As the alarms blared, Gilbert and his friends were captivated by the illustration of the mysterious creature that suddenly appeared on the screen! The trio of creatures appears to be a combination of menacing red vultures and sinuous snakes, complete with robotic eyes that gleam with an otherworldly light. Stygian, also known as beasts of the void, is not limited to one form, and there are rumors that many of them possess intelligence equal to or greater than that of humans. As the children watched, Alex opened the car door and climbed onto the roof. Alex's armor appeared sleek and streamlined, in contrast to the bulkier armor worn by Daniels. He had a small handgun holstered at his waist and carried a mechanical war axe. The veins on the hilt of the axe resembled glowing circuits, which illuminated as he prepared to face the oncoming enemies. Inside the vehicle, Daniel knelt by the open door, a sense of anticipation building as he detached his rifle from his back and took aim at the oncoming targets. "You kids will want to strap in properly" shouted Roland who has now taken over full control of the vehicle and drove it manually. As they heard his shout, Gilbert and the others quickly made sure their seat belts were fastened.
"10 seconds!" Roland's voice crackled over the comm. Daniel sprang into action, firing to impede the Stygian's advance. Despite the interference, the Stygian soared higher, attempting to attack from above. As they regrouped for another assault, Alex, firmly planted on the vehicle, swung at the forerunner, only to have it deftly dodge. Switching to his pistol, he fired lasers, but the shots missed. Meanwhile, two of the Stygians split off, attacking the opposite side of the vehicle. A piercing screech filled the air, forcing Gilbert and the others to cover their ears as the Stygian took out the left rear-view mirror, leaving a long scratch on the vehicle's side.
"Hey Roland, I feel like I'm missing out on all the action, and it seems like Daniel's having a bit of stage fright because he's missing all his shots," Alex exclaimed loudly over the communication channel.
"Hey, Alex, focus up! And let's be real, you didn't hit jack shit either," Daniel shot back.
"Quiet, both of you. Here's the enemy analysis: They're tier 3 Stygian with evolved eyes that can anticipate all our attacks from a mile away. Their claws are enhanced with a carbon fullerene classification fc009, making them tough yet lightweight," Roland stated.
"Even though Roland's advice is helpful, I'm still not getting any action," Alex said impatiently. As he finished speaking, he swung once more at one of the Stygians that got too close, but this time, he was determined not to miss. Unfortunately, his swing still did not connect causing him to stomp his feet in frustration
"Roland, magnetize the vehicle for a steady fighting platform. I'll open the left door while sticking to the right for more firing angles. I'll force them to regroup, Alex, be ready to launch an electromagnetic bomb and flash simultaneously. And Roland, no church maneuvers - give us barrel rolls to keep that beast in our line of fire at all times." said Daniel barking out orders as he continued to keep up pressure on the Stygian. Seeing the battery of his gun running out he unplugged the cartridge while taking a fresh one from his waist and placing the empty one in its slot.
"Received" came Alex and Roland's reply
"Let me remind you Daniel we can only keep the vehicle magnetized for roughly 15 minutes please remember this is still just old vehicles from years ago.
"Got it," Daniel said as he replied the vehicles started to get warmer and Daniel could feel himself being firmly rooted to the vehicle. Leaning out the vehicles he stared firing once more at the Stygian forcing them towards the top as the vehicle rotated to keep them in his sights using both doors he slowly forced them above the vehicle as all them them regrouped Alex who has tied to bombs together threw them towards the sky temporarily blinding them as he did so he jumped upwards beheading one of them with swift motion of his axe while holding on to another but before he could dispatch this one it wrapped its snake-like around him to try in an instinctive attempt to strangle him as he fell back towards to vehicles thanks to its magnetic field the other field which started to regain its sight swooped in attempt to attack him along side it's peer only for a laser beam to run through both eyes sending his dive into a lifeless descent, with Alex falling once more onto the top of the vehicle which has upright itself Alex still struggling wrapped up in the this Stygian finally got a hold of his pistol sending multiple shots into the bird's body until it stopped moving.
Slowly the vehicle came to a stop and landed on an empty plot of land and everyone alighted from the vehicle. Daniel first alighted going back along the route which the vehicle came from then Roland with a square box floating beside him and a small laser rifle in his hand came out from the front of the vehicle. As Gilbert left the vehicle, he looked behind him to realize the others moving
"Do not tell me you guys are going to just sit there?" he asked
"We aren't just planning to sit here but unlike someone else, we want to ensure that it is safe first," said Anastasia rolling her eyes at him before getting up to leave with Adam following closely behind her and looking at Gilbert like he is some sort of idiot. Kean on the other sat in the vehicle looking as if he had no intention of leaving
"Come Kean you can't become a marine knight with that much courage," said Gilbert
"He won't become one with too much idiotic tendencies either," commented Adam who now walked over to the Stygian corpse where Roland was removing its eyeballs and claws. Seeing as everyone as come out and he was the only one left in the vehicle Kean hurriedly scampered out catching up to Gilbert who as started to leave him behind. Coming towards the Stygian up close Gilbert was frightened to realize that it was much larger than he expected with a wingspan almost as large as two grown men plus the snake-like neck being half about one and half meters long ending in its ugly vulture-like fave. As he observed everything from its mechanical eyes to its extremely tough claws he heard a groan behind him looking up he saw Adam coming down from the top of the vehicle with his armor showing distortions from the areas wear the armor neck strangled him alongside a prominent claw mark in his chest, that is when he realized the claw marks alongside the sides of vehicles realizing that in that very short encounter, these beast dis more than damage than he realized.
As Adam came out of the vehicle Roland started to check him out to make sure everything was okay while Daniel whose hand left before returned dragging the two other two with their necks wrapped around his waist and the decapitated head in one hand and a small laser pistol in the other.
"Load the one that was decapitated in The trunk as for the one you shot through the eyes simply remove its claws and leave it," said Roland
" So you are telling me I carried both of these with me for no reason." said an annoyed Daniel
"No, you carried my trophy with you that should be reward enough." came Alex's boast
"Said the guy whose as I had to save." snapped back Daniel
"Why aren't you guys taking all of them with you?" asked Anastasia
"These are just low-level Stygian even though their blood may be useful we aren't researchers or cleaners just soldiers so we only take what is worth something we are only taking one back in case it may be helpful for something," replied Roland who was now declawing the last Stygian
"If we had a better military vehicle or we were located in a much richer area we could simply scan them and search the military catalog to see what is useful from what isn't but unfortunately this is just an academy vehicle which is 3 generations old now or was it fourth."
"Stop complaining we need to leave we don't want to run into any scavengers." said Daniel climbing back into the vehicle "Come in you brats." As he shouted everyone once again loaded into the vehicle for their withdrawal.