On the battlefield with blood and guts of countless mutant beasts strewn about, Tarkov along with other captains and soldiers from the fifth battalion once again continued their one-sided massacre of the mutant beast.
And the scene was not unique to the side of the fifth battalion. The walls defended by other battalions have also been painted red. And the players in those places also enjoy the raid.
"Hey! I lost my leg. Any help here?" A female player asked her companion, trying to stand up.
"Why… It's better to just shoot yourself, Who's going to waste meds on that." The male player suggested as he gestured with his hand shooting himself in the head.
"Sigh… 4 hours of struggle. Wasted." The player sighed before she blew her brains with a shotgun.
The players were not rich and unless it was an injury that can be fixed in an instant, most players opted to kill themselves to reset their character. Even though the experience loss was huge, it was still better than using expensive meds and waiting time before those medicines work.
Hence this scene happened a lot more often, all around the battlefield. Much to the horror and mild envy of the native soldiers.
And in one of the battlefields where the captains were keeping the stronger mutants at bay. A flickering figure wielding a shotgun and war-saw was moving across the battlefield. Her hair bound tight, the armor on her body completely hiding her feminine features,
This was Greya, who after following Girisia's words, entered grade two without the need for any class-up knowledge. She had unlocked her Domain.
"Greya, since when did you gain abilities like this?" Gyatri asked, astounded by his sister who had developed a unique meta. A meta that even someone with a trait like Gyatri felt envious of. Looking at his sister who teleported from place to place with a shotgun in hand made her stand out. Each blast of which blew the mutant beasts into pieces.
He didn't ask about things going on in her life since his focus was shifted to his streams and following the teams before. And while in real life, she also didn't talk about her adventures, creating a small rift between them.
"I learned it from that bald uncle who used to give out quests. He was a bit weird, but his suggestion worked." Greya was a bit surprised to meet her brother on the battlefield and she may have joined him too, if not for her previous party. The only reason she even teleported here was out of courtesy.
"You mean Korus?... The guy on StarKilleTara's stream?" He asked, confused and a bit curious about this special NPC. Gyatri had met this man before, but he didn't find him too special or having a special background. The man truly was a beggar who got lucky. But what he couldn't predict was the kind of luck he got after more time passed on. Becoming a celebrity among the players and the whole city as time went on.
"Yes, that's the one. I wanted to thank and congratulate him for his operation." Greya paused, recalling the craziness she saw in Girisia's eyes that day. But then she shook her head.
"Well good luck on that, I do think he will be out by the time this raid event ends."
After the talk the two divided up again, Gyatri didn't ask his sister to join him. He felt glad to learn that his sister truly did have a new party and was enjoying the game on her own.
And even though, having someone who could teleport on the side can be useful. But his sister was not some tool to be used for his and his subscriber's amusement.
*****
'If only Greya was here... I wouldn't have to walk so much in this shithole.' Girisia cursed. The plan will commence tonight and to not attract attention and act like he was truly running away, the path he chose was through the sewers.
Though Vanras warned him against it due to the chance of meeting some mutant beast that can move underground. Girisia ignored it at this point. He had a small army on his back and a girl who was currently on the same level as he was.
"I am glad that this smells bad…" Girisia took deep breaths in the sewer, feeling glad that his sense of smell was back.
"How can you smell that…"
"This fucker, I knew it, he was a weird perv."
"I can't wait to kill this man… I just wanna shove my rifle up to his asshole."
"Why is the quest so disgusting, there was actual poop floating there… nothing comes good by meeting this guy."
"Shut up… we just need to complete the quest and take a reward to level up to 10. Then we can group upon him together and kill him."
"Still this is such a bad place, I can't help but puke. Was this necessary?"
"Have you guys never played any games before?... This is a classic sewer level, just feel lucky that there is not any poison mechanic."
"Man, that swaying tail is asking me to shove my rifle up to his ass."
"Everyone is silent, We can talk after the quest is completed. Too much is at stake here and we can't antagonize the NPC before it.
'You fuckers, I can hear and understand everything.' Girisia wanted to praise Tara for finding these mercenaries, but he didn't after learning what they planned to do with him after everything was over.
But even after this, Girisia was not angry nor disappointed in Tara, instead, he found everything pretty fun. The first nine people he experimented on to learn more about his quest system, had turned into a group intending to kill him.
The goal of their group was to kill Girisia which made him feel special. Because of their intense desire, they were one of the strongest teams on the whole server, and from the display, he had seen before, their coordination was top-notch too.
Making them perfect for the current job.
"How are my team member's uncles?... Aren't they great?" Like a canary, Tara asked. Some with no enhanced hearing, she hadn't heard the words her new companions had spoken about as they were walking at a farther distance than Girisia. But this question still irked him a bit.
So in a loud voice, he confessed. "Yes they are great, I don't know if it's a coincidence, but they were the first anoman I talked to. So it feels happy knowing they are doing fine and even came to help me in my tough time." His voice was loud enough that it reached the ears of Spoon's group, much to their surprise.
They never thought that Girisia would still remember which made it harder for them to follow him with a straight face anymore.
"You met them before?"
"Of course, at that time, I was still a mere beggar…."
So began Girisia's story, a story in which he twisted the story in which he came off as a hero who helped a bunch of hungry players.
A story, that made the blood of Spoon's group boil. 'Get angry… I know, you greedy players won't ruin the chances of good rewards.'
*****
While Girisia was having his version of fun. Tarkov was facing a giant meaty plant that suddenly broke out of the ground, throwing him off balance.
"Bullets and blades won't work on this one." Tarkov, with his years of experience, understood he was badly matched with this current opponent. So he sent a signal for a switch.
"Zeldin, switch with me." He requested the other commander, who was burning away countless beasts with plasma cannons on his shoulders.
"Just hold him off, I will be there soon."
"Hurry," Tarkov said, as he sliced off the riots that broke out from the ground and tried to tie him. Mutant beasts of plant nature may lack mobility, but they were harder to kill while also regenerating their wounds.
Cutting away at their vines, blasting them with bullets or even punching won't help and it will just be a waste of resources, stamina, and time.
But currently, Captain Zeldin was focused on holding off countless mutant beasts on his own. Before killing them, he can't move from his place to support Tarkov.
Currently, besides some suicidal players who were shooting the beasts from far away to mark it to gain experience in case the mutant plant dies. There was no one there to help Tarkov.
'Left… left… back… right.' Tarkov counted in his mind, dodging the vines while slicing the ones that came close to him. And suddenly an idea came to his mind, he can't waste his time waiting for help, he had to do it himself.
He ordered some of his drones to distract the pant mutant, but it didn't seem to have much effect. His drones were not strong, to begin with, and the mutant plant in front of him had countless vines that could deal with all his drones at once.
But this small timeframe where the vines moved to dispatch the small annoying mechanical drones, gave Tarkov a chance.
Running toward the beast and then slid to dodge the thick vines that came at him. Tarkov reached the roots of the mutant plant.
'Sword 1-4 on defense, gun- on auto-target, cannon 1 and 2 ready for blast… release the war blade." The commands kept playing on his mind, and with each command, a new change took place on his mechanical armor.
The thin magnetic swords that he had been using to kill the beast now suddenly acted as umbrellas, keeping the vines at bay, while the guns on his body started to fire unscrupulously to thin them out.
And without a delay, he grabbed a towering hilt on his back with both hands and dragged it out.
As the gigantic blade was taken out of its sheath. A loud noise of chainsaw spread throughout the whole battlefield. The bladed chains on the weapon tinted orange due to heat.
'Death.' Tarkov announced, as the Gigantic warsaw stabbed into the trunk of the mutated plant, making all of its tendril's winch in pain.
But this was not the end, the heat from the chain also caused further damage. And like a logger, Tarkov started to chip away at the plant beast that with each thrust caught more fire.
"Sigh, why to call me when you can handle it on your own," Zeldin commented. It hadn't even been one minute since Tarkov sent the request for help. But now, he had already gone in for the kill.
"I will be going then." Zeldin though wanted to leave to hunt more mutant beasts. His steps paused as he saw something horrific.
Tarkov, who was going in for the kill, suddenly flew off his feet as the armor-plates on the front of his armor disintegrated mid-air.
And it was not some new enemy that attacked Tarkov, instead, it was the mutated plant itself. That on its last breath attacked Tarkov with its strongest vines.
But it was all that the mutated plant was capable of, the fire had completely eaten away at its body, and after giving Tarkov the last blow. The plant wilted and was taken over by the fire.
"TARKOV!" Zeldin flew over and caught the falling body of Tarkov. It was heavy, but not as heavy as he remembered. The front armor of Tarkov's mech was completely decimated and there were two holes in his stomach.
"Just wait, I will take you to the infirmary." There was no need to cry or worry over death on the battlefield, it can come later. For now, he had to focus on saving the life of his companion.
And just like that, he flew off toward the wall after taking Tarkov out of his armor.