Blue lightning streaked through the air as it made a beeline for the cloud of Drones that hovered above them. At the center of the lightning was a spear that for a moment, held the power to pierce through everything.
The Drones attempted to fire at it but it did not deter it in the slightest. Then, they tried to evade it but they were one step too late.
***Kwadudu***
It struck their middle and once contact was made, it sounded as though a lightning storm had occurred with electricity spread across the Drones.
***Boom***
Drones that were unfortunate to meet the spear head-on were blown up instantly. Those around were affected by the chain reaction that occurred right after the explosion.
The tight formation of the Drones was broken apart with a single move and it was glorious, to say the least.
"Haha, did you see that?... That is the power of a Guardian with strength. Don't even think about comparing me to a weakling like you... You got that, Holt!" Jeremy had the most satisfied expression as he spoke.
Just as he took a step forward though, he stumbled to the side. Thankfully, Gary was close enough to catch him. "Whoa, careful there."
"Shit." He cursed inwardly as he suddenly felt dizzy. To perform the attack he had launched at the Drones, he had sacrificed a whopping fifty percent of his tachyon core gauge.
Even though this sacrifice paid off as over half of the Drone units had been destroyed, the sudden drop in his gauge was not something his body could handle.
There would surely be repercussions and unfortunately for him, the repercussions just happened to set in immediately after he had finished gloating. It wasn't the best look.
"You can rest now, Jeremy. We'll take it from here." Elena said as she charged her blade. "Cut them down." It was a simple order but it was enough to set the Squad members in a frenzy.
Nathan's words and Jeremy's performance had helped them overcome their initial hesitation. Now, there was only one thing on their mind. To complete the mission they had come for.
***
"Hey, Leah, speak to me. Come on." He tapped her cheeks and got little response. She was slowly waking up, that was a good sign.
Nathan had no idea where he had gotten the words and audacity to say what he had said to Elena and the rest, all he knew was that it had to be said. In any case, it did come with a perk.
[Mission: Pep talk.]
[Mission details: Your squadron is faced with a threat that has sapped them of their fighting spirit. Reinvigorate them and help them regain what they have lost]
[Mission success: Active skill – Team Spirit.]
[Mission failure: Death of your squad members.]
Nathan had no idea why, but the system seemed a bit more active in Perfect World. It was strange but it was surely welcomed. He had managed to not only save his squad from getting eliminated. He also managed to get an active skill while at it.
[Mission title: Pep talk.]
[Mission progress: Completed.]
[Congratulations to the host for completing his first ever mission.]
[Rewards will now be given. Please stand by…]
[Active skill – Team Spirit has been gifted to host.]
[Additional rewards are being calculated…. Ding, congratulations to the host, you have upgraded to Mech System Level 2.]
[Host can now learn more information about the Mech System]
[Look forward to hosts completing more tasks.]
[Notice : Due to system upgrade, Daily missions will be placed on hold till requirements are met to reactivate them.]
Several notification bars filled his vision. He would go through them later due to the severity of the situation at hand, thus he had brushed them aside.
"Ugh…Nate… What's going on?" Leah was finally awake. "You suddenly froze up after one of the Flying Saucers got shot down."
"Oh… I remember now." "How are you feeling now," Nathan asked as he moved back to give her some room to breathe.
Leah's face suddenly scrunched up. "Oh no, there are several Drones headed for the Flying Saucers. We have to save them."
"I know," Nathan said with a heavy expression. Leah noticed this and glanced at the area behind him.
There was a blue screen and on it, the status of the mech units they had built was shown. The stats that caught her eyes though were the ones related to the Flying Saucers.
When they first arrived, there was a total of fifty-six Flying Saucers, but now, there were barely twenty left. "Nate…"
Leah was left completely speechless. "I placed them on autopilot after you blacked out. The enemy is using numbers to overpower us. There's not much we can do." He had to be honest. The numbers they had prepared for the fight were not nearly enough.
How would he have known that not only would the Crawler evolve, it would stake so much into ensuring that they were eliminated? He was shortsighted to not have had that come to mind.
Unfortunately, there was no use in lamenting over spilled milk. He could only make with what they had to salvage the situation. "What do we do now?" Leah was unsure of how to move forward.
She had hoped that the Flying Saucers would allow her to contribute her quota to the team. Luck was not on her side though as she could only watch now as her idea was torn apart by the enemy forces. At least, it was just the units and not her teammates.
"We are going to have to risk it." "What do you mean?"
"Just wait for me. I have to pass this through with Elena." He might not be a military genius but some tactics could come to mind especially when it relied on him using his trusty Mechs to perform.
***
Back at the Mammoth, things were not looking good at all. The enemy had anticipated their attack, just like Indra had expected, and had sent a large force to subjugate their enemy ship.
Ruben swung his ax to the side and cut down a Scorpion unit. They were indeed quite fast to have been able to cut across the entire valley area to reach them.
"How long are we going to do this for?" Celeste asked, feeling exasperated. There were over a hundred Scorpion units to handle and there were only three of them.
Sure, there were twenty-five Sand Turrets to make use of, but those damned machines only worked within a certain range. As long as the threat was not in that range, then they would be completely fine.
Normally, Reyes would be fine with allowing the Scorpion units to get close enough but judging by their numbers, he had a feeling they would be crazy enough to sacrifice a few units just to take down the Turrets.
Once that happened, the situation would be even worse. The Turrets were also the pillars for the transparent shield that protected the Mammoth.
Ruben was kept outside to mow down as many enemies as possible, thereby, drawing the Scorpion's ire to himself after which Reyes and Celeste would stay back and provide assistance to ensure he is not killed in combat.
Those that ignored him to attack the Turrets would be left with lesser numbers to make use of and thus the risk of the Turrets getting destroyed was lessened.
So far, only two Turrets had been destroyed. The enemy had lost far more but of course, a battle of attrition was not something that they could afford.
They were still younglings, their cores were still too small. How much energy would they expend before their gauge is rendered empty?
They had to drive the enemy back before that happened and with how things were going, they had a mere forty-five percent chance of success with their plans.
"I can't go on for much longer," Ruben remarked, the intercoms channel was open. "Fall back, we'll watch your retreat," Reyes remarked.
"Alright then. Here I come." He slashed at another Scorpion to make room for himself after which he made a run for it. He dashed towards the Sand Turrets, taking large strides as he moved.
The Scorpion units followed after him, firing beams at him. "I don't think so," Celeste muttered as she tweaked the settings of her sniper.
It went from rapid-fire to reload and shoot. This meant that the strength of each bullet was exponentially increased. "You do realize that doing that would drain your core gauge faster."
Reyes felt the need to point this out. "It doesn't matter. We can't keep wasting energy just putting holes in them. Might as well just blow 'em up with each shot fired." She replied in the most badass way she could think of after which she fired the first shot.
***Boom***
"One down, thirty-three more to go." Reyes got the hots for her at that moment.