C252 - Pushing
Bullets flew and exploded on the battlefield. Khan sensed them crossing his sides and passing right above his head, but his stance didn't falter. He sprinted forward, keeping his back bent forward to remain outside of the projectiles that reached that part of the battlefield.
The random bullets fired from the Stal crouching inside the trench were the only threat that could reach Khan. He had to cut to his sides or perform short jumps to avoid what was flying toward him, but his actions felt almost natural by then. He didn't even need to think about his surroundings. His body moved on its own and dodged any mass of mana that tried to hit him.
The trench wasn't exactly close, but Khan reached it quickly anyway. A series of Stal oddly crouching on the channel unfolded in his eyes, and multiple presences became clear in his senses. He could locate the stronger aliens, and he didn't hesitate to avoid them.
Khan jumped toward his right. The leap was basically horizontal and never brought him higher than the barrier on the other side of the trench. His knife lit up while he was airborne, and he swung it under him to hit a head that had just noticed his presence.
The knife didn't meet any hindrance. It passed through the head without slowly Khan down. He could point his legs forward and land on the trench's side before sprinting past a series of Stal.
It felt annoying that the stronger Stal were on the left side of the trench. Khan would have had the chance to swing his knife at the aliens in that case. Instead, he had to go to his right and move on the trench's diagonal wall to avoid his opponents' huge bodies, making them too far for his weapon.
A series of growls resounded throughout the trench and alerted everyone about the presence of an intruder. Stal began to stand up to search for Khan, but bullets immediately reached them. Some aliens had forgotten about the enemies behind their barrier, and many paid the price for that.
Khan focused on attracting the aliens' attention for now, but it didn't take long before they put an end to his sprint. A Stal eventually slammed its two right arms on the wall without straightening its position. Those thick limbs alone couldn't hinder Khan, but the area above him had bullets, and he couldn't slide under the Stal either due to its crouched stance, so he had to start fighting.
Khan performed another horizontal leap that made him pass right above the Stal's heads. His glowing knife flashed in the process, and blood spurted on his body.
The alien could only fall forward when it found one of its heads split in half. Khan landed inside the trench, but the event attracted the attention of the Stal in front of him that quickly voiced warnings.
Khan darted forward, swinging his knife while the alien in front of him was still busy growling. The Stal was crouching, so he could reach its heads without performing any airborne maneuver. His weapon swung horizontally, severing its faces into two halves.
The alien died on the spot, but it didn't move. Its corpse became a boulder that Khan kicked to open a path, but his eyes widened when he saw the Stal crouching behind it. The latter had its rifle pointed at him, and azure light soon filled his vision.
Khan bent his legs and moved his left arm in front of his face before deploying the [Blood Shield]. His unique mental state adjusted the position of his forearm and made it stand in the bullet's trajectory. The mass of mana slammed on the Niqols' technique and discharged its energy, burning his skin and trying to push him away.
Khan's feet dug the ground as he endured the power of the bullet. A burning sensation spread from his arm, but he ignored it. He could feel his tight grip on the knife, so nothing else mattered.
The Stal's humanoid features allowed Khan to notice the surprise that filled its face, but he didn't linger on those thoughts. The alien fired again, but he had already moved by then. He dodged the bullet and reached his opponent's head in no time.
Blood spurted on his torso as he almost beheaded the alien. The Stal lost its balance as its right head fell forward and revealed the small patch of skin that kept it attached to the neck. Khan was ready to push the Stal to the side and proceed forward, but his senses suddenly warned him of another threat.
Khan grabbed the falling alien from the rags that covered its chest and used it as a shield. An azure light flashed behind it before piercing the left side of its torso and passing right next to Khan's head. He didn't expect the Stal behind his opponent to fire at its companion, but he had the time to adjust his position and leave the bullet's trajectory.
Another azure light shone as the Stal fired again. Khan had to move his head away to avoid the bullet, and blood fell on his face since he had ended up in front of the hole created by the previous attack.
The Stal could finally see Khan after opening two holes in its companion's torso, but he kicked the corpse before another bullet could arrive. The dead alien flew forward and forced the Stal to raise its rifle and arms to defend, but a shadow appeared under it before the impact.
Khan stabbed his knife on the Stal's left head as the corpse fell on him. The heavy alien tried to press him on the ground, but he was strong enough to push it away with his shoulder and use the second Stal as a shield.
Khan could remain in that position for only a second since bullets started flying from behind him. He had to let go of the maimed Stal and jump on the wall to his left, making sure that his head didn't get past the barrier.
The bullets pierced the maimed Stal and continued to fly toward the aliens on the right side of the trench. The friendly fire killed a few of them, but more growls soon resounded and made everyone lower their rifles.
Khan never stayed still for too long. He sprinted forward as soon as the Stal lowered their rifles and descended from the wall to deliver an airborne kick on the first alien he found. The latter couldn't withstand the attack since it wasn't even a first-level warrior.
The kick slammed the alien on the ground and allowed Khan to move forward. A Stal growled as it straightened its position and spread its arms to block his path, but a bullet pierced its heads as soon as it peeked past the trench.
Khan slid between the alien's legs as it fell lifelessly to the ground. Another Stal appeared in his view. The latter had begun to stand up, but it had tried to return to its crouching stance after witnessing its companion's fate. Still, Khan reached it before it could complete the action, and his body rotated before throwing a powerful kick.
The attack landed at the center of the Stal's torso and made it separate from the ground. The alien ended up leaving the trench's cover with its entire body, and a precise bullet hit its sides before it could start to fall.
Khan didn't even look at his opponent. He had sensed the incoming bullet from his companions, so he sprinted past the falling alien to approach the next Stal. He found another first-level warrior on his path, but the latter didn't wait for his arrival.
The Stal jumped forward and spread its arms. Khan saw a giant brown figure flying toward him and decided to slide under it while stabbing his knife upward.
The Stal couldn't catch Khan, and the knife ended up leaving a long and deep cut across its torso. Some of its organs fell out before it could land, and the rest followed after the impact with the ground.
The corpses or maimed Stal that Khan left behind hindered his pursuers. The aliens couldn't stand up since bullets flew in their direction whenever they peeked out of the trench, so they couldn't use their height to jump past their companions.
Khan noticed that event, but he barely had the time to rejoice since opponents kept appearing on his path. He had picked the side that had first-level warriors at best, and their crouching stance allowed him to reach their heads without jumping, but that also made many of them remain in their position after dying.
Khan often had to kick or push away the Stal that he defeated, slowing down his advance and forcing him to interrupt his momentum. He could have killed far more aliens in an open field, but he struggled to reach his opponents quickly now.
The annoying situation only made Khan work harder. He couldn't use his right hand, and his left arm had also suffered injuries, but his kick could make most aliens fly or disturb their crouching stance enough to make their heads peek past the trench. His knife was as deadly as ever, and the channel prevented him from being surrounded.
In theory, Khan was unstoppable as long as he avoided getting caught or facing second-level warriors. He would eventually have to deal with the stronger Stal, but everything was going well for now. He could even consider approaching the human troops on the other side of the battlefield if he cleared the right side of the trench quickly.
Still, even in their stupidity, the Stal were a strong species that knew how to fight and wage wars. Khan continued to fight his way through enemies until an alien battle cry resounded throughout the trench and forced him to turn.
The scene that unfolded in his eyes felt almost unreal. Khan saw a second-level warrior pushing the corpses that he had left along the way without even bothering to stand up. The alien was strong enough to move at a decent pace when more than four bodies were trying to hinder its path.
The Stal also made use of its four arms smartly. It continued to push the corpses forward while constantly throwing some of them outside the trench. Its actions initially didn't lead anywhere since more dead aliens appeared on its path, but it eventually managed to accelerate as it closed the distance from Khan.
Khan had long since resumed his advance, but the incoming Stal turned out to be faster than him. He needed to kill and move his opponents, while the alien only had to push to reach his position. The sheer difference in their speed didn't matter when Khan couldn't move as freely as he wanted.
The Stal tried to help their leader when they noticed its actions. They jumped forward and did their best to hinder Khan's advance, and some of them even tried to catch him after losing one of their heads. The battle cry from before had turned them into cannon fodder that had the sole purpose of stopping him.
The chaotic nature of the trench made Khan's movements even smoother, but that alone couldn't get him out of the incoming threat. He was slowly getting faster in his kills and advance, but the Stal was getting closer anyway.
Khan eventually decided to jump right behind the barrier and sprint for a while to put some distance from the second-level warrior, but his plan crumbled as soon as he found corpses flying toward him. The Stal had turned its dead companions into weapons, and he couldn't jump over them since bullets still flew above his head.
Khan felt forced to jump back at the bottom of the trench, but the Stal arrived at that point. He found himself clung to the corpses that the alien was pushing forward, but he couldn't pay attention to them since other opponents appeared on the path ahead.
The first Stal to appear in front of him was a first-level warrior. The alien had already prepared itself to throw four powerful punches, but Khan decided to jump toward it to stab his knife at the center of its chest.
The second-level warrior reached Khan in no time and forced him to slam on the pile of corpses again, and he used that force to push his knife upward and cut a big chunk of his opponent's insides. The Stal was still alive, but Khan promptly slashed again and severed its heads in half.
The alien died, but Khan made sure to grab its ragged clothes and hold it in front of him. The second-level warrior couldn't hit him from behind the pile of corpses, but it continued to push everything forward, eventually making his meat shield slam on another Stal.
The matter didn't end there. More and more Stal fell prey to the second-level warrior's actions. That single alien was turning the entire trench upside-down, and Khan focused on remaining alive while two opposite forces tried to squeeze him.
Luckily for Khan, the Stal that ended up getting pushed by the second-level warrior lost their foothold and couldn't manage to express much strength. They became like Khan, and they couldn't even reach him since he was using one of their dead companions as a shield.
The second-level warrior had to stop throwing away corpses and use its four limbs to push since the weight had become too much even for its incredible strength. The alien had already captured Khan, but it seemed to have forgotten its initial plan. Everything had transformed into a contest in its mind, and it didn't want to lose.
Khan wanted to curse, but he didn't dare to lose focus. He continued to pay attention to his surroundings and waited for the right opportunity to appear.
After almost a minute spent between the corpses and the trapped Stal, Khan noticed that his legs and left arm became unable to create a safe area. He had stopped moving, and the group in front of him had started to push his meat shield with new strength.
Khan knew that he was no match for the Stal in terms of physical strength, especially with so many of them involved. He waited until the area above him felt safe before pointing one foot on the first foothold he found and pushing him away from that situation.
The meat shield fell on the other corpses as soon as Khan jumped above the messy group. Almost half of his body surpassed the barrier, so he immediately bent forward as he started to use the Stal's heads, shoulders, and limbs to sprint ahead.
It turned out that the second-level warrior had pushed the group until the end of the trench. The Stal that had fallen prey to the event had started to use the wall as a support to fight back against the force trying to crush them alive.
Khan used that chance to get out of the situation. Bullets flew in front and behind him, but he accelerated and slowed down while running on top of the Stal to dodge everything.
When Khan landed on the ground past the trench, he accelerated and moved toward the allied force on the other side of the battlefield. However, bullets started to fly toward him and forced him to resume his escape.
"You idiots!" Khan shouted at the allied trench when he had the chance to stop. "Do I look like a Stal to you?!"
Khan didn't know if the humans had heard him from that distance, but bullets stopped flying toward him, so he decided to shout again. "We are the survivors of Lieutenant Pouille's platoon. My team is fighting on the other side of the enemy trench. You can charge ahead safely!"
Khan didn't expect those words to have any effect on his allies, and the humans didn't surprise him. No one jumped past the barrier, and he couldn't wait for them. His cold face turned toward the enemy trench, where he saw that some Stal were slowly escaping the cramped area and stepping on the surface to approach him.
Bullets immediately reached those aliens. The mess caused by the second-level warrior had made the Stal forget about Khan's group, and they paid the price for that mistake.
Khan stepped back to avoid getting in the way of his companions. His distraction had ended up affecting the Stal's platoon badly. Almost twenty of them had died, while the rest continued to hide inside the trench. That scene felt like a victory that the appearance of a bright azure light disrupted.
An explosion followed the flash of azure light. Khan had remained still as a large bullet fell in his companions' position and created a trail of smoke that made him unable to assess their condition. Then, the noise of engines reached his ears.
When Khan turned, he saw that two armored trucks and a tank had appeared in the distance.. The first two vehicles were even coming in his direction.
To be continued