Chapter 38

Cindy disappeared to give instructions and then a short time later a piece of wood intended for the barricade was brought back. This one however was different. For one, the two handlers carried it extremely carefully, and they communicated to each with stressed voices. The base of the main spike also had red paint splashed on it. Daniel noted approvingly that they ensured that spike never pointed directly at anyone.

“First trap.” Karolina told him. He was a little surprised to see a fighter being used to port the wood around, but he guessed the barricade components were heavy and given the defensive setup they were implementing, at least why the barrier held the strong melee fighters were not as valuable as those who could hit from range.

Daniel knelt down next to the lump of wood that she had brought him. “I can see the mark.” He agreed and then touched it. An incredible amount of tension had been built up in the base even if visually it was the same as any other component. This spike when triggered thing would kill a hulk and while it might not wound an earth feral theoretically, it could knock it flat.

“Where do you want us to put it?” Karolina asked.

“Umm,” he hesitated, then shook his head. “I’ll place it myself.” Under his senses the wood was almost vibrating, it was that tense and while Karolina and friend were strong enough to move it, she could not manually suppress it like he could.

“Are you sure, Daniel?” the second handler challenged.

He started in surprise and checked out the man who had spoken. Bushy beard, and like he had thought it was not anyone he recognised. Daniel guessed everyone knew his name, but it still surprised him when people he did not know addressed him with it.

“Yes.” He activated strength and then with a single movement lifted the very heavy piece of wood right up above his head and used the temporary steps at the back of the wall to get higher and then slid it into the gap near the roof.

Daniel released strength. His breathing rate had increased yet again. He wouldn’t be able to install all of them. “I’ll do the higher ones, but I’ll get help with the lower ones.”

“Okay.” Bushy beard and Karolina retreated and a new pair slid in.

He activated strength and then mirrored the previous process, but slipped it in on the other side of the barricade.

“Maybe have a break before doing another high one yourself.” Cindy advised.

He gave her a thumbs up and then directed the placement of the next few rounds.

The construction was not completed, but Daniel stepped back to admire what he had created. From this side, it looked disorganised. A series of irregularly stacked chunks of wood which extended from the ground all the way to the roof. There were sizeable gaps between the pieces all over the place, and when he leant forward to peer through, he could see the flight of steps descending and the thicket of spikes radiating outwards.

Karolina nudged him and held out another component. Daniel pointed at the ground and she slid it into place. The long spike was pushed through the wall till the new piece rested flush against the previous piece, doubling the thickness in that spot of the barricade. More pieces arrived and were stacked upwards, improving the integrity of the wall.

“No more.” Daniel declared. Adding a third row was pointless. Daniel wasn’t even sure that the second layer had been the right choice because it had filled most of the holes that would let him see any enemies approaching from below.

Cindy walked forward and poked it curiously. “Okay, I guess it’s time to see if it works. Let’s see if you can get it to fold down two flights.”

Daniel nodded. And stepped up, so he was holding onto the back of the wall. Instantly, his power went out and his consciousness infused the whole thing. The module nature of the setup was very clear and Daniel took a few moments to get used to it. The groves Cindy had got him to put in place would be useful, especially once it started moving.

“It’s going to be loud,” he warned.

When Daniel looked back, he was not surprised to see the careful lines of fighters set up. If the zombies responded, they would have the firepower to defend. He was going two-thirds of the way down the next flight, so ranged fighters should be able to shoot down on any zombies that came from below to and tried to break through.

“Do it,” Luke ordered.

Daniel shut his eyes and sent his consciousness throughout all the pieces once more. “Push,” he commanded.

The three strongest fighters all started staining, and it was weird when he felt how that effort translated into the instability of the structure. His magic flexed as portions of wood began rolling, and then the whole thing rumbled forward. The design that Cindy had put in worked. The movement of individual pieces was guided, but it wasn’t perfect. Lumps of wood popped out of their sockets and only his consciousness being within the barricade to swell the size of key pieces at the right moment stopped it from all falling to bits.

It was the sound of a house collapsing. Daniel balanced precariously on the back of the barricade as it plunged downwards. Then it hit the first landing. He was jerked violently sideways as the whole contraception twisted. His right foot hooked onto a piece that had come loose and stopped it from flying ahead of the rest of the components, which would have been the start of the entire wall falling apart. Then another one slipped and his fingers desperately clawed its edge to stabilise. It plunged down the steps, one after the other.

Crash, crash, crash.

His bones rattled and pieces of the surrounding concrete walls crumbled as the edges struck the stonework.

It was terrifying. Momentum built up.

They were going too fast. He physically pulled it backwards even while mentally the pre-designed energy absorbers shifted into place. They smacked into the concrete sides. Fragments when flying. There was a tearing sound as they caught. Then the entire wall jerked savagely to a halt. Most of the momentum bled away by the prepared springs.

Daniel slammed into the wood and recoiled, touching his stinging lip.

That was…

His hands were trembling… wild.

“Great job.” Luke called.

Daniel placed his head against the wood. The energy released had been immense, and the whole way it had been centimetres from disaster. So close to the whole thing shaking apart but it had held. The barricade had moved and now it was stationary again. It was as strong as ever.

The noise had not gone unnoticed by the zombies Daniel could hear roaring from level nineteen and from further below. “Incoming.”

“Thanks, Captain obvious.” Luke said dryly.

Daniel glanced up and Luke had shifted the melee fighters to be crowded directly behind him. They were there in case the wall failed and then above him the upper stairs were crowded with people positioned to fire down on any ferals that attacked the barrier.

“Daniel,” Luke said. “Your job is to ensure that wall holds. You’ve got a team ready to deliver replacement sections. Call out when you need them.”

“Understood.” He acknowledged.

The roars kept getting closer and closer.

Then monsters poured out of the door to level nineteen. Seven of them came out onto the decking. They took a moment to realise where the noise they were responding to had come from. A second later, they registered the presence of tasty flesh. They all swung as one to look up to where the humans were. Mouths opened, revealing teeth and thick ropes of saliva. One face was almost human, with the only obvious mutation being vein like black streaks down her face. Another’s skin looked like polished rubber and the eyes ranged from inhumane too…

Daniel jerked backwards instinctively as two of them blurred forward, outdistancing the other ones. Unfortunately, they did not suicide into the spikes but stopped their hands moving quickly to chip away at the stakes. Naturally, Daniel reinforced the spikes they were striking. He considered what he could do to fight back. There were a couple of big hitting traps that would launch a spear that could easily punch through a hulk, but Daniel was worried that the speed zombies would just dodge the attacks and he didn’t want to waste something so potent on what was ultimately a weak enemy.

The damage on the spots they were attacking mounted and then suddenly it stopped. When he peeked through the gap, he could see electricity running over the speedster’s muscles.

Boom.

The two electrified zombies were sent flying backwards almost at the same time. One looked like an invisible spear had blown through its chest and the other went down almost headless with splintered wood spreading outward from it. The other five mouth’s frothing attacked the spikes. There were no earth elites, but two were clearly strength based ferals. One of the smaller ones which horrifically resembled a standard TV zombie complete with grey skin, sores and an eye that appeared to be falling landed a single swing on a spike that was as thick as one of his arms and that massive chunk of wood snapped like it was a matchstick.

Daniel tried to ignore the distractions to focus on monitoring structural integrity, but it was difficult.

Secondary booms occurred.

He looked upwards at the stairwells and saw two of the melee fighters crouched down with the remnants of his one-shot rockets in their hands. Like it had been planned the pieces got passed backwards and exchanged for new weapons.

There was no longer any pressure on the barrier, which told Daniel that all the first seven had to be dead even if he couldn’t see it from his position, but there were sounds of more approaching.

There was a roar and via a crack in his wooden barrier he got a glimpse of what was coming. The new assessment technique he had got from Priscilla went haywire. Stronger than him, naturally quicker and magical because he could see the earth armour bubbling over its skin.

An ultra.

It bellowed, and a black mist was expelled from its mouth. It hit the wooden stakes and even through it was wood he felt the bits of it that were still alive die.

Whatever the magic was anything it touched died.

“Earth Armour.” Luke thundered. “Daniel, restrict it.”

The cry was not required. Daniel knew exactly what was coming and that he needed to hold it. The question was whether the technique that he had put together to stop earth armour would be functional against a monster that could expel that dark mist.

It swung and an entire layer of the spike wall was destroyed. Five or six blows and it would get through. It kicked out and cleared the spikes near its legs and then stepped forward right within range. If he ignored the hundreds of kilograms of wood between him and the monster, it was almost close enough for it to reach out and pat him on the head.

Daniel forgot about all the distractions around him and focused his effort. This was not a super. They could fight a rearguard action and kite the monster until its armour failed, but he was not convinced that his forces could do that sort of military maneuvers without losing a single life. With the powers they were talking about, it would only take one mistake to cause a tragedy. It only needed to get its hands on someone and then it would either rip them in half or if it was hungry something as equally unpleasant as biting off a face, and that without factoring in the impact of that deadly breath.

It would be best to avoid it getting amongst everyone else. Loses in battle was not a matter of numbers. Life was not chess where it was fine to sacrifice pieces or a dry discussion of favourable exchanges. If the ultra got amongst them, people would die. How would he react if one of those acceptable losses was Tamara?

He needed to stop it now. He focused his consciousness and triggered the prepared mechanism.

Crack.

The traps clacked shut. They were modified bear traps that could be swung out from the wall and catch a monster in a series of clamps. Theoretically, it was easy to imagine, practically it was a nightmare. Each trap needed to be guided. His core helped him, or at least that was Daniel’s assumption because even though it was impossible for the human mind to multitask to that level he sort of felt like he succeeded. It might not have been his core, but instead a function of his magic. Algorithmic Instruction or the Intelligence ability might have been inserted into the wood and it was that, rather than his mind, that directed the movements. The underlying mechanism didn’t matter as much as much as the simple fact that it worked against his expectations of failure.

One caught an ankle the second the knee, on the other side only the knee caught as an unexpected twist of the foot broke the clamp’s grip just as it clicked shut to claim the ankle. An elbow got crunched and the top of the head. Then secured the second component kicked into action and the traps snapped back to where they had emerged from as the secondary spring was engaged. If the ultra had still been human, the forces of those clamps pulling toward their starting positions would have been sufficient to tear limbs off. But it was well past being considered human and there was no tearing of limbs only a small amount of discomfort. Four other clamps failed to respond at all to his mental push. Those had been disabled in the destruction of the first couple of ultra blows. Unsurprisingly, the clamps which required near perfect conditions to work like a line of sight from where they launched were fouled by chunks of wood as long as his arm falling in their in way. It was a miracle that the attempt had been as successful as it had.

Despite his and Cindy’s planning, one arm was free, but as the common saying never stated, complicated machines cannot function properly when their joints are sprayed with wood splinters. The traps, therefore, were only the first line of defence.

Before the arm could clear away constraining clamps, the secondary, less sensitive mechanism kicked into actions. Prepared vines that were long enough and already primed to wrap tightly around whatever they hit were launched at the ultra. They closed around it like boa constrictors. The Ultra roared and struggled and Daniel was forced to burn his mana to prevent pretty much every element of the trap from snapping.

Every one strained and appeared ready to break. His power flooded out, reinforcing them in a desperate running battle as the moment one link was strengthened the next along threatened to shatter.

Somehow, they all held.

The vines successfully pinned an arm to the body while another couple of pulled the monster to the side.

It was trussed up almost perfectly.

“Keep the others off it.” He heard Luke screaming. Daniel did not have time to check what Luke was talking about. A hundred percent of his focus was required to reinforce the components of the trap. A single failure would cause the entire fragile to collapse..

It demanded perfection.

Black mist rolled out of its mouth, splashing down its chest and where ever it touched Daniel lost contact with the vines. He did not know whether they were holding or broken he cursed. Vines dying did not equal weakness. It depended on the nature of the mist. If it created rot, then the vines would fall apart, but if it only sucked out life, it would leave fibrous growth. The vines he had been using were mainly wood and if the mist had the second effect, it might actually them stronger not weaker.

He could not do a thing. The mist stayed there, stopping him from reacting. He could imagine that single arm working itself free and then knocking off the restraints that were holding it out of the battle till its armour failed.

A blast of wind swirled past him and the mist that had been getting closer was blown away.

Right on the curtails of the mist his vines lashed out. With living matter in position once more, he could observe what the ultra was doing. The arm constrained by vines had got partially free. Daniel was gratified to see that the dead vines looked like wooden branches. The new vines rolled in and pinned it once more.

Daniel’s consciousness was in all the components. The leg restraints were holding he knew that because when he used his power to keep pulling outwards, the force was resisted. He could not feel specifically what was held, but something was which logically meant that the ultra was still bound even if that mist had killed all wood and plant matter, preventing direct observation.

More of the dark mist swirled down.

Daniel caught himself before launching extra vines to tie it up. That mist was ridiculously potent and while it persisted, there was nothing he could do.

Come on, more wind, he thought.

The entire wall rocked violently and Daniel felt it jerk forward a few centimetres.

What?

Subconsciously, he checked the restraints. Horror filled him. The springs had snapped back to a non-tensed position.

There was only a single explanation as to why they were not holding anything. It was not that the creature had been torn limb from limb.

The ultra was free.

Wind blew once more, dispersing the poisonous smoke and once more he could see.

The ultra, while most free, was still restricted, and it bounced down the stairs, its head thumping up the stairs as its arms were still tangled and not in a position to break the fall.

Daniel understood what had happened. His restraints had mostly worked, but it had managed to get its feet braced against the stairs and pushed off with all of its force. It had launched itself straight backward without worrying about the fall and that explosive power had broken the links that had held it down.

It came to a stop on the landing. Bits of his containment traps attached to it and an entire arm remained pinned by multiple loops of vines and while it was still encased in earth armour that fall must have shaken it up a little.

“Reinforce.” Luke yelled at him. Daniel glanced back and realised that a significant number of wall components had been brought down to him. There was a mixture of red marked ones and normal. For now, he ignored the trapped ones and grabbed ordinary wood sections hurriedly. He shoved them into position. The components with broken spikes were not pushed out but rotated down to land at Daniel’s feet and he stood upon them to get higher and achieve a better vantage point.

Eventually, he would reincorporate those units back into the wall proper. If this barricade was going to work long term, they needed to maintain as much mass as possible.

“Incoming.” Luke yelled and Daniel pushed the hundred kilogram chunk of wood he had just lifted onto his two helpers. They staggered slightly, but Daniel barely noticed because his focus was back on his defences.

He was part of the wall once more. Intimately aware of its structural integrity and the spatial positioning of every single stake that radiated out from it, along with the pressure spikes that were ready to be fired.

The damage was not as bad as he feared. After his replacements, only six of the usual thicket of spears were broken.

The ultra was coming back. His mind was in the wood and so he was mainly using the wood sense ability to monitor the battle.

It launched a blow and Daniel flinched at the slight backlash that occurred when one spike he was monitoring got split from the rest of the structure.

More mist billowed.

Daniel cursed as his visibility was hampered further as the surface wood on the spikes died. More of the mist was expelled and even more of the wood surfaces he was using died. Thankfully, the ultra seemed to have learnt its lesson from its brief captivity and did not want to get too close and have the situation repeated. It was being cautious.

Daniel watched the creature with anger. It’s earth armour showed no signs of failing. Well, he had almost trapped it last time.

This time, he would do better.

The mist dissipated and Daniel struck.

Five vines lashed out like striking snakes.

His mana plummeted as the vines whip fast snuck around the feral and tightened. Three had wrapped the upper body and two the legs. His method worked more effectively than the clamp attempt. It was all about restricting movement and reducing leverage. Once the arms and legs were truly pinned, the monster despite its strength would be a helpless. Even a tiny amount of wriggle room would let it escape, as it might allow it to work its claws into a better position. A small bit of leeway became freedom, so he kept the pressure steady and the moment the monster relaxed Daniel used the opportunity to tighten the ropes a little more. There was no need for the vines to reposition because his power allowed him to just shrink its length and not like elastic. When the binding tightened, they were left as strong as iron.

Both hands were pinned, then its feet.

It fell.

Then a cloud of deadly gas expanded around the monster.

“Keep the others away from the Ultra.” Luke screamed.

Ensuring the monster remained trapped till the earth armour failed was critical, and he was almost out of mana. Furthermore, there was no way five hastily applied vines were going to hold it perfectly. Especially now that the vines were dead and couldn’t be moved to adjust. His mind searched for different solutions, but they all required too much mana.

Apart from…

The thick, heavy barricade they had built to fill the stairwell was flush with energy. There were the spike traps they had thrown in and the energy he had absorbed to bring it to a halt and finally there would be potential energy available if it descended. He studied the monster. IT was prone on the stairwell, landing five steps below him.

Idea’s rushed through him and in anticipations his consciousness expanded throughout the barricade. Times of stress were noted, pivot places marked, the module components which could be shifted from one spot to another. The embedded potential energy that could get released with a small touch of mana and then gravity would occur and that section could shift like that and then…

Possibilities opened up for him.

He overcooked strength and pushed.

The metre thick multiple component wall rumbled downwards. Forces that should have transferred linearly were re-routed slightly. Blocks of wood were spat out and others caught and were held back.

The barrier, with a thunderous crashing, collapsed down the steps and on top of the ultra.

It left it entombed. The re-purposed wooden pieces would impede movement. It was trapped, but a monster like the ultra was too strong to be denied that easily and it was not like he had caught it in a carefully designed trap where the components would work together to restrict the massive forces the brute could bring to bear. The random chunks of wood were anything but that, even slightly bolstered by his will as they were.

“Finigan.” He ordered even as his mind communicated a more complicated series of instructions.

The dog had been at his heels the whole time knew exactly what Daniel wanted. The dog leapt forward and plunged his teeth into the exposed lower back of the feral. For longer than Daniel had hoped, the dog’s teeth scrapped helplessly over the earth armour and failed to make a difference. Through his connection, he could feel the animal’s focus and determination as it turned its ability toward disrupting the magic that was creating the earth armour.

He got an impression of a titanic struggle that utilised facets of power that he fundamentally did not understand and then the earth armour shattered under the attack.

Strength, Speed.

Finigan pulled back. The earth armour started to reform, but Daniel was faster. He brought a broken shaft of wood, some of the debris from the ultra’s initial barrage down onto the unarmoured spot. His mind reinforced the wood. Enhanced strength meant it was like a one tonne Daniel was driving it hope and speed had the point moving faster than an arrow.

The point struck home. The woods’ unnatural vitality and speed warred with the simple resilience of the ultra’s ugly pink skin.

Crack.

Sound echoed and for a horrible moment he though his makeshift weapon was going to shatter. Internally Daniel berated himself not sharpening and strengthening the weapon sufficiently before striking, but then the skin parted. The wood slipped in before it clanged to a halt when it hit an internal bone. Maybe. From the human skeletons he had observed, there shouldn’t have been any bone in that spot, but he had definitely hit something hard. The most likely explanation was that human anatomy no longer applied to the monster. The earth armour closed around the shaft of wood denying additional attacks but he was already inside the creature and while from observation he knew the earth armour could function directly underneath the skin, he hoped that this was deep enough that it was no longer in the equation.

It would or it wouldn’t it was not something he could do anything about.

He had very little mana left, but it would hopefully be enough for one final trick. He grew the tip of the shaft that was within the ultra.

All he had to do was to reach the heart.

The wood grew, making progress, but his mana was going to run out long before the creature was dead.

Abruptly, Priscilla was with him. Somehow, having sensed his distress she had sprinted up from her watch position to help. She stood on top of the makeshift spear, glowing a blinding green. The wood that he had been struggling to force through the tough internal flesh and organs burst forward like water as a dam was breached.

With a gasp of surprise and the flaring of a mana headache, he directed the explosive growth to slither into the heart. Then the moment the wood reached it then it was time for part 2.

Priscilla was bubbling with vicious excitement.

The monster under him spasmed in response. Wood shifted and then when it twisted violently the entire barricade was rocked upwards. The power was impressive and sections of the stacked wood slammed into the room. Concrete cracked and dust and gravel drifted downward. The trapped brute threw itself sideway. Daniel relocated with the motion so his attack spear was not affected, but the components of his barrier fared fast worth. Wood contracted when it shouldn’t have under the pressure the feral should have been able to bring to bear. A module burst out of the wall above his head, the prodigious forces at play popping it free.

The structure shook violently again and in then started to fall apart. As he was mana tapped there was nothingthing that he could do about it. Daniel prepared to retreat, but Priscilla throbbed with a sense of accomplishment.

In surprise, Daniel checked what she had done. The ultra’s singular heart had been replaced with tightly packed thorns. He was surprised.

Gift, Priscilla thought proudly. Good girl?

Yes.

Everything shifted as the creature randomly threw itself in the opposite direction.

Death Throes, Daniel realised even as the wood under him buckled once more and he got tossed backward up the stairs. The ultra launched itself to its feet. Thankfully, on the other side of the much reduced barricade, but there was a still a gaping hole between him and it. A hole that Daniel knew he could close quickly if a given a momentary peace.

While it was not helpful now, he was glad that the others had insisted on creating a double layer because if it had been any less robust there would be nothing left standing

The ultra, the deadly monster, stood with its arms free. At some point, the wood he had driven home had been pulled out and if he had not realised the impossible large amount of thorny wood destroying the heart, he would have concluded that it was uninjured. The earth armour that Finigan had disrupted had closed the hole. He was lying on his back and he snatched up a segment of the wall that had fallen next to him to use as a shield.

“ROARRA.”

The ultra’s arms were above its head ready to bring them Daniel.

Speed, speed, Speed.

He shifted, realigning the component he had found and realised it was better than expected. It was one of the pre-trapped pieces of barrier. He grabbed it and thrust it forward toward the creature’s chest.

Boom.

Just as the trapped tip touched the monster, he had locked his arm into a straight position. The force slammed him back, despite him braced and actually pushed him a full stair. More importantly, the Ultra was hit with the same force and was knocked back and away.

Daniel’s muscles seized up, his lungs desperately gasped for air and he watched as the ultra tumbled backwards one sweeping arm digging into the brickwork which crumbled leaving a one inch deep furrow that stretched a full two metres.

“Get Daniel and retreat.” He heard Luke scream.

The ultra, which should have been dead was still standing and Daniel realised he couldn’t even breathe properly because of his exertion.