A Sinner's Eden

Chapter 196 - EVO

***Tirnanog, Third Continent***

***Astra***

We didn’t have to wait long for the group to reach us.

The strange creatures swarmed out around our position like a pack of well-trained hunting dogs. Luckily, we had chosen to wait for them on top of a large rock that towered about fifteen metres above the canyon’s edge.

It was the best nearby spot we could have chosen for such an encounter. The rocky landscape around the canyon was covered with crevices and large rocks, providing easy hiding spots and opportunities to take cover. But on this rock, we would have at least some forewarning against sneak attacks. Anyone or anything that wanted to get to us would have no way to hide their approach while they climbed the rock. The only other option was a narrow ridge that led up to the monolith’s peak, providing a very predictable approach vector for anyone who took it.

I wasn’t particularly worried about something or someone jumping to our elevated position. Even if they were capable of doing so, they would open themselves to easy retaliation while airborne.

The nightstalker variants were a concern, but for the moment, it looked like they were not approaching us any further. They stopped their advance about twenty metres away and were now staring at us.

During their entire approach, they hadn’t made a single sound. It was eerie to watch these creatures behave in such a manner. All my encounters with nightstalkers and their variants told me that they should be attacking humans on sight, regardless of the consequences. To see them pause, even if they were just considering the best means of attacking us, was unnatural.

Once I was reasonably certain that the pack would make no immediate move, I turned my attention to the five people who had been following the creatures. They were definitely human, and judging by their gear, they looked like a hunting group. Light armour, backpacks, and diverse weaponry made them seem like ordinary people who were making a living on their own. They had no streamlined equipment like it would be given out by some larger organisation or group.

I raised a hand in greeting, “Hello-”Suddenly, one of the nightstalker variants propelled itself forward far faster than their earlier approach had made them seem capable of. It rushed along the narrow ridge leading up to us with unnatural grace, making it look like the rocky ground was completely even and provided more than enough footing.

It dodged one of our protective drones as the device swooped forward to intercept. The nightstalker jumped over it like a cat just to get to us.

Magnus pointed his spetum at the creature, and an arm-thick bolt of lightning sprang into existence between the tip of the blade and the creature’s chest. While devastating, physics kept the monster going.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

I reached over my shoulder and gripped the handle of the large, cylindrical battery on my back. Letting go of it with my filaments, I turned my entire body while relying on the armour weave for additional power. My body provided the counterweight as I swung the device with all the force I could muster.

“Duck!”

Magnus ducked, his head clearing my improvised bat just in time for me to swat the creature with a mighty ‘thud’. Just before it hit the creature, I switched off the battery’s inertia correction.

My bat kept going as if the creature wasn’t even there. The creature’s stunned form was pressed against the device’s side like a fly against a flyswatter.

Right before the battery could pull me off my feet and take me down into the canyon with it, I reactivated the inertia correction and allowed the large mass to complete its arc while the monster went off careening through the air like a broken doll.

Two seconds later, the creature disappeared beyond the canyon’s edge without a sound, bound for a few more seconds of free fall before it would hit the unforgiving ground.

Grinning, I reattached the battery to my back.

Magnus slowly rose from his crouched position and turned his head to face me. “You are aware that you just used an energy storage device – which holds enough power to pulverise the rock we are standing on ten times over – as if it were nothing more than an oversized club?”

I shrugged and blinked innocently. “The batteries have more structural reinforcements than our weapons or our armour. If something can damage them, we have other problems.”

Magnus’s eyes narrowed. “Did you forget that the device I am carrying on my back holds the same reinforcements, and that neither of us has a clue what might happen if we forcefully bang them against each other?”

“Uhhm…” I bit my lower lip as I tried to come up with an answer. In the best case, both electromagnetic reinforcements would hold, and nothing would happen. Worst case, one or both devices would be damaged if the reinforcements yielded, therefore breaking or destabilising the spatial adjustments which kept the devices in their current form and the stored energy within them contained.

“I had utter confidence that you would dodge,” I stated with all the confidence I could muster.

Magnus rolled his eyes and returned his attention to the group of five. They were watching us warily.

I wasn’t sure how to continue from here. After all, their first reaction had been to sic one of their hunting dogs on us.

Magnus pointed at the closest member of the other group. “Hey, you! Loose control over one more of your inbred Chihuahuas, and we have a problem. And you won’t like it if we have a problem!”

The guy further in the back, who was flanked by two nightstalkers, finally spoke up. “We don’t listen to government lackeys! Earth scum!”

“Who says that we are from the government?” I asked.

Another guy gestured at us and spoke in a strange vernacular. “Look at yerselves. All polishd’ up in tha’ shiny armour of yers’. Are ye’ too afraid of the wilds othawise? Govs didn’ give ya mutations?”

Magnus exchanged a look with me, and I spread a few of my filaments, enough to make it clear that we weren’t your average government goons. I wondered what kinds of experiences these people had with Earth’s government to jump to such conclusions at the first sight of outsiders.

“We are from one of the colonies on one of the other continents,” I announced. “And we came here to take a look at how you guys are doing.”

The three men and two women looked at each other with incredulous expressions. By now, I was certain that they had some form of silent communication going on. Something like our UI or whoever was controlling the nightstalkers could form a mental connection between them.

I just wondered what their next step would be.

One of the women turned to face us. “You are coming with us to our leader. He is also from one of the other continents.” Then she added ominously, “If you are lying, you are in trouble.”