Chapter 25: Lucian... Defeated?

About an hour ago, the team sent by the General herself were on a stealth helicopter — just hovering in the veil of the night. None of them were really talking to each other and were just quietly sitting on their benches; all of them holding a large, ominous-looking rifle on their chests.

They were all wearing full-face tactical helmets, with helmets that could allow them to see in the dark — as well as pinpoint certain radiation levels with the built-in radar in their black suits. And right now, all of them were looking at a red pulsing dot that was slightly bigger than the rest, it was moving — and the helicopter was moving along with it.

And finally, after several more minutes, it stopped moving. And as soon as it did so, all the men just stood up at the same time; they all looked at each other before looking at the hatch that was slowly opening. And without even any hesitation, all of them just leaped from the helicopter — without parachutes, without anything, really.

The team then expertly arranged themselves in the air, forming a circle that became wider and wider as they dropped toward the dark Wasteland. Once again, all of them just remained completely quiet… even as they were only a hundred feet above ground and still very much approaching their deaths.

Their deaths, however, did not happen yet as a certain whirring sound started to whisper in the air as a part of their suits started to open up, and as it did so, their descent just quickly slowed down until they just softly landed on their feet and knees.

They only stayed kneeling like this for a second before just quickly pointing their guns forward and starting to walk all at the same time even though they were far away from each other; their circle, slowly becoming smaller and smaller until…

"...We have eyes on the target, General," the one who seemed to be the leader of the team whispered, "It seems to be with two possible civvies. Unknown if they are hostile for now."

[Good, let it know we're here — I want to see how it responds. And ignore the civilians.] The General, who was actually on the other line and watching a slightly delayed feed on her large screen, squinted as it was extremely hard to see the TFK because of its size.

"Affirmative. Everyone, turn on your sights."

And without even any delay, everyone turns on their laser sights, slightly creating a mist of red in the Wasteland due to all the dust flying in the air.

They were fully expecting the TFK to do something, but all it did was look at itself and the red dots completely covering its small body. They were told that this was a highly intelligent monster, could the information actually be wrong?

"It's not doing anything, General. W—It moved!"

"It's fast!"

"Does anyone have eyes on the target!"

Everyone then turned to look around to search for only to see it beside one of the civilians.

"I… think it slapped that woman's hand."

"Why?"

And very slowly, the team who had been quiet the entire time started whispering and talking to each other.

"What do you want us to do now, General?" The leader of the team turned to look at the two humans, "There is a possibility that the two civvies might be hostages… but they are already heavily irradiated. They will not survive for long."

[I want it alive so that we could send it to Research, but… Just eliminate it.]

"Roger that, proceeding to eliminate the target." Everyone then nodded as their finger just very gently squeezed the trigger. And as soon as they did so, the TFK's tendrils quickly shot out — but not toward them, toward the two civilians; pushing them away as they all started firing at it.

Loud, deafening thunders echoed throughout the Wasteland as they fired at Lucian without pause. And after a few seconds, the team leader raised his fist and all the firing just instantly stopped.

Everyone waited for the cloud of dust to settle — and when they did…

…they saw a golden plate on the ground.

"General, there's a gold—"

[I see that.]

"It's moving!" Everyone once again held their rifles tight as the golden plate moved. And very soon, they heard a small, very tiny series of coughs as the TFK pushed the golden plate aside; waving its tiny little hand while shaking its head.

"Fuck! What was that!?"

"!!!"

The elite strike force almost took a step back as soon as they heard words escaping from the TFK's mouth. They were all told that it could talk, but they did not know just how fluent it actually was — and most importantly, even with its small size, everyone could still hear it clearly.

"Why are all of you trying to kill me!?" The TFK then pointed at each and every one of them with his blades, "Those damn Hestian mages, and you Murcans!"

[Kill it… Kill it now!]

And as the General screamed those words in their ears, they all just once again pointed their rifles and started shooting at the TFK. This time, however, the TFK started slithering away while covering itself with the gold plate.

"It's… It's fast!"

The General could not even blink as she watched everything that was happening on the large screen. She knew that the TFK was a very unique Kaiju — but to think it was fast enough that her own elite force could not even see its movement was something she would have never imagined.

And its words earlier — it knew who they were. It mentioned the Hestians and the Murcans, showing intelligence they have never seen before from a monster.

"Just… what are you?" The General's eyes started to glisten. Her amazement, however, instantly faded away as soon as one of her men lost his legs.

[Man down, we have a man—My… my arms!]

The General then watched as the TFK just started running across her men and slicing off their limbs one by one until only 5 remained intact. Soon, however, she realized something — the TFK…

…it was trying its best to stay away from the two civilians as much as possible.

"The civilians — pretend to shoot at the civilians! Hawk, keep your eyes on the TFK!"

The team did not hesitate at all to follow the General's orders as all but the leader of their team pointed their rifles at the two civilians — and as soon as they did so, the TFK suddenly stopped slithering around.

"I knew it!" The General slammed the desk with her fist, "Hawk, now! Shoot it now!"

And with that, Hawk shot the TFK straight on its torso — causing it to just drop there and then.

[L… Lucian!? W…]

"Lucian…?" The General's eyes furrowed as she heard the civilian's words, "And that accent — those civilians are mages."

[Mages? What do you want us to do, General?]

"Forget about them for now and proceed to check on the TFK, Hawk," the General shook her head as she watched as Hawk approached the TFK, "Be careful."

[I shot it on its torso, General. It should be completely disintegrated by—!!!]

And before Hawk could finish his words, the General watched as several tendrils suddenly shot out from the ground — all of them, just sticking to everyone's rifles. And without even giving them the chance to react, the tendrils forcefully pulled the rifles out of everyone's hands and causing some of them to just trip straight to the floor.

[S… shit, it—]

The General could see Hawk pulling out a sidearm, but it was just quickly slapped away by the TFK — and very soon, they saw its left eye starting to emit a green, a very harsh glow.

[You dare…] The TFK spoke up again as it threw away the rifles,

[...You dare try to hurt my children!?]

[Huh?]

"Huh…?"