Hello in another chapter! Last time, we saw the start of the hunt for the Elecdraco and Giselle, of course, came into action to take care of Rory. This is gonna be the last part of the Elecdraco part and after that, we're gonna get into something else. Something more…discovering. Because there will be some discovering done.
But before we start this chapter, let's take care of the reviews.
To Hank: No, there aren't.
Okay, with this done, let's get to the thing, shall we?
Chapter 24
,,Clash with Elecdraco"
October 2, 2150
14:26
Elecdraco lair in volcano
The roar slowly faded away, leaving only White Squadron members, Lelei, Tuka and Dark Elves in place. Ester gulped and looked at everyone. There was one thing that could be said in a situation like this.
"Everybody hide!"she exclaimed.
Immediately, everyone jumped behind the number of giant rocks that were in the volcano. Automatically, they checked the ammo status in their riffles and after seeing full clips, they just waited. But then, Ester noticed one thing.
"Hey, you!"she shouted to Dark Elves, which, except Yao, did not hide."Come here!"
"No way!"Crow said."With these things, we're not scared of him anymore!"
"I don't care! You have to…!"she tried to reason, but did not manage to.
Another roar, this time closer, pierced the air and everyone looked up. Elecdraco was slowly coming down to them from from the top. It's eyes were showing nothing more than a predatory need to hunt and to kill. It finally stood in front of everyone and roared once again. It looked at the Dark Elves and if he could speak or do expressions, he would probably tell them how he won't be sorry for anything.
"Shit!"Ester said."Everyone, open fire!"
As she said that, all White Squadron members looked from their cover and started firing their AR4s, sniper riffle and shotgun at the Elecdaco. This seemed to work, but only for short period of time, after which Elecdraco regained his senses and looked in their direction.
"Get down!"Ester exclaimed.
Right as she said that, giant beast fired opened it's mouth and streams of lightnings grazed the rocks. Everyone was laying low, not to get hit.
"Any other ideas?!"Aquexymeva asked.
"No!"Ester replied.
"Hey!"Ban exclaimed.
Elecdraco stopped firing it's lightnings and looked at the Dark Elf, which shouted at him. He was already preparing the Panzerfaust V to fire, but before he could, Elecdraco used it's forward limb to step on the Dark Elf, changing him into red stain on the ground, mixed with metal parts of the rocket launcher.
Ester, seeing this, barely stopped her breakfast from coming back out. Emiko, on the other hand, left a stain of digested food on the ground, seeing what fate met Ban.
Other Dark Elves, enraged by what just happened, decided to work too, taking their weapons. Immediately, they aimed them at Elecdraco. Nayu was the first to pull the trigger and fire the missile, but Elecdraco simply bent down and evaded it. The bent position also allowed him to spring his head forward and consume Nayu in one quick motion.
Seeing this, many members of White Squadron had something twisting in their stomachs. They quickly resumed firing, but bullets were again bouncing off the creature's skin and making no damage.
Next, Crow and Met jumped from behind their cover and decided to try and avenge their fallen friends. They pulled the trigger on their rocket launcher and laser, but again, Elecdraco showed it's surprising agility and evaded the laser. To show it's arrogance even more, the beast simply flung it's wing and bounced the Panzerfaust missile away, making it hit the volcano's wall. Seeing this, Crow and Met wanted to quickly return to cover, but Elecdraco swung it's tail, mowing the two down and sending them flying off the stone shelf, straight into the dark abyss of the volcano, with their screams as the last signs of their existence.
Next, beast looked behind and saw Seymy, which tried to sneak on it from behind, while Crow and Met distracted it. Because the plan went to hell, Dark Elf quickly grabbed the laser, but couldn't use it, as Elecdraco quickly grabbed the Elf with his hand. Elf disappeared inside the huge hand and then, beast squeezed, making blood to drip from between it's fingers.
White Squadron quickly ducked down behind the cover, with Yao, Tuka and Lelei. Everyone looked at each other, as Elecdraco again started spewing lightnings in all directions.
Dora looked at Ester.
"That thing is more intelligent than we thought."White Squadron second-in-command said.
"Yeah, it's not as instinct-driven as Flame Dragon."Ester agreed.
"We have any plan how to deal with it?"Anastasia asked, as she quickly crawled up to them.
"No, but we need to quickly come up with something."Ester stated."We need to…"
"Is talking the only thing you can do?!"Komu suddenly exclaimed.
Everyone looked at him with surprise.
"Komu…"Yao wanted to say.
"We can't just sit here and allow this thing to kill us!"Komu stated."If we won't move, we will all be eaten!"
"Exactly!"Fen said.
"Yes!"Nokk agreed.
"But we can't…!"Ester wanted to say, but the three Elves did not listen anymore.
They just stood up and left the cover, with their weapons in hands. They started running across the rock shelf, gaining Elecdraco's attention. Beast turned in their direction and wanted to stop them with their hand, but Komu and Nokk slid under the beast's hand, before it reached the ground. Fen had not enough luck and the hand simply squashed him. Elecdraco them started using dead Dark Elf like a grease and smeared the shelf in red with it's body.
Next, it turned back to the two Elves and this time decided to again fire it's lightnings. Komu again managed to evade the attack, but this time Nokk ran out of luck and lightnings changed him into cloud of ash.
Komu finally reached appropriate position and took his rocket launcher. He looked at the Elecdraco and smiled wildly.
"Say hello to your creator, bitch!"the Dark Elf said, pressing the trigger.
What happened next, could easily be found in some fails video. It turned out, the Komu held the Panzerfaust turned around, with front of the weapon pointed back and vice versa. This is why missile, instead at Elecdraco, flew towards the wall behind Komu.
Komu looked at it with growing fear. Meanwhile, he could swear, that Elecdraco looked at him with 'Really?' eyes.
Not waiting long, Elecdraco launched his head forward and grabbed Komu with his mouth, swallowing the Elf in an instant.
White Squadron, Yao, Tuka and Lelei watched the situation with disbelief.
"Did he really held it turned around?"Arlette asked.
"Yup."Ester replied.
"What an idiot."Jackie said, shaking her head.
Yao just sighed with shame.
"What do we do now?"Yuko asked.
"We go to our main plan."Ester stated.
She quickly put her hand on her hip, looking for the detonator. However, much to her shock, she noticed, that the detonator was not there. She started looking around, searching for the device, and finally located it. It was laying in the middle of the rock shelf. More precisely, right under the Elecdraco's legs.
"Fuck!"she exclaimed.
"What?"Aqi asked.
"The detonator! I must have lost it when we fled from there!"Ester explained.
"Great! What do we do now?"Lena asked.
Ester once again looked in the direction of the giant beast in front of them. She quickly made some calculations and decided, that there is no other option, that that in her head.
"Try and make him focus on you. Meanwhile, I will go there and retrieve the detonator."Ester put out her plan.
"You gone crazy?!"Dora exclaimed."You seen what that thing did with these Elves? You want to end as another snack for this bastard?"
"No, this is why I have to get that detonator!"Ester shot back.
Dora wanted to protest even more, but seeing burning eyes of her long time friend, she simply gave up.
Ester in the meantime made her way to the edge of their cover and looked back at the squadron and two Falmartese. Everyone nodded, while she showed three fingers and slowly started counting down. Everyone gulped, seeing as three fingers slowly disappear and waited to pull the trigger on the beast once more.
Finally, Ester hid her last finger and gave a sign with her fist. Another wave of fire came through the cave, as all riffles opened fire at the same time. Beast again felt the stinging on it's skin and looked in the direction of the attackers. It again started spitting lightnings in their direction, lifting clouds of dust. Fortunately, the rocks, behind which they were hiding, were highly resistant and did not broke from the sheer power of the lightnings.
As this was happening, Ester took her chance and left the cover. Putting all of her strength into this, she made her way towards the detonator. She quickly grabbed the device as she ran past it and stopped for a moment, to check if it was still operational. Fortunately, nothing was broken. She sighed with relief.
"I got it!"Ester said to her communicator.
"Great! Now…"Dora tried to say, but stopped.
Suddenly, the giant tail of the Elecdraco made it's way towards Ester. White Squadron leader didn't even had time to react, as mass of the tail hit her and sent her flying towards the other wall. She hit it, gritting her teeth. She also felt the metallic taste in her mouth.
"Shit!"she thought.
"Ester!"Dora exclaimed and wanted to go there, but was stopped by Lelei."Let me go!"
"No. Too dangerous."the mage replied, with her trademark neutral expression.
Dora looked at her and then back towards Ester, which was in too much pain to move. Meanwhile, seeing another easy prey, Elecdraco turned towards Ester and started slowly approaching her, with something, that could be described as sadistic smile.
However, one person decided to act, and quickly.
Tuka, which sat silent for the entire battle, finally had enough. She watched the Dark Elves die and it was enough for her. Suddenly, the scene of her father being eaten by the Flame Dragon flashed in front of her eyes. She knew what to do.
She stepped out of the cover and slowly entered the shelf.
"Wait, stop!"Anastasia exclaimed.
"What is she doing?!"panicked Liz asked.
But Lelei quickly calmed them down:
"She has had enough. She knows what she's doing."
Everyone could only look at Tuka, which approached the Elecdraco from behind. Beast somehow felt her and turned in her direction. Tuka still stood in the same place.
"I still have a bad feeling about this."Dora whispered.
"Wait. Look closer."Lelei said.
Dora activated zoom in her helmet's visor and zoomed at Tuka. She noticed, that the elf was mumbling something. As Dora noticed this, she also noticed, that sudden wind started blowing all around them and several flashes of light could be seen. All these light flashes then started making their way towards Tuka, forming some kind of energy ball in her hand.
"Now you understand?"Lelei asked White Squadron's second-in-command.
"I think I do."Dora replied.
Elecdraco still did not notice the light ball forming in Tuka's hand, it was too focused on the elf herself. It was slowly approaching her, as Tuka mumbled several elven spells under her breath. Finally, her mouth stopped moving and she slowly lifted the ball of light over her head. Elecdraco stopped for a minute, allowing the ball to grow to the size, where Tuka could only support it with both of her hands. Beast finally orientated what was going on, but it was far too late for it.
"AAARGH!"Tuka shouted, as she threw the ball of light at the Elecdraco.
Ball hit the beast, pushing several meters back. Eelecdraco pierced it's claws into the ground, trying to resist the ball of light, but it was not enough.
"Cover your eyes!"Tuka shouted to the White Squadron members.
Everyone listened and did it right at the last moment, when ball of light exploded, covering the entire cavern with blinding light, which stunned the Elecdraco. When the light faded, beast tried to shake it's head to regain the sight, but the blind did too much to it's eyes.
Seeing it, Dora now had a chance.
"It's stunned!"she shouted."Salt, come with me!"
Fatima acknowledged and followed Dora out of the cover, towards Ester. Their squadron leader was still sitting under the wall, with her head down. The two quickly knelt next to her.
"Ester, you okay?"Dora asked, concerned.
"Could be worse."Ester hissed through tightened teeth.
Fatima quickly activated her scanner and made a quick check up on Ester. She then turned to Dora.
"She got three broken ribs, broken leg and possible concussion."
"That tail swing was pretty hard, you know."Ester said.
"Let's get out of here."Dora stated, helping Ester to stand up."And give me the detonator."
Ester obliged and gave the detonator to Dora. Next, the three made their way back to their group. Yuko came up to Dora and helped her with Ester, which was now supporting herself on the two. Dora quickly signaled the rest to follow her, what they happily did.
"Nice job with the dragon."Suvi said to Tuka, smiling.
"Thank you."Tuka replied."But don't think, that I will allow you to do lewd things to me for complements."
Smile faded away from Suvi's lips.
"How did you know?"she asked.
"Anastasia taught me all about your tricks."Tuka replied.
"Boo!"Suvi pouted.
"It's not time for that!"Lena said to her.
The group quickly left the cavern, leaving the Elecdraco behind. After running for several meters, Dora looked at Ester.
"You think we can blow it now?"she asked.
"Aqi?"Ester turned to the Tertan.
"We're at safe distance by now!"Aquexymeva replied.
Dora only nodded in response and pressed the detonator.
Back with the Elecdraco, the beast finally managed to shake itself from the stun from that light explosion into the face. But as it did, he saw tens of light blinking in the ground. It started to wonder, what these things were, but his thoughts were cut short, when tens of plasma explosions covered it.
Back with the group, they looked behind, when light from the explosion appeared, but did not stop to run. As soon as the sight of exit appeared in front of them, they started running faster, but still fast enough, so Dora, Yuko and Ester would be able to catch up with them. Finally, they ran out of the cave and many of them took a long awaited deep breath.
"We did it! Yes!"Arlette exclaimed.
"Woo-hoo!"Jackie shouted.
"Eat this, big lizard!"Suvi said.
Everyone almost started dancing around, while Dora, Yuko, Ester, Fatima, Lelei, Yao and Tuka walked to the side. Dora and Yuko opened the back door of the Land Rover and allowed Ester to sit on it's floor. After they did, White Squadron leader was finally able to release her breath.
"Never again."she said.
"Agreed."Yuko said."Now, I only fight dragons in video games."
"Then when we come back, I will buy you some co-op dragon hunting game, so we could do it together."Ester said with smile.
Smile also appeared on Yuko's face after hearing that. She was about to throw herself on Ester and hug her tightly, but the Japanese was stopped by Fatima, which held her by the arm.
"Watch! Remember, how battered she is."Fatima said."I will give her some bone-gel. You better go and watch these happies back there."
"Okay."Yuko and Dora said at the same time and walked away.
Meanwhile, Fatima grabbed the injector from her bag and helped Ester in taking off her glove and then, rolling up her sleeve. Next, she put the injector to her arm and pressed the button, which started the injection.
Ester looked at Tuka.
"Thanks for stopping the dragon from eating me."she said.
Tuka blushed, hearing these words.
"No problem…"she said.
"And Yao."Ester turned to the Dark Elf."Sorry for your friends."
Yao just waved that off.
"I should've listened to Dora and stop them from coming."she said.
Ester had no response to that, so she just threw up her arms. But then, the adrenaline started to weaken and Ester noticed a certain thing, which she didn't noticed earlier.
"Wait. Where did everyone go?"she asked.
Everyone looked around and noticed the same thing. They couldn't see a single Resistance or Elbe soldiers they came here with. They saw only the vehicles.
"I don't like it…"Fatima said.
And just as she said it, something fell from the sky and crashed in the middle of vehicle group, making a small crater. This stopped the happy dancing and celebrating the victory over Elecdraco, making everyone quickly come back to the serious stance and aim their weapons at the crater.
"Who's there?!"Dora exclaimed.
There was a short moment of silence, before a familiar voice said:
"Took you some time."
Everyone lowered their weapons, just as the dust started to settle. After it did, White Squadron members and Falmartese were shocked to see bloodied, and basically falling apart, Rory inside of the crater.
"Rory?!"they all shouted.
"What the hell happened?!"Ester asked, worried.
"Well…she happened."Rory said, barely pointing up.
Everybody looked into the sky and noticed, what she was talking about. Hovering several meters above, using two dragon-like wings, was a girl with scythe in her hand. She had a mischievous smile on her face.
"You really have grown weaker than expected, while staying among mortals."she said.
"Excuse me, but could you tell us"Dora said with surprisingly angelic voice, only to shout a second later"WHO IN THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"
Hearing this, the girl looked at Dora with anger.
"You stay out of it, mortal! This is case of the Apostles!"she exclaimed.
"So you also are an Apostle?"Liz asked.
"Do all Apostles wear suggestive clothes?"Yuko said.
"I actually like what she's wearing."Suvi said.
"NO ONE CARES!"everyone, except Falmartese and Ester, shouted.
Draconic girl just looked at them with superiority and floated a bit down.
"If you really want to know…"she said."I'm Giselle, Apostle of Hardy, the god…AAARGH! DAMN IT! My tongue…"
"Did she just bit her tongue?"Ana asked.
"Seems like it."Arlette replied.
"Well, that's anti-climatic."Aqi stated.
Seeing this casual talk taking place, Giselle started feeling frustration growing in her, which made her stop thinking about what she's saying.
"You really think you can make fun of me?!"she asked."Not on my watch! You will pay for this, as well as for killing that Elecdraco I worked so hard to wake up early!"
After these words, ominous silence hung in the air. White Squadron members lowered their weapons and looked at each other. But it was Yao, who cut the silence.
"What did you say?"she asked.
"What I said! Mistress Hardy told me to do it, so why do you even care?"Giselle replied.
"So Hardy is a woman?"Emiko asked.
"Unexpected."Ana said.
Meanwhile, as this conversation was taking place, Dora came up to Rory and helped her to get up. This did not escape Giselle, however. She pointed her scythe at Dora.
"YOU! Stay away from my Mistress' future bride!"she exclaimed.
"Fuck off!"Dora replied, as she and Rory walked away towards the Land Rover.
"Hey, Dora."Rory whispered to her ear."Can you hold her for some time until I regenerate enough?"
"Sure thing. For now, stay with Ester."Dora replied."How much time do you need?"
"Give me ten minutes."
They came up to Land Rover and placed Rory next to Ester. White Squadron leader and Apostle looked at each other.
"What happened to you?"Rory asked.
"Elecdraco's tail, that's what."Ester replied."And how do you feel?"
"Been better. Fortunately, we Apostles, don't die. Same with Giselle and others. This is why we always fight, until one calls a defeat."Rory explained.
Ester nodded.
Back with Yao, the Dark Elf finally managed to digest the information she just heard from Giselle.
"What?! Why would Hardy order something like that?!"she asked with tears in her eyes."What did we do wrong to deserve this?! We're doing everything to make Mistress Hardy content with us!"
"She was just feeling like it."Giselle replied coldly."Besides, you should be actually happy, that you were chosen for that."
Resistance soldiers felt something twisting in their stomachs. Yao just stood there, with her one eye twitching, arms pulled in front, as if she wanted to grab Giselle and rip her head off.
"That's messed up…"Arlette said.
"Even Shakayan gods are not so fucked up."Aquexymeva said."Hell, even their God of War is a nice guy."
Giselle just floated there, starting to feel bored.
"You know what? If you stand between me and Rory, then I should simply remove you."she said, as if she was talking about weather.
She snapped her fingers and out of nowhere, two more dragons appeared. One blue and one red.
"Mowto, Towato. Take care of them."Giselle ordered.
"Tuka, Lelei, Yao."Dora turned to the three."It will be better, if you three stay out of this."
The three obliged and quickly left the area to hide and wait till the end.
Two dragons gave an accepting roar and turned towards the Resistance soldiers. White Squadron members responded by opening on the two creatures with their weapons and running to find some suitable cover.
Giselle just floated there, watching her two pets having fun, until she felt several stinging objects hitting and piercing her skin. She started looking around, trying to find the source of them, at the same time using her regenerative powers to push the objects out of her body and seal the wound. Finally, her eyes fell on Dora, standing with her riffle aimed at her. The barrel was smoking after the shots she fired at Giselle.
"How dare you attack me?!"irritated Giselle asked.
"Come at me."Dora replied.
Giselle, caught completely off guard, looked at Dora.
"What did you just say?"the Apostle asked to make sure.
"Come. At. Me."Dora demanded.
The two looked at each other for few more seconds, before Giselle erupted in laughter. She looked at Dora as if she was stupid.
"Do as I say."Dora said with serious tone.
"Damn, you're serious?"Giselle asked, as she stopped laughing. She only could see Dora's rock cold stare."Okay, if you say so. But you should know, that you have no chance."
"We shall see. I will even make it easier for you."White Squadron second-in-command said.
She threw away her riffle, then grabbed her helmet and took it off. Next, she took off her vest, gloves and the terminal. Then, she grabbed the buttons of her uniform and started unbuttoning her uniform blouse.
And when she did, what Giselle saw under it, was impressive collection of knives hanging from special hooks under the blouse. Even Apostle was impressed.
"How many knives can you hold there?"she asked.
"Enough."was Dora's short reply.
She grabbed two of the knives and laid down the blouse with her helmet, vest and gloves. Now, she stood there only in her pants, boots and sleeveless military-issue T-Shirt, with two knives in her hands.
"Let's start then."Giselle said.
And without waiting, she charged at Dora, with her scythe drawn. Draconic girl swung her weapon, trying to hit Dora, which quickly ducked down and shot up as Giselle was flying over her, stabbing her in the stomach with both her knives. Giselle wasn't ready for that, but quickly shook herself from the initial surprise.
"How did you…?"
"Years of practice."
This time, it was Dora, who charged at Giselle. She started kicking and stabbing, with Giselle evading her attacks. However, Apostle was still impressed, that this simple, mortal Human, was able to actually go on par with her. Giselle swung her scythe to quickly cut Dora in half, but she simply used one of her knives to parry the attack and lead the scythe away from her face.
As the two were fighting, rest of the squadron still had their fight with two juvenile dragons. They managed to hide behind the vehicles, which fortunately, had armor and windows resistant to high temperatures, which were originally designed to withstand temperatures on volcanic worlds, not a flame from the dragons.
"What do we do?"Anastasia asked.
"Until we come up with something better, we just have to fight this thing."Aquexymeva replied.
She leaned from behind the cover and fired several plasma shots at the blue dragon. Of course, these made no impression on him, maybe only enraging him. Dragon turned in her direction and breathed fire towards the Tertan, which quickly hid behind the vehicle again.
"That was stupid."Suvi said.
"Shut up, Suvi."Aqi replied."You have any better ideas?"
"It so happens, that I do."Suvi replied."We have ropes right?"
"Yeah."Ana said."And what about them."
"We're faster and more fragile that these things. We can use that."Suvi said.
Aquexymeva and Ana started thinking about what they just heard, not covering her surprise from the meaningfulness of Suvi's words.
"Would you look at that."Ana said."Suvi actually have a good plan for once."
"And a plan not related to sex."Aqi added.
"You're hurting me."Suvi stated with pout.
"Anyway, relay this plan of yours to the others."Ana said.
Suvi nodded and activated her communicator.
Meanwhile, Ester and Rory, which were still out of the fight, were sitting in the Land Rover and watching the fights that were now happening in front of them. Especially Ester was feeling powerless, seeing her friends, fighting basically unbeatable enemies.
"You're frustrated."Rory said.
"You're surprised?"Ester replied."I can't just watch them risk their lives just to buy some time."
Rory nodded.
"I understand. But I think you can't do anything in this state?"Apostle asked.
"Everything still hurts when I move."Ester replied.
Right then, her communicator came to life. She accepted the call.
"Major? This is Lon."a familiar Nashini voice came through the communicator.
"Lon? You're okay? Where are you?"Ester asked.
"We're all okay, hidden in nearby forest."Lon replied."Rory called us and warned us about the other Apostle girl. She said, that it would be better, if we hide."
Ester sighed.
"Good."she said."But now we could use your help."
"We can see it from here."Nashini replied."We'll be on our way."
And with these words, he disconnected. Ester looked at Rory.
"You really warned them?"she asked.
"Yeah."Rory replied."Even they would not be able to fight Giselle alone."
"Thank you."
Rory only smiled in response.
Back with Dora, she was still fighting Giselle. Apostle, although trying to take her out numerous times, simple couldn't win this fight. Dora also knew, that she can't defeat Giselle, but she was doing her best to buy enough time for Rory to regenerate.
Giselle wanted to swing the scythe from over her head, but Dora crossed her knives and stopped the scythe's blade.
"Amazing."Giselle said."I never saw mortal, that could keep up with me."
"There always is the first time, as we say back home."Dora replied with wry smile.
"But still, it won't save you from demise."Apostle stated.
She backed off slightly, before bouncing left, trying to attack Dora from her side. However, White Squadron second-in-command was ready even for this. She managed to deflect Giselle's scythe and used this moment to quickly roll over her back. As she was doing it, she pierced one of Giselle's wings with her knife and pulled it, cutting the wing in two.
Dora rolled off Apostle's back and landed on the ground, looking at now completely pissed Giselle.
"MY WING!"Giselle shouted, trying to fly up, but cut wing could not grab the wind."WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"
Dora only grinned.
"I downed the birdie."she replied.
"I WILL GIVE YOU A BIRDIE!"Giselle screamed at the top of her lungs and charged at Dora again.
In the meantime, everyone else were discussing the plan Suvi had for fight with the dragons, while also hiding and evading the attacks of the two creatures. Finally, after everything was chaotically talked through, they decided to work.
"Now!"Suvi exclaimed into the radio.
Next, both she and Arlette jumped from behind the covers and into the open field. Both dragons noticed them and quickly followed their individual targets, with Mowto targeting Suvi and Towato targeting Arlette. They both breathed fire, trying to get the two, but fortunately, Suvi and Arlette were agile enough to get out of this without a single scratch.
"Do it!"Suvi exclaimed again.
With these words, everyone else quickly jumped out of their covers. They pointed their rope launchers at the two beasts and fired. Ropes reached their targets, wrapping themselves around dragons' arms and wings. Next, Suvi and Arlette stopped runnign and quickly used their own ropes to tie down mouth of the two dragons. Next, they were doing their best to hold the two at the ground level.
"Hold it!"Suvi exclaimed.
"We're trying!"Liz replied.
Both beasts were trying to get out of the ropes, but members of White Squadron were keeping them tightly.
"Emiko, don't let go!"Ana said.
"I'm trying!"Emiko replied.
However, she was not trying enough. Towato started to tense it's wing muscles, trying to get out. Finally, he did it hard enough, the Emiko's rope, which tied his wings, simply broke, freeing them. Then, beast started to lift up into the air.
"No, no, no!"Arlette said.
After flying at few meters up, Towato started spinning around, making the people keeping him spin with him. Everyone was taken into the air. Their ropes could not take such pressure and simply broke, making them fly everywhere, crashing into the ground.
With it's attackers taken care of, Towato decided to go and help it's sibling. It quickly cut the rope keeping Mowato's wings in place, allowing him to fly up, just like it's sibling, and did the same maneuver, throwing rest of the team around.
"Suv…"Lena hissed, after crashing into the rocky ground."That plan sucks…"
"You could say it earlier…"Suvi replied, also in pain from the hard meeting with the rocks.
Fight between Dora and Giselle also started to come to a close, with Giselle now going into more aggressive way, swinging her scythe in all directions, pushing Dora away and several times almost hitting her. White Squadron's second-in-command knew, that she couldn't defend herself forever and soon, she will be hit.
This happened quicker that she thought, as suddenly, after another swing of the scythe, Giselle hit Dora with her still working wing and made her lose balance. Next, in one, swift and quick motion, she swung the scythe, piercing through Dora's wrist and easily detaching her right hand from her arm.
"Damn it!"Dora hissed, grabbing her missing hand.
Giselle then kicked her in the chest, sending her onto the ground. Next, she put the scythe to Dora's neck.
"Foolish mortal."Apostle said."You really thought, that you can defeat an Apostle? Especially Apostle serving the God of the Underworld?"
Dora looked at Giselle, then at her Scythe and finally, at her missing hand. Giselle just looked at her with amused look.
But then, much to her surprise, Dora grinned at her.
"What? What are you laughing at?!"she asked, irritated.
"You see, I never thought I could defeat you."Dora said."I was just buying some time."
Giselle gave her a confusing look, before she felt something piercing her leg. She gritted her teeth and looked behind her.
What she saw, was smiling Rory, sinking the blade of her axe into Giselle's leg.
"My turn."Rory said.
She then ripped her blade out of Giselle's leg and quickly started jumping from rock to ruck, running as far as she could. Giselle quickly shook herself from this and followed her. But before she did, she turned to Dora.
"I will deal with you, after I will take care of her!"she exclaimed and took off after Rory. She told her dragons to follow her. After short reluctance, they followed their master, leaving their prey for later.
Dora, in the meantime, stood up and walked up to Ester. She sat next to her friend.
"Everything okay?"Ester asked with care in voice.
"Nothing a bio-gel can't handle."Dora replied."So don't worry."
Right then, the others joined them as well.
"How do you feel?"Ester asked.
"We just have some scratches and bruises. Uniforms softened the fall."Arlette replied.
"Once more, thank you Suvi."Jackie said.
"Hey, I did not expect these things to be that smart."Suvi replied.
Sound of several feet reached their ears. When they looked in that direction, they saw remaining members of the Third Recon approaching them.
"Are you alright?"Jacques asked.
"Been worse."Dora replied."Just give me some bio-gel and I will be okay."
Fatima came up to her and applied her some bio-gel with the injector. Now, she just needed to wait for a few days, until the had will grow back.
Everyone looked in the direction of Rory, which was still being chased by the two dragons and Giselle.
"Can we help her somehow?"Lon asked.
"I have a way."Ester said and grabbed her communicator.
At the same time…
Planet's orbit
Giant shape of RNS Dwight D. Eisenhower lazily floated in the space abyss over the planet. It's crew was on standby, waiting for orders to give fire support to the team hunting the Elexcdraco. Nothing else really happened. Because, why should anything happen? They were in another world, far away from Holy Order. Nothing could endanger them here.
Egon was sitting in his chair, when communication officer turned to him.
"Sir, incoming transmission."he said.
"Patch it through."Egon said.
Soon, Ester's voice sounded around the bridge:
"Egon, requesting fire support. We will mark the target with laser pointer. The target is moving, so be sure to fire in advance."
"Copy that."Egon replied.
Next, he turned to the weapons officer:
"Are you seeing the laser pointer?"
"Yes, sir."weapons officer said."Already doing calculations."
"Good. Fire, when ready."Egon ordered.
Few seconds later, Heavy Cruiser's main guns sent two shells towards the planet.
Back on the surface…
Rory just evaded another shot of flames coming from the two dragons. Giselle was following her with such a persistence, that Rory could not expect it even after apostle.
"Give it up, Giselle!"Rory exclaimed."You will never get me to Hardy!"
"We shall see, sister!"Giselle shouted back.
Rory jumped towards another rock, as one of the dragons tried to slice her with it's claws. She was slowly running out of rocks to jump on, so she had to think fast, if she really didn't want to get dragged to Hardy by her collar.
"Rory."Ester's voice came through her radio.
"What is it, Ester?"Rory asked.
"Get them to the open field. We have a way to deal with these two."Ester replied.
"Okay."was Rory's short reply.
Next, instead of jumping on another rock, she jumped in the direction of the open slope, which made the side of the volcano. Giselle, as well as the two dragons, followed her instinctively.
Meanwhile, Ester kept the laser pointer aimed at the dragons and Giselle. She just waited for the fireworks to start. She didn't have to wait long, as soon, two booms were heard above their heads and two burning objects could be seen coming down from the sky.
"Here come the big guns."Ester said.
Giselle also heard the two booms and looked in their direction. How shocked she was, seeing two fast moving objects approaching their flight path. She turned to her dragons:
"Mowto, Towato! Look…!"
But before she could finish, two shells fired by Ike slammed into the ground, on the way impaling two dragons. As they hit, they thrown large cloud of dust into the sky, covering the sun. Everyone quickly braced for the shockwave, which came after the shells landed. It was brief, but almost managed to take some people with it.
After the shells, came the reinforcements in form of entire squadron of dropships, escorted by several fighters and bombers. Bombers flew in the direction of shells impact site, where they dropped their payloads, just to make sure, although everyone knew, that even dragons could not survive the hit with 710mm cannon.
Giselle was thrown towards the ground by the explosion. She could swear, that after she hit the ground, she heard her skull crack open. After shaking herself from the initial shock, she could only look at the smoking crater, in place where her dragons got reduced to atoms.
"Feeling helpless?"familiar, coquettish voice said.
Giselle looked in the voice's direction and saw Rory approaching her, with her trademark smile on her face and her axe on her arm. Behind her, Giselle could see two Resistance dropships, aiming their chainguns at the Hardy's Apostle.
Draconic girl tried to quickly fly away, when it came to her, that she can't feel her wings. And when she looked behind, she was terrified to see, that they were gone. Probably torn off by the hit of the two shells. But before Giselle could do anything else, Rory hit her in the back of the head with the flat part of her axe. She fell on the ground unconscious.
Back with the Third Recon, everyone sighed a sigh of relief.
"Well. I guess, that this is the end."Lean said, sitting on the ground.
"Yeah."Ester agreed.
Yao, Lelei and Tuka came up to the group. Ester looked at Yao, which still had a somber look on her face.
"Yao…"she said.
"We were giving our entire hearts o Hardy…"the Dark Elf said."And why this is the way she repaid us?"
"Probably because she's a bitch."Dora said."And from Rory said, it might be right."
Yao just nodded. She wanted to say something else, when another roar pierced the sky. Everyone quickly go their weapons ready.
"Oh, what now?"Arlette whined.
Her question was quickly answered, when a familiar head of Elecdraco appeared over the top of the volcano. Beast slowly crawled out of the hole and stood on it's edge, eying the area below. It gave another roar.
"Oh, come on!"Anastasia lost her temper."Plasma charges should deal with these shit!"
"I don't even know, what to say!"Aqi said.
Elecdraco certainly did not look as good as before. It lost a large part of it's tail, which was burned off in half. Similarly, large parts of it's skin were missing, revealing what it had under it, in form of some gray substance.
Ester quickly grabbed her radio.
"All units!"she exclaimed."Open fire on the Elecdraco!"
Fighters and dropships immediately listened to her and locked their missiles onto the beast. However, much to everyone's shock, when the missiles reached their target, they simply bounced off Elecdraco's skin and flew towards the ground or into the sky.
"What the hell?!"Ester heard one of fighter pilots exclaim."It just deflected missiles!"
"Shit! What do we do now?!"one of dropship pilots said.
Ester bit her lips. Then, much to everyone's shock, Elecdraco started to walk down the slope towards them. Cold grip grabbed everyone's throats.
Suddenly, Ester felt someone's hand on her arm. She turned around and saw Liz.
"What is it?"she asked.
"Tell them to aim for the parts, where skin was burned away."Liz replied.
Ester gave her asking looks, but knew, that it was not the best time to argue. She quickly activated her communicator:
"All air units, aim for the parts, where the skin was melted away completely!"
Fighters and dropships listened without even talking. This time, they aimed for the said parts of the beast and fired their missiles. Everyone waited in anticipation, looking at the missiles, trailing white smoke behind them and quickly approaching their target.
And then, first one hit. Massive explosion erupted under Elecdraco's right arm, making the beast roar in pain and tearing the arm off. Another missile hit the place, where tail connected to the body, also making it fully fall off. Several other missiles were again deflected by the creature's skin. But one last missile, hit right where it should: in the neck.
It was the last blow at the beast, as with another massive explosion, it's head flew off, rolling down the slope. Rest of the body just collapsed, sliding down the slope, following the head.
Everyone looked at the massive corpse with anxiety, as if it had to come back to life.
"Is it over now?"Emiko asked.
Liz hugged her sister.
"Yes. It's over."the British said.
With that, everyone simply collapsed onto the ground, too exhausted to do anything else.
Later…
Following the death of Elecdraco, Third Recon members, as well as Falmartese, returned to the Dark Elves, where Yao revealed them, why Elecdraco was in there in the first place. Shocked and disgusted, Dark Elves elders declared, that since now, they will not be followers of Hardy. Also, they decided to move to Alnus, to 'live under the protective wing of their saviors', as one of the elderly said.
Resistance soldiers quickly secured the remains of the battle. Giselle was taken into custody after she woke up. Rory was sent back to Alnus with her in form of security. As she said, she would rather watch her herself, instead of allowing some helpless mortals to get killed by her. Resistance soldiers escorting Giselle thanked for her help.
After short rest, Liz took Ester with her. Ester's injuries healed pretty quick, thanks to bone-gel.
"What is it, Liz?"Ester asked, as they passed by a perimeter around Elecdraco's body.
"Well…Have you wondered, why only hitting Elecdraco in parts where it's skin was burned actually made a difference?"Liz replied.
"Sure I would like to know."Ester replied.
The two came up to the giant corpse of the beast. Liz pulled out her gun from it's holster.
"Look."she said.
Next, she pointed her weapon at the Elecdraco and fired several shots. As it was expected, bullets simply bounced away.
"Nothing new."Ester stated.
"I know. But something told me…"Liz replied and hid her weapon.
Instead, she pulled out a knife and came up to the dead beast. She quickly stabbed the corpse and slid the blade down. Beast's skin, surprisingly, was easily cut, what allowed Liz to grab it and bent away, revealing what was under it. And it was something, what made Ester frown from confusion.
"Wait…"she said.
She came up to the Elecdraco and touched what it had under it's skin. And when she did, she came to a stunning realization.
"Metal."she said."This thing is a machine."
"And it's skin?"Liz replied."It's some super-resistant anti-projectile layer."
"How old can this thing be?"
"I have no idea Est. But whoever built it, is probably already gone."
The two looked at the metal corpse in front of them and then looked at each other.
"Liz."Ester said."I think, that this planet just threw some more mysteries on us."
XXX
Well, that was unexpected, huh? Robotic Elecdraco. Now, there are new questions. Who built that thing? How old is it? Why was it here? And what was it's actual goal? Well, these questions will have to be on your mind for the time being.
For now, with this arc dealt with, we are gonna turn to something else. Remember as I said, that there will be more continents in this story except Falmart? Well. In upcoming chapters, we will explore them and see, what's going on around the world. So stay tuned for that.
Until then, see ya!