Campaign 15

Over the vast arid region of the Ashan continent, many gigantic monsters ruled the less human-populated areas. Yet, from time to time, lone monsters tend to stray into human territories. The Kingdom of Perlas’ territories were few examples. As long as there was a big enough distance between one town or city to the next, one should always remember the dangers of travelling without protection could bring.

On this day, in particular, a large monster was chasing after its prey. The monster was a few meters tall, but its entire body was over three dozen meters long. Its body, entirely covered in jet-black chitin, was supported by eight massive chitinous legs and had four menacing forward limbs that dug through earth and smashed through solid rock.

Its head had an equally massive incisor-like beak that could also slice through anything it held, and a pair of large golden eyes that glimmered under the rays of the sun. Suddenly, it opened its beak and let out a roar that reverberated through the air, making the dust on the ground get blown away.

The prey that it was chasing looked back for a moment before increasing its speed. It was a young man wearing a battle dress, but he was running away as fast as he was being chased. Ordinarily, it would not be possible, but this young man was special—in a way—that he was chanting a string of words as he gasped for breath.

“GONNADIEGONNADIEGONNADIEGONNADIE—hup!”

It was Malachi. He vaulted over a large boulder that he ran across and continued running. For a moment, he looked back, only to see the monster effortlessly smash the boulder to smithereens.

“I’MDEADI’MDEADI’MDEADI’MDEAD—maybe I should sing?”

As he wondered what he should do, let us go back a few hours earlier to see how this happened in the first place.

It was the day after their break and the day they were about to deploy for their mission in their classroom. One half of the class was refreshed due to the break given yesterday, but the other half was not as well-rested due to using their time for training. Nevertheless, when it came to Malachi, rest did not matter as he was always eager to get things done.

Malachi stood in front of his class in full battle attire like the rest. Compared to the usual cadet uniform, their battle dress was similar to the battle dress used by the Royal Army, but had different insignias to identify their affiliation. With a smile plastered on his face, Malachi began the briefing with incomparable glee.

“Mission objective: capture the Hell Worm,” he announced, “The Hell Worm was sighted thirty—“

Naturally, many cadets did not take kindly to the sudden change in objectives as few voiced out their complaints.

“Capture?! The Hell are saying?!” said one cadet, “Do you even know how difficult it is to scratch the damned thing, let alone disable its movements?!”

“Yeah! How the Hell do we know you’re not sending us out to our deaths?!” voiced another, “That’s your plan, isn’t it!? Your aim is to weaken our potential so you could take full control of everything!”

Bang!

“Ugh!?”

Malachi shot one cadet’s leg with a handgun.

“If you don’t want to attend the mission, feel free to take a bullet to your leg,” he warned, “Even with one less soldier, I aim to succeed even if I just take the engineers with me. Now, if you don’t want credits, you’re also free to spend the rest of the week in the infirmary.”

Right after that, the door to the corridor burst open and a number of guards and faculty barged inside.

“We heard a gunshot!” roared a guard, “What’s going on here?!”

Malachi faced the guard with his blood red eyes.

“It was a warning shot,” he explained, “A warning shot with a bit of pain and blood to make a point.”

A faculty with a ponytail stepped forward.

“But that doesn’t mean you could circumvent protocol, Malachi!” argued Carlos, “There are proper procedures for this!”

Malachi sighed.

“Then take it up with the Headmaster,” he said, “He did give me full discretion with this mission’s execution—and a lot of other things. If no one wants to take part in my plans, they should be satisfied with a failing grade, and failure is unacceptable—especially if they keep pestering me with the greatness of being a Perlasian when they can’t even provide me with exceptional results.”

Malachi returned his attention to the class.

“That said, failure to capture the Hell Worm alive will fail this entire mission,” he declared, “Each one of us—including myself—will fail the mission. Then, everybody will prepare for a punishment exercise—a thirty-kilometer jog all the way back to base under the unforgiving heat of the sun with bullets in our legs. Since the Eskurs and I heal fairly quickly, both legs will be shot.”

The faculty and guards present could not believe what they just heard come out of his mouth. A guard went close to Carlos to whisper in his ear.

“What do we do, sir?” asked the guard, “The cadet that got shot is from well-known nobility.”

“I can’t say,” replied Carlos, “It is true that His Highness gave Malachi full power to exercise in this mission, but this falls outside any of our known protocols. Go to His Highness for his opinion.”

The guard saluted and left the classroom. Outside, a crowd of other cadets had already formed due to the number of faculty standing guard and attempting to disperse the onlookers.

Malachi turned his attention to the faculty and guards.

“Well? What are you waiting for?” he asked them, “Bring this guy to the infirmary, unless you want him to bleed to death.”

Malachi pointed at the cadet who was now on the floor, trying to stop his leg from bleeding further by covering it with his hands. By then, two guards went inside and applied first-aid before lifting the cadet out of the classroom to the infirmary. As the cadet was carried out, Malachi had a frown as they passed by him.

“Pathetic.” He whispered; a whisper that did not go unnoticed by the aggrieved.

The cadet shot a glare at Malachi, but Malachi sent a more intense glare back, seemingly burning through the cadet’s very being as the aggrieved flinched much worse than when he was in pain. Once the wounded cadet was gone, Malachi looked back to his classmates.

“Let’s have an incentive,” he added, “If the capture is a success, everybody will have a two-day break. That should be enough time to recuperate any of your losses before we start killing your old selves again.”

Once there was a good thing to come out of his mouth, the remaining cadets reacted. Who would not want to have a break from Malachi’s mad schemes? Only those who wish to push their humanity to the limit, of course. As for Malachi, he was not ordinary to begin with.

Carlos covered his face with a palm and groaned, then turned back to the other faculty and guards.

“Disperse that crowd outside and return to your duties,” he said, “I’ll stay here and wait for His Highness’s decision and to prevent another cadet from being shot.”

“Teach, even if you prevent them from getting shot here, who is to say that I won’t shoot them out there?” said Malachi. Naturally, he heard that last part. “Besides, if we do fail this mission, I’m shooting both of my legs after shooting theirs.”

Carlos looked at Arlianne. The girl was still expressionless.

“Even Arlianne?” he wondered.

Hearing her name, everybody looked at Malachi, but the young man did not falter.

“No exceptions.”

After a while, the guard that went to Eleazar had returned. For better or for worse, Carlos prepared himself to hear the answer.

“Er, how do I say this,” mumbled the guard, “His Highness just flipped a coin and decided there.”

Carlos was stunned. Eleazar flipped a coin to decide Malachi’s fate, rather than using logic and reason to arrive at a decision. Nevertheless, Carlos urged the guard to continue.

“Malachi will be detained for one day after this mission,” continued the guard, “He said, ‘It was my responsibility for giving him authority, to begin with; a proper punishment, but not too harsh that I would be pushing the blame onto him. I’ll just pay for reparations if that kid’s family comes barging in here in the future.’”

“He flipped a coin, right? Then what was the other choice?” asked Carlos.

“His Highness won’t act,” answered the guard, “He will only stay silent about it, and have Malachi run free.”

Carlos scratched his head.

“What a problematic Royal Family we have…”

•

“Now then, where was I?”

Malachi picked up from where he was interrupted in the briefing.

“Right, the Hell Worm was sighted near a town 30 kilometers east from here,” he explained, “It made a nest in a nearby canyon. So far, the scouts have yet to see any activity this past week until they went deeper into the canyon. Due to their encroachment upon the Hell Worm’s nest, the target had gone berserk and decimated half the scouting party, putting the entire region at full alert. This was six hours ago.”

Malachi unfurled a map that revealed the area of operation’s geography.

“We will be setting up a base next to the mouth of the canyon,” he continued, “Once that’s set up, I will take three people with me, forming a fire-team, to scout the Hell Worm’s whereabouts.”

He looked at his classmates.

“Levi, Mr. Bryant, and Ms. Ramirez, you three are coming with me,” he announced, “The three of you are always the last people running during the laps. I need people with high stamina for the worst case scenario while we scout.”

Levi nodded in silence, and Rae energetically replied. However, Patrick did not react with hostility to being called. Instead, he nodded in agreement, surprising many of the others to his changed attitude.

“Huh? I thought you’d refuse,” wondered Malachi, “Why the change of heart?”

Patrick averted his gaze.

“No need for you to know.” He said.

Malachi shrugged and resumed the briefing.

“All right, as long as you follow orders. Next,” he continued, “While we’re out looking for the target, coordinate with Arlianne and the engineers to set up an ambush with the tank destroyer. We will be aiming for the target’s legs to neutralize its movements. Mr. Simmons, I’ll have you look for a good sniping position to watch the surrounding area.”

Tyler nodded.

“Once you’ve found a good spot, feel free to get rid of hindrances that may affect the mission success rate,” added Malachi, “I mean that you can get rid of any other monster that strays into the area that you may deem as dangerous. One shot from the sniper rifle should do the trick.”

Tyler nodded nervously. Rae went behind him and slapped his back.

“Ya should relax a bit!” she said, “I mean, at least you’re on lookout.”

“Uh, y-yeah,” replied Tyler.

Malachi glanced at the two before continuing the briefing.

“Once we’ve found where the target is, we will attempt to lure it to the ambush area,” he said, “Be sure to notify us where you’re all waiting, otherwise I’ll be shooting your legs as promised. Now, just in case things go awry, we will have a backup plan. If the ambush fails, and everybody becomes compromised, you will all retreat and regroup. We will still aim to capture the target, but we will no longer keep it as intact as possible. Set up another ambush to destroy a part of its body. If it comes to this, however, everyone will still be jogging back to the academy, but without the bullets to our legs.”

Just then, a cadette raised her hand. It was Samantha.

“How will we be transporting the Hell Worm if we do capture it?” she asked, “The target will be as large as one would expect. We won’t be carrying something dangerous, right?”

Malachi smiled.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got that covered.”

•

Once everybody was certain of their plan, Malachi led them out of their classroom and brought them to the gates. Carlos was with them, of course, and would personally see them off. When they arrived at the gates, they were greeted by their engineers, the tank destroyer, and another five vehicles.

The five other vehicles strongly resembled one of the vehicles Malachi designed. However, there two differences. None of the new vehicles have any weapons, and each one was 8 meters long. Due to its length, it was supported by a massive engine that also drove 28 wheels.

“What in the world are those?” wondered a cadet.

“Platform trucks,” answered Malachi, “They’re a smaller and more lightweight version of the trucks you’ve all used, making them faster. The engine is the same that we use for siege engines, so the output will be greater. Asher, I assume you’re all ready to go?”

Malachi called out to a tall Eskur who was coordinating with the other engineers. Being called by Malachi, he responded from afar.

“Yes, milord!” he replied, “All vehicles are prepped and ready to deploy!”

Malachi looked back at his classmates.

“We will be using one to transport the tank, and another to carry us.” He explained. Malachi pointed at the tank destroyer that was being driven up a ramp that was lowered behind one of the trucks. “The rest will be used to transport the Hell Worm once we’ve captured it. Ah, right, I almost forgot.”

Malachi approached Tyler with a box and a crossbow.

“Here, you’re the better shot among all the others, so I’ll trust you to use them wisely.” He said, “These are drugged bolts. If you get a chance, shoot the target with it, provided you can get through its armor. These should put it to sleep for a long while.”

Tyler received the box and opened it. Inside were crossbow bolts with 8-gauge needles—around 4mm thick—with special casings that contained the drugs. The size of the needles sent chills down the spines of everyone present.

“This crossbow is a bit different, though,” added Malachi, “It’s a pneumatic crossbow that also uses air pressure to increase its power. Use the lever to pump it with air, and then use it like an ordinary crossbow. Watch the gauge, though, and don’t let it rupture.”

After Tyler put the box in his backpack, he took the crossbow from Malachi. Compared to the old crossbows, this one had added weight due to the additional parts and lengthened body. Tyler tested out the crossbow, and could hear the air shooting out a pipe where the bolts would go through.

“This is nice,” commented Tyler without stuttering.

“Looks like you can speak without fumbling your words, huh?” commented Malachi, “Well, do a good job and I might exempt you from some exercises. With that out of the way, board the trucks and let’s move out!”

With the speed they were driving with, they easily arrived at their destination in just an hour. Once everyone disembarked from the trucks, they set up their base, and Malachi took Levi, Patrick and Rae with him to scout the canyon. As for the rest, they followed the plan and looked for a place to ambush the Hell Worm. Tyler was able to immediately locate a high point where he could watch the surroundings from any direction, and prepared to set up an overwatch.

As Malachi brought his team with him, he tutored them on how to scout for a target.

“Okay, let’s have some lessons on scouting and patrolling,” he said mid-jog, “It’s a good thing we’re just monster hunting, and won’t be dealing with human foes. Humans are much more troublesome since you can expect them to think the same way as you do.”

Malachi turned back and jogged backwards.

“Now then, the three of you will form a horizontal line with me.” He said. Malachi looked at both sides of the canyon. “The canyon seems to be around 10 meters wide, so we will maintain a distance of 2.5 meters from one another and fan the area. Next, try your best to keep quiet as you move through the terrain.”

Levi, Patrick, and Rae did as they were told, and were able to form a line. They had a bit of difficulty trying to maintain equidistance from one another, but it was manageable. Malachi returned forward and glanced at the ground. One step after another, his footsteps noticeably got more and more inaudible.

“Watch the ground you’re traversing. Make sure you don’t step on any loose soil, gravel, or anything that would make noise once you step on it. It is indeed difficult, but you can do it with practice. The best places to step on to would be solid rock, and the arid regions are the best place for us. Oh, and make sure you don’t kick a rock.”

Just when he warned them, Rae accidentally sent a small rock flying with her foot. The rock flew in a high arc before landing noisily on the ground.

“Freeze!” ordered Malachi with a raised fist, “Keep it quiet and watch the surroundings. Look for any movement from the canyon walls, the ground, and the paths.”

The other three tensed up as their eyes darted from one location to another. Malachi calmly assessed their surroundings. Seeing that nothing was amiss, he finally lowered his fist.

“Right, that’s what I was saying,” he continued, “Watch your feet, if you can help it.”

He watched the other three’s movements for a while before resuming the jog.

“By the way, try keeping your bodies close to the ground,” he advised, “Lower your bodies a bit as you move. As for your feet, make sure your heels come into contact first, and then roll towards your toes before your next step. Keep them in contact with the ground as much as possible; you can move your hips around to help you with control.”

The three with him wondered what he meant by that and tested it out. Trying to achieve the utmost silence, Levi, Patrick, and Rae spent a bit of time before they got the hang of it. As for Malachi, he only gave pointers on where and how to move, not minding the passage of time.

“Keep your arms close as you move. I know it is difficult while carrying a gun, but that is what the slings are for. Holster your weapon for a bit, and then try moving silently again… that’s right. Lower your body a bit. Okay, that’s enough. Next, try moving.”

They spent half an hour trying to move silently. Only then Patrick noticed that they got carried away.

“Skaria! We’re taking too much time, here!” he cried, “We still have a job to do!”

Malachi shrugged.

“Hey, at least you guys learned something new,” he commented, “All right, let’s go.”

•

Eventually, they chanced upon a cave. Its mouth was big enough for two siege engines to pass through side by side, and it was deep enough that none of them could see within without any lighting. Malachi dropped down and observed the floor, walls, and ceiling of the cave.

“Say, could any of you see anything that may mark this place as a nest?” He asked. Malachi scanned the surfaces for anything that could give away the cave’s purpose.

After a few minutes, Levi pointed at something on the ground.

“I see some scratch marks over there,” he shared, “Looks pretty deep, too.”

Curious, Malachi entered the cave and pulled out a handheld device. It had a button on its side, and he pressed it, revealing a bright light from one end.

“Is that a pyrocite lamp?” wondered Rae, “But, it seems a bit too bright for pyrocite.”

“It’s a flashlight,” answered Malachi without looking back, “You can think of it as an electrocite lamp. It was pure luck for me that tungsten existed here.”

“What’s tungsten?” asked Patrick, “Is that another creation of yours?”

Malachi was still observing the scratch marks Levi found.

“No, Asher and the rest procured it from the Eqari merchants,” he explained, “It seems that some imperials discovered it and was used for many similar devices. Hmm, seems like these scratch marks are tracks instead. Let’s go deeper and maintain complete silence. I have no idea what will come out of here.”

Malachi led his team deeper into the cave while lighting up their surroundings with the flashlight. Each step was given the utmost care, and the other three had their bodies tense up due to their vigilance. With the flash light in hand, Malachi was also carefully scanning each nook and cranny he could find with the light. Finally, after a few minutes of searching, they ended up in a wide open area.

“This is most likely its home,” advised Malachi, “Watch yourselves as you move about looking for the target.”

Malachi and his team delved deeper into the wide area until…

“Huh?!”

Malachi stepped on a slippery surface and slipped.

“Damn!”

He tried to regain his balance and control, but the surface was too slippery and he landed on something soft and squishy. Malachi went straight into the squishy substance, and was completely covered in slime from head to toe.

“Eww, what in all Hells is this?” he wondered as he stood up, “It stinks… too… oh… CRAP!”

As his eyes finally focused, he directed his flashlight at something before him. It had a shiny black surface that reflected the rays of the flashlight, and a pair of golden orb-like protrusions. Malachi was calmly observing what he found, until the pair of golden orb-like protrusions shivered and raised high in the air.

“Aw, to hell with this!” he bellowed, “FULL RETREAT! GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE, NOW!”

Turning around, Malachi grabbed hold of his companions and pushed them towards where they came from. The others, still confused why, were handed the flashlight to see what they were supposedly running away from.

A roar suddenly erupted from behind them, and a pair of golden orbs could be seen chasing after them.

“Hell Worm?!” cried Rae, “We need to radio the others we found it!”

“You guys deal with that!” roared Malachi, “I just screwed myself up!”

“The hell do you mean by that?!” cried Levi, “And why the hell are you covered in goo?!”

“That’s the thing! I landed in its eggs!” cried Malachi back, “This thing is pissed off with all its fury!”

Out of the blue, their radios came to life. It was Arlianne.

“Ma—chi the —sh —ea—“ The signal was too weak to clearly understand what she was saying. Still, they all understood that the ambush was ready. The only problem was they did not hear where it was placed.

“Rae, sprint towards the exit and contact the others!” ordered Malachi, “Levi, Mr. Bryant, split away from me and go back into the nest! Get rid of all its eggs while I lure it away!”

“Are you kidding me?!” roared Patrick, “You want me to work with him?!”

“I could say the same, Malachi!” agreed Levi, “I tolerated this team because of you, not because of a chance at reconciliation!”

“Why you little—” bit Patrick back.

Bang!

Malachi loosed a round.

“Do the two of you want me to shoot the both of you and leave you for dead?!” he bellowed, “NOW, FOLLOW MY ORDERS OR I WILL PERSONALLY END YOUR STRIFE!”

Patrick gritted his teeth as he glared at Levi, while Levi ignored him completely.

“MOVE IT, YOU LITTLE SHITS!” roared Malachi.

He grabbed the two by their collars with surprising strength, stunning Levi and leaving Patrick in silence, and threw the two away from the Hell Worm’s path of carnage. As for Rae, seeing that Malachi was hell bent on luring the Hell Worm away, she sprinted as fast as she could to the exit. Once she could see the light of the outside, she made a hard left after getting out and slammed her back on the canyon wall.

Moments later, Malachi shot outside like a bullet, and was followed by the rampaging Hell Worm that smashed through solid rock.