The group of almost forty high-quality tamers Selphira had brought was exceptional in terms of individual capability. Each one trained and experienced. Each one worth ten normal soldiers in combat.
But they couldn't cover the complete open area and underground that the flow exploited.
The math was impossible and cruel... Forty defenders spread across kilometers of frontage meant gaps. Meant hundreds of mutants slipping through regardless of how efficiently defenders fought. Meant failure not through lack of skill but through insufficient coverage.
Hundreds of mutants entered the city through a breach they couldn't close. Massive infiltration that would have resulted in massacre of defenseless civilians under normal circumstances.
And all Selphira and Arturo could do was observe with growing horror while containment failure unfolded despite their best efforts.
They killed dozens... Then hundreds.
