Chapter 61
Stressful Situation
The other side of the city
A dark silence fills the storage room as several soldiers lie in wait. Of the soldiers, two of them are standing nearly a meter away from the entrances constantly keeping watch on the walls, floor, and ceiling of the room. Meanwhile the rest of them all lie sleeping on the ground.
Neither of the two soldiers say anything for several minutes, merely keeping their swords drawn and at the ready. Not until a shard suddenly burst through the wall straight towards one of the sleeping soldiers and the captain sprints towards it before knocking it away with his sword, leaving a dent in both the shard and the sword in the process. The shard then proceeds to leave the room through the floor.
The captain glances at Michelle, who was the one sleeping next to him before walking back to where he was standing guard. But once he gets there, Cynthia – who is the other soldier standing guard – asks from the other side of the room, "Do you think the shards are becoming less frequent, sir?"
Andrew glances at her and nods as he answers, "Affirmative. Ever since the strange sun came out, I've noticed less and less shards."
Cynthia purses her lips underneath her helmet at his answer before glancing at the door when the sound of a loud screeching noise echoes from far away. She then turns to look at the other sleeping soldiers and thinks, 'Is the storm just running out of shards? Or did that sun somehow use them for something?"
Silence once again falls on the storage room with no answers coming for her. Eventually half an hour passes, and she and the captain swap out with Michael and Michelle for watch duty.
Time continues to pass, and the silence remains unbroken until Michelle is sure that the captain is asleep and says to her brother, "How do you think Alex is doing?"
Michael grimaces at that in his helmet before shaking his head and answering, "I'm sure he'll be fine."
Michelle stares at her brother for a few seconds, only to nod her head and turn around with a muttered, "Right."
Before she can get lost in her head though, a shard suddenly bursts out of the wall, and she rushes over, just barely redirecting it with her sword when it was about to hit Victoria. She then looks at her brother again to find him pausing mid step over to her and beginning to walk back to his place near the door.
Michelle lets out a sigh and walks back to her post as well. And the silence continues.
Alexander North
I smile as I walk down the hallway of the company building I'm in. At some point I found out that it was actually a company belonging to CyberTech Industries, which is the foremost producer of cybernetic technology in the universe.
Of course, this is just a random branch office for the company. Nothing more.
It doesn't hurt to take a look around though. Especially since my goal was kind of flubbed after running into that absolute monstrosity of an intelligent frozen one at the Planet Hall. And since I have no idea where the others are right now – seeing as we were planning on meeting back up at the Planet Hall – I don't really have any goal anymore.
Only thing I can think of is to kill as many frozen ones as I can to grow strong enough to deal with that intelligent frozen one. Preferably before the others make it here, as I'd rather they not end up dying or getting captured by it.
Out of nowhere, a shard suddenly digs through the wall, into the hallway, and then into the other wall of the hallway. But I reach for and grab it before it can exit the hallway, absorbing the energy in the process with a satisfied grin.
I can't help but look in the direction it was headed though. By the looks of it, it's not the direction of Planet Hall. Which means there's someone in that direction.
My lips purse in thought for a few seconds before I shrug, pull my arm back, and punch the wall sending it crashing down.
Good thing the metal in the walls here has been turned brittle from the ice. Otherwise I doubt I'd be able to destroy them even with my enhanced strength.
Although the fact that strength is still my lowest stat really doesn't help.
I really should try finding some draugr to raise my strength. Because having an imbalance in my stats is kind of annoying.
Thoughts of that intelligent frozen one flash through my mind as I make my way through the floor of the building, continuing along in the direction that the shard seemed to be heading. Regardless of if there are doors or not.
That creature was brutally overpowered compared to everything else I've seen so far. Even the spider queen and large rat didn't have energy levels as high as it. Not even the infected captain or the giant worm as a matter of fact!
And that creature didn't look like an infected symbiont host either. So just what was it?
It was ordering around the other frozen ones by the masses, and the way it looked at me... a shiver runs down my spine just at the thought. The creature looked at me as if I were nothing but an insect, albeit a strange one. Not as an intelligent being.
After a few minutes of venting my stressful situation out on the walls between me and my location, all while also wondering just how massive this freaking building is, I finally find what I'm looking for in the form of two heat signatures. One in the shape of a wolf, and the other in the shape of a small child.
Looks like I finally found Snow again.
She'd just up and ran away at some point, with no warning beforehand. So I wasn't sure what to think.
Wait a second.
My eyes narrow right as I'm about to punch the wall to the room they're in.
Why does Snow have a heat signature?
Chapter 62
Strange Child
Alexander North
Out of caution, I double check to make absolutely sure that there aren't any entrances reachable from where I am to the room they're in. Then, after not finding any, I pull my fist back and punch the wall, creating a hole in it and startling both the child and Snow, who I find sitting in the middle of a storage room.
Okay, it is indeed Snow. But why does she have a heat signature now?
The child is a young girl wearing regular street clothes. Probably somewhere around twelve or thirteen years old. And she looks quite terrified at me, for good reason too, considering my appearance.
Snow doesn't seem to care though as she rushes for me and rubs her head against my hand.
I frown down at Snow for a few seconds before patting her on the head and quietly saying, "I'm glad you're okay." I then look up at the girl, who seems to have calmed down a little and now just looks confused instead of terrified. She has black hair with a couple streaks of white in it, which I'm guessing is some new fashion trend or something. Her eyes are a warm brown, and she surprisingly doesn't appear to be cold. Not at first glance anyways. No shivering, no heavy breathing, no anything that'd indicate her freezing.
Which is bizarre considering that her street clothes are not meant for the cold.
And why is a child her age in this company building anyways? I've been through a lot of the building already, and there are a lot of locked doors that don't use magnetic locks. So she shouldn't have been able to get through.
Maybe she's the daughter of someone who works here?
She also doesn't seem to be that afraid of me anymore. And each and every moment she seems to be calming down more and more.
"You're not afraid of me?" I ask out of curiosity.
The child stays silent for a second while staring at me before glancing at Snow and muttering incredibly quietly, "The doggy likes you, so you can't be bad."
I blink in surprise at that.
Now that I think about it, why isn't she afraid of Snow either? Snow is very obviously a frozen one as well.
A shard suddenly digs through the wall right next to her, but as if in response to that, the girl's heat signature goes cold and the shard stops midflight. It then turns around and shoots downwards, going into the floor.
My mouth opens for a second, but I close it again without saying anything. I then look into the girls currently squinted eyes to see the color of her eyes shifting back and forth between a warm brown to a pale, faintly glowing blue. Meanwhile the girl herself is holding her head on the floor, seemingly in pain. But after a few seconds and some deep breaths, she raises her head to look at me with a frightened expression on her face. One not frightened by me, but whatever seems to be happening to her.
Snow suddenly rushes over to the girl and nudges her head with her nose, making a faint smile cross the girl's face in the process.
Just what... is happening to this girl?
I slowly approach her before kneeling down with her curious and slightly wary gaze following my movements. The wariness isn't out of fear though. I can tell that much somehow.
She doesn't say anything in my approach, and once I reach her level, I ask, "Are you okay?"
The girl's eyes widen in surprise at my question before tears begin to flow down her face, making me almost fall backwards at the suddenness of it.
Did I do something wrong?
I'm really not good with kids.
I look at Snow next to her, but she just nonstop rubs her head into the
girl's shoulder as she cries. But then the girl suddenly gets up and rushes to me before hugging me.
"Uh." I can't help but utter out loud before stopping myself. The girl doesn't stay like this for long though and gets back up a second later while wiping her tears. She then seems to notice my insignia and a look of terror
appears on her face as she bows her head to me and shouts, "I'm sorry, sir! I didn't know you were a soldier!"
I blink in shock at the sudden turnaround before standing up.
"It's fine. A kid shouldn't have to follow military protocol." I tell her, but her face scrunches up at that for some reason, only to relax again a second later.
Actually, on second thought, she might be the daughter of someone from the military. It would certainly explain that reaction if she was raised in a military family. Or a noble one at that, but I don't think that's the case considering her clothes.
"Would you mind telling me why you started crying?" I ask as gently as I can, and she purses her lips while avoiding looking at me. Despite that she still answers after a few seconds.
"Because whenever the others would see that they would call me a monster. Even... even Rose." The girl begins, tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes again. "They told me to wait here for them but never returned."
Oh. So they saw whatever was happening to her and decided to abandon her.
That's cruel, but I can understand how fear can overwhelm people. Especially civilians.
Although, does she-
"I know they left me because I'm not like them anymore, but..." she continues, making my eyes widen slightly at her observation skills, "I didn't want to leave."
That's... not really sure what to say to that.
I can't exactly leave her on her own, but at the same time there is no way I'm taking her with me everywhere. So maybe I can just find the others and leave her with them as I go out hunting some more?
"Don't worry," I tell her while patting her head, pausing ever so slightly when I see the sclera in her eyes flicker from white to black and then back to white for a second, "I'm not like them either."
Was that the right thing to say? I have no idea.
But it seems to calm her down nonetheless, so it's good enough.
I jerk my head to the side before reaching over and scooping the girl
up right when a loud bang echoes through the floor. I then take her through the room, kicking past the door that was locked while sending a glance over
my shoulder to find... nothing? Wait, no, not nothing. Some sort of shimmering figure standing in another hole in the wall not of my own making.
Shit. What the hell is that thing?!
It lets out a loud shrieking roar, making whatever camouflage it had suddenly flicker, revealing an enormous wraith that has me regretting my thoughts before it fully cloaks again.
Whatever it is, it's not good. And I need to get the girl away before I fight it.
As I'm running, I notice Snow looking back and forth between me and the girl. My eyes widen and I decide to put my trust in Snow.
Here's hoping she's intelligent enough to understand.
I lightly toss the girl towards Snow, eliciting a squeal in the process before Snow catches her by her hoodie's hood in her jaws and begins sprinting down the hall. So I begin running in the opposite direction from them, and the creature follows after me.
That worked out better than expected.
Chapter 63
The Chase
Alexander North
"Wait! Don't leave me!" I hear the girl scream from behind me, so I shout back, "Don't worry! Snow'll find me again!"
Probably.
I turn around a corner after that with the monster still chasing behind me, its footsteps echoing throughout the hall despite it being fully cloaked, shaking the walls in the process. And as I run, my terminal gives me a notice about its energy level. One that has me grimacing.
/ Notice \
Exterior energy source located.
Energy source identified as a Frozen One with an energy level of 3.72.
\End of Notice/
Defeating this thing might be tough.
I continue running through the halls and down the stairs, with the trembling footsteps of the frozen one following after me nonstop. All the way till I reach a large cafeteria, with an entire wall's worth of windows on the far end of the room.
I look around the room as the trembling sounds of the frozen one's approach continue to echo through the floor. My eyes then lock on the large windows and I rush over to them before punching straight through it, shattering the window and turning back around to look at the entrance. At the same time, the door that I had entered the room through bursts open with a blurry figure passing through its tattered remains.
The frozen one's cloaking ability keeps me from telling what the frozen one looks like, but from the few flashes of its cloaking that I saw earlier, it looked a little bit similar to a larger wraith. And that's confirmed when the blades that make up its arms suddenly become visible, each glowing with a faint blue light.
Both the frozen one and I pause for a split second before I look out the window and jump across the alley between this building onto the roof of the next from the twelfth floor. And by the time I land with a grunt, I hear the rest of the windows shattering and turn around to find the frozen one jumping after me.
It certainly has the wraith's obsession issues.
I instinctually reach for my sword, only to remember that I don't have one anymore and instead jump back into a roll away from the frozen one's trajectory. But the monster simply raises its left blade, which is beginning to glow brighter and brighter before lowering it the moment it lands and striking the ground with it.
The moment the blade hits the roof of the building we're on, a bright flash of pale blue light shines from it and a wave of ice shoots out, freezing the roof in a straight line out in the direction the blade's pointed. I barely manage to get out of the way of the blow before turning to see a wave of ice flying past me and off of the roof, creating a small path of ice extending the roof for a few meters.
This thing has more than one ability?!
When I turn back to the monster I find it rising from a kneeling position on one knee to stand on its feet while raising its sword with its cloaking having turned off. But after several seconds of it staring at me, the cloaking begins to activate again by flashing once, then twice, and then turning on.
Some sort of cooldown? That makes it a bit more manageable.
I begin to circle around the monster to get to a better position, away from the path of ice. And the monster does the same, leading to us silently circling each other until we reach the other's original position where it suddenly lets out a screech and rushes at me.
The creature for some reason seems to be a lot faster outside than it was inside, and I only barely avoid a slash from one of its blades, just to end up being skimmed by the other one as it spins around in a circle, using the momentum of its first strike to do so. I let out a grunt before swiping my claws at one of the blade's flat ends, but it doesn't even pierce its skin. Assuming it can even be called skin, considering how hard it is and how sharp the edges of the blade are.
I grit my teeth at the vibrations sent up my arm from striking it as I jump back to dodge another strike.
Just what sort of material is that creature made out of?! And is it just its blades that are so hard, or everywhere on its body?
The creature's right blade begins to glow again as it brings it to its chest with a screeching growl, and I tense up, expecting it to do something with it. But right when it tenses up, it turns its head to the east before turning its entire body in that direction and swiping the blade, sending a large arc of ice flying off who knows where.
I frown and turn my head to look at the direction of the blade, only for my eyes to widen as I find some sort of enormous eagle with icy feathers flying through the air towards us from higher up in the blizzard, pausing only for a second to avoid the arc.
At this point, finding another powerful frozen one doesn't even surprise me. So I quickly turn back to the large wraith to find it focusing on the eagle before slowly backing up.
Let's see if I can do the same thing I did with the spider and rat...
I slowly make my way across the roof until I reach the edge, right at about the same time that the eagle comes to a stop flying about a dozen meters above the rooftop. And once it does, both it and the large wraith begin to stare at each other. Although whether the one I'm just gonna call an elite wraith is simply waiting for its cooldown to end or is actually wary of the eagle, I can't tell. But either way, their stare down gives me the time I need to quietly drop down the ledge of the rooftop onto a balcony a few stories below, where my legs manage to catch me without much issue.
A testament to my new strength.
After landing, I look back up without moving for a second, making sure that neither of them are following me before I open the balcony door, quietly breaking the regular lock in the process. Then I walk into an empty bedroom.
Time to wait them out.
Chapter 64
Watching the Show
Alexander North
Surprisingly the bedroom has several guns hanging on the walls of it, with quite a luxurious bed and furnishings. As long as you ignore the ice and frost coating it all.
Probably belonged to someone who was rather rich before all this.
I walk through the room, examining everything until I find the door and leave into a nice hallway. I then rush through until I manage to find a set of stairs. All while still hearing the sounds of explosions and crashes from up above. Despite being a few floors from the top.
If I remember correctly, there was an entrance to the roof on the opposite side of the roof from where I was. In fact, I would've hidden there if it weren't for how far away it was from me. And that the frozen ones were in between it and me.
I continue running for nearly three minutes after climbing the stairs to the top floor, throughout which loud noises continue to sound out from above. Eventually I manage to find the stairs to the roof, which were in a different staircase than the rest of the stairs, and I rush up to it. But right as I'm doing so, I hear a crash that's much louder then the others, followed by even more crashes. And when I reach the roof, I look through the shattered window on the door to find a large hole in the roof with the elite wraith's head poking out of it, and the large eagle flying a few meters above it.
All around the roof are icy feathers which are as sharp as blades sticking out of the ground, along with several different spots where the elite wraith's blades struck.
As for wounds on both of the frozen ones? There don't appear to be any. But there is dust and debris scattered on the elite wraith on his stretched and ripped clothing belonging to whoever it was before being turned into this, and the eagle on its feathers.
After looking through for a bit longer, the eagle suddenly soars up into the air and lets out an incredibly loud screech before flapping its wings extremely hard in place repeatedly, sending feather after feather falling down on the roof. Each and every one pierces into either the roof itself or the elite wraith, causing the creature to let out a pained roar in the process. But right afterwards, the feathers in the elite wraith's body all shatter and its pale blue energy begins to swirl around the wounds, sealing them up as the creature bends down. It then jumps straight up out of the hole and lands on the roof again, making the roof itself begin shaking in the process.
My eyes widen as I notice cracks spreading across the floor of the roof all the way around it.
Okay, that's not good.
I look down at the floor beneath me to find the staircase still rather structurally stable, so I focus on the fight again, not worrying about the roof anymore. Until a feather pierces straight through the wall next to me, missing me only by a hair's breadth.
I can't help but suck in a sharp breath through my teeth before backing up a few meters to the very top step of the staircase.
Maybe it's best to watch the fight from here. Because I don't want to become a pincushion.
"Terminal, always alert me whenever a frozen one gets within sensing distance of me that's an energy level above my own," I whisper, making my terminal show a confirmed notice as I continue watching the fight through the narrow window from a few meters away from it. And while it's a rather limited view from here, I can still see the battle. Mostly because the two frozen ones are on the other side of the roof from me.
If they were right next to the stairs then I might not be able to see them. Unless they were just directly in front of the window that is.
The fight continues, and just two minutes later the entire roof except for the staircase collapses in on the floor below, leaving the elite wraith to fight from the next floor. Only for that floor to also begin collapsing, making me wonder just how many floors these two will demolish before they finally start taking damage that doesn't just regenerate.
Which in and of itself is confusing. Why is the elite wraith regenerating from the damages given to it by the bird's ability? Shouldn't abilities and physical damage caused by a frozen one not heal at incredible speeds?
At this point I'm back in front of the door again, seeing as all of the feathers are being shot at a much lower position, and because I can't see the elite wraith from the staircase. And all I can see is the bird, whose few injuries it has gotten and healed from are all from debris being tossed at it by the elite, constantly shooting feathers down at the elite wraith. Neither of them have any damage, as the bird hasn't been directly hit by the wraith yet due to its hit and fly tactics, and the elite wraith's just been healing it all back up.
But at the same time, the bird seems to be slowing down, and it's not launching as many feathers anymore. Partially because not all of the feathers it's tossing are being regrown anymore, and partially due to it seeming exhausted.
Overall, the fight is making me wonder if there are different hierarchies for the frozen ones. Like, maybe one hierarchy can heal even when hurt by a frozen one of a lower level.
The fight continues on for another few minutes until the bird – seemingly having given up – finally starts flying away, abandoning the fight in its entirety. Then I tense up as the elite wraith turns its gaze straight at me, somehow sensing exactly where I am the moment the bird left.
Well, shit. I was hoping the bird would do more damage. But nope. It had to run away instead. And I still doubt I'll be able to kill it. Not without some sort of environmental help.
I mentally take note of the direction the bird flew off in before opening the door and climbing to the top of the stairs.
Then I jump off of the roof to crash into a window of a neighboring building, right next to the one I was originally in across the alley.
Now I just need to find said environmental help.
Chapter 65
A Trap
Alexander North
I rush all the way through the building until I reach the other side, with the elite wraith still following after me even after I jump through the window of this building. But instead of just rushing through the building this time, I turn around while grabbing a bar attached to the wall as a railing for the cafeteria I'm now in. I tear the bar from the wall, snapping two points of it and raising it right as the elite wraith jumps across the alley between us.
The elite wraith soars across the alley and right onto the makeshift spear I made, making the thing pierce several inches into the monster's gut. And at the same time, I push the bar outwards before letting go of it right as the elite wraith tries to take a swipe at me with one of its blades, making the elite wraith fall down into the alley below while roaring in anger.
I let out a sigh of relief as I look over the edge of the window, watching the monster crash into the ground with the bar still stuck in its gut. But my relief fades away after watching the monster grip the bar after a few seconds of silence before ripping it out and slowly climbing to its feet with a look of absolute hatred directed towards me.
Are you kidding me?
The elite wraith lowers down slightly before leaping up to the wall of the building I'm in, several dozen meters up. It then continues jumping from one point to another, making me back up from the window with a grimace. But after taking a few steps back, I clench my fist and rush over to the railing to rip off more of it before going back to the window, tearing the bar into several sections, and throwing them at the approaching elite wraith.
The elite wraith is caught midleap during the first two sections of the bar, knocking it back down a story or two before it catches itself on the wall again. It then lets out a loud roar while jumping out of the way of the other bars coming down.
My eyes narrow on the monster for a second before I turn around to look at the cafeteria.
Something else to throw...
I focus on the tables with a grin.
That'll work.
The sounds of the monster continuing its climb up the side of the
building resume as I grab the table closest to me and head back over to the edge, focusing really hard in the process so as to not lose my balance and fall off. Then, right as I see the monster leaping again, I toss the table at it.
But this time, it doesn't bother dodging and simply grips onto the wall and swipes its blade upwards, cutting right through the table before it goes back to jumping.
Right as I'm about to begin worrying again, I notice several scratches on the blade-like arm that the monster used to cut through the table.
"Terminal, how much energy does that frozen one have left?" I ask out loud without taking my eyes off of the wounds on the frozen one.
/ Notice \
Exterior energy source located.
Energy source identified as a Frozen One with an energy level of 0.4.
\End of Notice/
Interesting. This could work.
I look back at the cafeteria I'm in before turning around again to face the other building that we had both come from. Then I jump across the alleyway and land in the window of a room a couple of stories below the one I had jumped out of to reach the other building in the first place.
Meanwhile I hear the frozen one letting out a loud roar of anger, followed by an equally loud crash and the trembling of the building floor as I'm assuming it jumps across the buildings just like I did.
"Just keep on following," I mutter under my breath while running through the building and occasionally punching through a wall to make a more direct path to the other side, where I jump out another window to the building that the bird and elite wraith were originally fighting. I then climb up the building to the ruined floors and move up to a higher position to wait for the frozen one.
Surprisingly, it ends up taking the creature several minutes to arrive, a couple of minutes longer than I needed to set up my trap. Which is long
enough for me to wonder if I should just leave or not, but the thought of absorbing its energy drives me forward. That and the idea that it would probably just follow after me until we fought anyways. And at that point it would probably have its energy recharged.
I watch from the tattered remains of the fiftieth floor as the elite wraith jumps through the floor of the forty-eighth floor, causing even more damage to the floor's structure in the process before it immediately focuses on me.
Guess sneaking up on it isn't an option. The creature probably has some way of marking its prey.
Good thing my plan didn't involve that.
I quickly jump down from the fiftieth floor onto the forty-ninth floor and begin running through the damaged hallways, careful to not step on any parts of the floor that are already falling apart. And soon after I hear the elite wraith jumping up to the same floor and following after me. But judging by the sounds it's making, it's not having nearly as easy a time as I am.
I continue running around in a large arc around the floor, only stopping once I feel the floor beginning to lose any of the previous stability it had to instead jump down to the forty-eighth floor. Right after that, the floor itself collapses entirely with the elite wraith falling down with a loud roar that cuts off the moment the rubble hits the forty-eighth floor.
A grin makes its way onto my face, and I immediately begin running towards the elite wraith, who now has several little poles impaling it on different locations around its body.
Time to finally deal with it personally.