"Protect the flank!" a soldier shouted.
"It's impossible; they are too many!" Another replied.
When they discovered the Blirdoth, Bisk and his team called the Brigade for support. However, the situation didn't go as planned. The Brigade tried to separate the creature from the horde, but the truth was that the thaid was aware that humans were around, and it sent a part of the horde to kill them all. It was an ambush. The attack had caught the Brigade entirely off guard.
The problem was that not only did the Brigade have to fight against this particularly powerful creature, but they also had to face the thousands of parasitized monsters that the Heniate sent them. Bisk's team joined the fight, but their situation wasn't the best. They were currently fighting off a group of thaids that had managed to flank them but were struggling to keep their ground.
They were surrounded, outnumbered, and outmatched. The thaids were fast and relentless, attacking them from all directions. The sound of lasers firing, bombs exploding, powers being unleashed, and screams filled the air as the brigade and Bisk team fought for their lives. Despite their best efforts, the thaids were relentlessly closing in on them. The situation was becoming direr and direr, and they knew they needed to devise a plan fast if they had any hope of survival.
Suddenly, a loud roar echoed across the battlefield. It was the Blirdoth. The creature had emerged from behind some trees, towering over everything around it. It was now clear that the Brigade and Bisk's team had underestimated the power of this thaid. It was unlike anything they had ever seen before.
The Blirdoth charged toward the Brigade, swatting away soldiers with ease. Its massive claws and sharp teeth could tear through metal and flesh alike. The soldiers tried to shoot it down, but their weapons did not affect the creature at all, and even their powers seemed to be ineffective. They were too weak. As the Blirdoth charged toward the soldiers, the ground shook violently. Panic spread through the ranks as they scrambled to form a defensive line against the massive beast. Bisk knew this battle would be one of the toughest they'd ever faced.
The Blirdoth's eyes glinted menacingly as it let out another deafening roar. The sound was so loud that Bisk could feel it vibrating through his body. He knew that their only hope was to take down the creature before it could do any more damage.
The Brigade quickly sprang into action, launching a full-scale attack on the Blirdoth. But despite their best efforts, the thaid seemed invincible, shrugging off blows that would have felled any other beast. Bisk realized they would need more than brute force to defeat this monster.
He and his team had to act fast. They knew that they couldn't take down the Blirdoth with firepower alone. In the meantime, the creature and its minions kept killing soldier after soldier, men or women alike, regardless of their rank or power.
Azelia was going to kill some thaids attacking Andrea when strange bipedal lizards jumped out of the surrounding grass and pounced at her. The girl's pupil shrank and focused on the creature; the young woman almost instinctively gripped her sword and released a horizontal slash with her mana-imbued sword, bisecting the creature in two.
Still, the beast's body opened in the air, throwing all its guts and blood all over the young woman, who futilely tried to avoid it. At the same time, multiple lizards came out of the surrounding bushes with their fangs bared. The creature was lizard-like; they walked on two bulky hind legs with razor-sharp talons with which the beasts usually ripped their prey's throats.
"Jisokans!" Bisk shouted. These were ferocious and highly territorial creatures that lived in forests and hunted by ambushing.
"The Heniate managed to subdue them!" Bisk said while stabbing a lizard in the head.
Andrea's hyenas kept at least ten Jisokans at bay; the hyenas were significantly bigger than them since they were almost as big as a truck due to the amount of mana that the soldier poured into them. Still, the nimble Jisokans were slick and high in number and were not small at all.
Thirty or so of the creatures were attacking Bisk's group. The captain wondered how such powerful and intelligent thaids would end up being controlled by the parasite. It was weird since Bisk didn't know about Jisokans in the east, and he started suspecting that there really was someone behind the Heniate, as some of the soldiers believed. Bisk focused on the present, calling out orders to his team to defend themselves against the beasts.
Azelia and Jacob had already killed a couple, but there were at least six on each person. In the meantime, the other members of the Brigade were trying to kill the Blirdoth, but it wasn't easy with all the other thaids around them trying to kill them. Bisk knew they couldn't afford to lose focus, for they were outnumbered, and the situation could get worse.
A soldier from the Montgomery clan assisted the team in battle and channeled mana to protect Andrea and Miranda from the assault of some thaids.
Immediately, an earthen dome large enough to shield the two started spreading from the ground and surrounding the duo. At the same time, Miranda channeled her mana into creating a powerful water jet that would kill many thaids simultaneously, but she had to do so before the dome closed on them.
After she was done, a water jet shot from Miranda's fingertips. She didn't have a single target in mind; she moved the water jet horizontally, slaying at least a hundred beasts in moments.
Four more Jisokan jumped on Miranda while she was helpless, but the earth dome closed just in time to stop the creatures from viciously killing her. The other soldiers did the rest, swiftly moving inside the battlefield and killing the creatures by smashing their heads open like watermelons.
At the same time, Andrea's hyenas finished dealing with the creatures, as did Bisk, Jacob, and Azelia. Bisk looked at his companions and asked, "Are you all ok?!"
"Yes." Miranda, Jacob, Azelia, and Andrea replied.
At the same time, the man from the Montgomery clan got killed, and the mana provided to his earth dome ceased to make it crumble into dust. Bisk breathed a sigh of relief and continued leading the group forward; however, the team briefly mourned for the fallen man before resuming their mission.
Miranda's attack affected the environment; in fact, most of the grass surrounding the group ended up being cut, allowing the soldiers beside them to see what was behind the sea of grass.
Jacob turned to see if all the creatures died, but once he did, he saw the Blirdoth looking at them from afar. Around it was a sea of soldiers' bodies; the creature had slaughtered them without mercy.
The creature looked at them; its eyes glowed red, and the thing seemed to be thinking. Suddenly, the Blirdoth rose from the ground, showing off its long teeth and fangs, and started charging at them.
Bisk's heart sank; it was clear from this display of intellect that the beast was sentient, confirming what the higher-ups suspected. The need to kill it before it could do further damage suddenly increased tenfold, but judging by the situation, this would not happen today.
"MOVE!" Bisk shouted. But the thaid was too fast and quickly arrived in front of Azelia. Before anyone else could react, the Blirdoth bit down on Azelia's head, causing the young woman to die immediately.
"AZELIA!" Andrea shouted.
It all happened quickly, even for Azelia, who was highly skilled, especially in melee fights; however, the situation was dire because the monster still charged towards Andrea, ready to bite at him.
However, as it charged, the beast started using its brain crystal power, releasing a toxic cloud that quickly spread throughout the surroundings.
Bisk tried to stop the creature by shooting it with mana arrows, but the creature's thick layer of mana protected it from any damage.
"HELP ME!" Andrea screamed.
In response, Miranda sent a flood of water jets powered by mana at the Blirdoth, but even that didn't work. The other brigade soldiers tried to kill the creature, but it was ineffective. As the beast charged, more and more soldiers died due to its massive weight.
The Blirdoth finally arrived in front of Andrea. His hyenas tried to stop the Blirdoth, and the soldier channeled all his mana into the two summons, but even then, it was futile as the thaid bit at Andrea's head, killing him on the spot.
"GAH!" Andrea and Azelia died like that. As soon as he felt rage coming on, Jacob charged the beast with his spear. But the Blirdoth's cloud enshrouded him, and in the end, all that was left of him was just a puddle of goo.
"RUN, MIRANDA!" At that point, the Brigade could do nothing. Most of the soldiers died; the thaids were already eating them. Some were still alive during the whole process.
Miranda and Bisk felt horrible watching everyone die one after another, but she knew there wasn't anything else she could do. The woman turned on her heels and started running away; the other soldiers did the same, Bisk included. They tried to reach their vehicles but were followed by the thaids.
The Blirdoth observed the scene with satisfaction. The humans were dying one by one like flies.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l