Only I Can Adapt: Genetic Evolution System-Chapter 48: From All Fronts
Through fogged windows, he could see the silhouettes of inhuman creatures, incomprehensible to his world. He did his best to take quiet steps, to make silent breaths, though his fatigued body hardly agreed with him.
Lost and disconnected, he looked around before feeling the air flex. A light in the sky coaxed his vision, seeing the night briefly parted by a beam of magenta. It came down in the distance, towards the east of the sector, befalling the land with a thunderous hum.
Whatever was going down, he didn’t want to be part of it, at least, not until he could secure the safety of his comrade. As he ran through the street, he watched robotic sentinels scaling buildings, colliding with alien forces inhabiting the skyscrapers.
It was a surreal sight, seeing the weaponized androids move with finesse like elite agents, opening fire. He observed it all through the flashes of gunfire blasting light through the glass buildings, staying on the move.
’It’s all going to hell–it’s all-out war,’ he realized.
In his ear, the silent communicator finally buzzed on, "//Seven, it’s Haoyu. I can finally see you on the radar system, it seems like Shin is there, too–good. That’s some good news amidst this mountain of gunk.//"
"Yeah, about that..." Seven responded while keeping light on his feet, using his hands to stabilize the unconscious figure on his back.
"//And it seems I celebrated too soon.//"
"Shin’s in bad shape. He’s still breathing, but I’m not sure how much longer. Izo’s bugged out, so I’ve been lost. If you can, point me in the right direction," Seven requested.
"//Actually, it seems you’re near a unit-//"
Just as the words transmitted from Haoyu, the young man heard the roar of an engine before witnessing a black, blocky truck come barreling down the street. Poking from the top of the vehicle, a soldier fully clad in black leather-metal armor operated a turret, raining bullets through the buildings.
It drifted to a stop right in front of him, as he stood there speechless at the chaotic sight.
"Hop in, kid!" The gruff voice of the turret-wielding soldier welcomed.
The offer wasn’t neglected as he jumped right into the opened doors of the back. It closed right behind him as the truck sped off, setting his unconscious friend down on the floor.
In the back seated was one other soldier, with one more at the front steering the armored vehicle.
"What’re you guys still doing out here?!" Seven yelled, having to shout over the theatrics of the revving engine along with the blaring gunfire.
The soldier seated across from him spoke in a raspy, female voice behind her helmet, working on a jammed gun, "What’re you talking about? Didn’t you get the same orders?"
"Orders?" He questioned.
"We’re to weed out the extraterrestrial invaders in Sector Fifty! Words straight from the General," the feminine soldier answered.
"Huh? No, this place—it’s a no-go. We’re not taking anything if we stay and fight! We’ll just die!" Seven reasoned, shaking his head.
"Orders are orders!--" The man standing on a pedestal, operating the turret shouted from above.
Not a moment later from those words did it feel like the truck ran over a titanium bump in the road, causing it to jump up. He braced himself, keeping a hand on Shin while the other soldiers visibly bounced before–THWOOM.
Everything shook, consumed by a loud explosion from outside that encapsulated the vehicle entirely. The interior spun around as gravity twisted everyone inside, throwing them off balance without any mercy.
"Gehhh!--"
"Nrggh!"
He felt his back slam against the back of the armored vehicle, clinging his unconscious friend in his arms to shield him. The only guess he had in his mind was a stray missile having struck them, though his concerns shifted to simply maintaining himself and his comrade.
["Clear Mind"]
With an exhale, his brain naturally adjusted to itself, calming amidst the frantic situation as the truck rolled through the street. No view of the outside left him nothing more than a sitting duck for the moment.
As it came to a grinding stop, thudding against what he could only assume was a building, the truck was laid on its right side, causing a mess of bullets to be left scattered.
"Are you guys alright?--" He asked.
No answer came, only seeing the woman that was seated across from him motionless in a contorted position with her shoulder behind her head, and the driver slumped over. There was no sight of the turret operator, though he could assume he was flung out from the top.
A sense of guilt washed over him in that moment, having only protected his closest comrade, though in the moment, he pushed it to the back of his mind. He kept Shin on his back, using a belt to strap his unconscious friend there before approaching the back doors of the vehicle.
With a single inhale, he set himself before planting his boot against the exit, flinging it open as the metal holds practically flung off.
A haze of smoke immediately greeted him when jumping out of the crashed truck, forcing a cough out.
[Unhealthy doses of gas inhaled into lungs, according appropriately.]
Smoother breaths settled his coughing as he set his boots on the asphalt, looking behind him. The eight-wheeled, shelled truck was completely embedded in the side of a bank with a pole wrapped around it.
"//Seven, you’re close to the base! Just down the block–I’m getting readings of hostile forces around your position, though!//" Haoyu’s voice buzzed into his earpiece.
He quietly exhaled to himself, staring across the street, finding a swarm of lifeforms of all varieties closing in on his position, "Yeah, tell me something I haven’t heard tonight."
[Lifeform registered.] ["Xualo"]
[Classification: High Superhuman, Stage Two | Threat Level: Disaster Magnitude 4.6]
[Lifeform registered.] ["Chani"]
[Classification: Medium Superhuman, Stage Six | Threat Level: Disaster Magnitude 3.5]
[Lifeform registered.] ["Eelecks"]
[Classification: High Superhuman, Stage Four | Threat Level: Disaster Magnitude 5.0]
There was nowhere to run, nor did he want to. It was his reason for living—that much was confirmed as his heart thumped with glee as he stared down the horde.
It was a rainbow of physiques around him, from humanoid to bestial, to shapes as if born from radiated sewage. All of it was the same to him as the aliens surrounded and rushed him—all of it was susceptible to being sliced-and-diced.
The first approached; a bull-like warrior that towered over him, moving with such force in its hooves that the concrete rumbled.
"Ruaaaaa—!" The bestial alien swung its fist back before bringing it in with a wild arch.
The blackened knuckles were larger than his head, though easy enough to dodge. He felt the wind brush against his cheek as he stepped to the side, leading his blade through the otherworldly berserker.
The agonized cry that boomed from its ringed lips were quickly squelched once the blade passed the spinal cord.
[EXP: +500]
"—One down," Seven mumbled, feeling the warm blood splatter against him.
From the building behind him, one leapt off the ledge, descending on his position rapidly. He rolled forward as the bright-green brute crashed into the asphalt. It possessed an ever-changing form, morphing its arms to be many times greater in size as if its muscles were made of liquid.
It lunged at him with its singular eyeball locked on, leaping upward as it spun around, using its elongated arm like a whip. He slid back, glancing behind him to find an alien of white-metal skin.
"Krrrrrr–" The steel-fleshed entity emitted a growl.
In that split-second, he felt a heat give off from the figure that positioned itself behind him as its chest produced an orange glow from within–fire. That was the realization in his mind as its jaws parted like a steel gate, releasing a blast of heat from deep in its bowels. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂
As the flames passed right through him, he felt the heat like a hot summer day, though his skin refused to burn. The fire was absorbed through his pores like sunlight to a flower, stored within his body as he moved through the heated breath.
Amidst the steel-alien’s assault, the blade in his hand was thrust through its mouth, piercing the back of its head.
[EXP: +750]
The flaming breath ceased as he withdrew the sword, letting the extraterrestrial threat collapse to the ground as he turned back, finding the hulking, morphing alien still giving chase.
"...Human! You have to die—! Or my people will die!" The green, translucent figure shouted, slamming his enlarged fist through a stationary car.
Enough force behind the blow sent the vehicle flying through the air. He slid beneath the incoming car, breaking the distance swiftly.
Amidst the throttling of his beating heart, he focused his vision on the tangible existence within the morphing alien’s body–a pulsating organ.
’There,’ he set his sights.
"Ruuuuarg!" A warcry left the alien brawler’s mouth as it swung its enlarged arm like a whip.
He ducked beneath it, attempting to get within reach just as he found the figure growing massively. Within a single moment, the slime-humanoid expanded tenfold, becoming a colossus.
Giant shadows loomed over as he glanced up, finding a gargantuan foot crashing down atop him.
In that moment, wishing upon more than anything else to cut down the goliath, his sheer focus into that goal spurred an evolution–
[Temporary Adaptation: Atomic Rescale]
