First wave of the Abomination tide hit the defence line about an hour later. It was Sean's, and many other trainees', first time seeing a battle of such scale. At the front, 3rd Rank Evolutionary Corporals were holding the majority of the tide's advance. The means of a 3rd Rank Evolutionary was really above human capabilities; they soared to the skies with wings, faced head first against monstrous Abominations with equally monstrous transformations, or abilities.
This favourable position did not last long. Soon, the Corporals were overwhelmed with the sheer number of the Abominations, and had to focus on just Rank 3 Abominations. Rank 2 Abominations on the other hand, now left alone, flooded on the remaining soldiers. Sean and others were at the back, where the medical tents were. This wasn't a fight they could take part of. So, as per their duty, they tended to the injured that were brought back.
"Please hold this in your mouth." Sean put a cloth to the injured soldiers' mouth to prevent him biting his own tongue. Dealing with extra blood loss from that or choking wasn't exactly desired, even if the Evolutionaries had inhuman regeneration capabilities.
The medic looked at the soldier's wound. He had a deep cut on his left leg, and his bones were broken into pieces. He quickly removed bone shards that were causing even more damage to tissues, preventing the man from regenerating. The medic then cleaned and closed the wound, leaving the rest to the man's regeneration. Sean quickly moved the man to another tent, meanwhile Tyson cleaned and sanitised the operating beds. Samantha brought another injured to the bed, Klein and Jayden were helping the medic with tools. Latoya was at the tent where the injured rested, cleaning wounds and re-applying bandages. Most injured were back up in half an hour or so, but there were some seriously injured that had to rest for hours.
"This is the 7th patient in a row with a burn wound, did an Aberration show up?"
"Even if it did, it's probably been taken down already. Keep your focus on the patients."
The medic said to Tyson, who was getting worried about the situation. It was still the first wave, and an Aberration had showed up already? What About Captain Henry and the Elite Team? As if to prove his worries a loud boom resound through the battlefield.
{BOOOM!}
The cries of the soldiers followed it, but it wasn't heard in the mayhem. Another batch of soldiers with burn wounds arrived not long after.
"It's a Rank 3 Cyan! The Corporals… Are trying to take it down… But it's too strong!"
The mood inside the tent turned grim. Despite that, the medics and trainees continued to tend to the injured. If Corporals couldn't take the Aberration down, they would retreat.
—
"This place sucks." Zane exclaimed. "I've always hated swamps. Too many poisonous Abominations and insects"
"Shh. Something is approaching, fast." Amaya cut him. The environment favoured her as she could manipulate water, but that didn't ease her at all. She picked up the vibrations from the swamp, and parted the water before the Abomination that was approaching them could strike.
Out in the open, croc-like Abomination was an easy target for the group, and it was killed in one shot by a blood spear from Dylan, the leader of the elite team.
"Rank 4 Yellow, straight from the start. Oh this is gonna be hard."
"You tell me Billy, it was aiming for my family jewels!"
"Are there any others you can locate?" Captain Henry asked Amaya.
"Not in the vicinity," she crouched down and sent Ether waves through the body of water. "But there are more, four of them to the northwest, three of them to the east. All Rank 4 Yellows."
"How big is this swamp?"
"Bigger than the entirety of the land under S.E.C.'s supervision. Around 900.000km2."
"We better start running, then."
They all could move in supersonic speeds, so the distance wasn't the problem. The problem was it being a swamp. It would greatly slow down their progression deeper into the swamp. Just scouring the Gate would take about a day, and they still had to fight against Abominations, find the Anchor and destroy it.
The headed northwest first, more Abomination's meant more Ether most of the time. When they found where the majority of the Abominations resided, they could find the Anchor quickly. Anchors were counterparts of Gate Crystals that formed inside the Gate, connecting the two dimensions together. For lower ranked Gates, they were simply destroyed. In the case of higher rank Gates however, even if they were destroyed, they would slowly rebuild themselves. There was no getting rid of them. A Rank 4 Gate could rebuild its Anchor every six months, a Rank 5 Gate could in around a year and so on.
The seven seasoned Evolutionaries moved swiftly, not wasting any time. They had killed two other Abominations since they set off, all being Rank 4 Yellow Grade. There were no signs of either higher grade Abominations or Aberrations. All of the small fry had gone out of the Gate, which then turned into a horde, charging to the Camp.
{SLASH!}
"This is the last one." Lilith cleaned her blade. "Where to now, sugar."
"Give me a moment."
Amaya sent another wave of Ether through the water, scanning the surroundings again.
"Ten other Abominations up north, possibly around 6 Greens and one Cyan. The rest is yellow."
"Yellow ones should be cubs, it's a pack of Abominations. Any more?" This was the first time the inconspicuous man had talked since arriving at the Camp.
"I can't scan further west, there is something disrupting the Ether."
"Could it be the Anchor?" Captain Henry asked.
"No, I can't detect Anchors this way. It could be a natural treasure or a strong Aberration."
"Probably both. Fuck*rs go hand in hand most of the time." Zane added.
"Hmm."
Captain Henry stopped for a moment to think. If there was a natural treasure, odds were high that it had multiple Aberrations there. If it was a singular Aberration, it spelled trouble. A Violet Aberration would be hard to fight, even for them. They were also on a timer, the longer they took with destroying the anchor, the more Abominations inside the gate would get out. It was fine with Rank 3 Abominations, but Rank 4 Abominations definitely couldn't be let out.
"We are going west." He decided eventually.
"Are you sure, we will be going blind."
"Not my first time going in blind."
"Well, don't say I didn't warn you later.
They continued their sprint west, not holding back on speed. They left desolation in their wake, not caring about subtlety anymore. They fought against multiple Rank 4 Yellow Abominations on their way, which then turned into Green, then into Cyan Abominations.
Since Amaya couldn't discern the exact location, it took them two hours before they found a lead. The air had gotten quite peculiar the further they went, which eventually made them stop before they figured out what was going on.
—
Back at the defence line of the train tunnel, the soldiers were holding on. The first wave was warded off in an hour and a half, but before they could reorganise and rest, the second wave had arrived. The injuries were more severe in the second wave, and there were more Aberrations. The casualties were accumulating too. Thankfully, the second wave didn't last as long as the first wave, and the soldiers could catch their breaths. The sun was rising, casting light on the battlefield. The ground was dyed red, with both the soldiers' and Abominations' blood, corpses and severed limbs decorated the desolate land as if it was a forest.
Sean and his team were resting near the fireplace with other trainees.
-"Do you think the Captain has found the Anchor?"
-"Could have. It's been nearly half a day since the Gate reformed."
-"I hope they destroy it quickly. Strange enough, I missed morning training already."
-"Heh, true."
"Here, breakfast."
Klein came with rations for breakfast. It had been a long day, not giving them a chance to eat. Now they had a breather, they were eating to their fill. They knew they wouldn't have another chance to do so.
"So this is how incursions go…" Tyson mumbled to himself.
"Not quite." Sean corrected. His voice carrying many emotions in them. "Incursions don't have Abominations drawn to a location, they simply destroy everything in front of them." He paused for a moment before continuing. "As I will." He stood up after eating his ration, and went back to the injured tent, tending to the soldiers there. If he couldn't do it himself, he would help those who could.
Meanwhile on the horizon, another wave of Abominations could be seen. Howling and growling, they were headed for the defence line. Another round of fight was about the start as the Abominations drew near.