Beastforged Bond

B4 Chapter 16

I couldn’t find any Outsiders, no matter how hard I looked. That didn’t improve the situation by much. If the Outsiders could shatter the dome and escape without anyone noticing, that was bad enough.Don’t be so sure that they left. They might still be in the Bastion.

Volix commented.

That would be even worse. Unfortunately, it was a possibility. One I hated from the bottom of my heart.

We rushed to the ninth sector, but the others were too slow. No matter how I looked at the rest of my team, they were weak. Not even William could keep up, forcing me to slow down. Breaking out of the group was frowned upon and could result in severe punishment. I couldn’t care less about that, but I slowed anyway when I turned my attention to the fleeing citizens and the beasts heading our way.

Someone had to remove the threats, or they’d cause even more chaos. Avian beasts descended from the sky, their talons outstretched and ready to tear into the unguarded civilians, when a spike of compressed concrete burst from a nearby building. While not perfect and a lot harder to work with than regular soil, I made it work.

The spike tore through the first avian beast and ripped through it. Its tip emerged on the other side and split up into smaller spikes that spread out above the fleeing civilians like thorny branches. They stretched further, and it was not long until I added a few more concrete spikes, which created enough coverage for the civilians to flee unhindered.

Since the avian beasts had only been Wild and Awakened, their resistance was lackluster. They failed to defend against my attacks and suffered the consequences. However, I was nowhere near done. Chunks of concrete levitated around me at will. I compressed them into bullets and released them with explosions strong enough to kill the weakest beasts.

The concrete bullets pierced the targets’ chests and skulls with deadly precision and at a velocity that surprised me as much as those standing around me.

“Good job, Adam,” William praised as the others caught up to me.

“Fuck that,” the idiot gasped, which only pushed me to step up my game.

Leaning into my bond with the Elemental Phoenix, I conjured a dozen fireballs. They shaped and shifted until they resembled arrows. Adjusting the direction they pointed, I leaped into the air, my head swiveling in all directions. Then came death. Explosions erupted all around me as the Fire Aspect ignited with a burst of fire-attuned ether, propelling the arrows at our enemies.

Pyres fueled by a dozen beasts ranging up to the Evolved Rank emerged all around me. Their screams instilled more chaos in the desperate men and women trying to flee to the inner sectors, which was… honestly, it was a mess. The moment I saw–and felt–the fear of those trying to escape, I knew I made a mistake.

“Impressive, but try to kill them more silently. We don’t want noncombatants to panic even more. Our job is already hard enough,” William said, charging past me as soon as my feet touched the ground.

A beast, a mixture of bear and wolf, emerged from a side alley when William ran past. His hand flicked to the side and a beam of green light burst from the tip of his fingers. It was fast but didn’t contain much ether. Honestly, it was not all that impressive. But had that really been necessary?

The bearwolf ignored the beam and let out a roar, which faded as soon as it rang out, William’s beam slicing through the beast’s neck with ease.

Even if it wouldn’t have been cost-efficient, which I somehow doubted, the old soldier’s strategy was much better. He released a few more beams, which turned out to be small ether-conjured constructs. Shuriken that left behind a green trail, to be precise.

Anyway, the beasts around him fell easily enough. He rarely had to put more strength into empowering his shuriken constructs. That was, at least, until stronger beasts burst through a building and out of several alleys.

“Looks like our Worlds are tastier than the civilians,” someone behind me chuckled, which only made me scowl.

As far as I could tell, most beasts considered my World incredibly “tasty.” My Soulkins had confirmed more than once that being bound to me was incredibly useful. Precisely, it was Volix who’d been surprised by how potent our bond was, and how much stronger he could grow once my World Tiered up. Whatever that was supposed to mean.

Anyway, powerful beasts heading our way was not good. We had to reach the ninth sector as soon as possible!

I slowed for a moment, my attention lingering on the beasts ranging from the Evolved to the Unblemished Rank. The current situation may not be perfect, but it was definitely close to perfection. If the strongest beasts rushed toward the active Wardens, the smaller Striker units located outside the Bastion, and the reserve members spreading throughout the Bastion, they’d be able to deal with them before they could harm others.

Only the weakest beasts would attack unBlessed and weaker Blessed. Alas, there were still enough weaker beasts to harm or even kill too many civilians.

“Prepare to engage in combat!” William roared, slowing down while I accelerated.

Unlawfully taken from NovelFire, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“It’s time,” I muttered, removing the restraints I’d put on my World.

A moment later, a human-sized mantis coated in plates that resembled heavy armor emerged beside me.

Finally!

Nox screamed, Predator and Nullblade active, as he turned into a black flash.

The Ferronox Mantis burst into action, his blades tearing through an Evolved beast… as well as the cruiser it stood upon.

Aureus was the next to emerge. He didn’t burst into the sky right away and instead paralyzed one of the Unblemished beasts first. A single concrete spike to the heart eliminated the beast William and the others would have struggled to deal with. However, Aureus was nowhere near done. The other beasts struggled to move. Their steps looked heavy from one moment to the next, and it was not long before they collapsed to the ground.

Their bodies broke apart just like the street and sidewalk they stood on, as gravity continued to increase.

Last but not least, Aureus looked back, baring his massive fangs. At Idiot, obviously.

“It’s fine, buddy. Ignore him and help the others,” I said, patting his side.

Aureus grunted, clearly displeased with how easily I forgave Idiot, but gravity around the Earthheart shifted anyway. A moment later, he burst into the sky to help those our unit couldn’t assist as easily as a flying beast could.

“T-That…” Idiot stammered, which was pointedly ignored.

Yet even William and the others looked at me with a mixture of marvel, fear, and newfound respect as we went our way.

“Can you guys take care of the Wilds and Awakened? That way Aureus and Nox can focus on Evolved and Unblemished beasts,” I pointed out, pulling them out of their stupor.

A cruiser-sized beetle emerged beside William, quickly followed by an Evolved spider. The beetle charged head-first at a group of beasts across the street, while the spider climbed a building. It wove a cobweb above the fleeing civilians, using concrete spikes and other buildings as anchor points.

Fast and precise movements allowed the spider to capture a few unaware beasts. They suffered greatly and succumbed to sharp, jagged legs piercing vital spots.

Idiot summoned an Armored Bison and a group of three Scaled Wolves that worked in unison to aid the massive beetle. Their combined effort cleared the street of unwanted guests, an effect that was only amplified as more Warden units reached the premises. Their Soulkins shot into the sky, removing the aerial threats while also making sure to stay as far from Aureus as possible.

I grimaced as images of Nox dashing into a building occupied by dozens of beasts flooded my mind. Screams echoed in my ears through the Ferronox Mantis’ memories as a group of blood-red badgers leaped at an elderly couple trying to make their way to the emergency exit. The man shoved his wife aside and took the brunt of the attack, a claw digging deep into his shoulder, while his wife remained unscathed. She survived, and so would he, as Nox tore through the badgers.

He cut most of them in half long before they could reach the couple and beheaded the one attacking the elderly man. His wife screamed and thrashed, tears rolling down her face, and not even the death of the bloody badgers seemed to solve that issue.

Why is she screaming? Danger is dead!

Nox hissed, clasping his scythe arms together and pointing at the bodies. He motioned toward the exit next, but neither the old man nor the bawling woman would move, their eyes filled with fear.

I tried to reassure Nox, which only seemed to confuse him more.

I am no badger! I am mantis! Strong, bloodthirsty!

He announced proudly, drawing a groan out of me.

Trying to explain to Nox why the elderly couple was scared was a lost cause. Even if he understood everything I said, he wouldn’t truly comprehend the meaning behind my words.

The part where the spider was winged was a little odd, but it wasn’t like a winged spider would be the weirdest thing I’d seen in my time as a Blessed. Nox didn’t seem to care about the details. All he needed to hear was Peak Unblemished to sense the challenge ahead of him. And that it was–a challenge.

I did not particularly like the idea of Nox fighting a Peak Unblemished beast since he had yet to reach the Late threshold of the Unblemished Rank, but his armor was tougher than the norm, and he had Predator and Nullblade. Furthermore, the Ferronox Mantis needed that challenge. He needed the kind of danger that put his life in peril, even more so after all those months away from the wilderness and life-endangering threats.

He cleaved through the enemies on the lower floors with ease and rushed up to the rooftop. On his way up the fifteen floors, he barged through a few doors, greeting frightened Blessed engaged in desperate struggles with smaller avian beasts that had come in through the windows. A quick stab to their necks–beasts, not civilians–ended the scuffles in favor of the scared children and adults, their arms and legs covered in scratches and deeper gashes.

“Can someone send a medic up that building?” I asked William, pointing at the building Nox had entered earlier.

“Nox saved a few people, but they’re a little… shell-shocked is probably the most fitting word. Anyway, they’re injured. An elderly man has a pretty bad wound, and three floors up there are still children and their parents. They’re not moving either.” I grimaced.

As hard as I tried to be understanding, the minds of some people remained a mystery to me. Instead of leaving their building and following the evacuation protocol every citizen had received, they stayed. For what? Why? Did they really think the beasts wouldn’t find them? That they wouldn’t care about a quick snack?

It was hard to sympathize with some people. They made our lives unnecessarily hard. But that did not mean they deserved to die. It was just that it was a little harder to protect them all while ensuring the safety of the mainstream of evacuating civilians on the main street.

Even more so when–

Careful!

Volix warned.

My hair stood on end at the same time. The enchanted sword and shield appeared in my hands, and I spun around toward the source of danger I’d sensed.

Power erupted in violent tides where there had been none before. Then a creature materialized out of thin air, its elongated claws carving through William’s enchanted armor and chest in one smooth motion.

The old soldier’s eyes widened. Fear and disbelief mixed as blood poured down his lips, and the creature struck again, its claws tearing through William’s chest and pulling him off the ground.