Chapter 36
The Chase
Alexander North
I sprint as quickly as possible before sending a glance behind me, just for a notice to pop up after the large wolf turns the corner to continue its chase.
/ Notice \
Exterior energy source above threshold located.
Energy source identified as a Frozen One with an energy level of 1.58.
\End of Notice/
Yeah, I know ter- wait a second. Is it just me, or does it have a higher energy level now than it had before?
I put that realization to the back of my head as I continue running until eventually coming across a door and looking back once more. This time, I see the wolves that were with the large one following behind it, along with Cynthia who quickly makes her way across the intersection with a nod in my direction.
So far so good.
I slam the door in front of me open before closing it again and rushing to the back of the room. The room itself is full of dozens of different workout machines, along with more workout equipment and even some obstacle courses in the back, which are what I'm currently making a beeline for.
But before I can reach it, I hear the door smashing open again, followed by a large tremor going throughout the entire room as I'm assuming the large wolf slams into the wall in order to break it down and fit through. The first tremor is then followed by a second one just seconds later, along with a crashing sound which I can only assume is the wall collapsing.
I keep myself from looking back though as I leap much higher than would've been possible before turning into a frost infused onto the middle portion of one of the obstacle courses. This portion is a large tower that people are meant to climb up, but I just skipped most of the climb and immediately went to a spot about three fourths of the way up before finishing the climb and looking back down to see the wolves rushing over and coming to a stop at the base of the tower while growling.
The large wolf slows down as it approaches the tower, of which the other wolves are just circling. So I let out a faint sight of relief.
Just for the large one to raise its head and howl, following which a puff of white mist leaves its mouth.
Uh... that doesn't look like a good si-
A jet of icy mist shoots out of the wolf's mouth straight towards me, making me stumble backwards before it goes right over my head to freeze the top of the obstacle I'm standing on solid. But it doesn't stop there, as despite it being frozen already, the mist continues hitting it until I begin hearing cracks, followed by the metal making up the ceiling of the obstacle shattering and falling down.
That's just unfair.
I can't help but think this as I'm rolling around to avoid all of the sharp bits of metal falling from above.
The large wolf doesn't seem to care about my plight though when it jumps forwards and slams its body into the obstacle, making a ripping sound occur before the entire tower begins to tilt slightly. But by the time all of the shards are done falling and I've regained my balance, the tower is already back to standing straight again. So I approach the edge of it to look out at the monsters, just to see the large wolf rearing up to charge at it again.
I narrow my eyes before grabbing a throwing knife and tossing it straight at the large wolf before it begins its charge, striking it directly in the shoulder and making it let out a short yelp. Despite that though, it continues on with the charge and rushes at the tower.
This time the tower leans over further, exposing the damage where the wolf apparently ripped it off of the floor somehow right before I find myself gripping to the tower again. Fortunately for me, the tower still doesn't lean far enough and lands back down. On one of the small wolves.
I can't help but gape at the splatter of blood from down below.
The wolf's death isn't what surprises me. It's that the wolf literally jumped in at the last second as if wanting to die.
But one thing I can tell is that the tower seems a little lopsided now even though it's not wobbling.
Was that it's goal? Suicide so that it can help the large one knock down the tower?
If I remember correctly, these training towers are made of much sturdier and more balanced stuff than the interior walls strictly because they're used so much. It's to make sure they last a long time and to make sure that they never fall over or anything. Which explains why the large wolf can break through a wall but not this tower.
The large wolf begins to back up again, but this time with the two remaining smaller wolves. They then all begin to tense up, as if all three of them are about to charge the tower at once this time.
Oh shit.
I quickly grab my other knife and ready myself to throw it, only for the wolves to burst into a sprint towards the tower, making it too late.
So I jump from the tower to the next obstacle of the course, which is high up in the air hanging by a couple of thin, and seemingly rusty chains. Why they're rusty now when they weren't the last time I was here, I'm not sure. Two possibilities do come to mind though.
The chains on the swinging platform squeak after my landing, but the noise is completely drowned out when the tower that I had just jumped from falls and smashes into the ground, crushing some of the other obstacles in that direction.
I wince at the noise before looking back at the wolves to find them slightly disoriented – likely from slamming into a thick metal tower. The large wolf does manage to recover quickly enough, and I can't help but notice that the knife that was in its shoulder isn't there anymore and that its wound is healing.
Are you kidding me? Of course, this one would be a regenerative one. I purse my lips at the large wolf, who also raises its head to stare at me. Just how am I going to deal with you?
After a few seconds, my gaze turns to the chains on the platform I'm
standing on.
Maybe that'll work?
Chapter 37
A Fight of Obstacles
Alexander North
The large wolf lets out a loud howl before beginning to build up icy mist in between its jaws again.
I narrow my eyes at it before deciding why not try and tossing my remaining knife straight at its mouth, piercing straight through the icy fog that hadn't built up much yet. The wolf lets out a loud yelp while falling to the ground.
Huh. That worked out better than I'd expe-
The wolf raises its head again and opens its mouth despite the knife piercing its tongue before shooting out the pulse of icy mist at me.
I quickly grab the rusty chains before swinging the platform and myself back and forth for a second. But all this manages to do is make most of the icy mist hit the edge of the platform while the rest continues and hits me directly in the chest, pushing me back and almost off of the platform. But my grip on the chains is enough to keep me on, and my armor blocks a large portion of the attack. Before crumbling of course.
"They really need cold-proof armor..." I mutter to myself, only to notice that the skin over my chest has frozen over ever so slightly. Not enough to hurt me, but just the fact that it was frozen by that breath at all confirms my thoughts from before.
It looks like if a frozen one or frost infused is hit by the ability or even just the claws or strike from another frozen one or frost infused, it affects them more than a regular weapon or attack would. Even though most frost infused and frozen ones have a pretty good immunity to ice and the cold, which should theoretically include their abilities.
I first noticed it when I was using my claws to fight against wendigos instead of a sword. Whenever I cut them with the sword, the wound healed almost the instant the sword left it, unless of course I cut through their heart
or brain. But when I cut them with my claws, the wound wouldn't heal. Or at least it wouldn't heal at their supernatural speed.
Which means... I turn my attention towards the large wolf, who is currently breathing heavily and glaring up at me.
I might just have to go down there to fight it face to face in order to kill it.
After, of course, I drop a platform on top of it.
With that thought in mind, I glance down at the edge of the platform where the creature's breath hit, only to find parts chipping off due to the breath attack. I then turn my gaze to the chains, which are still squeaking like crazy.
Okay, this might work.
I climb back to my feet since I had lost my footing due to the breath attack before tightening my grip on the chains and beginning to swing my weight forwards and backwards until the momentum feels like it's enough. After that, I let go of one side to draw my sword while still keeping an eye on the large wolf, who seems to be catching its breath.
Then I pierce the sword straight into the links of the most worst-off portion of the chain, shattering it in the process before quickly spinning around and slicing through the other chain and jumping off of the platform at its highest point.
Please work. Please work. Please work.
As soon as my feet touch down on another platform, I turn back around at the sound of a crash and a yelp to find the platform having landed on the back side of the large wolf at an awkward angle.
It almost missed, but it got it.
Without wasting any time, I jump from the platform onto a neighboring pillar before using it to jump again down to the ground – which is absolutely not the way you're supposed to get off of this obstacle course. I then sprint over to the large wolf, who is trying to get up while leaking pale blue blood everywhere and glaring at me with obvious hatred in its eyes.
I ignore that though to bring my sword up, just to end up jumping into a roll again when it first a much shorter and weaker beam of icy mist at me before I immediately get back up to my feet and closing the distance between us.
Right when I'm about to reach the wolf though, one of the smaller wolves – whom I had completely forgotten about – rushes over and tries to tackle me. But I manage to avoid it at the last second before kicking out at its back and using the momentum of the kick to press me forwards, closer towards the large wolf.
Where I finally manage to bring my sword down straight into its head, right between the eyes.
Only for it to not pierce all the way into its brain.
"Well shit," I mutter directly into the pain-weary and glaring eyes of the large wolf.
Then I feel a large pain in my gut that sends me tumbling several meters away, followed by another pain from the back of my head when I hit a nearby pillar.
I don't let it keep me down though, and immediately begin pushing myself to my feet as I feel my regeneration beginning to heal my wounds, which I find surprising considering that the ones on my torso were caused by the large wolf. But I don't dwell on it and begin rushing back to the large wolf who is still trying to free itself from the platform.
Once I get close enough, I pull my fist back and let out a shout of exertion while bringing it down on the hilt of my sword, shattering the hilt in the process and pushing the blade through its brain, making the hateful eyes of the wolf go dark.
Then everything falls silent, with the only other remaining sound being that of the other two wolves trying to get up but failing.
But even those don't last long, as after I finish healing, I stomp on their heads a few times to destroy their brains. Which works better than I'd expected, even though I already knew these wolves were weaker than myself by a fair chunk. Not including the large one, which was a decent chunk stronger.
I look around the area for a few seconds before eventually falling onto my back and letting out a sigh of relief.
That was tough.
Chapter 38
Symbiont Storage
Alexander North
I lie on the ground for what must be three whole minutes before sitting up. And feeling my helmet begin to shatter in the process, leaving my head bare.
Great. Just great.
I rub my eyes for a few seconds as I imagine the looks on the civilians and even the soldiers' faces whenever I regroup with them and Cynthia.
This'll be a pain.
How did my helmet end up shattering anyways? Didn't it just get slammed against the wall along with me? How did that lead to it shattering?
Oh, whatever. I guess it doesn't really matter.
I feel the back of my head before removing my hand after not feeling any pain, just for my gloved hand to come back sticky with my pale, bluish- red blood.
Yuck. I wipe the blood on the dead wolf's white fur before getting up again and turning to the wolf.
Time to absorb their energy.
I flip the creature over to expose its chest, where the energy is circulating, before placing my hand there and feeling a massive flood of energy enter my body, followed shortly by a surge of power. This ends up taking much longer than any other energy absorption has so far, and by the end of it, I find that I'd fallen to my knees without even realizing it.
/ Notice \
The following user statistics have updated: Strength: 1.71 - 1.80
Agility: 2.00 - 2.10 Energy: 1.80 - 1.84
\End of Notice/
After reading through the changes, I mutter, "Body Analysis," to pull up my current body's status.
/ Current Analysis of user Alexander North \
Strength: 1.80 Agility: 2.10
Reflexes: 1.83 Constitution: 2.09 Immunity: ? Senses: 1.94 Energy: 1.84
Body Malfunctions: ?
Error: Cannot determine Immunity or Body Malfunctions of user's current species.
The average of a human being without a symbiont is a 1 across all stats.
\End of Analysis/
That's good. My strength was beginning to lag behind a bit behind the others.
I clench my fist for a second before glancing at the other two wolves – ignoring the third considering its current form as a paste on the ground, completely lacking any energy to speak of.
After absorbing the energy from the rest of the wolves, it doesn't take me long to get back to the storage unit, where Cynthia quickly unlocks the door and pulls me inside before locking it again and looking out. But after a few seconds pass, she looks confused and turns to me without her helmet on for some reason.
Understanding the meaning of the look, I just shrug and state, "I killed the thing," before turning around to look at the storage unit. Which is rather large despite the fact that this storage room is only used for symbionts.
"You killed it?! How!" I hear her practically shout as I'm looking around the room. The room has about twenty five large, metal containers spread throughout the room facing each other leaned up against opposite walls. They each have a small, likely bulletproof glass square at the center
of the cube-shaped containers with a red glow shining through them from the symbionts. Meanwhile the symbionts themselves shine an eerie red, with them appearing to be nothing more than an amorphous glowing blob of blood.
"I led it to the training room and took advantage of the obstacle course," I give her a quick explanation while looking through the room for the others, just to notice one of the civilians poking their head out from behind a container closer to the back of the room. They then quickly retreat with a squeal the moment they meet my monstrous eyes.
Guess that's to be expected.
A few seconds later, the two soldiers walk out, with the private having his sword unsheathed and the sergeant tightly gripping his own sword's hilt. Both of them have their eyes trained on my own and are practically dripping with fear.
"If you couldn't tell, I'm one of those frost infused that were mentioned in the emergency announcement," I tell them before starting forwards.
Surprisingly, neither of the two soldiers look openly hostile, but they do tighten their grips on their weapons as I approach, only to look vaguely surprised when I ignore them to focus on the container directly in the center left of the room.
This should be it...
On the way back here from the training room, I forgot that dad never told me how to reveal the executive stairs. So I called him and asked.
I put my finger on the center of the glass before trailing it along to the right edge of the center and then counting the stripes running across the cube until I reach eight where I push on a hidden button that has an unlatching noise sound from beneath the container.
"There we go," I mutter, only to glance at Cynthia and wave her over.
Not sure if I have enough strength to move this. Although just in case I do...
I grab both edges of the container before lifting it up with the muscles in my arms, legs, and back, and surprisingly it actually does lift. So I move it slightly to the side and place it down again with a grunt.
Guess I'm stronger than I thought.
I really should go ahead and find a good way to test my strength and other physical capabilities every time I absorb energy. Because it'll be a
pain if I can't gauge my own abilities.
Once Cynthia gets here, I just wave her off and mutter, "Never mind.
Don't need help after all," before moving to the side of the container and pushing it to eventually reveal a trapdoor beneath it.
"There we go!" I exclaim with a huff while instinctively raising my arm to wipe off sweat, only to realize that I'm not sweating.
Huh. Not sure if I'll ever get used to that.
I look up to see the two soldiers staring at the trapdoor, meanwhile Cynthia is just giving me a funny look with her helmet held underneath her arm.
"Here's the stairs," I tell them the obvious to snap them out of their stupors. "Shall we head up?"
Chapter 39
Status of the Hangar
The top of the staircase to the Hangar
The lieutenant colonel stands to one side of the door-less frame leading into the hangar while the two majors stand on the other side of it and over half of the soldiers from the bunker crowd around the stairs with swords in hand, leaving only the bare minimum number of soldiers back at the bunker to look over the injured.
Artorius raises his hand before peeking his head out of the doorway and then waving it while rushing out into the hangar command center, following which the majors immediately join him, and then the captains all follow after that with the symbiontless soldiers coming shortly after them. But what greets them all sends a wave of shock through every last one of them, starting with the major who is the first one to see the enormous tunnel dug straight through the wall of the hangar and into the earth outside of it. And more particularly, the large eggs filling the tunnel, along with the strange glowing blue worms crawling through it, each spanning over a foot in length.
"The large one must be reproducing," Major Vaugns quietly states while kneeling down close to the windowpane overlooking the hangar, which is now void of any aircraft.
The lieutenant colonel nods his head in agreement before focusing on the nearly barren hangar below them. There isn't a single monster in sight outside of the worms in the tunnel, nor are there any humans or even corpses lying around.
'Looks like the large one cleaned up before it left,' Artorius thinks, only for his attention to be drawn by the quiet sounds of footsteps entering the hangar. Footsteps belonging to one of the monsters coined a wraith by Alexander.
Artorius raises his hand to stop any of the soldiers from speaking or making any sounds at all as all of the captains had already arrived next to
them at the windowpane and can clearly see the creature. He then just sits by and watches it as it moves through the hangar.
Several seconds pass in silence before anything happens. To the point that some of the soldiers behind the higher ranking officers begin to show signs of confusion. But out of nowhere, a loud crashing noise echoes through the hangar, followed by the sight of a swarm of worms rushing out of the tunnel seemingly in a tide of glowing blue light before swallowing up the wraith and heading straight back for the tunnel again.
The silence then returns after each of the worms finish reentering the tunnel.
None of the higher ranking officers say anything for nearly ten whole seconds before the lieutenant colonel says, "Let's retreat for now. We'll need to come up with a way to deal with those wor-"
The man is interrupted by an incredibly loud roar echoing throughout the entire floor, startling everyone in the process. Then, immediately after the roar, a loud screech echoes through the tunnel, followed by another wave of worms rushing out of it. But this time, the enormous worm joins them at the end of the wave.
"Get down," the lieutenant colonel hisses while lowering himself to lie on the ground, to which the captains and other soldiers all immediately copy right before another loud roar echoes through the floor, then a crashing sound along with it as a creature breaks straight through the massive wall of the hangar from a different hangar on the floor.
All of the higher ranking officers at the windowpanes can't help but gape at the large, nearly three-meter-tall frozen one. It has radiantly glowing blue eyes, with no black in sight, along with lines of blue energy running down its face, which is the only visible skin showing on the monster not covered by its damaged armor whose visor is not down.
Armor usually worn by captains in the Empire's military.
But what attracts the officer's eyes the most is the strange mass of vinelike tentacles attached to an even stranger living creature seemingly made partially out of metal and partially out of biological matter bonded to the frozen one's chest, sticking out of its armor.
"Captain Hark Bolter..." one of the captains in the hangar command center murmurs after catching sight of the insignia on the frozen one's shoulder. "Is that what happens when a symbiont host is infected...?"
The lieutenant colonel glares at the man and makes a hand motion for him to shut up before focusing on the new frozen one.
Unlike many of the other frozen ones they have met, this one has a calm air about it. Until it sees the large worm and its eyes immediately narrow on the large worm's three sources of energy glowing from its body.
Right after the walls and ceiling of the hangar had stopped shaking due to the infected symbiont host's abrupt entrance, they begin shaking again as
the frozen one lets out a loud roar and the calm air it was giving off vanishes in an instant before it rushes straight towards the large worm, ignoring all of the smaller ones in the way and crushing them like insects.
"Retreat," the lieutenant colonel mutters, only to slowly begin backing up and noticing that none of the others are doing so themselves. "Now."
His repeat of the order snaps the captains and majors out of it before they all begin to slowly make their way out of the hangar's command center and back into the stairwell by crawling across the floor. Meanwhile, the large, infected symbiont host continues drilling a bloody path through the small worms until it reaches the large one and pulls its arm back with a roar that has the vine-like tentacles sticking out of the symbiont in its chest wrapping around the arm to strike at the worm. But the worm doesn't just sit still and stomps its enormous foot on the ground, causing a large wave of ice to shoot out in a circle around it before leaving the ground and converging into a point that rushes straight towards the incoming fist.
And the moment the two attacks clash, a loud explosion echoes throughout the hangar, shattering all of the windowpanes of the command center while also sending small spears of ice everywhere, piercing into the walls of the room itself.
But by now, all of the soldiers have already left the hangar and reentered the stairs, going down them towards the bunker again with dismay and fear on their faces.
Chapter 40
BF1
Alexander North
It takes the others three whole minutes and me beginning to leave without them with Cynthia to snap them out of their frightened stupor, the fear of being left behind apparently outweighing their fear of me. And once we reach the top of the stairs and I press the button, causing the secret entrance on BF1 to open, I find a rather alarming surprise on the other side.
The room the stairs open up into is the control center of one of the secondary hangars, but for some reason, the entire control center is frozen. All of the terminals are literally just blocks of ice, the window is so frozen you can't see through it, and the floor is coated entirely with ice, making stepping on it slippery.
"You guys might want to..." I trail off as I look to the others to find all of the civilians shivering like crazy and breathing out puffs of air visible to the eye. Even the private and sergeant aren't doing much better. "Head back down while we check it out." I finish with a glance towards Cynthia, who is taking things much better than the others and acting as her rank should.
The others don't even hesitate and immediately rush back down the stairs to the storage unit again, leaving me and Cynthia in the control center. "You want to go back down with them, or are you joining me?" I ask her, because I can tell she's also incredibly uncomfortable despite how well she hides it. But she just shakes her head and begins walking towards the
door leading out onto the railing overlooking the hangar itself.
Guess she isn't gonna go wait with them.
I follow after her, but once she opens the door, we both stop as the
outside of the control center is revealed to be even worse than the inside. The entirety of the hangar is frozen. The walls, ceiling, floor, railing, stairs down from the railing, and even the aircrafts. But what's most eye catching out of it all is the large hole in the wall leading to the hallway, where a large trail of frozen hallway follows.
"What do you think did this?" Cynthia asks while turning to me.
"I'm not sure," I mutter without taking my gaze off of the hole. "It could be some sort of advanced wendigo, but..."
"Wendigo...?" she mutters only to shake her head and turn back to the stairs to begin climbing down them as she says. "Never mind."
Oh. I called it a wendigo out loud.
Whatever.
I follow her down the stairs while being careful not to slip. And once
we both reach the ground, we take a short look around the floor before finding a few frozen frozen ones.
"This one's still alive," I tell Cynthia while pointing out a frozen brute who is still letting off body heat. She turns to look at it with surprise before asking, "You sure?"
I just walk up to it and the instant I get close enough, its eyes shoot open and turn to me, following which I lop its head off with my sword.
"Yes, I'm sure," I tell her while sheathing my sword again and turning to look at the other frozen ones. "The rest of them aren't though. Looks like whatever did this missed that one."
Just the fact that whatever did this was able to freeze these monsters in the first place considering what the spiders' blood did to me... it's rather surprising. And a little scary.
I turn to look at the hole in the wall, just for the sound of a door opening to catch my attention from the control center, where I find the two soldiers and the civilians rushing down the stairs before going out of the hangar entirely, in the direction opposite of the trail of ice.
Cynthia and I stare at the hole for several seconds in silence before sharing a glance.
"Guess they didn't find the idea of traveling with me anymore very pleasant," I state with a frown, and she nods her head in agreement.
Out of nowhere, a loud roar echoes throughout the entire floor, followed immediately after by the walls and ceiling beginning to shake.
"What the-" I mutter before Cynthia asks, "Is it the one responsible for this?"
We both share a glance and begin rushing off to follow the trail of ice. Which happens to be heading in the direction of the main hangar.
But along the way, we keep running into frozen things. Frozen weapons, frozen humans – both civilian and soldier – and frozen monsters,
all of which are dead, with the energy drained out of the frozen ones. Although the humans are frozen perfectly intact with no actual damage to them, outside of what is likely damage they had prior to being attacked.
Once we make it to the main hangar though, everything begins to make sense.
"That's..." Cynthia mutters, only to begin backing away slightly at the sight of the two giants fighting it out. One being an enormous worm with 3 sections of its body glowing with energy, two large feet, and a lamprey-like mouth, and the other being a really large frozen one similar in appearance to a wendigo. But with a strange, almost biological thing attached to its chest, and with eyes glowing purely blue with no black.
"The first frozen one I've ever seen whose eyes glowed purely blue..." I mutter in response as both Cynthia and I slowly begin to back away from the monsters as they fight it out, killing off who knows how many smaller worms who happen to be in the way of their battle.
From the looks of it, the shaking of the floor was caused by their fight. And the roar must've been from the-
The large, humanoid frozen one lets out the very same roar as it launches itself at the worm again with both of its fists held together above its head in preparation to smash them down on it.
Yeah. That one.
Cynthia and I quietly make our way out of the hangar and back into the hallway before rushing off away from the first hangar and towards the third hangar. The only one we haven't seen yet.
"Let's regroup in the central command room of hangar three," I tell Cynthia in between heavy breaths. "We can figure out a plan from there."
She nods her head, and we continue running away from the roars and screeches of the large monsters in the room behind us.