Chapter 23: Ch63. Surge - 5 (Host)
Leblanc was on the ground, and so were his subordinates as the Beast suddenly rose its head and looked at the hospital, sniffing the air.
"The... Host... Is inside the building..." And started sprinting towards the interior of the hospital, leaving Leblanc and his subordinates of the monitoring division speechless when they noticed every single one of them was alive.
They were breathing, none of their bones were broken, and those who weren’t awake, were simply knocked out by the strange Beast.
And the chief, awake and left to deal with not only the Guardian’s science division, whose members didn’t take part in the fight, but also the press and the regulars, too baffled and perplexed to not take pictures and film the whole scene in front of the hospital.
***
The dragon-like Beast proceeded to knock out everyone of the security guards of the hospital, while sniffing the air, searching for traces of what it called the host.
It passed through the main building to the B-wing, and when all the guards there were left unconscious, it lifted its nose, sniffing deeper.
"Closer..." And it sprinted in full speed towards the C-wing.
***
Neither the Angels nor the attack team had any flying or floating ability, which gave them a big disadvantage in that fight.
The gigantic sand Worms kept appearing and disappearing underneath the sand that just wasn’t there a while ago, before the five suns rose up in the sky.
The more Octavius thought about it, the less it made sense.
"TIGHTEN THE FORMATION AND KEEP JUMPING AROUND, THEY DON’T SEEM TO KNOW WHEN WE’RE GOING TO APPEAR IF WE DON’T TOUCH THE SAND!" Octavius shouted.
One of the worms, however, started acting strange as soon as it emerged.
It squirmed and shook violently, hitting the other worms. And when it fell to the ground, a section in its body several meters from its head burst open with a green energy slash.
The slash was followed by another one, and four slashes later, Xander exited the opening he forcibly made, all covered in a green goo, probably the worm’s blood.
The rest of the group were still fighting, but some of them, including Octavius, noticed Xander’s feat and smiled towards him.
"You’re quite the something, kid..." Octavius murmured to himself, noticing how he was quick to grasp the situation and, even against the code of not doing anything without his captain’s orders, asking for the right thing at the right time.
Octavius raised his sword high and shouted.
"FOR THE MEMORIES OF MY LOVED ONES, I STAND!"
And after that, his sword glowed in a bright golden light that showered upon everything and everyone around.
<TEARING IMPULSE> was the Guardian’s captain strongest ability, and he only used it in the most desperate cased.
Seeing that his subordinates were doing everything they could and still were overwhelmed by the gigantic worms, he couldn’t do anything other than release it.
"EVERYONE, BACK OFF!" Xander yelled, looking at how Octavius’ sword seemed to resonate with the air around them.
The shout was unnecessary, though, because everyone noticed the golden glow and understood what was coming the worms’ way, but in the last second, when the strongest paladin lowered his blade, unleashing a slash that cut everything in its wake, an even bigger sand Worm emerged.
And its thick skin seemed to absorb and nullify the power of <TEARING IMPULSE>, letting the golden glow fade like nothing happened.
The only problem about Octavius’ strongest ability, was that it had a backlash to his body, so immediately after the strike, he fell to his knees, blood trickling from his mouth.
He looked around at his comrades, all struggling really hard against the sand Worms.
"Is that it...? Is it the end for us, right here?"
And as if whatever was out there, looking upon the world had listened to his question, the minor Worms got cut, shot, pierced, and fell to the sand one by one.
A few moments after that, only the biggest Worm was left standing, and a group of twenty individuals appeared from out of nowhere.
Octavius and the others looked at them, coming out of their invisibility shelter, thinking that now was their doom.
Until one of the humanoid figures, covered in scales and with a head that resembled that of a dragon’s, spoke to them.
"You can rest now. You’ve proved your worth, now let us handle the Hirr and take you to safety."
***
Nina wasn’t a Wielder. Much less an awakened, so when the Beast appeared in front of her, she let out a scream of pure horror, alerting Dr. Lee and director Roosevelt, who came in hurriedly after hearing the commotion and her scream.
Dr. Lee was about to ask what was going on when she saw the Beast looking straight at the woman.
It sniffed the air and spoke.
"You... You smell of the host..."
"What the hell?! An intelligent Beast?" Dr. Lee’s eyes glowed with greed. "Imagine what I’ll accomplish by examining you...
Director, care to assist me on it?"
She assumed an unexpected fighting pose and shouted to the Beast.
"Hey, you have no business with her!"
The doctor began to radiate purple energy, and when she extended her hands, purple chains erupted from it, bursting towards the Beast.
"You sure have some tricks up your sleeve, Dr. Lee." Roosevelt complimented her with a smirk as he used his skill <HEALTH BARRIER> to buff her.
"There are still a few things I haven’t told the press or anyone about, director."
The chains rolled around the Beast and tightened as soon as they made contact with each other. Nina took a few steps back, but before she could get enough distance from the monster, it broke the energy chains that composed Dr. Lee’s ability, <CONSTRICT>.
The Beast moved forward unexpectedly fast and grabbed Nina’s waist, sniffing her.
"You smell of the host. Where is the host?"
"L-LET GO OF ME! LET GO OF ME!"
Dr. Lee appeared behind the Beast in a flash and kicked its neck, but all it seemed to do was make the Beast turn its head to look behind.
"You don’t want to do this..." The Beast warned, huffing from its nose and sending a strong gust of wind that sent Dr. Lee flying against the nearby wall.
But thanks to director Roosevelt’s <HEALTH BARRIER>, she didn’t suffer any major damage. It allowed her to become virtually immortal for three minutes, and she thought that was all she needed to restrain the Beast and make it her new guinea pig.
Only that when she released her <CONSTRICT> again, the draconic-like Beast vanished from her sight, appearing right behind her, and the only thing Dr. Lee felt was the strongest impact she’d ever felt in life to the back of her neck.
The rest was stars and searing white.
The Beast looked at the director, growling, and the director sprinted away, creaming.
The Beast sniffed at Nina once more, even harder this time, and looked straight at the end of the corridor.
To Kurt’s Room.
It released Nina from its grip and started walking towards its destination, leaving Nina behind, without knowing what to do, screaming to not hurt her son.
The Beast blew the door open and looked at the room’s interior.
In the far wall there was a bed, and lying in the bed, was Kurt.
Step by step, the Beast approached, growling.
"I must kill the host..." It murmured, extending its claws to reach for him.
But when he was on the verge of touching Kurt’s face, the boy opened his eyes.
And he released a burst of mana that sent the Beast flying towards the door.
