wheel to the right as she pressed the brake.
The effect was amazing. The Humvee slowed and turned, making the monster’s foot overshoot and come pounding down on their nine-o’clock as Helen punched the accelerator and zoomed off behind Xar’ Dakra once again. It roared in frustration even as both men cheered and fired at the monster’s backside. Allistor knew they weren’t doing much damage, but their intent here was to buy time, not kill the thing.
Xar’ Dakra
Void Titan Elite
Level 30
Health: 171,050/187,000
It bent and took a swipe at them with its right arm even as it started to pivot. The claws on its three fingers raked deep furrows in the runway surface as they passed just behind the Humvee. Allistor took advantage of the fact that it was bent down to shoot it in the face. A lucky crit burned into the monster’s eye, causing it to jerk upright and place both hands over its face. Helen sped away, honking the horn like a madwoman.
At this point, all three of them were nearly deaf from the monster’s foghorn of a roar, and Allistor’s throat was getting sore from screaming over it and all the gunfire. He tapped Helen’s arm and pointed toward one of the hangars. “Drive in there!”
She followed his pointing finger and nodded her head. The Humvee sped toward the structure and into one of the open doors. Allistor immediately regretted the choice, as they all went temporarily blind while their eyes adjusted to the darker interior of the building. Helen slammed on the brakes, and managed to stop the vehicle before it collided with the tail of a private plane.
“Shit! I didn’t know there was a plane in here. Back outside!” Allistor shouted. He didn’t want the monster crushing the plane for two reasons: First, it might explode and take all of them out with it. And second, if they had anybody who could pilot that thing, it would widen their scouting range considerably. All of this processed through his mind in the few seconds it took to scan the interior.
Helen cranked the wheel around again, and they paused for a second just inside the doors to see where Xar’ Dakra was. He was less than a hundred yards behind them, which for him was only a few steps.
“Hold on, this is gonna suck!” Helen hit the gas even as Nathan began firing again. He cackled gleefully as he sent round after round into the monster’s crotch. “No baby asshole titan monsters for you!”
He stopped laughing as Helen weaved sharply to avoid a kick as they approached, then weaved back again to avoid another swipe, driving directly under the giant and drenching Nathan in the foul-smelling black ichor that was raining down from its crotch. He abandoned the gun on the roof, dropping down into the vehicle and puking his guts out. As he tried to wipe the stuff from his head and face, Allistor sympathized. He’d been covered in the stuff after the last void titan battle, and already his own stomach was roiling from the stench.
It wasn’t just Nathan. The whole Humvee was showered in the stuff. It covered the windshield, leaked down through the gun turret hole, and even splashed in through Allistor’s open window onto his arm and leg.
“Gah!” Nathan wasn’t capable of speech. He pulled what looked like sweatpants from his inventory and began trying to wipe out his mouth, soiling the garment with vomit and ichor both.
“Stink attack! Damn, that’s awful!” Helen shouted, giggling wildly even as she tried to cover her nose and mouth with one hand. Allistor was pretty sure she’d gone insane. Her foot was pressing the accelerator to the floor as they zoomed down another runway. The monster had turned once again, bloodied and angry at its inability to stomp the fast-moving menace.
“Noooo Runnn!”
Its booming voice aimed directly at them made the Humvee vibrate, and pretty much finished off Allistor’s hearing. Which is why he didn’t hear Helen screaming as she saw Xar’ Dakra in her mirror pick up a parked compact car and fling it at them. Allistor shit himself when the car crashed down not three feet to his right, rolling end over end and actually grazing his side of the Humvee before losing momentum and falling behind them.
“What the hell?” he screamed, barely able to hear his own voice. “Did he just throw a car at us?”
Nathan, looking a very sickly shade of green, stuck his head back up and took control of the gun. He squeezed off a few rounds, screaming at the monster. “You dirty, nasty, stanky piece of shit! You’re gonna pay for that!” When the ammo belt reached its end, he frantically began to disengage it and reload. His hands kept slipping on the goo, which got inside the gun when he opened it.
Allistor looked back, seeing that the monster was out of range of his plasma weapon. He decided it was angry enough at them anyway, he could save his battery charge. When he looked forward again, he noticed they were quickly running out of runway. Helen was wide-eyed and emitting this sort of wordless wail, her grip on the wheel so tight her knuckles were white, and the pedal to the metal. A quick look ahead of them revealed a high pile of sand directly in their path, placed there to stop runaway planes as safely as possible.
“Helen! Stop! Need to turn!” he screamed, shoving her shoulder with considerable force. The action snapped her out of whatever vision she was having, and she hit the brakes.
Hard.
Allistor cursed as he slid off the passenger seat, his head slamming into the dash even as his legs and butt bunched up in the footwell underneath. An accidental pull of the trigger burned a hole in his door, and the smell of burning titan ichor finally made him puke. He managed to get his head out the window first, which he thought he deserved a medal for.
When the retching stopped, he noted that Helen had turned them around and was now racing down a different runway at an oblique angle. The titan didn’t have to worry about going off-road, and was quickly closing the distance between them.
A moment later Helen shouted, “Shit!” and leaned toward Allistor even as an impact on her side sent the vehicle into the air. Nathan screamed as his ribs were crushed from the impact and sudden change of direction, and Allistor was very nearly thrown through his window.
Nathan’s scream ended abruptly as the Humvee landed on its roof, then rolled several times before coming to rest on its wheels. Both Helen and Allistor were dazed, their health bars low and still dropping from bleed effects. He cast a heal on her, then one on himself, managing little more than to stop the bleeding. They were both down to about a quarter of their health pools.
Even worse, Allistor couldn’t hear Xar’ Dakra. There was a muffled thump, then another, but he didn’t feel the ground shake. Had he not already voided his bowels, he would have done so right then, picturing one of the massive feet descending upon them right then.
Instead he heard a muffled version of the titan’s roar, then felt a couple of vibrations from its footsteps
. With each one, he expected the roof of the Humvee to cave in and crush him.
He cast another heal on Helen and himself, then looked toward the back. Nathan was back there, his head and upper torso crushed into pulp, smeared against the opening in the roof. The gun and turret had been bent back so that they melded with the mangled body. Allistor retched some more, but there was nothing left in him.
Taking hold of his rifle, he searched everywhere that he could see for the monster. His heart was racing and there was a ringing in his head that suggested he was concussed. Finally, he spotted it moving toward the Citadel.
Pushing himself out of the vehicle, he fell onto the pavement face-first. The passenger door was missing, lying several feet away where it was flung as the Humvee rolled. Holding onto the frame, he pulled himself to his feet and stood there a moment, steadying himself. Then he used the truck as a crutch, working his way around to yank open Helen’s door and pull her out. He cast another heal on her when he saw that her entire left side looked broken. Her arm was at a strange angle, and two of her ribs were poking through her shirt underneath the arm.
Quickly pulling a healing potion from his ring, he poured some of it directly onto the protruding ribs, then the rest down her throat. When she didn’t swallow, he pushed her mouth closed and held her nose. After a few seconds her body took over and gulped down the liquid, then gasped for breath when he let her go.
She awoke screaming, the pain from her ribs and arm excruciating. Allistor held her shoulders against her seat to keep her as immobile as possible. Sometime during the struggle, she appeared to remember what happened, and tried to turn back and look for Nathan.
He let go of her shoulders and took hold of her head with both hands, using his strength to keep her facing him. “Nathan’s gone. You don’t want to look back there. Trust me.”
She stared into his eyes as tears rolled down her face. He held her there for a while, wanting to hug her but knowing it would only damage her more. He cast another heal, and she screamed again, then passed out. Finally letting go of her head, he collapsed onto the tarmac. Every bit of him hurt. He’d gotten Nathan killed and nearly killed Helen and himself with his foolish idea.
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