Chapter 535 - Fire!

Back with the clear-up trio, or duo more like due to Dean's complete reluctance to get his hands dirty, Afton and Veronica had given up trying to persuade their ghoulish friend. Dean continued to make excuses varying from "I'm too tired!", to "I'm scared!", to "I've run out of bullets."

In the end, the duo just decided to go it alone and hope nothing bad happens. Both were basically immune to harm due to their Power armour, but that didn't mean something unexpected couldn't happen... The Cloud for instance had obviously displayed the ability to mutate other creatures aside from humans...​​

If it can mutate a Super Mutant, what would happen if it got a hold of a Deathclaw? Or a Cazador? Or even a Yao Guai? Just the thought made Afton reluctant to be arrogant or overconfident about their durability, he wouldn't mention these thoughts to Veronica either, for fear of pushing her into a 'Dean' mindset...

Afton leads the assault by jumping off of the roof and landing right on top of a Ghost, his feet crushing its body as if it were a slinky.

*CRRRAACK!*

*SQUELTCH*

Afton flicks his hand and shoots out a wood-like tendril from his plant arm, extending it until it's a couple meters long before forming razor-sharp blades on it. Once done, he begins spinning it over his head.

However, before he can get off his first attack, the Ghosts were already upon him, sprinting like mangled fast zombies with various weapons ready to strike. In response, Afton ignites his Ultra Chainsaw in his left hand and bisects the closest Ghost before kicking its slowly regenerating body towards a few other charging enemies.

Once the razor whip spinning over his head had picked up enough speed he swings it down around him, cutting a huge swath of Ghosts in half! Many fall to the ground in halves or missing limbs, if they hadn't been immortal Cloud-controlled zombies this would've been extremely effective!...

Unfortunately, for these creatures, losing a leg and an arm amounts to nothing but a scratch as it'd regenerate soon after it was incurred.

Now that the plant-whip had halted against the bodies of the Ghosts, they immediately started attacking it with their weapons. Their Saturnite knives, steel spears, butcher knives, and beartrap gauntlets easily damage the relatively fragile whip, quickly destroying it and continuing their charge towards Afton.

Veronica had already jumped into battle behind him, popping Ghost heads with her shotgun fist weapon. Occasionally getting a crit and causing an explosion with the unique weapon... In fact, her fist weapon's ability was one of the only things that permanently killed the Ghosts... Its explosive effect was strong enough to completely annihilate the Ghost that is detonated.

*SKREEEE!*

*DINK!*

*PING!*

The sounds of metal bouncing off of her Saturnite plating rings out, but she ignores it and focuses on punching as many skulls as humanly possible. While her non-crit attacks may not put them completely out of commission, it does take them a while to regenerate a splattered skull.

Up on the rooftop, Dean had laughed and clapped when the duo had first jumped down, but once he saw Afton's unnatural whip-attack his sunglasses had almost fallen from his face in shock... He tugs at his shirt collar nervously at the sheer amount of destruction the duo were causing.

He thought they'd be fine dealing with the enemies, but not like this... He thought it'd be more like a drawn-out slug-fest until they whittled down the Ghosts numbers. Indeed, these thoughts continued to plague him until he saw the need to start getting active... He stands and runs off to quickly collect some supplies.

Afton gives a grunt as he smashes his elbow into an attacking Ghosts skull and causing it to explode into a bloody red mist. He steals the axe it was wielding and swings it at another Ghost, cutting its head clean off before throwing the axe into the crowd, probably hitting another...

There were so many that Afton wasn't actually sure how much of a dent he'd made in the group. He had almost been swarmed a number of times already, the Ghosts numbers trapping him under their combined mass... Fortunately, his Ultra Chainsword lends itself well to cutting his way out of sticky situations...

He glances over in Veronica's direction but doesn't see her... Instead, he just saw a pile of bodies with Veronica most likely underneath it all... Occasionally an explosion would occur from within, knocking a portion of them off, but the hole was quickly filled in by the others.

He smashes his helmeted forehead into a Ghost's literally causing it to explode while forming a razor-sharp wooden blade from his plant-arm and beginning to wade his way towards Veronica. The only actual harm the group could do to her was suffocation, which wasn't likely due to the internal oxygen system contained within her armour.

Still, one problem presented by the group was hs inability to permanently keep the Ghosts dismembered bodies apart to stop them regenerating while he dealt with the others... But...

*Smash!*

*Splash!*

*FWOOM!*

Dean had tossed a Molotov Cocktail into the pile of dismembered bodies left in Afton's wake. He'd taken into account the 'Sandstone, spit, and glue' buildings and found that they'd probably survive being on fire for a bit... Probably.

Afton was grateful regardless and hopeful that fire would actually be able to permanently kill the Ghosts.

Dean tosses a couple more firebombs and soon enough flames had almost completely enveloped half of the clearing. Even despite that, literal flaming Ghosts were still running out of the fire towards Afton.

He just brushes them off though, continuing to carve his way into the mound that is slowly gaining mass atop Veronica. "I never figured you as a bottom bitch Veronica!" he shouts.

*BANG!*

Another explosion occurs as Veronica's voice shouts out a reply muffled by the Ghosts, "Fuck you and help me! Can you even speak with those dark blue balls anyway!?"