The grotesque was dangerously close to the barrier, so I could understand the urgency of the higher-ups in wanting someone – anyone – to eliminate it. Even a student squad of Starlight trainees would suffice.
Especially since they were already aware of my record, they thought I could deal with it. But even though the grotesque was a warrior-category mutant, it was different from most other warrior class mutants. For one thing, it was a lot tougher and sturdier, tenacious to the point of nearly unkillable.
The last time I fought it, I had to blow it up with an overloaded plasma generator. I wasn't sure if I would be able to conveniently find another one. I had grown stronger and gotten more powerful weapons from my brother, so hopefully that would be enough to slay a grotesque outright, but I was under no illusions about how annoyingly difficult it would be one to destroy one.
"You guys ready?" I asked, looking over my team in the briefing room. They nodded. I smiled, noting that the usual members had tagged along. Along with Lou Qian, whose intention I had already heard straight from Xiao Zhang and Jiao Guan, Pang Fei, Nian Qing and Lei Shu had resumed their roles in my team. We had a new addition, though, much to my surprise.
Lisa had tagged along, voluntarily joining our team. It wasn't unprecedented for someone from a different class to join a squad from another class, but it wasn't very common. Normally people would prefer to team up with their classmates who they were already familiar with.
However, Lisa had insisted, clinging to my arm when I told her that I would be gone for a couple of days on a mission.
"Please! Let me join your team!"
I had hesitated, and asked her to let me discuss it with my squad. Naturally, Pang Fei, Nian Qing and Lei Shu were more than happy to welcome her. But I wondered if Lou Qian would approve.
As it turned out, she did.
"We need a healer," she had said, unsurprisingly pragmatic as ever. "Since Xin Xia refuses to join us and is in that bastard Qi Ren's team instead, Lisa would be a highly valuable addition to our team. Thanks, we really need your help."
What was surprising was that the two girls seemed to get along with each other. I had thought they were supposed to be rivals, being the two academy flowers or something, but it turned out that neither of them paid any attention to the arbitrary labels that the other students pasted on them.
"You need to protect her," Lou Qian told me sternly, as if I needed her to tell me to. She sighed at my expression. "I don't mean to state the obvious, but she's the most important person in the team. If she falls, we're basically screwed. You're in the rearguard with her. The rest of us are in the vanguard."
"Oh, right." I turned to Pang Fei and Nian Qing. "You guys got your weapons? I'm pretty sure the credits from the last two missions should be enough for you to buy whatever weapons you need."
"I got mine," Nian Qing assured me, bringing up a spear. I thought he would buy a staff like Lei Shu, but that would just make him the same as Lei Shu. Then again, Lei Shu could use a sword as well, so it wasn't a problem. Nonetheless, if Nian Qing preferred a spear, we had no reason to force him to use a staff. Emerald evolution energy shrouded the spear, causing leaves to sprout. Nian Qing grinned and then had them shrivel and wilt away.
"I can be at rearguard too," Pang Fei said, patting himself on the chest. Then he produced a pair of chakrams. Small tornadoes whipped up around him, coiling around the round, razor-sharp disks. "But I can also fight on the front now thanks to these babies!"
"Cool." I took a deep breath and raised my hand. "Let's go then!"
Having already been briefed on the mission, my teammates were aware of the urgency, and they cheered as one. Without further delay, we exited the room and left for the gate in a transport. After disembarking at the gate, I bowed gratefully to the driver of the bus, did one final check to ensure we didn't forget our weapons or supplies, and then moved out. The sentries nodded at us in acknowledgement before opening the doors. We then walked through the shimmering barrier and into the wasteland.
"That way," I said, pointing in a vague direction. My lenses were already overlaid with a light blue holographic map, complete with a digital compass and a blue line to indicate the direction we should move in. "The drones last reported the grotesque's position that way. I'll send the coordinates to your phones."
"Got them." Lei Shu raised his smartphone, grinning as a new window opened up.
"I'll take point," Lou Qian said, drawing her scythe. "It might have gotten closer after the last report."
"Be careful, Lou Qian," Lisa told her, concerned. The black-haired beauty smiled warmly, a rare expression. Or perhaps it wasn't an expression she showed to guys.
"Don't worry." She then glared at me. "Classmate Feng Zhi Ming, make sure you keep Lisa safe."
"Yeah, I will." I tried not to sigh. Lei Shu and Nian Qing stepped forward to flank Lou Qian, and the three of them advanced as the vanguard. Pang Fei followed behind, along with me and Lisa. The sensors on my glasses continued to sweep across the place, scanning for any presence of the enemy.
So far, nothing. It made sense. This close to the barrier and the walls, any zombie or mutant would be blown apart by the automated turrets.
The trek took us several hours on foot. I wished they would allow us to ride transports out into the wasteland, but knew why they didn't authorize such modes of transport. The uneven terrain, piles of rubble and obstacles of debris made it difficult for wheeled vehicles to traverse. Not only that, vehicles were huge, easy targets for mutants. Sure, they provided a lot more protection, speed and firepower, but the chances of them getting immobilized in difficult terrain were high. Especially in formerly urban surroundings with craters and toppled buildings. They would turn into death traps for the crews and infantry within.
Additionally, they were expensive. The authorities were loathed to waste a transport on Starlight trainees like us. I did hear that there were armored trains that traveled along railways from one district to another, but I hadn't actually ridden on one before.
Well, there was no point complaining. Whether I liked it or not, the order was to make the trip on foot, and so we did so.
My lenses caught movement and I immediately drew one of my pistols with my right hand. As soon as the targeting reticule turned red, I instinctively squeezed the trigger. The zombie's head exploded in a shower of blood and bone, and it toppled.
"Contact," I warned without thinking. Then I hastily added, "Target eliminated. No sign of other hostiles."
"I thought your sense of sight would be worse than ours," Pang Fei said, shaking his head in amazement. "But those glasses really help a lot, don't they?"
"Yeah, well…" I couldn't think of any response because I was busily scanning the area. It was daytime, so the zombies weren't very active. It wasn't rare to see a stray wander into my gunsights, so I wasn't alarmed.
Nonetheless, the contact left my team on guard. Lou Qian gripped the haft of her scythe tighter and took another few steps.
"We're close," she said. "And no doubt the grotesque will be surrounded by its minions."
She then hopped over a pile of rubble and swung her scythe, beheading a couple of zombie stragglers. As their headless corpses fell, she looked around in disappointment.
"Clear."
I glanced at my Kill Count, which currently stood at 1. Perhaps it would be more prudent to come at night when the zombies were more active, but I couldn't put my teammates' lives at risk because of my selfish desire to raise it and level up my Abilities and increase my stats.
"We're on the coordinates," Lou Qian reported, checking her phone before surveying the area. There was nothing but wrecked buildings and abandoned vehicles. The same as anywhere else in the wasteland. Moss crept across the crumbling walls of the structures, and a forest of strange plants had blossomed, slowly but steadily colonizing the once human landscape.
"I don't see anything," Lei Shu complained, prodding the corpses of the undead with a foot. "Other than the ones you already killed."
"We'll get plenty of chances when the grotesque shows up," Nian Qing assured him. Lei Shu scoffed.
"Yeah, but where's the grotesque?"
"It's supposed to be here," I said, checking my glasses. The coordinates were correct – Lou Qian had brought us to the right place. Yet the sensors on my glasses weren't picking anything up…no, there was a fluctuation on the inbuilt radar. I tensed, suddenly realizing what the signals meant. "Guys, move! They're coming from below!"
The ground burst open and the concrete ruptured as something enormous emerged from beneath us, sending a shower of dirt and gravel spraying our retreating figures.
The grotesque had finally shown up.
Floundering zombies spilled onto the cracked road around it, but the grotesque ignored its minions, inadvertently crushing them under its bulk as it heaved itself to the surface. While still trying to attain some balance, Lou Qian, Lei Shu and Nian Qing struck, elemental evolution energies wreathing their weapons as they flanked the bloated monstrosity.
Explosions scattered across the grotesque's swollen form and it bellowed in rage, swinging its bulging, distorted arms to swat them away. Lou Qian deftly evaded, Lei Shu ducked low and skidded across the trembling ground, and Nian Qing parried with his spear while conjuring a wall of wood to absorb most of the impact. The wooden barrier broke and he was sent hurtling away, but he somehow managed to land on his feet. Plunging his spear into the ground, he brought his momentum to a halt.
The zombies lumbered toward him, but their heads were blown off by my guns or sliced off by the wind blades produced by Pang Fei's chakrams.
"Don't worry," he assured me. "I'm not going to turn into Nagi. We are not psychics and you're not from the Sumeragi clan."
"But…but I see red strings in my dreams!" I protested while firing another volley to take down a few stragglers who had turned toward our position. We needed to keep them at a distance. Lisa was behind me, taking a deep breath and preparing to heal anyone who needed it.
Apparently, the worst injuries the team had suffered were the bruises that Nian Qing sustained when blocking the grotesque's blow. So far, anyway.
Lou Qian and Lei Shu skipped back to withdraw from the grotesque's rampage, their ice and lightning having little effect on its bloated mass. Then they found themselves in the midst of scrabbling zombies. With a curse, Lou Qian cut through them with her scythe, reaping a harvest of blood and body parts. Similarly, Lei Shu spun his staff about to keep them at bay with lethal lightning. Letting go with one hand, he then drew his sword and hacked a couple of zombies who were too close for comfort, blowing them away with electricity.
"Guys! Stay back! I'm going to blow the grotesque up!" I shouted a warning. Pang Fei chuckled.
"What, you found another generator or something?"
"No…but I got these from my brother."
The two gigantic plasma rifles materialized behind me, hovering in midair. Their barrels glowed as superheated gas flooded the chambers. Synchronizing them with the targeting reticules on my lenses, I aimed them at the lumbering grotesque and fired.
Twin streams of superheated plasma seared through the air, leaving burning afterimages on everyone's retinas. There was a flash of azure, and then the boiling projectiles slammed into the grotesque and obliterated most of its swollen bulk. For a second, it was almost as if the grotesque ceased to exist.
Then the stumps that were its legs swayed before crumpling in a pool of wobbling mass.
"What the hell are those!?" Pang Fei exclaimed. "When did you…?"
"You're not the only one who acquired new weapons," I told him with a grin. Inwardly, I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to use my new Ability. On the other hand, I was thoroughly impressed by my brother's latest creations. Zhi Yong was a genius, no doubt about that.
Oh, well. I was sure there were plenty of opportunities for me to use my Ability in future, especially as the enemies grew increasingly dangerous. I recalled Jiao Guan's words about a Commander Category mutant possibly showing up. My Ability might come in useful then.
From a distance, Lou Qian shook her head in disbelief, surveying the destruction. She sighed and took the heads off three zombies with her scythe. Beside her, Lei Shu and Nian Qing continued to cleave through the zombies with both abilities and weapons. With the grotesque felled, the minion class zombies appeared to have lost coordination and were mostly throwing themselves aimlessly at the nearest target. Pang Fei and I helped to cut them apart from a distance, and it took a few moments for us to mop up the remains.
"That should do it," Lei Shu proclaimed, satisfied. He wiped the blood and viscera from his face and clothes, grimacing. "I could use a shower."
"Anyone hurt?" I asked. Then I nodded toward Lisa. "Please check everyone for any injuries and treat them."
"On it!" Lisa hurried over, approaching Nian Qing first because he was clearly the most battered out of the group. Lou Qian smiled and raised a hand, and Lisa returned the greeting. "Good work, everybody."
I checked my Kill Count subconsciously, pleased to see that it had gone up substantially. The 50 from the grotesque, and about 18 for the zombies for a total of 68. That was not a bad haul in a single day. I couldn't wait to distribute the points when I returned to the dormitory later.
"Whoa, I didn't think we would finish this mission so quickly." Pang Fei kept his chakrams and stretched, grinning. "What do you say we celebrate this weekend? I know a place."
"The same barbeque place as before?" Nian Qing called out, even as he sat down and allowed Lisa to tend to his wounds.
"No, someplace better. A buffet restaurant!"
"I'm in," Lei Shu said without any hesitation.
"As long as it's not some decadent bar," Lou Qian said sternly. "Or Lisa and I won't be coming along."
"No, it's a buffet restaurant! Serves Szechuan food!"
Oh, that was awesome. I love Szechuan food, even though I couldn't eat anything spicy. I was about to open my mouth to warn Pang Fei about my lack of tolerance of chili when a blade punched through my chest, puncturing my heart and killing me instantly.