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Chapter 77 - 5 Minutes
🕑 Added 2024-11-05 00:14:14 +0000 UTC- Oliver -
"Attack! Hold off the Titan until the ship arrives!" Quinn shouted to the Rangers.
She began pointing out where each of them should position themselves. "I want a team in the streets near the wall. Set up traps, delay the monster as much as possible." Four Rangers quickly advanced to carry out the orders.
"Two teams should climb the most stable buildings. I want artillery firing constantly. Don't let the Titan even think about what it will do." She assigned ten more Rangers to take charge of the artillery.
"Two of you will stay as babysitters. Protect the three; if necessary, you must flee the square. The rest, follow me—we'll have to fight the monster face to face," the General explained.
"This is one of those times when it would be good to have a way to get Mechas," one of the Rangers commented.
"No doubt. However, the station is too far to send them," Quinn explained. "Remember, we don't need to defeat the Titan. Just focus on delaying it."
With each moment they discussed the strategy, they could hear the sound of the monster approaching. Each step it took shook the ground, and pieces of flesh and bone were scattered along its path.
While the Rangers positioned themselves to welcome the Titan, Oliver, Katharine, and Isabela were escorted by two Rangers.
One of the Rangers suggested, "Let's stay on the opposite side of the battle. If there are any shots or explosions, we'll be safer."
They moved to the opposite side of the fortress, weaving through alleys and abandoned buildings until they found what seemed to be an old hardware store. Upon forcing open the front door, they found swords and axes. Most importantly, there was a second floor.
They could view almost the entire fortress on the house's second floor, especially the soon-to-be battlefield.
Oliver leaned near one of the windows, watching the Rangers advancing in formation through the fortress's narrow streets with piercing eyes. Their armor gleamed under the sunlight, allowing them to be seen even from a distance.
The Rangers advanced determinedly as if each step were synchronized. Some moved with calculated precision, installing traps designed to stop the Titan—a colossal war machine made of blood and guts.
Others scaled the structures that still stood, positioning themselves on the rooftops of surviving houses. They began firing heavy artillery from their elevated points, launching energy projectiles that sliced through the air with a sharp whistle before exploding in blinding flashes. The roar of the detonations echoed through the deserted streets while sparks and debris rained down on the battlefield.
Still, each shot seemed to cause no damage, except for a slight delay in the Titan's movements as it quickly regenerated.
Oliver felt the pulse of adrenaline and the electric tension in the air—the decisive confrontation was about to begin, and the operation's fate depended on the next few minutes.
Katharine, who was closer to the room’s center, began to crawl and approach one of the windows. Isabela was already sitting next to Oliver, trying to get a glimpse of the battle.
"Unfortunately, there's no one from the Black Division with them," Katharine commented.
"Why?" Oliver asked.
"The Black Division specializes in defense operations. They're better prepared for situations like this," the girl explained.
"Our intention was a quick entry and a simple extraction. Who would have thought the Orks would leave a Titan hidden on an abandoned world," one of the Rangers explained. "But maybe we don't even need anyone from the Black Division; at the end of the day, we're with the General."
Finally, the Titan approached the narrow streets where the traps awaited. The monster advanced relentlessly despite the artillery shots opening craters in its skin and occasionally pushing it against the surrounding structures.
At the exact moment, its gigantic leg entered the next street, a deafening explosion tore through the air. The detonation illuminated the sky with an intense glow, and fragments of the Titan were thrown in all directions. The monster staggered, its internal structures compromised, before collapsing heavily, smashing its face against the ground and raising a cloud of dust and debris.
Quinn was already waiting for this moment. Determined to seize the opportunity, the General raised one of her hands and conjured her Ranger Weapon—a massive claymore. The blade gleamed under the sunlight as she advanced toward the fallen giant.
The Ranger quickly advanced toward the monster, her enormous claymore glowing with intensely dense energy. With a precise movement, she delivered a horizontal slash. The sound of the blade slicing through the air resounded like thunder. The force of the attack was such that the creature was cut in half, its two parts falling heavily to the ground.
However, the monster didn't seem minimally affected. Where its legs had been blown off, new limbs were already regenerating, and the severed parts of its body were crawling, seeking to reunite. The organic matter recombined in a grotesque dance of regeneration, emitting a sinister noise of flesh and blood mixing as they reconnected.
As Quinn prepared to strike another blow, one of the Titan's loose parts took advantage of the opportunity.
With an unexpectedly swift movement, it swung a massive arm in her direction. The impact hit her squarely, launching her hundreds of meters away. She was hurled through the air, smashing through walls and structures before colliding with the ground amid the rubble.
Feeling the impact throughout her body, Quinn struggled to get up, while in the distance, the Titan, now almost reconstituted, rose again.
"Damn it!" the General shouted upon seeing her state.
'I needed more reinforcements to handle this son of a bitch,' she thought.
However, she would have only the twenty-three Rangers.
She quickly opened the front of her helmet to spit out the blood in her mouth.
"Are you still far?" the General spoke into the communicator with the ship's captain.
"I'm approaching; had to shake off some Ork ships on my tail," the captain responded.
"We don't have time; speed up," she said before closing the communicator.
'What do I do?' Quinn questioned herself. 'It's no use cutting it. I need to find the crystal that's controlling the Titan.'
While Quinn questioned what she should be doing, the hidden group was not far from where she had landed.
"Impressive," Oliver commented upon seeing all the action.
Even against a monster of titanic proportions, which he could barely look at without feeling extreme fear, the Rangers were still able to delay it and even blow it up several times.
'She managed to cut a Titan in half with just one move,' he thought, still impressed.
Nico's words echoed in his head from the last time he had seen the fight in the Trial Tower; the former Ranger had explained that it didn't even approach the power of the Orks—it wasn't a lie. 'How do they face something like this on the front line?'
"Do you think she's okay?" Isabela asked.
"The General?" one of the Rangers asked.
"Yes," Isabela replied.
"She is. No doubt she's injured, but she's stronger than that," the Ranger explained. "It's just bad luck that there's no compatibility between powers and weaknesses. She would have finished it fast if the monster couldn't regenerate."
As the Ranger stopped talking, the group spotted a ship rapidly approaching in the distance. However, something was wrong—instead of decelerating to land, the ship was accelerating more and more. Its thrusters were blazing, consuming all the ship's power. It cut through the skies above the fortress at a stunning speed, performing evasive maneuvers that defied gravity and logic.
"Be right back," was the captain's only message before continuing to accelerate.
Right on its tail, three other ships emerged, their unmistakable silhouettes revealing they were Ork vessels. The metallic and asymmetrical hulls of the vessels, as if hastily constructed, made it clear who had built them.
While pursuing, the three ships took the opportunity to launch energy projectiles toward the human ship. Explosions illuminated the sky, but the skilled pilot avoided each shot with precise movements.
Luckily for the humans, their ship was faster and more agile. Although devoid of armaments to face the opponents in direct combat, it was ideal for quick escapes and extractions under enemy fire. The pilot executed tight turns and abrupt dives, using the fortress's irregular topography to make aiming difficult for the pursuers. The larger and less maneuverable Ork ships struggled to keep up with the aerial acrobatics.
The group watched the scene with growing tension, aware that this ship could be their only chance to escape. The roar of engines and the whistle of shots echoed through the skies as the pursuit intensified.
Quickly, the human ship changed direction, fleeing to the stratosphere—they embarked on a fight against the planet's gravity and air resistance.
As the group watched the race of the ships, another explosion caught their attention. The Titan had obliterated the artillery.
