If only one scene encapsulated the rapture for the soldiers, it was the sight of thousands of blood-matted seagulls crashing from the heavens to eat them.
SQUAAAAWK! HUOH!-HUOH!-HUOH!
"A-Arrows!" An Immortal elite stuttered in terror, "GUIDED ARROWS!"
Due to their heightened sensory perception, the Lainwright soldiers instantly heard and acted upon her words. After she released an arrow, dozens followed from the fifty-soldier group.
WHoooOOoshHHhhooOOoshhHhhshoooOoooOosSH!
SQUAAAAWK! SQUAAAAWK! SQUAAAAWK!
Blood bloomed from above, raining down on buildings. However, hundreds of fresh seagulls replaced the fallen without pause. It was truly a nightmare scene.
"What?" A male soldier muttered, seeing the birds shoot to a side street instead of at them, "Is there something else here?"
"Who gives a fuck, Weston!?" The Immortal snapped, "Ready another arrow; I doubt they'll ignore us long!"
"Yes, Olivia!" Weston replied, creating an arrow, "We… oh, dear God…."
HUOH!-HUOH!-HUOH!
Olivia's words proved prophetic as birds with a wingspan longer than the soldiers were tall waddled from a side street, moving in cadence like a street gang.
SQUAAAAWK! HUOH!-HUOH!-HUOH!
"W-What should we do?" Weston asked nervously.
"I'm not sure…." She gulped nervously.
"G-Get b-b-back!" Another man stammered.
"Wait!" Olivia yelled, "If they fly—"
WHooooooOOooSshH! SQUAAAAWK! SQUAAAAWK!
Her words were too late. An erratic arrow cut through two seagulls in an instant, spurting blood over broken down. Not a moment later—
HUOH!-HUOH!-HUOH!
SQUAAAAWK! HUOH!-HUOH!-HUOH! SQUAAAAWK!
HUOH!-HUOH!-HUOH! SQUAAAAWK!
SQUAAAAWK! SQUAAAAWK!
A chaotic cacophony of battle cries shot from the birds, immediately taking flight and charging.
"Idiots!" Olivia yelled, releasing her arrow at a seagull on course to rip a soldier's throat out.
WHOooOooSH!
It cut through the avian and then across the street, blowing through another seagull's skull. The bird was biting a soldier's leg, so the shot was appreciated.
Those who got bit learned that the birds weren't strong enough to cut through their muscles with a single bite. However, they were powerful enough to shred their skin and create small fractures.
While one wasn't a threat, the numbers made them deadly.
"Fan out and run to the base!" The Immortal yelled, "Move in teams of—"
SQUAAAAWK!
A large bird shot from the air, attacking her. She grabbed its neck in slow-motion, gripping it with inhuman strength.
CRACK!
The terrified soldiers watched their Sky Realm counterpart casually dispatch one with her bare hands. It was a moment that revitalized the soldiers, many of whom had already been bitten.
"RUN TO THE BASE!" Olivia yelled, pulling out a Soul Qi-reinforced machete. She rushed to soldiers getting mauled by birds and slashed at the beasts, cutting through them at high speeds.
The traumatized soldiers lying on the ground shook in fear, getting splashed with blood. However, their bodies radiated in a cool blue light, calming their emotions and slowing their hearts. Red light radiated from them the next moment, healing their wounds.
In a profound display of skill, the Olivia had saved them, dispatched multiple seagulls, calmed the soldiers down, and healed their wounds before running off. The scene was nothing short of inspirational for most of the soldiers.
SQUAAAAWK! HUOH!-HUOH!-HUOH!
"Just how many of these are there!?" The Immortal cried, cutting through another seagull and helping a soldier stand, "How are we supposed to fight these?"
BOOM! Boom! Boom, boom, BOOM!
Soldiers shot slash attacks rapidly, cutting through dozens of seagulls. However, there were still a hundred above them, and they dodged the attacks soldiers sent at them.
It was a bleak situation. The soldiers' only saving grace was that their bodies were stronger than steel, and the birds were relatively weak and small. Unfortunately—
"KyaHHhhhHHhHHhHhH!"
Zombies screamed in the distance, attracted to the sound of wounded soldiers and explosions from arrows and slash attacks hitting buildings.
SQUAAAAWK! HUOH!-HUOH!-HUOH!
"How the hell are we supposed to salvage this nightmare!?" Olivia yelled, cutting through another seagull.
As if the gods heard her prayers, the answer presented itself in a bold, dynamic display.
The air above the city warped around a large flock of seagulls. A moment later—
BOOOOOOOOM!
"That's!" Olivia cried, watching hundreds of birds get vaporized in a massive explosion. She didn't need to say it for everyone to know what they were looking at.
Combustion.
Within two minutes, the city lit up with a firework show—the same they had practiced the night before. Explosions of various sizes detonated in the sky, raining down ash and brimstone.
The situation turned from bleak to manageable in only a matter of minutes.
"LISTEN UP!" Olivia yelled, jumping onto a nearby building, "REGROUP! WE'LL ATTRACT THEM IN BULK AND HAVE THE SPECIALISTS TAKE THEM OUT!"
Those with the technique shuddered. Having the power and using it were two separate things when everyone was scraping just to survive.
It would be one thing if they knew the technique inside and out. However, most learned it the night before and needed to concentrate. Using it incorrectly was dangerous, as it would set buildings on fire and potentially kill groups of soldiers. Combustion wasn't a joke.
Most importantly, no one wanted to go [back] toward the zombies. They wouldn't have considered it if it weren't for the demonstration they had just seen.
The situation became tense, and the soldiers conflicted, fighting for their lives as they consider it. However, a moment later—
BOOM! Boom! Boom, boom, BOOM!
A new firework show cut across the sky, making explosions of various shapes and sizes. The neverending wall of birds began disintegrating, with hundreds of charred corpses falling to the sky.
"WE'RE NOT WEAK!" Olivia yelled, seizing the opportunity, "WE'RE CULTIVATORS, AND THESE ARE OVER-GLORIFIED BIRDS!
SO STOP COWERING, HEAL YOUR COMRADES, PROTECT THE SPECIALISTS, AND GET YOUR ASSES OVER HERE—IT'S TIME FOR THE COUNTERSTRIKE!"
A small flame of hope welled in the Combustion specialists. The soldiers running near them nodded and began protecting the soldiers with the technique.
While the groups moved back, they saved soldiers getting mauled and healed them. The group's morale skyrocketed within a few minutes, and they regrouped, ready for the counterattack.
═─┈─═─┈─═
Five minutes before, Rein stood on a skyscraper's rooftop, five miles from the shipping yard. She breathed heavily, gasping for breath as flaming birds fell to the earth. "Did... I make it?"
The skyscraper had a hole of broken glass from where a slash attack hit it, proceeding her jump through the windows. Its metal rooftop door was hanging on a broken hinge with a massive footprint in it. Everywhere she went ended up destroyed as she crashed through the building at top speed, adrenaline pulsing through her veins.
Now, the world was catching up to her. She looked around for the first time, seeing the results of her attack.
"Damn…." Rein gasped, breathing harshly, "This technique is brutal… huuuuh… no wonder… he was so confident…."
A burning cloud of seagulls struggled to fly, continually reaping new victims.
"Did I… huuuuuh…." She wheezed, sweat dripping down her face, "Make it in time… huuuuh… huuuuh… to demonstrate…?"
BOOM! Boom! Boom, boom, BOOM!
A chorus of explosions met her words.
"It seems I did." The brunette chuckled, falling to her knees.
"GET OUT OF THERE, REIN!" Steve yelled, crashing through the busted rooftop door.
"What?" Rein muttered in a daze, realizing that exhaustion and Qi deprivation had made her hazy. She looked up and froze.
SQUAAAAWK! HUOH!-HUOH!-HUOH! SQUAAAAWK!
While she focused on the ashes flying to the earth, she lost track of the skies, now teaming with aggravated seagulls, charging her with bloodlust in their eyes.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l