Cole's Entity was openly mocking him "You really are a clown, you know that ? Didn't you have something better than 'Touché' ?"
He quickly moved away from his enemy `An extra armor ? This is new'
The skeleton shouted to Maalick "Dude, could you come help me ? I've got what looks like a little problem !"
Maalick was not in a better situation. Sure, he had neutralized one soldier out of four. But he still had 3 others whose abilities he didn't know.
The God of War candidate clicked his tongue 'I better help him. If I kill the soldier on him, he could help me'
With his body as big as he was fast, Maalick climbed the tree and hid in the foliage. He ran to Cole and threw the Polymorphic Chain at the soldier.
She dodged his attack, and threw several small fireballs in his direction "Get out of the way, you fucking lizard !"
The Lizardian ran to another tree, but one of those attacks burned the branch and made him fall. He caught himself just in time by stabbing his Gladius of the Hero into the trunk to avoid breaking a bone.
He saw in the distance, Cole quickly searching one of the dead bodies of the soldiers.
"Finally, a gun !" he exclaimed as he found two more cartridges.
With these in hand, he fled the fight ' I must find a better position to shoot in the best condition !'
Suddenly, they felt the earth shake beneath their feet.
One of the soldiers, whom Maalick had not been able to identify, was erecting a tower of earth with his hands in which he, Charles and the healer were.
The healer was using a magic restoration spell continuously so that he could create this construction "I am almost out of mana..."
"Keep going until you die if you have to !" ordered Charles.
Maalick charged at the fire soldier with an impressive speed. She drew a sword from her scabbard and enchanted it with her fire magic.
She was shouting victory before she even crossed swords with him 'It's over for you, Lizardian ! Even if you manage to hit me, this uniform will protect me ! It uses a pure mana coating that all Task Force Teams have ! With this, even a...'
The Half-Blood sent his fist right into her chest. The force of his punch was so powerful, that it sent the soldier into a tree.
She was surprised by the damage he had caused 'What kind of... monster is this Lizardian? At least a quarter of my defenses are gone !'
Maalick continued to chase her, but Charles shot him with his purple and green glowing handgun in the shoulder.
"Argh!"
[ HP : 12/15 ]
But the Asath continued to run toward the soldier. To slow him down, she sent a heat wave at him.
"Shoot now, Charles !"
Her heat wave had managed to blur Maalick's vision and something strange was happening in his body. His internal temperature was rising dangerously.
'Shit... I feel weaker and weaker'
[ HP : 11/15 ]
About a hundred feet above the tower, Cole was lying on his stomach.
His handlebars was perfectly aligned with the heart of his target, Charles. He stopped his breathing as he was about to fire and fired.
The force and speed of the bullet increased tenfold.
His offensive sent his target flying out of the building "Damn, my mana armor !"
"See, I told you I could be your spotter. Wait, does that mean we're a real work team now ? Our relationship is moving so fast don't you think ?"
Cole took another breath and ignored her.
The doll tried her best to get him to talk, while he shifted his position.
"Hello, Cole Pierce ? This is Noveshona, your Entity ! You know the Agent of Chaos, the one who made a sick contract with a Vietnam War veteran !"
The skeleton shot at the stuffed toy when she mentioned it.
Cole looked at the totally intact doll and said exasperatedly "Not even a gun linked to my skill, can shut your mouth"
With his intervention, Maalick managed to get close to his enemy despite his stubbly burns.
He changed the chain into a gladius and began to hit his uniform with blows without real techniques, but with absolute force.
'When will you... fucking break ?!'
His blows ricocheted off the soldier's magical defenses 'Shit, I'm running out of mana for the heat wave !'
[ HP : 10/15 ]
Her barrier broke and Maalick planted his Gladius of the Hero in her throat, on the verge of decapitation.
[ You killed a soldier of the Task Force Charlie ]
[ You have earned 25XP ]
[ Regenerative Plates activated ]
The Lizardian let his liquid flow into him. He felt his scales grow back on his flesh "Still unpleasant, from what I can feel"
[ Error ]
[ Zerantium residue was found in your body ]
[ Your wounds will regenerate more slowly ]
He felt a sharp pain in his shoulder 'That must be with this that Maria marked me and the ores in the first level'
Behind the watchtower, his tongue came out and he smelled gunpowder. Instinctively, Maalick ran to hide behind a tree.
Charles was lashing out with his weapon made of Zerantium from behind the watchtower "So Lizardian, it looks like you're angry ! You know Maria told us a lot of things about you, especially about the little Witch you were with. When I'm done with you and the Intellectum, I'm going to fuck her ass so bad she's going to come back for more, that bitch Witch !'
The ground soldier in the tower cast a geomantic detection spell, in order to detect Maalick 'This spell takes a lot of mana, but I might know your location'
As for the healer, he continued to cast his continuous spell "Chief we have to hurry ! I won't be able to maintain this spell for much longer !"
[ PV : 11/15 ]
"Charles shoot more to your left !" advised the ground soldier.
If Maalick had a stat for measuring anger, it would probably be 10/10 by now.
'I'm going to kill you, you son of a... !'
With his sword in his left hand, he ran towards the tower and climbed up with his weapon and claws, like a man consumed by vengeance.
Charles circled around the building and tried to aim at him, but Cole shot him in the hand from even further away.
"That's so cute, you're trying to help him. It's such a change, since you know... You usually murder others, Cole the Cold" Noveshona said sarcastically.
The skeleton watched Maalick's fight with attention "He's really something, this candidate"
"More interesting than you, that's for sure. Look at this hatred, this determination, this will to kill. I can almost smell that sweet smell of chaos in the air"
Maalick had made it up the tower, but the ground soldier shackled his two feet into the ground the moment he was in.
"You fool, this building is under my control !"
His fists were covered with large, compact pieces of dirt, like boxing gloves.
He began to punch him one after the other "You and the Intellectum are walking dangers ! I must protect my friends, my family, my people from you !"
[ HP : 10/15 ]
[ HP : 11/15 ]
The punches from the soldier of the Nomania empire didn't hurt as much, as the possibility of Charlotte being preyed upon by these vile beings.
That thought fueled every action he took.
The red-eyed Lizardian stopped his punches with his hands and said "I too have something to protect"
The Half-Blood brought the ground soldier back to him and opened his maw to bite him in the throat.
He felt the blood covering his palate through his fangs 'What a horrible taste' he thought in disgust.
Maalick felt the thread of his life being cut when he saw the notification from the system.
[ You have killed a member of Team Charlie ]
[ You have won 25XP ]
Then the candidate of the God of War let go of him, under the frightened eyes of the healer.
He backed up to the low of dirt wall that was beginning to disappear "Don't... don't come near me !"
The soldier fell, but Maalick caught him before his fall became fatal. He jumped with him from the collapsing tower.
The healer saw this as a golden opportunity and pulled out a stun grenade. He pulled the pin and it emitted a flash and a sound so powerful, that Maalick fell to the ground.
His eyesight was completely blurred and his ears could not discern any surrounding sound.
'Dammit. Mars... can you hear me ?'
The Olympian's words were inaudible to the former human 'Maa... t'i... le... ai'
He forced his Regenerating Plates to heal them. With a better understanding of his body, Maalick felt the liquid reach his eyes.
'It fucking hurts !' as he felt the forced reconstruction of his rods.
His field of vision gradually returned to normal. The Half-Blood saw the starry night and the jungle landscape in front of him again. He also saw Charles and the healer running desperately away.
Behind him, Cole coolly fired a bullet into the head of the Charlie team healer.
The Noveshona candidate stepped forward into the silence and said to Charles in a very cold voice with a shooting position "If you do anything but turn around, you'll end up like him"
Under Cole's threat, the team leader stopped and turned around "D-Do you know who I am, you monsters ? I am the son of one of the greatest families in the great empire of Nomania ! You have just made the biggest mistake of your lives !"
"On your knees" ordered the skeleton.
Charles complied, saying fearfully "I-I have been chosen by our God..."
Cole shoved his pistol down the Team Leader's throat "If you pull something like 'I'm God's soldier' or the famous 'I'm doing this for my country's honor...' "
Then he triggered the hammer of his gun "I'm really going to put a bullet in your head"
***
In Charlotte's and Raz's cell, only they were left.
The man with the bluish skin had lost a lot of weight because of the forced lack of food and water for two whole days.
He gave the tiny provisions he had received, found or stolen from the mines to the Witch.
The Troll still remembers his day yesterday.
The soldier in charge of the prisoners that day had executed the people he had wounded because 'They are nothing but dead weight. Useless manpower'
He had hidden Charlotte's eyes, but she still remembered the gunshot. That sound so rough haunted her ears and her dreams.
Raz did his best to reassure her "Don't worry. We'll find a way out of here"
Charlotte whined "I-I want to see Maalick" as she cried.
Raz tried to comfort her, but he couldn't. He knew that Maalick was no longer of this world "How can I tell a child that her savior is dead ? I'm not that cruel'
The Troll took her mind off things by trying to get her to review some of the basics of magic "Charlotte, will you show me what I taught you ?" he said as he stood by the bars to keep the watchful eyes off them.
Charlotte waved her hands gracefully, flexibly, and precisely to create a painting of Maalick's with magic.
She smiled wistfully at the sight of him 'I-I miss you Maalick'
'She's really good for a Witch. To create a magical image without the soldiers of Nomania noticing. It's simply brilliant'
Raz signaled her to stop her magic trick.
With a snap of her fingers, Charlotte made the image disappear and the sadness showed on her face.
The Troll crouched down next to her and asked "Could you tell me what I taught you yesterday ?"
Charlotte recited sadly "M-My magic is Feelings Magic, a Forgotten Arcanum. I'm uh... how do you say again ? Oh yes, c-capable of influencing the emotions of others..."
Raz patted her hair "That's good Charlotte. But you have to..."
"I should only use it in case of extreme emergency"
Raz lay down next to the bars of the cell and told her with a smile "Go to sleep now. Tomorrow is a big day"
Charlotte fell asleep in the deepest part of the cell, where there was no blood and the least amount of stench.
But it was also so that Charlotte would be protected in the best way possible because Raz had noticed that Arthur's copy came every day and noted his every move.
'His clone is always there, at the same time, at the same place. I can't imagine the amount of mana it must take for him to create a copy of himself and keep it running all night'
Raz didn't understand how someone like him could only be human "He must have been born with an incredible talent and trained like crazy to reach this level at such a young age'
Then he heard soldiers walking up the steps of his tower with someone.
When they opened the cell doors. Raz saw that it was Carl, the former leader of Task Force Alpha.