114 A Cramped Battle

--Eira POV--

In my left hand, I hold my scythe while the claws of my other grips the bedsheets that makeup Goliath's attire. I hang from them approximately around his shoulder with one foot propped against his torso while the other dangles. This position will hopefully allow me to take cover behind Goliath's torso if a substantial number of bullets come tearing down the hallway. Meantime, I wish to start chipping away at Carl's sensitivity to dangerous situations, so I have Dolt carrying him beneath his armpit.

Glancing over, I laugh upon seeing him dangling limply as he whispers some type of litany to himself. I made certain he brought the rifle I gave him earlier, which he now clutches the strap of, but the rifle itself lies on the floor. Will he actually shoot someone? I don't know, but at least now it'll be his own fault if he allows himself to die despite having a fully functioning weapon.

The sound of a small explosion echoes down the hall.

'Ah! That must be the signal.'

As I am about to order the Brutes forward, they take the initiative themselves, seemingly incapable of waiting any longer.

"""Naht Guh!""" they bellow together.

Slowly at first, they begin to pick up their speed upon rounding the corner. It reminds me of a stampede of horses except much less coordinated, more odorous, and in a hallway rather than open planes.

"I-incoming!" an exo-soldier shouts, warning of the encroaching Brutes.

Initially, it seems as if we will be upon them before they have a chance to act, but our momentum is almost entirely lost when we enter an unanticipated cloud of chemical fog. My eyes water, my nose runs, and my lungs burn. 'These! These gases are the worst! I'd almost prefer the bullets! Speaking of which…'

At the far end of the hall, I can vaguely make out the barrels of the two turrets starting to spin; furthermore, the exo-soldiers seem to be recovering surprisingly fast. Yet, to my relief, judging by the sound they are making, they appear to have no ammo installed within them, so all they accomplish is a rhythmic clicking noise.

'The turrets lack of ammo must be Aponi, and Sam's doing! As for the exo-soldier recovery rate, the goggles they like to wear so much appear to be protecting their eyes. I'm sure it still makes it painful to breathe, but they seem capable of enduring the burn if it means their life.'

The exo-soldiers move to flee toward the back of the hall to retreat and refortify their position, but the Brutes in the front come into range and start attempting to pick them off. With burning skin, their progress is slow, but we have our own problems; namely, the Brutes size seems to be proving a disadvantage. The hallway is narrow, so this only allows a few Brutes to stand in a line meaning most of the soldiers are able to escape while being careful to make sure they do not further splash the bubbling piranha solution that coats the floor upon themselves.

Still, a few of the soldiers are caught before escaping. One of which is caught by Goliath, who seizes an exo-soldier and endeavors to squeeze the lift from the man.

"I-I won't die like this!" the man says with gritted teeth.

I can hear the hydraulics of the man's exoskeleton fighting to keep him from being mashed, but this only excites Goliath causing him to further tighten his grip. Turning my head, I can see the Brutes behind us are attempting to squeeze themselves forward to charge the nearly reformed exo-soldier formation. So to hasten our progress, I raise the scythe with one hand and perform an awkward one-armed swing. My awkward swing proves fruitful as the edge of the scythe embeds itself in the temple of the exo-soldier. His body begins to whither as the scythe feasts upon his blood, and with the exo-soldier losing his strength, the sound of breaking metal and bones reverberates as Goliath crushes him.

['Lv.1 Human' Slain - 8 Essence Acquired]

While Goliath celebrates in glee, I notice Dolt, Carl, and one other Brute has managed to advance forward. Additionally, the exo-soldiers have succeeded in placing themselves behind their mana barricades despite the paranoia solution. They do, however, struggle due to the burning of their hands from the solutions, but this is a life or death situation, so no matter how painful the burns they seem to consider it better than death.

They drop to one knee, and I can see the solution bubbling and sizzling around the fabric of their clothing, yet they maintain the stance and raise their rifles.

"Focus fire!" one of the exo-soldiers commands, "Drop them one at a time! Fill the hall with their bodies, and they won't be able to approach so easily! Focus fire!"

Suddenly, the deafening sounds of rifle fire ring out as all exo-soldiers focus on the closest Brute—luckily for Carl and Dolt, this does not happen to be them. As the hailstorm of bullets rains down upon the Brute, syrupy blood oozes from the Brute as dozens of rounds pierce its flesh. Initially, the Brute seems wholly unfazed, but the damage being done to it obviously starts to become more and more apparent.

"Someone get the fuckin' turrets loaded goddamnit!" the same exo-soldier shouts.

Two exo-soldiers with particularly severe burns immediately drop their rifles and sprint to a crate nearby. There they remove ammunition belts from a crate and run to the turrets to commence loading them. Yet they seem to be having problems with getting the chambers open, suggesting they have been sabotaged in some way.

My gaze descends upon the man barking orders. 'A competent commander! Well, we can't have that now, can we!'

I slap Goliath's back with the flat end of the scythe and point at the man. "Guh moron! Guh!" I yell with a red face.

To both my surprise and happiness, he acknowledges me with a dumb look and a thumbs-up almost immediately upon seeing where I am pointing. He advances onward, stomping the ground as if he is attempting to intimidate them, but at the same time, the Brute that has been the focus of the bullets collapses into a puddle of solution.

"Reload and then focus on the two big ones!" the commanding man yells, pointing at Dolt and Goliath.

Abruptly, Goliath alters course, instead opting to approach the assumingly deceased bullet-riddled Brute. Dolt follows suit, and the two stand around the Brute, attempting to lift it with expressions of concern.

"He's dead idiots! Attack while they're reloading! Guh!" I barely manage to shout over the weeping of Carl, who is still being carried in Dolt's armpit.

But he does not listen; instead, I realize the atmosphere of the room has significantly changed. Glancing back, I notice the other Brutes are also gazing at the body.

"Fire!" someone yells.

Instantly, bullets commence speeding toward us, piercing Goliath and Dolt's chest. I swing my foot utilizing the momentum to place myself behind Goliath's torso, and here I notice the bloodshot eyes of the other Brutes.

'...Do they not understand the concept of grief and death!? Are they really so innocent! I've seen them kill people! Did they believe they were immortal or something!?'

For the first time, I hear the Brutes truly roar, not a 'Guh' but a primal howl. The energy of the room instantly shifts from one of chaos to one of pure fury. The Brutes start to go berserk, something I did not anticipate. Immediately, I jump from Goliath's back, getting as close to the wall as possible in order to avoid being smashed between the group of rampaging Brutes.

"Eira!" I hear a familiar voice yell.

"Huh?" I look over to find Sam with a wheezing Dr. Wright. "Oh, hey. Uhm, you might want to find somewhere safer to hide if you're going to carry around the doctor."

"F-forget that! What is wrong with them?" he says, motioning toward the Brutes who have begun tearing down walls and destroying everything within sight.

"Well… it would seem it is all fun and games until someone dies… then they realized it was not a game." I laugh awkwardly. "B-but, isn't that how it always is?"

"...No!" he responds.

Shrugging, my attention returns to the Brutes. Dolt and Goliath dash forward, decisively reaching the wall of exo-soldiers. Goliath picks up the body of a researcher who looks to have been covered in piranha solution; using the man's body as a weapon he strikes at the exo-soldiers. Meanwhile, Dolt uses the only projectile he has… Carl.

The veins in Dolt's muscles poke out as he hurls the screaming Carl toward an exo-soldier that was only a few feet away. The sound the two bodies make when they collide is not something a healthy human body should ever make.

'...Well, I didn't expect that. If you're alive, Carl, I will rescue you for your valent service. Besides, I already went through the trouble of introducing you to the Security Office'

When I study the back section of the exo-soldiers, I notice the turret chambers have been pried open.

I snap my fingers and wave my hands to get the dumbfounded Sam's attention. "Hold the doctor against the wall and spread his arms!"

Sam nods and promptly does so.

"W-what are you about to do!" Dr. Wright shouts nervously.

Cutting my palm, I raise it and shoot a blood spike into his right palm. "I don't have time to talk to you right now!"

He screams, adding plenty of colorful profanities, but again I don't have time, so I shoot a second spike into his left palm. With both spikes planted, I flatten their ends to ensure it is impossible to remove them without pulling the whole spike from the wall.

"You'll die here! I'll dissect you myself!" he yells with blood seeping from his palms, "As for you worthless mercenaries get over here and save me!"

The mercenaries, as he calls them, completely ignore him, so I do the same.

"Sure, sure," I say, hastily lifting a large piece of broken drywall and using it to hide the doctor. Turning toward Sam, I hurriedly shout, "Go find Aponi! Then do what you can to help from a distance!"

"Yeah! She looked like she got a lot of that stuff on her!" Sam runs off, sticking to the edge of the hall with his head down.

'Status.'

Name: Eira Callista

Gender: Female

Race: Vampire {Infant True God}

Level: 7 (186/200)

Health: 389/400

Mana: 222/250 {99/100 Max Shielding}

Strength: 22

Endurance: 23

Agility: 27

Intellect: 25

Constitution: 40

Talents: Paranormal

Skills: Intermediate Blood Magic; Novice Scythe; Novice Shadow Magic

Titles: Goddess of Blood (Infant); Human Hunter (Lesser)

Available Points: 4

'Okay, I'm about to level, so I'll get the points back then. Put two points into intellect and two into agility.'

The points are added as I move forward, feeling my speed increase slightly. My attention turns to Goliath and Dolt, who are both littered with bullet holes. They completely ignore them, though, and are now doing a lot of damage to the exo-soldiers, but at the same time, the soldiers are doing a good job of keeping their attention split. Meanwhile, the Brutes who cannot get closer due to the sheer amount of bodies in the room stand in the back, throwing hunks of broken drywall and rubble.

"Shoot and then run!" the same competent exo-solider from earlier shouts.

'You need to die!'

With them now dodging and running about, the mana barriers are unmanned, so I cross them without difficulty. Raising the scythe, I slash, sending a blood blade into the closest soldier.

Not expecting an enemy that isn't a giant Brute, he is easily caught off guard. He screams as his arm drops to the floor, and at the same time, the severely injured Dolt approaches. Dolt spreads his palm wide and smashes downward, turning the man into a bony mass.

['Lv.1 Human' Slain - 50% Contribution - 4 Essence Acquired]

The mangled body and Dolt's palm sizzle under the influence of a thin puddle solution. To my annoyance, he also manages to splash some just below my right eye. In his current berserk state, yelling would likely be useless, so I don't even try to scold him.

"Turrets are up! Watch your backs!" someone shouts.

'Ugh! Stupid Brutes! They are physically strong but don't know how to prioritize… or think at all for that matter!' With that thought, I abandon my mission to kill the competent exo-soldier and instead charge toward the two turrets.