Chapter 38: Bending Wills 2

Damon pulled his vibrant blade off another belua. He held no disgust this time. His eyes are on those who had become cattle. Ralf took another picture and immediately send the photos to the center of command. Even they could not hide it. Not when there are eyes everywhere. A beluaman means that there are no force, which would not turn their eyes to see what was going to happen.

Grime and specks of entrails coated them.  Damon was not new to slaughter. In this line of work, he expected this kind of butchery. However, slaughtering these cattle-humans gave him anger more than disgust. He placed a leg on one of the cattle-human. He plunges his vibrant blade again. He targeted the head first, and then let the blade travel into the heart of the cattle-human.

They had found that unlike normal humans. The subhumans that are in this underground biome have their hearts in the wrong places, just above the stomach, and they have two stomachs, which served to store their food and the bile they somehow reuse to eat. Their liver were also strange that unlike the normal human liver. They seem to cause their bodies to inflate to a size that would allow them to be filling to these beluas.

They were civilian belua, as much Damon hated to think. However, their capability to fight was not the same as the belua. Hence, they were freely using their weapons without thought for tactics. If this was the same pack of belua, they were up fighting. They held no delusion that their suits would still be in good condition.

They do not have the area effect of robbing them of their ether. If anything this species of belua were too imperfect that they began to question, why they did not have protectors? Damon's question did not have an answer until the reach another area of this vast cave network.

Humanoid beluas stood guard using iron tools. Unlike the belua they had seen, these belua wore scrap iron to shield themselves from harm. They equip themselves with archaic weaponry rarely one would use other than if they were desperate.

The walls of the area covered in iron plating with machinery that have longed rusted and mossed. They were making use of the grown spires to create habitats. The difference of this hive was that there were mushroom-like crops that were the size of a basketball growing on the fields. On the farthest corner of the belua-settlement was a pen of differently bred human cattle crawling on their stumpy legs, swimming a pool of mud and their own shit.

There are two strangely well-maintained bridges connecting the walled up settlement. There were also sightings of those who wore the same brand of ether on their rubbery skin. Each of them were in the first layer of ether, just a below their level, and although they have the advantage in equipment. They could not handle the pack guarding the settlement.

"Looks like we ain't going to advance farther than this," Ralf said.

"That seems like it," Ares replied, leaning on a half-cover, aiming her sights on the settlement. "We had all the beacons passed her so they should know where we are. Not that it matters when we are a miles away from the ground, it would be hard."

"How about we cave in the ceiling?"

"Hmm," Damon eyed the ceiling. "Look, there are areas that we can exploit."

Ares turned her eyes to the ceiling. "I can carve enough to let it fall down. The problem is how do we continue to the next section of the area without burying ourselves?"

"They aren't moving from the spot so we can assume that they are alerted by the tremors. Damn, Commander is really going all out against that beluaman. Then again, if he does not we would be toast. Can we do it?"

"Let's move to a safe area first. Damon, Mei, go and carve the area. Ares, you follow them while I will watch your backs. The grappler stakes should do us well."

"Roger that," Damon said. The trio moved to the side of the area where they began their long clamber. Using their grappler stake and their suits made it easy for them to reach the designated points. Once they reach the points, they started their work. Mei carved with her vibrant blade enchanted with her etherian ability. Ares softened the area while Damon did the rigging of the explosives.

Using their grappling stakes to move quietly in the shadows, they arrive on the area where they smelled air coming from. Damon landed softly on the ground, followed by Mei who scanned the area, hoping that none of the belua had sensed their schemes.

Attaching one of the stakes that acts as a detonator for the explosives, the group readied themselves for the explosion, while preparing in the event that their calculations were wrong. The stake sent a signal, plunging the whole of the settlement under the weight of an entire cave ceiling.

The shockwave caused by the explosion and the fall of the ceiling caused ripples that made it impossible for them to take action. The shield that Ares created shattered. Their suits took the brunt of the tiny fragments. When the commotion settled they saw water rushed in from the ceiling, flooding the entirety of the settlement within quick seconds. Seeing this, the group started sprinting to the direction of the next area, clambering on upward slope before arriving on top of a jagged edge.

Behind them, thick titanium walls sealed the pathway, and then they saw a steel fort with their spotlights and arms pointed at them. Activated their beacons, showing their allegiances to the Recon Korp, a flyer landed in front of them, the person who dismounted from the flying vehicle appeared in exosuit that made theirs look feeble. Not to mention, that he had the ether layer that was nearing the fifth layer of power.

"Looks like Aured remembered us; I assume that your group were the ones causing the commotion. I am Karl, just Karl. Welcome to the Steelfort of Gharasu."