Dungeon Delver 2

Turns out the bugs did, in fact, kill themselves, the different kinds seeming to prey on each other even more than they hunted for humans, Eric found three groups fighting amongst themselves after only a few minutes, the team also found there were milky white, dog sized spiders climbing on the walls.

The cursed things liked to attack by pouncing on a target from up high, one almost killing Ariadne as they were clearing up a few black larvae but, if you noticed them, they tended to flee to the rooftops and disappear. 

The entire city was eerily quiet, there was none of the usual signs of activity heard during this time of day, even the sirens had stopped blaring, only the sound of weapons going off broke the silence in several directions.

As they moved towards the center of the city, signs of destruction were seen more often, crushed cars, sections of damaged pavement where some large monster landed or tried to dig through and even more broken buildings where the bugs tried to get inside became common sight.

Worse were the bodies, this far away from wherever the dungeon break had happened there were only a few civilians caught outside the reinforced buildings, but Eric still saw trails of red blood where someone had been killed and dragged away or fully consumed by a monster.

“All units,” Leader Keaton said over their comms. “Be warned there are grasshopper-like beasts that can spew acid strong enough to be considered a skill as well as Praying mantis that can camouflage with their surroundings.”

Eric considered the warning, swallowing hard as he redoubled his watch over the street. He almost answered the comms on instinct, but his training kicked in. Keaton had talked in the operation chat, only critical information should be said in it.

Pulling out his handgun, he shot the back of one of the smaller red and black larvae until it stopped moving, seeing it drop the arm it had been eating before it expired.

Turning away from the sigh, he thanked god he couldn’t smell anything through the helmet and watched as the rest of the team killed four other monsters that came at them from inside a building, drawn by the noise.

Lesser monsters of… well, any tier, were like newborns, still little better than rabid beasts, not very intelligent and prone to losing focus, easily lured out by anything that drew their attention.

“So,” said Gabriel, trying to ignore the dead body they could see inside the building. “You think that behemoth beetle had a core?”

“It’s a tier 2, of course it had a core,” Ariadne said, then tapped against the body cam on her chest. “Not that it would do us any good.”  

In truth, Eric hadn’t thought about it at the time but, a tier 2 elite core would absolutely guarantee any of them could awaken, heck, it would probably be enough to awaken all of them.

Unfortunately, while the Red Legion provided them training, equipment and a salary, the guild had a claim to any monster slain and, if they were found stealing, they’d have to pay back 100 times the value.

He did not want to spend the next 10 years working to pay off a debt.  

“Can’t blame a guy for trying,” Gabriel shrugged.

“In this case, yeah they can,” Eric said. “Don’t worry, with how many bugs there are, it’s enough for the Red Legion to awaken the entire support troops.”

“Think they will?” Gabriel couldn’t help asking with a hint of hope.

“Probably,” Eric said, reloading his pistol and putting the unfinished magazine in a pocket. “A Tier 2 dungeon in the city is a huge opportunity, but they’d have to grow a lot to use, or even just keep it.”

Weller’s Retreat only had a single Tier 1 dungeon a couple of kilometers away from the city, one that it shared with its closest neighbor, Jonesport, it was why the Red Legion, a tiny guild with only a single Tier 3 team, could dominate the area.

Now, with a Tier 2 dungeon somewhere inside the city, the Red Legion would have to grow fast or risk losing its place to a bigger, stronger guild.

It most likely meant all the awakened would be pressured to increase in tier using the monster cores and, more importantly for them, the mana filled monster meat obtained would be used to awaken every single support troop they had, even the trainees… hopefully.

“Shit, I thought I’d have to serve the full 3 years before a chance like this happened,” James said, glancing at the monsters with a newfound appreciation.

“Come on, they’re not gonna let us awaken if we’re not doing our job,” Holstering the pistol, Eric grabbed his railgun, he had to explode another armored larva that got too close, but the magazine still had 4 shots and the charge was almost full.

Before he could react, Ariadne lifted her rifle towards him, the muzzle flashing a few times and causing him to flinch away. A few meters behind him, one of the dog sized spiders fell to the ground, its legs twitching in the air as it released a strange keening noise.

Adjusting her grip, the woman continued to shoot, the weapon firing at full auto on the creature until it clicked empty, sending fragile legs flying everywhere and almost turning the beast into a puddle.

Calmly, Ariadne ejected the magazine, then reloaded the weapon and chambered another bullet, all the while conspicuously ignoring the odd looks they were all giving her. “I hate spiders.”

“You do know those bullets are expensive, right?” Eric couldn’t help saying.

“Shut it,” she answered, unable to mask her embarrassment.

Taking a breath, Eric lifted the edge of his helmet for a second, scratching at his neck, he was starting to sweat under all his armor, the constant state of vigilance leaving far more exhausted than any training exercise, then he made sure it was back in place and moved on.

Reaching an intersection, he saw another armored larva eating one of the smaller creatures at 4th street, taking the chance while it was distracted, he put a shot right on its exposed head, destroying it completely while the others made sure the street was clear.

Giving the corpses a wide berth, he finally reached the target location and climbed atop a damaged car, looking back towards Cross Avenue. Eric couldn’t see the APC but the vehicle must have already arrived, he wondered why the hell were they covering its path when their goal was just to hunt down monsters.

Movement at the edge of his vision made him turn, seeing another six red and black larvae trying to rush at them, but they were far enough away that he chose to save his shoots, letting his team deal with it.

Lowering her rifle, Ariadne leaned against the car to rest while Gabriel found a shade beside a building, James actually sitting down beside him.

“So, any idea why they have us guarding this place?” He asked nobody in particular, doing his best to remain alert.

Ariadne just shrugged, letting her rifle hang by its bandolier and stretching her arms.

“Fuck if I know,” Gabriel said, a sentiment that James seemed to share.

From the avenue, the APC’s heavy machine gun seemed to be working overtime, a near constant roar of bullets making sure nothing survived close to the fortified vehicle. 

Activating his communicator, Eric said on a personal team channel. “Hey Leader, 4th street is pretty empty, want us to come back and give you guys a hand?”

“No!” Came the answer through the comm, the man taking heavy breaths. “Stay in place and make sure the street is clear of anything, especially those beetles!”

Without anything else, Keaton turned off his comm, so Eric didn’t bother answering, instead, he climbed down from the car and started checking his remaining grenades while they waited.

The seconds stretched into minutes as they waited, all the while keeping a watch on the streets for more creatures, his hand tapping against the side of the railgun as nerves started to get the best of him.

The silence was almost worse than the frantic action of the first rush, the constant shooting and screeching monsters around the city were keeping him from relaxing and he almost jumped every time a rocket exploded in the air or against a building.

He supposed the lack of monsters wasn’t that surprising, despite the attack, the Legion wouldn’t send trainees into the thick of the fight, and he wasn’t that eager to face any of the stronger bugs.

Yeah, they could deal with a single elite —if that was what the behemoth was and not just a tough normal monster— but he didn’t like their chances if such a creature reached their team.

“So,” Eric said to Ariadne, trying to break the tension a little. “Spiders, huh?”

Ariadne turned her head towards him with deliberate slowness, her voice cold. “Venomous animals are dangerous, disliking them is perfectly logical.”

Eric almost laughed out loud, but he managed to hold back. Ariadne had always looked a little too perfect during training, a little too good even, it was nice to see she too was human.

“Dislike… riiiight,” he said in a teasing tone. “So you didn’t lock up when that first spider jumped you?”

Ariadne narrowed her eyes at him. “... You’re almost right, Larsen, I did react too slowly, perhaps I need more training,” she said, then her mouth turned into a feral grim. “Good thing you’re volunteering to help with it.”

“I…  no, I… wouldn’t want to hold you back?”

“Don’t worry, I insist.”

Well shit, maybe he shouldn’t have tried to tease her. Ariadne's training routine was insane and he had sparred with her exactly once, once was enough.

Still, she wasn’t waiting for an answer, already looking away as if his participation was a foregone conclusion and he knew that, even if he refused, she’d probably just drag him out of bed in the Legion barracks. 

Looking on the bright side, it hadn’t been two hours yet and he was already exhausted. Maybe he needed a little extra training if he wanted to become a proper delver.

Fuck, he was gonna regret this wasn’t he?

“Ahhhhhh, SHIT! AAAARGH!” Gabriel screamed from his spot against the building.

In the blink of an eye, he was up, railgun pointed towards his teammate and his finger gently touching the trigger. At his side, Ariadne cursed and pulled the trigger on her own weapon, the automatic rifle firing towards the building.

Gabriel was hanging in the air by his shoulder, a red spike piercing all the way through his armor as a monster hanging on the wall pulled him closer and, at the same time, started climbing backwards with its free legs. 

Eric could barely see the creature as it dragged Gabriel up, its colors matching the building behind it almost perfectly, only a slightly darker shade betraying the beast’s position.

“Shit,” Eric lowered his weapon, the creature was moving too fast and erratically for him to hit it, not when he had to charge for a full second.

Scrambling away, James managed to get to his feet, but he couldn’t get a clear shot with Gabriel blocking his aim.

One of Ariadne’s bullets hit the monster, bouncing off its mana barrier without doing any damage, then a second and a third, all of them helping drain the creature’s mana.

“Fuck it hurts,” Gabriel cried out, both hands holding one the leg that had pierced his shoulder and trying to keep the wound from getting worse.

Eric pulled out his pistol, hitting the creature twice and forcing it to focus on dodging instead of climbing up, still, it stubbornly refused to let go of its prey.

The monster’s camouflage skill failed revealing an unholy mix between a praying mantis and a scorpion, only its front legs didn’t fold to hold prey but worked as large harpons, one of them spearing through Gabriel with ease.

Stopping in place, the creature aimed its tail towards him and Eric jumped aside on instinct, a finger long nail piercing the car behind him.

Ariadne didn’t waste her chance, hitting the creature’s body with a burst of bullets that finally broke through the mana barrier, wounded its body and severed a leg.

Rolling to his feet, Eric lifted his gun and fired, the first shot hit one eye causing the bulbous organ to explode, the second hit the creature’s back, not fatal, but increasing the damage it had already suffered.

The tier 2 monster dropped from the wall, Gabriel releasing another grunt as he fell 5 meters to the floor, his padded armor taking some of the damage, but one of his legs bent in an odd way.

“Argh!” Gabriel grunted, pulled the spiked limb from his shoulder and crawled away from the monster as all three remaining fighters unloaded their guns on the beast.

Turning his aim up, Eric searched the walls for signs of more hidden monsters but the creature seemed to be a lone hunter, when he looked back, James was already kneeling beside Gabriel, a hand pressing down on his wound.

Approaching them, Eric and Ariadne made sure to keep a watch on the street, they couldn’t afford to be caught by surprise again, Ariadne already reloading her rifle and putting away the almost empty magazine.

“Ack, it really fucking hurts,” Gabriel said, but he was already trying to get into a sitting position. “It… it came from nowhere.”

“One of those invisible things Keaton warned us about,” Eric explained since the guy had been too terrified to notice.

“I… I think I broke a leg too,” Gabriel said, fear starting to creep into his voice.

“The APC is nearby,” Ariadne said. “We’re not going to leave you behind.”

Grabbing a syringe from his medkit and a bottle of water, James bit the cap off the needle and cleaned the blood away, then he stuck the needle into the wound and started to press down on it.

Gabriel released another groan, but the medgel was anesthetic, filling up the hole and congealing when in contact with air, immediately stopping the bleeding while numbing down his entire left shoulder. 

The guy would need surgery later but, for now, he was safe. 

Movement on the edge of his vision made Eric swing his weapon around,his heart accelerating again, but it was only a piece of crumpled paper carried by the wind.

Damn, they couldn't stay here in the open, not with one less weapon and no mobility. The risk of another monster wave was just too great.

“Can he walk?” Eric asked James when he finished looking at Gabriel’s leg, having tied some cloth around the limb to help keep the armor in place.

“It’s completely broken, he won’t be able to put any weight on it.”

“I-I can lean on someone,” Gabriel said. “If I put an arm over your shoulder I can even shoot a pistol with my free hand?”

“Yeah,” Eric said, looking at the empty road with an uneasy feeling. “Yeah, come on, give me your rifle.”

Swinging his railgun by the bandolier, Eric grabbed the offered firearm and checked the ammunition. It was a little awkward to carry two main weapons, but he could always drop it to the ground if something large showed up.

Putting his numb arm over James’ shoulder, Gabriel grunted in pain and got up, hopping around on his good foot until he got his balance, then the man pulled out his pistol and nodded.

“APC, This is team 3,” Eric said over the comms. “I have a wounded with restricted movement, can you come to our location?”

“Team 3, this is APC, we have your location, is the road clear?”

“Yes sir,” Eric said, not having seen anything blocking the streets.

“Good, we’ll be there in seven.”

“Negative,” Said a second voice through the comms, “This is Arthur Dalton, I need the APC to make its way further into the city, now.”

 “FUCK!” Eric cursed, making sure the comms weren’t open but drawing attention from everyone around him.

He hadn’t realized the Awakened had access to their team comms… or that they’d be 

interested enough to listen to it.

“Sir, we have another two wounded with us,” Leader Keaton said. “The recruits aren’t as well trained as the rest of our support personnel.”

Reactivating the comms, Eric said. “Sir, we CAN move, give us 20 minutes and we can be at the APC.”

“I’m sorry, we need another vehicle now,” Arthur said, then seemed to consider things for a moment. “Keaton, leave half your team to provide support and advance with the APC towards my position, most of the monsters should be contained in the perimeter we formed around the city center.”

“Understood,” Keaton said. “Team 3, hold position, we’ll be there in a moment.”

Turning towards his companions, Eric Saw James was already helping Gabriel into the back of a large black car, a place where he had a good shot towards any direction and was far enough away from the buildings that nothing could sneak up on him.

Sitting at the driver’s seat, Ariadne had started looking through the Honda’s front for a few seconds, then got out of the car. “No keys. Anyone knows how to hotwire?”

He lifted an eyebrow, giving her an odd look, then he realized he was being stupid, of course they could pay reparations later, even if they totaled the car it wouldn’t be worth as much as their lives.

“I can,” James said, looking a little sheepish.

“Get to it,” Eric said, making sure to keep a watch over the buildings.

Two blocks to his left, he saw one of the white spiders jumping down at the corpse of a larva, biting down on the body and starting to drag it towards a building despite being several times smaller than the dead monster.

Lifting Gabriel’s rifle to his eye, he took a moment to take aim, then exhaled, gently pulling the trigger and sending a three bullet burst straight through the head of the creature, its weaker mana barrier unable to stop the enhanced rounds.

Another four larvae and some kind of grasshopper nymph appeared and were shortly killed, the lack of numbers allowing them to concentrate fire on the creatures.

Exactly six agonizing minutes later, Leader Keaton arrived with 8 others, having had the same idea as Ariadne and stolen two civilian vehicles for transport. The man stepped out of the car’s passenger seat and nodded towards Eric. “Good, you’ve already gotten transport.”

Looking inside the car, Eric saw one of the trainees lying unconscious on the back seat, half of his armor melted to his skin, swallowing hard, he couldn’t help asking. 

“I thought you were going towards Arthur?... Sir!”

“I left Jake, the one wielding the heavy machine gun, in charge of the others, he’s the same rank as I am and has slightly more experience with dungeons,” Keaton confessed. “How mobile is your wounded?”

“Gabriel’s shoulder was pierced all the way through and he has a broken leg, but he’s conscious and can walk with help, sir.”

“Alright, put him on the passenger seat, I’m coming with you,” Keaton nodded towards the car he had just disembarked. “We’re moving towards St. Mary’s hospital, if we attract another swarm, the front car can continue on while we handle the monsters.”

“Is that likely?”

“Unfortunately,” Keaton nodded. “Some of those things hunt through vibrations on the ground and three cars are far more noticeable than a walking squad.”

In the distance, the number of cannons firing increased tenfold, two red helicopters flying in from outside the city and moving towards the center.

Looking up on instinct, Eric saw a few more Awakened on the helicopters, all of them wearing different armors and carrying melee weapons. It seems like Red Legion’s tier 3 team had arrived.

“Move, Larsen!” Keaton shouted, snapping his attention back to their own situation.

Hurrying into the back seat with Ariadne, Eric watched as someone helped Gabriel get into the front car as fast as they could before Keaton sat on the passenger seat, then James stepped on the gas and the honda pulled out right behind the front car, a toyota following slightly behind them, all three cars accelerating away from the fighting.

For a few seconds, Eric expected the flying beetle to come crashing down on top of them or something else to go wrong, but they turned a corner and started gaining distance from the fighting.

Finally, leaning back against the seat, Eric released a long breath and let himself relax, his muscles unclenching as he flipped the safety on the rifle and let it rest against his legs, all four of the team letting the silence stretch between them as the car moved.

Behind them, a few explosions started going off as the fighters attempted to take out the Tier 3 evolved monster.

“What now?” He finally asked.

“Now we deliver the wounded to the hospital,” Keaton explained. “Then you all will help reinforce the outer perimeter while the Awakened hunt down the stragglers.”

“So… that’s it?”

Keaton snorted, adjusting his position. “Hardly, but you guys barely know how to shoot, you shouldn’t have been deployed for another six months at least.”

“What was the objective?” Ariadne asked from beside him. “This far from the Dungeon break, civilians had more than enough time to get to safety. Why were we even deployed?”

After the cataclysm, when the governments had started rebuilding cities, it became law that every building have a safe room built underground where civilians could flee to in case of a monster attack.

Having lived in the city his entire life, Eric knew a few of those buildings had cut corners, their safe rooms being little better than abandoned basements, but most civilians should still be secure inside them for however long it took to reclaim the city.

“We did help,” Keaton said with a tired voice. “Our squad must have eliminated close to 400 lesser monsters in total, culling two waves and eliminating at least 3 elites. Some of them could have gotten into a shelter if we didn’t act fast.”

“But it wasn’t necessary,” Eric said and it wasn’t really a question.

Yeah, they had helped, an invasive Tier 2 species would be hell to control if too many were allowed to escape and breed, particularly since they were insects, but every awakened team had a tracking expert, they could have hunted them down eventually.

So, their training class had saved the Red Legion a few hours of work and maybe, maybe, saved a couple of lives. It had come at the cost of heavy indemnifications for the three wounded and the risk of the entire class deciding to sue them for endangerment without the proper training.

Sure, it would have destroyed any chance of them ever becoming Awakened or, if they did, joining a good guild, but the class COULD do it and most likely win.

“No, it wasn’t,” Keaton said with a tired voice. For a moment, it seemed like that was it, but then he decided to continue. “Haaaa… Fuck it, I hate those greedy bastards.”

“What?”

“Look, someone hired the Legion to evacuate a group from the dungeon break area,” Keaton said, shaking his head. “The Guild didn’t have enough support personnel for it, but the high ups decided to deploy you trainees to keep one of the evacuation routes clear while Arthur went after the VIP instead of…”

Before he could finish, the front car swerved to the side, tires squealing as it avoided a large jet of orange liquid that splashed into the asphalt from one of the buildings.

In the driver’s seat, James tried to dodge the sizzling puddle left on the road, but the conversation had distracted him and he didn’t react in time, one of the front wheels driving straight through the liquid.

With a deafening ‘bang’ the rubber tire exploded, James desperately fighting to regain control of the car while it shook from side to side.

Holding on to his weapon, Eric hit his head on the roof as the honda briefly climbed onto the sideway, then clipped a street lamp and completely lost direction, finally coming to a stop sideways into the road.

“Move on!” Keaton screamed through the comms. “Follow the plan and continue to the hospital!”

The front car had started to stop, but it started accelerating again, moving as fast as it could away from the fighting. Behind them, the third car slid to a stop, having managed to avoid the puddle completely.

A second jet of liquid hit the roof of the car with surprising strength, denting the chassis while splashing to the sides as if coming from a fire hose. In a moment, the roof started sizzling, the bubbling orange liquid burning a hole through the metal and starting to fall on the seats.

“Out, out NOW!” Eric shouted, then kicked his door open and jumped out, doing his best to avoid any remaining acid while he did so, then he ran for cover.

“How the fuck is it so fast?” James screamed as he jumped out of the car, some of the acid starting to eat through his leg guard when he stepped on it.

“A skill,” Keaton shouted, already searching for the monster in the buildings. “Mana enhances everything, not just the living. Spread out!”

All five soldiers stepped out of the third car, then they ran in different directions as a third jet smashed into the vehicle, splashes of acid landing on all of their armors and starting to consume the metal.

Behind a small sedan, Eric found one of the two monsters responsible. Three meters long, it looked like a brown locust with the mouth of a mosquito and an engorged ass, the tip bending over the creature’s own body and aiming at Keaton. 

Dropping his rifle, Eric aimed his Railgun. Both Keaton and Ariadne were faster.

The first burst of bullets hit the creature in one large eye but its mana barrier managed to deflect every projectile, then Eric pulled the trigger halfway in, the railgun charging up for a shot.

With a ‘crack’, the monster seemed to disappear, jumping so fast Eric couldn’t follow it, instead, he changed targets. 

The second monster’s abdomen was smaller, almost as if deflated, but it was swelling in size at a visible rate. Eric waited just enough to aim for center mass, then he finished pulling the trigger.

With a small shockwave, the projectile blasted straight through the creature’s mana barrier then continued on through the body and into the apartment behind it, exploding the locust into a million pieces while blowing a hole the size of a man’s torso on the building.

Dust, broken bricks and insect ichor rained down on the street, some of the monster’s acid still active and corroding the area around it.

Glancing around, Eric saw the rest of the squad trying to hit the second monster atop an abandoned SUV, the beast’s mana barrier was finally broken, the bullets starting to do real damage when it jumped away again, denting the roof and causing every window on the car to explode.

On the other side of the street, Eric counted another 8 larvae rushing towards them, the creatures moving three times as fast as a human could run.

He had no doubt their convoy had left several such groups behind while moving.

Then he saw another giant beetle turning a corner a few blocks in front of the larvae, the creature immediately turning towards them and starting to charge.

Smaller than the behemoth he had faced before, it actually had a larger head with a bigger horn but weaker carapace and thinner legs, more fragile and less capable of picking up speed.

If that behemoth was the elite version, this was simply the normal one, Eric immediately realized, deciding he probably wouldn’t need to increase his weapon’s charge.

Staying on one knee for stability, he put the barrel of the gun on the car’s hood for support and pulled the trigger, keeping his aim on the monster’s head for the full second it required to charge.

The weapon kicked against his shoulder and he knew, even with all the padding, it would be sore as hell tomorrow, but he decided that was a problem for the future, if he survived it..

Unfortunately, the monster had moved at the last second so, while the projectile had blown through the creature’s mana barrier, it missed the middle of its eyes, exploding the side of the creature’s head, opening a large trench on its left side and blowing off all the legs there. 

The creature was thrown to the side leaking green ichor everywhere, but it didn’t die, starting to drag itself forward with its remaining legs. 

Adjusting his aim, he started to pull the trigger again.

“Eric!” Ariadne screamed at him.

Without thinking, he threw himself to the side, another jet of orange liquid slamming into the ground exactly where he had been. 

Twisting midair, Eric fell on his back staring straight at a third locust hanging on the side of the building, its abdomen deflated like a balloon from having just released its acid.

Adjusting the aim, he finished pulling the trigger and exploded the creature, the shot blowing a hole through the roof of the building and continuing on into the sky.

A large insect leg hit fell on his chest, bouncing off to the side before ichor rained down on him like a disgusting shower, painting his armor green, then he felt it, his leg starting to burn.

“Oh fuck,” Eric grit his teeth and scrambled away.

Looking down at himself, he saw he hadn’t been fast enough, some of the acid having splashed into his armor and it was starting to eat through his chest plate and the side of his helmet, but the worst was on his left legs, some already reaching the inside of his armor.

His leg burned, the acid leaking through to his skin and starting to spread under the greaves on his leg. 

In desperation, Eric unlocked the greaves and took them off revealing the substance had burnt away the skin in the entire side of his calf, the exposed muscle hurting like hell as the wind hit it.

Squeezing his hands into fists, Eric tried to push himself up to his feet, then something large and brown smashed into him from the side, pushing him back to the ground and smashing his exposed leg against the asphalt.

The pain was blinding, a wave of fire that went up through his leg and all the way into his head, raising shivers through his spine, he screamed, fingers curling involuntary for a moment.

Then he heard his back armor crack as something tried to pierce it, a second impact caused something needle thin to pierce all the way through the armor and touch his upper back.

“Get inside the fucking building!” Keaton screamed, “Inside, NOW!”

Adrenaline kicked in, pushing back the pain as Eric desperately rolled aside hoping to dislodge whatever was on his back, the creature pulled back and he saw it fly up a meter in the air before trying to slam back into him.

It was a dog sized moth, its body covered in brown fur and a mouth like a serrated spear. 

Pulling his pistol with one hand, he managed to shoot it once, the bullet bouncing off the mana barrier before it smashed back into him. 

The monster tried to use its mouth to pierce his helmet, but he deflected the blow with his forearm, grabbed the beast’s weapon and pressed his pistol just under its head before unloading the entire magazine.

Even more insect ichor covered his armor as he threw the moth aside and managed to get up on a single foot, unable to put any weight on his wounded leg.

There were at leasts another 6 dead moths on the floor and 10 times that number swarming in the sky, their large wings making them seem as big as a horse while in the air.

Thankfully, half of their numbers were attacking the wounded beetle, the creature still trying to drag itself towards them on only three limbs, but the remaining were flying above the squad, with a few having landed on dead monsters, and one dead trainee, before using their sharp proboscis to suck them dry.

“Come on,” Ariadne said as she almost smashed into him before putting an arm around his waist. “Into the building!”

With help, Eric hopped towards safety, seeing that one of the squad had blown a hole through the reinforced front door large enough for them to squeeze through.

They didn’t get there.

From the middle of the moth swarm, a far larger moth descended, landing on top of the half melted SUV and just looking around, its long antennas flickering around as it opened and closed the wings on its back almost as if adjusting itself.

Eric felt sick, he couldn’t think straight and, every time he tried to move, it was like the ground itself shook, a heavy pressure started to build all over his body making him desperately want to take off his helmet and throw up.

At his side, Ariadne stumbled, then missed a step and sent them both to the floor, his wounded leg hitting the curb and sending another jolt of pain through his aching body.

Swallowing the bile that rose on his throat, Eric tried to think, tried to crawl towards the building, but he was no longer sure which direction it was and his eyes felt like they were gonna pop out of their sockets if he opened them.

There… there was a monster, he knew there was a monster and he had to do something but…

All around, the sound of screaming and shooting faded, then disappeared altogether, substituted by a ringing in his head that only increased his headache.

Unable to form a coherent thought, Eric felt another monster land on his back, the impact allowing him to focus on something other than his own body. With a groan, he grabbed a flashbang and fumbled with the pin on the grenade.

Finally, he managed to pull the pin, then throw it weakly up into the air and to his left… or maybe it had been to the right, he couldn’t really think straight.

He didn’t hear the explosion, he didn’t hear anything anymore, but the monster on his back floated away and the pressure on his body abated, letting him think and act again.

Around him, half a dozen moths fell to the floor, their wings flapping uselessly as they tried to recover from the stun, Eric pulled the pin on another grenade, this one a fragmentation one, and threw it between them.

Ariadne took off her helmet and threw up, her straight black hair coming undone and falling wildly around her face, then she managed to pull herself to her feet, lifting her rifle and starting to shoot in full auto towards the moths, focusing her fire on the ones still flying in the air and managing to down two of them.

The ringing in his ears faded a little and Eric started to hear the guns firing again, but the sound was muffled as if through a wad of cotton, he tried to get up, but his legs failed him.

“Go!” He shouted and almost cursed himself. “G-Get to the building!”

Fuck, he didn’t want to die, he really didn’t want to die, but he barely knew which direction was the building entrance, and he didn’t think he could make it there anyway. 

There… There was a car only two meters to his left, could he crawl under it? The moths didn’t look strong and, even with mana, flight still meant they were lighter than any same sized ground monster, they shouldn’t be able to move the vehicle.

“Shut up!” Came Ariadne’s muffled answer, it sounded like she was shouting at the top of her lungs but he could barely hear it. “Shut the fuck up!”

She reloaded her weapon then stepped towards him, stumbling as she moved before she managed to kneel at his side, grab the back of his armor and start to pull him with all her strength, one hand still on the rifle and shooting at the monsters.

Not to be outdone, Eric ignored the pain as his leg dragged against the ground and aimed the railgun at the recovering elite moth, pulling the trigger. 

The weapon almost hummed on his hands for a second, then the bullets exploded out of the long barrel, ignoring the moth’s mana barrier and hitting it just under the head, decapitating it and sending its wings flying to either side.

Eric threw the empty weapon to the side, then pulled out his pistol and started taking shots at any moth that came too close, using his free hand to help push his body towards the building.

On the ground, a few of the moths that had fallen from his stun grenade had recovered, but they hadn’t taken flight again, instead, their antennae were flickering towards him, wings opening and closing.

Unloading his piston in one of them as fast as he could, Eric dropped the pistol and pulled out his last flashbang, pulling the pin on the weapon right when his headache started increasing and a wave of nausea hit him again.

This time he heard the explosion, as well as the screeches of moths as they fell to the ground in pain, all limbs twitching as they tried to recover.

“Crap,” said a third voice and Eric felt someone else grabbing his arm. “Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap!”

One of his fellow trainees had run out of the building, the guy was shaking in fear, but still managed to grab him and, together, all three of them squeezed into the building before the moth swarm fully recovered.

Once inside, they collapsed on the floor, breathing hard and feeling like death had just missed them.

No longer in immediate danger, Eric’s adrenaline started to fade and the pain hit him all at once, his leg was killing him, he felt like he had been cooked inside his armor, his skin burning all over his body and his muscles were sending little spikes of pain in protest.

With a screech, a moth crawled through the hole in the reinforced door, the spear like proboscis scratching the metal as it looked around like a confused dog, then the furry head bounced back as a bullet pierced through its mana barrier and into the monster’s eye.

“Stop wasting time, I want this hole barricaded,” Keaton shouted towards the inside of the building as he lowered his rifle. “We’re gonna be here for the long haul.”

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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yRquEHOyWZ6qndWXXNCKUSc7KjxVJ4F_q5fvYOx9aTU/edit?usp=sharing