"SORRY!" The mecha's armor was durable but Girisia's teeth were harder. Breaking a few of his teeth in his attempt to peel the cover of his feast was a good bargain for him.
But just as he gets rid of the helmet of the mecha. The ground broke. But it was not some tentacles that had been annoying him all this time. It was Yoshikov in person.
He had long been hiding in the ground and controlling the battlefield. And he planned to tire out his enemies. But Girisia's actions ruined his plans. If he didn't act now, his soldiers would end up dead, one by one.
Girisia had already shown his abilities as a capable fighter, a bit too capable from Yoshikov's perspective. He can sense Girisia was not even close to grade two peak, but the danger he possessed was equal to a grade two peak, just below the current Tarkov who was piloting a grade three mecha.
*Shwee *shwee *shwee
Three javelins were released by Yoshikov. There was no need to hold back, after assessing all the possible scenarios that GIrisia can take, he chose the three most optimal ones and set up a trap. He had seen how Girisia reacted to each attack and learned his escape patterns; now he just needs to lead him till he is completely defenseless.
His ion cannon was loaded, ready to fire. A single shot of this can cause serious harm to a grade three Externalist and if not for Tarkov being too agile, and his swords being too fast, he would have used this weapon on him.
But no need to worry anymore. He had to eliminate Girisia as fast as he can.
Though, out of his expectation, Girisia didn't react to the attacks. These things can skewer him in place, making him open to any kind of attack.
This was Yoshikov's way of saving his companion.
But he looked down on Girisia's skill even then.
Girisia didn't stop, his mouth like a gaping hole swallowing the head of the man in one bite as he jumped from the tree once again.
Though, due to his greed, a javelin did strike him in the back and out the other way stabbing the headless corpse of Yoshikov's companion. The force of which changed the momentum of the two bodies, causing them to fall aside.
The pain caused the head in Girisia's mouth to fall out.
'This bastard…' Yoshikov felt intense anger, but there was no place for emotions on a battlefield. He didn't stop aiming his cannons at the target and they were ready to fire and end Girisia's life.
But like he disturbed Girisia in his kill, a shower of bullets hit him on the back, among which was a sniper shot aimed at his head.
And none of them caused even one percent damage to his armor or body, but they made Yoshikov flinch. His shot barely scraped Girisia's left shoulder, making him lose another arm.
'Fuck fuck fuck!!' Girisia shouted, He doesn't know why it's always his limbs getting blown away.
'Ignore the pain, focus on taking back control. We have been fooled, Bastard had been hiding below.' He can cry over his disgust for human meat later, for now, he had to survive.
Yoshikov's controlling some tentacles and him appearing here in person is different. There is still a sniper hiding somewhere that can end his life in one shot.
'Don't go for the head, go for the other sniper.' Girisia noticed how his body's attention was on the head. All the eyes on his body were focused on the head with horror written all over his face.
The look somewhat brought pain to Girisia. He missed the censorship of the game.
And his body listened this time. It might be due to the javelin that had impaled him or something else, but he can feel himself back into his body's driver seat.
'The javelin will impede my movements and I don't have time. It was Tarkov's job to occupy this bastard, why should I face them all together?
The loss of hands didn't affect him much. Though lacking a regeneration ability of his own, his tentacles can move and act as his hands once again, though they look a bit comical that was all he could do.
The same was true for the holes in his body. So without a thought, he ripped out the javelin from his body and threw it back at Yoshikov who was still reeling from using an ion cannon. Stopping his bleeding by contracting his muscles around the whole in his body.
And then, looking at how easily Yoshikov stopped his attack, Girisia stopped.
In a beastly voice, courtesy of his current mutation, Girisia said in a calm voice. "You are stronger than I expected."
"I don't want to hear that from you," Yoshikov replied, already angered by the previous events that have transpired.
Another bullet, from a sniper, was shot at Girisia. It seemed the sniper had already relocated and found a good point to attack him once again.
But like usual, though with some struggle, Girisia dodged it easily. ANd in turn, gave him information on the general direction of his next target.
"Don't even think about it." The losses on their side had been too much, Yoshikov learned that GIrisia had probably found the direction the last sniper was hiding based on the movements of the eyes on Girisia's body.
'Just how many different mutations does he possess.' Yoshikov was surprised. He was confused about what kind of mutant Girisia was. For his rank, his abilities were too varied and he was not sure anymore whether what Girisia told about himself was truly real or just a lie concocted by Wilkis.
But too many things felt weird to him. Lots of things didn't make sense, but he knew, in the center of all his confusion stood Girisia.
And he needs to kill this man before he causes him more losses.
Yoshikov was slow, his main ability was based around battlefield control. Only he knew how many metallic tentacles he had been hiding underground
And with Yoshikov appearing on the battlefield directly, his control and strengthening over them has increased.
The ground broke open as tentacles lunged towards Girisia. But with the agility of an acrobat, Girisia dodged them one by one. He can't take any chances anymore.
He doesn't possess any more of his explosive tumors at the moment, he can't fall into the hands of these tentacles.
And with the arrival of Yoshikov, he also didn't let the layer who hid in the forest go. They already messed up with his actions one time.
So he gave them some of his attention too.
One by one, tentacles broke open from the ground and like snakes, climbed the trees where they hid.
– Those disgusting things are climbing up fast… whoops, I am dead."
– "Same here, I am dead too."
Spoon sighed, their death came too fast and too easy. If everyone in their team died, then the quest would truly fail.
–: "Who else is alive?"
– "Who else… of course it's Tara. The bastard gave her too much godly equipment."
Tara jumps from tree to tree, maintaining distance from the ground and the tentacles that follow here.
'Uncle just does something… you have already changed your forms five times by now, do the 6th change and end this old guy's life.' Tara, ignoring the calls on the chat, prayed.
She lacked the stamina to run for a long time and hence was glad that Girisia had taken over the sniper's attention at the moment.
"Are you angry, Yoshikov?... How I feasted on the men that looked up to you?" Girisia, feeling disgusted by his previous actions, knew the use of psychological warfare on enemies. 'Make em slip.'
"Of course, I know and I will kill you for it," Yoshikov answered, showing now anger on his face. He was a man ironed out by battlefield long ago, Girisia's tactics won't work on him.
'Oh yeah, he is an externalist. The emotionless cunts.'
Girisia jumped, slid, and swung from the tree as he pursued the sniper who was on the run while also being pursued by Yoshikov.
Though, a good thing happened suddenly.
"So you were here…" Tarkov using the flight ability of his mecha, found the place where Girisa and Yoshikov were fighting while being pursued by the drone Yoshikov had made him fight all this fight.
Though the other mecha driver was not here and only some blood remained on Tarkov's magnetic sword.
'Another one.' Yoshikov understood. He lost another soldier. Now only he was left along with the sniper.
'One needs to stay alive.' He understood, the end was near. The drone that pursued Tarkov was already slow and seemed to be broken in places.
"Hold him back, I will end the life of the other."
Girisia was overjoyed looking at Tarkov. It was time. "TARA! RUN FROM HERE, IT'S TIME.'
'What are they planning?' Being so open about their plans made Yoshikov vigilant. Countless ideas went through his head in a single millisecond. And none of them were ready for what he was going to witness.
Now only Tarkov stood in his way.
"What… have you brought a nuke with you?" Yoshikov mocked. As he launched countless tentacles against Tarkov, while his drone did the same.
Tarkov was already fooled into taking the drone for real one before, showing that the drone's strength matched Yoshikov's since the start, even if a bit damaged. Tarkov had to fight two Yoshikov at once.
Not
to mention all the tentacles that hid underground.
"Oh, I am surprised how right you can be." Tarkov in a cold tone answered as he clashed again the two of them.
"You must be curious… what tribe did I belong to, right?" Radiation started to shoot off Tarkov's skin, his body didn't morph like before. But the radiation intensity was all the same and it didn't leak out like earlier.
Instead, his mecha started to absorb his radiation in bulks.
"Alwa!" Looking at the scene in front of him. Yoshikov understood who Tarkov was. He recalled the horrible day that changed him as a man.
'So it comes full circle.' Looking at the man in front of him, feeling the energy level of Tarkov that kept reaching new heights, Yoshikov felt peace.
A kind of peace he had been pursuing his whole life.
"Haha! I truly couldn't escape from Hermat."