Chapter 540: Chapter 540 Assault on the Odium Syndicate (5)
"What are you all doing?! Kill him already!"
"L-lasers don’t work on him! What the hell is going on?!"
"He can’t be human! Nothing should be able to do that!"
"It’s got to be some sort of sorcery!"
"Stop griping already! It must just be some piece of specialized tech we don’t know about! There has to be a limit to it! Fire missiles and launch grenades at him as well. Keep shooting until he stops moving!"
Avery’s display of charging through a storm of laser attacks unscathed had driven some of the Odium Syndicate troops into a panic.
They had started shouting about what Avery doing should be impossible, and that he must be utilizing magic or some other foul arts.
However, after a disgruntled rousing from their commander, the soldiers had gotten back in line and were renewing their efforts to kill Avery with greater intensity.
’I didn’t really take people from the Zatis Consortium as the superstitious types. Psionic abilities are fairly well known. Though, my powers are quite unique, and as a human, I wouldn’t be expected to have any in the first place.’
While his enemies were aiming missiles at him and getting ready to launch grenades, Avery showed little concern for their actions.
Instead, he was focused more on the comical reactions of the Odium Syndicate members.
Before the first volley of explosives was fired, Avery momentarily extended the range of his abilities and severed the flow of energy from any of the weapons he could reach.
Most of them were protected by shields that his powers hit instead, but he was able to disable a few missile launchers before they could release their payloads.
The people manning them looked utterly confused when the weapons stopped working and showed no responses to any inputs.
Of course, after what Avery had done to them, there was no chance of them ever being operational again.
As missiles and grenades were sent his way, Avery was forced to abandon the straight path he was running along and dart around rapidly.
He might have been able to erase lasers before they hit him, but explosions were another thing entirely.
Had there been there been a bit more time and his attention not split in several different directions, he might have been able to identify which grenades produced an intense burst of light when they detonated. Yet, in the heat of such an intense battle, that was beyond him, so he had to treat each one like they would produce a fiery explosion.
Fortunately, the missiles were easy to deal with, as once they were fired, he could target them with his energy severance ability and cause their targeting and guidance systems to shut down.
This turned them into essentially regular rockets that only travel along the path they had been fired.
And with his impeccable speed and reflexes, Avery had no problems avoiding their trajectories well in advance.
The room was soon rocked by massive explosions as grenades and missiles went off.
Except, even as the combatants attempting to protect their base relentlessly attacked, they were still unable to so much as land a glancing blow against Avery.
No matter their efforts, he remained untouchable. Like some fabled god of war.
Panic began sweeping through the ranks of the Odium Syndicate troops once again, and their cohesion as a fighting force began to deteriorate. Making Avery’s approach that much easier.
It was not long before Avery had almost reached the large barricade that had been set up to stop the invasion of the production faciality.
Despite having been hastily constructed, the walls still stood nearly three meters tall and gave the Odium Syndicate fighters plenty of cover without massively impeding their own sightlines throughout most of the area.
Normally, this would have produced them a decent advantage in a battle, but now it only made it more difficult for them to counting shooting at Avery as he was now too close for some of them to aim at him.
It would typically be incomprehensible that a single combatant could approach their defensive line completely unabated.
’Time to see what these gauntlets can do after the latest round of upgrades Girto gave them.’ Avery thought as he threw himself at the barricades without slowing down.
With both of his arms, he slammed his first forward into the tough material meant to withstand continuous laser fire and at least a few powerful explosions.
Avery had incredible physical strength, but that alone would not allow him to blow through the Odium Syndicate’s barriers.
Fortunately, Grito had installed some new specially designed impact generators into his gauntlets and the connected exosuit to replace the old ones.
On command Avery could create a far greater force than before and unleash it without mangling his arms entirely.
As time went on, his body was still getting stronger, and due to his growing psionic abilities, he understood how to distribute the blowback on his hands and arms in the best way to minimize damage to himself.
Of course, even after extensive training to master his upgraded equipment, it was still impossible for him to come out completely unharmed after hitting as hard as he could.
Immediately, Avery could feel the strain on his bones and muscles. He likely had a few minor fractures and muscle tears.
Still the results of his attack were undeniable.
The section of the barricade that he had hit caved inward and started to crack from the impact of Avery’s strike.
There was a sound like two large vehicles crashing into each other before the defensive structure was blown back at a blistering speed.
It kept going until it hit the wall on the other side of the room.
Another loud banding sound resounded from the collision, and barricade sunk deeply into the metal wall before coming to a stop.
’Probably could have used about seventy percent there.’
While Avery was analyzing his performance, everyone else was stunned silent.
Even the mercenaries that had followed him into battle and already knew that Avery was exceptionally powerful could hardly believe their eyes.
A single man, not even wearing power armor, had basically strolled up to an enemy defensive structure and tore it apart with a single attack.
That was not normal by any means. Avery’s feats had reached levels that were usually relegated to fiction and legends.
Once a couple of seconds had passed, Avery glanced around and noticed that no one was shooting at him anymore.
The Odium Syndicate’s combatants were just staring at him with expressions warped in horror.
Honestly, Avery did not enjoy being looked at like he was some sort of monster, but he could understand why they were terrified of him.
’Well, I’m not going to let a perfect opening pass me by.’ Avery thought as he dashed towards the nearest enemy. If they were not going to continue attacking, then he was going to seize the initiative.
Before the man could even realize what was going on, Avery threw a punch and sent him flying like a ragdoll.
From the horrid crunching sound of the man’s ribs, Avery was fairly sure that he had ruptured several organs and delivered a fatal blow.
Without any hesitation, he rushed towards the next person and stuck them down as well.
At that point, everyone seemed to come back to their senses.
Frantic Odium Syndicate troops began firing at Avery with reckless abandon as he rampaged through their lines, while the forces under Avery’s command rushed into the fray to take advantage of the opening he had created.
What occurred next could hardly be considered much of a battle.
Avery had shaken their enemies to the core, and they were unable to put up any sort of organized resistance.
Even the commander’s panicked shrieks did nothing to get the Odium Syndicate members back into formation. Especially since the man was just using them as meat shields while trying to flee by himself.
Something Avery put a quick stop to by breaking the man’s legs and arms.
Considering the guy was the one in charge here, Avery figured he was a prime target to interrogate for information.
It was not long before all of the enemy forces had been subjugated and the area was under Avery’s troops’ control.
With the heavy power armor squad in the lead, they had burst through the hole Avery had left in the enemies’ defenses and easily mopped up the disorganized Odium Syndicate combatants with ease.
There were no deaths on Avery’s side and only three people ended up with minor injuries. A resound success by any metrics.
’This is only the first battle though. We’ve still got a lot more ground to cover and no telling how many more defensive positions the Odium Syndicate had prepared.’
Avery was not going to rest on his laurels yet. Everything had been going smoothly so far, but the battle was still far from over.
There were also the other sections to worry about. He may have been doing well, but Ezra, Olivia, Liesel, and Burke were leading their own teams to infiltrate the base as well.
’No one has sent any messages for assistance so I can only hope that they’re doing well.’ Avery thought after glancing at his terminal to check for any communications.
Once the captured prisoners were secured and a retrieval team from the Intrepid had come to bring them back to the ship, Avery led his troops deeper into the station.
There were several key areas they needed to take control of before a full sweep of the production facility could be conducted to drive out anyone trying to hide.
