by Tao Wong
“Fall in,” Capstan barks.
I walk forward to squat behind my assigned wall. Minor changes to the cavern have given us a raised stone wall that should slow down the Frakin. For a quarter second maybe. On the other hand, a quarter second at the speeds we fight can be a long time.
Bill joins me on my right, and I glance over. I note he’s a left-hander, so I shuffle to the left a bit more to give us more space. Not that he’s using a melee weapon yet, instead hefting a pair of modified futuristic beam pistols.
Ali floats over to my left and just above head, barely within my line of sight as he continues to stare at the screens. “Drone’s broken into the second cavern. More Frakin.” He frowns. “Feed’s getting pretty jumpy, I don’t think we’ll get a proper count there…”
I nod, hefting my beam rifle as I watch the incoming dots on my minimap. Now that they’re closer, the drone is picking them up on visual too, their lines staggered and jerky. The Frakin move forward, then occasionally, one or another Frakin will stop or turn around. They aren’t the imposing wall of flesh that we encountered the last time.
“Looks like your virus is working,” Bill says, watching the feed as well.
I nod and shoot a glance at the man, wondering how much I can trust him. There’s no real way to fake Levels, so he’s obviously got some skills. Doesn’t mean he won’t break if things get too hectic.
“They’re moving,” Capstan growls, his eyes locked on the screens.
I glance back. Vir and Labashi are standing next to the command group, heads turning slightly as they watch the feeds before they nod. A quick glance is all I need to confirm it—the Frakin on the other feeds are moving, heading straight for Lana and Richard. I grit my teeth, knowing Mikito has their back. All I can do is trust…
“You might want to focus here,” Bill chides me, opening fire now that the Frakin are within range. His shots go into the darkness, but I hear flesh sizzling as beam weaponry punches through Frakin bodies. Those pistols are impressive.
My turn. I open fire, a second slower than everyone else on the front line, at the targets highlighted in my vision. A veritable rainbow of beam weaponry lights up the cavern, mixed with fast-moving projectiles that smash into the monsters before us, turning the monsters into so much slurry. We probably waste half our shots on already dead creatures.
“Who told you to shoot?” snaps Vir, striding up and shaking his head. “Wait until the order is given.”
Shooting stops, more than a few of us looking sheepish. Vir just watches as the Frakin close the distance. When they’re a hundred meters from us, he finally gives the order to resume shooting, staggering our fire so we don’t waste our ammunition.
As I thought, the pistols Bill uses are special, upgraded up the wazoo by the Shop and then possibly augmented by Skills. Each of his shots does a significant chunk of damage, burning through Frakin defenses with ease. The rest of us don’t have such spectacular results, but the sheer volume of fire and the lack of cohesion in their charge is enough to make this a cakewalk.
At least until we start running out of ammunition. I see the flickering numbers as my Mana battery runs down, my remaining shots dropping at a precipitous rate. Bill slows down his shooting too, and I see others along the line slap in new batteries. The gap in fire is small, the slowdown even smaller, but suddenly the Frakin aren’t being held but are inching forward. Second by second, the line creeps forward, each new corpse a few feet closer to us.
“Hold.”
The ending is ragged, a few last shots sent out after the command is given, but we eventually all stop shooting. The Frakin don’t react much to the sudden cessation of fire, not until a few seconds have passed, then they’re suddenly sprinting to us. I see a few hasty shots as hunters react to the danger, but I hold my fire, knowing what comes next.
“Ice spells,” Vir commands.
Elemental spells fly over our heads, targeting the charging Frakin. Blizzard winds howl, dropping the temperature and coating monsters in snow and ice. Bolts of absolute zero impact carapaces, turning them into popsicles that break apart under their own momentum. Small motes of white dust float forward, landing on monsters and freezing them. Spears of ice pin Frakin to the ground or tear off limbs as they fly by us. All those spells and more rain down on the creatures at Vir’s command.
“Fire,” Vir commands, and the mages switch.
Previously frozen creatures are heated up as walls of flame erupt from the ground. Pellets of plasma fall from the cavern ceiling to smash into the monsters. Traditional fireballs are thrown, exploding in expanding spheres of superheated air. Whips of fire burst forth from the ground, catching Frakin and tearing through frozen shells. The chittering screams from the Frakin are drowned out in the roar of flames.
“This is easy.” Bill smirks, and I almost hit him.
“These are the basic Frakin, idiot,” Ali says. “Plasma Frakin coming in next…”
“Hold. Front line, get ready for incoming fire,” Vir says.
I hear Vir step back. A quick glance shows that the mages are hunkered down beneath their own stone wall with additional coverage from portable shield generators.
Plasma Frakin push past normal Frakin, who refuse to enter the superheated passageway, closing on our line again. They totter over burning corpses, the bladed tips of their feet striking the ground as they rush forward.
Behind me, Vir finally gives the command. “Evens fire!”
The Plasma Frakin are dangerous, but they’ve got a shorter range than we do. We blow them up in the passageway, attempting to pile the bodies up to create an impromptu barrier from their corpses. The occasional extra fast or extra tough Frakin gets a bolt of plasma out before it’s cut down, but a single bolt is nothing to the front-liners.
I even have time to glance at the drone feed from the other battle, enough time to tell that they’re doing as well as we are. Things are going too easy. Way too easy.
“Ali…”
“I’m looking, boy-o, I’m looking,” Ali replies, flicking his hands across his screens.
A quick glance tells me he’s not the only one looking for the catch.
The Frakin stagger in at longer intervals, individual Frakin rather than the unorganized swarm. Vir designates shooters while the rest of us rest, checking over our ammunition. The short fight burnt through half of my Mana batteries, and I wonder how everyone else is doing. On the other hand, we probably stacked up over a hundred Frakin right.
It’s not as if the Spores have shown extremely diverse tactics so far. Perhaps, just perhaps, all they’re doing is trying to win a battle of attrition. For a moment, I let myself hope.
A snarl from Capstan gets my attention.
“They’re behind us,” Ali says, and I jerk my head up. He twitches a finger and I see the drone feed from behind us, showing the rushing monsters.
“How…?” Bill says. “We checked everything. There’s no way they’re back there.”
“No idea,” Ali replies, shaking his head.
Capstan is already calling out orders, splitting the teams to reinforce the back while the rest of us stay.
“They really like their pincer attacks,” I grumble, and Ali nods.
In a moment, we don’t have time to talk as the Frakin launch themselves at our defenses again. I find myself smiling grimly as I open fire. Tracking monsters and killing them has become so routine, I barely need to think about it. If the Spores think a simple pincer attack is enough to finish us, they’re wrong.
The smell of ionized air, burnt flesh, and the excretions of the Frakin as they die clogs the air, and I mentally command the helmet to filter it all out. There’s little I can do for the clatter of pincers on the ground and the screams of the Frakin as they die. We pile them up so high that the Frakin have to take time to pull down and shift bodies before they can come at us again.
Vir switches the attacks around more often, using the mages to hit the Frakin so we can husband our ammunition. Un
like many of the other front-line fighters, I’m carrying fewer Mana batteries, so I find myself switching over to throwing magic rather than shooting. I get a few raised eyebrows, but I’ve got the Mana to do so and I make sure not to let it drop below 80%. This is a marathon, not a sprint, especially with the numbers we’ve seen so far.
We hammer away at the Frakin. Plasma and normal Frakin are the majority, with the occasional acid-spitter, of the variations so far. It’s a constant barrage of damage and spells, broken up only by Vir calling a rotation or when the bodies pile up so high that the Frakin have to pull them apart to continue their attack. In time, the drone feeding us information on our attackers stops sending us information, leaving us in the dark once again.
As the Frakin pull aside the next wall of bodies, I catch a glimpse of something new, a virulent purple, and I narrow my eyes, trying to spot it again. I only get a second before a new attack comes—blobs of barely-held-together purple sacs thrown from behind the wall of corpses. As they impact, the sacs split open. A greenish-purple liquid spills onto the ground and releases vapors. All around me, the humans begin choking and covering their faces. Bill slaps a hand outward, calling forth a gas mask, as do other humans. The fully armored Hakarta are safe in their suits and continue to fire. The Yerick just growl softly, fighting through the fumes without slacking off.
Even as gas masks protect against the primary effects, the secondary effects kick in, attacking any exposed body parts. The distraction is enough to make even the Yerick pause as they get proper armor on. The drop in fire means the Frakin surge ahead. I snarl, opening fire on full-auto with Sabre’s projectile rifle, taking up the slack. Black lightning and fireballs surge past my head as mages behind me lend a hand.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see a hunter pop up, helmet down and gloves on, to receive a sac straight in the face. It splits on top of him, covering his entire body. I see the liquid eat away at his armor even as Vir grabs his body and tosses him into the backlines.
The combined fire by the mages and the humans quickly establishes a new deadlock. Unfortunately, the Spores aren’t done with their surprises. Shouldering aside a pair of poisonous Frakin, a silver-steel creature charges forward. Beams of light bounce off its body, doing little damage and adding to the confusion of battle. Even as I target it, another of the oversized bugs appears, then another. Explosive projectiles do damage, splitting open the armored hide, but a single gun isn’t enough. Even as the humans recover, the creatures bear down on us.
Almost, I trigger my missiles. Almost. Before I can, rock spears rise up, impaling monsters and hindering their approach. It buys us a few moments, enough time for the mages to send a breeze in to clear out some of the fumes and for the rest of the humans to get their gear on. Even the Yerick finally take the time to fully gear up, slapping on a small triangular patch that sets up a low-level repelling field. I make a mental note to look into that in the future as I lob a fireball into the cavern. Vir moves from group to group, shifting our fields of fire so that each section has a mix of firepower, beams, and projectiles smashing into whatever monster decides to show its face.
As the rock spears get broken down by the Behemoth Frakin, more are thrown up by the mages behind us. A few quick additions of fast-set glue grenades turns the new bodies into a new obstacle the Frakin have to fight through, which gives us time to rest and recover.
Our front covered, I glance at my map and screens to see how things are going in the other locations and flinch. I forcibly make myself hold still even as I watch the red dots overwhelm the friendly blues in the corridor. Not just any blues—those dots contain Lana, Richard, and Mikito. Behind us, Aron and Labashi’s timely intervention has driven back the monsters long enough at least for the backline to recover.
“Trust in them, John,” Ali says.
I nod dumbly. Even if I took off right this second, I’d be minutes away from the group, long minutes when the Frakin could finish them. I just have to trust that my friends can handle themselves. I watch the minimap and the sudden disappearance of a large number of red dots, then the reformation of the blue line farther back.
“They’re retreating,” I mutter, staring at the map.
Ali offers a nod of confirmation. The blue dots don’t stop backing off even when the line reforms, the red dots surging forward constantly as my teammates lay down withering fire. I glance backward as Vir calls for the mages to take a break and give their Mana a rest. I have a moment to contemplate the sight of Capstan in huddled conversation with Labashi before I have to start shooting again. I’ve spent enough time with the Yerick by now to be able to tell that he’s worried.
The introduction of the two new types of Frakin is forcing us to drain our ammo, stamina, and Mana at an even greater rate. Even with potions to increase the last two, strained and worried looks have begun to creep onto the human faces. The Hakarta are impossible to read under their masks, but even the Yerick occasionally seem nervous. We’ve been fighting nonstop for hours, and the monsters just keep coming.
Five, ten minutes and the Frakin shift tactics again. Instead of sending a single type of monster at us, the Spores mix it up, sending groups. This makes no difference really, as we concentrate on our firing lines, focusing on killing the ones in our fields of fire rather than what they are. A part of me is thankful for the experienced fighters here; otherwise, we might just have fallen for the change.
Equilibrium is achieved again, at least on the front lines. I’ve switched back to my rifle when I can, letting Sabre reload the projectile rifle during much-needed breaks and pulling additional ammunition from my Altered Space for Sabre. When I can, I flick my gaze back and forth between the front lines, my companions, and the map.
Equilibrium on the front lines, but not in our fast-draining Mana and ammunition.
The first cry comes from one of the Yerick, a snarling, “I’m out.”
A moment later, his cry is echoed by a human. Then another, as guns fall silent. Vir snaps an order and the mages with earth spells throw up a temporary blockade, buying us more time at the cost of their Mana. We use it to reconfigure the front lines, staggering between melee and ranged fighters and the mages.
I can see the rearguard doing the same thing while my friends continue to retreat toward us at a glacially slow pace. They’re still too far away to talk to them directly or view them via our drones.
“Ali, how are we doing?” I ask.
“Not good. Drones are mostly drained, but the few we’ve got around here aren’t exactly seeing an end to these groups,” he announces just before Capstan calls me over.
I follow and find Bill’s raven-haired shadowy friend and Vir there too.
“They’re pushing us too hard. Take a few minutes, then we’re going with Plan F,” Capstan announces.
I grimace. Plan F for Final Run. It’s a Hail-Mary plan, one that we cooked up for use when and if the Spores and Frakin pushed us too hard. The three of us each have our own ways of getting through the hordes ahead. The plan is simple—while the others hold the monsters back, we’ll rush in as far as we can, hoping to find and kill the Boss.
“That bad?”
“Yes. We’re down to thirty percent of our reserves,” Labashi clarifies, and I grimace.
I knew things were getting bad, but I hadn’t realized it was that bad. That’s the strange part of this fight. As hard as we’re being pushed, no one has died on our lines so far and no one has stayed injured for long. Our unnatural healing and the Spells keep us in top fighting form—but that only lasts so long as we have enough ammo and Mana. Once we’re out, the end comes soon after.
“We’re uploading the latest scans from the drones to you now,” Capstan adds. “May the stars guide your way.”
Ali frowns, staring at the new information. He tilts his head as I walk to the side and pop open my helmet to scarf down some food. “I’m heading out first. I can’t get too far ahead of you, but if I push the edges, I might be able to lead you to the
Boss.”
“Good idea,” I reply, chewing rapidly.
Ali floats a bit away then stops, shifting on his feet a bit before he finally speaks. “Take care, boy-o.”
Ali floats away before I can reply. I shake my head slightly, smiling grimly before glancing at the other two. They’re getting ready—stretching in the lady’s case and downing potion after potion in Vir’s. I flicker a smile at that, his actions reminding me to take the potions I’ve reserved. These are the best regeneration boosters that Sally supplied.
“Ready?” Capstan rumbles.
We offer him a nod, standing up and facing the corridor. Last chance, last run. Damn…
“Plan F. Cover fire on three, two, one. Now!” roars Capstan. He raises his own axe-cannon, letting loose the blast he was charging while he was speaking.
His fire is joined by the mages’, who have been holding back, vortex of destructive firepower ripping through the monsters that face us. The moment the fire slackens, the three of us are sprinting forward.
Covering fire from the sides flashes past us as guided weaponry and spells slam into still-living Frakin within the corridor, giving us a short, short few hundred meters of clear space. As we reach the first curve in the tunnel, we can see the Frakin boiling out of the corner. Vir’s ahead of us all and he flashes forward, exploding into a white mist that floats through the group. His progress slows down significantly in that form, but they can’t touch him.
Behind him, I jump and kick off a Frakin, my powered armor smashing the monster into the ground before I throw myself into a roll as I crash into the swarm. Even as I smash and bounce, I’m triggering the QSM and recovering on ultra-dimensional ground. A moment later, I watch as Bill’s Assassin/Rogue friend turns into a literal shadow and disappear into the darkness.
On my minimap, I see Ali dashing ahead as fast as he can. As he spots new and interesting monsters and my map gets updated before they disappear again as he leaves their presence. Still, it’s enough to let me know how much trouble we really are in—the swarm just doesn’t seem to ever end.