Rise of the Night Stalkers
Page 28
The huge tower itself remained upright though.
But, shit!
That amount of destruction could easily wipe out the hospital – never mind if the laser actually hit the ground. That much power would probably obliterate anything within several square miles, as if a meteor had landed, or a small nuclear bomb had gone off!
Looking at the timer in my vision, I realized I had wasted far too much time. We were already down to twenty-six minutes! Granted, we would probably know whether we had won or lost within the next ten…
Stupid shitty boss battle!
Stupid shitty game!
Just as I was getting ready to return my gaze to the camera, I noticed a dark gray parachute high above the explosion, realizing that the pilot had gotten out.
Forget the news!
Talking to the media was a shot in the dark anyway, but if I could snag the pilot, then maybe he could speak with whoever was leading this operation!
Dropping the mic, I leapt into the air, feeling Harper position her feet, in order to kick off my back like an acrobat, while I climbed higher. She was then just behind me as we flew towards the pilot, both of us realizing that something about the man had caught the monster’s attention, whether it be his heat signature or possibly even the gray color of the parachute, if it had color vision. Either way, two of its four slitted red eyes were focused intently on its target as the Night Stalker shifted its weight.
The pilot didn’t even notice us, his gaze locked onto the beast as one of its long whip-like tails began shifting as well, in preparation to strike.
As fast as lightning, I barreled into the man, grabbing ahold of him with one arm while I snagged the strings with my hand, my tail swinging around to slice through the nylon. Instantly, we began silently freefalling just as a massive midnight whip swung at us with such speed that the wind thrust us downward even faster, the two of us having barely missed a certain death.
The shift in position also meant the behemoth didn’t have its eyes on us at the moment, so I continued to fall in an attempt to avoid the monster seeing where we landed. Needless to say, the guy in my arms was completely locked up in fear, his likely horrified expression hidden behind his helmet.
Once I was low enough, I began extending my wings to slow us down, before shifting into a glide and dropping onto some random roof. I set the pilot on his feet, but kept ahold of his dark green suit, preventing him from going anywhere.
“I need you to relay a message to the military,” I said firmly, staring at my own reflection in his black visor.
He didn’t respond, prompting me to lift him off the ground half a foot as I repeated myself.
“Okay, okay!” he finally managed, his voice breaking.
I put him back on his own feet, and relayed the overall same message I had said earlier, making sure he communicated it before letting him go as I returned to the air. The squadron of helicopters were still far enough away that I wasn’t worried about being shot down, but I knew we didn’t have long to get this done.
Once I was high above the city, I focused upward on Harper, who had soared much higher than the beast could reach, just watching from a distance while she waited for me to do my part. The key to my success was getting in close without the monster noticing, so I flew high above it, trying to stay behind a little while it was distracted with one of the last few remaining jets. Once I was in a good position, I then folded my wings and dropped straight down towards its tail.
Like a small meteor, I barreled towards the creature’s lower back, watching red cracks grow all along its midnight body and converge on its head, before another laser beam erupted from its mouth, taking out a single jet. As far as I could tell, there were only three or four left, but they didn’t sound close by anymore, as if they were retreating.
Extending my wings at the last second, I abruptly slowed my descent, uncontrollably gliding towards the wing-like appendages coming out of its back.
Having designated my targets, the system assist activated, spheres appearing at what I estimated to be the weakest points near the joints.
My own body began glowing as those familiar vibrant red cracks appeared all over my body, converging on my hands as a low hum filled the air. Deciding to just go for both at the same time, I aimed at them simultaneously, the oscillating rings collapsing, my palms erupting with brilliant beams of energy.
Much to my surprise, much like what had happened with the hell-crows, the force of the beams of energy were so powerful that it ate right into the skin, causing the bone to explode, the massive scythes separating from the body and beginning to fall away.
Shocked that it had been so easy, I barely even reacted to the reverberating roar coming from the beast, getting ready to ascend again. I half expected that I would need to worry about the monster’s tails, but Harper’s aerial view told me that they weren’t preparing to strike.
Instead, something much more horrifying happened.
Chapter 24: Critical Hit
Unexpectedly, the neck of the behemoth popped loudly, and like a swivel, the entire massive draconic skull turned entirely around in a flash, like an owl twisting its head.
Suddenly, I was staring at rows of dagger-like teeth, each longer than my entire body, uncontrollably being drawn in toward its mouth as if it was sucking me in. All four slitted demonic eyes were homed in on me, the pupils narrowed and focused.
Vibrant red cracks shot up its body and appeared all along its head, as a bright glow illuminated the deep throat, revealing just how large the inside of its mouth really was, being capable of fitting at least ten semi-trucks inside, if not more.
Shit!
The air around me filled with pinpricks of red light as I activated my Heat-Particle Boost skill, folding my wings and thrusting myself backwards as fast as possible, but it wasn’t enough! I couldn’t even hope to get outside of its wide range of attack!
Unexpectedly, as fast as lightning, the monster’s head swiveled around again the moment Harper unleashed a barrage of Heat-Ray Pulses at its eyes from above, finding herself as its new target.
Desperate to regain its Aggro before it fired, I unleashed my own beams of energy at the back of its head, only for a black wall to come out of nowhere from my right and slam into me with all the force of a human getting plowed by a truck.
I felt bones in my wing shatter as I rocketed towards the ground, smashing into a rooftop, only to roll all the way to the end where I slammed into the concrete ledge. I coughed up black gunk as I attempted to raise my hand, my body illuminating as I shot another beam at my enemy.
But it was too late.
Harper was trying to get out of the way, but the monster had no problem shifting its head just slightly to trail after her – there was no escape.
“NO!” I roared as the beam erupted from its throat, straight at her.
I watched in horror as she folded her wings at the last second to drop from the sky, only for both of her legs and part of her wings to be completely obliterated – her descent didn’t slow, and the half of her body that remained dropped straight for the ground head first, her mind having vanished from mine.
The world seemed to lose all color, the universe becoming unfocused as white text appeared before my eyes.
ALERT!
Sub-handler 001 update!
Physical Condition: Unstable, Injured [Critical], Dying
Psychological Condition: Unstable, Traumatized, Unconscious
D…
Dying…
Suddenly, I couldn’t think.
Suddenly…
I couldn’t think…
The world around me shattered into a thousand pieces.
ALERT!
Handler update!
Psychological Condition: Unstable, Traumatized
WARNING!
Psychological condition exceeds systemic limitations!
Psychological collapse imminent!
No.
No.
NO.
/> DANGER!
Catabolysis initiated.
Instantly, rage filled my thoughts as pain erupted in my tail and wings, feeling as if my body was beginning to feed on them, as if I was suddenly starving and was devoting those resources to something else.
It couldn’t end like this.
It WOULDN’T end like this.
This bastard…
This bastard was going to die.
ALERT!
Psychological Buffer Activated!
BERSERK evolution initiating…
Exceeding physical systemic limitations…
LIMIT BREAK [Effect] Activated!
FORCE UNLOCK Initiated!
Unlocking New Skill…
Complete.
New Electric Magic Skill: Electric-Bolt Eruption
WARNING!
Thermoacoustic Insufficient!
Resource Requirement ELEVATED: 27
DANGER!
BERSERK-UNLOCKED Skill Consequence: UNKNOWN
I didn’t give a damn.
I didn’t give a DAMN!
My body erupted in pain as it felt like I was beginning to rupture from the inside, black gunk spewing out of the cracks forming in my midnight skin, with a vibrant blue light shredding my body, the world around me blurring as I held up my right hand towards my enemy.
Overriding systemic failsafe…
Charging Electric-Bolt Eruption (Skill)…
Complete.
Instantly, what looked like a bolt of lightning exploded from my hand, zipping through the air in the blink of an eye, and hitting the behemoth in the neck.
Like an egg in a microwave, the monstrosity ruptured seemingly from the inside out, its decapitated head flying in one direction, while the body thrust backwards in the opposite.
My gaze then focused on where my arm had been, finding there was nothing below my elbow – I no longer had a right hand, wrist, or forearm.
It was all just gone.
Ignoring the pain everywhere in my body, I pushed myself to my feet and attempted to use my wings, but to no avail. The right was still broken, and now the left felt like it would barely move too.
Desperate to get to Harper, I had the system locate her, and then dropped off the roof straight to the ground below. The pavement fractured beneath my weight, the jarring sensation feeling like someone had poured lemon juice on a million razor blade cuts all throughout my body. I fell to my knee as my thoughts shattered for a moment, before I made myself get up and began moving forward, forcing myself to try to run.
I saw in my biometrics that I had the ‘Adrenal Exhaustion’ ailment that was making everything so much more difficult, but my overall fatigue was still at a manageable level, being at 74%.
So I tried to run harder.
Every step was agonizing, but I couldn’t stop.
I had to reach her.
I had to…
Gritting my teeth, I focused on her biometrics, shocked to see that her body wasn’t even trying to regenerate when she still had resources available.
“Come on, dammit!” I exclaimed out loud, only to cough black gunk into my mouth. I spat it out as a message popped up.
Systemic limitations exceeded.
Error.
Injured [Critical] unaffected by Systemic Skill Regeneration.
Dammit!
This couldn’t be happening!
I ran harder, moving from one street to the next, until I finally caught sight of her near a broken light-pole, with what remained of her body angled oddly as if she had broken her back in the fall.
I bolted for her, despite the continuous pain, and fell to my knees at her side, seeing her eyes slightly open but unfocused, her breathing so shallow that it was almost nonexistent. There was absolutely nothing below her hips, appearing as if part of her intestines or some other organ was partially hanging out.
Shit!
This couldn’t be happening!
Shitty system, do something! Anything!
Dammit, upgrade her regeneration, or something!
Make this nightmare stop!
Unexpectedly, Harper’s breathing ceased entirely, along with another message popping up in my vision.
ALERT!
Sub-handler 001 update.
Physical Condition: DECEASED
Psychological Condition: DECEASED
Unlinking Sub-handler 001 in 00:04:29:851
NO!
‘MAKE THIS NIGHTMARE STOP!’
Processing unknown enhancement request…
Invalid.
Assessing functional utility…
Analyzing handler biometric values…
Calculating viable evolution paths…
Complete.
Displaying relevant body augmentations…
Salivary Effects: Fatigue, Unknown Toxin Detected
Upgrading Salivary Effects…
Distributable Resources: 11
Allocating 3 resources…
Formulating new catalytic antigen…
Error.
Biochemical unstable.
Distributable Resources: 8
Allocating 3 resources…
Formulating new catalytic antigen…
Error.
Biochemical unstable.
Distributable Resources: 5
Allocating 3 resources…
Formulating new catalytic antigen…
Success.
Distributable Resources: 2
Designation in process…
Complete.
Synthesizing CATALYTIC ZETA LATRO…
Complete.
I didn’t need to be told what to do. There was no time to think. No time to wonder. Harper was dead. There was no time to do anything except act.
Without hesitation, I fell forward, sinking my teeth into her thin throat, with what remained of her body jerking violently.
ALERT!
Sub-handler 001 update.
Condition ‘Deceased’ dismissed.
Physical Condition: Injured [Critical], Systematic Failure detected, Unstable [UNKNOWN]
Psychological Condition: Unconscious, Traumatized, Unstable [UNKNOWN]
Ailment Detected: UNKNOWN
ALERT!
Catalytic hormone production elevated!
WARNING!
Systemic cascade detected!
Systemic cascade escalating!
DANGER!
Antigen production elevated!
Adrenal production elevated!
Hemagglutination detected!
WARNING!
Hormonal flooding detected!
Uncontrollable system flooding escalating!
DANGER!
Neuralgia detected!
Systemic shock elevated!
Harper’s eyes flew fully open as she began to shriek at the top of her lungs, an ear-shattering scream that sounded like it would rupture her throat. I could see in her shattered consciousness that it was like someone was taking a razor blade to each individual nerve, like a hundred-million tiny slices having lemon juice and salt poured on them, combined with being electrocuted by a lightning bolt.
Her entire body began writhing violently, as if something was warping it from the inside out, appearing similar to a horrifying transformation that was breaking and resetting her bones, with what remained of her wings shriveling up and becoming desiccated.
Again, I could sense her experience, all her muscles moving involuntarily as if her entire body was cramping repeatedly, the pain being excruciating as her nerves, muscles, and now her shriveled wings all only escalated her torment.
DANGER!
Regeneration exceeding physical limitations!
Systemic inhibition suppressed!
Failsafe disabled!
ERROR!
Resource requirement unavailable!
WARNING!
Initiating emergency prioritization!
Catabolysis escalating!
Catabolysis surge exceeds system limitations!
> Neuralgia escalating beyond known values!
Systemic shock escalating beyond known values!
Her scream abruptly cut off as she ran out of air, before she sucked in a ragged breath as whatever organ was hanging out got sucked back into her body. But then she shrieked again when fleshy bones burst from her hips, appearing as if they were growing from within. Muscle, ligaments, and skin all swelled slightly before more fleshy bone burst from what had become her knee, rapidly developing into emaciated calves, ankles, and thighs.