While Issac guided everyone through the dense forest, the rest of the squad picked up everything they could deme useful of the ground and armed themselves. Whether sticks or stones, everything could be considered a weapon now.
While on the other hand, Alex made everyone a pair of makeshift shoes with dry grass. Everyone but Ellia refused to wear them, saying there would be no difference.
Aerie was running around, trying to help everyone as much as possible. It seemed Aerie was still guilty that she was the only one able to wear proper clothes.
Although both Levi and Owen were helping out, their eyelids were half-closed. They were ready to sleep at any moment.
"Stop!" Issac suddenly shouted as he lifted his right fist, causing everyone to look up.
"What's wrong?" Mike asked.
Closing his eyes, Issac started to concentrate. Within a few seconds, his eyes shot back open. "There's a full platoon of modified drones heading our way at high speeds."
"Bull shit! We've only been walking for fifteen minutes." Owen shouted.
"It's the truth. I'm able to see them." Issac said as she tapped his head.
"How far are they? And from which direction?" Ellia asked as she walked to Issac.
"Not too far. Fifty seconds out from the west." Issac replied with a dire expression.
"Alright, people!" Ellia suddenly shouted, riling the group and causing everyone to flinch. "Space out and take cover! The enemy has weapons we don't, but who cares?! We're outnumbered, but who cares?! The enemy is just a bunch of tin cans! We're much better than those useless things! Don't you think the same?!"
Everyone stared at Ellia for a second before shouting with a new profound light in their eyes. "Yes, second lieutenant!"
Everyone except Owen and Levi had the same expressions; still, sleepy
Contrary to Ellia's words, Alex wasn't so sure how to feel about her calling his creation useless. On the other hand, Issac had mixed reactions. Both were happy that his second lieutenant was reliable and uneasy because this was usually his job.
"So cool..." Aeire mumbled as she stared at Ellia with sparking eyes.
"Mike and Owen... you're going to flank for us," Ellia said as she walked up to them.
"Yes, second lieutenant." Mike nodded. Owen stayed silent but still nodded.
Watching the two run into the forest, Issac walked up to Ellia. "That was great."
"Thank you." Ellia nodded with a thin smile.
"You know, when I heard you were noble, I assumed you'd be one of those people who rose through the ranks due to their high standing in the hierarchy, but I guess I was wrong."
"Haha..." Ellia awkwardly chuckled as she scratched her chin. 'But I did...?'
Although Issac wanted to continue the conversation, he cut himself short and yelled as he took cover. "They're coming any second now!"
Ellia then quickly looked over to Aerie and Alex. "Alex! Stay in the rear ends, and don't come out! Aerie, you're coming with me!"
Alex nodded as he sighed, relieved that he wasn't going to be fighting. But, on the contrary, Aerie had a completely panicked face.
"Y-yes?!" She shouted as she ran towards Ellia and took cover behind a patch of snow with her.
"We trained yesterday, so I think now would be a great time to show me what you learned yesterday." Ellia gave a warming smile to Aerie with her thumps up.
"A-Ah... I don't think that would be a g-good idea..." Aerie retorted Ellia's idea while ferociously shaking her head in disproval.
"Don't worry, and you'll be fine," Ellia reassured. "Remember yesterday? I couldn't even land a hit on you. You were j-"
Before Ellia could finish her words of encouragement to Aerie, a loud blast resonated across the forest trees, followed by the nearby snow scrambling up into the air.
Ellia peaked her eye above the snow patch and squinted her eyes in seriousness.
In the middle of the crater stood a single humanoid robot with only its head moving, observing its surroundings.
The humanoid robot stood at precisely six feet with a big metal build, already giving it a frightening look, but you couldn't really tell because its perfect white color blended in with the snow. Its head was shaped in a curved rectangle with a single lens in the middle. However, contrary to Alex's claim that the bot in front of Ellia possessed a weapon, it was empty-handed.
Ellia clutched the stick in her hand as she stared at the humanoid, ready to attack any moment.
It was then a monotonous voice came from the humanoid. "Amount of hostiles: Confirmed. Immediately eliminating hostiles."
Then the humanoid robotic jerked as it reached down towards its thigh. A full-sized assault rifle revealed itself within its thigh. But before the humanoid could grab its weapon, Ellia sent her to stick hurdling towards it, impaling on its forearm, preventing it from reaching its weapon.
Then jumping over the snow cover, Ellia dashed toward the humanoid, catching it by surprise and everybody else.
"Second lieutenant!" Both Issac and Aerie screamed as they watched Ellia recklessly dive her body toward the humanoid.
Although it appeared reckless to others, Ellia saw it as perfectly normal.
Sliding on the snow, Ellia quickly moved past and under the humanoid, but not while giving up the chance to snatch the assault rifle off the humanoid.
Ellia then got up from the snow ground and aimed it toward the humanoid. Without waiting a single second, Ellia immediately pulled the trigger, firing a few rounds at the humanoid.
But despite that, the humanoid stared at Ellia unfazed as the rounds ricocheted off its body, almost hitting Ellia.
Ellia stared at the humanoid for a second before tossing her weapon onto the ground beside her. "Useless..." Ellia mumbled as she sighed.
"The head!" Ellia then heard a shout. Moving her eyes, she glanced at Alex. "The head is the weak spot!"
The humanoid who also heard Alex's voice turned its head, but that was probably its biggest mistake since being created.
Taking the opportunity, Ellia immediately dashed toward the humanoid and impaled her entire hand into its head.
Tinny metal scraps burst out as blue visible static electricity played around Ellia's hand.
It was then a loud shout came from the usually quiet Levi. "It's still alive! Thermal energy is coming from its chest!" Levi shouted as his right eyes glowed in neon blue.
Just then, Ellia got a slight blur in her peripheral vision; trusting her instinct, Ellia leaned a bit backward, barely dodging the humanoid's dagger strike to her head.
As Ellia was about to counterattack, a sharpened wooden stick pierced through and out of the humanoid's chest. Ellia tilted her head and looked behind. There she saw Issac holding the stick that stuck out of the humanoid.
"Hey! It's not over yet!" Alex suddenly shouted. "It has a self-destruct sequence!"
Hearing his words, both Ellia and Issac looked back down at the limp humanoid chest, which was starting to burn through the metal.
Ellia looked back up at the gaping Issac and placed her hand on his chest. Then without saying anything, she sent him flying towards a patch of snow.
Aerie seeing this on the sidelines, widened her mouth and eyes in fright.
BABOOM!
A giant shock wave swept past everyone with a loud explosion mixed in blue and red flames.
Alex and Aerie didn't even bother to protect themselves from the shock wave. Instead, they were simply staring at the smoke that swirled with fire with dead eyes.
On the other hand, Issac and Levi gazed at the explosion with surprise. "How did hell did she survive that...?" Both uttered in disbelief.
Although both had said these words loudly, Aerie and Alex were too busy mourning.
Aerie fell to the ground, tears slowly forming in her eyes. "A-ah... Thi-"
"Cough! Cough!" A sudden burst of coughing came from within the smoke, startling Aerie and Alex.
"That was- Cough- a close one," Ellia spoke as she fanned the smoke away from her face with her hand.
[HP: 150--> 138]
'Looks like I didn't lose too much this time, maybe because the explosion wasn't as strong as that girl's magic.' Ellia thought, then looked towards the kneeling Aerie in front of her; Ellia raised her eyebrow. "Why are you crying?"
"E-Eh? I-I'm not crying..." Aerie denied it as she quickly whipped away her tears, mumbling to herself. "I thought you died..."
Ellia turned her head towards Alex, who had just relieved an enormous sigh.
"Hey, Alex. I thought you said it was the head." Elli spoke as she came face to face with Alex. "I thought you said the head was the weak point, but it looks like you were wrong."
"They must've changed the model. There's no way I would have known that." Alex said in an apologetic tone. "Ethier way, I'm sorry."
Ellia shook her head and sighed. "It's all goo-"
At that moment, a thunderous sound of whirling entered everyone's ears.
Looking up, Ellia uttered through her gritted teeth. "That's a fuck tonne."
About 50 humanoid figures hovered across the sky, just about a hundred feet off the ground. Their weapons were drawn, indicating that they weren't going to make the same mistake as their perished humanoid friend.
All 50 humanoid's tilted their metal heads down as their lens shined a threatening shade of red. "Commence attack."