Seed of Titan-Chapter 205: A Scene High Above, Seen Only Once in an Epoch
As the squad ran past an area with sparser trees, a swift and silent salvo was unleashed.
Danny was the only person who managed to react in time, but even he wasn’t quick enough to warn the others before he was forced to sharply twist his body, closely avoiding a pair of shots targeting him and Gramps. And at that very moment, loud thuds and cracks simultaneously rang out.
"NO!" Danny bellowed as he frantically straightened his posture. But before he could see what had just happened to his squadmates, his vision suddenly darkened.
Danny was on the verge of panicking when all of a sudden, he felt a familiar chill in the air, followed by Frost’s stern voice a second later.
"Everyone hold your positions and keep calm. We’re inside my dome."
Soon, the darkness abated as most of the squad members activated their belt-mounted tactical lights. They could now see that a large, blue ice dome was completely isolating them from the outside.
"E-Everyone’s fine?" Danny stammered in surprise since he had expected to see at least half the squad downed.
"No—Drai’s been hit!" Cubes exclaimed while pointing at a dimly lit figure sprawled at the edge of the dome.
Mandy instantly rushed to him. Upon noticing a gruesome sight on Drai’s head, she immediately took out a couple of vials and poured them straight onto the bleeding wound.
"W-Will he survive?" Beachball meekly asked as Mandy checked Drai’s pulse.
"Depends on how deep he’s been hit—you know my heals aren’t that miraculous. And even if he survives, he’ll probably remain unconscious for hours, if not days," Mandy replied. She then plopped down next to Drai and sighed heavily, for she had nearly ended up in the same situation.
"Drai most likely didn’t manage to activate his skills, otherwise he would’ve been able to withstand the impact," Frost inferred.
Following this, silence ensued as the squad mourned their new comrade.
A few moments later, Mandy said, "Thanks for saving me, Frost."
"Hm. That’s why I told you to stay close to me—you’re the most vulnerable among us. My reactive ice wouldn’t have covered you had you been just centimeters away," Frost mentioned.
"Luckily you told me to gear up earlier, otherwise I would’ve gotten hurt too—or died, even," Cubes added while her fingers inspected the dent on her helmet. And after sniffing her fingers, she said, "Hey, there’s no burnt scent at all. What even hit us?"
"I’m not sure. Nothing got stuck on my ice—they just cracked," Frost replied.
"I think it’s air."
The squad collectively turned their heads, and Mandy abruptly jumped away in horror upon seeing Drai’s lively face right behind her.
"H-how?" she muttered in disbelief.
Scratching his now intact head, Drai simply replied, "I have good genes."
Of course the squad didn’t buy his nonsense, but they also didn’t look to pursue the matter, at least not until they’ve dealt with their current predicament.
"So, did you get hit while augmented or not?" Frost asked.
Drai stood up and shook his head. "I didn’t realize we were attacked until I got hit."
"And why do you think it was air that hit us?" the sergeant pressed.
"I once fought an opponent who blasted me with compressed air. The attack that hit me earlier felt pretty similar to the impacts of the air blasts back then," Drai explained, hiding the fact that he was recalling a colossal red bird, the Sky King, and not a human.
"Compressed air, huh? That would explain the lack of friction on my exo-skull," Cubes remarked with a few nods.
It wasn’t like the squad had never come across those with similar skills, but since none of them had gotten hit directly, the notion that the projectiles were air wasn’t intuitive to them.
"So does that mean those shots were from a skill instead of a weapon? Is the attacker really just a single person?" Mandy questioned.
"Likely, but it’s not certain," Frost said. "Our military doesn’t issue such weapons, but the same can’t be said for others."
Just then, Beachball reported, "Frost, Ghost is asking what he should do next."
"I assume your drones are still intact?" Frost asked.
"Some were shot down after the initial attack, but I managed to hide the rest."
"Good, keep them safe, Eric. We need to maintain radio silence in case our enemies are tapping us, so we can only rely on you for remote communication."
While Beachball blushingly rubbed his tummy, Frost turned to Drai.
"Drai, are you confident you can tank the shots with your skill?"
"Yeah—unless there’s a version that’s at least a dozen times stronger, then maybe it’ll be a bit troublesome."
"Alright then. I’ll let you out shortly so you can work with Nas to apprehend or take down our mysterious assailant."
Hearing this, the squad looked at Drai silently, wondering if he had the balls to comply with quite an unreasonable order for a newbie. And to their amazement and budding respect, Drai resolutely nodded without a word.
An admiring glint also appeared on Frost’s eyes as he briefed, "Eric’s drones can’t move too far from him, so you two might have to work things out on your own if your target is more than a kilometer away. And if there happens to be more than one person, take down all of them if possible. If this is really the case, I permit you to use lethal means, but try to leave a few of them alive for interrogation—necromancy is punishable by death in our country, even for the military."
"Got it," Drai said before rechecking his recovery count.
Turning to Beachball, Frost ordered, "Relay my words to Nas."
While Beachball squeaked rapidly after activating a skill, Cubes approached Drai.
"Want some weapons or armor? A flamethrower, maybe?" she offered.
"Thanks, but I’m good. I’m afraid those things will just hold me back. Besides, I still have The Flipper if I really need that extra oomph."
The mention of Alancho’s weapon caught Danny’s attention. However, he didn’t rush eagerly at Drai, opting to stay put instead. Unbeknownst to the others, he was itching to follow Drai, but he wasn’t sure if he was up to the task. Compared to Drai or Frost, his defensive measures were severely lacking, so a single moment of slowness outside this makeshift bastion would easily render him incapacitated or even dead.
A few minutes later, after reluctantly accepting grenades from Cubes and healing potions from Mandy, Drai was ready to set out.
"I’ll bridge you two through this," Beachball mentioned to Drai as he attached one of his marbles on Drai’s shoulder.
"Thanks," Drai replied as he glanced at the fleshy drone, causing his eyes to widen as he saw that this particular one had extra add-ons: a tiny mouth and a pair of hands that latched tight onto his uniform.
"I can spice it up with some hair too if you want," Beachball offered after noticing Drai’s "fascination", which Drai fervently refused without hesitation.
Standing by the dome wall, Frost said to Drai, "I’ll close the passage immediately after you’re out. If for some reason you need to re-enter the dome, notify Eric first."
Drai nodded before turning to the rest of the squad, saying, "Alright, wish me luck, guys."
After smiling back at the subdued cheer his squadmates gave him, Drai turned to Frost again and nodded firmly with a resolved gaze.
Nodding back, Frost said, "I believe in your ’good genes’," before slapping the dome wall, conjuring a slit that was just wide enough for Drai to pass.
With Frost’s strange remark lingering in his mind, Drai fully strengthened up and slipped past the opening, heading straight into the sky.
’Alright, let’s see where you’re at...’ Drai thought as he flew around the area.
Seconds kept ticking away while he flew unbothered above the seemingly peaceful forest, causing Drai to grow restless.
’What’s happening? Where the hell is the shot?’ he wondered as he flew back and forth. Still, even after he tried hovering in place, an attack never came.
"Beachball, where’s Ghost?" Drai spoke to his shoulder.
Seconds later, the flesh ball’s tiny mouth opened and spoke in Beachball’s squeaky voice.
"He’s been following you on the ground and hasn’t spotted anything suspicious."
Drai flew around again until the forty-five-second mark, but there were still no signs of any attacks or assailants.
’Did they completely leave the area or something? That’s plausible—maybe they thought we’ve contacted the base and are waiting for reinforcements. So are they actually not tapping our comm line like Frost had suspected? Or maybe...’
Thinking of the possibility that the assailants somehow just hadn’t noticed him, Drai decided to act it out.
"DADDY’S HERE, SUCKERRRRRS!"
As his voice rang above the forest, Drai started flapping like a bird as he drifted slowly through the air while presenting both his middle fingers to all sides.
Back inside the ice dome, Beachball suddenly fell to the ground and burst out laughing, startling the others. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺
Squatting beside him, Danny tilted his head in confusion and asked, "What the fuck is wrong with you, dude?"
Gasping for air, Beachball wheezed, "Drai—he’s... he’s..."
Yet, before he could finish his sentence, he burst out laughing again.
When Beachball finally regained a bit of clarity, Cubes and Mandy had already squatted there, looking half-baffled, half-concerned as they stared at him.
"Drai..." Beachball eventually muttered as he sat up, "he’s showing... his naked butt..."
Hearing this, the squatting trio furrowed their brows. But before they could ask him to clarify, Beachball threw himself to the ground again, this time nearly choking himself with laughter.
Aside from Beachball, the ones in the dome didn’t know that high above them, Drai’s pants had been pulled down to his ankles, and his willy was twirling like a chopper’s blade while he kept shouting obscenities aimed at the assailants’ mothers.
