NOVEL WEB Chapter 225: All-Out Attack
The morphing, dragon-shaped entity shifted again, changing its flesh into yet another figure. To inspire, the pressure in the crater felt lessened as he watched the being morph.
[Gravitational levels normalized in area | Adjusting output.]
"The gravity—?" Charlotte questioned.
"Wait, there's no more disturbance then—" Finn realized, looking up.
The sound of air humming was clear as day before witnessing multiple, high-speed objects descending through the sky.
"Radegasts!" Charlotte called out.
Just as the girl had announced their arrival, a squadron of the mechanical giants landed around the crater. It was a relieving sight, seeing some of which were designed differently; a red, more gnarly unit, and even one slightly larger with cannons mounted on its shoulders.
"Hey!" A harsh, feminine voice emitted from the scarlet mech, undoubtedly addressing the two. "Stay clear! The Bloodrider Squadron will handle this!"
"Hold on—! You can't!" Finn shouted.
It was no use trying to reason with those piloting the steel giants. A combined effort was launched by the Radegasts, unleashing volleys of missiles right for the morphing mass of pale flesh—
"Fire!"
"Launch everything!"
Finn could only watch from below as the high-speed missiles were sent for the Moon, yet never came close to striking it. Instead, each of the projectiles was stopped in their path before being sent straight back to where they came.
It was like watching a movie, knowing what sort of cruel scene awaited, but being unable to stop any of it.
"No!—" Charlotte shouted.
There was nothing to be done before the squadron of Radegasts were rained down upon by their own missiles. If it wasn't enough, the explosions were snuffed out by a gravitational downfall, flattening the mechanical giants to the crater.
"Dammit…!" Finn let out. "I told them!"
A hum emitted from the Moon as it compressed, molding itself into a new shape once more—a giant, armored humanoid.
"That form—" Charlotte gasped.
"It's a Radegast. Is it taunting us?" Finn questioned in annoyance.
Even down to the grooves in the steel, presenting cannons mounted to its shoulders, the Moon replicated the feat of human engineering.
"Finn, look out—!" Charlotte shouted.
From the false Radegast, missiles made of pale flesh launched in every direction, crashing down into the crater.
He quickly moved alongside the young woman, ducking behind a fallen freeway just as the unorthodox missiles crashed into the land.
Dozens of explosions released, shaking the area as flames of fire were seen.
"Is it messing with us? I don't get it…Why is it doing this?" Charlotte questioned, tucking herself against a concrete wall.
Finn considered what he had already seen; its "neutral"'form, the dragon, and now the mech. Its changes each occurring soon after seeing one.
"No…I don't think it's taunting us. It's just mimicking whatever it makes contact with—like some kind of newborn organism," he theorized.
Coming to that realization didn't stop the threat at all as falsely created missiles continued to rain down. It didn't seem to have any limit to its able to output firepower, simply endlessly releasing missiles.
"…There's no end to it," Charlotte watched.
Explosions bloomed in the crater like fireworks on a holiday night. It was a walking colossus of destruction; there was no reasoning with it, no different from a robot simply instructed to "destroy."
"Shit…At this rate, it's just going to bury us in the blasts," Finn watched.
Even attempting to peek over the concrete wall, he had to duck back down as multiple missiles passed overhead. It was a war zone; all due to a single being.
It wasn't just secluded to the crater; the projectiles strayed into the outer reaches of the city, colliding with buildings.
"Alright…Do you have any skills that can release raw energy? Not just fire—something more refined, condensed," Finn asked the spellblade in a hurry.
Charlotte considered it for a moment before nodding her head, "Yeah. Do you think that'll be effective against it?"
"It's better than what we've tried so far. I'll grab its attention—so get in there and smack it with everything you've got," Finn planned.
"Alright…!" Charlotte agreed.
He dashed out alone, heading right for the living calamity. Just looking towards it, moving closer made his body disagree with every choice he'd ever made.
["Phantom"]
["Phantom"]
"Replication!"
["Phantom"]
["Phantom"]
A squadron solely made up of himself and his doppelgängers; he dashed alongside them before bolting in different directions.
The attention of the mech-shaped calamity was caught as it turned to face the sprinting clones. All he could hope was that it could guess the wrong version of "himself" to target, watching as the pale-fleshed giant once more produced its endless barrage–
'Here it comes,' he watched, pushing forward.
["Spring Foot"] [0:29]
Dashing forward like a bolt of lightning, the doppelgängers mimicked his movements. He watched as missiles poured out from the Moon's body, thundering down on the gravel.
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One of the falsely-made projectiles soared right for him, coming within meters of exploding into him—
["Flicker"]
—He flashed past the missile, immediately running right for the feet of the colossus. Reaching its ankle, he quickly slashed his dagger against its Achilles heel, slashing at the malleable flesh.
Of course, he felt nothing of a sort of "impact" from his attack; it was no different from trying to cut water.
'C'mon, Charlotte,' he hoped, quickly sliding back.
The colossus swung its arms rapidly, attempting to slash at the copies of the assassin. It moved as swiftly as a human, with its size presenting a non-issue.
Finn moved himself, contorting his body to evade the strikes from the false giant.
'…Any time now!' He thought, finding himself coming all too close to being struck.
The clones he manifested were caught in the assault, eradicated by slashes and missile production. All the same, he slid back, finding gravitational downfalls slamming into the ground in front of him.
One false step, and it was a flattening for him, fortunately—
"Finally," he muttered in relief.
A shining ray of light cast itself over the entity, coming from an enchanted sword. Such an abundance of energy shined from the blade that it felt as though he stared right into a star, blindingly so.
With the prototype suits, systems were amplified, leaving whatever it was that the spellblade conjured to be elevated.
"Send it!—" Finn shouted.
[Anomalous force detected.]