Steel and Mana-Chapter 386 – Winter in Markoth (2)

The plains just northeast of Markoth were covered with a fresh coat of snow, undisturbed. Unpetrubed. But only until that night.

From the treeline towards its western bank, the snow suddenly burst upward in massive waves as a monster rushed forward, each of its steps shaking the ground around it. It was following its lead as Corrin kept her speed at a constant level, making sure the bastard was following only her and nobody else from the group. Looking back, she saw how its head darted with erratic, jerking motions, stretching its muscles, trying to reach out, not wholly understanding the distance between them.

"Stupid bird..." She chuckled, watching how its frosted breath came in big huffs from its beak as it let out another ear-piercing growl—a sound that vibrated through her cockpit, rattling her teeth and shaking her stomach. "Come, try to get me~!"

Behind it, a forest trail had been completely flattened, creating a route that they could directly follow back to Markoth's Pass. But that was for later. Now, they had to kill this one.

"Contact in sight," Veron confirmed from the Valiant’s cockpit, the snow shifting around him as he advanced through the frozen landscape. He was coordinating their fight, still standing between the trail and the last city, blocking its possible paths. And... Who knew if something else was hiding amidst the trees.

"Bringing it in range now," Corinne said over comms, her mech gliding through the field like an ice skater. "Be ready! This thing is fast on a straight. Don’t try to outrun it with your mechs! Do you hear me?"

"I hear," Tiburon answered, "But I am not looking to run away, but to beat it down!"

"I see you." She smiled, answering, "Almost there," she muttered to herself, checking her surroundings, timing her evasion just right. Before her, the Leviathan was stomping, gathering speed, heading straight towards her. It was like a rhino, here to tackle its opponent, heading on a collision course with the Shadow. "Now!" She switched as the Shadow tilted, changing course, passing by the Leviathan, almost trading paints with it. But, it was a success, causing the bird-like demon, still immersed in the chase, to completely ignore the incoming danger. Until it was too late.

Tiburon roared as he charged in with his machine, the snow exploding beneath his mech’s massive legs. His hammer-like fists pushed out, its chains whirling at full speed, ramming into the beast, aiming at its legs to immobilize it. The impact cracked across the valley like Thunder, driving the beast to its knees, rolling into the snow, howling... but not for long. Just before it would get too far, something pushed against the Leviathan's fingers, ejecting them from its skin before it could go too deep.

It shrieked and twisted that oversized beak on its head, snapping with unnatural speed, straight at the Leviathan, who was barely standing but still recovering from the impact and the repelling force. However, Tiburon expected something like this, so he ducked—barely. The snout clipped his Leviathan’s shoulder plating, sending sparks cascading everywhere in the dark night, and knocked the mech half a meter back in a skid.

"Gah! It’s stronger than it looks!" Tiburon grunted, regaining his balance and looking at his gauntlets, which were now filled with feathers and blood. "But it is hurting now."

"Correction: stronger than you thought it looked," Veron called, approaching from the city-facing side, seeing its toughness, deciding that he also had to join in the fight. Keeping the Valiant’s shield locked in front of him, he rushed forward, covering the Leviathan. "Focus. Keep it from doubling back toward the city! Corinne, peel around its blind spot—go for the tail tendons, get that off of its body! It is clear it's using it as a balancing tool besides a weapon!"

Already moving, thinking of the same, Corinne slid behind the beast’s bulk, her bone-made sword already crackling with reddish lightning as the runes on it came to life. Her Shadow darted to the left, dodging a tail-swipe, and then she slashed low. It was a clear hit, and sinew parted under her well-placed, precision strike until it reached the bone, being repelled from within. The monster screeched again, its tail snapping up in an arc, spraying blood everywhere, scattering snow and ice, but with half of its feeling already gone from the tail, it kept swiping randomly, always missing her. Even then, the wind from the wailing strikes rattled her cockpit, but there was a second chance... and she didn't miss it.

"One more time!" she muttered, watching the wound she’d made, slicing again, hitting the same spot. Then, the next moment, the creature's tail cracked, and it spun through the air, separated, while its hot blood began painting the snowy field red. The moment it landed, it was making the white blanket sizzle and spew steam into the air as it started melting.

"Targeting the head," came Edrin’s voice just as Corrin was backing off from the enraged beast. From the city beyond them, the Thunder had already tracked the monster's actions, calculating and predicting where it would be a few seconds later, aiming at its side profile. The massive, long rifle was steadied across an artificial brace coming from its hands, resting on the machine's shoulders while aiming. The multiple formations on it were helping it adjust to wind, distance, and the beast’s erratic movements, feeding everything into Edrin's mind while his tattoo was glowing around his forearm. "Mark. Wind shift. Compensating. Fire."

The round inside his weapon was the size of a horse when the accelerating formations came to life, just briefly, sending it on its trajectory faster than how sound traveled. The moment it happened, his weapon cracked like thunder, and the bullet streaked out like a lightning bolt.

And it struck.

The monster reared back as a sharp cry echoed from its throat. Another bloom of blood gushed from its left eye socket, steaming in the winter air, and it wasn't over... with the bullet's size and speed, it not only hit one eye. It simply passed through its skull, coming out at the opposite side, taking his second eye along with it. The moment it happened, the beast thrashed, falling over, claws raking deep furrows in the snow and earth as it tried to stand back up, disoriented. Blind.

"Nice hit!" Corinne yelled with a laugh.

"And made it angry," Tiburon muttered as the beast went into a frenzy, whipping its stump of a tail wildly and trying to move forward. To make it stop, Tiburon was already there, trying to hold it down so the Thunder could shoot again, this time hitting its brain. During the scuffle, the monster clipped the Leviathan’s torso with its claws and sent the heavy mech rolling through the snow, gouging a deep line in the ground. Tiburon cursed as his stabilizers fought to right him, the world spinning in his display and head before finally stopping.

"Status!" Veron called.

"Still standing! Just bruised," Tiburon growled, forcing the Leviathan upright. His fingers tightened inside the cockpit, flexing its gauntlets, setting the chains' rotation to maximum. "But I’m done playing nice."

"I'll create an opening!" Veron shouted, already close to the struggling monster.

The Valiant raised its arm with the shield on it and blocked another blind strike. Its beak slammed into his tower shield with a violent crunch, and Veron used the impact’s force to spin his machine's torso, slashing into the creature’s neck with his broadsword, putting the momentum into his blade's edge. The sword didn’t pierce fully—it dug in a hand’s breadth, then stopped, a repelling force from within pushing against it like an invisible hand. Still, the monster staggered, its tongue hanging out as its cries were desperate, almost pitiful.

Corinne didn't pity it; instead, she took the opening. Her Shadow darted in low again, her sword crackling from the electricity. She slashed the creature's legs, forcing it to buckle again.

"And stay down!" Tiburon roared, jumping and accelerating his mech's weight, landing on its back with a resounding crack, breaking the monster's spine in the process. "Die already!" He tore at it, making feathers and skin fly everywhere around them.

"Got it!" Edrin said, but the bullet was already there, piercing its skull, blowing the top of its head off, stopping its trashing in under a second, causing it to fall motionless at once.

But there was no time to celebrate.

"New energy signature!" Captain Kain called out, and by then, the mechs also picked up on it while Edrin was searching, hurrying with his targeting to recalibrate.

"Intercepting!" Corinne yelled in response, heading towards it.

The beast was sprinting at a speed as fast as one of their planes—at least, it looked like it was that swift, coming from the same trail that the one they had just felled made. It was similar in shape but only half in size, with yellowish veins along its torso pulsing with a rhythm. Its feathers shifted upward, standing on end—and then it exploded in speed once again.

"What?!"

The still-massive creature twisted its body with frightening dexterity, going past Corinne, who was looking to block it, slashing at her with its tail in only passing. Her Shadow blocked it with a hand by reflex as it was thrown through the open field, skidding in the snow, her systems rattling inside. She gasped as her harness bit into her shoulders, the world a blur of white and black before her mech finally got to a stop, allowing her to reorient herself.

"I’m fine," she gritted out, checking her diagnostics. "Minimal damage. But it’s too fast!"

"He is aiming at the Leviathan!" Veron shouted as the furious newcomer's eyes were locked onto Tiburon's mech. It kept charging, ignoring the others.

"Let him come!" Tiburon roared, wanting to go head-to-head with it, but Veron wasn't about to risk it.

"Edrin!"

"Already recalibrated," The Thunder’s pilot answered, his voice steady despite the chaos. His whole weapon hummed as it charged, aiming at the speedy second's torso. "Hold it still! It is too fast for my mind! I can't calculate it well..."

"Get back, Tiburon, you already took a hit!" Veron surged forward, his Valiant planting itself in front of the creature’s path just at the last moment possible as he slammed the shield down into the ground like an anchor. The beast hit him full-on, its head cracking the shield the moment they made contact. The impact sent tremors through the earth, Veron’s mech groaning under the strain while its legs dug trenches in the snow as he fought to keep it from advancing another step, feeling the metal around its Valinat's arms groaning and warping.

"Gotcha!"

With Edrin's shout, another shot rang out—clean, cleaving through its head, disintegrating its skull, no matter how sturdy it was.

Then, just as before... A beat of silence.

Then—rupture, blood spraying everywhere as the monster spasmed, its feet kicking up snow and then slumped to the side in a cascade of blood and feathers.

"...Clear," Veron exhaled, his grip finally loosening on the remains of the handle of his ruined tower shield.

"No more signals." Captain Kain spoke, but neither Knight relaxed yet. "We will go ahead and scout the forest. We don't need a third one."

As the airship drifted forward, the battlefield became quiet, this time for real.

"Are you alright?" Edrin asked, making Corrin answer first.

"All good on my end. No, scratch that. My right arm moves stiffly. The mechanics will have to hammer it out and do it fast. You guys?"

"I'm fine." Tiburon grunted, his mech already at the second, smaller one's corpse, standing with the Valiant, "My armor took it well, and I could have taken this one too. Now we lost your shield, captain."

"It is fine," Veron answered, looking around and dropping the cracked handle from his grip, "A shield is a tool. Its loss is nothing, but if one of our mechs suffers critical injuries or malfunctions because of it, we can't wholly repair it out here! So, no, we are not risking everything. We are using our tools, understood? The winter has just started; we need to defend this city until spring and not just for one battle! Understood?!"

"Sir, yes, sir!" The others answered at once, even saluting with their mechs.

"Good. Now, Tiburon, if you are so full of energy, help me bring back the corpses to the city. You pull the bigger one!"

"Sure!" He laughed, not even complaining.

"Corrin, you head back first while the Knight's Errand returns. Start examining the damage. We need you back at 100% as soon as possible."

"On it!"

"Edrin?"

"I will keep watch." He said, his weapon already loaded with a new round.

"Good. Let's give these people a proper demonstration... Show them that Avalon can protect them by slaying the monsters of their nightmares."