Initiate rifleman Becker doubled tapped the last black sphere of eyeballs with his laser rifle, then changed out the barrel before it melted. Around him the other members of Akmadouric's army idled about in a dazed state, a blue aura marking them as friendly.

Looking at the scene before him he said “For fuck sakes. On ancient battlefields endless fields of corpses were commonplace.” he shook his head “Never in my military career did I ever expect to be in the middle of one.” In every direction there were bodies and parts from every kind of creature and machine imaginable. The mutated flesh of cyborgs and monsters burned. A mountainous mass of some kind of insect with a carapace lay on it’s side in the distance, or at least that was the best way he could describe it. During the battle he had been ordered to steer clear of the rampaging behemoth, and leave it to the mid-tier personal of Akmadouric’s army.

A screen popped up before his eyes.

Objective complete. The hostile ground assault on Planet Gorzimo has been stopped.

Bright flashes appeared and disappeared overhead as explosions large enough to destroy solar systems brightened the night's sky as weapons of mass destruction detonated.

He said to the three foot tall pointy eared green pyromancer who had walked up to him “Made it in time. We get to live for the day.” During the battle he had been told that the enemy could have launched a cataclysmic weapon at them at any time, so their foothold on the ground needed to be cleared up as quickly as possible in order for the active orbital defenses to launch and the High-tierman and midtierman would be allowed to exert pressure elsewhere within the battle that encompassed the whole universe of a dimension.

With his part over, he loosened the rivets on his mechanical suit for comfort, without success since it’s inch thick armor covered his whole body. He sat down to rest on a six legged wolf sized creature which had tried it’s very best to kill him twenty minutes ago. Then another screen popped up.

New rallying call. A new enemy dimension has been discovered and an initiate coordinator by the name of Zackery Taylor requires rescue. Code name: Lost sheep. Combat Likiper inbound.

Primary objective: Take part in the assault on the hostile dimension and deal as much damage as possible to it before the enemy reactionary forces enter the field. Secondary objective: rescue the lost sheep.

Becker let out a sigh, then began to re-tighten the rivets on his suit. An average man would refuse the call to duty after the four hour ‘minor’ skirmish fraught with multiple near death experiences, but he had long ago grown used to toughing it out. After two full minutes of waiting it finally hit him. Zackery Taylor? That spindly piece of skin and bones? He looked at the bloody carnage around him and said “No way the kid survived this kind of environment.” He concentrated on controlling his breathing and keeping still in order to aid his recovery.

Then in the distance a silver line twisted through the smoke on the horizon. Wings extended from the back on his suit and he initiated a light burn sequence. Flames erupted from the jets and the ground fell beneath him as he rose. The Combat Likiper approached at the low speed of fifty MPH and the docking mechanism on his suit engaged. The flying mechanical serpent took a nose dive within twenty feet of him and a compartment in it’s midsection opened up. The positive met the negative magnetics and Becker flew into the foam filled compartment. The temporary cushion dissipated and he anchored his feet onto the floor, then strapped himself into the chair made for his suit, which proved to be a difficult task with the g-forces that many a Likiper in flight could pull. After getting himself situated he turned down the visibility of the walls within the compartment in preparation to shoot through them. The fire from his laser rifle would pass through the hull and wings of the Likiper without harming the cyborg snake by design, although he did have to avoid shooting the other two dozen riflemen in the other compartments.

They picked up another three members and finally the Likiper accelerated towards the interdimensional portal that lead to a hostile realm, where virtually anything could be waiting for them. Steeling himself, he checked his equipment for the tenth time, the extra barrels attached to his forearms could be changed out quick enough. The rotational device on the floor could be controlled by his feet well enough and the ejector diagnostics said it was in working order.

The combat Likiper’s head breached the portal and the world shifted around them. The ground sank and the daylight turned to the pitch black of night. Eerie orange lights appeared on the ground just as the world stopped shifting, signaling that the crossing was over.

The raid party found themselves flying before a tree as large as a skyscraper. With branches that were twenty feet thick and had silver leaves that smoked. It's trunk had to be at least fifty feet in diameter. Above it the Akma network displayed the name

Corrupted Poru Tree

With aid of his suit’s scanners he could see a close up view of the glowing orange spheres attached to the root, a screen appeared.

Discovered Fruit 7GU8VL2 Based off of similar accounts within the database, fruits like these are used to feed the fiends that serve the Deity Ulgroth. Slightly volatile and radioactive.

Then all of the orange glowing fruits luminosity intensified, giving the entire the entire cavern a slightly hellish hue. Warning lights flashed on his visor and the words ‘Energy spike detected’ were displayed. It automatically switched to a different mode, allowing Becker to see what looked like veins of magma flowing into the dark violet barked tree as it…moved?

Becker watched in awe as the black tree visibly transformed. The leaves grew pale and the smoke they emitted increased. Buds as large as trucks began to form in seconds as if he was watching through a time lapsed camera. The leathery brown petals parted, revealing multitudes of three foot long thorns, only to be hidden soon after as the smoke thickened.

Upon seeing the threat the Combat Likiper accelerated towards it’s maximum speed.

Senior Rifleman Oiksh hissed over the com system, deciding to shoot first and ask questions later “Open fire! Strike first!” laser beams of green, blue, yellow and red light passed through the hull of the Likiper.

Becker watched the tree’s splinters fly as the green laser fire blew chunks out the branches but the the red laser mode failed to even damage the leaves.

The humanoid serpent Oiksh said “Fire mode three proven ineffective. Discontinue.” and the team members who were firing the red lasers switched their rifles to a different mode.

Volleys of thorns launched from the demented brown flowers behind the gray smoke. Becker’s hud showed the paths of each of the deadly projectiles and target reticle clusters over the probable origins of the incoming fire. The Likiper swerved, dipped and changed direction, causing Becker to be pressed into the straps as the g-forces rose into the upper nines. His aim became erratic with every change in direction.

Oiksh spoke through the com systems “Fire mode four proven to be most effective.” and everyone started shooting only the green lasers. The towering tree launched it’s thorns like rain against the elusive mechanical serpent darting about the massive cavern.

Becker saw a branch he had blown apart earlier and said into the com system “Be advised. It’s regrowing over the areas where we’ve blasted before.” it was the only explanation for it not being dead after all the firepower they had already poured into it.

Oiksh said “Then we make new priority targets. Focus your firepower on the radioactive fruits that are giving power to the tree. And split apart, this much concentrated fire is making me nervous.”

The Likiper made a sharp turn and Becker hit the ejection button, the g-forces that had been hampering his ability to aim propelled him away from the mechanical serpent. The suit’s wings spread and he initiated a burn at maximum power to get away as quickly as possible, soon exiting the firezone where the thorns landed. He immediately took the opportunity to aim a few rounds into some of the unnatural fruits. They ruptured and their pale orange juices flew in every direction. Becker switched his hud visor’s vision to it’s energy detection mode and didn’t like what he was seeing “The damn thing is soaking up the juices from the fruits we shot. Energy levels are spiking even higher.”

Then he made a sharp ninety degree turn to avoid a clustered volley of thorns and knew that the other members of the raid couldn't keep this up forever.

Senior Rifleman Oiksh said over the communication system “Then revert back to our original tactics. Shoot those jhzrkss flowers before anyone else gets impaled by these thorns.” apparently that word didn’t translate very well from the humanoid serpent’s language but Becker was sure that it was cuss word of some kind.

Another riflemen said in a panicking voice “The fog is getting too thick! We’re shooting blind.” the smoke the leaves were making were also masking the thorns approach, eventually they would be dodging blind as well.

Becker said “Keep calm and detached. If you lose your composure, you’ll lose your combat effectiveness.”

Akma’s voice came through the radio “A single mid-tier reinforcement named Kerink is incoming.”

Oiksh hissed over the radio “Ssstay safe. Take no risks.”

Becker frowned as he looked at the cloud hidden tree in the center of the massive cavern "The situation is getting worse by the minute and we are going to start taking casualties pretty soon." with the fog growing thick enough to almost reach the cavern's walls, detecting the thorns flying at the members of the raid party was getting more and more difficult by the minute.

Becker had very little knowledge about what a mid-tier personal was capable of but if the much more well informed Senior Rifleman Oiksh knew, then he would just have to trust his superior.