(For visual clarification, the city that this is taking place in isn't *that* large, so even its tallest buildings aren't *that* tall. You'll see why this is important.)
While the situation with Mary and her father was unfolding, a second, very different party was making its way towards the monsters' staging ground as well. Lugging along the large rocket launcher that they had found, Ib and Garry needed to take extra care not to be seen, dodging to the nearest hiding spot at the first sign of patrolling monsters. Nor did they dare use the rocket launcher in self-defense; it would waste what little ammunition they had been able to find and possibly give away their intentions. All of this slowed their trek down significantly.
Despite these difficulties and more than one close call along the way, Ib and Garry eventually reached the area surrounding the museum and aerial barrier. Peering out from behind a corner, the two of them surveyed the monsters' staging grounds. The gallery itself was in ruins; apparently the monsters were not too concerned about the actual building. Still, it was under heavy guard, and every so often a new monster would trickle out of it. Besides the museum stood what could only be described as a giant, glowing abstract painting. After looking at it for a moment, Ib and Garry realized that it was a modified version of the Fabricated World painting, adjusted for a more doorway like frame. It was clearly a portal of some sort… yet no monsters seemed to be coming from it, at least not yet.
Finally, Ib and Garry turned their attention to the building that the aerial barrier was emanating from. It was an office building about fifteen stories in height. They still couldn't see what exactly was producing the actual barrier due to their poor vantage point, though. A dozen or so headless statues guarded the building. Confronting them would be suicide. However, not too far away stood another building of similar height, and just as Garry had suspected, it appeared completely unguarded. This building would play the key role in what they had in mind.
The pair's plan was fairly simple. Evading detection from the statues guarding the aerial barrier and any other monsters they might see, Ib and Garry would make their way to this unguarded building, climb to the highest level, or better yet the roof, and then use the rocket launcher to disable or destroy whatever apparatus was projecting the barrier. In doing so, they could thus leave Guertena's entire army vulnerable to airstrikes.
All of this was assuming, of course, that they would be able to make it to the building and then score a direct hit. The scheme was much easier said than done.
Before the two of them could act, a group of monsters suddenly turned in the pair's direction. Panicking, Ib and Garry ducked back behind the wall and hid in a large doorway, praying that they hadn't been spotted. They listened with a growing sense of dread as they heard the monsters start to move towards them. The sound of them approaching grew louder and louder. Preparing for the worst, Garry loaded the rocket launcher and raised it up, hoping to take at least a few of Guertena's creations with him if they attacked.
Yet to his and Ib's surprise and great relief, the monsters simply passed right by their hiding spot, seemingly unaware of their presence. The two of them peered out from the doorway and saw the monsters continuing away from them. Ib and Garry realized that they must be reinforcements headed for the front lines. Of course! How had they not thought of that? Shortly afterwards, they heard another group march past them.
Still, this posed a problem. In order to continue, Ib and Garry would need to cross the path of these departing reinforcements, and they could not take any chances of being seen. They took several minutes to figure out the pattern of how and when the reinforcements left, and when the moment seemed right, they dashed across to the other side of the street. Ib's heart dropped into her stomach when she thought she saw a departing mannequin head begin to turn, but the two of them reached the safety of the other side just in time to avoid being seen.
From there, Ib and Garry made their way over to the building they intended to use without much incident. After double checking the area for more monsters, they found an open door and slipped into the battle-scarred structure. It appeared unoccupied. The inside of the building was dark and cold. Realizing that they couldn't use the elevator given the lack of power, Ib and Garry resigned themselves to having to take the stairs to the top level and began the arduous journey up. They trekked up one flight of stairs after another, trying to make as little noise as possible and resting only when absolutely necessary. Even now they could not be sure the building was as empty as it first appeared.
Finally, they reached the top. To their delight, they found that the building had roof access. From there, Ib and Garry saw their target directly for the first time. The barrier was being produced by a large, purple, crystalline structure that gave off a faint glow. It looked like it had simply been mounted there to take advantage of the building's height, without any regard for how well it fit with the original structure. There were absolutely no monsters guarding the top of the building; Guertena apparently presumed that they would be unnecessary.
All Ib and Garry had to do now was fire the rocket and pray that it would find its mark. They had two pieces of ammunition: the one that was already loaded into the rocket, and a spare one they had managed to scavenge back at the battlefield. To blunder twice would not be an option.
Garry began to settle into a suitable firing position. As he was doing so, Ib asked, "Have you ever handled something like this before?"
"No," Garry replied sheepishly.
"Do you know what the range of this thing is?"
"No."
"Do you know how to use it?"
"Well… I've seen it in movies… and I think I've figured it out. Don't worry, Ib." Garry settled back into his firing position and resumed aiming. In reality, he was just as unsure as Ib was.
All of a sudden the two of them heard a deep, booming thud in the distance and felt the ground shake a little. It was followed by another, slightly louder thud, and then another, louder still. Garry lowered the rocket launcher as his heart began to race. Staring at each other in horror, he and Ib realized that the thudding noises were actually footsteps. Something very large was headed their way.
Paralyzed by fear, Ib and Garry began to tremble as they tried to figure out what to do. With every passing moment the booming footsteps came closer and the shaking they produced grew more intense. Part of them wanted to flee the building and run, but doing so would only expose them even more to danger. They briefly thought about trying to attack whatever was approaching with the rocket launcher, but they guessed that this monster was probably much too big to bring down with one or two small rockets, and firing would give away their position. They dared not even peer over the edge for fear of being seen.
By this point, the footsteps were almost deafening, and each step seemed to create a minor earthquake. Whatever was producing them was almost at the building Ib and Garry were on top of. It was too late for them to do anything other than hide in place and pray that it hadn't detected them. Beginning to fear the worst, they listened in silent dread as whatever this monster might be reached the front of the building. The two of them held their breath. Moments felt like centuries.
The booming footsteps simply passed by their perch, without stopping or even slowing down. Whatever monster was producing them, just like the departing groups of reinforcements had been, appeared to be completely unaware of Ib and Garry's presence. The pair listened as the thunder-like thuds began to grow quieter and quieter as the monster moved away from them, and they felt an immense sense of relief. For the second time that day, the two of them had escaped detection right when all seemed lost.
Garry decided to wait on the rocket launcher until whatever monster this might be was farther away. When footsteps finally sounded distant enough, he picked the weapon back up and resumed aiming, his mind returning to the main task. His palms began to sweat. As he had admitted to Ib, Garry had never handled anything like a rocket launcher before. He also realized at that moment that even though he had managed to find a spare round should the first one miss, having to fire a second round would greatly increase their chances of being caught. The more he thought about it, the more he saw that for all intents and purposes, he needed to succeed on the first try if he wanted a decent shot at survival.
When he finally felt ready, Garry took a deep breath and pulled the trigger.
The rocket shot out of the launch tube with a tremendous blast and sailed off towards the target.
It hit! The rocket struck the crystalline structure head-on and exploded, and the entire thing shattered like glass. The purple barrier above Ib and Garry vanished instantly, and for the first time in days, the sky appeared its natural color. The aerial barrier was no more.
Ib and Garry had no time to celebrate, though. It dawned on them that they hadn't fully thought through an escape plan. They needed to get out of the building immediately, before the monsters might cut off their escape. The two of them raced down the flights of stairs as fast as possible. Even at full speed, though, the descent took several, painfully long minutes. Every passing moment seemed to lower their chances of coming out alive. All Ib and Garry could do was hope it wasn't too late and continue running as fast as they could.
Finally, they reached the ground floor and bolted out the exit. To their surprise and relief, the statues guarding the aerial barrier building were in disarray, seemingly unsure whether to remain in place, brace for further attacks, seek out the attacker, or prepare for imminent bombardment. Amid the confusion Ib and Garry darted out of the area. As they ran farther and farther away, a sense of achievement washed over them. No longer were they merely reacting to a hostile world in a frantic effort to survive. More so than ever before, they felt like they had control over their own destiny. The sensation was empowering. They –
The two of them suddenly stopped dead in their tracks. They found themselves in the shadow of something colossal. Towering before them was a giant, golem-like entity that resembled an immense, vaguely humanoid abstract sculpture come to life. It was by far the biggest monster they had ever seen, dwarfing even Red-Eyes. Gulping, Ib and Garry realized that this must have been what was shaking the ground before.
It turned around.
It looked down at them.
It released an ear-splitting roar and then began advancing towards the pair.
Panicking, Garry hurriedly raised the rocket launcher up and fired the second round at the monster. The rocket shot through the air and smashed into the monster's upper body. To Ib's and Garry's horror, it only left a black mark and several minor cracks. The monster bellowed in rage and raised one of its massive arms to crush the two humans. Ib and Garry darted out of the way just in time as a club-like fist smashed into the place they were standing a second ago. The impact shook the ground so hard that Ib and Garry struggled to keep their footing.
The two of them began running for their lives. The monster took off after them. Ib and Garry began to panic as they heard its booming footsteps catching up with them. Despite its size the behemoth proved surprisingly swift and easily capable of outrunning them. No matter how hard Ib and Garry ran, it always seemed to gain on them. They tried weaving through narrow alleyways where the monster couldn't fit, but even then the monster would always somehow catch up.
Before long the behemoth was in striking distance. It again raised its arm up and tried a second time to crush the humans, again just barely missing. This time though, the power of the impact was such that it almost knocked Ib and Garry down. Garry was able to keep his balance, but the shock-wave caused Ib to lose her footing and fall down. Garry watched in horror as the monster raised its foot to stomp on his companion, but Ib was able to get up and scramble out of the way just in time to avoid being squashed. It then tried to swat at her but missed again. The chase resumed.
Realizing they had little hope of outrunning the monster directly, the two of them ducked into another alleyway and this time tried to hide in it, knowing the monster couldn't fit there. From inside the alleyway, they saw the behemoth stop and heard it roar in frustration. For a moment, they felt they had escaped the immediate danger.
All of a sudden there was a loud crashing noise from outside the alley. Small bits of masonry rained down from the side of the alleyway. Then there was another crash, and more, larger pieces of debris rained down. To their horror, Ib and Garry realized that the monster was trying to destroy the structures that formed the alleyway so that the debris would bury the two of them alive. The behemoth struck the building a third time. "Garry, watch out!" Ib shrieked as she saw several large chunks of concrete falling towards them. The pair scrambled out of the way as the giant pieces of debris smashed into the place they were standing a second ago. Realizing they couldn't hide in the alleyway, Ib and Garry began to run away from the behemoth towards the other end of the alley. Seeing this, the monster grabbed a chunk of masonry and hurled it down the alleyway towards them. Crashing into the ground, it bounded towards Ib and Garry, but they were able to make it out of the alleyway and turn a corner just in time, getting out of the debris' way at the last moment.
The chase continued for another minute or so. Turning a corner, Ib and Garry found that they had hit a dead end. The paths they could have escaped through were blocked off by rubble. Turning around, they saw the behemoth advancing towards them. They were trapped. The monster slowed its pace down, as if to relish the moment. Several smaller monsters appeared as well, seeming to keep a careful distance from the behemoth. All of them drew closer and closer. This time it really would be the end. Ib and Garry embraced each other out of fear and prepared for death.
All of a sudden, a missile slammed into the behemoth's back and exploded, seeming to take it by surprise. Astonished and feeling a strong sense of déjà vu, Ib and Garry looked up and saw a fighter jet streaking off in the sky. It was the military! It was just like the first day of the invasion with the gargoyle and the attack helicopter! In a moment of elation they realized the military was already taking advantage of the aerial barrier's sudden disappearance. The jet doubled back, fired another missile that struck the behemoth in the shoulder, and strafed the smaller monsters with machine gun fire, sending them scattering. Roaring in pain, the wounded behemoth ripped off a piece of masonry from a nearby building and hurled it after the jet, but by that point the plane was much too far away. Another fighter jet flew in and joined the attack.
Seizing the opportunity, Ib and Garry ran back towards the distracted behemoth and ducked underneath its legs as it tried in vain to swat at a third missile. Bits of stone and metal rained down from the monster onto Ib and Garry as the missile exploded. The two of them bolted as more planes came in and as the airstrikes slowly began to bring the behemoth down.
All around them, Ib and Garry saw more airstrikes beginning to take place. Fighter jets and ground attack craft swooped down and strafed and fired missiles at critical areas of Guertena's forces. The monsters had depended fully on their aerial barrier for protection and were now completely unprepared for what was happening. Several gargoyles flew up to try to intercept the fighter jets, but they were completely unable to keep up with them and were quickly shot down.
One of the airstrikes struck the now-exposed Guertena Art Museum itself. The blast collapsed the structure, destroying Guertena's control orb. Instantly the monsters' command and control system disintegrated, and coordination between them fell apart. Most of them tried to fight on anyway, but between the airstrikes and the loss of the command structure, their positions began to crumble. A growing number of them began to rout and retreat back towards the large portal that they had only just finished for the behemoths.
At long last, Ib and Garry could see the light at the end of the tunnel! At long last, it seemed at the moment, their ordeal was finally drawing to a close.
(Several things I want to note here. First of all, for someone who saw humans collectively as the enemy as vehemently as he did, Guertena appears unprepared for the actual possibility of guerrilla resistance. Regardless, I feel sort of bad for bringing this phase of the conflict to such an abrupt end, but it needed to be done in order to advance the story, and I felt like I needed to give Ib and Garry some agency in the outcome. Finally, just to be clear, this story isn't over yet. We're past the halfway mark, but there's still more coming.)