Chapter 51
Aftermath
Alexander North
I let out a groan the moment I regain consciousness, just to open my eyes and find my head stuffed in some sort of cloth as I'm being carried by someone.
"Uh..." I mutter after a second, making whoever is carrying me stop and begin lowering me to the ground. And once the cloth is removed from my face and I'm set on the ground, I realize that it was a shirt. Then I notice a few spots of near frostbite on the captain's – who happened to be the one carrying me – neck, where his armor was previously damaged and his skin exposed.
Guess that explains the... shirt? The shirt that my face was stuffed into.
Wonder where they got that shirt?
I look down to see my armor still on, albeit in pretty shitty condition with holes all around my torso, the armor around my legs and arms practically falling apart in places, and for some reason my outer shirt that is supposed to be on over my under shirt beneath the armor not being, well, on.
Did they really take my shirt off for that?
"Sorry about that," the captain mutters while rubbing his neck and reaching out to hand me my shirt. "Didn't have anything else we could use to block you, and none of the others have the strength needed to carry both you and your gear while skill walking at a reasonable pace."
Huh.
"Besides, you said before that you didn't get cold," Cynthia says with a shrug from next to him.
I glance at her for a second before focusing on the others and noticing some missing.
"Where did the others go?" I ask with a frown while taking my upper armor off and putting the shirt back on.
"They ran away," Michael says while crossing his arms, not providing any more information beyond that.
I raise an eyebrow at that before shrugging.
Everyone I care about is here, so...
My eyes widen as I remember Phillip.
Is he okay? Did the other squads make it out alive?
I know the lieutenant colonel and those three captains are dead, which
means they should only have a few captains left with them. And just a few Tier 1 symbiont hosts aren't going to do much to hold off the stronger frozen ones.
Actually, they might not even be enough to hold off a lot of the weaker ones depending on the frozen one that attacks them.
A flash of my memory of our fight with the suicide bomber spiders surfaces in my memory at that thought.
I shake those thoughts out of my head as I finish putting my armor – or rather what's left of it – back on over my shirts.
There's no use worrying about them when I don't even know where they are. They could be anywhere by now, and I don't even know how long I was unconscious.
I look around to find that we're still in the tunnel, but in an area of it not covered by webbing or eggshells. And the frost on the walls seems to be a touch lighter as well, meaning we're probably closer to the tunnel's entrance.
Guess they broke past the webbing wall and continued on through the tunnel while I was out.
"Did you find any other frozen ones while I was out?" I ask while climbing to my feet, just to remember the notice flashing on the corner of my vision and mutter too quietly for the others to hear, "Terminal, show my statistics update."
/ Notice \
The following user statistics have updated: Strength: 1.82 - 2.01
Agility: 2.19 - 2.40 Reflexes: 1.85 - 2.06 Constitution: 2.1 - 2.26
Senses: 2.06 - 2.27 Energy: 2.14 - 2.49
\End of Notice/
My eyes widen in shock at the massive change in numbers. Especially at the increase in my Energy Level.
"Surprisingly no, we didn't find any more," the captain answers my question, snapping me out of my shock and drawing my attention to the others who are beginning to continue their trek down the tunnel. So I follow after with the captain, who continues speaking, "Sorry about your weapons. All we could salvage was one knife. Your sword had shattered at some point while inside of the large rat's corpse, and the other knife... all we could find of it was the shards in the rat's eye and a few shards scattered around the tunnel."
I wordlessly nod my head at that.
Nothing unexpected there. Disappointing, but not unexpected.
Either way, we're done dealing with the spiders for now – I hope – so I
shouldn't need the blades anyways. I can just use my claws. They'll be more helpful against regenerating frozen ones anyways.
As we walk, I begin rotating my shoulders to get a feel for them before stopping and doing a full stretch. This attracts no small amount of confusion from the others, but I ignore it as I walk up to the tunnel wall and pull my fist back to slam it into the wall, ending up with my fist buried over a foot in the wall itself.
I whistle at that nice output of strength before doing a few other exercises to size up my capabilities under the silent awe of everyone else. Even the captain, who is a symbiont host.
Then again, I should be bordering on the strength of a Tier 2 symbiont host now. Or at least getting close to it. So it makes sense that even he would be in awe.
Actually, I think we only had two Tier 2 symbiont hosts on base in the first place. I wonder if those two are still alive? And if so, why wasn't at least one of them helping the lieutenant colonel?
Questions continue to flood my mind about this until I shake my head again and do one last backflip before saying, "Let's go. I think I have my capabilities gauged now."
The questions can wait until we meet them again. If we meet them again.
For now, I just need to survive and help the others here survive as well.
Chapter 52
The Third Hangar
Alexander North
It ends up taking us about five more minutes of walking before we start to see more light. And then another two minutes until we find ourselves at the third hangar, where we're all left staring in shock at what's left of it.
All of the aircraft have been completely wrecked and sent flying all over the hangar, meanwhile various worms and for some reason wendigos are littered all over the area, dead. And probably because the two monsters were too busy fighting to absorb the energy of the dead frozen ones, they all still have their energy, albeit slightly dissipated in their bodies, leaving me with a strong desire to go absorb it all.
But the sight of four frozen corpses immediately distracts me from that desire. Three of which belonging to captains, and one belonging to Major Carter.
"The major's dead," I mutter in shock.
This means that there is only one Tier 2 symbiont host in the base – assuming he hasn't already left the base's grounds by now with the other squads.
What leaves me feeling a little bit horrified though is the sight of the two captains that were trying to kill me before. Not because they're dead. But because their entire upper halves were completely torn off of their body, with shreds of blood and gore splattered about them.
I hear one of the others gagging at the sight while several of the others reach up to partially cover the part of their helmet that lets air in, since the air filters in our helmets aren't working anymore.
Something suddenly lets out a growl in the room, bringing everyone's attention back to the frozen statues of the major and the three captains, where we find a couple of wendigos moving out from behind a large frozen scrap of aircraft. They appear to have been trying to dig the captains and the
major out of the ice, likely to eat their symbionts if what my terminal told me is correct. But they clearly didn't have any success. At least, if the rapidly healing, bloody claws at the tips of their fingers is anything to go by.
The wendigos all begin growling, but for some reason, their growling slowly cuts off as they set their sights on me. Then they actually begin to run away while whimpering, out of the hangar.
I blink in surprise before glancing at the others, who I find are all staring at me in awe.
"I think we just found an anti-frozen one repellant," Cynthia says in a tone that makes it difficult to tell if she's joking or not. The others seem to think so though, because they begin to grimly chuckle, taking the little amount of amusement they can while in our situation.
After everyone's short laughter runs out, I ask out loud, "Terminal, do you know why the frozen ones ran at the sight of me?"
A few seconds pass in silence before it answers.
/ Notice \
Answer to User's Query – Frozen Ones are capable of sensing the Energy Level of other Frozen Ones and instinctually fear Frozen Ones
with much higher Energy Levels than their own.
However, if Frozen Ones of a single type have enough numbers, then they may ignore this fear to attack regardless.
\End of Notice/
"Huh," I can't help but mutter out loud.
"What is it?" the captain asks with the others all staring at me without a word, which is kind of creepy. So I stretch my hand out, and they all touch their gloved hands to mine before I order my terminal to share the answer with them.
Guess I really am a repellant for the weaker Frozen Ones now. But they weren't running from me before. Was the amount of energy I got from the large rat and the spider queen really that significant?
But wait a second...
"Terminal, if Frozen Ones are able to sense the Energy Level of other Frozen Ones, then why can't I do the same?" I ask with a frown.
The terminal answers my question right away this time.
/ Notice \
Answer to User's Query – User is capable of sensing the Energy Level of other Frozen Ones but is currently unaware of how to do so. Therefore
it has been done for you by this unit up till now.
\End of Notice/
Huh. Guess that makes sense. After all, the terminal can't sense anything I'm not already able to sense.
I look away from the terminal's text as it vanishes to see the others all looking around the hangar for survivors. But unfortunately, none of them have found any.
I on the other hand begin to walk over towards the statue of the major, only to immediately rush as far away as possible from it when I begin to feel a strong urge to dig into the statue myself and devour the symbiont inside. Even though the symbiont is already dead.
Once I get far enough away, I let out a sigh of relief thanks to the urge having faded away.
That's... kind of frightening.
Just the thought of tearing into a human's – or former human's considering they're symbiont hosts – chest and eating the symbiont whose main body is wrapped around their damned heart causes a shiver to run down my spine.
I look up to find Cynthia sending me a knowing look before continuing her search. So I take that as my cue to do the same, albeit far away from the dead symbiont hosts.
Nothing stands out in the hangar though, and after none of us manage to find any survivors, and I absorb the energy of all of the dead frozen ones that still have any, we all regroup at the hangar's exit and begin heading towards the main stairwell in the opposite direction of the caved-in hallway.
If it weren't for the loud roar that the others apparently heard earlier while I was out, then I might actually have considered going back to get the energy from the large worm and the infected symbiont host. But that roar, along with the news I was given that the lieutenant colonel is dead, basically direct me to the conclusion that one of them is still alive.
"How bad do you think it'll be outside?" I hear Michael asking his sister, who just shrugs and says, "I don't know, but I really hope it's better out there than in here."
I do as well.
We walk down the hall in silence for several minutes before it's suddenly shattered by a howl. One that feels vaguely familiar, despite its much stronger and deeper tone.
Chapter 53
Snow
Alexander North
Is that... no... it can't be. Unless it is?
I can't help but furrow my brows and stop in place at the sound during the duration of the howl. But no longer than a second after the howl finishes, I tell the others, "Be right back," and begin running down the hall, splitting off at a branch and rushing straight towards the howl.
Snow has been my dog for nearly three years now, and she's never been able to break out of her little habit of howling over and over again. So I am very familiar with her howl by now, and so are plenty of other soldiers on this base, much to my chagrin. She is a breed of dog that comes from a much colder planet than this, so her fur is thicker than it probably should be for a tropical planet. And from what I remember, her breed of dog is called a husky.
I very much doubt it's her, but hearing a howl that sounds just like hers makes my chest tighten up in a way that I absolutely hate. So I would rather be safe than sorry.
The others shout after me, but I ignore them as I run in the direction that the howl repeats itself again from. And eventually, I find myself stopping outside of a door with my fists clenched.
Please be her...
I close my eyes for a second before opening them again and then opening the door, revealing another door wide open on the other side of a large office room. And in the center of the room is a large wolf. One that looks just like Snow, except with quite a few changes.
She has pure white fur with the texture of ice, but with the same pink eyes that she had before due to her albinism. She even has the same large scar going down the side of her muzzle, which surprisingly hasn't healed from her mutation.
A tear builds up in my eye, but I quickly wipe it away while slowly walking into the room, making Snow's head jerk in my direction before she lets out a whimper of both fear and what looks like pain, considering the wound on her leg.
I raise both of my hands in a placating gesture, but it doesn't really seem to help much as she starts to growl when I get closer.
By the looks of it, she has a broken leg. Although how she got up onto this floor in the first place is beyond me.
"Terminal, is there any way I can heal her?" I ask quietly while still slowly lowering myself to the ground with my hand held out with my palm facing upwards.
A few seconds pass with the only noise being that of Snow's whimpering before the terminal answers.
/ Notice \
Possible Answer to User's Query – Touch the wounded Frozen One and inject some of your Energy inside of it.
\End of Notice/
My brows raise slightly at the part specifying it as a possible answer and not a certain one before I shake my head and slowly continue reaching out for Snow. Once I get close enough, she snaps at my hand, but I simply ignore it, letting her fangs enter my fingers a little bit. Although not anywhere near as deeply as you'd expect from a dog, now wolf, her size.
Likely due to my own changes and how strong I've gotten.
I ignore the light pain to reach out with my other hand and rub the side of her muzzle like I always do before lowering my head and placing my forehead on her own.
Please work. Please recognize me...
After several seconds, she doesn't show any signs of recognizing me. In fact, she even seems to try tightening her grip on my hand with her teeth.
So in a last attempt, I feel for that energy that I had felt earlier, searching desperately for even the smallest shred of it. And after nearly three entire minutes of searching with her fangs still lightly buried in my hand, I find it and pull. I pull it in the direction of my hand, making a faint blue glow light up on the surface of my skin beneath the damaged armor and clothes.
Once the light reaches my hand, it begins to enter the wolf as if on instinct, and I find my eyes widening in shock.
"Grand mother terminal..." I can't help but mutter in exclamation as I watch the energy enter Snow before diffusing through her body, making her wound begin to heal up and surprisingly, a hint of intelligence begin to enter her eyes. Then more intelligence, and finally what I can only hope is a sense of recognition on her face as she lets up a little on her bite.
Is this... actually working?!
Seconds turn into minutes, and eventually Snow finally lets go of my hand before simply staring at me. Then at her leg. Then at me again.
A few more seconds pass.
My eyes suddenly widen as she reaches her head forward and licks my hand where the wound is already closing.
I feel tears tickling at the corner of my eyes as I apprehensively ask, "...Snow? Are you in there?"
As if responding to her name being stated, Snow lets out a huff and rubs her head against my hand.
"Snow!" I shout while scooting forward and hugging her rather large head. And she lets out a short huff at that before howling into my chest.
I can't help but laugh at that, still somehow recognizing her howl strictly due to its odd wavy tone. Still not sure why she does that. Just undulates her howl raising and lowering the volume.
It was the reason why I thought it might've been her in the first place.
It's also surprising that she's still doing that, even with her mind having been clouded by the mutation. Which I appear to have unclouded a bit? Maybe?
Does that mean I can do that for everyone? Or just the ones I'm close to? Or maybe there are other conditions?
"Terminal, do you know what I just did?" I ask the terminal, deciding to not just stew in my head about the questions.
/ Notice \
Possible Answer to User's Query – User transferred some of the user's personal energy into the subject, temporarily restoring the Frozen One's
intelligence to what it was prior to the mutation.
Temporarily?
\End of Notice/
"What do you mean by temporarily?" I ask with a bit of trepidation in my voice as I rub Snow's head.
/ Notice \
Possible Answer to User's Query – The energy inserted into the Frozen One will stay there and not be regenerated until you call it back.
\End of Notice/
I let out a light sigh of relief at that before checking my current energy level, just to find it having dropped by about 0.1. Which isn't a bad price to pay to have Snow back. Although it's too high to pay for anyone else. At least while I only have this amount of energy.
Anyways, I continue rubbing Snow's head as she pants in happiness for a few seconds before climbing to my feet and walking out of the room with Snow following behind me.
I wonder how the others will respond to this?
Chapter 54
Trek to the City
Alexander North
"So... what's that?" the captain asks after I meet back up with him and the others at the entry to the stairwell.
I put my hand on Snow's head before simply nodding my head, grinning, and answering, "It's Snow!"
No one says anything for several seconds, leaving the entryway in complete silence with the lone exception of the faint howls and echoing growls of the occasional monster coming down from the stairwell.
Since no one is saying anything, I take the time to explain what the Terminal told me. And I think that somehow shocks them even more than me having a frozen one wolf standing next to me acting like a guard dog. They still eventually accept it though, after prodding me with questions.
Although I can't help but notice some of them sending looks Snow's way. Looks that I can't tell what thoughts lie behind, considering that everyone here but me is wearing a helmet.
All of them except for the veteran knew Snow though, so it should be fine.
We all begin heading up the stairs with Snow and I following at the back before ending up at a completely wrecked door leading to the first above ground floor. And what lies beyond the door has each and every one of us stopping in our tracks in shock.
"What... what happened to the first floor?" I hear Victoria mutter as we all stare at the completely collapsed first floor.
I walk past the others to leave the stairwell into the snowy storm outside before looking around at the wreckage. The entirety of the ceiling and walls for the whole first floor and the floors above it are now a thing of the past, with various different frozen ones scampering about on top of the remains. And to make matters worse, the walls surrounding the base have also collapsed as well, leaving the entire base exposed.
Well, this is certainly unexpected. Although in hindsight, the shaking of the ground from earlier probably had something to do with this.
Stupid worm.
"Staying here in the storm won't do us any good," the captain breaks everyone's shock as he speaks, his voice being muffled a bit by the storm, "we should begin making our way to the city."
Everyone quickly begins to start moving towards the East, which is the direction the city is in, but I stop as something catches my eye.
"Wait," I call out with a hand raised to point at the sky, "why isn't the sun out right now?"
My question has everyone raising their heads to look up, but I can't really see their facial reactions with their helmets on.
"You can see through the storm?" "Are you sure it's not just hidden by the storm?"
A few of them ask questions back in response, but I just answer, "I can see clearly through the storm, and there is no sun in the sky. Period."
They all keep quiet for a few seconds as they stare at the sky before the captain interrupts, "No use staring at the sky. We need to make it to the city before we freeze!"
His words once again snap everyone out of the stupor they had found themselves in and we all quickly begin making our way through the blizzard with me in the front. The lack of a sun does seem to be bothering the others though, considering how quiet and tense they've all become.
It isn't until I hear someone's stomach growling with my enhanced senses that I realize that I haven't eaten in at least twelve hours now. And yet, I'm not hungry in the slightest.
Is it because of the energy I've absorbed up till now? Or maybe I just don't need to eat anymore?
Which reminds me.
"Captain!" I call out behind me, drawing his attention before I ask, "Do you have enough food for the trek?"
Because the walk to the city should take at least half a day at the minimum, maybe a day or two at most. Depending on how bad things are on the way there.
The captain simply pats the bag that I noticed a while back but didn't ask about tied to his waist and says, "Affirmative."
I nod my head at that and begin to turn away, only to be stopped as he waves at Michelle and says, "Hand him the extra rations we grabbed!"
Before she can move, I just hold up my hand and say, "No thanks. I'm good."
The captain turns to stare at me, so too do the others, but they don't say anything. Probably assume that I have my reasons.
I pat Snow on the head again, to which she reaches up to lick my hand before I continue walking through the seemingly endless snow, with a lot of the frozen ones simply avoiding us due to my Energy Level. Along the way though, there are some small packs that do attack, and we make short work of them. Most of them simply consist of smaller infected animals that work in small groups. So things like lions and some rather large birds.
But after several hours, an annoying buzzing sound begins to echo above the noise of the storm.
I quickly spread my claws out and enter a combat ready position, still trying to get a bit more used to using them over any weapon, before finding the source of the sound slowly flying down towards us. Or rather, the three dozen sources.
"Grand Mother Terminal..." I hear someone exclaim as we all look up at the approaching group of giant bees. Each of them ranges from half a foot to a foot in height, with a stinger spanning several inches long. They have large wings sprouting from their backs, with a mostly black body striped with one horizontal red stripe going around their center.
Just the thoughts of being stung by one of those stingers sends a shiver down my spine. But I ignore that feeling and instead jump up straight for them, clearing several meters in height with my jump before grabbing one of them by the head and smashing it down to the ground, crushing its head in the process.
"Ignore their appearances and fight!" I shout to the others, making all of the non-symbiont hosts snap to attention and begin readying themselves for a battle.
Intermission
Somewhere in space, far away from planet Arran
A lone planet stands somewhere in between another planet and a now- dead sun.
This lone planet is known by the name Cocytus, and it has been a major tourist attraction for the Arctic Empire for millennia now. But now it is constantly radiating an eerie, pale blue light, and is the very center of the Eternal Winter, with its entire atmosphere being made out of the endless storm. Various frozen ones of all sorts, both fish, birds, insects, and even larger, more terrifying creatures such as the long-thought extinct dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures can be seen leaving the planet's atmosphere. Some of these creatures are seen flapping their wings along their way through the air, while others are simply floating with the snow and ice of the Eternal Winter creating a path for them to move through.
Meanwhile, the planet close to Cocytus that used to be known as the Capital planet of the Arctic Empire is now a barren wasteland, completely covered in ice and lacking in any uninfected life thanks to its close proximity to the Eternal Winter's source.
Out of nowhere, a woman suddenly appears wearing a special armor meant for space travel. This woman is one of the three dozen Tier 5 combatants, and one of the two space adapted symbiont hosts amongst the Terran Empire.
"Diane Hartrite reporting in," she says, speaking through a direct connection with the General of the Military. "The Arctic Empire's capital is absent of any signs of human life. I will now scout out the next target location, Cocytus."
After getting an affirmation from the general through her terminal, she travels straight through space with a narrow blue sphere around her towards Cocytus. And once she gets close to the atmosphere, she begins to swat away some of the frozen ones leaving the planet, sending them flying through space and out of sight in a mere instant with just a single touch.
"Millions of frozen ones confirmed leaving the frozen planet's atmosphere." She says without pausing in her killing spree. "Preparing to break through the atmosphere and land on the planet's surface."
"Proceed." General Edward North responds through the terminal connection.
The special ranked soldier immediately creates a shockwave as she increases her speed, immediately smashing apart the frozen ones near her in the process before she breaks through the atmosphere and stops just above a large cloud of pale blue energy. She then floats in place and watches as pale blue shards occasionally get formed from amongst the clouds that appears to span across the entire planet from where she is floating. These shards then float away from the planet and begin shooting out into the universe.
Meanwhile the few dozens of shards that do go after her are all shattered the moment they reach the sphere around her body.
"The source of the shards has been located. It is a large cloud of radiation formed high above the planet's surface, beneath the atmosphere." The woman says, only to narrow her eyes and add a second later, "Proceeding through the cloud may not be possible without getting infected in the process."
Several seconds pass in silence before the general responds, "See if you are able to clear a section of the cloud without making contact with it. One large enough to pass through."
The woman's brows furrow beneath her high tech helmet as she answers, "Roger that."
She then takes a deep breath and lets it out again while pulling her fist back. After a second of holding her fist in place, she launches a punch with all of her strength straight at the cloud, sending a shockwave from the force of her blow that pushes the cloud of radiation away from that spot for several dozen meters.
Diane narrows her eyes at the barren wasteland of ice now showing beneath the cloud, along with all of the frozen ones walking around the ground and flying through the air to leave through the cloud. And after making sure that there isn't any radiation on the surface itself, she immediately passes through the hole she had created before it fully seals itself back up.
"I've made it-" Diane begins, just to cut off as a notice from her terminal notifies her of the direct connection having been cut off the very
second the cloud finishes reforming behind her. "Damnit."
'Looks like the energy can block direct connections as well, as long as it's in enough concentration and completely surrounding you,' she thinks with a glance towards the cloud above her. She then turns back to face the hordes of frozen ones now beginning to rush towards her location.
None of them manage to hurt her though as she easily moves away from her spot with a speed too fast for the regular human eye to see and wipes them all out. But despite this, more and more continue to appear from further away, followed by even more who begin to dig out of the ground or exit caves on the surface and head directly towards her.
By now Diane can be seen with sweat running down her brow from fear, but she continues eliminating them all with ease.
Until a few humanoid ones never before seen on any other planet show up.
The first frozen one has shards floating around its shoulders, with a monstrous looking face and a strange crown on its head. It's wearing a set of armor made from a metal never before seen in the known universe, with some of its chest and torso exposed through the armor and a strange light blue crystal seemingly implanted in the center of its chest as its glowing blue eyes gaze up at the woman from the surface.
The second frozen one has an appearance similar to the wendigos, except with purely glowing blue eyes and a strange blue energy in liquid form dripping down its front torso. It's wearing a different set of armor than the first one with the same type of metal and has an occasional sphere of radiation forming on random parts of its armor.
Meanwhile, the moment the woman's eyes land on the third and final new frozen one, she feels a strange surge of terror. A feeling she – as a Tier 5 symbiont host – is not used to feeling. And she immediately turns around to flee, but the first new frozen one raises its hand and then clenches it in a fist, causing a surge of pale blue energy to move out through the air to capture her without actually harming or infecting her.
Diane tries to fight against the energy pulling her towards the third new frozen one by the first, but to no avail as she soon finds herself floating directly in front of the creature with thousands of other frozen ones moving around them in swarms.
The third frozen one simply stares at Diane with its narrow, glowing blue eyes unmoving. It has several large spikes poking out of the armor it's wearing at its back, along with a T shaped flow of radiation running through its front torso, and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth to match the sharp, tentacle like spikes sticking out of the back of its head.
After several seconds of silence, with the special ranked officer finally managing to regain her calm, the frozen one opens its mouth and says in a tone somehow both wispy and growly at the same time, "The master wishes to see this warm one." It then turns around as it finishes, "Bring it with us."
Chapter 55
Corruption
Alexander North
The other bees don't seem to like me having crushed one of their own, so they all begin to target me. Which leaves me frowning as I avoid stinger after stinger after stinger while also clawing straight through each bee that passes by me.
At the same time, I see the others constantly failing at even scoring a hit on the creatures, with the exception of the captain.
Damn bugs are too fast for regular humans.
"Get back!" I shout at the others while still clawing through the bees. Fortunately, despite their speed, their bodies aren't all that tough and are practically like tearing through paper for my claws. But my guard stays up despite this. Particularly because I don't know what their stinger's venom might do thanks to their mutation.
Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Snow jumping up and grabbing some of the bees between her jaws and crushing them without much issue. And the few bees that do manage to strike at her with their stingers just end up falling to the ground and dying once their stingers snap off thanks to striking her icy fur, without even piercing through.
Guess they are just like regular bees in that they die when their stingers are lost.
I hear a cry to my left, making me turn my head to look at the others, just to find the veteran, who was attacked despite being in the center of the others' formation, holding his neck that has a bee's stinger stuck inside of it.
"Shit, no!" I shout before rushing over, slapping the bees between us out of the way, but by the time I get there small veins glowing a pale bluish black in color are beginning to crawl across his skin. Even after I make it to him and rip the stinger out.
Several other bees try to attack us while we're all distracted with the wounded veteran whose name I think was Arnold, so I grit my teeth and
hand him off to Victoria who is the closest one before jumping back up and beating back the bees again while calling back, "Keep him safe!"
Out of the corner of my eye, I see her give me a salute in affirmation as I continue ripping the bees apart and absorbing their energy in the process.
Minutes pass by, and after we've dealt with over half of the bees, the rest of them all retreat, following after a much larger bee that I can only assume is their queen. But I can't deal with that right now as I turn back to face the wounded veteran, just to find him convulsing on the ground next to the others. I glance at the captain who is rushing over to the man before doing the same myself and kneeling down next to him.
"How is he?" I ask Victoria who I left with him. But she just slowly shakes her head as her middle and pointer fingers rest on his bare wrist.
No pulse? Even though he's still convulsing?! Terran damn it!
A single sting ki-
We all stumble backwards except for Victoria as Arnold's eyes flash
open while glowing with an eerie black light mixed with thousands of tiny white dots. His convulsing then grows worse until he suddenly comes to a stop. He then turns his head to stare at Victoria who is supporting his back and reaches out to scratch at her with claws that are beginning to jut out of his fingers, pushing his old fingernails out of the way in a bloody mess. But before he can make contact, the captain grabs his wrist and pulls him up.
Victoria stumbles backwards at that while breathing pretty heavily in shock and muttering, "Inf-infected?!"
The captain quickly restrains him by pushing the old veteran to the ground and holding his wrists together before looking at me.
Does he... he does, doesn't he?
I let out a sigh before kneeling next to him and placing my hand on the back of his head.
Here goes nothing.
Right as I'm about to push my energy into him though, a flash of pale blue light shines from my own neck, behind my ear where my terminal is, and a warning appears in my vision that makes me immediately let go of his head in a rush.
/ Notice \
Warning – User is currently touching a corroded entity. Further contact may lead to corrosion of the user's body.
\End of Notice/
"Don't touch his skin!" I shout, making the captain quickly adjust his grip to make sure none of his skin is making direct contact with him before he sends me a questioning look. So I send him my terminal's notice.
"Corroded entity...?" he mutters in confusion while turning to look at the veteran who is face first in the ground and trying very hard to get out of his grip but to no avail. "He isn't even very strong. Terminal, can you find anything wrong with him?"
A short silence passes before his confusion grows and he sends me a glance along with his terminal's notice.
/ Shared Notice \
Answer to User's Query – User does not possess the capabilities to determine the answer to that question.
\End of Shared Notice/
"Guess we need your new powers to find out," he says while nodding his head towards the veteran.
I can't help but feel a strange sense of revulsion at the thought of touching him for some reason, but I slowly reach out to do so and quickly ask, "Terminal, inform me of what is wrong with this individual."
As soon as the terminal gives me an answer, I yank my hand back and almost instinctually feel myself moving some of my energy over to my hand and circulating it.
/ Notice \
Warning – Recommended that user removes his hand from the corrupted entity.
Answer to User's Query – The individual has been corrupted by a virus- like substance that is incredibly contagious and fully mutates the body into something entirely different. What exactly it mutates the body into is unknown. However, it is not reversible as it is not a result of energy.
\End of Notice/
Right as I share the notice with the captain, we can't help but flinch away from the veteran as literal wings explode out of his back and through
his clothes in a shower of crimson blood while the man lets out a shrill scream.
"What the fuck!?" the captain shouts while pulling his fist back and sending it straight through the man's skull. But despite having his skull caved in, the man still convulses a little before falling onto the ground, his body having partially transformed into some sort of bipedal insect during the few seconds he had prior to the captain's response.
I stare wide eyed at the captain, then at the man, then up at the bees that are just barely still in sight.
This world is terrifying.