"You wait the fuck up!"
Ronal's voice tore through the heavy silence a mix of rage and confusion that had been building inside him for too long.
He never acted like the smartest man in the room, but damn it, he'd done everything he could to stay ahead, in everything he has not always a little bit ahead of everything and everyone was how he lived his last few up till now. Ever since this expedition began, though, he'd been left in the dark he was still used like a pawn without knowing what was really happening.
Ronal stepped forward, his boots grinding against the dirt.
"You lied to us, Gruger! You said this was a core-gathering mission! I almost lost my life twice TWICE! And now you come back with only the gods know what, and not a single damn core to show for it."
Now standing face-to-face with Gruger, he spat his words like venom.
"I need you to tell me what the hell that is and why the fuck you lied to us!"
Gruger listened quietly. Then, lowering his head slightly, he asked one simple question.
"Why?"
Everyone froze. It was typical Gruger calm, cold, unreadable but the expected him to show a little more care.
"Why should I explain myself to you?" His voice was low but sharp enough to cut through the air. "What I do and how I do it doesn't concern you… you dumb fools."
He scoffed. "It shocks me that an insect like you even dares to question me."
"You lied to us, Grug..."
Ronal didn't even finish before Gruger's metallic hand was already clamped around his throat.
"What..." Ronal choked out, fingers clawing at Gruger's metal arm as he struggled for air.
"Let go… let go of me, you maniac!"
Gruger's eyes were calm, almost pitying. "Let me give you a privilege many before you never had."
Ronal thrashed helplessly, pounding his fists against the metallic arm, but Gruger's strength was overwhelming. His grip tightened, crushing the air from Ronal's lungs.
"Listen well," Gruger said, his voice like a slow death. "This will be the last time in your miserable existence that you dare question me. The next time.."
He clenched harder, making Ronal gag and tremble. "...you'll lose that head of yours. Understood?"
Ronal's mind blurred; everything was fading. He'd been in life treating situations before but never been this close to death before — not in battle, not ever.
"I said, do you understand?"
"I think he does," Beecroft said, appearing suddenly between them, as he placed his hand on gruger metalic arm
Gruger's eyes flicked toward Beecroft, then back to Ronal. He scoffed and released his grip, letting the man collapse to the ground, coughing violently and gasping for air.
Ronal looked up, hatred burning through the exhaustion in his eyes.
"You almost died for the third time today," Toga said, smirking faintly at Ronal's pitiful state.
Then, the ground trembled.
A low, thunderous rumble vibrations spreading under their feet.
Miss Kenny, visibly tense, turned toward Gruger. "What is that?"
Before Gruger could answer, Beecroft's tone shifted. "Seems like we've got company."
Moments later, Toga's voice echoed. "They're here…"
The Lycans.
Two massive variants emerged from the treeline, their twisted forms flanked by a pack of corrupted wolves. Their growls filled the air — low, guttural, and unrelenting.
The two Lycans stepped forward, roaring in unison.
"Howwwwwl!"
Gruger exhaled sharply, unimpressed. "Pathetic creatures."
As they charged, drooling and feral, Gruger clenched his metallic fist. Mana crackled around his arm wild, untamed before he swung.
The impact boomed like thunder. Both Lycans were sent flying backward, crashing through their own pack.
Everyone froze in awe.
Ronal, still kneeling, could barely believe it.
Toga's eyes widened. 'He's that strong ? '
Beecroft's thoughts echoed the same realization. 'He did it again... just like the time with those containers.'
The Lycans, now injured and frightened, began retreating. Their corrupted pack followed suit, scattering into the mist.
"Are you just going to let them get away, you brute?" Toga called out. "Ronal's right we came for essence cores!"
Gruger turned to her, his tone dry. "No."
He raised his voice. "HEY! Is it ready yet?"
The driver flinched but managed to reply. "Ye...ehh....Yes, sir! The engine's fine, just… needed to be set right!"
"Good." Gruger smirked, walking toward the Metabus.
"Well then," he said, jumping onto the vehicle, his voice echoing with dark excitement,
"DRIVE"
"FASTER!"
"Drive faster!" Micah still bleeding through his neck yelled at the already agitated Naran, trying to push the almost-destroyed Metabus faster than it could possibly go.
"Isn't that what I'm doing!?"
"Faster, before they get any closer!"
"Shut up already!" Naran snapped. "How's Coroules doing?"
"He passed out not long ago!"
"And his hand?"
"The bleeding stopped... he should be fine i think."
"You think? YOU THINK!? We're so dead!"
Not long after leaving the Wolves' Den, their direction had been set straight toward Settlement RR60. They couldn't go home not until they sold the Lansing and made everyone's sacrifice worth it. But with the junk pile of a vehicle they were riding in, they'd be lucky to make it halfway.
"Not helping!" Naran barked. "Constantly shouting DRIVE FASTER in my ear isn't helping!"
"Whatever! Step on it! Coroules needs help fast!"
"So do you!" Naran exclaimed, seeing the bleeding wound across Micah's next going down to his chest. "But we need to slow down!"
"What!? Why!?"
"The engine! If we keep this speed, it's going to blow!"
The engine was already badly damaged they had only patched it up a little but Naran could feel it straining. Every time he pushed the throttle, the Metabus screamed in protest. He knew that if he went any faster, the engine might explode... killing them all or leaving them stranded in the middle of nowhere.
But Naran's fears didn't have time to come true. A violent tremor rippled through the air.
Vrrrmmmmm
"Fuck! It's them!"
The corrupted wolves were closing in fast dozens of them.
"Faster! They're catching up!" Micah yelled.
"I'm trying! The engine's Fucking Damaged!"
"Enough complaining step on it!"
With a thunderous roar, a mutated lycan leapt forward, leading the charge. Its eyes burned crimson, and its jaws dripped with thick, black drool.
Coroules, barely alive now missing an arm staggered up. He threw the unconscious boy, Lucas, into Micah's arms.
"Hold him!" he shouted.
Summoning the last of his strength, Coroules gripped his bow. With an arrow clenched between his teeth, he drew back, infusing it with the final flicker of his mana.
Thwip!!
The arrow struck the giant lycan in the eye.
The beast howled in rage, stumbling but not falling.
Suddenly, two even larger lycans dropped from the nearby cliffs. They'd been watching—waiting and now they joined the hunt.
Coroules cursed under his breath. He realized he'd just made things worse.
Still, he readied another arrow using only his teeth and his remaining arm. The mana within him was fading, but he forced out a faint spark.
"Coroules, stop!" Naran yelled. "You're almost out of mana! If you fire again, you'll go into backlash! I'll find a way around them!"
But Coroules knew there was no time. Determined to protect them, he released the shot then collapsed to the floor.
"Coroules!" Naran and Micah screamed together.
The arrow cut through the air… and the lycan caught it between is jaw and snapped it.
It devoured the mana.
Its eyes glowed even brighter as it pounced—crashing onto the Metabus.
Micah's breath hitched. He could only pray for a miracle.
Vvvvvvmmmmm... KRAAASSSHHHH!
A beam of blue mana blasted through the air, hitting the lycan square in the face. The explosion disintegrated its skull. The creature's corpse slammed onto the Metabus, sending the vehicle spinning out of control.
"What the fuck was that!?" Micah gasped, clutching his wound.
"Look!" Naran shouted.
Through the cracked windshield, a massive shape emerged another Metabus, even larger, roaring toward them. On its roof sat Gruger, manning a Q.R.C—a massive mana cannon.
The remaining 2 lycans froze. They both looked down at its fallen kin and growled the other lycan who came with the now dead one then turned its glowing eyes toward Gruger. It remembered him. It remembered death
Turning it's head and body to the other direction it began to run.
But Gruger's voice cut through the chaos cold and confident.
"You can't run from me."
He grabbed the lever of the QRC and fired.
BOOM!
A blinding ray tore through the air, vaporizing the one-eyed lycan. The other still running trying it's hardest to escape to the side wrong move. Gruger twisted the cannon's control, smoothly tracking its movement. The mana beam followed, slicing through the fleeing lycan and the corrupted wolves in its path.
When it stopped, nothing remained but burning halves and smoking ash.
Naran's chest tightened. He couldn't tell if he should be relieved or terrified. Gruger's cannon had saved them but what would happen now that gruger had found them... and the Lansing?
"Holy glorious shit," Beecroft muttered, stepping out of his own vehicle as he saw the carnage.
After they'd decided to hunt the variants down, Beecroft and the others had witnessed what the QRC could do but Gruger's reckless control let the two lycans escape before. Not this time.
"Move, move, move!" a small figure shouted, pushing past Beecroft.
It was Toga, rushing toward the corpses. Her eyes gleamed with greed as she pried open the dead lycans' chests, pulling out glowing Essence Cores one by one.
Beecroft wasn't paying attention. His eyes were on Gruger who was had now stepped down from the QRC, walking straight toward Naran's damaged Metabus.
Naran's heartbeat pounded so fast he thought his chest might burst.
"I knew something smelled filthy," Gruger growled, towering over him.
"L-Lord Gruger," Naran stammered, words breaking apart. His mind spun; fear crushed his voice. "W-we came... to, uh, to find some things. Something we could use to pay our debt—"
"We?" Beecroft interrupted, his tone sharp. He glanced toward the broken Metabus. "Who's we... and what debt?"
"Hey don't go in there! They need help!" Naran blurted, trying to stop him.
Gruger tilted his head. "So... hope, then."
"What?"
"Hope. That's what you bugs came out here for."
Gruger's lips curled into a grim smile. He already suspected it was them since he'd seen the lycans chasing their vehicle. The thought of these scavengers clutching onto a little piece of hope before he crushed it... almost amused him.
Turning away, he started back toward his cannon content to let them wallow in their illusion.
But what Gruger didn't know... was that their hope wasn't an illusion anymore.
It was right behind him.
"Interesting..." Beecroft muttered as he stepped into the Metabus. "What the hell do we have here?"