Even without magic, these artifacts made Konrad almost invincible.
Almost.
But before he took down the first merc, they landed three more hits on him.
For some reason, the Mama's Beads kept getting hotter and hotter after every shot.
"Okay, they're distracted," Dmitry's voice boomed through the static. "I'll take over."
And the familiar thunder followed.
While these bastards were sneaky and silent, he didn't suppress his Gepard.
There was no need when it could end the fight with two shots.
Once Konrad cut down the first guy, the second was already missing a head.
The third got a huge hole in his chest despite his bulletproof vest, and the fourth—
"If you don't want to end up the same, or have your throat slit," Konrad warned. "Drop your weapon, and don't try anything funny. How many of you bastards are here?!"
He might have identified as a pacifist, but these guys pissed him off.
Sure, he planned to deal with them, but they attacked first.
This all counted as self-defense.
So why was it so hard not to cut that bastard's head off right away?!
"W-what kind of psychopath are you?" the mercenary muttered, and thank the spirits he spoke English. "Running around with a machete and your sniper friend. You shouldn't even be here."
Not the answer he expected. And it took way too much self-control not to kill him right away.
But he wanted answers, not more dead bodies.
So Konrad only grazed his throat a little.
"I'll ask one more time," he grunted, watching the blood soiling his blade. "How many?"
"D'you even know who you're messing with?!" the merc yelled, his hands dropping lower.
Too low for comfort. This wasn't the attitude he wanted.
"Nope," he said, and the machete cut deeper. "And y'know why? Because nobody fucking told me anything. You started shooting without a warning, and now I'm mad. So how many?!"
Rather than an answer, he heard a gurgling sound.
Whoops. He might have overdone it.
But it worked.
"A platoon, damn it," his captive moaned. "And you won't get out of here alive."
"Huh? How much is that?" Konrad pondered, pulling the blade away while scratching his head.
That was a mistake.
The mercenary took it as an opportunity to run, and—
Jumped straight onto the nearby rails to zap himself to death. For good measure, his already lifeless body then fell into an anomaly that sent chunks of him into space.
Even Konrad didn't wish him such a grueling death.
But now he saw why people called this place Wild Territories.
"Here I was about to suggest you walk along those rails to that construction site," Dmitry scoffed. "There are anomalies everywhere. How did they even come through here?!"
Konrad felt the blood leave his face, too, as he took a better look.
"Using Strelok's map, I assume?"
But right now, he couldn't even guess what this place was for.
He had a large warehouse on his left, with a loading bay dead ahead. That's where his captive decided to end his life on the rails that continued to the right and circled—
Whatever that building was.
Well, more like a ruin, twisted and halfway destroyed by the anomalies raging all over it.
And beyond them all was the construction site the Captain referred to.
Three bare stories of concrete with no walls or anything—
But he noticed the four mercenaries standing atop right as they started to fire.
"Fuck, they spotted me," Konrad grunted, scrambling behind cover. "Can you get a shot?"
"Not from here, no," Dmitry said, the radio crackling. "I'll reposition in a minute, but can you reach them from there somehow? It looks like that loading bay goes right there, but—"
"Yeah, no, I'm not going anywhere near that," he stated.
It still sparkled, and there was no way it was plain old electricity.
Must have been some nasty anomaly that he refused to try out.
"How about going through the warehouse?" the Captain asked. "It should have a back door, too."
"Yeah, and my Geiger counter is already freaking out from this far," Konrad hesitated.
Scratch that, calling this Wild Territories didn't even do it justice.
"You've your Bubble, dude, come on," Dmitry complained. "Almost in position, but need a bait."
"If there's something nasty in there and I die, it's your fault," he moaned in response.
Then, he ran inside anyway, stumbling through the darkness.
The air was heavy and hot, with old wares blocking his path, but the machete came in handy.
Konrad even fought off a territorial rodent that attacked him in the shadows.
But halfway through, he ran out of breath.
"Dude, this is Garbage-level radiation," he panted into the radio. "I'll try to break out at this end."
"Wait," the Captain yelled. "I only got in position now, and they're all aiming at that door."
But Konrad could not.
With the Mama's beads already burning his skin and the radiation making him sick—
"It's your job to take 'em out," he grunted, using the machete to hack his way through.
And the silent bullets rained down on him immediately.
Thank the spirits, he didn't have to wait long for the thunderous response, either.
"And now they're behind those concrete slabs, for fuck's sake," Dmitry complained. "This is why I told you to wait. I could've gotten the perfect shot, but now I only got one of 'em."
"Good, I'll finish them for you," Konrad grumbled, the cold air finally cooling him down a little.
But the already familiar symptoms of radiation sickness didn't fade away.
"Okay, go. They're too afraid to poke their heads out at the moment, so you'd better run."
Easy for him to say. But he reached the construction site without having to duck those bullets again. And he could also see the number three on his PDA, without the locations showing.
"Top floor," the Captain said. Then a loud shot followed. "Got one. You have two left."
His minimap confirmed the kill.
"Why'd they have to take the top floor?!" he moaned, still struggling to breathe. "On my way."
Magic would have been very handy right about now.
And who would have thought that bringing a machete into a gunfight would be this tiring?
BANG.
"Fuck, I missed," Dmitry complained. "First time. And now they know where I am. Hurry."
"I am hurrying," Konrad breathed, but it didn't help with his decreasing lung capacity.
He climbed two flights without a problem, or with the number on his PDA changing.
"Try not to off me once I'm there," he panted. "About to pop out on top."
"Copy that. They're all yours."
And he wasn't wrong about that.
Right as Konrad arrived, the mercs stood up to lay down suppressive fire.
It meant they showed him their backs and didn't hear his heavy breathing.
The first one died before realizing he was even there.
The second at least saw him coming, but was too late to react.
And once his PDA hit zero, Konrad collapsed.
"Phew, I'm done," he panted, dropping all his artifacts apart from the Bubble. "Let's take a break, okay? I'm irradiated and out of breath, so screw these guys. How big's a platoon anyway?"
It was hard to make out, but Dmitry's laughter came through the static.
"We're halfway there, but fine. Rest. I'll go to you in a minute. But take the long way around."