Rod could discern the red glow of flames brewing from the windows of the village. It was filled with a smell that distracted him from the living nightmare in front.
More monsters surged: Kobolds, goblins, wolves, bearbeasts, hornets, snakewalkers, and many others poured from the surrounding forest, wanting to feast.
The Hero's resolve hardened when he heard the overwhelming enemies, and it pushed him forward. Attempting to shoot and move at such speeds would be suicidal, though not for Rod. He was a master crafted by the government.
One shot, another, and another. Each bullet became a calculated strike that eliminated a threat, even if his focus was on the Frontfor's shadow looming in the distance. Many other monsters managed to slip past the beast and dissolve into the town.
He didn't have enough time to stop them all… and he had to trust his daughter to handle the horrors he could not reach.
The man drew closer to the massive beast and a sudden sound ripped through the air. They were groans: raspy screams from another person next to the monster. It distracted him for enough time to be caught off guard by a smaller enemy.
A snakewalker saw its opportunity to kill him and lunged.
"I'VE GOT YOU!" it snarled.
The Gun Hero's fast reflexes caught the incoming attack just in time. He jumped upward, over the beast, landed just past it, spun around, and aimed his sniper.
"Oh shi-" the snake muttered.
BANG!
The snakewalker's lifeless body slammed onto the ground and Rod continued his path. There, he managed to get a better look at the Frontfor.
Large was an understatement… Its form loomed fifty meters high and its shadow blotted out the sky. It possessed the head of a dragon, with fangs so large they could devour a buffalo in a single bite, but what truly chilled him to the bone were the many orifices that riddled its body. Each emanated an unsettling greenish glow.
In front of the beast, a lone figure stood still. Ascal, the Guardian of Eldham. He was the only one fighting this terrifying monster… the only one with enough courage to stand in its path.
No other creature from the horde dared to enter their fighting area. After all, they knew intervening would bring death.
"AAARGH!" Ascal yelled and hurled another spear-like sword directly at the beast's heart.
The Frontfor's scales deflected the impact with ease, despite Ascal's full strength. It roared and vibrated the very earth, tensing its body to attack. One of its orifices pulsed with an inner light before blasting a large beam of energy. The beam tore through the air in a zigzag pattern, targeting Ascal.
He instinctively grabbed a spell vial from his belt and hurled it to the ground.
"LEVETO!" the elf screamed and a powerful force instantly pushed him upward.
He barely avoided the attack. Ascal was now suspended helplessly in the air, and the Frontfor noticed. With a surge of might, it lifted its immense claw to strike.
"Bollocks!" Ascal growled.
He tried to grab another spell vial from his belt… It was too late. The monster's claw descended, and just when the buff man braced himself for impact, something happened… someone intervened.
BANG!
The guardian turned his head to the left and saw Rod running towards them, rifle in hand. He had shot the beast, hitting the right side of its nose and piercing its thick scales.
"AAAAARGH!!"
Its body lurched violently to the left and momentarily forgot Ascal. This was perfect for the warrior. He finally landed on the ground, moved away, and generated another sword from his interlink.
"I thank you, gun user!" Ascal exclaimed.
"No problem! Now… How do we deal with this guy?!" Rod replied.
The beast slowly regained its composure, causing Ascal to notice the damage done by Rod's weapon.
"My swords can't pierce its scales, you're the only one with a weapon that can do that," he explained, "I need a sword thin enough to pierce it and enough force for it to go through. The surface area needs to be small at the tip, and you have to throw it at mach speeds. Do you have a weapon like that in your interlink?"
"I don't."
Rod was about to give an alternative before his senses registered a subtle movement behind them. He looked back and saw something… horrifying. More than a dozen black, skinny entities were sprinting to the town.
"Oh shit!"
He didn't notice the Frontfor had attacked. Multiple green beams of energy shot from the monster's orifices and headed directly for him. The beast had taken advantage of his distraction… and that left him with no time to react, nor move, nor dodge.
Without his powers or the golden shield of his mana, it became impossible.
"MOMENTO!" Ascal yelled and threw another spell vial to the ground.
An unseen force pushed him directly toward Rod at super speeds and stopped directly in front of the hero. He positioned his large sword in a defensive stance, blocking the four green beams. Such a feat pushed Ascal back, his feet digging into the dirt for purchase.
"Pay attention to the fight at hand!" the warrior exclaimed in exasperation, "This beast's life force is radiation-based. If a singular beam hits you, your genes will suffer irreparable damage!"
"We need to kill it quickly. Spearhands are heading towards the town," Rod responded.
"Spearhands? That is not good."
The Hero fired his sniper at the Frontfor's chest, only for the bullet to forcefully penetrate a little of its thick scale. It wasn't a waste of a shot. At that moment, he noticed something unexpected. The beast's chest plate shifted and revealed an exposed area for a second.
There was no time to waste. He instantly shot again and hit it directly through the small opening, striking its heart.
"RAAAAAAGH!" The Frontfor roared and its massive body lurched.
Even though the bullet had landed, the damage was minimal. Rod's bullets were simply too small to inflict critical damage, and he didn't possess any weapons with larger bullets in his current arsenal. Thus, he returned the sniper to his interlink.
"The beast's healing factor is one of a kind. It clots the heart so it doesn't bleed out. Do you see the chestplate scales?" Ascal spoke.
"Yeah."
"They keep moving, adjusting to the direction the attackers are in so that its chest isn't exposed."
Rod looked closer and saw it. The constant and subtle undulation of the scales was present… like shifting armor. He could distinctly remember how those chest plates had been in a different position when Ascal was fighting in front of the beast. In that instance, it exposed its chest to the side. Now he understood how it worked.
The man quickly generated his trusty pistol gauntlet and checked its power level. To his surprise, it only had 2% of full charge.
"I see. Okay, I got a plan. I'll distract it while you aim for its chest. Use a wide-reaching sword so that the damage is large enough and he can't clot it completely."
"Wait, we first need to take out its eyes. This beast is smart. It can tell if it is truly in danger. If we take out its sight, then we can fool its instincts," Ascal insisted.
Rod focused on the beast's head and noticed it was ready to attack again. He instantly generated his sniper again.
"I'll take care of that. You hide and wait for an opening."
Before Rod could begin, Ascal grabbed him by the arm.
"Wait, you are merely human. How do you plan on doing this?"
His voice was tinged with a subtle doubt that questioned the man's confidence. And to the warrior's surprise, Rod simply smirked.
"I'm not just any human… I'm the Gun Hero."
In less than a second, the man sprinted forward and left Ascal behind. He generated the sniper rifle again, remembering all the training he had. Without his usual speed, it would seem impossible to many. Not for him.
He aimed and fired, hitting the beast on its side. The bullet quickly penetrated its scales and caused it to cry out.
"RRAAAGH!"
Multiple fast moving green beams were generated by its orifices and targeted Rod. Yet, for a human, he moved really fast… almost as fast as his daughter.
One beam shot towards him but he dodged. Then another and another. He leaped, rolled, and slid on the ground in a blur of motion. He looked unstoppable.
The Frontfor had enough. It chose to use its massive tail in a sweeping strike. It's body quickly turned and its tail moved faster than anticipated, though not fast enough to catch the Hero. Rod leaped and grabbed onto the beast's tail with a swift movement, using its momentum to launch himself high into the air.
He returned the sniper rifle to his interlink and generated an air pump shotgun similar to Catra's, aiming and firing with a large down to the ground.
BANG!
The air blast propelled him even higher. Reaching the beast's head was a matter of seconds, and he had made it. He quickly gripped its scales and anchored himself.
"RAAAGH!" The Frontfor thrashed wildly to dislodge him.
It didn't work though. Rod returned the shotgun to his interlink and generated his trusty pistol. He aimed at the monster's left eye… and shot. The bullet penetrated its thin skin and struck its very core, causing immense pain.
Just as quickly, his hand snapped to the other eye and fired once more. The bullet found its mark and completely blinded the beast.
"RRRRAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHH!!" it screamed, flailing its claws to the man.
When they were about to reach him, Rod leaped to the right, avoided the attack, and landed safely on the ground. He instantly changed the pistol's form to its gauntlet shape and aimed at the right side of the beast.
"Let's see how long you last."
BOOOOOOM!
He fired a huge blast of crackling mana, erupting from the palm of the gauntlet. It surged towards the Frontfor and engulfed the entire left side of its body.
The sheer force of the continuous beam was so strong that the beast was being pushed to the side, prompting it to instinctively move its chest scales to the right, trying to cover it from the side attack. It was none the wiser; the only thing registered was the pain.
As Rod continued the blast, Ascal left his tactical hiding spot and positioned himself directly in front of the beast. A large sharp sword was held firmly in his hands.
Everything was up to him now… So, the man drew in a deep breath, held it, and exhaled. He concentrated his mana to forcefully make his powerful arms even stronger, and grabbed one of his last spell vials.
"STRENGTO!!" he exclaimed, throwing it on the ground.
Visible smoke emanated from his bulging muscles. He held the immense weapon and sprinted forward, breaking the limit of his strength and achieving the perfect throwing form.
"NOW!" Rod exclaimed, noticing his gauntlet flickered with low mana.
Ascal ran, aimed, and focused his gaze. The Frontfor's plates were now angled precisely to the right, leaving its center completely exposed.
"RAAAAAAAH!" the buff man roared and he moved his arms in a blur, throwing the sword with speeds unlike anything seen previously.
Such projectile became strong enough to generate a concussive shockwave that ripped through the air and broke the sound barrier. Less than a nanosecond passed for the weapon to make contact with the beast's chest, piercing its monstrous body and tearing through the thick scales on its back.
A few moments stretched in thick silence after Rod's gauntlet ran out of power. The beast remained frozen… and only when its body tumbled down, did time finally resume.
The moment was broken by ragged sounds coming from Rod's and Ascal's heavy breathing. They had done it… Against all odds, they had saved everyone from radiation death.
"Do we have to move it because of the radiation?" Rod asked.
"No… the skin is still protecting us… I'll call for cleanup later-" the warrior tried to respond before his weary words were cut off by screams from the village.
Both of them quickly turned around and tried to focus on those horrid sounds.
"Spearhands…" Ascal murmured, struggling to get up.
Every muscle screamed in protest, even if he couldn't afford it. Not now.
"Let's go!" Rod sharply responded and extended a hand to the warrior.
"Yes. If we don't make it in time, they'll die."
Once Ascal was up, they both began sprinting to their next destination. Rod needed to get there fast. Not because of pride… but because of worry. Catra was not ready for the horrors heading her way… and he knew that well.