Chapter 730 Getting Out (3)
"How much until we get out?!" June asked.
"We're almost there," Erik said as they raced through the corridors. It took little before they reached the exit, but the place was big, and both he and June had the perception this place had no exit at all.
Luckily, he still had the map in his peripheral. He reached inward for the biological supercomputer.
<Show me where we are. >
The 3D map appeared, overlaid with the exit location. Erik's heart sank as he observed a cluster of red dots converging from a nearby corridor to block their escape in front of the exit door.
<Fuck… If it wasn't for those brain crystal rifles, I would have dispatched them easily. >
He slowed and turned to June. "Bad news. There's a group of at least twenty mercenaries gathered by the exit."
June's eyes widened. "What do we do?"
"You mean what I do?"
June got almost offended by that remark. Not being able to serve his creator was worse than anything he could imagine. His peculiar birth and existence wired him like that. "We go together or not at all."
Erik shook his head. "It's too dangerous. I can evade those energy blasts, but even for me is not that simple. You stand no chance."
"I don't care," June said. "I can't allow you to fight alone. This is not your average situation, Master!"
"Listen." Erik paused. "I will make quick work of them and then we can escape. I do not plan on getting captured or killed here."
June's eyes flashed with defiance. "I still think it's too dangerous, Master!"
June protested, but Erik cut him off. "STOP IT, JUNE! It's too dangerous for you. I have over 200 points in strength - I'm physically stronger than any person I've even heard about. But Raw strength is not enough here. I need the instability brain crystal power just to understand when and where they are going to aim and act accordingly. You don't have this ability."
June's expression faltered, a mix of frustration and disappointment clouding his features as Erik laid out the stark reality of the situation.
His shoulders slumped, the weight of Erik's words pressing down on him.
He understood the logic, the necessity of Erik's decision, but it didn't lessen the blow to his pride and eagerness to contribute.
His gaze dropped to the ground, a silent admission of his inability to match Erik's abilities.
Erik frowned, lost in thought, as they jogged onward. He had an ungodly, powerful body.
Yet those rifles had almost killed him with beams of searing energy powered by the mana contained by the brain crystals they attached to them. It was unsettling.
In just a few years, this revolutionary technology found its use in modern weaponry.
However, if before the best option was to use them on bows and crossbows, applying the technology to rifles had basically leveled the power field. This technology would make fighting thaids much simpler.
Of course, that was good until you were the one on the other side of the scope. That was precisely their situation.
Perhaps in this new age, physical power mattered less than the strange gifts granted by brain crystals.
They reached a corner, and Erik peered around. At the end of the long hall stood a set of double doors - the exit.
At the end of the long hall, Erik saw a set of double doors and noticed that two dozen heavily armed mercenaries stood in formation, their weapons trained on the doors, just as he had sensed.
Erik pulled back and turned to June. "Wait here. It won't take long."
"Good luck, Master."
Erik steeled himself and then strode out into the open. However, he channeled Nathaniel's brain crystal power.
He directed the energy to his feet, so that he could reach a speed no one could keep up with. If he avoided being under enemy aim, he would be able to knock them all unconscious.
The mercenaries reacted as soon as they saw him come out from the corner, swiveling their brain crystal rifles toward him. Erik broke into a sprint straight toward them, weaving back and forth at an impossible speed.
Searing energy bolts sizzled through the surrounding air, but Erik was too fast, zig-zagging, and jumping unto walls to avoid their bolts. The mercenaries shouted in surprise and frustration, struggling to track the blur of motion.
"Hold positions!" the squad leader said. The guards tightened their formation, rifles ready. But Erik was already upon them.
He ducked under an energy blast, feeling the heat singe his hair. With lightning reflexes, he delivered a vicious uppercut to the mercenary's jaw, lifting him off his feet to crash down unconscious.
Then he grabbed the falling mercenary's rifle and swung it like a club, smashing another across the helmet before he could react.
The mercenary's visor shattered, and he collapsed without a sound. The young man was doing all he could to not make his situation worse than it already was by avoiding killing these guys, but it wasn't simple.
"Open fire!"
A barrage of searing bolts filled the air. But Erik was no longer in his previous position.
He dropped into a slide, energy sizzling overhead as he swept the legs out from two more mercenaries. They fell hard, rifles skidding away.
"How is he so fast?" No one had ever seen that speed. Being from Etrium, those people believed Erik Kay was faster than the Fierce Lioness, and that was no easy feat by any means.
His speed was akin to a plasma bolt fired from a high-powered blaster, instantaneous, a force so fast and powerful that it seemed to bend the very fabric of time and space around him.
Just as a plasma bolt dominates the battlefield with its overwhelming speed and destructive capability, Erik's movements dominated the scene, leaving his spectators in a state of bewildered fear.
The young man didn't waste time. He was already on the guard, making him lose consciousness with a brutal elbow to the throat.
Then he weaved through the energy bolts and struck with ruthless efficiency. He targeted knees, throats, temples - points that would drop a man instantly.
The squad leader tried to fire at him point blank, but Erik sensed his intention, slipped aside, and crushed his wrist with a vice-
like grip before he could fire. The leader's rifle clattered to the floor as he sank to his knees with a cry of pain.
Fear paralyzed the remaining mercenaries as Erik took down their squad mates with ease. Their hands trembled on their rifles, pulses hammering.
"A monster! This man is a monster!"
None of their training had prepared them for an opponent like this.
Erik moved with preternatural speed and precision, anticipating and evading their desperate shots. The energy bolts sizzled harmlessly past him, and he didn't waste time by striking with brutal efficiency.
One moment Erik was there, the next he was gone, leaving crumpled bodies in his wake. The mercenaries' eyes darted wildly, struggling to track him. Erik was untouchable, a ghost slipping through their ranks, untouched.
Some of the mercenaries screamed in frustration, firing wildly, only to have Erik materialize behind them and ruthlessly disarm them. Others shouted curses, backing away with rifles wavering. Their formation dissolved into chaos under Erik's relentless assault.
"KILL THE MONSTER!"
"STOP HIM!"
The guards exchanged fearful glances, rifles lowered in trembling hands. Erik could see the dawning horror in their eyes as he took care of their companions with ease.
Erik's breath remained steady, his muscles untiring. While the mercenaries grew frantic. Erik felt no fear or exhaustion, only an unstoppable determination.
The remaining mercenaries backed away in fear. In less than ten seconds, Erik had incapacitated more than half their squad. He paused, eyes blazing with adrenaline, ready to finish the fight.
"Surround him!"
The leader's yell reverberated through the corridor amidst the firing noise and the grunts of effort.
The mercenaries tried to encircle Erik. One let loose a wild shot. The young man twisted out of the path of the energy bolt, then kicked the rifle from the man's grasp.
No matter how they tried, the mercenaries could not touch him. One by one, the mercenaries fell, some unconscious, others moaning in pain, unable to move, helpless to stop the masked young man's merciless onslaught.
In less than a minute, Erik stood alone, surrounded by a dozen unconscious men and women. He turned, fists clenched, daring any to stand against him. None could even rise.
The fight had been short, but it hasn't been easy. There were sometimes in which the distance between him and the laser rifle was so short he barely evaded the shot's trajectory.
He almost died several times, too many in his opinion. However, he couldn't ask for June's help. If they targeted him, he would be dead by now.
Erik briefly thought about letting him use the rifles they took from the previous guards, but even that was dangerous, and he would have acted as a distraction at best.
Though he felt no strain or fatigue as he moved toward the exit, beckoning for June to follow. His body could handle far more thanks to his superhuman strength.
With June at his side, Erik strode toward the city, leaving the defeated mercenaries behind. This escape was far from over, but at least they weren't in that building anymore.
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