***
Amelia was befuddled. She almost collapsed when she saw the devastation behind her.
But... only for a second.
While everyone was in a daze, she vanished from her spot and appeared behind a woman who was shivering while looking at the roots.
She embraced the woman and vanished again appearing within the base where many people were hurrying up the stairs or lying down while being treated.
She let go of the woman and vanished again appearing outside and taking people within the base in seconds.
Innate Ability: Travel.
She kept vanishing between the two places consecutively for at least ten seconds, the victims she saved narrowly escaping death.
"ITS TARGETING CIVILLIANS! GET THEM INSIDE! NOW!!!" she yelled at the top of her voice to the dazed Invigorated who immediately began trying to rescue the people from the roots that spontaneously shot from the ground.
Sure enough, none of the roots aimed for the Invigorated, just the regular humans.
'Damn it! And here we thought this bloody thing was just too slow! It was probably assessing our movements from the start! If its intelligent enough to recognise that attacking our weak will cause chaos then we are in big trouble!'
"DARIUS, GET THOSE ARTILLERIES ROLLING NOW! BLOW THAT SON OF A B*TCH TO HELL!!" Amelia yelled while continuing to vanish in and out the building.
The tanks that had been on standby bulldozed through the barricade and rushed towards the war zone. Many Invigorated with mortar and RPGs ran as well preparing to fire at the tree.
Seven tanks with huge turrets moved and aimed to open fire and then.....
BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!BOOM!
Thick roots punctured some the tanks from underneath and raised them into the air and some were outright squashed.
The remaining ones opened fire, releasing thick shots that flew with a tremendous speed .... and when they reached the tree, they did more damage than any normal tank ever could.
***
Josh was still facing the lion straggler. There were engaged in a fist fight, both jabbing and hook punching each other to oblivion.
The lion straggler had gotten rid of the dagger on its neck and the spot had healed. It rushed Josh with immense speed, but he matched it and managed to block all its strikes with exceptional skill.
The creature launched a claw attack towards him, aiming to tear him to shreds, but Josh activated Lonely Brother on the lion and made it push him away from the attack.
This was a way he had devised to counter the creature's wind attacks. Since Lonely Bastard couldn't handle it, then he would use Lonely Brother on his opponent which blew him away, safely of course.
The lion straggler was frustrated, but so was Josh. The tree's outburst earlier had caught his attention and he knew something bad was happening, but if he ran over there with the Grade A he was facing in tow, a lot of Invigorated would die.
On top of that, the beastly straggler was harder to handle than he had initially thought, blunt attacks didn't do much. Even concentrated attacks barely made it bleed.
He rushed the creature and gave it a knee in its snout before it could even guess what was happening.
He felt the impact, but from it, he knew that the attack barely registered to his opponent at all.
"Damn you're tough," he said.
Right then, projectile after projectile flew over his head and headed to the giant tree two hundred meters ahead.
The moment they made contact, a resounding boom streaked across the area shaking the ground! It pulsed and caused shards of word to splitter, the tree giant staggering a bit.
The dust and pressure, pushed Josh backwards. He resisted the force enough to remain on his feet and saw the lion straggler already before him.
Once again, he activated Lonely Brother and drew himself away from the creature then glanced at the giant tree.
Sure enough, the tree had sustained some damage. The bark on its torso had been blown up considerably, glowing chunks could be seen, still hot from the projectiles' explosion.
The tree looked at the harm caused, and it didn't remain composed. It screeched very loudly, and sharp roots started spawning all over the Zone from the ground attacking indiscriminately!
It continued screeching while creating a thick cocoon around itself that left only a portion of its head uncovered.
From its screeching mouth, a pulsing wave erupted and covered the whole Zone.
And then, something devastating began to happen...
The bright and sunny atmosphere began to change slightly as the creature continued its outburst into the air.
The air began to get thinner and dirtier. The atmosphere got a lot more uncomfortable as it continued!
Josh looked at this in horror.
"This bastard is destroying the Safe Zone!"
***
Bernard and Paul had been rushing towards the rendezvous point, but when they heard the screams from the base they had halted without knowing what to do.
"Should we still head for the rendezvous point?" asked Bernard.
"I don't think so. Our best bet would be to return to the base. The situation has become more unstable," Paul answered.
Sharp roots began shooting from the ground thereafter heading their way.
Paul reacted quickly and dragged Bernard away with his quick reflexes.
However, it wasn't enough.
The roots were relentless, attacking everything there was, until the whole place looked like a jungle!
Paul and Bernard ran fast but they would be impaled sooner or later.
Bernard thought hard.
After his free roll of the dice, he had realised a few things, but they couldn't help him now. Now, he was worried about using the dice. If it went haywire he could die.
The five minute cool down had ended long ago but he refused to throw his dice recklessly while they were fighting dozens upon dozens of Stragglers.
If he got paused in time like a freaking photo he'd die instantly. Generally, receiving a penalty right here would be terrible!
However, waiting any longer would also mean death. As such, he decided to make a gamble.
This was terrifying. His heart was beating and his breathing was accelerated.
He threw the dice on the ground and hoped for the best. He was inwardly praying for his ancestors to bless the dice!
Dice A rolled a 1.
'Yes!' he thought.
Dice O rolled a ..... 5.
'Oh shit! There's no fifth option in the first category!!!'
He watched in horror as the five on dice O vanish and be replaced with a blank!
Then, he felt it!
A powerful pulling force that drew him backwards!
Quickly, Bernard grabbed Paul by the nape of his suit before it was too late and both of them began backtracking at a ridiculous speed.
The Penalty was Rewind.
For 30 minutes!
Bernard felt his body move in reverse, doing everything that he had done while going back to the base!
Thankfully, the penalty didn't make him hold a gun and start spraying bullets for absolutely no reason, otherwise he would be forced to release his grip on Paul. However, the situation was not in his favour, as he was going to literally rewind for 30 minutes.
And thirty minutes ago, he was probably in the air, on the way here!
He felt himself jump, slide down the ground, all the while holding Paul!
Then he was going for the base, in super speed!
Amelia was busy giving orders and also teleporting the ordinary humans away, while being mindful of the roots that were rushing in from the tree, popping out everywhere!
She held onto a young boy trying to teleport him away, when something hurtled towards her, knocking her and the boy down with a loud impact!
It was Bernard and Paul.
Bernard immediately let go of Paul and grabbed onto a pillar on the entrance of the base. He then walked in front of it and stuck himself there, while feeling the ever stronger pull of the Rewind!
At least for now he wasn't going anywhere!
While he was celebrating, a hand clasped his throat, and he looked to see a fuming woman standing in front of him with a deadly glare!
"WHAT THE F-"
BOOOM!
Before she could finish her sentence, large roots popped out of the ground and wrapped around the base!
The people inside began screaming, much to everyone's horror, especially Amelia!
The situation was turning hopeless. The Grade A tree straggler was doing a number on the Safe Zone and its inhabitants simultaneously!
Bernard looked in horror at the corpses of the humans impaled by the roots and the Invigorated that were yelling and telling each other to prepare for the storm of roots emerging from the ground!
Only two of the tanks remained, with Invigorated trying to prevent them from being crushed like the others by the thick roots!
Many Invigorated has also lost their lives in the fight, it was a tragedy!
With impeccable timing, the sound of a helicopter was heard, moving at a fast speed. It hovered high up in the air, and remained in its position.
Two figures were in the helicopter. One was a lady and the other, a young man.
"We're really late! We shouldn't have taken so long with investigating that mass!" the lady said.
"Relax, this mission is important, but if we can find out what that thing is, we can stop this madness entirely," the young man said. "Go on now, Mei. Don't forget to chew."
"Please don't say that, Aryan. You're making me even more insecure about my innate ability," Mei said with a blush and jumped out the helicopter.
While in mid-air, she took out from her utility belt....chopsticks?
"Hehehe... sure you are," Aryan said as he adjusted the massive speakers behind him and then held a mic.
He took a deep breath and....