The Death Squad was geared up and sitting in their meeting room in SPRU HQ waiting for Commander Ashton to arrive. In the meantime they were discussing the potential beasts that they were aware of from the scouting party. The nest was located on a planet designated P221 as it only had a small settlement on it that only the most adventurous would travel to. There were more beasts than what most planets had but there was a catch. The only way to get to the planet was via space ship which required a significantly longer travel than the normal instant portal travel.
This fact there was no easy way to travel to the planet made SPRU Command put high priority on the Beast Nest that was found on this planet as they needed to put more resources into the mission. The workaround from General Jackson's perspective was to put only the Death Squad on the mission and give them a standard transport spaceship.
Commander Ashton arrived in the meeting room and Andrei cleared his throat to get everyone to quiet down. The Commander walked next to Andrei and patted him on the shoulder and took a seat next to him.
"I called this meeting as this is a serious issue pertaining to the terrorist group Ra." Freddy started out his speech to the group. "We recently were made aware of the fact that you guys targeted and destroyed a facility of theirs on this very planet that they had been operating under our noses for too long. I want to first thank you all for doing that, we all owe you, and we, I mean I believe that I must tell you more."
"You guys took out a facility that has been duplicated on multiple other planets. Each one of them is just as disgusting as the one you took out. We also found out that Ra put out a bounty for Death Squad, anyone who brings important information about their whereabouts or missions will be highly rewarded within Ra." Ashton continued his speech without skipping a beat.
"I am aware there is a mole based on your findings and thus I can only trust this information with you. You will be targeted at your weakest if we know anything about Ra. We also know that they will do anything to get rid of anyone who sympathizes with aliens and your squad is a shining example of what they hate." Freddy wasn't done there.
"I personally think that Andrei should lure them out into a trap and see what their response is, however that could also lead to your own demise as I said they do everything they can to try to take advantage of you at the weakest moment. If you're sick or hurt they will strike then." He warned the group in front of him.
Andrei sat there thinking about what could show weakness to lure them out. He then turned to his Commander and asked "Can you give us a ship that has great defenses but no offensive capabilities?"
Commander Ashton thought about it for a few minutes and pulled out his communication device and sent a message "Send me what you have on the best defensive transport ships we have in our fleet" and his device beeped. He looked up at Andrei and now was starting to figure out what Andrei was getting at. "They don't have a lot of ships to spare, what makes you think they will use them on you?"
"If we are such a target wouldn't you spend your available resources to eliminate said target?" Andrei looked him square in the eye and Ashton realized Andrei had a plan. "Put into the mission debrief that we will be transported to the planet in a non offensive ship whatever the class make model doesn't matter to me. Just make sure we can take a shot or two if they have more than what we can take out in time. The mole will relay that information and I would put money on us being attacked while in transit."
Commander Ashton felt like saluting the Private who was showing he knew how to lead and was gifted strategically. Freddy pulled out his communication device as he walked away from the meeting room to bring up the files sent to him about the ship designs. He then placed the requisition order and added it to the mission debrief in the SPRU logs.
Andrei addressed the rest with his plan, he was hoping that Ra would send 1-3 ships that Goliath could take out quickly and it would weaken Ra further. He was now thankful he had read more about Goliath and what he commanded. This vessel of pure war was going to be put to its first test and he was hoping it would do exactly what he hoped it would do.
They headed over to the hanger and shortly after arriving the transport that they would be taking to the planet landed. The squad all loaded up and noticed that the walls were really thick and made from the strongest materials the military used. Andrei gave a smile looking at Airwrecka who had come along and was wearing a unique looking top hat helmet to cover her horns and face. She had figured out how to conceal her tail down a pant leg so while on the MA campus she stayed fully geared at all times, this case would be a short meeting then getting onto a transport to another planet.
Andrei walked up to the pilot and shook his hand and told him he was relieved of his position. The pilot looked shocked for a second and then saw Master Chief Hood sit down in the pilot seat and he knew why he was relieved. Upon take off Airwreck took off the helmet and released her tail with a resounding "AHH" and everyone giggled. They had a couple hours till they would arrive at the planet as they had about a 5 hour flight from the space portal to the planet.
The 30 minute flight to Hathin's space portal went by without a hitch and when they appeared on the other side of the portal they were greeted by 10 ships that all had the marking of Ra. Andrei didn't even predict this response but he didn't hesitate knowing that they probably weren't going to either.
In his mind he brought up the Goliath interface and commanded it to use its one of a kind Portal Drive that could allow the ship to port to any place in space. Goliath had been doing it automatically every 10 days since waking up as a standard evasive protocol. Goliath appeared behind the 10 space ships with all of their engines exposed. Goliath fired out an energy blast that streaked across space going right through the first ship.
Goliath then fired again and again at each of the ships, the last 4 had turned enough to get off shots of their own. Then multiple projectiles came flying out of Goliath and deflected or destroyed each of the attacks. It continued to fire another shot at each in quick succession and two more of the ships were destroyed. The last two were the most advanced and they had shield defenses that could withstand the shots being fired.
Death Squad was watching the space battle wishing they had a bowl of popcorn because it was pure cinematic space battle beauty. More missiles were fired from the Ra ships and when they blew up before making it to Goliath they had some massive explosions. Hook being Hook "Yo they shot nukes at em!" which got everyone to chuckle.
Space battles didn't last long ever as the weapons used were always so advanced it would be who got off the first shot wins in most of the cases. The two main ships of Ra were deflecting the shots from Goliath, Death Squad just had no idea how much longer they could handle it. The answer was soon found out as the first of the two its shields gave out and shot split the vessel in half. The last one fired off what looked like everything it possibly could and none made it through Goliath's defenses.
The last Ra vessel exploded as the fatal shot hit center mass going right down the middle of the length of the vessel. They all cheered from their view inside of the transport as they were the first people to ever witness Goliath in battle. Goliath, as quickly as it appeared, saw no other threats in the solar system and ported back to its previous position.
The transport continued on to the planet and the whole squad was constantly talking about all they saw that happened. There was a buzz to them as they landed at the settlement that spilled out of the vessel on the landing pad. The soldier guarding the landing pad looked exhausted and soon all of Death Squad quit their chatter and straightened up seeing how bleak everything was around them.
They headed to the Inn to purchase rooms to stay in and were shocked to find out that the inn didn't have any space. Sophia took offense to being turned away and started to protest when Andrei grabbed her and told her to stop. Looking at the people they all had an exhausted look. They all were feeling weirded out by the settlement so Andrei told them they would just use the transport for sleep.
They then headed to exit the settlement to find the nest when they all felt the ground rumble. The whole settlement started to shake and some of the inhabitants started to scream out "Not again! They are coming again!" All of Death Squad quickly took defensive positions and started scanning their perimeter. Andrei looked through the gate and he saw there were beasts all were charging towards them.
"To the outside, defend the settlement. O Smash! Edwin Flen Defend! Delta get your asses in the air and give me aerial support. Hook, Lily, no one touches Sophia! Poco Loco Final Form! Julia and Hood defend the civilians!" Andrei shouted out his commands and quickly everyone reacted.
O smashed the first beast to make it to him with all four of his fists completely dazing the beast, his tail swung around and finished it off. Edwin and Flen took each side of the gate and using their longswords they held back and defeated beasts on either side of O. Delta was each in the air, Goombi had added a gatling gun to his mech armor on his back that could fire at targets which he was testing out for the first time. The gun was shredding the beasts apart as bullets came crashing down from above.
Surany was riding Sunfire and dropping Blood Arrows on as many beasts as she could target. That is when her bow lit up and was pulsing, she pulled back the string the arrow that released was 125% the size of all the arrows she had seen thus far. The bow's pulse had stopped but she noticed that there was a notch for an eyesight now, there were also patterns in the "wood" section of the bow that didn't exist before. She shot another arrow out and it was the larger size and Surany could only guess that her weapon just leveled up.
Mini had her twins with her now that she knew she could store them in Andrei's inventory and the three of them were causing mayhem on the beast that weren't even close to the settlement but were making their way. She was hoping it would thin the herd but it just seemed like there were thousands of beasts. "It's a good thing these beasts aren't flying, imagine this amount of beast in the air right now!"
"That gives me zero details on what is going on, how many beasts do we have to defend against?" Andrei shouted into his earpiece while throwing an Ice Axe at a small beast that had just jumped into the settlement. He summoned his pets and told them to have fun. Prince and LaLa stayed with him as the pets headed out and suddenly those at the gate had a breather.
"Boss, I know this isn't intel on the enemy but my bow just did some crazy glowing thing and now my arrows are bigger and the bow looks cooler, I think it leveled up" Surany was heard over the earpiece and everyone who heard that and could react to it pulled out their own blood handle weapon. Hook already had his out and he had just killed a beast with his crescent sword with the poison tip when it started to glow, the green tip formed a line along the sharp edge all the way to the handle and it too got some patterns in it.
"Well Hook just experienced it as well so everyone try to level up your new weapons with these beasts!" Andrei said with a chuckle and he looked at his inventory and didn't know which one he wanted to use. Then he thought about the fact that he made a multiple of Surany's bow so why not try that again with her's or even Hook's which was really cool. This thought brought up his multiply tab and it showed all the weapons he had multiplied and that he could make them again.
He then realized that it was labeled as a standard weapon and he looked up at Surany and "Idenfied" the bow in her hand and it showed it was Intermediate. He went back to the handles in his inventory and pulled one out which turned into a spear. He then remembered his time as Kratos and how the spear with the shield was a formidable combination. He labeled this one in his hand as "Blood Handle of Sparta" and it was now added to his "Activate Armor".
He stepped out in the chaos of the enraged beasts that were charging towards the settlement. With spear in hand being held on his shield pointing at the beasts he stood his ground between Edwin and O. Flen was clearing out the bodies with his "Wind Blast" when they would pile up but the amount of beasts coming seemed to be endless.
Just as soon as it started it ended, and Death Squad was standing there looking confused as the clone pets gathered all the beast cores. Andrei looked around and realized they were the only ones to react and to defend but where did the guards go. Those outside of the settlement went back inside and saw that all the guards were standing there surrounding the Death Squad members that were inside.
"What are you doing threatening my squad?" Andrei's voice boomed out and startled many of the guards. They all turned and looked at Andrei with each of their voices they all said "You are the leader yes? Leave this planet and never return, this is my final warning" the voices said somewhat out of sync.
"Who is telling me to leave this planet? Who is My in the final warning?" Andrei shouted back at the group of guards who still had white eyes.
"Leave this planet or join the others in death as I have already feasted upon all." was the last warning given by the group as it was the type of thing you don't say to a SPRU Squad and expect to live.
"Everyone is compromised, that is why we feel uneasy here, we need to defeat everyone. Our mission is still a go, we just add these to the list." Andrei firmly spoke to his squad. They all readied themselves and another fight ensued. "Hood, get back to the transport and move it to orbit, we will contact you when we need you." Andrei had done this with Lauren's ability so it went only to him and Hood was seen departing to the transport quickly without saying a word.
"Hey did he just leave us to deal with this?" Hook asked out loud and Andrei quickly shot him down with a look "I told him to keep it safe till we need to depart, your job hasn't changed".
The guards and the civilians then started to charge Death Squad and as much as none of them wanted to kill kids, even they had white eyes and were trying to harm Death Squad. It didn't take long for the squad to be left alone as there weren't many left in general when they landed.
The rumbling of the ground began again and now that they didn't have to defend the civilians they all went to the gate and used the settlement as a secondary defender. Prince and LaLa appeared and more chaos ensued.
Andrei summoned a Demonic Army with two Terrors and Grunts with one Stalker. The Terrors were massive beasts with fire for eyes and smoke for bodies. They would attack with a whip made of pure fire. The Grunts were deformed creatures with disfigured arms and legs but were super naturally strong.
The Stalker appeared to Andrei for the first time as a beast that was close to attacking Sophia had its head removed by another creature whose eyes were all white like the people's and its arms were scythes. The creature faded from sight moments later and Andrei was thankful it was on his side.
More and more beasts were falling but also Death Squad was getting tired. Each of them had leveled up their blood handle weapon and each person was throwing out all the stops. Andrei wasn't sure if it was ever going to stop or not when he heard Hood over his earpiece.
"We have a cave that they are flowing out of, sorry a mountain with lots of caves has beasts flowing out of it. I suggest I come grab you guys and we fly directly to the mountain and proceed from there.
"I'm on it boss!" Mini grabbed Andrei by his shoulders and her cloned mechs grabbed Edwin and Flen and they proceeded to the mountain that Charles had radioed in.
The transport landed right inside of the gate and the rest of Death Squad got in as Delta flew off with Alpha. They did their planned landing by clearing out a spot with "Meteor" strikes followed by Andrei placing "Barriers" for the three of them to land from a height so that the mechs could continue bombing.
Andrei also thought it was fun and the Tantans agreed. They trusted Andrei and at minimum had a cool story to tell about how they landed. Upon landing they took a triangle formation to defend themselves with Andrei taking the lead. His spear had just pierced a beast's heart and it glowed again. This glow was more intense and was pulsing then the spear shot out a lightning bolt that was crimson in color.
He looked at the weapon and his "Identify" showed that it was "Advanced Blood Handle of Sparta" but no description. He aimed the spear again at a beast and just squeezed the handle slightly and it shot out another lightning bolt of crimson red which pierced the beast's body and it howled out in pain but also was frozen. Andrei advancing that direction watched as the beast's eyes were frantic but the body was frozen then it suddenly bolted away.
Andrei shot a different beast hitting its legs and causing it to fall making weird squeals also unable to move its body, Andrei counted this time to see if it was what he thought was and at 3 the beast shot off with a limp. He figured out that his spear was shooting lightning bolts that would paralyze the opponent for 3 seconds.
Firing the next one he then charged and stuck his spear directly into the beast brain killing it instantly. He started to wonder if he would ever need another weapon if this continues to level up with use. The three methodically entered the cave taking out beasts that were attacking from all directions.
Flen with his "Wind Blast" was the saving grace and soon it was comical to watch the bodies of the beasts get sent back down the cave crashing into the beasts still pouring out. They all had never heard of so many beasts working together. The volume literally had Jayson on the earpiece ask if they did something to break the system as the amount of beast cores was getting to be ridiculous.
They hadn't realized that the pets had just fought all the way from the settlement to the caves and soon they didn't have any more beasts coming in from the outside. Burny and clone appeared with the three of them while Fluffy and clone were holding down the entrance.
The fire elemental pets started to make a hole in the cavern going down and the three of them took a break from fighting and moved slowly forward letting the pets go to town. "Do you think your pets can level up?" Flen inquired of Andrei who silently stood there unsure of how to respond.
"Prince and LaLa did when they both combined to me, Prince said three more are out there and I assume finding all of them will make them all legendary tiered. Fluffy is my first pet and he hasn't but I am not sure if he can as I don't know how to do so." Andrei told the tale while holding his longsword for light. Burny and clone were far ahead now to where their glow of fire was no longer lighting their path.
[Summon new clone for Burny? Y/N]
[-1,000 Spirit]
Appeared in Andrei vision and suddenly realized the clone must have sacrificed itself or ran into something more powerful and died up ahead. He responded Yes and the clone appeared next to him which caused Edwin and Flen to jump. Then both looked at Andrei with the same "What does that mean?"
"Be ready, something up ahead just killed the clone. And I sense Burny is heading back to us right now." The red glow was intensifying and further ahead and below them was the fire elemental running back to them.
They caught up with Burny and then proceeded together with the five of them.
*********************************************
Hood piloted the transport to the same location that Fluffy and Clone were holding down the entrance to. The area that Alpha had landed on was covered in beasts and they were staying back Fluffy and Clone were killing them quickly and easily. Poco and Loco were the first to jump out and they were in their Final Form again landing on the backs of beasts and slicing them with their powerful claws.
O landed with a crash and he headed to the cave that was to the left. No one followed him as Julia and Jiks were starting to form a good fighting bond. Julia's scimitar fighting and Jiks whip fighting forms seemed to meld well together. The two of them headed to a cave further to the left and they were accompanied by Goombi giving them aerial support. The Twins fought their way to take the cave to the right. The flow of beasts stopped and the pets and Echo all headed down the cave that Alpha had traveled down.
Alpha had come to a stop as they had entered a massive cavern area that housed at the center what was known as a beast nest. The beast nest looked like an enormous beast core but was completely transparent. Standing next to it was a large humanoid beast that had previously killed Burny's clone.
"You would not listen to me, now you will die!" The elemental beast in the center shouted as it shot out a lightning bolt that struck Edwin's shield and caused Edwin to back up several feet from the impact. Andrei had his "Identify" on the beast and it was telling him this was an Epic beast. He also noticed that the previous beasts displayed all similar abilities and that there were four of them in total.
One type of beast they fought was incredibly fast and displayed a poison attack to its bite. Sophia was able to heal the poison out of Julia's legs. There was a beast that had lots of needles like a porcupine but they had a lightning sting to the tip of them. Then a third type of beast was large and slow but had really strong skin and would do a water attack out of its mouth. The last type of beast looked like a lizard and was agile with sharp claws with a fire tail it would whip at its enemies.
The fact that it attacked Edwin made Andrei wonder if the beast knew Edwin was the same elementally tuned. The thought went away quickly when he noticed how far back Edwin just moved from one attack. Andrei adjusted his shield and spear and took the lead.
"Been on a mission to get stronger. Let's see if I can handle Epic by myself. Flen stay behind Edwin's shield, this one is mine!" Andrei shouted out to the room. The beast shot at Andrei and he blocked it with his shield, it reflected instantly back and the beast shouted out in pain as it hit its hand that had shot out the attack in the first place. Andrei still hadn't used the charge in it so it became an auto reflect shield which Andrei took full advantage of.
He fired out a lightning bolt from his spear and the beast took a hit to his forearms as it put them up to block his attack. The forearms expanded and formed a shield around the beast. Then lightning bolts started firing from different points of the forearm shield. Andrei was taken back by the attack and two of them had hit him as he was not expecting them.
[-50 HP]
[-50 HP]
WOW! Andrei thought as he felt the excruciating pain from the lightning bolts and his "Internal Focaine" started to heal him. What he didn't know was his new vampire body was healing on its own before it got there and just reinforced and quickened the process to make his healing extraordinary. The beast fired out more lightning bolts and Andrei took two more shots.
This time he decided to change his tactics to get this beast out of its shield so he dropped a meteor on it. The beast moved towards an escape and another meteor dropped, scaring the beast back towards Andrei. Andrei had put his spear away and pulled out his longsword realizing he could utilize his fire elements against this beast at will. This change of strategy is what doomed the beast as meteor after meteor followed by fire balls from "Dragon's Breath" was burning the beast to a crisp.
A last ditch effort from the beast shouted out of its mouth a jet of water that Andrei countered with his own "Extinguisher" spell cancelling it out. The beast let out more jets of water and Andrei continued to cancel it out and would drop a meteor on it on each break. The HP bar on his interface was showing it was about to die and so Andrei charged in and with the longsword in both hands came down with a final swing and chopped the beast in half.
Death Squad who had all been standing there watching at this point were in complete shock as they knew that an Epic tiered beast who was just controlling a beast nest to summon armies of beasts was just defeated by their leader. Epic tier beasts have been known to take out thousands of soldiers before being finally subdued. Someone soloing it as if it was a training exercise just didn't make sense to any of them.
Andrei touched the Beast Nest and it appeared in his inventory, the team walked back outside all silent, digesting what they just witnessed and how Andrei didn't appear to have been bothered. They had seen him get hit by the lightning bolts that sent Edwin backwards several feet yet he appeared to not have a scratch on him.
What none of them knew was that they didn't kill who spoke to them to tell them to leave. They were stealing a planet's resource and there was a being on the planet that did not appreciate its resource being taken away.