Chapter 55 - EVO

Chapter 55 - EVO

***Tirnanog, Mount Aerie***

***Etan***

How is he doing? I asked Conla while I eyed the hunters who were holding the line against the 'vermintide', as Magnus had called it. It was a disturbingly apt description to come up with for someone who had encountered the ratkin for the first time.

The sensor's ears twitched. Disturbingly. I've never before seen ratkin hesitate to attack someone, aside from yourself, honoured elder. She pursed her lips while she monitored my son in law through her superior senses. Thooough why is he laughing while he is fighting for his life? Is he mentally unstable?

You don't have to worry, I assured her. Thalia Tate screened him and gave him a pass. My son in law will be a boon to the clan.

He better be I wouldnt want to have a second argument over him with my wife.

If you say so, honoured elder, Conla acquiesced. We certainly need some positive news to make the rounds. My folk were a little distraught when this season's economic statistics were published. Last year, we lost about three hundred people, but we had only around one hundred births, while the number of fertile pairings dropped beneath three hundred. A few more bad decades like this one and the clan is done. We've been in a downwards spiral and people are beginning to notice.

She interrupted to order the tanks who were holding the line to switch out with the rested reserve. Switch positions if you get tired! Fight properly or I will mark you down in the mission report. Just because we have an elder looking over our shoulders today doesn't mean you can slack off in the second row!

I didn't comment on Conla's outburst, figuring she would know best when to dress down her people. Having me at their backs was an assurance against being overrun by the ratkin, but not against a claw unfortunately finding a gap in someone's armour.

Life was cheap in Tirnanog and it reflected on how the people dealt with high death rates.

Losing people was unavoidable when the fauna constantly invaded our territory. Incursions like this one occurred daily and normally the various stratas dealt with most of them on their own.

My people were only called upon when there was a great risk of losing an unreasonable amount of civilians.

Conla returned to our original discussion, His skillset is well rounded. The ratkin seem not much of a challenge. Once it gets known that Astra landed such a powerful match, people will start talking.

Hm. I hummed in consent.

There was no point in publicly validating Conla's concerns, so I didn't call her out on her obvious attempt at drawing information out of me.

It was better if a subordinate felt comfortable with pointing out problems. Too many leaders had fallen into the trap of listening to yes-sayers who were too afraid to speak up. Please tell me when the situation turns dangerous.

Playing babysitter? Conla asked.

I sighed. Yes. My wife would gut me if something happened to him. And I suppose Astra would never speak to me again.

Conla looked slightly concerned. The sensors from team seven reported that there is a larger variant with the swarm they are facing, which is why I had them retreat and sent Tulkas. Should we call them back to minimize risk?

I am babysitting him, but I am not going to guide his hand while he fights beasts which should be his match, I clarified. If there are two variants, you can warn me. He can deal with a single variant in close combat while a team assists from the rear.

Is it true that Astra is pregnant? Conla switched topics yet again, apparently testing how far she could go with her questions.

I looked at her. We are very informal with our highly accomplished hunters, but some things will only become public knowledge once the elders announce it.

Of course, honoured elder! Conla was quick to turn the discussion back around. Tulkas pulled the tank who was being overwhelmed out of the fire. Are you sure I shouldn't order them back? Having them retreat will cost us time, but it will be much safer to fight the ratkin with our combined force in the main tunnel.

There's no need, I denied the suggestion. The more witnesses to his capability, the better. As you said, the people need some positive news and he needs to establish himself as someone who can be relied upon as a leader.

She clicked her tongue a few times, giving team seven the command to re-establish their formation and to support Tulkas from the rear. The sensors with team seven would have no problem translating the instructions.

The hunter code was a secret language taught only to sensors. It had been developed during the time of the clan wars and was frequently changed ever since.

In a world in which a properly reared sensor could pick up on called commands from hundreds of metres away, a language which the enemy couldn't understand was a necessity.

***Tirnanog, Mount Aerie***

***Magnus***

The ratkin shrieked as I stomped down on its head, silencing it forever. Then I flowed to the side and back, slicing open another one of the creatures. The ratkin weren't much of a challenge once I had gotten used to fighting them. They looked fearsome, but they were much too slow compared to me.

Once my mind managed to see past the claws and teeth, I also realized they came in different sizes, but so far only the human-sized versions warranted caution. They were the ones who would jump the opponent while all the little ones, the kids, would rip into the victim.

Fighting them had quickly turned into a rhythm.

One step forward, slice 'em up!

And retreat before the others could jump me!

Let them stumble over the corpses of their brethren.

And rinse repeat.

If things got dicey, I didn't hesitate to throw a lightning bolt to startle them.

Meanwhile, team seven had picked up their downed tank and was advancing behind me while finishing off the injured Ratkin on the floor. Occasionally, I let one or two of the creatures slip past me to give them something to do.

I saw it coming before it happened, but I was already too used to the grisly work to react in time.

A huge bastard of a rat came bounding down the tunnel. It was knocking over and in some cases stepping on its kin just to get to me. Muscles rippled all over its body, making it seem like the thing had eaten three bodybuilders for breakfast.

I readied the halberd, but the monster bounced sideways and pushed off the wall, making it impossible to swing the halberd at it with full power. The sudden change from mindless zerg-tactics to an opponent who acknowledged the existence of my weapon took me by surprise.

All I could do was to bring the halberd forward and awkwardly stab at the monster while it barrelled into me.

The halberd's pointed head bit into the ratkin's shoulder and was torn out upwards, mangling the beast. But it cared neither for the wound, nor the electric shock coursing through its body.

It grunted while a clawed hand closed over my face. Then it tried to pluck off my head like a ripe berry. Thankfully, the weave made this not as easy as the creature imagined it to be. Several thick cords of filament were connecting every part of my armour. A single filament was strong, but it could be torn. Several of them could hold the strongest of opponents.

My enemy realized this and tried to bash me into the ground while it pushed the halberd to the side.

I didn't let it.

Snarling, I closed my legs around its torso and fumbled for its face with one hand while I freed the short sword from my belt. We struggled for a moment before the ratkin used its spiked tail to batter my side, which the armour blocked barely. I still expected to greet some new bruises once I took off my carapace.

We proceeded down the tunnel until it widened into a wide hall with glowmoss on the ceiling and fertile soil on the ground. It was a field like any other just underground.

Before the ratkin had vandalized it, it must have been meticulously pruned and taken care of. There was farming equipment lying all over the place, dropped where the farmers had abandoned their work.

My eyes fell on the other side of the hall, where the wall had collapsed and a group of ratkin were eyeing us. They were guarding a jagged rift, a dark hole which didnt look like it belonged there.

Three variant ratkin were towering over the rest of their brethren. The biggest one had a humongous club and was sneering at us with drool running down its snout.

Advance! Conla ordered. Scouts, fire at will.

The tanks didn't charge their foe as I had seen in so many medieval movies but slowly walked towards the ratkin while keeping the formation. The scouts prepared their compound bows and pump-action crossbows but didn't fire yet. The ceiling was much too low to rely on ranged arching fire.

Can I take a shot? I asked and retrieved a throwing spear from my back a new one. Sullivan had handed out the special poisoned variety today and I figured a used spear wouldn't have the same effectiveness.

Sullivan had advocated for poison on all of my equipment ever since he found out I had a high resistance to the most common toxins.

Conla looked at me as if judging the worth of allowing me to play around before she returned her attention to her subordinates. Hunters, kneel!

At once, all the people in front of us knelt, not even questioning the order.

I took a leaping step forward before I threw. My hand blurred as I put all the force I could muster into the throw.

The largest ratkin moved its club to block, but my projectile hammered through the organic material and the ratkin's torso before it buried itself in the wall behind the creature.

I clicked my tongue, figuring a single small wound would at most hinder a beast that large.

The monster regarded its destroyed club which had split down the middle before it stepped forward, pushing aside its kin. Right when I thought it would charge, it teetered and fell over like a felled tree.

Holy heck, I mumbled. What did Sullivan put on those spears?

Conla looked between me and the felled ratkin. Why didn't you mention that you are a walking, human-sized ballista! Keep going!

I readied another spear and took a shot at one of the remaining large ratkin, but my target wasn't so accommodating this time. The creature dodged and hissed, but I got some of the smaller ones. There was no way I could miss a group that was so tightly packed.

Etan cleared his throat. Now, this is something to work on, Tulkas. You need speed and precision when it comes to ranged fights. Those throwing spears of yours might be nice to take out large, dumb targets, but they are a little too hefty when it comes to these middle-sized opponents.

He hummed. Maybe I should give a demonstration to remind everyone what an elder is capable of?

Conla bowed her head. It would be too kind of you to do some of our work for us.

Etan nodded and pointed a finger as if aiming a gun. All filaments on his body went taut.

Careful now.

Two simultaneous twangs heralded a gust of explosive air. It was like someone had fired a high calibre sniping rifle with overcharged ammunition right next to my face.

At the same moment, two lines of destruction were carved through the grouped up ratkin.

One of the variants took Etans attack right to the chest and exploded, its arms flying left and right while the head hopped upwards.

The other was hit slightly off centre to the left of the hip. The explosion caused by the transferred kinetic energy tore off its leg and left the creature spinning to the side with a mewling howl. It had survived, but I had no illusions about it bleeding out sooner rather than later.

Etan frowned and looked at his finger before he mumbled, That was supposed to hit the chest. Did Sullivan sneak me one of the copper flechettes again? He knows they dont weigh enough

It took a moment before he looked at me, and I realized I was staring at him like some idiot.

What are you waiting for! I still see eight more spears on your back!

After four more spears, the remaining ratkin, now bar their leaders, had enough and retreated into their hole without further conflict.

I thought they would charge us, I commented.

They have some sense of self-preservation remaining in them, Conla explained. There were less than forty left and we have ninety people here. With the ratkin, it's all about numbers. They have more than you? They charge. They have fewer? They retreat and multiply until they can test you again. I suppose the only reason they stayed for so long was because of the fields with all the food. They hoped to intimidate us and keep their conquered territory.

She had the hunters advance and soon we stood at the jagged opening in the wall. It led into a tunnel which descended into the mountain at a steep angle.

While the sensors checked out the tunnel my attention was drawn to the huge ratkin.

It was still alive, if only barely.

I grinned, seeing another chance to further my studies.

While Etan and Conla were discussing how to proceed, I walked towards the seemingly lifeless body of the ratkin ogre. I drew my sword and stabbed it into the creature's spine, severing it, just to be on the safe side.

It didn't even twitch, but through my Second Sight, I noticed its heartbeat increasing.

With this, I was probably on a timer. I had to use my entire body to shoulder the ugly thing onto its back.

Then I hacked into its chest. Getting through the ribcage was gruesome work, especially with the chosen tool, but I was afraid that using the halberd would do too much damage.

Once the wound was sufficient, I went to my knees and dug in. This time, I aimed directly for the large core at the creature's centre.

When my fingers touched the beating, biomechanic organ I could feel the signals coursing through the monster's body. Earlier, I didn't have enough time to explore them, but now I could search for a pattern as I tasked as many sub-identities as possible to pay full attention.

It took me maybe a minute of rummaging through the ratkin's torso until it felt safe to proceed. Thankfully, the monster's resilience was enough to prevent it from biting the dust like my first test subject.

Once my sub-identities reintegrated it was like having an epiphany. There was no other way than to try, so I ripped the core out.

This time, I used several filaments in addition to my hand and snaked them into the core, touching where I had felt the monster's nervous system connect. It helped that this time it was one of the strange bio-mechanic pumps and I knew exactly what it was supposed to do.

The core stuttered, but once my filaments took over, the steady pumping motion returned.

I watched it for a good thirty seconds before I was sure it wouldn't just suddenly stop beating. Feeling a rush of excitement, I held the core aloft and did what I had promised myself to do if this insane experiment should work out.

Look! It's moving! It's moving! It's alive! Mwahaha!