[Mission 3: Reach the top of the evacuation tower in 60 minutes]
Katata!
Right as the details of the mission appeared, the sounds of helicopters resounded throughout the area, causing Rael to peek out through the window. There were many in the air, each positioned at equal distances to one another.
The closest helicopter to him landed on the helipad that was positioned atop a metal-railed building. It didn't have any walls, just the metal rails.
It seemed there were such buildings in equal distances. And, as long as he managed to reach one of them, he would complete the task.
He had been dropped at the place during evening time. 24 hours had spanned after that, but it was still in the middle of the night. This Outpost planet had a shorter rotation, so the day and night switched quickly.
If not for the powerful beam of lights unleashed by the helicopters, he wouldn't have been able to spot them clearly.
But, once they landed, their lights were switched off while their rotor stopped spinning, immediately plunging the place in silence.
Still, this was just the start of the chaos as Rael watched with bated breath, observing the countdown on the transparent device. And, followed by a clanging sound, the doors to his building opened, causing the Arhkars in the open to stream inside.
After all, they had already smelled the presence of a human within, having been scratching at the door from time to time. But, the steel door was way too thick for them to destroy,
The Arhkars spread out through the first floor, roaming around as they bashed the doors to each room, failing to find him in there. As he had roamed throughout the place, his scent lingered everywhere.
So, they weren't able to trace him down.
Rael held his breath, watching them pass by his hiding spot, continuing to head towards the upper floors. He heard countless gunshots as it seemed the recruits were fighting against the Arhkars.
He had a weak physique. So, he didn't have any confidence in surviving against them. It needed at least five bullets to stop an Arhkar in its tracks, ten to wound it critically and ensure it would bleed to its death.
But, with only forty bullets in his reserves, killing four Arhkars was his limit. If any more chased after him, death was the only result. And now, more than a dozen Arhkars had entered his building, causing him to tremble from fear.
He waited patiently, judging based on the scratching sounds they emitted that they had reached the first floor. And, as the sounds continued to become fainter, he judged that they had gone to the second floor and beyond.
'I only have time until they reach the top and fail to find me.' Thinking as such, he rushed out of his hiding place, from within a sofa on the ground floor. His body was fully coated with the blood of an Arhkar, masking his scent.
To make things work better, he sweated a lot and sprinkled it everywhere in the building. He then used some wet gauze as a towel to wipe out all his sweat, erasing his scent. Wearing his clothes, he used the gauze as a paintbrush to coat the Arhkar blood neatly over his tactical suit.
As he had enough free time, he carefully applied the blood, ensuring it didn't get on his skin. He didn't know if the blood was harmful to him or not, unwilling to take the chance. Even normal blood had a chance of causing a rash when applied over skin—if they originated from someone else.
He did try to pry out their nails to use as a weapon. But, even with the tactical knife that he had obtained, it proved hard, especially since he wasn't used to the process.
And, after some thought, he realised something. Even if he pried out the nails, he wasn't capable enough to wield them as a weapon. Even the knife was almost useless in his hands. The gun was the only reliable weapon since it was a ranged weapon and didn't exhaust him to shoot.
He then carried the Arhkar's corpse and placed it atop the sofa that he had positioned quite close to the entrance. He then hid within the sofa after dumping its contents in a random room on the first floor.
This way, he hid under plain sight, watching the Arhkars enter the building and proceed high up. As there was only the smell of the Arhkar on the sofa, they didn't bother with it, only observing their fallen brethren for a couple of seconds before proceeding forth.
Rael rushed out of the building, his eyes long since adjusted to the night. There was still the moonlight to rely upon. Since there were three moons, the light was more than enough for him to make out his surroundings.
'But, this would also reduce the efficiency of my flashlight bundle.' He sighed in worry, running towards his destination.
There were less than a hundred metres towards his destination. It wasn't long, but it took 18 seconds for him at full strength. He wasn't that fast after all. A trained human his age would be capable of traversing the same distance in about 12-13 seconds, given the condition was favourable for a sprint, which definitely wasn't now.
As he continued to run, he noticed a couple of recruits rushing out of their buildings, having observed him. They determined that going as a group would be better, since they would have enough ammo to cover themselves until reaching the goal.
"Let's work together." A boy around 17 years in age said, joining him as he spoke, "How many bullets do you have?"
"40," Rael replied, panting a little, "What about you?"
The boy's eyes widened in surprise at the number of bullets he still had, replying with a milder tone, "Only eight."
"That's better than nothing." A girl joined them, commenting, "I have around 20 left. It should be enough for us."
Rael gazed at the girl, noticing that she was one of those that he had appraised at the spaceship before, 'Della Skorn.'
"Here, fill up your gun, hurry," Rael said, passing on a box of bullets to the boy, causing the other party to look at him in surprise.
Upon seeing his reaction, Rael spoke quickly, "There's no use in saving them now. Surviving is our priority, and having a fully loaded gun increases the chances of that."
"You're right about that." The boy nodded, expertly dumped the bullets in his pocket, and began to load them in his cartridge one after another. He seemed pretty used to it, not missing even a single reload as they continued to run.
They didn't just blindly run in a straight line but swerved around the buildings, hiding around corners to wait for any Arhkars to pass by. Thankfully, all three of them seemed to be of the same mind, having coated themselves with the blood of the Arhkars.
It was only thanks to this that they weren't spotted yet. Also, when the doors opened, most of the Arhkars had rushed into the buildings. And, they had yet to return.
A lot of recruits were engaged in a fight with them, acting based on their respective strategies. After killing three Arhkars, everyone should have had more than enough time to calmly think and prepare for the third mission.
Rael had prepared according to his physique, intending to avoid enemies as much as he could.
Soon, they arrived before a compound as Rael gazed upwards, noticing the helicopter. But, the compound was walled on all sides while the gate was fully barbed.
"The walls are around three metres in height…" Della Skorn frowned, as she had a shorter stature than even Rael, someone that was quite short for his age.
"Do you have the rope hooks?" The boy asked as Della took out hers.
He then arrived before the compound, gazing at her, "You're the lightest of us all. I'll propel you up."
"Alright, in the count of three…two…" Della nodded, readily backing away by ten steps before sprinting at the boy in calculated paces, "One!"
She leaped, landing on the outstretched hands of the boy, using it as a foothold before making a jump. And at the same time, the boy too pulled her up, giving her some extra propelling force that allowed her to grab hold onto the top of the wall.
She then climbed up before frowning, "Guys…we have trouble."
"Are they inside too?" Rael asked, watching her nod in response, "How many?"
"More than twenty." She spoke, her face paling in response before looking around, hooking the hook to a piece of metal on the gates, adjacent to the wall. This way, they could still scale up the wall without having to fear the barbed wire on the gate.
Rael used the rope to climb up, exhaling forcefully upon reaching the top of the walls. The last of their group too climbed up as the trio gazed at the group of Arhkars that were beginning to congregate before them.
If it wasn't due to the height of the wall, they would have jumped onto the three by now.
Gazing at the group of Arhkars, Rael whispered, "How good are the both of you with guns?"
"I'm only average." The boy replied, "Otherwise, I wouldn't have wasted so many bullets before."
"I'm not that good either." Della replied, "My first time using a gun was during the month's training."
"Guess we have no other choice," Rael took the book from his pocket, one that detailed about the Arhkars, showing the page with a picture of its weaknesses, "There's a depression at the place between its neck and jaw. That's its most fatal weakness. If we can shoot there…"
"It's possible," Della nodded, surprised that such a book existed. She had only used the items hidden with the books and hadn't bothered to look at them after opening some and seeing that they were just fiction.
"They are stationary for the time being. So, it is possible to target them." She spoke.
Bang!
Right as she finished speaking, she aimed her gun at an Arhkar and shot, almost hitting the mentioned weakness. The Arhkar gasped as it collapsed to the ground, bleeding profusely.
It hadn't died yet, since her aim was slightly off, but was still injured enough to bleed to death soon after.
The moment the Arhkars noticed one of them dropping to the ground, they spread out, slithering towards the building, using its rails to hide behind.
"Now you've done it…" The boy facepalmed, "It's impossible to target them now."
Rael gazed at the transparent device, noticing that they still had more than forty minutes left for the mission time to end. "We have time. At least, let's introduce ourselves while we think up a plan."
Since he was already aware of Della's name, he paid attention to the boy, hearing that he was named Foldran Kike. They just concluded the introductions after stating their names, for that was enough.
This wasn't the time and place for anything elaborate.
Rael observed the building that they had to climb, noticing that there was just one flight of stairs, metal-railed. And, it took on a winding route, passing through all the floors. Some floors had been floored with a porous sheet of metal, enough to walk. But anything beyond that had a risk of poking a hole in it and falling through the floors.
And, some of the Arhkars were on various floors, chilling for the time being.
Bang!
Suddenly, a loud sound resounded as a group of Arhkars slammed into the gate, intending to enter the compound. And judging by the way the hinges of the gate creaked under the attack, it would cave in within a couple of minutes.
"Dammit, we don't have the leeway to stay here anymore." Rael shouted, "If they too enter this place, we'll be swarmed to death."
"We have no other choice," Della took in a deep breath and jumped, landing within the compound, "We'll have to reach the destination to pass the screening test."
"After coming so far, I have no intention to fail."