Unduh Aplikasi
38.45% Out of Space / Chapter 258: A Gathering Storm

Bab 258: A Gathering Storm

Uncharted Forest, Cabal Camp

He glanced down at the kneeling Orc dressed in a red coat and frowned. "So you are saying you met a monster that spews fire like those weapons of ours?"

"Y- yes, my chief, " The sweating Orc bowed his head lower, "Much faster and more powerful!"

"Many Oerkins die!" The Orc continued, "I ran, bring news back!"

"I see," Aaron sighed and reached down and patted the Orc on its burly shoulder. "You did well! Now join the rest of your men... in hell!"

"NO! Great Chief! Mercy!" The Orc cried out and tried to dislodge Aaron's hand away from his shoulder.

Aaron smiled and said softly, "Don't worry. You will be one with the Great One!"

Wisps of black smoke oozed out from the body of trembling Orc. Its eyes rolled upwards, showing the whites while its jaws opened slackly and an unearthly cry rosed out from the Orc's throat. The Orc gave a final shiver before collapsing face down before Aaron who held a ball of black flames in his right hand.

He offered it to the talisman on his chest which morphed into a living snake and it swallowed the soul flame whole before morphing back into the talisman.

"Break camp!" Aaron called out. "We leave immediately!"

The nearby Orcs nodded hurriedly and scrambled off to obey his orders, none wanting to upset their chief in fear of having their souls sucked out.

"So they are coming here?" Aaron whispered under his breath, "Well, I got a surprise for them!"

He giggled madly and swept into his tent to pack up his gear and leave behind a surprise for his old friends.

-----

Orwell's Point, Marine Stronghold

Dr. Sharon nodded to the two helpers who carted out the grisly remains of the autopsied demonified body to be cremated. She carefully removed her disposable mask and eye protection before slipping off the bloody apron and gloves.

Dumping everything into a bin marked with Hazardous Materials symbols, she vigorously rubbed her hands with soap and washed them thoroughly. The voice in her head had quietened down lately, but when she was dissecting the demonified bodies, she sensed an angry emotion from the voice in her head.

She dried her hands before she picked up her notes and recordings and went to look for Magister Thorn who was going through all the items confiscated from the cultists' dens that the Marines had raided.

She was amazed by the changes demonification could do to a person's body, in this case, an elf. Organs were genetically evolved or moved while muscles, bones, tendons, and nerves were remade or regrown and even physical changes of the entire skeletal structure of the person!

The pain would drive anyone insane! Its small wonder that anyone having a demon entering their bodies could barely stay sane, allowing the demon to effectively control its host's body. It seemed like the way a demon controls their host was the same way as we do with our UAVs and other unmanned vehicles, thought Dr. Sharon.

She politely knocked on the thick wooden door and waited till Thorn's muffled voice gave her permission to enter. She pushed the door open and saw him standing over a pile of objects and parchments, his hair messy and his wardrobe looking wrinkled and unkempt.

"How long have you been working on this?" Dr. Sharon asked as she closed the door and dragged a wooden stool over. "No, wait... Did you even sleep at all?"

"What?" Thorn rubbed his ink stained fingers over his face. "Sleep? I think so?"

"Nevermind," Dr. Sharon sighed. "Found anything interesting?"

"Oh yes!" Thorn's bloodshot eyes immediately glowed with vigor. "Look at this!"

He shoved a couple of items on the table towards Dr. Sharon. "These are relics from the Age of Gods! And these!"

He placed a few parchments before Dr. Sharon. "These are copies and translation of dairy entries that dated back as far as the Age of Gods too!"

"And?" Dr. Sharon didn't feel very impressed with the items as she tilted her head and looked at Thorn.

"Oh, sorry," Thorn seemed to deflate. He gave a dignified cough and explained. "Well, as you know demons come from another realm, but in truth, its just another place in this world that was sealed off by the Gods."

"The entries on the diaries talk about some of the causes that went into making the seal by the Gods," Thorn explained. "It appears that the Young Gods did the sealing together to cut off a source of the Old Gods' powers and a portion of their army."

"So these demons are the army of the Old Gods?" Dr. Sharon clarified.

Thorn nodded, "Yes, yes!"

"So where are the demons from?" Dr. Sharon asked.

"Why, everyone knows they lived in the thirteen levels of Hell!" Thorn exclaimed.

"What?" Dr. Sharon was surprised. "I thought it was just an expression!"

"No no, Hell is a place, more accurately, it's underground but sealed off with a very powerful God level seal," Thorn explained.

"Serious?" Dr. Sharon's eyebrows shot up. "I thought Hell was just a figure of speech or some kind of expression like we human use."

"No, it exists," Thorn smiled. "And I more or less can guess the intentions of the cultists."

"And?" Dr. Sharon rosed an inquiring eyebrow.

"They want to weaken or even destroy the seal of the demons," Thorn expression turned serious. "They want to let the demon roam free in our land!"

"That sounds bad..." Dr. Sharon replied. "So how do they plan to do that?"

"Well, the notes we gathered are mostly incomplete," Thorn admitted, "So other than using blood magic or dark arts, I am shameful that I have no idea either..."

"It's alright," Dr. Sharon grinned. "At least we have an idea of their agenda, this means we can make plans to counter them!"

Thorn was able to answer when an urgent knocking came from the door. "Come in!"

A female military staff officer entered panting, she saluted Dr. Sharon and reported, "There is an urgent situation happening right now! The CO has called for all senior officers and members to gather in the map room immediately!"

Dr. Sharon and Thorn looked at each other with worry on their faces, what could have happened that Joseph was calling every senior member and officers? They hurriedly packed and put away their work and followed the female staff officer towards the map room inside the Great Hall of the Keep.

They found other senior officers and staff had already arrived at the map room and they were the last to arrive. "Good, everyone is here?" Joseph looked around the room.

"Alright, as some of you know the bombing raid carried out on the deserter's city was a success," Joseph said. "But there was an unforeseen incident happening on site."

He nodded to his aide who brought up the imagery on the screen. "This is being recorded live over the city now."

The image showed a slight isometric view of a smoking city in ruins. A dark serpentine shape was shrouded within the smoke and dust clouds. "The creature you see here is known as the Great Serpent. It was reported to be summoned in by one of the hooman deserters and it has wreaked havoc for the past six hours."

"Why aren't we informed of this situation earlier?" Dr. Sharon frowned.

"HQ has shut down all information on this incident and only lifted the ban, just..." Joseph looked at the clock and said, "sixteen minutes ago."

"What?" Dr. Sharon rolled her eyes. "So what is the plan? And what is that creature?"

"Our sole UAV will be conducting full surveillance of the creature," Joseph stated. "The creature is known as the Great Serpent and we will need both your help, Doctor and Magister to help us identify this creature, if possible."

"HQ has forwarded us several contingency and evacuation plans," Joseph said. "If the UAV detects that creature approaching us and hit the 200 km meter, we will abandon this city and evacuate as many people as possible using the river barges that we confiscated."

"All armed forces will set up two defensive lines, one at 20 km away, the other at 10 km away," Joseph said to his military officers. "HQ will be dispatching more Cobras over for support and also the convoy will be reaching us soon in a couple more days."

"As for critical non combat personnel," Joseph turned back to Dr. Sharon and Magister Thorn, you and the medical personnel will be evacuated by the Mariners once we confirmed the heading of the creature."

"Company commanders, brief your men on the situation," Joseph said.

"But Sir, what about public order and the cultists?" One of the commanders asked. "If we move all our men up to form a defensive line, the city will have no troops to hold it!"

"I know, hence I will be meeting with the representatives of the ex-slaves and the local leaders here later to discuss a ceasefire and agreement," Joseph said. "That thing destroyed a city of over ten thousand people in a few hours, I am sure we can get some sort of cooperation with the ex-slaves and locals."

-----

Outskirts of Sin City

Hundreds and hundreds of Oerkin warriors formed from dozens of clans and tribes stood under the sun, glaring at the Serpent hidden among the smoke of the cursed city. Hundreds and thousands of other people consisting of slaves, merchants, and their guards stood on the far end as they watched the face off.

The side with the merchants and slaves seemed to be jovial as the merchants discussed among themselves how to split the spoils of the city once the Serpent was defeated while others placed bets among themselves.

The Oerkin warriors grumbled among themselves under the heat as tribal elders and shamans met together under a massive animal hide tent to discuss their plans involving the God they are facing on now.

"That thing! Abomination!" An Oerkin elder cried out, "Our forefathers bled and died to put that Monster away!"

"We must unite!" Another Oerkin elder gave his approval. "The longer we wait the stronger that Thing becomes!"

"No, we must run and protect our females and younglings!" Another cried out. "We stand no chance!"

"We longer have strength and power like our forefathers!" The chief said. "We lost all when our forefathers fought that Thing! We Oerkin are weak now! All due to that Thing!"

Other nodded and mumbled their agreement. Once the Oerkin were the most feared race on this continent, but the war with the Dark God has reduced the once proud and mighty race to a pitiful few.

"Fight it, we must!" An elderly Shaman spoke out. His bone trinkets tied to his hair rattled as he spoke. "Our duty! We are the protector of souls! The Great Devourer must not feast on more souls!"

The chiefs and elders looked at each other and kept quiet. "Our forefathers bravely stood against that Thing and won! Now it's our Duty to do the same!"

"Or I fear, our once Great Race will be devoured by that Thing!" The elderly Shaman finished his piece while the others mumbled among themselves.

"We, Wolfmaster Clan, say we fight!" The Wolfmaster clan chief suddenly spoke and stood up. "Run if you want, we no cowards! We warriors to the blood!"

"GOOD! We, Stonepickers, fight too!" Another chief added in his voice and stood up.

"We, Windwalkers, will stand and fight too!"

The rest of the chiefs looked at each other before standing up and joining the crusade. Finally, only one clan chief was left sitting alone, before he too stepped up and said, "We, Plainswalker will join too!"

The elderly Shaman nodded sagely and said, "Order your men to bring word back! We must gather all our strength together to stand a chance with that Thing!"

The chiefs and elders nodded and they left the stuffy tent and started calling out runners to carry word back to their clans and tribes.

"Go! Bring all warriors of all ages back! We fight for the eternal glory of all Oerkins!"


PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA
Neobear Neobear

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Yes! Its Apepy!

Bab 259: The Day is My Enemy

Recommended song, The Prodigy - The Day Is My Enemy

Captain Joseph, Commanding Officer of the Third Marine Battalion, sat facing several of the locally remaining prominent men of Orwell's Point. The local merchants and community leaders glared uneasily at their opposite counterparts made up of ex-slaves who glared back with equal resentment and malice.

"Thank you all for making your time out of your busy schedules to meet me here," Joseph politely greeted the people. "Now before we start, I-"

"Wait, my lord!" One of the merchants cut in before Joseph could finish speaking. "Why are we here with those... sla-, second rate citizens?"

"Second rate?" The ex-slaves contingent cried out indignantly. "What makes you so superior? Money?"

The merchant smirked and made a mock helpless gesture, "See, my lord, this uneducated sla... people... will only impair what plans you have, my lord!"

"What?" The ex-slaves where more riled up by the comments and the trap the merchant had forced them into. "You stinkin-"

"ENOUGH!" Joseph banged the table with his palm. "I called you here not to have you act like bickering housewife shopping in a damn market!"

Both sides immediately quiet down, while the locals hid grins behind their hands and smirked at the ex-slaves who fumed angrily, glaring fiercely back.

Joseph gave out a long sigh and addressed both parties. "I want both sides to stop all manner of aggression right now!"

Both parties silently shook their heads inside, knowing that there is no way it is possible of what Joseph was asking of them.

"We have cultists running amok in the city and that is just the least of our problems heading towards us!" Joseph simply said. "And I am not talking about the army the Empire is sending over to retake take this place, but this..."

He switched on the display on the wall behind him and the gathered people gasped in surprise at the images that were shown. "What is that amazing artifact?" Some of the merchants stared at the lifelike and vibrant images shown on the screen."

"Now if I can have your attention on the screen," Joseph carried on ignoring the amazed cries and questions. "This just happened several hours ago at a city not too far from here, about two five day weeks distance of travel away."

The locals and the ex-slaves watched as a giant snake rampaged over a city, seeing it snatch tiny figures with flailing hands with its massive mouth from the ground.

"How is that possible?" The gathered locals and ex-slaves mumbled in unbelieving tones among themselves.

"We recorded this calamity from the air with... magic..." Joseph explained. "You all have seen our flying machines, that was how we found out that, that city was attacked by such a creature."

"Now, it is highly possible, this creature will come to target us next," Joseph said. "When that happens, anyone still remaining behind these walls will end up very much like that city's inhabitants."

Both sides were shocked by the words of Joseph. "This the reason why I gathered all of you here to make plans on how to save as many people as possible should the situation comes to that point!"

"Look, I am not telling you all to bury your grievances in a day or two, I know its hard after so long of resentment between the two sides," Joseph added. "But I would like you all to set aside that for the good of your own people."

-----

Sin City

The gathering tribes and clans of Oerkins grew larger and larger as more and more Oerkins responded to the summons with all haste. The Great Serpent after feasting its fill had hidden among the rubble of the ruined city, awaiting the Sun to set before it moves out to hunt to sate its ever growing appetite.

The Oerkins were restless as they waited impatiently for more of their brethren to join them while the Shamans and Elders prepped spells and magic formations to defeat the Great Serpent.

The other merchants and slaves loitering around the outskirts had pulled back further and set up camp, most of the masterless slaves being forcefully assimilated into the folds of the merchants.

Others seeking freedom braved the endless plains and set off with barely any supplies and disappeared away from the sight of the city.

"We wait no longer!" The Elder Shaman declared to the rest of the Oerkin Elders. "It will be dark soon!"

"But our brethren have not all joined us!" One of the Elders replied. "Not enough warriors!"

"The Thing is strongest without the light!" The Shaman snapped. "We must act... NOW!"

The rest of the Oerkin Council looked at each and before nodded. "So be it! It will be a glorious day to die!"

The Elders and Chiefians left to prepare their warriors for war while the Shamans gathered together. "Eldest... our powers will be useless against that Thing!"

"We can't summon any warriors to our aid either," The Shamans said. "That Thing has eaten their souls! We can't call them back to fight for us!"

The Eldest Shaman shook wrinkled head and said. "We must call upon the aid of our forefathers!"

The rest of the Shamans looked at each other in surprise, "But Eldest! We can't defile their eternal rest!"

"Now is not the time for such customs!" The Eldest berated the rest. "Only with their strength, may we win!"

"I- it shall be done!" The rest of the Shamans bowed in submission to the Eldest. "We will head off to the ancestral graves immediately..."

"Do it fast, or we will not be here when you all return..."

-----

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGGGGGGGG!!!"

The charge into the ruined city started off with a war cry, as hundreds and hundreds of Oerkins roared out at once. They slowly picked up the pace as they neared the tall gates left wide open in the haste of the city inhabitants' race to safety.

They swarmed the wide rubble littered, cracked streets of the city, rushing towards the center of the city as the Great Serpent had nested in.

"KILLLLL!" The Oerkins cried out as they saw the creature stirring to life. It had taken shelter inside the ruined Palace, coiling itself under the broken roof protectively, as it did not like the sun rays touching its body.

The Serpent opened its golden eyes and saw a mass of delicious looking life force rushing forward to it. "Hmmm, dinner timeee? How naiseee for them to offeeer themselvesss to missh!"

A volley of hand cannons roared out and the ruined walls of the Palaces exploded from the heavy shots of the Oerkins. Those without firearms charged straight past the ruins columns and walls, navigating their way over the fallen masonry and bodies to close in with the Serpent which eyed them with eagerness.

Shots slammed against the body of the Serpent causing tiny puffs of black smoke to pop out. The Serpent narrowed its golden eyes as it felt stings from the hot burning bites on its body. It slithered out of its cover and avoided the golden red sun rays of the setting sun before happily throwing its self against the Oerkins who wielded a variety of weapons.

"DIE CURSED ONE! DIE!" The Clan Chief of the Wolfmasters with his muscles bugling swung down hard with his heavy double blade ax against the body of the Serpent. He barely felt any resistance as his ax went through the smoky glazed body of the god snake.

A puff of foul smelling oily black smoke oozed out following the passage of his swung ax. The Clan Chief took a step to brace himself from his surprise when the body of the god snake slammed against his chest, sending him and dozens of other warriors flying across the rubble sown ground.

He cursed as a sharp pain cut into his chest and coughed out blood. The Serpent barely even spared him a glance as it happily snapped away at the numerous Oerkins surrounding it, tossing its triangular hooded head back to swallow any unfortunate Oerkin it had caught with its jaws.

A greenish glow suddenly covered the Wolfmaster's Clan Chief and he felt the pain in his chest numbing before fading away. He pushed himself up and saw the Eldest Shaman with his eyes closed, holding out his crooked staff and healing the wounded around him.

"Much thanks, old one!" He grunted in gratitude before turning back to glare at the god snake. "Our weapons could not harm that Thing!"

"It is a lord of darkness!" The Shaman warned. "Light! We need light!"

The Clan Chief nodded and bellowed to the Oerkins nearby, "Fire! Burn everything!"

The Oerkins warriors started using flints to burn whatever flammable material they could find, and soon a several torches and fires lit up the surroundings, casting an orange glow while the sun sets below the horizon.

The Shaman lifted his staff high up and chanted. Motes of light appeared before condensing into a ball of light and the Shaman pushed the Illumination spell into the air, which brightened the area.

The Serpent suddenly paused in its feeding frenzy as it noticed a source of light behind its back. It turned and snarled angrily at the elder Shaman. "Puny low livesss! I ssshall regain my powersss! You will never stop mee!"

"Our forefathers have done so once," The Shaman stood proudly staring back against the angry snake. "You will fail once more!"

"Heeheeeheeehee..." The Serpent hissed. "With jussst a few of you?"

The Serpent's eye narrowed into slits, "That fateful day... Ish feed and feed... the tassteee... ohh... how deliciouss... You forefatherss tasted sooo good..."

The Shaman's expression did not change as he raised his staff up and pointed at the snake. "We, Oerkin will stop you!"

"COMEEEE!" The Serpent roared and struck down towards the Shaman faster than the eye could see. The Clan Chief of the Wolfmasters gasped and tried to throw himself before the Shaman but the god snake was faster as it snatched up the shaman into its jaws. It laughed in triumph before turning to face the angry Clan Chief. "Yoou be neext!"

The Serpent widened its jaws and was about to attack the Chief when it suddenly gave a jerk. "Whaat!?"

A bright glow could be seen within the belly of the Serpent. The Clan Chief gave a bark of laughter, "You bite off more than you can chew!"

He charged forward with scores of other warriors as the Serpent was distracted by the glowing light in its belly. "The light! It makes the shadow god solid! Kill it quickly!"

Spears, axes, swords and hand cannons hammered against the suddenly less shadowy body of the Serpent. Thwacks sounded from the body of the Serpent as the Oerkins' weapons connected against its body. It roared its anger and pain as it felt the pain of the Oerkins' attacks.

"DOWN!" The Wolfmaster Clan Chief suddenly roared and threw himself face down on the ground as the pissed off God whipped its body wildly, crushing and throwing bodies into the air. It shrieked loud enough to shattered the eardrums of the nearby Oerkins.

"CURSESSS!!!" It hissed as the glow in its body grew brighter with no signs of stopping. "ISH REMEMBER YOU! ISH SHALLL DESSTROYY ALL OF YOOU!"

"KILL!" The Oerkins roared out and charged against the madden Serpent. The cold weapons of the Oerkins dug into the black flesh of the Serpents, spewing foul smelling smoke and ichor all over the area while Oerkins were crashed underneath the squirming body of the Serpent or were bitten into pieces and swallowed.

Roars of hand cannons merged with the war cries of the Oerkins as they charged constantly against the Serpent which snarled back in equal ferocity.

-----

The group of Oerkin Shamans riding the swift wind wolves looked back to the distant city with sadness as they felt the Eldest's life force among them fade away. "We must hurry! We must bring the Ancient Horde or all is lost for our race!"


PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA
Neobear Neobear

Advance chapters are available on Pat-reon

https://www.*******.com/neobear

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Tulis ulasan Status Membaca: C258
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