Attack On SZ4 (2)

***

A multitude or creatures flooded from the horizon, bearing different shapes and sizes.

Numerous black shadows could be seen rushing and launching a barrage of bullets and attacks that devastated the massive wave of Stragglers.

There was only so many they could save. They spread out to cover more ground, keeping to teams of two, to avoid being overrun.

A girl with a large water tank on her back covered in a thick leather pouch bulleted towards the East of the barricade, where most of Invigorated were making a stand while receiving injured people.

A stream of other Invigorated rushed forward from the opening of the barricade with one leading ahead of them reaching into his pocket.

Bernard took a deep breath. He had asked for the opportunity to go forward because of two reasons.

He didn't want to affect the coordination that Josh would be trying to maintain in any way.

Also, he had started to shiver when he saw the brutal massacres of the monsters that just didn't stop. Therefore, he decided to do the thing he always wrote about for his main characters.

Move forward.

Despite the odds, despite the fear and despite the weakness.

'I have one minute. For every 24 hours, I get to choose a category and option of my choice at its most limited capacity. I already know what I want to use now. I don't know if a minute will be enough but....,' he thought.

He took a deep breath and threw the dice under the confused gazes of the people behind him.

The dice rolled.

Dice A, showed a 1.

Dice O, showed a 3.

Then the die disappeared.

For the first category, during a free throw, Bernard would always get a 3. Conrad Jorgenson's abilities. Apparently, they were considered to be limited capacity of the first category. He sort of understood why.

A tremor stormed his mind for a split second and in the next instance, the look in Bernard's eyes changed drastically, going from frightened to focused.

His run turned from amateur to veteran and as he wielded the SIG550. He felt a sense of fulfilment.

'Aaah.'

Under the gazes of Josh and company, Bernard...vanished from sight.

He appeared 10 meters ahead the next second and ...

BRRRRRRRRAAAAAA!

Bullets rained.

Bernard was shooting bullets left and right, whilst running at full speed.

Up the building wreckage, across the plain field, under the body of a massive Straggler, Bernard mixed in with Stragglers.

The stragglers of all kinds rushed him while he stood in their midst. From C to B grades rushing him from all sides.

A nasty grin appeared on Bernard's face. With his right hand, he held the assault rifle and with his left, he reverse handled a modified tactic knife.

Then all hell broke loose.

Josh, Paul, Nicholas and Ana were shocked.

Particularly Nicholas and Ana. Her reputation as being a top notch sharpshooter was being smudged in front of her eyes.

'What in the world? Is it an ability? But he didn't show the faintest signs of being from the military?' She thought

Every bullet fired from the muzzle of the gun met a Stragglers head, and if one was not enough, 4 more hit the exact same spot. The smaller grade C Stragglers couldn't even get close to him as the bullets claimed their lives.

The noise and commotion kept gathering the Stragglers towards Bernard, which was his intention all along.

The Invigorated already on the field were inspired by the show of power and kept advancing and saving the civilians stuck in the rubble or being chased down by Stragglers.

Clips were replaced in a split second and the bullets kept raining.

20 seconds had passed since Bernard rolled the dice and over 154 Stragglers had lost their lives.

Soon he switched to the knife, went low and sped through the masses, the knife moved so fast that when it beheaded a straggler, no blood could be seen and neither could the hand that was using the blade.

A blurry flash passed through 5 Stragglers and they stopped moving altogether, as they collapsed on the ground.

A giant Straggler with the head of the boar rushed Bernard.

He glanced at it and noticed the unusual effect of its charge.

'This must be a Grade B. I can feel a force trying to keep me in place as it charges. It must be its ability,' he thought.

Instead of dodging, he rushed towards the beast.

It was large at almost 3 meters, with glowing fur that threatened and pulsed with a dense energy.

Bernard jumped, sheathed his knife in the air, cocked his arm, balled his fist and with all his strength punched the boar in its forehead.

'Let's see if I can replicate Astrid's move.'

The moment his fist met the tough skin and bone of the boar, a cracking sound resounded, as well as a shockwave that made everyone cringe.

The boar's head was shot down from its previous high position and it crashed into the hard ground, causing a dust and dirt to fly away. It's neck had broke from the instant release of power that made the head suddenly bash onto the ground.

Bernard had one shotted a Grade B with his fist!

'Close enough,' he thought, and then held his gun.

"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!"Josh finally reacted.

His and his fellow crew's dumbfounded faces showed how much they were surprised by Bernard's show of strength.

'What exactly does that ability do?" Josh questioned himself. "You roll dice and you become the freakin' winter soldier?"

Bernard, went on one knee and started emptying clip after clip.

The strange thing was that none of his bullets missed and they didn't even graze his fellow Invigorated.

Josh sighed and signalled for his group to advance. They opened fire in support, bringing down many Stragglers as they moved.

The majority of the Stragglers were grade C.

Grade B were fewer among the masses. Most of the Grade Bs had no special ability though, and were just shrewd in their movements rather than the rampaging fodder.

The Grade As were still at the back, monitoring and walking slowly. The giant tree was taking its time as if to wait for all the stragglers before it to get killed first.

Bernard emptied a clip and when he reached to pick another, he stopped.

He suddenly remembered that he was not going to be invincible forever. If he used up all his clips now, he would be screwed when it was time to revert back to being trash.

A countdown timer was in his view, showing that he had 23 seconds left.

He decided it was time to back off and head back to Josh's group. Even if he opted to use the knife, if the countdown stopped while he was still within the swarm, he would die.

"There's still time before your minute's up you know?" Josh said as he saw Bernard return.

"I know, but I'm running low on ammo," Bernard said with an uncharacteristically calm face that perplexed Josh.

'He's like a completely different person,' Josh thought.

"Alright, let's split into teams of two. We'll divide and conquer, rescuing as many as we can. We'll rendezvous at that building over there," he said, pointing at a building 500 meters away. "Paul, with Bernard. Ana with Nicholas..."

Josh divided everyone into groups and they rushed, taking different routes.

Bernard's time was up and he felt the thrill and calm vanish, leaving him with a tired expression.

'That was intense. I can't believe that's the capacity of my own character, Conrad Jorgenson,' he said as he ran with Paul.

Ana and Nicholas ran side by side, covering each other with gun fire. They saw many dead bodies as they ran. Their faces scowled at the sight and Ana looked like she was going to be sick.

Having been far from the battlefield while in the comforts of the Safe Zone had made her relax somewhat, causing her forget the brutal struggle that was outside.

Suddenly, two large beasts rushed them, followed by tens of humanoid purple Stragglers.

At the forefront was a large, horse like Straggler with a pair of black horns on its head. It had black hairs, and it's height was at least 3 meters. It galloped towards Nicholas and Ana with a speed akin to a race car.

Following behind it was a humanoid rat with dark purple furs that shimmered in the sun. It ran on all fours, it's rat claws scratching the ground recklessly.

The dark horse straggler neighed and lifted it front legs up high.

They then came down, smashing the ground with a loud thud!

The ground shook and a current travelled towards the duo.

Ana was the first to feel it. A disorienting thrum that made her lose balance and fall to the ground. She panicked and quickly tried to aim with her gun at the horse, but to no avail.

Nicholas, received the attack better, but he was on his knees, grunting, his eyes losing focus.

The horse neighed again and galloped forward and a greater speed, pointing its horns towards the disoriented due.

The ground was shaking as its hooves struck the ground.

"Shit! Ana, is your innate ability an offensive type?!" Nicholas yelled.

"No! We have to evade or we'll be impaled!" she replied.

The horse and the large rat were closing in. The horse lifted its front legs again and struck the ground.

The feeling of disorientation hammered on Nicholas and Ana again, making them weaker.

"Ana! Get behind me and pretend to be scared!" Nicholas barked.

"What?!" Ana yelled in confusion.

"Just do it! Trust me!"

Ana hesitated only for a moment before crawling behind Nicholas and resting behind his back as if she was actually scared. She herself could not understand what the heck she was doing.

Nicholas felt the sensation on his back and breathed deeply.

The horse and the rat were only 5 meters away when an anomaly happened!

A gigantic and hazy figure with Nicholas' features appeared above him. It was a dull red in colour with thick arms and no lower torso. It exuded a great presence, its chest puffed to show dominance.

Innate Ability: Daddy.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Nicholas growled, and threw a punch at the incoming enemies, the giant imitation above him following suit.

The imitation's punch blasted the two grade B Stragglers away in a blood mess. The ground exploded from the impact and the army of Stragglers behind them were flung a distance!

The rat lay in a pool of blood 30 meters away, while the horse was struggling to get up on its broken legs.

Nicholas breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Ana.

He found the woman not looking at him with awe as he had imagined, but a frown that showed concern more than anything else.

"Don't judge me, dammit! It's my innate ability. There has to be a female in distress behind me for me to get a power up! The younger the better!"

"...."

A distance away, Josh was watching whilst shooting Stragglers with expert level precision. It wasn't as grand as when Bernard was using Gamble, but it was effective.

"What's up with these guys' abilities? They are all so weird," he said and sighed. "Might as well join in and not get overshadowed by the new recruits."

As he walked, he positioned the muzzle of the gun downwards. The wave of Stragglers before him finally had the chance to rush him, and some grade Bs come from different sides to swarm him, ruining his chances of escape.

Roughly hundreds of Stragglers rushed towards Josh with ravenous looks, but when they reached within five meters of him..... they stopped.

They couldn't advance.

It was as if a barrier was around the single figure of the man with a dead look in his eyes.

Nomatter how they struggled, they remained 5 meters away, with agitated and angry expressions.

Josh looked all around him with an indifferent gaze and then drew the saber that was in a sheath on his side.

"Please give me my personal space."

Innate Ability: Lonely Bastard.