Chapitre 24: Chapter 24 - Grimm Tide
They could hear footsteps, but there were no people bartering or talking. Like well-oiled machines, even children moved around in absolute silence whilst polishing their weapons.
Dust mines littered the grounds and the walls of various elements stood tall, covering the settlement in shadows. Some were climbing the stairs, and some simply ran across the walls.
When the Beacon teams got to the very highest wall, and the first one to take the brunt of the incoming fight, they saw something incredible, yet terrifying.
Like a black tsunami, the Grimm charged up ahead. Grimm as large as Giga Goliaths were in dozens and there was no end to the tide. If these Grimm could encircle the settlement, then there would be no hope of survival once the walls fell.
Humans, however, do not take fights that are not in their favour.
*SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH
The king that Nephrite saw not long ago announced its presence. The once rampaging Grimm avoided its territory like a plague.
With the king acting like a deterrent, the North was safe. In addition to the natural barriers in the west and south, where no army could pass without casualties, the east was the true battlefield.
From west and south, the only problem came from the avian Grimm.
"Tide's ETA is 10 minutes." The silent settlement became alive once again when they heard the voice.
"Let's show those assholes what death means! FIRE!" said a man. He exuded a fierce and commanding aura. His aura activated and swept through everyone in the settlement.
When Nephrite felt the aura wash over him, a sense of calm and confidence flooded his mind. Fear, doubt and many other negative emotions were turned into courage and calmness.
When he looked around, even the children were standing tall and proud, ready to act as the last struggle of this place.
As he looked back dozens of people stepped forth and unleashed various long-range semblances. The wind picked up its pace, and Nephrite noticed Apollo as one of the people standing at the front.
His body slowly floated up, and he looked like some kind of deity controlling the wind. His previously invisible bow and arrow now looked translucent and solidified by the second.
While Apollo prepared to fire his shot, others had already fired theirs.
From lightning bolts that powered bullets to a cannon that sprouted from the wall and shot one cannon ball before it broke and appeared again.
Some of the large Grimm shot out their feathers, shooting lightning breaths. One of the most massive Grimm roared at such strength that the sound wave rebounded from the first wall and made it tremble.
Nephrite didn't waste any more time and summoned his rail-gun. He charged it up and shot at a Goliath. Once he pressed the trigger, the wall shook for a fraction of a second before stabilizing itself.
This one was different. It tilted its tusk, and the bullet produced a scraping sound as it drilled into the tusk, stopping midway through the tusk.
"Dammit so much aura for a scratch."
"Not bad, young man!" Jerry patted his shoulder and looked ahead. Most of the long-ranged attacks were shot down and most did moderate damage at most.
"Enjoy your feast!"
Seeing Apollo release the now solid arrow, Nephrite was confused as to why the arrows remained stationary. Soon it vanished, confusing him even more.
That's when the change happened, he turned his attention to the battlefield and saw the might of the arrow. Its path was deathly silent, and it left only devastation in its wake.
A scar was now the permanent mark and representation of his power. The Grimm did not falter, and the once split tide now looked like it did a few moments ago.
The Grimm stepped onto the dust mine field and colour appeared in the endless black tide. Vast swaths of black Grimm ash blanketed the skies, obscuring the largest Grimm. Apollo shot a few arrows that cleared the area for a few seconds at a time.
When the Grimm nearly collided with the wall, the ground crumbled and a pit was formed. It was unknown how deep it was, but it exceeded 10 meters.
The smaller ones in the front had fallen down, their fate sealed. The larger, more mobile animals jumped over the pit.
One of the biggest Goliaths roared, and soon some of the smaller ones used their bodies as bridges.
"Full firepower!"
Everyone that had a gun or any ranged semblance stepped forth and hell rained. Nephrite and others joined too. After overclocking his sense of sight and hearing, he abandoned the others.
Like an automaton, he tapped to a certain rhythm and headshotted Grimm one by one. The bullets he fired were coated with his aura, and every time he hit a Grimm, his aura already regenerated.
Coco, with her Hype working overtime, shredded the Grimm to pieces.
Pyrrha shot the smaller flying Grimm with absolute accuracy. Velvet summoned a hard, light dust copy of Coco's mini-gun and sprayed down everything she could see.
Nora carelessly shot her grenades into the endless tide, and Ren covered her from any Grimm that broke through the defences.
Fox and Yatsuhashi took down anything that got close to their group with Ren. Once the first groups got tired, another group replaced them.
So far, they have neutralized the causalities like well-oiled machines. After 20 minutes, the two teams got tired and were to be replaced without question.
"We can still fight!" Nora said as she knocked a griffon Grimm to the ground and killed it with a second clean strike to the head.
"No time for heroism! Pay absolute attention!" Jerry appeared and yelled at Nora, another griffon had appeared behind her when she was refuting the orders. Ren's tired mind let one griffon slip past his defences, almost letting Nora suffer.
Under the cover of Jerry, the teams retreated without another hitch. If it wasn't for his overclocked sense of sight, Nephrite would have almost missed Ren's fingers and how they dug into his palm.
If it wasn't for his aura, Nephrite was sure blood would come out. And yet the commander's semblance was still affecting Nephrite, he was sure of that.
"Good job everyone let's properly rest and rejoin them as soon as we can!" Nephrite encouraged his team and patted Ren on his back.
30 minutes had passed, and they re-joined the battle once again. Goliaths appeared around this time, and the battle was slowly reaching its climax.
"Everyone retreat! Wall down!" The commander said, and everyone followed. The seemingly crumbling wall split into rocks that each weighted tons.
The rocks revealed traces of fire dust and turned into flaming rocks for the next second. Like huge boulders, they bulldozed through the tide that was near the wall and squashed them into nothingness.
The boulders turned into particles once they stopped rolling.
"Engage in close combat!"
Bulky men and women stood at the very front with huge shields. They periodically opened gaps for others, which the others used to kill the distracted Grimm.
Injuries multiplied in an instant, and the shield bearers withstood the barrage of huge Grimm for 10 minutes before another layer of shield bearers replaced them.
Good news arrived when the Grimm tide had reached its end.
"Hold on tight! This shitstorm is almost over!" The commander jumped in and replaced the last shield bearer layer. Jerry soon followed, and other foreign huntsmen and huntresses joined them.
The commander had a huge war hammer which he used to knock Goliaths away. Jerry wielded two 1.7 meter machetes that had dust engravings filled with gravity dust. He cut the deathstalkers in half without stopping his momentum one bit.
Teens stood behind and faced Beowolves, Ursa, foxes, and even rabbits, as well as many other Grimm types.
If it wasn't for the support of others, they would gnaw one of the younger ones to death with their sheer numbers.
Team CFVY and NNPR formed a tight arrow like position, with Yatsuhashi and Nora at its helm followed by Pyrrha and Fox acting as the second layer.
They couldn't withdraw without endangering others. Another half hour passed, and they were barely holding on thanks to Apollo protecting the young.
The Commander and Jerry were firmly holding the front with others like them. They fought off a deathstalker that could snap a goliath in two.
The most stamina draining were boarbatusks, and hedgehog like Grimm that shot spikes from its back. Although they weren't the most powerful Grimm around, if one of them hit someone's blind spot, it could be fatal.
At that moment, Pyrrha noticed a large taijitu sneaking up behind her, but she was only able to repel the dark half.
At that moment Nephrite turned around and he saw king taijitu with its open maw about to devour Pyrrha.
With his heart stopped, his surroundings stopped with it, and he could see everything around him, even when that invisible arrow would be too late. That's what his instincts told him.
His body moved and turned into a blur, he was much closer than the arrow and his speed was many times greater than he ever could muster.
When he was just a few meters away from Pyrrha, his aura broke, but he held on. Without the protection of his aura and with his tired muscles, the ground cracked once more, his leg almost rupturing.
Once he felt his hand touching Pyrrha's skin, everything turned blank...
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone