Chapter 79 – Teamwork

Sal decided that the best way to show Brophy where the attackers were was to launch a pre-emptive strike against them. He raised his revolver and aimed directly at the ethereal woman, who taunted him with that damned wave. He aimed at her head and pulled the trigger, knowing that the trajectory would dip over the distance and hit her in the chest. That is, if she had stayed where she was. A streak of purple light lanced forward at the target area, and Sal knew that she was gone before it struck the area she had occupied.

Brophy wasted no time. As soon as the shot went off, he launched forward at a dizzying speed and navigated the woods as though he had grown up in them. His body weaved naturally through the branches as his feet raced toward his prey. It would take him a few seconds to get there, and Sal didn’t want to let the other two out of his sights. After his first shot, they had scattered in different directions, but ran toward the forest as though they were going to attempt a pincer maneuver.

Sal whirled around on the branch and pulled the trigger. His practice with Brophy over the previous weeks had made him much more confident in shooting at moving targets. The visor was also coming in handy in guiding him on how to predict their movements. A stream of fire blasted ahead of one of the ambushers, causing them to dart off to one side, out of danger. Sal smiled as an idea took hold in his head.

He repositioned his aim away from the closest attacker and instead targeted a safe patch near their hidden traps. When he pulled the trigger again, the enemy responded as predicted and changed their route to avoid the blast. Which resulted in him stepping onto the concealed trap.

An explosion rang out, but rather than taking out the enemy, it just knocked him off-balance. Sal was about to shoot at him again when Brophy appeared in mid-air in front of the ambusher. His entire body turned in the air as a vicious kick slammed into the side of the ambusher’s head. The built-up momentum of the kick as well as that of the attacker resulted in considerable damage. Brophy arched his back and landed on a single palm before he used it to flip to safety.

“Take him out, Sal!” Brophy shouted as he darted into the trees to pursue the next attacker.

Sal didn’t need to be told twice and aimed at the staggered opponent. When he pulled the trigger, a dazzling beam of light shot forward and hit the enemy square in the chest. It didn’t seem to have much destructive power, but it was enough to put the man down. If it hadn’t been for Brophy’s kick, the ambusher would have likely weaved through the attacks all the way to Sal’s location.

When Sal turned to find the location of the other ambusher, he heard a creak in the branches around him. It wasn’t from his own movement, and Sal knew exactly who his next opponent was. Without waiting for her attack, Sal launched himself out of the tree and hoped that his landing wouldn’t be too painful. He turned his body in the air and saw the ethereal woman crouching on the branch above him, a baton extended to the area his head had just been. He couldn’t see her face as she was concealed completely, but he knew she wasn’t someone to be fucked with.

Sal whipped his head around just before he hit the ground. He prayed for the safety of his ankles as he prepared to roll to negate some of the damage. Much to his surprise, his feet hit the ground and, rather than him taking any damage, he attacked the ground?

His trousers glowed faintly, signaling that they had activated the Impact ability. He hadn’t ever fallen before, so it was his first time seeing the ability in action. A silent thank-you was sent to Gosia, Martin, and Upgrade for making him the set. Without looking behind him to see where his opponent was, he set off toward the rest of his team. They’d be stronger if they worked together.

“Did you take out the guy I kicked?” Brophy asked as he materialized out of the trees to Sal’s left. He was much faster and looked incredibly focused.

Sal nodded, which didn’t do anything to relax Brophy.

“The other guy is a Controller of some sort. Created a golem, so keep your eyes open and your revolver high.” Brophy stated the facts as he took his place behind Sal and slowed to match his pace. “The teleporting one is going to be the primary issue for the moment, so try to lure her into Erika’s sight.”

Sal turned around at the mention of a golem. He had never seen a power like that before and had no idea what it would be like to counter it. Were they going to go all out because of the trap from earlier? When Sal saw Brophy’s resolute face, he knew that there was no jesting in the statement.

Sal tried to increase his pace as the other group came into view ahead of them. The entire tree was surrounded by shimmering blue barriers with a grotesque-looking construct made of rock and clay hammering the walls in slow and labored punches. Each of its legs were the size of Ioseph’s waist, and its torso was likely constructed with a boulder. There was no head on the construct, just limbs that continuously hammered at the team’s defenses. Erika couldn’t do anything as it was just a puppet, and Rochelle couldn’t use Transference because of the barrier separating them. Ioseph could only hold on to maintain the barriers, which left them completely stuck.

Sal looked up to see the ethereal woman perched on a branch above, her baton tapping against her hand expectantly. Sal’s revolver was up in an instant as he pulled the trigger, sending a blast of ice in her direction. He guessed that she’d just teleport away from the attack, but to his surprise, she batted the ice away with her weapon. It deflected in a completely different direction as she gestured for him to try again. Sal knew he was being goaded, and he desperately wanted to fire off a series of rounds in her direction. Instead, he aimed his gun at the golem and started to fire.

“Leave her to me,” Brophy called as he ran past Sal and ducked under the barrage of gunfire.

Brophy was fast and managed to launch up and over the barriers with just a leap, finding a branch to vault up higher in the tree.

Sal wanted to watch his progress, but the golem had turned around and was advancing on his location. It felt like the exact same sensation that he experienced back in the dungeon. Every part of him wanted to run away from the monstrosity, but the knowledge that it was only a test kept him rooted to the spot.

Each bullet smashed into the golem’s body but did very little damage. The gravitational shot managed to slow it down for a few moments before it lumbered closer. The fire attack charred a part of its torso, and the ice had just shattered on impact. The purple electrifying blast had done absolutely nothing to it either, as the rock easily negated any of the damage. Sal was quite literally up against his worst match-up.

In a moment of desperation, Sal backed away from the slowed golem and changed out the cartridges in his revolver. In the time it took him to take out the cartridge from all six chambers simultaneously, the golem had halved the distance between them.

Rather than looking for the best bullets for the job, Sal snapped his hand to the right and let the chamber click back into place. He built it so that it would be able to use the Epic-grade core to fire essence-based bullets even without the cartridges made of other materials. Because it was an essence construct, Sal hoped that it would have some kind of effect on it.

When he pulled the trigger, the gun responded instantly, and a singular bright bullet punched through the air and slammed into the upper right of the golem’s torso. Unlike the other bullets, this one chipped away a significant chunk of rock. It wasn’t really a destructive power, but Sal didn’t care; he didn’t need to worry about cooldowns when it was just essence bullets.

Sal continued to pull the trigger as he aimed at different areas of the construct, his fingers twitching madly as he continuously fired. When a stray bullet hit one of the joints of the golem, Sal noticed that the visor flashed in understanding. A series of weak points highlighted with the new data, and Sal saw how he could start dismantling the creature. Even though Sal was making progress with each bullet, the golem lumbered closer and closer.

A crackling sound emerged from behind the golem, and Sal retreated and moved to the right to see past it. His heart sank as he witnessed two more golems at the barriers, launching attacks at Ioseph’s battered defenses. With a glance up the tree, Sal saw that Brophy was fighting on the branches like a gymnast. He was chasing his target, who was clearly just playing with him.

The distraction cost Sal dearly as a shooting pain smashed into his shoulder. He buckled backward and fell on his ass with a gasp for air. With a trembling hand, Sal tried to lift the revolver to defend himself, but no follow-up attack came. With a painful wheeze, Sal looked for the golem, only to see it in a crumpled heap.

“Did your jacket do that?” Rochelle asked as she placed her hands on Sal’s temples.

Sal was startled by her sudden approach, but relaxed when he felt her healing wash through him. It wasn’t enough to fully restore him, but it eased the stinging pain in his shoulder. His breathing came back to normal as he surveyed the scene. Only Ioseph was behind the barrier, with Erika nowhere to be seen. Brophy was still dancing on the branches, launching a series of flashy attacks with his fists and feet. Sal finally processed Rochelle’s words as he touched his coat with his left hand.

“Yeah, it can apparently stop a hulker’s attack,” Sal muttered as he got to his feet.

He turned to Rochelle and saw a pained expression. Sweat glistened on her brow, but her eyes were locked on the different members of the team. Sal thought she looked like a real Healer at that moment. Apart from the absent Erika, everyone was performing in their roles.

Sal raised his revolver and was about to take aim at the golems attacking the barriers when his body suddenly stopped responding to him. It was like an invisible layer of essence had coated his body and was compelling him to move against his will. He couldn’t even close his eyes as the effect took hold.

Sal walked straight toward the golems with his arms outstretched. He tried his best to fight the sensation and started to panic, but there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Rochelle pulled at his arm, but it was no use. She couldn’t stop him from approaching the golems. “Erika! Stop this!” Rochelle shouted into the night, but it was no use.

Sal continued to walk until he was right in front of the golems.

He was almost hyperventilating. His whole training had been about moving out of range of the enemy and taking tactical shots. This was literally using him as a meat shield, and Sal couldn’t for the life of him understand why Erika was willing to do this to him. He couldn’t look away and instead had to face his worst fear: being unable to move and completely at the mercy of the golems. He genuinely wondered whether she wanted him to die.

The first golem turned and lashed out at Sal’s body, and thankfully Sal’s arms came up to defend against the attack. A series of audible cracks came from his arms as the attack went straight through his flimsy defense to hit his chest, and Sal couldn’t even close his eyes. He was forced to watch the entire encounter, and the pain that swept through him was beyond anything that Vanessa had done to him. The numbing couldn’t come fast enough, and the shock absorption wasn’t doing its job as Sal felt every sensation of his forearms shattering.

Blood ran down his fingertips as his arms slumped uselessly at his side. They were twisted in the wrong direction, and Sal couldn’t even look down to see how bad the damage was. What he could see was the explosion of essence as his armor reacted to the golem’s blast. It was enough to send the construct flying backward, with its arm disintegrating from the impact.

“What the fuck is she doing! Sal, please tell me you’re okay!” Rochelle shouted as she grasped his head.

A trickle of power entered his body as she attempted to heal some of his wounds, but it was no use. There were simply too many problems for her weak core to treat.

Sal was in complete disbelief at what was happening. Maybe it was the shock kicking in. Erika had obviously seen how effective his armor was against the golems and decided to use him as a tool for their victory. His gun snapped up and fired two shots at a branch that he couldn’t even look up to see. A feminine curse was all he heard, followed by a grunt from Brophy.

Sal would have screamed at the movement from his shattered arm, but he couldn’t vocalize so much as a whimper. Rochelle had managed to resist some of the Mind Master ability in the canteen, but why was he so susceptible to it?

Sal walked to the next golem, which attacked much like the last one. It aimed for his exposed face, and Sal’s body jumped up to take the attack in the chest. Sal was shot backward, as well as the golem.

All the air left Sal’s lungs, and he struggled to breathe. It felt like there was a massive weight holding him down, and he couldn’t even use his arms to sit up. The revolver had left his hand at some point and his visor flashed erratically, but he couldn’t move his eyes to focus on the words presented to him. All he could do was lay there and try to take shallow breaths to keep his heart beating.

“Give me your essence, Sal!” Rochelle cried as she slid across the ground to land beside him.

Her pale hand clutched his, and Sal was grateful that he was able to at least give her access to his essence. It was pitiful that he was overjoyed to have a sliver of control over his own body.

“Ioseph!” Rochelle shouted without looking.

Sal couldn’t even look at her. He was staring directly at the starry night sky as a tear rolled down his cheek. It was the first time in his life that he had truly felt helpless, and it was terrifying. Freezing from fear was one thing, but being locked in your own body was a completely different sensation.

“Put a barrier around us. Stop her from controlling him!” Rochelle hissed as she accessed Sal’s essence and got to work.

Ioseph’s face came into view as he looked down at Sal’s unmoving body. Unadulterated rage took over his face as his jaw clenched. “She made him walk into the golems?”

He spoke quietly, but Rochelle didn’t have time to explain.

“Barriers, Ioseph. Now!” Her words came through gritted teeth as she used her Transference ability.

A wave of restorative energy surged through his body and made a beeline to his arms. It was the first time he had ever broken a bone, and it wasn’t something he wanted to experience again.

If breaking them had been an ordeal, setting them back in place was much worse. It was like the most excruciating jigsaw puzzle with each fragment of bone grinding back into place, before being fused with red-hot liquid steel. Each of his arms felt as if they were being bathed in a warm and sticky substance as they involuntarily twitched under the influence of the ability.

“It’ll take me awhile to get a circle. I don’t know where she is,” Ioseph warned Rochelle as he got to work drawing runes in the ground.

Rochelle plucked the visor from Sal’s face and secured it over her own eye. She winced slightly before turning around and looking for some sign of Erika. Her palm was on Sal’s chest and her ability was still doing its work on his body.

Sal couldn’t believe the level of control she had in being able to multitask like that. He wanted to tell her how to use the visor, but the words wouldn’t leave his mouth. Rochelle propped Sal’s head up on her lap as she moved her hands to his neck. He was able to see more of his surroundings now, but it wasn’t much help.

A feminine grunt burst out from the tree before a body impacted against the ground with a thud. Her baton fell shortly afterward, clunking against the rubble. Her hands raised up and clapped a few times in applause before she feigned death.

Brophy landed gracefully beside her body and shot her a frown. “We’ve got one left. What’s happening with Sal? Is he okay?” Brophy made his way over to them, his eyes not leaving the trees.

Rochelle shook her head as she worked. “Erika’s controlling him and made him walk into attacks so his armor would take out the golems. His arms are shattered and she’s not letting him speak.” She looked up at Brophy and laughed humorlessly. “So no, he’s not okay.”

Brophy shook his head as he looked to the area where the golems had appeared. “I’ll take care of the last guy, and we can end this.”

“No need.” Erika’s voice appeared from the darkness as she walked into the clearing with the final ambusher. “Couldn’t let this one keep running around like a rat.” She glanced at Sal and tilted her head in confusion. “I removed the power a while ago. Why are you still lying down and feeling sorry for yourself?”

Sal realized he could finally turn his head but decided against it. He stared at the moonlit sky. “I told you never to use your powers on me, Erika.” He forcefully kept his tone neutral, but he felt anything but neutral at that point.

Erika shrugged as she gestured at the destroyed golems. “The situation called for it, and you weren’t making much progress with the gun. It was just a strategic decision.”

Sal finally turned to Erika. “Read my mind.”

He summoned up the conversations with Quest about how he was able to knot people’s powers and permanently block them. He made his thoughts crystal-clear about how he felt, and how he would repay her in kind if she ever did anything like that again.

Erika faltered as her eyes widened, but Sal didn’t bother waiting for a reply. He was done with this exercise and was ready to sleep for a week back in the dorms. When his eyes met Rochelle’s, he saw both concern for his wellbeing and anger at Erika’s actions. Whatever camaraderie they had built up over the last week had been completely shot to shit. Ioseph wasn’t much better as he stared at Erika with a baleful glare. Only Brophy looked collected as he paced around the area, deep in thought.

Sal continued to lay on the ground until Prestige arrived at their location. Then, he got to his feet and flexed his fingers tentatively. Everything felt stiff and painful, but they were working. He looked over to see Erika standing proudly in position as though waiting for Prestige’s praise. Brophy got into step beside her, and Ioseph begrudgingly followed suit.

Rochelle held back and gave Sal a meaningful look. “What she did isn’t okay. No matter what sort of situation we’re in.” With that said, Rochelle gave him a solemn look before falling into position in front of Prestige.

Sal was the last to arrive, and he made sure to pick up his visor from the ground where Rochelle had left it and retrieved his revolver from a pile of rubble that used to be a golem. He didn’t rush as he re-equipped them. If anything, he was happy to keep Erika waiting for her perfect score. When he stood in front of Prestige, he placed his hands behind his back and awaited her verdict.