Osho squatted on the branch of a large tree, silently overlooking the massive tide of monsters. He couldn’t help but sigh in his heart.
’So many days have passed but we’ve barely made a dent in it. Just how many beasts are in the wilderness? This is just a small part of it too. I wonder what those higher-level Citadels have to deal with.’ He mused before looking up.
The clouds were growing darker at a rapid pace, and the flashes of lightning were getting more frequent.
It shouldn’t be long now.
He felt an arm on his shoulder and turned back to see Mrs Jane leaning over to look at him. She said nothing, but her eyes transmitted her question clearly.
’Are you alright?’ At this, he nodded slightly, and she straightened.
He looked back at the thunderclouds and couldn’t help but think about everything that had happened these past few days.
Needless to say, the training had been intense. He and Gale were made to expend all their energy, both physical and magical, only to recuperate and do it again and again. It was a grueling process despite only lasting a few days.
Moreover, they constantly had to do drills concerning the operation, improve their coordination with the other people who would be participating in the entire thing, and do even more training.
It was stressful, but Osho would say that it paid off well.
He felt his bond with Gale and he could sense the bird’s determination. As for where the bird was, well, Osho had finally learned how to create his beast space, so he no longer had to carry Gale around. Which was important for this operation since it was clear that the Skyblight Harbinger was able to sense Gale through his bloodline, so they couldn’t have the bird out until it was time for him to play his part.
It was at this point that the lightning flashes came. This close to the source, the intensity was truly something else. None of the bolts hit any of them directly, thankfully, but just the static electricity was enough to make Osho’s hair stand on end. And that wasn’t even including the corruption aspect which made him feel a visceral disgust with each bolt that fell.
Yet he didn’t move an inch, and neither did Mrs Jane, or the E.E.S. Team that was meant to escort and initiate the operation along with the four other teams.
The creature flew up and unleashed its enraged shriek that shook Osho to his core, yet he didn’t look at it, because if he did, it would have sensed his killing intent.
’Initiate Operation SkyFall.’ The voice of the major sounded in his helmet and everyone immediately tensed up.
The creature got ready to fly, but before it could, four large magical formations suddenly activated in four directions around it. The dense Mana that made them up immediately caught its attention and it halted in its attempt to fly. A mistake.
Four lines of Mana appeared and connected each of the formations together, then each one shot a beam into the sky at an angle, allowing them to converge above the Harbinger in the shape of a pyramid.
It’s at this moment the creature realized that something was wrong and tried to flee out of the range of the pyramid. But just as it was about to get out, a blue film appeared in the gaps between the lines and locked it inside.
The Harbinger smacked into the barrier and recoiled as the thing held firmly.
It let out an enraged shriek as it spread its wings, purple lightning starting to condensed around them as it prepared to unleash an attack, but before it could...
It’s eyes widened as an insane pressure smashed down on it and it plummeted into the ground like a comet. The few beasts that had been caught in the cage and were unfortunate to be under it were crushed into meat paste as the thing crashed with a terrible impact.
The creature shrieked as it struggled against the intense gravity, one of the functions of the formation.
Phase 1: Suppression.
As the creature shrieked, the E.E.S. Teams immediately moved in.
Several Tamers and their beasts which had been lying in wait immediately shot forward towards the Skyblight Harbinger that was slowly getting up to resist the gravity that pressed it down.
All the teams except the one protecting Osho.
Once they were about 500 meters away from the thing, they wasted no time in unleashing a barrage of attacks, both magical and technological attacks.
The first barrage of attacks hit the creature and all culminated into a large explosion that sent a shockwave throughout the barrier. There ws a pained screech from within the smoke, so they at least did some damage.
No one was naive enough to think it was tangible, though.
There was a brief flash and the Team that came from the west side all scrambled out of the way just as a massive wind blade shot through the smoke and cleaned the ground apart, leaving a long scar in the earth that stretched for nearly a hundred meters.
The smoke was blown away by the attack to reveal the figure of the Harbinger which was already almost fully on its feet. There were some wounds across its body which were rapidly healing, and its eyes were red with anger as it opened its mouth and screamed.
The ’scream’ was in fact a sonic attack as a powerful sound wave erupted outwards with the Harbinger as the center.
And its effects were horrific.
The closest of the E.E.S Teams took the brunt of the attack and weren’t able to defend against it properly, as such, a few over them were turned into a bloody mist from the sheer force carried by the attack.
As for the others, they were heavily injured, and only a few managed to get out with meager injuries.
’Shit!’ Osho cursed inwardly, of course the thing could do that.
He felt his heart sink when he saw the squad members die so easily, despite that, though, he didn’t allow himself to act rashly and simply watched. It wasn’t time yet.
’Still, it’s already getting acclimated to the gravity, and it can still unleash such potent attacks.’ Osho frowned. The operation had just started but things were already looking bleak.
Despite this, though, the remnants of the teams still attacked, because there was more to their efforts than just trying to hurt the creature.
After all, it was already a general consensus that people below the Expert rank wouldn’t be able to do much to the thing, regardless of their elite status. No, they were they to buy time.
Time for what? Well, as it turns out, the barrier isn’t as simple as just keeping the creature inside and pressing it down with gravity.
They had considered that the creature could possess some form of rapid adaptation, so they anticipated that it wouldn’t be held down for long with just increased gravity.
Then again, gravity was just a matter of getting used to at higher stages.
Anyway, the formation was meant to suppress the Harbinger, and Gravity alone wouldn’t cut it. As such.
"It’s ready." Mrs Jane said while looking upwards and Osho followed her gaze, and he couldn’t help but be surprised.
At the peak of the Pyramid, a massive lance crackled with energy, the thing was at least a hundred meters long and almost thicker than the entire Harbinger.
’That thing is gonna miss, I’m calling it right now.’ Osho immediately thought. He had no basis behind this thought, other than the fact that he refused to believe the Harbinger would let itself be hit by something like that.
Also, it was a very big projectile, there was no way the thing didn’t know it was there.
As soon as the lance was done forming, it fired down like a spear of judgment.
’Holy— So much Mana?!’ He exclaimed inwardly. Even from there, he could sense the sheer amount of Mana packed in the construct.
He understood that the formation pulled in the ambient Mana and worked with various concepts to shape the lance, but the sheer Mana behind the attack was simply staggering. For a lack of a better term, it felt like a sure-kill attack if he’d ever seen one.
And the Harbinger knew this as well.
The lance flew down and all the E.E.S Teams immediately retreated to get out of the range of the attack, leaving the Harbinger to face it alone.
Despite it quickly getting used to the gravity, it was still too sluggish to dodge the attack fully, and with how large the lance was, dodging should have been impossible.
So you can imagine how everyone felt when the thing suddenly crackled with purple electricity, and a moment later, it flashed forward in a beam of purple lightning, completely avoiding the massive lance that smashed into the ground like a pillar from the heavens.
’I fucking called it.’ Osho cursed.