Chapter 89: Defeat.
BANG!
The large bodies of the 'Tanker Bugs' crashed into the tall compound walls.
The Tanker Bugs had 6 legs which were thin but long. It's body was wide with a large carapace completely covering the surface of it's body. A long thorax connected a small head which contained it's multiple eyes.
The height of the walls were approximately 14m tall, therefore allowing the soldiers on the top to attack the enemies below.
Alex led the attack. Using his soul power, he strengthened his spear and sharpened the air at the tip of the blade. He was mindful of the amount of soul power being used, not staking it all at once like the time at the warehouse.
Ever since he had seen Lucius fight at the warehouse using his soul power, Alex had practiced to efficiently manage the usage of his soul energy. He had learnt how to use less to do more. As for the results of his practice, it was apparent in the current battle.
"Diee!" Alex roared as he fiercely stabbed into the head of the giant 'Tanker Bug' below him. His spear was directed towards the large compound eyes, which he had guessed to be it's weakness.
The spear stabbed forth and dug into the creature's eye effortlessly. Although a layer of protective covering was present atop it's eyes, Alex's spear which was boosted by his soul power tore through it.
"Screech!" the Tanker Bug let out a loud, grating sound. It's shrill voice followed by its fierce slamming on the wall, served to worsen their current scenario.
Seeing that it had not died, Alex immediately readjusted his grip on the spear. Holding the spear sideways, he leveraged his body against the wall and turned the stab into a slash. Alex aimed to tear head of the creatures.
In a struggle involving all his strength, the spear began to move sideways and fiercely severed the Tanker Bug's head. The body of the creature suddenly stiffened before collapsing into the ground, crushing the bodies of the smaller bugs down below in the process.
"Yes!" seeing the creature finally dying, Alex rejoiced.
Turning around he headed towards another position before doing the same. He also shouted the method to deal with these creatures to the other soldiers atop the wall.
Just as they had dealt with the initial assault of thirteen Tanker Bugs, the soldiers who had been rejoicing at their victory suddenly felt a change in the battlefield. Alex's instincts also warned him of incoming danger.
The bodies of the 'dead' Tanker Bugs, suddenly started to twitch. Starting from small twitches, the bodies then trembled, before soon they started to rapidly shake.
"Something's wrong!" one of the soldiers voiced out.
Before they could comprehend this unnatural phenomena, the supposedly 'dead' Tanker Bugs suddenly let out another screech. Using their large forelimbs, they gathered the surrounding smaller bugs and abruptly threw them to the top of the wall.
One soldier who was leaning from the wall, spitting at the corpses on the ground suddenly felt the hairs on his back, stand straight.
'What's happening?' his mind instinctively questioned, when he felt a sudden gust of wind in his neck.
Reaching down to touch his neck, he pulled his hands back to check them, only to see it stained with crimson blood.
'What the hell?' he thought to himself. Touching the same spot once again with both his hands, he felt the warm blood touch his fingers, seemingly flowing out of his neck. Strangely though, he did not feel any pain.
Under the astounded and fearful gazes of the people around him, he turned back to see a 2-3m tall bug staring at him with it's compound eyes.
It's body was covered with a slender carapace which shined black, under the reflection of the sunlight. In the place of it's arms were two forelimbs, which contained a sickle like attachment. On the whole, it was strangely similar to the mantises.
Seeing his enemy in such proximity to him, the soldier wanted to scream, only to find himself unable to open his mouth. Actually, he wasn't able to feel any part of his body. With his confused gaze, he saw the world suddenly tilt before falling down and facing the sky.
He was beheaded in one single move.
The 'Sickle Bug' in front of the man, had used the thin sickles present on it's forelimbs to swipe across the man's neck in a single move. The attack was so fast that most of the trained soldiers failed to notice it.
Removing their gaze from the body of the dead man, they raised their heads to stare at the killer. The mantis like Sickle Bug was quietly staring at them, it eyes containing mockery and glee. It seemed to rejoice at the look of despair present on their faces.
Alex who had also seen this scene had a pale face. With his outstanding vision and the assistance provided by his soul power, he was able to see the movement of the Sickle Bug.
'It would take at least 5 men to bring down one of these bugs, losing at least two in the process.' his mind analyzed.
Looking around, Alex saw a few hundred men atop the wall with him, with a maximum of 500 soldiers serving as reinforcement from the other areas of the base. With the help and sacrifice of all these men, Alex calculated that he could bring down 160 Bugs at most. However, there was a slight catch.
Looking at the scene before him, he saw no less than three thousand sickle bugs heading towards the base. Apart from the ones heading towards the walls and the ones down below, there were already three hundred Sickle Bugs, atop the wall.
Not to mention, there were at least a hundred of the Tanker Bugs, including the the thirteen, 'recently returned from death.'
'It's over.' the rational part of his mind told him.
There was no way to change this situation, The morale which he had worked so hard to restore was completely destroyed. The soldiers were frozen in fear, as they saw the Sickle Bugs slaughtering their fellow companions. Their will to fight had been lost.
At this point the odds were completely against them. Even a miracle could not save them.
'No!' alas, Alex would not give up.
"I can't die under the hands of these vermin! I'm a Hellwig! I descended from a family of great generals. A chosen one!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.
Gripping the spear in his hand with such force that the whites in his hand started to show, Alex stated.
"I WILL KILL EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE BUGS!!"
Driving his soul power to it's maximum, Alex directly jumped into the heat of the battle.
Executing his spear arts, while infusing soul power into each and everyone of his moves, Alex bravely fought.
The Sickle Bug which had taken the first kill, saw itself facing a red-haired human.
『So. Weak』it thought to itself.
Just as it was about to slash at this red-haired human who seemed to not know the meaning of death, the Sickle Bug suddenly felt it's world darkening. It body lost it's power and slumped to the ground.
Alex had pierced it's head in a single move.
Continuing to fight in such a reckless fashion, Alex kept moving to places where the soldiers were being attacked. In a single yet spectacular move of offence, he quickly killed the bugs in record time.
'I can do this!' he thought to himself, as the felt infinite power filling his body.
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It took Alex less than five minutes for the feeling of infinite power fade away. His body had lost all it's energy and his soul power was completely empty. To his defense, he had killed nearly 50 Sickle Bugs, creating a region filled with corpses around him.
None of the other bugs dared to approach this crazy man as they moved around his body, heading towards the others behind him.
Alex wanted to help the others. Alas, he could not move his body, solely with his willpower.
'Am I going to die?' he thought to himself, before suddenly bursting out into laughter.
'I haven't even kissed a girl, yet. How embarrassing.' he thought deprecatingly.
Turning his head around, he saw the scenes of hell around him.
The Sickle Bugs, no longer being stopped flooded into the other soldiers behind him in groups, much like locusts. Some people still staked their lives to fight, however it was futile. Not a single person lasted for more than 5 seconds against the bugs while fighting alone.
The number of soldiers had already dropped by a frightening number, with less than fifty remaining in the battlefield.
In the distance, he could see two young women, fighting with the Sickle Bugs with all their might. One with golden hair like the sun, the other with black hair similar to the night.
Their beauty was without compare, even though they were smeared with blood and dirt. Similar to his own battlefield, a dozens of corpses similarly surrounded their bodies.
'Olivia and Reyna are also fighting huh? They seem to be doing good.' he thought to himself.
Exactly at this moment, he saw both the girls suddenly drop to the ground with their bodies stiffening. It seems that they had run out of soul power too. A look of despair was present on both their faces, as another group of Sickle Bugs headed towards them, hoping to finally get rid of these annoying humans.
'It's finally over.' Alex thought as he close his eyes.