The Last Dainv

Chapter 248

Gale vaulted over Stormbreaker's crouched body that had been defending him. Erebus arced once. Horizontal reflection cast out towards the stationary Adam. A black needle caught the reflection and deflected it before it hit the target.

Adam's eyes glowed, charging up as its bleeding eyes focused on Gale. However, a bullet nicked its forehead just enough to interrupt the sequence. Ollie from the backline shot out more bullets, all curving away before they could hit flesh.

Stormbreaker charged Cain, both daggers extended. Metal rang against metal as her blades locked against his remaining needle arm. The force of the collision cratered the floor beneath them.

A blue lance burned through the air from Lily's position near Ollie. The lance caught Cain's right leg at the joint. The black metal glowed white-hot, nearly piercing through completely.

An explosion engulfed Cain's lower body right after, sealing the deal on the weakened leg joint.

Stormbreaker pulled back her dagger before stabbing again. Launched up into the air, Cain's dismembered body couldn't dodge anymore.

Gale saw the opening. Erebus shifted into a halberd. Focused Phase Touch activated on the tip.

Jump.

Erebus pierced through the black metal skin of Cain's chest. Through the hole, a glowing red heart pulsed intensely.

Gale drove the halberd deeper into its chest cavity. Resistance met. One more push and it was through. Steaming black blood spurted out from its chest as the glow of the red heart faded.

[Corrupted Cain felled.]

[Origin Grains: 45]

[Points Reward: 1750]

[Extracting Origin from Prey...]

Suddenly, an explosion shook the entire facility from the outside. Tremors caused the metal flooring to bend and jut out from their bolted down positions.

Tendrils spread out to see what happened outside.

The gigantic 12 legged spider mech that had busted in through the facility gates had now fallen. Its frame collapsed, burning and leaking oil, hull torn and ripped apart.

The next moment, thousands and thousands of winged abominations took flight. All their eyes looked towards the facility.

Buzzing noise grew larger and larger as the thousands of wings came closer to the facility. From the first gate, they poured through into the tunnel, flooding the aerial space.

"Shoot those fuckers!" Kyle shouted.

Everyone's weapons aimed upwards. Clyde fired. Lily's lances burned through clusters. Rachel threw fireballs into the densest sections of the swarm.

Adam's eyes bled even more as he charged up another psychic blast. A gaping hole opened up just as the blast travelled through the air towards Gale.

Erebus held up into a massive shield. His feet skidded along the floor as the force pushed him back a couple of metres.

Shift back into a sword. He saw the Proctor's goggles. Behind them were eyes that didn't bother to look at the fallen Cain. Instead, his gaze stared at the whole group.

If he managed to get them, he could probably make even stronger creations than Cain, Abel, or Eve.

Behind Gale, he felt for everyone's signatures. Rachel, Lily, and Ollie had their signatures now at Harmonic. Kyle and Clyde were at Late Resonant.

All of them used the dust provided by Erin.

Time to go all out. Punch that asshole in the face. Maybe even kill him.

Gale reached into his pocket, pulled out a vial, and snapped off the lid with his thumb, downing it in one go.

[Essence: 2340/2340]

[Efficiency: 150 » 211]

[Max Load: 150 » 210]

A flood of Essence filled up his reserves. Pathways burned all over his body, concentrated on his spine. The world sharpened. Colours became more vivid. The texture of every individual bug-like wing on the swarming abominations became clear.

Taking one deep breath, Gale whispered to himself, let it in.

[Warning: Presence Between integration at 80%]

What was once flesh monsters now became golden gilded knights. The winged abominations flying in the air all became angels that flapped their wings in slow elegant arcs.

Adam changed as well. Instead of a bandage wrapped abomination of a creature, he became that of a bearded old man with gray robes that held up a staff with a blue gem. His robes were patterned with blinking rhomboid patterns that all seemed to look towards the Proctor.

Behind him, his team looked all the same as they were. Rachel looked like Rachel. Ollie looked the same. The insanity of the Void didn't affect their appearances.

Looking back at the Proctor again, he saw the regal golden robes that flowed in the non-existent wind. Everywhere around him, the abominations changed their appearance.

One shot. He just needed one shot.

[Presence Between activated.]

[Max Load Breached: 1200/210]

[Core Integrity: 98%]

[Core Damage detected. 1% Core damage is equivalent to 10 Origin Grains that must be used to repair]

Who the hell cares about the damage right now? Gale didn't know how much Origin Grains he had currently, but this whole swarm gave him a fuck ton.

Rachel! Gale shouted through the presence.

She looked back at him from her gate. Their eyes barely met for half a second. She understood immediately. No words needed.

Her whole body ignited. Not just engulfed, she became a whirling inferno. The heat radiating off her even made the air glow hot.

She jumped.

Not toward the third gate where she'd been holding the line, but straight into the middle of gate two where the winged abominations packed the tightest.

Erebus turned into a shield, blocking Gale from Rachel.

Mid-air, Rachel crossed her arms over her chest and suddenly punched.

The air detonated. The shockwave banged against Gale's shield, forcing him to clench every fibre of muscle he had just to not get blown away.

A sphere of white hot energy expanded from the detonation position, consuming everything within Gate 2. The winged abominations vaporized instantly. The ones outside the blast radius burned to a crisp, all crumbling as they fell down.

When the light faded, Rachel stood at the centre of the scorched metal crater.

Lily! Gale shouted through his presence.

From where Lily stood, she clasped her hands together and knelt down into a prayer. The space above her opened. Edges crackled. Reality tore apart with blue ether.

When it fully opened, the night sky of a dark forest could be seen. A blue moon peered through the broken space, blinking slowly. Its pupil dilated. Blinked once again, but not before it rolled its pupil as if it were a spoiled child being forced to do a chore it didn't want to.

The next moment, a piercing scream of grating metal came from the dark forest. And as the eyes widened, a giant lance of blue light erupted from its pupil.

This wasn't the thin beams from Lily's deagles. This was a column that engulfed everything within. It punched through the gate three and incinerated every winged abomination that came after the first explosion. Once the light faded, bodies didn't drop. They simply disappeared with the light—disintegrated.

Kyle, please. Gale said through the presence.

A dagger flew through the air, but not at any enemy. It flew towards Clyde who caught it mid air. Dropping his rifle, the dagger floated on his palm. A whirring noise emanated from the dagger as it spun faster and faster.

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Then, the dagger flew straight towards the Proctor's glass pope box.

A shockwave trailed the dagger, pressing everything onto the walls and floor. Flesh warriors, crawlers, centipedes, even Guardians all felt the weight of the air slam them down.

Dagger collided with the glass box. Cracks webbed from the impact point.

Ollie didn't need to be told what was next, as he immediately floated upwards. Both arms spread wide. Blue outlines formed on all the entities except the Guardians.

The entire battlefield froze.

"Gale, GO!" Ollie shouted.

Gale jumped up. The glass was weakened. His line of sight was clear. Nothing could distract him. Their eyes met through the damaged glass.

"Fuck you," he said.

One Step activated.

[Max Load Breached: 1700/210]

[Core Integrity: 97%]

Space compressed between them. Objects at the corner of his eyes compressed and squished. His foot stepped forward in the air. Erebus changed into a blade.

Slice.

Darkness streaked behind Erebus as a trail of space and starlight devoured everything that it touched.

Adam moved.

Even while held by Ollie's telekinesis, the mid-corrupted entity forced himself through the restraint. His bandages ripped apart, revealing the countless scars and bleeding flesh beneath. But to Gale, all he saw was a perfect complexion underneath the ripped gray robes.

The streak of darkness caught him centre mass.

Adam's entire torso was devoured by the stars. No blood nor any scream could be heard. His upper body from above his groin just disappeared as the starlit darkness faded.

[Corrupted Adam felled.]

[Origin Grains: 60]

[Points Reward: 2500]

[Extracting Origin from Prey...]

But even though it had gone through Adam first, the streak of darkness didn't differentiate what was in front and behind. The glass box somehow managed to resist as fragments scattered on the floor instead of being devoured.

The Proctor laid on the ground as the lower half of his body was simply cut off. He was in two halves. Below the stomach and above. Except there was no blood.

Where there should have been flesh, only machinery and technology could be seen on the exposed parts where the robes didn't cover. Wires sparked everywhere and oil dripped down the cut tubes.

Ollie's hold broke. The telekinesis shattered and everything resumed motion.

The winged abominations immediately swarmed towards the Proctor and Gale's position, creating a living shield between them. Hundreds of them packed so tightly that he had to backpedal or else he would've gotten surrounded.

Erebus swung in an arc, sending out a reflecting and cutting multiple winged abominations at the same time. As soon as the winged abominations completed their task of protecting, the other half of them all flew at Gale.

Gale swung again. Multiple died only to see that none of it actually mattered against this swarm.

He had the power to kill even Cain or Adam individually, but against the multiple enemies, he couldn't really do anything. For every abomination killed, who knows how many took its place?

His feet moved backwards as he continued to slash away and send reflections. As his back met a wall, a fireball exploded in front of him.

Rachel stood beside him, fist still smoking. "Gate three! I got this!"

Gale turned and ran. No need to be told twice.

The swarm followed, as he was the biggest offender of hurting their precious Proctor. Wings flapping filled the whole tunnel from floor to ceiling.

Tendrils showed him the state of the battlefield once again. The 12 legged spider mech falling changed the tide again now that the winged swarm joined the fight. The Guardian faction was once again being forced back just through the sheer overwhelming number of the Tekanimantus.

At gate three, Stormbreaker stood side by side with Lily and Ollie. She protected them from the brunt of the centipede abominations that were coming in through the cracks of the Guardian blockade. But even she was getting pushed back.

A massive shadow fell across the tunnel, dropped by the swarm. A gigantic centipede crashed down onto gate three. Metal flooring buckled and shot debris into the air from the impact.

Dagger flew through the air onto the centipede's centre where the core laid. However, Kyle cursed. His hand shook, not able to aim properly. Four shots into the core, only one penetrated.

The centipede rolled, forcing Kyle to blink away.

Rachel engulfed her fists in flames once more. Punching outwards, she sent out a wave of flame, but this one was too weak to even damage the mechanical hull of the centipede. Blood ran down her lips, coughing it onto her palm.

Ollie tried to hold the centipede with no luck. Lily shot her deagles at it, but no ether was injected into her shots. Clyde did the same as well. Now only shooting with standard rounds that barely punched through the flesh of the hull.

Everyone was spent after using up all their ultimate abilities.

The swarm pressed forward again. The centipede's body formed a bridge over the Guardian blockade, allowing abominations to pour over it and flood toward gate three.

At the back of the tunnel, visible through the mass of bodies, the Proctor's mount turned. The remaining half of his body sat upright on the giant centipede's back as it retreated further into the tunnel.

The son of a bitch was running away.

Gale clenched his fist. Although he really wanted to kill the Proctor, getting out was more important. It was his win either way.

"The system has been repaired!" Erin shouted.

Behind them, at the centre of the platform, a triangular rift tore open between the prongs that curved inwards. Through it, Gale saw the familiar interior of Oshawa's warehouse. Concrete floor, metal aisle racks, and a single fluorescent light illuminating a couple of tables.

"Get in!" Erin commanded. "Now!"

Gale looked back at the swarm. They were fifty metres away, closing fast.

If they ran now, the swarm would catch them from behind and they'd have no way to fight back. The distance to the rift was about 50 metres. They'd never make it with the swarm that close.

Erebus shifted into Fangtian Huaji once again. Spin. The halberd sent out a circle of reflections that decimated everything around him.

But it made things worse.

The corpses piled up, forming barriers that forced him to constantly reposition. Every step back meant giving ground. The swarm pressed closer.

That was when he saw Erin floating up through Gate 3's threshold. The temperature dropped by ten degrees per second. Frost formed on the walls, on the floor, and froze the blood that dripped onto the exposed muscles of the Tekanimantus units.

An orb of ice materialized above her palm, growing larger with each passing second. The orb pulsed once, and suddenly everything froze.

Flesh warriors, centipedes, winged creatures, acolytes, and the other ones that Gale hadn't analyzed yet all stopped moving. The giant centipede bridge tried moving its joints with a groan, but eventually even the oil inside it froze.

That was when flesh creep all around the area started pouring into the tunnel. The heat that emanated from the veins of the flesh creep warmed the air all around. Crackling of ice could be heard as the frozen coffins of the Tekanimantus started thawing rapidly.

"Go!" Erin shouted.

Gale stepped forward. "We'll fight together. All of us will get out of this.."

Erin looked down at him from where she floated. "Do you truly believe these lowly abominations possess the capability to end me? I am the Grand Researcher of the Weber Conglomerate, now also the Grand General of the Architect's Tomb. I shall attend your gathering at Fran's Restaurant on Tuesday, as promised."

Gale's throat tightened. He nodded once. "Everyone, move! Through the rift!"

Lily ran first, sprinting for the triangular opening. She dove through and disappeared.

Clyde followed, Kyle right behind him supporting his brother.

Ollie floated backwards toward the rift, still watching the frozen horde. "Don't you dare die, Erin!"

"Go," Erin said.

Ollie went through.

Rachel charged at the rift next and passed through.

Gale turned and sprinted for the rift. Behind him, he heard the ice shatter completely. The swarm's buzzing resumed.

"Stormbreaker. Fight with me!" Erin shouted from behind Gale.

Diving straight through the triangular opening, he looked back, watching Erin's back stand against the tide of flesh and swarm of abominations.

"Don't forget! Tuesday!" Gale shouted before the exit rift engulfed him. As soon as he hit the concrete floor, the rift shattered like glass with the roar of thunder.

They were out. Everyone looked to each other, gasping for air. Kyle and Clyde sprawled on the cold winter concrete of Oshawa; their armour completely shattered in more places than one. Specifically, Kyle's arm was still dripping with blood as well as some bleeding from his butt.

Lily sat by the concrete beside Rachel. Her long platinum blond hair had been burnt in areas that made the length closer to her shoulders. A long gash by her leg armour revealed the wound on her thigh.

On the other hand, Rachel had burn marks all over her hands and legs, but surprisingly not her face. She was relatively fine compared to the other three, but Gale would bet her injuries were mostly internal.

Ollie's armour was still pristine. The only sign of damage that he took any damage was his expression. Pale complexion with dark circles under his eyes, wincing.

Pulling up his phone, Gale saw the date. January 12, 2070. It's only been a month? This time, the time dilation was different. The time they spent in the rift was much longer than what actually happened on Earth.

"Everyone ok?" Rachel asked.

"I'm ok. What about you?" Gale asked.

"Could be better. Not dying at least. Anyone else?" Rachel asked the rest of the group.

"I feel like sitting down on a toilet for the next couple of day's gonna be difficult," Kyle said.

"Fleshpound got your ass or something?" Lily asked.

"No, but a centipede bitch bit my ass," Kyle said.

"Was she at least hot though?" Clyde asked.

"That's ridiculous. Those things look like monsters," Rachel said.

"I mean, if you ignore everything below the waist, it would've worked," Kyle said.

"Looks like everyone's ok." Gale said. "Ollie?"

"Fuck!" Ollie collapsed onto the floor, failing to keep himself steady while standing up.

Lily sat up and went over to his side. "Erin will be fine. She said she'll see us on Tuesday."

Ollie didn't respond.

All of them knew that was hopeful thinking. Who could stand against that kind of tide? Even Gale didn't think he'd be able to get away if he was just alone to stand against it.

But Erin was smart. She wouldn't have sacrificed herself without a backup plan. Right?

"She'll meet us next week at Fran's," Gale said. This time, Ollie turned towards him, clenching his teeth and trembling fists.

"She was supposed to teach us how to deal with the dust corruption. Now it's all fucking gone, again. Back to square 0, like always." Ollie sighed.

"Cheer up, bossman. You really think Erin wouldn't have a backup plan?" Kyle said.

"She knows the Tomb in and out. The big bad got injured, all she needs to do is bide her time," Clyde said.

"That's right, Ollie. Cheer up. She'll be back with us next week. Then we can feed her the greasiest meal she's ever had," Rachel said.

"You guys just don't get it," Ollie said. "How can she—"

"She'll make it out there alive. If we don't see her next week, then the week after, and then the week after. We have to believe in her," Gale cut him off, standing up as he dematerialized Erebus. Extending his hand to Ollie, the boy held onto it as Gale helped him up.

"You really think that?" Ollie asked.

"I don't think it. I know so."

Suddenly, a plethora of notifications lit up in Gale's eyes.

[Exterminate the Corrupted]

[Mission Complete.]

[Reward: 25,000 points, 888 Origin Grains, 1 skill point]

...

Name: Gale Hathie

Race: Dainv

Core Class: Attuned [Integrity at 96%]

Origin Grain: 1000/1000 [Full]

Core Attributes: [

Max Load: 150

Efficiency: 150

Essence: 220/2340

]

Core Parts: [Body: 22, Heart: 12, Mind: 54, Spirit: 12]

Skills:

[Phase Touch Lv.3][Alter Lv.3][Distort Lv.3][Reflection Lv.1]

Passives:

[Presence Between Lv. 4][Essence Control Lv.2][Dainv Combat Arts Lv. 3][Manifest Lv. 1][One Step Lv. 1]

[Vianne's Express Amazing Store Points: 72,140]

[1 Skill point available]

...

Gale grinned. Now they just had to wait for Erin to come back. She'll make it out of there eventually.