Nodding its head when it went pass its other kinds, the alien kept on heading towards one of the two furthest cavern paths from the quarter. Lucky for me, there were several ice pillars to hide behind so I had quite the advantage on tailing it to its post.
Then, it paused for a moment before finally turning to the right path, lowering its head as it went though the entrance to the narrow path. No other aliens seem to be following it, so I began to move swiftly as soon as I could so I would not lose its tail again.
Still hiding behind the same and last ice pillar, I finally found an opportunity where the aliens' traffic were no longer centered near the very same spot where it had nodded its head earlier. I had both my feet moved quickly to the entrance, and began to crouch-walk again as I could finally leave all concerns about any of them spotting me.
Now where is that alien….
It seemed that there were so many turns in the new path that it would make anyone impossible to know what could be waiting at the end of the path ahead. Also, apparently the ice cavern path had a pretty good noise suppression since I could barely hear my own footsteps. Although that could also be caused because I was indeed trying to follow the alien by sneaking.
Wait what are these… prints on the ground? The alien's footprints?
There were clearly four-fingered footprints, or maybe their footwear prints on the ground with roughly about two and a half times bigger compared to an average human's, seemingly leading to the path ahead of me. There were not only just a couple of them, or four or eight; they were particularly clear whenever there was a lower clearance on the ceiling.
Oh, I get it. This ice cave path is too narrow for it that it had to lower its head several times when moving, thus giving more pressure through its feet to the ground, creating some of these footprints.
Following through the rest of the footprints, the distance between each couple gradually began to get longer just as the clearance between the ceiling and the ground started to get higher. It was then when I realized that I had just entered some sort of a wider area inside the cave path, but may still not necessarily out of the cave just yet.
The footprints ended just a bit of a distance towards the center of the wide area.
Why did it stop here…?
Wait…!
Just as my eyes caught upon a sudden emergence of a large shadow coming right from above me, I leapt hard forward and slid down some distances away from my original position. A loud thud and ice cracks noise could be heard just before I turned my head to see what had almost hit me from the ceiling.
Huh, of course… So you have been luring me and waiting for me to come here all along….
The alien ambushing me, standing tall at roughly a bit more than two and a half meters. Instead of a beam rifle, it was equipped with a beam spear; the one identical although a bit different from five years ago. I knew then that using my handgun in the current situation was obviously not an option, since there was no big and sensitive rifle barrel to explode….
So apparently this particular alien has learned the weaknesses and mistakes of its predecessors, huh? Then this will be tougher….
It slowly approached me, having its hand gripping the beam spear very tightly and both of its sights sharply locked at me, implying that it was ready to thrust towards me at any time.
Having both my feet stepping back bit by bit, I had a hard time focusing on where I should step to, so that I would not get cornered against the ice walls.
But it seemed that it was exactly what it had wanted from the start….
The alien suddenly leapt and thrusted its beam spear towards me!
"Haaurgh!!" I held my scream as I was cornered and hit my back against the wall.
The beam missed my body, but nonetheless I still received some of the blow from the thrusting force, and with my back against the ice wall, the alien slowly pushed its shaft horizontally against my neck.
It… forces its shaft against me… instead of using the blade?! Urgh! This thing wants to capture me instead of killing me, huh?!
And it quickly closed the distance between the shaft and my neck, I knew right then I had to do something immediately!
In the midst of that moment, I suddenly recalled something that happened inside the Narwhal Aircraft five years ago; Travis firing several rounds from his handgun towards the eyes of one of the aliens inside, temporarily blinding it.
So, their eyes are sensitive to sudden impact?! That… might work for now!
Fine… let us see if this turns out!
Holding the spear shaft that was still pushed against me with my left hand, it began to lift me up from the ground!
But I was ready….
I pulled back my right hand as strong and fast as I could, and forked three of my fingers immediately towards the alien's left eye as hard as I could; one of the basic Russian Sambo martial arts self-defence technique!
Or as I would like to personally call it 'Phoenix Talon'.
"Gwaargh!!!" the alien screamed in agony as its left hand covered its left eye the moment I pulled my hand away again.
Then, I continued by kick pushed it to the chest, finally free again from both the beam spear shaft and its clutches.
Got both my feet landing on the ground, I took a short deep breath before launching my counter attack against the creature in front of me, which was taking a few steps back as it still tried to ease the pain off of its left eye.
Here I go!
I rushed towards its torso, hitting its body with a couple of hook punches; another basic Sambo technique, which surprisingly seemed to also worked well against it since it was staggering, and I continued with a couple of uppercut hits to its body.
It happened in such a short time that I myself even could not believe that Sambo basic technique worked well in that kind of desperate situations!
"Gurgh…" the alien stood still, and not only covering its left eye but also seemed to cover its body with its spear, clearly a sign that my counterattack had an effect on it.
However, suddenly….
"Grarghh!" the alien swung its spear sideways rather blindly!
It was a good thing that I jumped aside or else the tip of the spear tip would give me more than just a scratch!
This piece of shit is now desperate!
Still blindly swinging its spear, I came to notice that there were a few fragile-looking ice stalactites near us. Knowing that I had another opportunity to immobilize it for good, I took a few steps away and slowly going to the direction behind it.
Now, if you would just take the bait…
And it actually did; it made another blind swing with its spear that it got stuck quite deep into the ice wall, completely stopping its movement for a brief time all of a sudden!
Good! Now it is my turn!
I stepped back and pulled both of the aliens' legs as strong as I could that it fell down hard to ground, face down!
Finally, I unholstered my handgun and fired a couple of rounds to two of the fragile ice stalactites that it fell down from the ceiling, piercing right through the alien's left hand and left foot and nailed them against the cave ground.
"Gaarghh!!" the alien could only lay down on the ground, and not able to move anywhere anymore.
"Shut the hell up!" I stomped on its left eye hard, finally making it unconscious.
The thing that had wanted to subdue me, turned out to get itself subdued and nailed down by its target….
Holstering my handgun again, I wasted no time in resting as I still had to find out where the hell the rest of both my and Yeon's team were. I also left the spear stuck to the wall, probably could serve as some sort of a message for its comrades that it had failed completely in trying to capture me alive.
And now, to find that furthest outpost….
The longer I proceeded to the cave, the more I felt like the ground seemed to raise in level, an indication that I was getting near and approaching the sea level.
Also, there were barely any bioluminescent plankton around the walls anymore. I experienced a brief moment of almost total darkness inside the ice cave path until there was a dot of light in the distance.
If anything, it should be a sign that I was very near to both the cave exit and that alien's post.
And I was right; for after another few steps, my hair caught a gentle breeze of wind coming directly from the light.
About time I can get out….
Picking up my pace, but not running since I would not want to spend my stamina too much, the path ended with a wall which was exactly as tall as me. Just beyond that wall, was the exit from the narrow icy cavern path.
I jumped a bit and reached the edge of the wall with both my hands before climbing up the wall, and the first thing to greet me just as I was on my feet again, was the very same wind that tingled my hair earlier but stronger.
I realized then that their furthest outpost was indeed just by the island shore, whatever their purpose could be.
Walking out by following the ascending icy ground on my left side above, I finally returned to the surface again.
There were absolutely no signs of aliens there, not even tracks of the amphibious tank that we had defeated earlier. It felt like I just landed on a dull and plain permafrost ground of a small island in an archipelago.
Until I slowly began to hear a sound from the distance, from the direction of my left side….
Wait this noise… I am familiar with this noise….
It was different, but I would not be able to mistake an aircraft that I had once piloted years ago….
Mil Mi-28 Havoc! But why the hell does it sound so much heavier and extremely sluggish…?
Wait, do not tell me….
I rushed back to the cave entrance and hid for a moment there while trying to take a peek if I was right.
The weather was ground blizzard, where snows were blown off due to strong winds and would seriously limit anyone's vision. But even then, I had my eyes able to see though things even though the ground blizzard was ongoing.
So the only question left for me, was to see for myself if it was indeed the ZX-918 Phoenix Gunship that they brought with them.
The sound was getting nearer, and slight tremors occurred that it rang the ice stalactites and stalagmites just inside the cave entrance. When the flying aircraft was hovering about less than ten meters right above me, I knew for sure that it was the gunship from the schematics, lifting up their heavily damaged amphibious tank….
So, this is their Phoenix gunship, in the flesh….
To make matters more complicated, its rather sluggish but very steady flying direction led my eyes to what was hidden just beyond the horizon. I could not make it sure earlier, but right there and then I was finally convinced….
That there was a big alien aircraft that had not crashed, but landed for a while on there and there was absolutely no way in hell that I could have my eyes mistaken; the ship was very properly landed and without any signs of accident debris.
It was completely unlike the mothership back in Chicago which had to land in the middle of the Great Lakes five years ago, or even like what Travis had reported two years ago when the mothership had to hide itself at the peak of an active volcano.
Which could only mean that this time, they came far more if not completely prepared….
"Guess I will have to be sneakier from now on instead…." I let out a sigh as I talked to myself in a very low voice.