Chapter 746: The Force of Change
All around the cargos, each mercenary was locked in what seemed to be a dragged and fruitless battle. A few already lay lifeless, wet in the pool of their own blood.
Since the chitinous abominations of snow struck, no one had been able to deliver a killing blow. The chitinous skin of the monsters was especially tough.
Sending blades reeling back with heavy tremors, the battle was at a stalemate. Somewhat a testament that the mercenaries who were holding off against the abominations were no slouches either.
However, one of them suddenly saw as some masked guy drove his sword into the abomination's chest. His face paled, wanting to quickly know.
"How did you..."
But he made a stupid mistake looking away from such an opponent.
The centipede tentacle of the abomination shot forward, slamming his chest from below and throwing him up in a spray of crimson liquid.
It recoiled and quickly repositioned itself, about to fly straight forward to deliver the killing blow. But something slammed into its humanoid body, causing it to careen away like a loose wheel.
The creature slammed into another whirlwind of battle-the mercenary, a lady, taking note ahead of time, flew away with weightless agility.
Then the two creatures slammed into the third one, which was being dealt with by the old man and one other middle-aged guy with a rough face.
The old man was quick-witted enough to pull his partner from the way, saving his life.
Gareon crudely tightened his grasp around the hands of the monster. The centipede tentacle struck him several times like a stinger, but he made no effort to care for himself and did not look bothered by the strikes.
His body did not bleed either.
As he saw the strange sight of monsters crashing into each other, he maneuvered the one he was holding and just in time kicked it into the tangled mess of monsters.
The trajectory was changed by the force of Gareon's attack, all the abominations scattering as they flew away, landing in different parts but all in front of the first cargo.
Northern landed barely a second later.
Gareon looked at the masked mercenary and asked.
"Did you do this?"
Northern merely nodded his head and focused on the abominations that were now rising.
It would probably take useless time to get the message of the monster's weakness to everyone.
He simply calculated what was best and judged that everyone was smart enough to take advantage of it. Hitting the monster with titanic strength was more than worth the effort.
If Gareon had not changed the trajectory with such a powerful kick, they probably would have still continued careening away.
Northern glanced at the man for a bit.
'He's strong...'
A force that powerful probably could contest with Titan's Reckoning. Although the outcome would most likely be dire for the captain.
"Thank you."
Northern heard Gareon's thick voice.
"You gave everyone a chance to re-orient themselves."
Northern glanced back.
"I'm not sure how the other side of the cargo is doing though..."
Gareon was about to speak. But time was of essence. The creatures lunged at them. He flew forward and slammed mere fist into one mid-air.
The abomination fell to the ground with a devastating crash.
'...ooou'
Northern felt that for a moment, then he moved, swiftly appearing before two abominations that were close to each other. He grabbed both of them with different hands and crushed their necks, simply ignoring the metallic toughness of their chitin.
The mercenaries were taken aback, staring with stunned stars in their eyes.
"What the heck?"
"Did he use bare hands to crush them?"
"That thing is tougher than metal."
Northern did not care for their surprise or comments, he did not even have enough time to care for the sound of the system that rang in his ears, already onto the next abomination. The creature shot its centipede at him, but Northern's form was too fast for it to catch wind of. A terrifying blow cracked its chitin by the side-below the arm-before sending it flying
away.
Northern looked at the purple ichor on his fist and frowned.
'Fighting without weapon is strange and disgusting.'
He looked over towards the cargo. Most of the mercenaries had left, flown over to the other side to join the battle. But from the ringing clash of metals, he could tell they were not getting anywhere with it.
He threw a glance at Gareon who was locked in with the last abomination, throwing powerful punches that threatened to tear his eardrums with their sounds alone.
Northern leaped and landed on the other side of the cargo. His eyes locked on an abomination that was being dealt with by two mercenaries. He rushed forward, his blow crushing into the head of the chitinous monster.
The creature rolled and smashed into the ground on a point. Northern grabbed its hand, swiftly placed his feet on its body, and with terrifying strength forced out the limb. Splatters of blood marred the snow as he succeeded and threw it away. The creature and its centipede writhed on the ground violently, swallowed by pure and intense fury.
But Northern didn't give a shit. His eyes glinted with a cold light as he destroyed its head with a stomp of his foot, causing a terrifying shockwave to roll out across the snowy expanse.
He glanced at the two mercenaries looking at him with slightly opened mouths and shot towards the next one.
Just as he got there, the lady he had seen on the other side plunged her sword into the segmented section of its chest, a wicked glee appearing upon her face.
"I won't let you take this one."
'Since when did this become a competition?'
He looked at the lady strangely and casually walked past her. The third person also was
already dealing with the abomination the right way.
Perhaps she had gotten the idea from watching him and relayed it to them.
Northern observed the surroundings. Two of the abominations had been slain before he arrived, but two of the humans also lay scattered, their blood sinking into the white snow, eyes terrified and widened.
He winced a little bit and walked away, moving to the right side of the cargo while the rest finished their battle.
It was sudden, but the situation had been contained quickly. However, people died.
Northern suddenly felt bitter.
'It's been a while...'