"Let's do this, guys!"
Right as I finished my sentence, a familiar sight took my view as I was engulfed in a bright light, which, for a moment, blinded and confused me. However, unlike the instance where it transported me here to another world, my party members—Conrad, Faith, and Nickoli—were also with me, all very confused.
I felt a sense of movement for a few more seconds until the light began to dissipate, revealing a familiar but also unknown sight. Looking around, it seemed as if we were transported to another world, one that appeared to be on fire. The sky was warped and red, giving the world a bizarre look, and there were swirling storms in the sky, resembling the big red spot on Jupiter.
The one thing that reassured us that we were not just sent to the bottom layer of hell was the town a short distance away from where we appeared. It was undoubtedly the largest settlement I had seen yet, with multiple larger buildings and a large area covered with buildings, either for commercial or residential use. There was even what looked like a large fence surrounding the entire town, with a gate near its supposed entrance.
Then, I heard what sounded like screams and panic coming from the town. I stopped scanning the area and refocused on what was going on. I turned to the others to see them either frozen or in a small panic, looking around.
"Hey, guys! Sitting around won't make this wave go away. Let's move into that village to provide support!" I declared.
"R-right, sorry. I was just overwhelmed for a moment. Let's hustle!" Conrad said as he raised his axe and began moving towards the town.
Faith followed behind him, and Nickoli hesitated, but after banging on his tank a little, he started moving. While it's optimal for all of us to stick together, Conrad had mentioned that due to Nickoli's slow tank speed, we could split into groups of two if necessary.
As I was at the back of the formation we had set up, I had the unique advantage of being able to call out things in combat so that everyone could hear. However, this also left me exposed to some extent since I wouldn't have any support if we got surrounded or flanked. Hopefully, the mobility skills I had practiced would be enough to get me out of a tight spot if needed.
I hopped on top of the tank to get a better vantage point in case of an attack. It was somewhat uneasy, though, as the tank closely resembled the British Mark I tank used in World War One, a combination of the male and female versions, with male versions having large cannons while females had machine guns. To provide variety, this tank had two side machine guns and a front cannon.
It moved at a snail's pace on mud or dirt, but surprisingly, on a dirt path, it moved almost at jogging speed. As I looked into the distance, I could see something pouring out of the swirling circles in the sky. I couldn't make out what it was, but it probably wasn't good. Conrad and Faith had already reached the town, running at full speed, while we were still approaching, in a rather dangerous spot.
"I can see why they call it the Willowing Fields. We are in a massive field with no cover," I said as I scanned the area.
The town seemed to be built in a massive field, or perhaps they had cleared the area of trees to the point where it was now considered a field. Either way, in modern combat, being out in the open was pretty much a death sentence.
"Can't this thing go any faster, Nickoli?" I groaned as I banged on the top of the tank.
"This thing isn't exactly built for speed!" Nickoli yelled from inside the tank.
"Well, try to. The sooner we finish this, the better," I said as I looked up at the cracked and warped sky.
I glanced back at the town past the gate and saw Faith and Conrad both fighting large beetle-like monsters in front of what looked like a produce shop. I focused on them until their names changed from ? to their proper names.
Inter-dimensional Beetle (Swarm)
Swarm? Like a bug swarm? Also, inter-dimensional? What is that all about? Whatever, I can investigate more once we finish this wave. Faith was outnumbered, fighting two, but she was holding her own. She was rather fragile to attacks, as we had discovered by comparing our stats. She had the highest damage output of the trio of heroes, like a glass cannon of sorts.
I could see why she preferred to fly during battles rather than staying grounded. But we needed to make sure that Nickoli didn't get left behind. Also, the threat of possible aerial enemies attacking her and leaving her stranded was not a great thought either. So far, there weren't any flying or, in this case, buzzing enemies in the sky, but I did see one or two on top of buildings a bit farther into the town.
"Shouldn't you go and help them?" Nickoli yelled from inside the tank.
"Well, sorry that I'm trying to survey my surroundings for enemies, Nickoli. Slow down the tank so I can hop off!" I yelled as I banged on his tank, now starting to hurt my hand as I was just punching metal.
"Fine!" Nickoli exclaimed.
"Just watch out for-"
Nickoli abruptly stopped, and I almost lost my balance as I was standing upright on the tank. Luckily, I was able to catch myself from falling off the front by grabbing onto a bump on the upper part of the tank.
"Are you trying to fling me off?" I said as I let go of the bump and slid off the front of the tank, off the side of the small front barrel.
"Well, I also didn't tell you to get on top of my tank," Nickoli groaned.
"Whatever, just be careful of your surroundings," I said as I ran over to support Faith and Conrad.
While running, I could see more beetles seemingly pouring out from down the street. Wherever they were coming from was probably near the center of town. I got past the gate, which was the entrance to the town, and saw that the place was rather well-kept, especially compared to the village where Conrad was. Even though the red hue in the sky gave it a more ominous and even demonic look.
"Took you long enough. Where the hell were you?" Faith yelled as she was firing the bi-plane weapon form she was using at the beetles.
"Busy going tank surfing," I mockingly said as I turned to face a beetle charging straight at me.
I aimed my Ore Viper Core Revolver and fired two shots, enough to stop the beetle's attack and stagger it. It seemed heavily injured from the looks of it. I was about to finish it off when a bulkier blue beetle came out of nowhere and attempted to ram me. Luckily, I heard its stomping legs and moved just barely out of the way.
However, the beetle did not stop and instead continued rushing forward, past me… straight towards Nickoli! Nickoli noticed it just in time and fired the front cannon of his tank. However, instead of the beetle being sprawled out, it continued unfazed. What the hell was that thing made of? Looking at its name, it sort of explained itself.
Inter-dimensional Beetle (Armored)
"Move, Nickoli!" I cried out.
Nickoli attempted to back up to get more space, but the tank moved way too slowly to do anything. The beetle rammed headfirst into Nickoli's front side; the beetle had a bulging ram piece of sorts on its front side, so I assumed that was its main way of attacking. While Nickoli was not as leveled as me and Conrad, he tanked the attack rather well.
I switched my weapon form to my saber-tooth tiger double-barrel shotgun, and I aimed at the armored beetle that charged at Nickoli. It was completely oblivious to what I was doing, so it was practically just asking to get attacked from behind. However, before I could, I heard what sounded like buzzing.
I looked around rapidly to see that from the roofs, multiple beetles were flying down on us, all of them with the same name.
Inter-dimensional Beetle (Aerial)
"They can fly now?!" Faith exclaimed as she also looked up to see the beetles flying down.
"Don't question it! Just start killing!" Conrad yelled as he leapt up in the air with an axe in hand, attempting to swing at the beetles.
The beetles were surprisingly smart, and they flew up slightly with each swing, dodging them. While Nickoli was still under attack, I needed to prioritize my own safety before I helped others. I aimed my shotgun upwards and fired at the nearest bug that was flying down. While they were still rather high up, they didn't have much health, and even with a good chunk of the pellets missing, they still dropped dead.
I then turned my attention to the next beetle and the next. While my aim had improved a fair bit as I practiced on my own time, the recoil was still horrible. It was probably due to how I handled the weapon and also due to me not being the best at aiming upwards. I just had to do my best.
However, my focus was washed away when I heard the sound of screaming a little to the right of me. I turned to see that the non-flying beetles had decided to focus on trying to break into the buildings where, from the looks of it, animal people were inside.
While I could use this to my advantage and let the beetles do their thing, using the time they were busy with them to focus on the aerial ones, I'm not one to sit idly by and let civilians get killed. While I could justify it as retribution, this also wouldn't help my case in convincing people I'm not a villain.
An Interdimensional beetle was attempting to break down the door of what looked like a shop. There was no window except for one built into the door, which from a distance showed animal people trying to hold the door closed. However, the beetle kept ramming it, along with a number of swarm-class beetles, if I should put it that way, standing around, waiting for the door to break down.
"You guys keep the flying ones off of me. I'm going to help the people trapped in the building," I said as I turned to run to where the building was.
"I'll try!"
"Weren't you going to help us-"
I couldn't hear the last part of her sentence due to me getting farther away, as well as the general chaos around us getting louder. There were a couple of beetles who still tried to attack me, but luckily, Faith listened and shot at them with her turret on her small plane to draw their attention. I aimed my shotgun and fired at the backside of the beetle, to no effect.
"Alright then, plan B," I said as I drew my weapon and used the rope equip effect that I synthesized from the rope pistol.
It shot out from the weapon, and the rope wrapped around the beetle. I tried to pull the armored beetle that was trying to break down the door, but instead, I got pulled forward before the rope snapped when it tried to ram the door.
"Well, damn," I cursed under my breath as I looked at the snapped rope.
However, it looked like my attempt to stop them caught the attention of the normal beetles that were around him as they all turned to face me. There were 3 in total, all green, while the armored one was blue, and the aerial ones were red. Looks like that is a general pattern between them.
The green ones had two large front mandibles which I assumed they used to chew foes up with. There wasn't much variation though; some had larger or smaller ones. Either way, I wasn't going to let them chew me up.
The bigger one lunged forward and attempted to attack me. I backed up and shot straight at its face with my shotgun. Luckily, compared to the armored one, it wasn't super resistant to damage, so its head was instantly destroyed. The remains of the bug splattered on its body, and a few of the juices landed on my leg.
The other 3 saw this and decided to try to overwhelm me so they didn't get picked off one by one. I won't be fast enough to get them all before they get to me, so I shot the first two that were closest to me. One of them also got their head obliterated, and their remains splattered; the other, I shot its body.
I was about to finish them off, but the third one I forgot about in the moment closed the distance and bit my left arm.
"You fucking bitch!" I screamed as I brought down the teeth that were barred on my weapon form onto the beetle's head.
The teeth that were affixed to the weapon impaled themselves in its head as I tried to force it off my arm. I took out the weapon from its head and slammed down again on a different part of its head. Afterward, it loosened its grip on my arm, which I used to pull away, then delivered a quick one-handed shotgun blast to its head.
While the recoil made my hand shoot up, I did not want the thing recovering and trying to bite my arm off. I then turned back to the armored beetle, which was still trying to bust down the door of the building.
My arm was aching from the bite that the beetle delivered, but that was the least of my concerns. I aimed my shotgun back at the armored beetle and shot out the rope once more that wrapped around it.
"I'm not done; this time I'm making sure you stop, WIRE BIND!"
Translucent-like wires shot out from the ground and tied down the beetle, immobilizing it.
"Now then, CRYSTAL SHOT!"
A large crystal manifested in front of my weapon, and once I pulled the trigger, it launched straight at the now immobilized beetle. The crystal was able to pierce the back armor of the beetle, going right through, and it stopped moving.
"Alright, one down," I then turned around to see more beetles beginning to appear around us, "many more to go," I grunted.
I moved to the side of the armored beetle I killed and got closer to the door. I heard panicked voices along with what sounded like crying. I pushed the beetle's body so that I could get in front of the door; there was a large hole in the door where the beetle was ramming as I moved my head closer.
"Listen, I don't know you, and you don't know me. Stay inside and barricade the door more to make sure the
monsters don't get in, got it?" I yelled.
The voices cut off for a few moments after I yelled; I was about to back away, but just then someone responded.
"On it!"
"Great, I'm going to take care of these monsters. Just stay safe," I yelled through the door before backing away and turning to face the wave of monsters still approaching.
While I will admit I dislike people like Jirem and Tibus, random people who are living their lives, even if we don't see eye to eye, don't deserve to get killed if I can do something about it. Once I and the others handle this wave, hopefully, the people of the world won't just try to kill me the second they see me… maybe…
"Alex, we have incoming; get your head in the game," I heard Conrad yell from a distance away.
"Oh right, sorry," I apologized as I readied my weapon again.
The beetle left a mark on my left arm, but I don't think it will affect me too much if I just leave it be. I'd rather save a few of the slow-healing health potions we have for whenever someone gets a really bad injury.
Looking up, the number of Ariel beetles has been greatly diminished; it looks like Faith did her work on them. Speaking of Faith, she has surprisingly not been hit yet, maybe it's due to her high agility stat, which she reluctantly told us about. Either way, she is able to easily dodge and weave attacks by the relatively slow beetles, as it seems they have no ranged attacks, luckily.
Nickoli seems to have dealt with the armored beetle that was harassing him, as I saw what looked to be its remains half blown up. Somehow he seems to be able to finish off the armored beetles in one go, which is weird considering how earlier the shell he fired did nothing, but I have no time to worry about that now as more beetles are coming.
While the shotgun isn't exactly the best, considering its ability to spread damage on large numbers of enemies as well as killing them in one go if needed, I'd rather use it. The beetle that I shot earlier but did not kill tried to rush at me, but a quick shot to its head made it stop in its tracks before collapsing.
"Learn when to give up, sheesh," I scoffed at the now-dead beetle.
That was not the end of the monster's onslaught as I saw two beetles appear behind where the previous beetle was.
"You guys just really want to die, don't you?" I grunted as I shot one in the head, killing it.
The other attempted to jump at me, but luckily, due to its large and cumbersome body, it missed completely as I sidestepped it. Unlike the armored beetles, I can shoot at its side and not have to worry about armor, so I delivered two shotgun blasts at its sides, which was enough to make it stop moving.
It did not end there, as seemingly more beetles emerged from nowhere. Looking past them, it was apparent that we were probably going to be overwhelmed, as dozens upon dozens of beetles seemed to be heading on a direct path straight toward us down the street.
Conrad was holding his own; his axe was sharp enough to chop through the armor of the beetles and kill them in an attack or two. Faith, while she has said she preferred melee combat, she did take our advice of using her turret on her smaller weapon forms, especially in this situation where we seem to be outnumbered. Luckily, most of the beetles seemed to be rather slow to attack, and we only faced 2-3 at a time.
Nickoli was actually faring the best out of all of us, other than the stray Ariel beetle trying to get him, which he promptly shot down with the side machine gun on his tank before they got closer; he was doing fine. He waited in the back and just fired, shooting large clusters of beetles that were trying to form up to attempt to overwhelm us. While the original plan was for me to be at the back, I think in this case, I'd rather have him.
However, things were just getting more and more complicated as the beetles began to stop trying to break into the many buildings and instead focused on us entirely. I was scared since many of the buildings deeper into town were among swarms of beetles, but almost as a collective, they focused on us.
They also began to use the sides of buildings to crawl over, which in combination with the flying ones made it extremely hard to advance forward. If anything, we were beginning to lose ground as their numbers seemed to increase. The armored beetles just stopped trying to attack us entirely and just ran through and rammed Nickoli, which led to him not being able to give support and kill the many groups of them piling up.
Even with the rate of me being able to kill them being rather quick, it almost seemed like for each one I killed, two more appeared from behind it. It's gone to the point where the corpses of the previously slain beetles have become a barrier in that the beetles have to climb over; now it looks like they are scaling a tower of sorts, trying to reach us.
"Guys, this doesn't seem like it's getting anywhere!" I yelled in between labored breaths.
"You don't say? It's almost as if these monsters just don't stop!" Faith yelled next to me.
"Don't we have to kill a wave boss or something for this to stop? We should prioritize taking that thing down!" Conrad grunted as he chopped a beetle's head in half.
"That's the issue; the boss is probably where the source of the monsters is at, which is near the center of town, which we also can't even see anymore!" I yelled back as I shot a beetle, sending it tumbling down the hill made of its fellow fallen beetles.
While the giant swarm of beetles was making it hard to see the town, seeing above them I could see multiple pillars of smoke as well as a thin smell of smog in between the horrid smell of dead bug remains all around me and also stained on my clothing. That, alongside the sound of what I can only describe as buildings trembling or even collapsing, does not paint a good picture of what the wave boss is doing near the center of town.
"Listen, we need to take this boss down, no matter what, as soon as we can!" Conrad heaved as he bashed his shield into a beetle knocking it back.
Technically me and Faith could go fly over and try to take down the boss, but that would leave Conrad and Nickoli to fend for themselves. I'm not even sure what the boss even is, but if it's a boss the beetles will probably also be supporting it. But that really is the only realistic way we are going to be able to get to the boss, as we can't power through them due to our small numbers.
Other than a few people early on who ran past us in a rush at the start of the wave, there has been no sight of any military presence. I would at least expect a small group of guards or a patrol unless they themselves are in a similar situation somewhere else in town or even killed by now.
The wave has been slogging on longer than I expected it to, but it seems like the situation won't change until we get this supposed wave boss.
Just killing the normal monsters won't do us any good, even if they give us tons of EXP; we will get tired, and once we get tired we make mistakes. Making mistakes, unlike in football which might lead to conceding a goal, will lead to death, and I for one don't want to die.
"Alright, I have an idea; it's not the best but we have no better choice. Me and Faith can go fly above the hoard and try to engage the wave boss. Conrad and Nickoli are just going to have to lure the hoard away from the town in hopes of thinning them out near the middle," I exclaimed.
"While the original plan was for us to stick close together, it's not like we have much choice; I have no objections," Conrad grunted as he took down another beetle.
"For once, I also agree, this is getting us nowhere, we have to end this wave as soon as possible, even if it does mean splitting up," Faith Bregrugeley agreed.
"Alright, Faith, we need to use your flyable forms, preferably the fastest one you have. Conrad, begin backing up; me and Faith will notify Nickoli of what's going on as we run past," I yelled as I began to back up more while firing on the multitude of beetles.
"I'll do my best," Conrad grinned as he blocked a beetle rushing towards him with his shield.
"For him being not in his prime he sure does well," I whispered as I ran back from where we were fighting.
We were initially a block or two into town, but we have been pushed back to the few outer buildings just from being overwhelmed. Faith followed me as we came up to Nickoli, who was just spraying his machine guns and cannons randomly into the swarm of beetles ahead.
"Hey Nickoli, me and Faith are going to go try to take the boss down; give Conrad as much support as you can!" I commanded as I banged on his tank to be sure he heard.
"B-but-"
"Listen, we have little time. If needed, turn into your tankette form and get more distance; just try to lure them away if possible," Faith said.
"But are you sure you guys will be able to take down the boss?" Nickoli trembled.
"Either we die to the boss or we die to the swarms of insects. Not that it's going to happen. Just believe in us; we will get this boss, then come back as soon as we can, alright?" I assured Nickoli.
"I'll try," I heard Nickoli gulp from inside the tank.
"Right, Faith, we need more open ground; let's try to take off a little more out of town," I said as I pointed to the road leading out of town.
"Well duh, I can't exactly take off a plane with the threat of the bugs getting us during takeoff," Faith agreed.
As we were running past Nickoli, however, it seemed we might have taken too long as bugs came from the sides of the buildings out of our view. While there were not that many, it was enough for us to stop and ready our weapons. There were 7 in total, me and Faith would have to take down 3 each with one getting an extra to get past.
"Wire Net!"
As I heard that, a net made of wire shot out from Faith's weapon form which wrapped around one of the Ariel beetles and immobilized and grounded it. I forgot we had skills for a second; no point in not using them.
"Wire Bind"
I made my target one of the armored beetles that had begun to run in my direction; it also immobilized it and stopped it dead in its tracks. The other beetles took this as their cue to begin charging at us; however, with their numbers now down to 5, it seemed not as overwhelming.
"Crystal Shot!"
I aimed at the other armored beetle of the group that was running straight at me. However, I underestimated how tired I had gotten with the crystal missing the head and instead lodging itself on the side of the beetle, which did not stop it.
"Shit-"
It did slow down considerably, but I was not prepared nonetheless as the beetle slammed headfirst into me before I could react in time to dodge. It knocked me on the ground as well as the wind out of me as the beetle trampled over me.
I tried to recover after getting basically run over by the beetle; however, I was caught off guard once again as another beetle appeared to have closed the distance and it bit my side. In a pained panic, I lodged the weapon's built-in teeth to lodge the barrel on its body and then fired. While it did make it release its grip, it also sprayed a lot of its remains as it splattered directly on my face for a time or two.
I quickly spat out to just make sure if any did get in my mouth it wouldn't stay. I also quickly wiped my face to get my visibility back. As I was getting the last bit of the yellow blood or the equivalent of it off, I saw from the corner of my eye the armored beetle coming back for round two.
I was about to try to throw my body out of its projected path to dodge it. However, there was no need as Faith used her rope equip effect which wrapped around the beetle, which slowed it down significantly.
"Thanks!" I said in relief.
"Just! Kill! It! Already!" Faith panted as she looked like she was using all her strength to hold it back.
"Right!"
I quickly got closer to the beetle and slammed the fangs of the weapon form onto the head of the beetle. I'd rather not take my chances with the armored ones as it seems like half the time I shoot at them they either go down in one go or they push through and as just happened, they trample.
That's all it took for the beetle to stop moving and presumably die. Looking at Faith's side with all the dead beetles, she handled the ones that were not held down quite easily with no issue. Though it might just be noticing it but she was bleeding from her leg quite a bit, however, I couldn't tell that well due to her robe concealing most of it.
"Looks like you got your side handled," I joked as I jogged over to where she was.
"You could say that, anyways let's kill these that are immobilized then get a move on!" she ordered before the netting that had immobilized the bug disappeared.
She made quick work as a quick barrage was enough to kill it. I turned to the one I held down with my wire ability before I gave it the same treatment I delivered to the last one. By the time I finished, Faith had already run past the town boundary as she seemed to be changing her weapon form.
She has been practicing flying, or so she has said she has been doing whenever not grinding for EXP. I just hope she isn't lying, since I have not had the chance to fly with her. I mean… she is basically flying an old antique from a museum… is getting engine failure something that can happen? What if I fall off and I-
"Hey, are you coming or not?! We have places to be!" Faith yelled, which snapped me back to reality.
"Uh, I think I'm having second thoughts on this plan," I mumbled as I almost completely stopped moving near while next to the Bi-plane.
"What? I can't hear you, just hurry up and get on we can talk on the way," Faith yelled as the engine of the small Bi-plane sputtered to life.
"I don't think this is the best idea…" I whispered as I slowed down to a walk.
"What do you mean? Listen Alex there is no point turning back now, let's get a move on," Faith said as she grabbed my arm and tried to pull me onto the plane.
"But what if I fall out or something? From the looks of it, this thing lacks a seatbelt and-"
I was interrupted by a hard hit to my head but Faith, "Are you hearing yourself?
Are you afraid of flying or something?"
While I did not want to admit it, for the longest of times I have had a fear of being on a plane. Not even just being on a plane just flying or being in high altitude scared me. Even then I'm not really scared of being high up, I'm scared of falling off if anything. I have seen on television as well as Metube videos of planes having failures and then accidents happening, which lead to the aircraft plummeting into the ground into a fiery explosion.
While I have grown more accustomed and less fearful of being in airplanes, mostly due to the high tech that comes along with it that prevents issues like that from occurring as often, I still have my lingering doubts which have not gone away. But that is with the modern airplanes of the era, not with world war-esque planes taken straight out of a book.
I have read about many accidents that have occurred due to engine failures, or how with Bi-planes one tear on the wing might lead to you rapidly losing altitude and consequently dying. The main reason why I have decided to try to drive everywhere I go for long trips unless I have to. Like when I needed to visit family in Florida, my family flew, and I left a day earlier to drive.
"Do you promise me, you won't do anything crazy, please," I pleaded.
Faith gave me a rather annoyed look, but she responded nonetheless, "Listen, I won't do anything that will get us killed okay? I also want to survive this damn wave in one piece, and you dying will just reduce my chances of doing so."
"Well, she at least has logic that lines up there. While she is rather self-centered, she knows that going alone would just be suicide. So there is no reason for her to deliberately try to throw me off into the massive horde of beetles that were in town.
"Alright… I'll take your word for it," I conceded as I looked to see where an extra seat was.
"Oh yeah, I forgot, there is only one seat, so you are just going to have to hang on from the wings," Faith chimed.
"What?"
"Just grab on tight," Faith said as the engine began to roar louder, and the plane itself began to move.
I backed away as the plane began to pick up speed. I could, I really could just let it take off without me, but that would just leave me for dead. Conrad, Nickoli, and the denizens here are relying on me, and even if not for them, for me. The wave has to be ended, If I fall then so what? Maybe the rope equip effect will be enough to catch my fall… yeah…
The plane was picking up speed, but nothing I couldn't catch up to. I began running as fast as I could. Something that luckily applies to the plane forms that Faith has is their slow takeoff; it takes a while for them to pick up speed, even if their actual takeoff speed is rather slow.
I was able to catch to the plane just by running decently fast. However, the next issue was getting on the wing without falling or slipping. Since it was a rather small bi-plane, I would have to be crouched to even fit in between the wings.
"Hey, can you slow down for a quick second?" I pleaded with Faith.
"No can do, you should have gotten on earlier," she responded.
She literally could slow down for one second, and it really won't affect a thing, but whatever. I would need to jump up at high speed while simultaneously grabbing onto the supports on the side of the plane to not fall off. While if this was an actual Bi-plane I would probably be scared of the wing support breaking, it's a legendary weapon, so it shouldn't break… I hope it doesn't at least.
I slowed down a tad bit to try to get a little distance before jumping, though my time was running low as I had to maintain a run to even keep up with the plane now. I was definitely scared; if I messed up I doubt I would be able to catch up again to try again unless Faith slows down. And not just that, but I would also get hit by the wing stabilizers in the back.
I mentally recreated the scene on how I would do it 2-3 even 4 times. But my breath was beginning to labor, and my legs were starting to tire out from running for too long. I was already tired beforehand, but this just makes it worse.
3…2…1… Go! In one swift movement, I jumped up onto the bottom wing of the plane while grabbing onto the support on the side. The plane dropped in speed for a moment, but it soon picked up. The wind as well as the loud sound of the engine, was almost deafening now so close to it.
"Took you long enough," Faith uttered.
The sound of the engine roared louder once again as I could feel the speed of the plane picking up. I grabbed onto the two supports on the front and squatted to try to be as secure as I could be while basically sky walking or plane walking, I forgot the name.
A moment or two later, I could feel the elevation rise as the plane began to rise from the air slowly; the sound of the tires screeching on the cobble and dirt was now gone from the already booming sound of the airplane itself. I increased my grip on the front supports, as the anxiety of me possibly falling increased as did the height of we were at.
"Why so serious? I'll try to be fast if you're going to be trembling that much," Faith mocked.
I hadn't noticed it, but I was visibly trembling. Many things don't scare me, but I feel like it's justified to be scared of flying on an antique aircraft from World War one with a pilot who barely learned how to fly a few weeks ago. That alongside basically being in a warzone just adds to the pile of stuff that I have to worry about.
Faith began to turn the plane, luckily not too fast, to the right. Since we were facing away from the town as we took off, we would need to circle back around in order to reach where we thought the wave boss was, the center of town.
One thing that really confused me was how we were traveling relatively slowly, but the wind was rather loud. Since normally it would make sense for the wind to be loud and booming if you were going fast, but since we were going maybe at a sprinter's speed, I was pretty confused. This might just be a science thing that I don't know about, or maybe just something due to the giant spots of Jupiter plastered all over the sky.
As we finally completed a full turn, which took a while partly due to my being on one of the wings and also due to the rather slow speed. I could only describe what looked like to be a scene straight out of a war movie as the center of town was almost completely leveled.
I wish I was exaggerating, but I was not, there seemed to be dozens of collapsed buildings all around, along with that a giant cloud of smoke and smog in the middle. I guess that only confirms where the source of the monsters is as they appear to emerge from the smoke, as well as where the wave boss is.
"Uh Faith, what exactly is the plan, since I'm fairly certain if we land we are just going to be swarmed," I loudly asked Faith to make sure she heard over the sound of the engine.
"Hm, I never thought that far," she responded sheepishly.
… Well then, looks like I have to be the one to think of a plan. We can't just sit high in the air and shoot at the boss, since the giant cloud of dust, smog, and whatever else is concealing it. That also with the fact with how I lack any sniper rifles which will allow me to shoot super accurately from up high.
And on top of that, I don't even think I can shoot accurately from being on a moving platform high in the sky, so yeah not great. The only thing I can see working is Faith dropping me off on the roof of a nearby building. But then that runs the risk of the boss also destroying the building, in which case I-
"Alex we have incoming!" Faith suddenly yelped as she turned the plane roughly.
"What?!" I panicked as I gripped the support I was holding even tighter.
I looked around to see what she was talking about, and in the distance coming from the giant cloud where the wave boss, I could see a giant swarm of flying beetles heading our direction. What's worse is that there
are a couple of supermassive versions, which while the beetles before were the size of maybe a large dog, those things were the same size or even larger than the plane itself.
I couldn't exactly tell their size or the amount coming, but I knew that us flying into that would lead to trouble.
"Alex what's the plan?!" Faith yelled at me expectantly.
"Uh, if it is possible, you could drop me off near a roof, then I could shoot the wave boss from there," I yelled back hesitantly.
"If you say so, hold on tight," She stated as she began to pitch the plane down.
"Wait, what are you doing-"
"Getting some extra speed," Faith cackled.
We suddenly began to descend quickly, while we were not super high up, it was high enough for us to gain considerable speed while diving down. Below was the street that we were fighting on that led up to the center of town. Faith through some miracle was able to pull up her plane just in time to avoid slamming into the street.
"Are you insane?!" I angrily asked Faith.
"Possibly," she sarcastically chuckled.
Now, of all times, she gets a sense of humor. Either way, the beetles that were flying up followed suit and began to dive down on us.
"Um, Alex, my weapons are only front-facing in this form, so you might need to handle those," Faith said as she motioned at the beetles going down on us.
While I was still hesitant, I knew that while I may risk failing to do so, not doing anything will just guarantee it. I wrapped my right arm around the support of the wing and then held my weapon like I normally do, that way in the case I fall my clasped hands would catch me… hopefully.
I changed my weapon form to the Dire Wolf submachine gun; that way, even if the number of bullets I shoot mostly misses due to the movement of the plane, due to the sheer amount of them a few should hit their target. I peeked my head out and aimed as best I could above us, and then I began to fire burst shots at the approaching beetles.
From the looks of it, however, most seemed to miss their targets, not surprising as my recoil control and aiming were not adjusted to where I was. The few bullets that did hit their mark seemed to have little to no effect on the beetles as they continued their descent.
The closest one that was about to reach us I focused on to hopefully kill, which I did. However, the one behind, it being an extremely large one, did not falter as it tanked all my bullets. Before I knew it, it slammed the top of the Bi-plane, and Faith lost control as the plane began to swerve and turn without direction.
Before I knew it, I was upside down as Faith tried to shake off the beetle from the top of the plane. Luckily, the Dire Wolf Submachine gun has paralyzing poison bullets since the beetle began to slow its movements. However, as we were upside down, the beetle noticed me hanging from the top side, now the underside due to gravity, and tackled me.
I was knocked off the plane and sent flying towards the ground. The beetle tried to attack me even if it began to be paralyzed, but I switched to my saber-toothed tiger and delivered two shotgun blasts to its head, which was enough to make it stop.
"Fucking hell."
There was only so much time to act; I had a little time until I became mush on the ground. I aimed my weapon at a section of a building that was sticking out and shot out the rope from my weapon form to hopefully catch my fall.
I just have to hope, hope that the rope reaches the building. If not… then…
I felt a sudden yank from my left arm as I was being pulled by something rough. My arm was hurting badly from it, but my descent began to slow. However, as I was just about to breathe a sigh of relief, the pulling from the rope continued, until I turned to see myself swinging straight into a building.
I was still moving fast, not as fast as when I was falling but still enough to probably get badly injured if I fully slammed against the building. I couldn't do much in the moments I had, but I know that spreading my body mass and extending the impact as much as I can is my only chance.
It was fast and painful as I slammed through the building wall, the wooden fragments puncturing me in multiple places. I expected it to be cobble, but I guess I could not tell at the moment. Either way, I survived.
It took me a moment to get my bearings as I felt pain across my whole body. Looking at my health, it translated it with me only having half of my HP left. The rope snapped as I went into the building, so I luckily wasn't going to be pulled back out for round two. I painfully removed as many fragments of wood as I could, as well as drinking a healing potion which I had stored in my storage.
I got up and looked at my surroundings; it seemed I was in some sort of witches' lab or something along those lines. While I would love to stay and look around… I have to still go and kill the wave boss. I wobbled back to where I burst through to see an unbelievable sight.
Lines upon lines of beetles just swarming it down the street, at what I assume can either be Nickoli and Conrad or some other survivors. Their numbers were staggering as they went almost like an ant colony, swarming its victim that accidentally stomped on its home.
The giant cloud of smoke and smog up close was not as thick once closer. You could make out faint outlines, and what I saw was something I did not expect. There were some giant monsters of sorts; I couldn't make out what it was, but it was rapidly moving around, destroying buildings and presumably civilians it sees out in the open.
"Well, I'm not going to find out what it is unless I get closer. I just hope this weapon is enough to kill it," I sighed as I leaned out of the building.
I can't go by ground since that is just teaming with beetles; my best bet would be to go on the roofs to hopefully get a better vantage point, even if I have to deal with the flying beetles. I aimed at the same ledge in which I initially shot at to descend my fall, and now I used the rope to pull me up.
I was still unsure of how exactly it worked, but Faith said it's like how she uses her turrets on smaller weapon forms. She just needs to think or imagine it in a sense for it to do the thing she wants. So I sort of will it if that's a way to describe it, to pull me up. I of course also used my free hand to pull myself up as well to help out.
Once I got to the ledge, I needed to connect to another ledge further up to reach the roof, which was closer luckily. After I reached the top, I just needed to pull myself up, which was easier said than done; my upper body strength was rather lacking compared to my leg strength, so it took me a moment.
I had to take a moment to recuperate myself, but once I did, I had to carefully traverse the roofs. Like the ones in medieval Europe, they were all slanted with tiles and such lining the top. So I had to be careful and couldn't run and instead, I had to sort of tiptoe across.
While moving, I looked around to see if Faith was doing well. She was still flying, as I heard the sound of her engine from the left; however, trailing her were multiple beetles, large and small. Due to her slow speed, all she could do is attempt to outmaneuver them to survive.
I wanted to help her, but I think she would agree, well hopefully, that the best course of action is to deal with the wave boss now. I moved into the smog and smoke; it itched my throat doing so, but it wasn't bad enough for me to need a mask or anything. However, I did silence my coughs as best as I could to make sure I didn't draw the attention of anyone or anything.
The sounds of battle could be heard faintly in between the screeching of collapsing buildings and the civilians terrified for their lives. As much
as I wish to help them, there is only so much I can do, stretched out thin, and with barely any support, there is not much we can hope to accomplish, but that does not mean I won't try.
As my eyes adjusted to the smog and dust, I could see clearer, though I still had to rub my eyes every few seconds to make sure it did not blind me. I looked down onto the street to see... People! Not just any, they looked to be covered in some sort of metal, though it was hard to tell as they were all dust-covered, probably from fighting in it for so long.
I couldn't make out their numbers, but it was around 15 or so, judging from their positions; it looked like they were in formation. So that means they are the guards of this place, hopefully. They seemed to be fighting a sizeable armored beetle, with the beetle flinging them backward if they attempted to attack.
I could help them… should I? In situations like these, people's adrenaline is already running high; it might be a repeat of last time, with me being attacked. Though those same people also might be in a position to take any help they can take; it really is a fifty-fifty chance.
My pondering was cut short as I heard what could be described as something clanging. I looked back down at where the people were fighting to see that the beetle had charged forward and subsequently sent a number of the people flying. Now with their formation cut in half practically, they are trying to hit its sides, but to no avail.
"I could… but I also couldn't- You know what, fuck it."
I attached the rope from my weapon form to the ledge of the building, and I jumped down. I left a little rope left to make sure I could use my weapon normally still, and I held the rope with my other hand to make sure I could not lose control of my descent as well as for it not to yank my weapon. I aimed my shotgun at the topside of the beetle and focused.
"Crystal Shot!"
I did my best to really scream out the ability as I meant it; the crystal that manifested was subsequently larger than normal, and I fired it at the beetle. The crystal seemed to have had the intended effect, and it pierced the topside of the beetle, staggering it. I was not done there, however.
"Wire Bind!"
I repeated the same process with saying the skill like I really meant it at the top of my lungs, which from the looks of it made more wires appear from the ground and wrap around and immobilize the massive beetle. I then made the rope detach once I got close enough for me to know that the fall wouldn't hurt me.
I fell down then landed on its backside and simultaneously slammed down on the beetle's topside with the fanged bottom of the weapon form. While normally I would struggle with that for the armored ones, due to my speed and angle, they easily chopped through.
The beetle tried to throw me off, but the wires kept it in place, I changed my weapon form to my ore viper core revolver, and I moved to the front of the bug before firing multiple times. I took 4 shots to the head for the thing to go down, with the exp gained appearing shortly after the 5th.
My legs ached a little from my earlier collision with the building, and the landing was botched, but I was recovering decently well due to the healing vial I used. I was still on edge, though, as the people who were fighting the beetle beforehand were not staring at me.
Unlike the ones in the village when I first arrived, there seemed to be a mix of people who looked alike with animal features as well as those who looked like walking animals. The ratio was unbalanced, but it was still a unique sight to see. Conrad had mentioned before that they don't usually get along.
No one was speaking, and the tension was palpable. At least they didn't see me as an immediate threat since I helped them kill the beetle. I guessed it would have to be me to break the tension.
"Um, are you guys alright?" I hesitantly asked while looking around.
There was no response, but I did see a couple of them nodding in agreement. However, suddenly a voice boomed.
"Identify yourself, interloper!"
"Uh, shouldn't you be identifying yourself first? I did just save you all just now," I questioned.
There was no response for a few moments, but another voice spoke up after.
"We are part of the Klut Garrison, well, what remains of it at least…"
From the way the voice trailed off, I could assume that the rest of the garrison got wiped out or split up.
"Who is the commander, or the highest-ranked person amongst you all?" I asked.
"I am," a muffled voice called out from the side, before continuing, "I am Knight Kazen of the second garrison group."
A person stepped forward for me to get a clearer look at them. They certainly looked the part of a knight, clad in heavy armor from head to toe, their voice muffled by the helmet they were wearing.
"Well, there is no point in lying. They probably can already tell that I lack a tail as people like Conrad have."
"My name is Alex Rodgers, Legendary Hero," I declared as adamantly as I could.
"Legendary Hero…? I have never heard of a Legendary Hero, but I have heard of Mythic Heroes. Are you related to them?" Knight Kazen asked me.
While I wasn't sure of any legitimate connection between me and the Mythic Heroes, I do know we share lots of similarities.
"Something like that, just know I'm here to help put an end to this crisis," I stated as I slid off the side of the dead armored beetle to get closer to Knight Kazen.
Knight Kazen was taller than me by quite a bit; I'm not sure if that's a thing with people here, but most seemed to be six feet or higher. There were murmurs from the others, but I couldn't exactly tell as smog was probably filling up my ears.
"I don't believe you," a similarly armored person said next to Kazen as they pointed to me.
"What?" I asked, slightly dumbfounded.
"You are no hero," they declared as they pointed a familiar-looking long blade at me.
"Calm down, Tibus; there is no way they are not a hero. You just saw them use the sacred arts against the beast bug," Kazen said.
Wait… Tibus…? I remember, wasn't he the one who… yeah, I remember, the one who came and tried to chase me down when we got to the village initially. I thought he was part of the patrol there, but for some reason, he was here, and also in much more armor.
"It's not the first time I have met this Alex; he does not bring anything but trouble. Do not believe them; he even uses the forsaken weapons!" Tibus screeched from inside his helmet.
Kazen stopped for a moment to probably process what he just said. Shit looks like it might be a repeat, as everyone around us also got a little shifty. Looks like I might have to persuade these guys that-
"We have incoming-"
I turned to the origin of where the voice screamed to only see a body flung violently against a wall. The ground also began to shake; I had never experienced an earthquake, but if I had, this is probably what it would feel like as buildings began to collapse all around us. Many of the people moved to avoid falling debris.
"What the hell?!" I yelled in a panic.
"They found us, everyone, battle formation! Hero Alex, I don't know what your previous relationship with Sire Tibus is, but please help us fell this great beast. Please lend us your strength in the sacred arts!" Kazen boomed as he unsheathed two swords from his back.
"What is this great beast?" I yelled back as I readied my weapon.
"Look up," Kazen said as he lined up behind his men and pointed.
I looked forward and up to where Kazen was pointing, and I could make out a looming shadow. As the smoke from the collapsed buildings cleared a little, it revealed something I would never have expected.
Splitter Worm (Boss)
"Is that a giant ass worm-"
The next thing I knew, the aforementioned giant worm literally dived head-first at us. I luckily was able to dodge in time, unlike a few who were closest to the worm and did not have time to dodge and ended up disappearing. Not literally, but other than a large pool of blood and their bent-up pieces of armor, there was nothing left.
"What the fuck?!" I asked dumbfounded as I stared at the pool of blood left over where two people were standing.
"Listen, we don't know either; all we know is that this giant worm thing is fast and strong, but it's big! We lacked proper weaponry to be able to hit it in time and to pierce its tough skin before it dodges, but with your weapon, it should be more than enough," Kazen yelled as he lifted me up from the ground.
"Right," I agreed as I shook my head to get my bearings again.
They then moved away rapidly, I'm not sure why it did not try to finish us off even though it could have, but I'm not complaining. Either way, its sheer size and speed are massive issues; from what I saw, it was maybe around 3 stories high. That's not considering how worms sometimes coil, so it could be even larger for all I know.
The first thing I would need to do is immobilize it somehow. I doubt that the wiring from my skill will be enough to hold it down, so I'll need some help to distract it as well. But if it kills that rapidly I'm also going to need some buffs. Especially due to its super tough skin that looks almost like crystal.
"Kazen, do you have any magic casters?" I asked him.
"Yes, we do, why?" Kazen asked questionably.
"I need buffs, buffs of all kinds, attack, defense, and speed would be optimal," I stated.
"Yes, I know someone; come with me," Kazen quickly jogged over to where a robed soldier was hiding.
He was behind some fallen pillar, probably to make sure that the worm does not find him.
"Hero Alex requires some buffs; please give him some," Kazen ordered before running off to probably check on his other men.
"A-alright, sorry I'm a l-little
shaky," the person stammered as they pointed their finger forward.
In the distance, I heard the sound of something collapsing and crashing. I was not sure what that was, but it was extremely loud, and not too far from here. Everyone seemed to get on edge for a second but then returned to tending the wounded and such.
"Likewise," I responded while rubbing my head.
"Delta Armor!"
"Delta Attack!"
"Delta Speed!"
As he cast the magic on me in somewhat quick succession, I felt lighter, stronger, and beefier if that was a way to describe it. It wasn't by much, but the feeling was still there. Checking my status revealed that my Attack, Defense, and Agility had all increased by a good bit. I guess that confirms that the spell works, at least.
"He's coming for another round!"
Before I knew it, the ground shook once more, and the worm reappeared. This time, it was gunning for me. I don't exactly know how I knew it, but I just knew it was dead set on finishing me off first. I tried to quickly fire the first attack by shooting at the worm. I was able to get one shot off with my weapon, but the bullets bounced right off.
I was given no time to process what happened as I felt a sharp blunt hit throw me across the street and into what I thought was an alley or the remains of one at least. The pain was horrible; it felt as if someone had hit me with a hammer multiple times on the side of my body and my brain. I coughed up some blood that was practically choking me as I rolled to the side and tried to lean against a wall.
Checking my health showed that it was practically near zero. If it were not for the buff that I was given not even a moment ago, I would have probably died then and there.
"Fuck, I don't think I can do anything against... whatever the hell that abomination is!" I hysterically yelled at myself.
I think this is it; the worm is almost invulnerable. Quite literally, my bullets bounced off it. I doubt that armor-piercing rounds will do much, since not even for the beetles did the bullets bounce off! This dumbass menu has to give me something to work with. I began looking, searching for something, anything that would give me the chance to turn the tides.
It quite literally almost killed me one minute ago, and for the others it does. This dumb-ass menu has to give me SOMETHING to work with. Right? I wouldn't just leave me to die, die in a dumb alley, to a WORM of all things…. Right?!
I was shaking, shaking internally and externally. Trapped in another world, with jack shit to use. This horrible world, with almost everyone out to get me. The few that don't only do it for convenience, all of them...
Suddenly, a small light, like the one that showed me where to find basic information, appeared. It was highlighting the help menu. I stared at it for a few moments, unsure of what that meant, but I decided to click it. After that, it led me to the section on power-up methods.
"The hell am I supposed to do with this? I already know my two power-up methods," I spat as I looked at the light.
However, it signaled for me to scroll down on the section, further than I went before.
[(Core) Sharing] Sharing power-up methods among heroes increases the power and effectiveness of all the methods.
[Modifications] M-Points are points that are accumulated from leveling up or from absorbing monster material, which can then be invested into certain aspects of weapon form groups to buff them.
"This whole damn system and world are fucking shit. I legit had 2 more methods hidden under paragraphs of text; I wouldn't have gotten flung around and beat to a pulp, to begin with!" I yelled to myself as I slammed my fist against the stone wall next to me.
Wait a minute, it says sharing the methods among heroes; does that mean I can use the methods of the other two?
Well, it quite literally says that sharing methods with the other heroes increases their power, so there is no reason why it would say that and not allow it. If I remember correctly, Faith's method was skill rank, which if I recall correctly just makes it so that you can allocate points to skills to increase their power. Then Nickolis was EP, which lets him use life energy or life force to power up his attacks.
Suddenly a bunch of new menus opened up in my field of vision. Each of them labeled different things, as well as a new bar appearing below my previous bars. Modifications Menu, Skill Rank Menu. However, right as I was about to check up the search menu to see how they properly work, I could hear the sound of yelling and screaming.
I peered out of the alley to see that Kazen and his men were engaging a large group of beetles that had begun to rush their position. What should I do… I could just run- No! I don't have time to think, I have to help them, and even if not for that, I need to be fast to take out the worm.
I went to the skill rank menu and invested as many points as I could into Wire Bind until it maxed out. Next, I checked out the modifications menu; there were a lot of things to choose from split into multiple categories, but I just went to level up the first few things with M-Points that caught my eye. That being Damage Increase, Recoil Reduction, and Fire Rate Increase.
I then brought out two of the last vials I had on me for healing and chugged them both down. My health was still extremely low; hopefully, this will heal me fast enough. I rushed out of the alley to see what I can only describe as chaos across the street. Kazen's men were being slaughtered as the worm seemed to have also joined the fray.
"Hey, you big ass bugs, over here!" I yelled out.
All the beetles then turned their attention to me, along with the massive splitter worm. Immediately they began to run in my direction; however, this time I was ready. I switched to my Ore Viper core revolver and shot at the first beetle. Surprisingly, even though all the beetles were armored, they went down in one hit. Better yet was that the recoil was not as harsh, not by an extreme amount but it definitely helped.
The worm did not take kindly to this as it then tried to rush me down, but I was not going to let it do that.
"Wire Bind!"
This time, instead of large amounts of thin wire, there were large amounts of industrial heavy wire that wrapped around and tied down the worm. I tried to wiggle through but to no avail; I was not one to waste the opportunity as I ran forward to get a better shot, while my legs were still burning from the constant running and from being hit, at this moment I was overtaken by something else, hope.
I had a chance, I had an opportunity. Not even a while ago I was on the brink of death with no chance, but now, now I was given something to fight with. I aimed my revolver forward and held down the barrel with my other hand. I then began to fire as fast as I could. I wasn't even sure if half the shots were landing but I knew they were doing something as the worm began to struggle even more against the wire.
"Let us help Hero Alex! Men, forward!" I heard Kazen yell.
His men emerged from the rubble and charged at the side of the worm, this time, however, with the worm fully immobilized, they could deliver an actual hit and damage it. I couldn't tell you for how long for it was for a good minute where we were just
firing at the worm while it struggled to break free. My arm was getting extremely tired from the firing but I continued… until it eventually stopped moving. After I stopped, I noticed the number of bullet holes I had left on the worm, with dozens being embedded into its supposed head. I was not aiming for any particular thing but one gem on its front was shot until it cracked practically.
The sky seemed to become clearer, as the haze of red that was over the world went away. Now what was left was only the smoke and fog which covered everything around us. I was panting; I was not sure from what but I was tired. I shook my head to refocus my mind. My mind was just all over the place, with it jumping from thing to thing, to finally being able to defeat the wave boss. But as the smoke settled from the rampage of the worm stopping, I could really take in what it left behind.
Nothing, nothing. The buildings all around us were crumbled and destroyed, with no signs of civilians in sight. I might have been too late; no… right…? I don't know… there were too many things in my head for me to properly process.
"You did good, Hero Alex," Kazen said as he put his hand on my shoulder.
"Do you really think so? I could have come earlier, helped more people, and I-"
Kazen shushed me, saying, "Listen, in battle, you cannot save anybody. I tried, but you just can't. I was also young like you, well, I still am, but I am speaking in a more battle-experienced sense. This crisis was sudden and out of nowhere. With the main group of the barracks wiped out almost instantly, it was up to me to lead them. Was I scared? Yes. Could I have saved more people? Probably, but it would have put the few we have saved in danger. You can only save as many as you can, and while you were not able to save everyone, you saved my life and everyone here's life." Kazen then took off his helmet to reveal a young-looking animal person. "I owe it to you for my continued existence, and I swear that I will not forget it, until my final breath in this realm."
All the rest of his men, besides one, bowed their heads. I guess being overwhelmed was one way to put it, but that is what I was definitely feeling at that moment. I could almost feel a tear starting to form at the very edge of my eye.
"Alex! Are you alright?!" I heard a familiar voice yell a distance away.
"Conrad?!"
Conrad ran up to me and put his hands on my shoulders, "You did it!" Conrad cheered.
He was covered in lots of gunk from bug remains, but it was normal Conrad. Nickoli was following close behind with a trail of blood and guts, as well as a large amount of bug remains on the front of his tank.
"How did you guys not get overwhelmed by the bugs?" I asked in amazement.
"It's a long story I can tell you later… wait, where is Faith?"
I was right! I almost completely forgot about Faith. I remember hearing a crashing sound in between the chaos of the worm attack. I looked around, and since the dust cleared, I could see farther, and I saw Faith's plane crashed into the window of a store. We all ran up to go check if she was alright.
Conrad tried as best as he could to pull her out of the cockpit; other than some cuts on her robe, she seemed fine. He cast Delta Heal on her a few times to make sure she was okay.
"Am… I dead…?" Faith groggily murmured.
"No, you're not," I responded.
"Eugh," Faith groaned as she changed her weapon form into a smaller one, "I assume that we won if you are talking to me now unless we are in heaven or something."
"No, you're not in heaven; if anything, quite the opposite," I joked.
"Whatever, I feel like utter garbage right now," she groaned.
"That goes for all of us, small one," Kazen chimed heartily.
"Well, glad to see everyone in one piece, mostly," I said while taking a quick glance at the various dead bodies lying around the area.
"Right, well, we have a job to do. Now that the crisis is over, it's time for relief and rescue. Let's get a move on!" Kazen signaled to his other men as they spread out.
"What about us?" Conrad interjected.
"You guys are rather peculiar. I'm sure you have questions, and so do I. But first, let's help the people first and foremost, please, I humbly ask all of you to lend me a hand, again," Kazen bowed.
"What do you all think?" I asked the others.
"Of course, why wouldn't we?" Conrad approved.
"I don't even know who half these people are, but I guess since we are already here," Faith shrugged.
"As long as I can rest sooner…" Nickoli mumbled.
"I myself could go for some rest, but as you said we have to help. Let's move, people!"
End of Chapter 16
[Other World Index]
[Spliter Worm]
The Splitter Worm is the wave boss for the first wave, as its name suggests it has a special property, splitting. If the worm is ever cut into two pieces, said two pieces will then act as separate entities and continue attacking. This can happen an infinite amount of times, the only way to truly kill the worm is to destroy a special crystal it has embedded in its frontside, doing so kills it instantly.
Authors Notes:
I hope you all enjoyed this extra-long chapter, I did my best to make the chapter seem exciting and not at all super slow, I hope I delivered! Alex now has unlocked all the methods, but what if he did not? The struggles of battle and the consequences of not having the ability to help others will begin to take a mental toll on Alex, in what ways will this affect him?
I also wish to say that I will upload the next chapter of Locked and Loaded in two weeks. The reason is 1 I want to give myself a small mental break before starting on a new section of the story. 2 I want to rewrite some of my earlier chapters to fit with the style I have now. Anyways, please be sure to come back next next week for more Locked and Loaded in Another World!
MWP Server: Dis co rd. gg / Bu ha 9 Qa Kz W
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[Data Expunged] Transcript:
"We have just received unconfirmed reports from Klut Town that a disaster has occurred."
"I have no idea why you're bringing this up to me, just tell them to handle it on their own, it's not my fault they want to say desegregated."
"But Sire, this is of utmost importance, this is something never before seen in the history of the world."
"Whatever it is can wait, there are more pressing matters at the moment."
"But Sire, there are reports of large amounts of monsters appearing-"
"Just send the closest legion over to handle it, don't bother me with nonsense like this, especially now."
"..., Yes sire"
"Great, now leave here at once, I already have the imperium breathing down my neck I don't need more stuff to worry about."
"Yes Sire"
Date Recorded: [Data Expunged]