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Chapter 3: Belua Hunt
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2020-09-07 16:51:21On an orb drone's monitor, one could see the progress of the Outriders hunt. Unusually, one of the orb drones concentrated on the speedy Outrider, dashing through the grassy wetlands of Aured, using his grappler stake to swing around, and the booster on his waist to slow his landing descent.
Using his grappler stake as a way to swing through the environment, he was making use of his cutter sword to disable any enemy that comes close to him.
His six-shooter shoots down most of the flying belua. Most belua were at least 2-5 meters tall. Have ox-like skin that is rubbery, and possessed starved features, and elongated claws. Some differ in sizes, but some take the forms of the estranged animals that once existed in the continent. Most of the major continents have sunk, and the remaining ones fight in their bastions in hopes of regaining territory.
Even without his attention, humanity would at least take the middle-eastern continent and take the fight to the 40m belua living in the former desert transposed to a swamp.
Keeping his focus on the 3m belua appearing before him, Jakob shot three explosive bullets, destroying the glabella of the belua. Using his momentum, he pivoted his armored leg and kicked the belua to a nearby tree. With the belua unable to move, Jakob harvested their organs and made sure to keep them intact.
If he didn't have the exosuit, then it would be hard to carry them. After hunting for a while, Jakob took a rest to one of the hollow trees of the wetlands.
Checking on his weapons, he examined the concrete ruins built by those who came before. Once, people scraped the skies with their concrete buildings, but now they are required to make towers made of steel armed with turrets crafted with the ability to fend off the beast that fed on the ambrosia that came from the stars.
He couldn't imagine seeing such scenery again. The Lights of Aured shines like a beacon of hope for Mankind. They said that humankind would have a far easier time if the lights do not shine, but that is the same as surrendering to the monsters.
Humankind had pride in their existence, and even though continents have sunk, the will of humanity did not perish. Jakob did not share that joy, for a man who had seen the end, he could not bring that will back to his heart.
"Bastards," he said, gritting his teeth while looking at those who fled to the stars. It was a hopeless flight that only those who were called the hope of Gaia were allowed to board.
"Do not go gentle," one of the men who had boarded said. "Rage, against the dying of the light."
It was an old poem that history had forgotten.
Holding his head, he thought back to that crimson sky. How beautiful and cruel it was. For what purpose did fate have to send the person who witnessed the end?"
"I don't get it," he asked.
Drawing his cutter sword, he rushed the belua that appeared in front of him. Dodging the overhead strike, slashing the belly, targetting the thighs, and piercing the throat.
After killing the belua, Jakob took the square-like organ that allowed their regeneration process, devouring it. There was poison in the organ, but it was something that this body oddly could consume.
"Why can I endure this?" he asked blankly. "No, how did I retain the peak of my body strength? I can tell that my regeneration cycle is improving, but I doubt that I can make it completely heal if I lost an arm."
As Jakob pondered, he felt the rumbling of the earth. He saw the gray cloud and thought that it was a horde of belua gathering in one place.
Slinging to that location, landing on a tree branch, Jakob spotted the horde chasing a group who came with four members. He could not discern their appearance, but this was a perfect time to get more rewards.
To stay with Dona, he needed credits, and a relationship based on cash needed to be stable. It was pathetic, but he couldn't run away from the comfort that she provided.
Whipping his cutter sword, he grappled the nearest belua and threw himself to it. Then, like before, he saw time slow down and the sound slowly fading away, hearing his heartbeat, and slowly counting the beats, his limit was one hundred beats. More than one hundred and he would freeze for fifteen seconds.
Twenty beats and he had slit the throat of twenty-three belua's. Forty heartbeats and he had stopped half of the horde. Nearing eighty, he saw time slowly returning to normal, the beats a countdown when this strange ability would be gone. But his cutter sword was dulled from the cutting, and he had to empty clips on the belua.
After the slow down ability, his body froze, and for the next five seconds, a belua tossed him around. He had to wrap the grappler stake's rigid wires to strangle the belua to death.
"I overestimated myself," Jakob said. "This ability...did it came with me? Because of my perception of time, had it been warped?"
He stared at the drop of rain falling from the sky. The helmet he wore showed that the lightweight exosuit absorbed some of the damage, though he had to take the exosuit to repairs.
The orb drone monitor tallied the amount of belua he killed, and as he picked the heads of the belua, he placed them inside a rucksack. Leaving the area, he arrived in front of the zipline that carries him back to the sanctum of the citadel.
When he took a step on the platform, he felt eyes gather on him. But those eyes quickly left him as he placed the belua heads into the conveyor built where the handler took care of the tally. Taking his credits, he went to the mechanics and technicians who would take care of his exosuit.
Silently, like a statue, Jakob remained until his gear to be repaired.
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