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2022-02-17 23:01:04“The path upwards is narrow. We can use their corpses to block it!” Rael spoke, having observed his surroundings, failing to see any other options. This was the only way they could reach their destination while alive.
Running alongside Della and Foldran, he lifted his arm, ensured the gun was held steady and shot at the Arhkar that intended to move in their way. His aim was quite off, only hitting its abdomen, causing it to flinch from the attack.
But, it wasn’t stopped by that, heading towards them. Right at this time, Rael flashed the light from the flashlight bundle at it, causing it to stop in place, affected by the intensity. Though, due to the ambient light from the three moons, it wasn’t as affected by it as the Arhkars within the building.
But, it was still enough for him to get closer to it before aiming at its weak spot to shoot again, causing it to scream in response and swipe its claws.
“Whoa!” He barely dodged the attack, watching the Arhkar collapse to the ground and begin to bleed profusely. It tried to stop the blood flow, but it only had the nails in place of fingers, inflexible.
So, when it tried to block the wound, its nails dug into its flesh, further injuring it.
The trio slipped past it, hearing the thumping sounds of their heart in their ears, for the Arhkars in hiding began to rush out. There were at least four of them on their way to the flight of stairs.
“Light will affect them!” Rael shouted. Though, even without him saying anything, Della and Foldran knew about it, having observed his actions.
They quickly pulled out their respective flashlights and flashed the light onto the incoming Arhkars, causing them to squint their eyes in response, having to rely on smell to target them. But, as their scents were masked by the Arhkar blood, it was hard to locate them anymore.
And, they weren’t equipped to pinpoint enemy movement through sound. They were able to hear as much as humans, but generally for sound, in places with reflective structures, it would echo or continuously reflect from the walls like light before being captured by the ears.
This would make locating the source of the sound all the more difficult. And, that was precisely what was happening here.
So, with their eyesight hindered, the Arhkars were unable to move effectively to target them.
Bang!
Della approached an Arhkar, standing two metres away from it, directly hitting the weak spot from this range, muttering, “If I had known about this before, I wouldn’t have wasted so many bullets.”
Within a couple dozen seconds, the trio reached the flight of stairs, wasting a bunch of bullets to target the Arhkars there.
Foldran dragged the semi-dead bodies of three of them and piled them on the flight of stairs while Della wrapped the rope around their bodies before coiling it through the metal rails. This way, a temporary rampart had been created.
In the meantime, Rael provided cover fire. Though, he mostly used the flashlight to slow them down, only shooting at them when they were close enough for him to target their vitals.
‘I only have six bullets left.’ He frowned, noticing that they were already running low on bullets. “How many bullets do the both of you have?”
“I still have ten, thanks to you,” Foldran replied, taking the lead as they scaled up the flight of stairs.
“I have only five,” Della said, stopping for a moment as she watched the Arhkars reach the rampart and become confused for a moment. Beyond that, they began to attack it, damaging the rope little by little.
“This won’t last longer than 10-15 seconds. We must hurry,” Saying so, she began to sprint up the flight of stairs.
“This’ll be difficult,” Rael readied himself, noticing that there was at least one Arhkar on every floor. There were five floors to traverse before reaching the helicopter.
“We’ll just distract them as much as possible,” Rael said, hitting the closest Arhkar with the beam of light, distracting it for a moment when they slipped past it, hurrying deeper into the first floor, intending to reach the flight of stairs leading towards the second floor.
Though, the moment they ran past it, the Arhkar was no longer affected, regaining its bearings as it turned around and gave chase, quickly closing in on them, swiping at them.
“Gah!” Rael flinched, feeling the tactical suit on his back being ripped off from the attack as four neat gashes appeared on the skin. They weren’t deep, but the pain still distracted him. Thankfully due to adrenaline, he was able to continue running, flashing the light at its face, using the proximity to his advantage.
Its eyes widened as the Arhkar was stunned, nerves popping on its eyes due to the intensity and the closeness of the light. The concentrated beam caused it to blank out, remaining immobile for more than thirty seconds.
All its senses blanked out.
“Ahh!” Foldran screamed when an Arhkar fell from the floor above, landing atop him. He barely managed to reach, stepping backward when it fell before him.
It attacked him, intending to impale him when he grabbed hold of its hands, shouting as he held it at bay. In response, the Arhkar’s head moved closer to him, intending to bite his chest off, for that was where it could reach him due to the height difference.
Bang!
Della shot at its weak point, causing it to lose power when Foldran bellowed, tugging it at the sides as he grunted, throwing it over the rails. He kicked it once, sending it falling towards the ground, causing it to smack another of its brethren in response, the fall breaking the bones of both.
“Dammit, I lost my gun!” Foldran was exasperated, noticing that he had dropped his gun during the ambush. And now, it lay on the ground, beyond his reach.
They were already on the first floor, with enemies swarming from under.
Followed by a resounding boom, the gates to the compound gave out, collapsing to the ground as many injured Arhkars rushed inside, their injuries further exuberating due to the barbed wire all over the gates.
But, they didn’t seem to care about that, rushing towards the flight of stairs in a frenzy, crowding the place before they simply swarmed over the rampart, scaling up the stairs after that.
Upon seeing the Arhkars rush at them, Rael paled in response, hurrying the other two as they reached the second floor. He took out a painkiller and plunged it on his thigh, using it to endure the pain.
For some reason, he felt a searing sensation from his back that continued to increase in intensity.
As the Arhkar on the second floor was the one that ambushed Foldran, there were no other enemies there, allowing them to reach the third floor without any further battles.
But, once they reached there, they noticed that the place was empty too as Rael frowned, gazing up to see that the rest of the Arhkars in the building had gone to the top, trying to climb into the helicopter.
They were unable to reach the helicopter whose landing pad was expertly above their reach. But, that also meant Rael and the group had to face them all in the end.
“This is…?” Suddenly, he noticed that one of the rails of the flight of stairs had come off, due to its joints being broken off, obviously the handiwork of the Arhkars. He yanked it out with some difficulty, noticing that it was a metre long and was made from steel.
It was more than enough to serve as a blunt weapon, especially since they were running out of ammo while the tactical knife was too short to wield against their opponent’s reach. “Guys, we can use this.”
Foldran looked around, quickly noticing another rail that was in a similar state, equipping himself with that. As for Della, she didn’t find any, but as they reached the fourth floor, she found one suitable for her use too.
The fifth floor too was vacant as they finally arrived at the top of the building, seeing the helicopter up close. But, the moment they appeared, the Arhkars surrounding the landing pad turned around before rushing at them.
“Attack with everything you got!” Shouting in response, Rael flashed the beam of light at them before emptying the gun, throwing it into the mouth of an Arhkar that tried to bite him.
Upon seeing a soldier seated within the helicopter, calmly observing their actions, Rael didn’t wish to expose himself. So, he didn’t use the 3D Printing to make more bullets.
He brandished the metal rod, whacking the closest Arhkar. He and Della targeted all the Arhkars with their remaining bullets, ensuring there was at least one bullet wound per each. This way, they would continue to bleed out.
There had been eight at the start, but three of them had been wounded at their weak point, collapsing to the ground. But, the rest weren’t that severely injured, targeting the three humans.
“Gah!” Rael leaped back, watching an Arhkar swipe its nails at him, nicking the tactical suit above his stomach. Thankfully, he wasn’t injured this time, but it was still scary, for it felt as if an attack from it would rip out his guts.
He smacked its head, watching it flinch in response to the hit. But due to its abundant vitality, it wasn’t affected much by the attack.
“Hah!” Taking a step back, he flashed the light onto its face, intending to attack when another Arhkar swiped at him, sending the flashlight bundle flying. The third Arhkar slapped it away from the building.
“Dammit!” Rael rolled on the ground, evading the attacks as he took out his backup flashlight, the one he obtained within the building at the start, switching it on before holding it in his mouth.
Using that, he distracted his foes while thrusting the metal rod at them from time to time, failing to damage much. He was now targeted by three Arhkars, making it hard for him to move.
In the meantime, Della and Foldran had an easier time, only having to face one Arhkar each. Foldran evaded the Arhkar’s attacks as he slipped to its back, stepping foot on its worm body as he slammed the rusted corner of the metal rod into the back of its neck, slamming forth attacks as if he was using a pickaxe, only the motion was linear instead of angular.
Grrr!
The Arhkar lost the ability to unleash any sounds as it was in a helpless state, unable to retaliate. Due to its anatomy, it was unable to reach its back. Usually, its flexible worm body compensated for that.
But as he had stepped onto it using his body weight, it was unable to pry itself out of his hold, getting smacked repeatedly before blood gushed out of its mouth. It was still alive but was incapacitated for the time being.
Foldran then ambushed the Arhkar targeting Della in the same manner, incapacitating it too.
They then noticed that Rael was struggling under the attacks of three Arhkars. But, he was somehow moving in such a way that they had approached the entrance to the top floor. He then shot a glance their way and nodded, implying that he had made the preparations.
Thankfully for him, Della and Foldran weren’t dense, understanding what he was implying. Without any hesitation, they sprinted and unleashed a leaping kick onto two Arhkars, sending them flying through the entrance, causing them to crash into the stream of Arhkars that were climbing up the flight of stairs.
This blocked their approach for the time being. And, while they wriggled around each other in an effort to move forward, the trio incapacitated the final Arhkar, kicking it at them too.
“Hah…haah…finally!” Rael grunted, beginning to climb over the final stretch of rails. He then observed the Arhkars streaming in from the entrance as he hurriedly climbed up.
Even though his entire body was in pain, lacking any strength, he barely resisted the urge to let go of everything. He was close to the destination but felt his vision turning blurry all of a sudden.
“I’ve got you, bro,” Foldran shouted on time, reaching the top as he helped pull Rael up.
“Thanks,” Rael nodded, gazing at the Arhkars that were no longer able to reach them. He then turned around as the trio entered the helicopter, a sense of accomplishment evident on their faces.
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Man Of Systems Chapter 10: Plasma
[Mission 1: Completed] [Mission 2: Completed] [Mission 3: Completed] Rael looked at the transparent device before slumping on the seat within the helicopter, sighing in relief, “It’s over!” “I don’t want to think about it for now,” Della closed her eyes, relaxing. “A day of stress…” Foldran massaged his forehead, “Once I return, I want to play some games and relax.” “Congratulations on passing the screening test.” The soldier seated within the helicopter smiled, saying, “You have now gained the qualifications to become a soldier.” “That’s it, right? We don’t have to go through any other tests?” Della asked, just in case. “Nope, that’s it.” The soldier twirled his bushy moustache, smiling, “You can rest comfortably now. Once the time limit for the third mission is up, we’ll return to the spaceship. You’ll be patched up there.”
Man Of Systems Chapter 11: The Origin of Plasma
Plasma! The fourth state of matter, and the power that humanity obtained to form a foothold for themselves in the international waters, where terrifying races existed everywhere. Of course, the basic information about Plasma was known to every human that went to school. There were also promotional videos released by the military every now and then to advertise their various campaigns. So, Rael had a fair extent of knowledge about Plasma. And now that the white-haired lady in the screen said so, he became a bit excited, understanding that from now onwards, he too would be able to wield the power of Plasma. Before he became lost in his sea of thoughts, the white-haired lady’s words brought him back to reality, “But, you won’t be able to wield Plasma just like that. Before I go into detail about that, let’s make a short trip through history, alright?” Her speech was pretty
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“Phew,” A month since he woke up, Rael noticed some changes in his body. He wasn’t yet able to feel it properly, but realised that the Maurta heart in him had finished adapting. Once he was released from the hospital berth, the nurse helped him with rehabilitation. Performing some basic exercises, Rael exhaled a long breath, feeling that he was actually healthier than before. During the past month, he got a better understanding of a soldier’s standing, and the Federation, as a whole, in the interstellar era. The scale of measurement was based on the Garracks. The Garracks were a massive, overbearing race in the universe, having control over an estimated 557 planets. And, all these planets were capable of sustaining life. And, there existed various species among the Garracks, products of evolution originating from the various worlds that they have devoured. There were to
Man Of Systems Chapter 13: Calca Duta
“This is your identity card, Soldier Rael.” A soldier handed him an item when the space shuttle reached the surface. “Everything related to you has been coded into it, so don’t lose it.” “Thank you,” Rael nodded in response as he noticed that there were three others in the space shuttle that had arrived with him. It seemed they had begun to produce Plasma in their bodies at the same time as him, making him wonder, ‘Is it fine to make a re-entry trip just for four people? Isn’t that just a waste of resources?’ But, the soldier didn’t have an amicable expression, so Rael didn’t have anyone to clarify his doubt with. Based on the soldier’s instructions, he was asked to proceed straight and enter a gigantic building that was situated more than twenty kilometres away. ‘I have to walk for that long?’ He groaned mentally. But upon looking around, he understood the cause. Space shuttles continued to land and take off one a
Man Of Systems Chapter 14: Blue Agate Academy
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Man Of Systems Chapter 15: Flux and Plasma
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Man Of Systems Chapter 16: Flame Bull and Frost Queen
The class spanned for four hours, at the end of which the professor dismissed them. Rael returned to his room, left with nothing else to do, carrying a batch of tonics with him while returning. The professor had given each student ten bottles to continue practicing for the night, asking them to assemble first thing in the morning the next day. Based on the progress, it seemed he needed almost a month to complete the course. But, that would mean he would run out of Credits. So, Rael wished to apply for other courses as well. Unfortunately, they were all part of the next step after the basics. So, unless he completed the basics, he would just be wasting his time there. So, he didn’t take any impulsive choices, returning to his room before sitting on his bed, ‘I should continue training my Flux.’ The Flux was how a soldier varied the Plasma’s temperature, moved it around their bodies, condensed
Man Of Systems Chapter 17: Temperature Index
Right on time, the professor entered the class, casually expanding his Flux to sense the Flux of others, surprised when he noticed Rael’s, ‘His Flux has become a lot stronger overnight.’ He then noticed the mental states of all students, noticing that they had worked hard, but had gotten ample sleep too. He then observed Rael, exhausted, looking on the verge of falling asleep, ‘I see, that makes a bit of sense too. He’s hardworking and also has talent.’ He then began to talk, “Everyone, show me the results of your training.” Hearing the professor’s voice, Rael closed his eyes, using his Flux to move his Plasma from his abdomen to the palm on his right, bringing it back to the abdomen as he next moved it to the palm on his left. In this manner, he moved it to every corner of his body. The professor noticed that Rael was able to move his Plasma a tad faster than the rest,
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Chapter 43: Selection
“Chief, a Titan Zombie had arrived!”A scout ran into the settlement, shouting the moment he appeared before Rael’s house.“A Titan Zombie? Where?” Rael exited the house, asking in a hurry.“Follow me, Chief!” The scout said and took off into the air using Pulsor.Rael followed suit as upon seeing him, Xahn too followed them.…“A Titan Zombie…” Derisher flew into the air, heading towards the Titan Zombie as he noticed its eyes widen in surprise upon seeing him.“Freaking royal that had abandoned us…” Derisher grunted in anger and unsheathed his Agate Blade, holding it using his Needle Swirl as he slammed it into his opponent, surprised when it didn’t even scrape the opponent.A faint Plasma Barrier flickered on the skin of th
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Chapter 42: End of the Screening Test
“Chief, a Titan Zombie had arrived!” A scout ran into the settlement, shouting the moment he appeared before Rael’s house. “A Titan Zombie? Where?” Rael exited the house, asking in a hurry. “Follow me, Chief!” The scout said and took off into the air using Pulsor. Rael followed suit as upon seeing him, Xahn too followed them. … “A Titan Zombie…” Derisher flew into the air, heading towards the Titan Zombie as he noticed its eyes widen in surprise upon seeing him. “Freaking royal that had abandoned us…” Derisher grunted in anger and unsheathed his Agate Blade, holding it using his Needle Swirl as he slammed it into his opponent, surprised when it didn’t even scrape the opponent. A faint Plasma Barrier flickered on the skin of the Titan Zombie, protecting itself against the attack as it gazed at the figur
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Chapter 41: Against the Titan Zombie
The scouts continued to grow stronger as they battled more and more zombies. Moreover, they didn’t clash head on, for that would be suicide. It also wasn’t efficient. Humanity’s strongest suit was their innate intelligence. And hence, Rael had proposed to set up traps on the surface. First of them was a massive pit that was fifteen metres in height. Once the pit was created, it would be covered by a layer of rock pillars that they had forged through their Plasma. It would be neatly layered to prevent it from collapsing. And all of them would hinge on one unassuming pillar that actually bore all the stress of the trap floor. And, when the zombies moved over the trap, a scout would use the Needle Swirl to break this linchpin, causing the artificial floor to collapse. Once the zombies fell into the pit, the scouts would drop boulders upon them, killing the zombies safe and sound. There was no re
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Chapter 40: Human Invasion
“Everyone!” It was the evening of the next day as Rael stood on a platform, addressing the fifty recruit scouts that had received their Agate Child Stars, “You’ve just received the power of Plasma. In the following days, Captain Xahn would be drilling into you everything you need to learn as a scout.” “It might seem like we’re hurrying through things, and that is true.” Rael nodded, causing them to gaze at him in surprise, “And that’s because the concentration of the zombie radiation is visibly increasing with the passage of every day. Now that you’ve obtained the Agate Star, you too would be able to perceive the changes.” Standing at the side, Deriri listened to Rael’s words, feeling her heart thump in response, her mood heavy. Obviously, she too had noticed the difference. It was easy considering the rate of her Plasma replenishment was steadily increasing. She had timed it on the first day, wondering how much ti
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Chapter 39: Increasing Forces
“Let’s return,” Rael spoke after a minute. “But that…zombie…” One of the scouts in his team hesitated. “That’s not an opponent we can think of defeating.” Rael said, “Let’s not waste our time and deal with the rest of the zombies in this region.” “But, will it be possible to ever defeat it?” One of the scouts asked, gritting his teeth as he was still reeling from shock and fear of seeing the hill-sized zombie. “Yes,” Rael nodded confidently, “The size of the Agate Stars can be increased. I’ll need to manually refine more Agates into them. But it’s possible.” “So, once everyone in our settlement has the power, we’ll work on strengthening ourselves.” Rael nodded, “Over time, as we defeat more and more zombies, we would eventually be able to take on that zombie, given we save it as the last zombie that we face on the surface.” “Alright, hope we get t
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Chapter 38: Zombie Monarch
Five days had passed since Rael had arrived at the settlement, the underground city of Lereal. Currently, a group of seven were inside a house, gazing at the underground map that they had made in the past year through their numerous scouting. As it was a mining city, there were detailed maps about most of the tunnels in the region. But, the mining city had existed for more than a few centuries. So, a lot of routes were forgotten with time. And even if they had been recorded, they weren’t updated once they no longer served any purpose. The routes could have changed due to the intervention by the zombies. After the apocalypse struck, the scouts had been mapping out the routes constantly in the sample copies of maps they had and once they returned, they updated the main map. “The Red Gecko Brigand would proceed towards the waterfalls on the east while the Green Gecko Briga
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Chapter 37: Second Coming of Danger
Pulsor! Rael unleashed the Plasma Skill and leapt, continuously activating it as he flew through the air like an aircraft, making convoluted aerobics as he used the ability to its limit. Suddenly, he unleashed Needle Swirl, piercing its tip through a building wall as the tube part stretched taut, pulling him towards the wall. Rael unleashed Pulsor through his legs, accelerating as he arrived before the wall, but just when it seemed like he would slam into it, his other hand shot out a Needle Swirl on the opposite side, causing it to pierce through a large boulder as it shrunk in length instantly, pulling him accordingly. Dissipating the first Needle Swirl, Rael used the free palm to unleash Pulsor, preventing himself from slamming into the wall as he diverted his linear momentum into radial, making an arc in the air as the Needle Swirl remained firm, attached to the boulder.
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Chapter 36: Rael's Actions as Chief
“637 people…that’s our death count…” Derisher said with a heavy tone, watching the pile of bodies before them. Not every corpse was there, just the ones they could find. The rest of them were in the bellies of the zombies that had already been melted by the previous Chief. The atmosphere was heavy, the air of sadness, anger, and despair coagulating around them as Rael stood in the centre, gazing at the rows upon rows of corpses with darkened eyes. “Derisher…” He muttered, watching the people pile the bodies after the identities of the corpses had been tallied, “How many people lived on the surface before?” “Around thirty to forty million in our Empire at the very least. If you count the rest of the Empires, the number would become huge. So, I can’t give an accurate estimate.” Derisher said, watching Rael slowly walk towards the pile of corpses. “I see,” Rael muttered, g
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Chapter 35: Anger, Sorrow, and Indignation
“Hmm, the candidates are faring worse than I had expected.” A young boy that seemed around fifteen years old commented, standing on an elevated platform that was situated within the centre of a massive dome. And, embedded on the inner walls of the dome were TVs, each spanning 100 inches in size. There were thousands of such screens in the dome. And each screen showed the POV of the candidate in the screening trial. It displayed everything they were going through within their trials, also displaying the number of Agates they had accumulated. “It’s just the start, so that’s to be expected. Most would take time to adapt to the situation before showing their actual capabilities.” A girl nearby said calmly, “Personally, I’m quite curious about a few candidates myself. I’ve been watching them for the past couple of weeks.” “To think the picky Tina Vink has already picked a few of her members.” The
