NOVEL FROG Chapter 129: Shellshock
To protect Nitro, Saint, and Frost from the arrows, Panda placed himself in the middle of them, and with one hand holding his shield to the sky while the other aimed his machine gun at the broken gate, he stepped out of cover and ran back into the courtyard. They were immediately exposed to the ravagers’ arrows and debris from the omens’ tank blasts, but they stuck close together as Panda covered them from the arrow rain and focused on reaching the wall despite the loud tank shots disorienting him. Once they were close enough to reach the stairs and run up to the top of the wall, Panda stopped upon facing the omen army waiting outside the south gate.
The enemy spotted them right away, but with a tank blocking the entrance, they waited for it to keep moving before shooting at Panda, who reacted quickly and had to place his shield in front once the omens opened fire. While he blocked all the incoming gunfire, even protecting his teammates and the Cloudstars far behind, it was a matter of time before another barrage of arrows poured down and killed him, Frost, Saint, and Nitro. With no time to think, Panda continued covering their front with his shield while Nitro pulled out some satchel charges and two spare detonators and handed them to Saint and Frost.
Before more arrows came, the three checked back on Panda, who responded with a steadfast nod and confident gaze, encouraging his teammates to run, and they didn’t have to stick around for a second longer. While he provided cover fire, Saint, Frost, and Nitro headed to the last intact scaffolding tower on their right, leaving Panda behind to deal with the omens. However, right as they left the safety of Panda’s shield, more arrows began raining, forcing him to strap his machine gun and shield to his back while sprinting back to safety with Candy and Kiwy. He was saved by the roof and his shield, protecting him from the arrows and bullets, respectively, though he immediately had to turn back to fend off the omens as they didn’t intend to stop. The Cloudstars saw this as a signal to run farther back and leave the courtyard defenseless again, but Candy and Kiwy stayed right behind Panda, trying to approach him as he was getting overwhelmed.
–STAY BACK!– Panda ordered after glancing back and noticing Candy and Kiwy trying to help him. They didn’t listen, going out before seeing him backing down and following the Cloudstars inside. He was more concentrated on firing back while holding his shield to protect his teammates, but he became visibly anxious when the tank outside the south gate turned around to face him. Panda was ready to run, but luckily, the tank had found a new target and shifted its sights.
The scaffolding stairs were already flimsy and barely able to hold much weight, but once the wall came under fire, every single impact from the tank shells weakened the structure further, to the point where Frost, Saint, and Nitro couldn’t go up all at once. All the other towers seemed to have collapsed completely, at least in the west courtyard, as the walls there were barely staying up after the tanks targeted them repeatedly. The wall was so battered that there were cracks and fissures big enough to let omens peek and shoot through. And since Frost, Saint, and Nitro had to wait for the arrows to stop before heading to the top, they dreadfully watched the wall fall apart.
Once they finally had a chance to run up to the top, as soon as they were spotted, the rank right outside shot at them, hitting the left corner of the gate and blowing all the scaffolding away, alongside the stairs and the rest of the gate. The dust from the powerful blast clouded the area for a moment, with Panda ceasing fire to check on his teammates, though the enemy kept shooting through the smoke and debris. The smoke began to settle, and before the tank could see them again, Frost guided Saint and Nitro to the burning watchtower that the latter blew up, where they took cover and peeked over to see where the other two tanks were.
Half of the omen army was rallying outside, waiting for their opportunity to rush back into the base, while the other half tried to gain ground against the ravagers, who were now using their infantry to protect the artillery at all costs. Despite having the advantage in weaponry, the three tanks focused solely on tearing down the wall, with one right in the middle of the west wall, which looked like it could fall apart at any moment, another tank next to the north gate, shooting right at the side of the courtyard to create a diagonal entrance near the gate, and the last one being right in front of them. Frost, Saint, and Nitro already knew to split up, but before they could take on their respective targets, they all had to face the rank right below them, as this one persisted in seeking them out until it had them in its sight again.
The tank shell flew faster than they could react, but as soon as they heard the shot, Frost and the others jumped away, barely dodging the explosion below their feet. It sent them flying like chunks of the wall dispersed in the air, but it knocked Frost to the right, closer to where the gate used to be. He managed to grab the ledge and save himself but was separated from Nitro and Saint, who saw no choice but to run to the left as their previous cover spot was falling apart. They did stop to look back and check on Frost, who stayed down, seemingly injured, but he signaled them to keep running and take care of the other tanks. Willingly staying behind in a precarious spot, with the tank trying to shoot at him once alongside the omens on the ground, Frost drew all the attention away from Nitro and Saint, who couldn’t stop running despite both growing nervous now that Frost wasn’t around.
Despite not being targeted by the tank anymore, the two immediately stood out to the omens below, as they were the only ones running along the top of the wall and heading north. At least Nitro and Saint could run, unlike Frost, who had nearly all the omens outside the south wing trying to shoot him down. He managed to evade their bullets by weaving from both sides of the destroyed watchtower, at least until the tank outside shot directly at it and took away the last thing covering him. Frost jumped out of the way right as the watchtower blew to pieces, using his blades and grappling hooks to pull himself closer to the giant gap in the middle of the wall. Another burst of debris and dust created a distraction big enough for him to run away, with Panda suppressing fire to give him time to move.
However, since Frost couldn’t go towards Nitro and Saint now that the stable section of the upper half of the wall ahead seemed to be missing, he ran in the other direction, jumping across the broken gate while the omens were still trying to spot him among the flying debris. Leaping to the other side caught some omens’ eye, and with the other watchtower too far away for him to take cover, he couldn’t dodge all the bullets with Panda’s help. He was still exposed but started ducking and slithering close to the ground like a snake as he kept running forward. Panda took some of the pressure off him, but the tank was now moving in his direction to get closer for a better shot, although that was the last of their concerns now, as another wave of arrows came from above at the most inconvenient moment.
Frost’s gaze shifted upward, and once he saw the arrows coming, his expression turned to disappointment and irritation. It didn’t stop him from acting quickly and jumping to reach the watchtower in front of him, getting inside right as the arrows covered the entire courtyard once again. This time, Frost could feel the might of the ravagers’ infantry, as the projectiles were so strong that they were starting to pierce through the thin roof of the small watchtower. That’s when he started getting slightly nervous, realizing he wasn’t safe for long, but he quickly found the nearly intact turret in front of him and turned ecstatic when he laid his eyes on it.
With the omens now trying to shoot at the watchtower, Frost confidently grabbed the mounted turret and returned fire, mowing down his enemies almost as fast as Panda, who still had a clean shot at the omens since they were all fixated on killing Frost and just walked into his line of sight inadvertently. The once-menacing crowd of omens outside seemingly didn’t stand a chance against Frost and Panda. But as much as they got to kill and boost their numbers in a short period, clearing the area outside made the ravagers eager, and they saw this as an opportunity to push and reach the opening. Now that the omens were dropping dead quickly, there wasn’t much between them and the base. By the time they saw Frost, they were right outside the destroyed gate, and while they were about to target him, they first had to face the threat between them and Frost.
The only omen forces left standing outside the south wing was the tank, with the rest of the army heading north and trying to take down the left wall as they had no ravagers in the way. But as the tank seemed obsessed with killing Frost, it didn’t back down and held its ground, staying right in the middle of the opening, blocking the entrance, and pushing against the ravagers. And even though Frost received some support from the other enemy side, the ravagers failed to stop the tank in any way, shape, or form, despite surrounding it and trying to steal it.
The ravagers attempted to climb the tank and kill the soldiers inside, but in the process, they were just run over and crushed to death, scaring off any other attackers, all while the unit tried to lock sight on Frost. He quickly picked up on it and hastily ran away from the watchtower before the tank could shoot. As he predicted, the tank ignored the army of ravagers and kept blasting until Frost was no longer moving, first connecting a direct hit on the watchtower, then shooting ahead of where Frost was heading to block his path. He was trapped on a little island of the wall, facing the ravager army on the east side of the battlefield, noticing that the infantry was being repositioned to let their infantry move in before seeing the tank following close behind.
With the tank moving away from the entrance, Panda could only partially prevent the ravagers from coming in, his eyes trying to follow Frost with growing desperation. To his awe and concern, he saw him standing completely still farther east in a tricky position, since he had nothing to take cover behind. Once Frost was out of his field of view, Panda only started to realize Frost was luring the tank closer to his position. Most ravagers gave up on fighting the tank and rushed to the entrance, so Panda lost sight of Frost for a second to shoot, and when he glanced back, he was seemingly about to jump down.
At that moment, Frost peeked over the wall, being ignored by everyone but the tank, which ran over any ravager in its way to shoot at him. The tank was already right in front but too close to the wall to shoot, so it quickly backed up to aim at Frost, who examined the scene with a daring demeanor, towering over all the ravagers struggling to save themselves from the tank running over them. Even with the opportunity to run, he boldly stared down at the barrel of the tank, provoking it with a cocky gesture. His breath drew to a halt just as the tank got in position to shoot, and with no way to get down and blow it automatically, Frost saw the chance to take advantage of the fact that some ravagers managed to survive and sneak underneath the tank without being crushed.
Saint and Nitro didn’t even reach the west courtyard before the omens started shooting, forcing them to keep running to dodge the bullets. Without a chance to hesitate a single move for not even a second, Saint got anxious and tried to communicate with Nitro, who noticed him trying to say something but only pointed at the tank farther away. Saint didn’t understand until Nitro gestured aggressively for them to split up, and that’s when he took the hint and kept running toward the north gate, but he couldn’t stop doubting and glancing back at Nitro. They had reached the last intact watchtower on the left side, and as soon as he had the chance, Nitro stopped running and took cover, ducking inside while loading his grenade launcher instead of using the satchel charges.
Unlike Nitro’s face, eager to blow up the tank, Saint looked mortified as his heart pounded so fast that he began panting with every fast step and struggled to focus on his target ahead. He tried not to pay attention to the omens trying to kill him, so he didn’t realize Nitro had drawn most of the attention away from him, though he grew more agitated the further he got, especially now that he was running all alone on top of the north wing wall. His sword was strapped loosely, but Saint couldn’t stop to check or hold it, instead keeping his hands busy by holding the explosive Nitro gave him, needing both hands to make sure he didn’t drop it as he shuddered once he locked eyes with the tank.
After almost tripping due to how fast he was running, Saint kept pushing forward despite both tanks nearby shooting at the wall and causing tremors, crippling the infrastructure of the only barrier between the enemy and his allies. He kept running, running as fast as he could to get near enough to the tank tearing down the wall. But having dodged all the bullets didn’t grant him a single breath of relief, as he now stood above a destroyed courtyard on the north wing, overrun by omens once again as they secured the gate. The enemy seemed to be fighting to get inside, but the Cloudstars kept them away as they locked down the corridor to the hangar, distracting the omens below and allowing Saint to focus solely on the tank.
Once Saint reached the section of the wall about to crumble, he couldn’t stop himself from looking at the other nearby threats since the ravagers had also gained ground and were fighting at the gate for their way in. They seemed capable of overpowering the omens, though the latter were already infiltrating the base through the hole the tank had carved in the wall next to the gate. It looked like the ravagers were trying to surround them while their heavy artillery advanced, preparing to launch another barrage of arrows. Instinctively, Saint took cover behind a destroyed watchtower to think of how he could approach the situation, peeking out to get a good view of the battle found below before acting.
The omens seemingly had completely forgotten about him and prioritized pushing the ravagers back, so they mobilized more units to the north and south gates to stand a chance against the powerful and persistent ravager army. Nitro was still under a lot of heat from the omens, but he managed to glimpse the ravagers’ maneuver and realized he wasn’t being nearly as targeted as before. However, with the tank still trying to tear down the wall and every hit reminding Nitro of his task with the whole wall trembling, he psyched himself up to get a shot at it. He didn’t have much time left, as even the watchtower itself was starting to crack, so after noticing the sudden shift in the omen’s direction, he stayed in a safe spot behind the turret and continued watching to find his opportunity to attack. He grew impatient, though, and instead of waiting and figuring out how to use the ravagers to his advantage, he immediately tried to blow up the tank while it was distracted.
Without aiming correctly, Nitro slid his grenade launcher through the small gap in the watchtower window and shot one grenade in the tank’s general direction, missing it but landing right on top of the omen mass below and taking down a couple of them. With all the chaos, he couldn’t tell by how much he missed, and now that he drew the attention of the rest, there was no chance of peeking out without the risk of getting shot in the head. Regardless, he kept shooting, adjusting his aim slightly with each shot, and since the omens were shooting back, he figured he had to aim lower, trying to guess the tank's position. To aim low enough, he had to poke his grenade launcher through the window, exposing his hands as well, but even when he finally landed a direct hit, the tank suffered no damage, or at least it was still very functional as it performed without any issues.
Nitro’s excitement lasted merely a second as he felt another shell hit the wall. With a sigh of frustration, he kept shooting until he was out, but it appeared as if the tank wasn't budging, no matter how many times he shot at it. Nitro panicked as the tank was still up and seemingly fully operational after being hit with grenades consecutively. He realized his grenades only seemed to damage the wall as it began crumbling below his feet. The watchtower was about to collapse, and with only a couple more hits before the entire thing came down, Nitro took a big breath and tried to concentrate as hard as he could to come up with something at the last second. That’s when he stopped hearing any gunfire, only the loud, booming blasts from the tank shells. With the other omens seemingly leaving him alone, he stood up with confidence and grabbed the turret in front of him before aiming down at the tank, focusing fire solely on it, even though the omens around him were still shooting back.
–HEY! LOOK UP, YOU DUMBASS! I’M STILL HERE!– Nitro yelled at the tank with an unhinged laugh, even catching the omens off guard by suddenly exposing himself. They kept shooting without a second thought, with the only thing keeping him alive being the watchtower’s window, although it was starting to crack alongside the whole structure after enduring heavy gunfire for a straight minute. Nitro didn’t seem to care and couldn’t back down, so he blasted the tank with everything the turret had left in hopes of shifting its attention upward.
Instead of drawing attention, Saint tried to avoid his target as much as possible, and it seemed to pay off rather quickly. After waiting around, he saw the omens pushing up the north gate harder than ever, leaving the tank behind with only a few armed omens guarding it. The tank had blown a hole right through the wall, focusing on destroying the base so the rest of the wall fell with it, and since the cracks were extending all throughout the courtyard, if it managed to bring this section down, the rest of the wall would come down with it. Before it reached the point of no return, Saint took advantage of the chokehold the omens were in before they got the upper hand, and so he did.
Taking another peek at the tank, Saint mustered up the courage to leave cover, and without thinking, he leaped on top of the tank, doing a roll to break his fall, which led to him falling off the tank and onto the ground. He sustained no injuries, but now that he was defenseless on the ground, with his back against the tank and surrounded by confused omens, Saint panicked and tried to fight back immediately. The omens didn’t hesitate and aimed their rifles, but one saw him as such a nuisance that he opted to pull out his knife to take care of him. The enemy inadvertently bought him some time to react as the other omens didn’t have a clean shot, but with too much distance between him and the attackers, Saint waited for the omen to approach to make his move.
The cocky omen charged with his knife in hand, trying to stab Saint in the back while he was still on his knees. To counterattack, Saint blocked the strike with Dominion before kicking the omen in the crotch to bring him to his level. After rolling to the side to grab the omen and hold him hostage to protect himself from the armed ones, Saint hesitated on what to do and looked around in a panic before he noticed that the omens were willing to shoot one of their own to kill him. Before they pulled the trigger, Saint finished off the omen by accidentally slitting his throat in an attempt to run away. He lowered his sword to duck as the bullets struck the corpse he used as his meat shield, and with the tank right behind him, he quickly crawled to the front to take cover right below the barrel, only a few feet away from the ramshackle wall.
The omens continued aiming and tried to shoot but were scared to get close since he was right in front of the tank, giving Saint time to regain his composure and think of his next move. However, he didn’t expect the omens to order the tank to back up and move to the side to expose him. He was about to pull out the satchel charge to plan it, but he froze when he realized it was missing and his only cover was now moving. It all happened so fast that he couldn’t react or follow the tank, and with the omens prepared to gun him down, he looked back at the wall, only to realize it was far too late to run now.
On the other hand, Frost contemplated something for a long time as he stared at the ravager crowd surrounding the tank. As the barrel was pointing directly at him, he didn’t have time to think, stunned by the sight of the shell ready to shoot. But before he could make up his mind, he trusted his instincts, and instead of risking going down to plant the explosive by himself, Frost waited for the last moment to toss the satchel charge at the ravagers below. He simply let go of the explosive with a sly grin to keep the tank focused on him, though his provocation prompted it to fire directly at him. It only took a swift weave to dodge the projectile entirely, and even though it hit the building behind, the tank had to reload to take another shot, all while Frost kept staring down its barrel, completely still, as the ravagers didn’t take long to notice the satchel charge he tossed at them.
Without taking his eyes off the tank, Frost watched as the ravagers figured out how to plant the explosive. Before the tank could take another shot, he mocked it with a chuckle and casually jumped back off the wall to the safety of the courtyard. The tank chose not to shoot, as the omens inside realized the ravagers were slipping their way into the tank from below, prompting the driver to lose control and ram the machine against the wall, causing a large chunk of the top to fall apart. Panda watched all of it in awe, and after seeing Frost walk back to him nonchalantly, he soon realized he hadn’t taken care of the tank.
–Did it blow up? What did you do??– Panda asked in confusion, almost too indignant to keep his eyes on the front and having to halt fire to run over to Frost and protect him with his shield. However, it looked as if he needed no help, as the ravagers stopped firing arrows and could be heard howling like animals outside the wall. Panda was too anxious to go see what was going on, and as Frost got a chance to catch his breath, he didn’t bother with a comforting answer.
–Just wait…– Frost responded quietly, almost sounding insecure, which didn’t ease Panda’s concern, who remained cautious and followed him back to safety with Candy and Kiwy, though as they turned their backs to the wall, he figured out what Frost had plotted.
For a brief second, Saint panicked as he was the target of more than a dozen omens, who made sure to taunt him before opening fire. In the final moments, he looked past all of them, and before cowering in anticipation, he turned to the tank in front, which had backed up too much and accidentally ran over a few teammates. The omens were not worried about friendly fire and didn’t even glance at their own being run over for a second, and with Saint freezing, he stepped back as far as he could from the tank and ducked as a last resort, clenching both fists and closing his eyes as he heard the shots ring in front of him.
Nitro kept screaming at the tank, cursing at it to the point where his voice was breaking. He had completely lost it, and yet he remained focused, brushing off the bullets that went through the small watchtower, grazing his arms and shoulders. One bullet hit him in his right shoulder, almost hitting the bone but going straight through and opening a wound that began to spray blood and obstruct his view. He kept firing now that he had nothing to lose, and even though his injury made it difficult to hold his weapon, he held his ground and used the last rounds of the turrets until he finally saw the tank move. Annoyed by all the ineffective gunfire, the tank aimed upward to take care of Nitro, who was now aiming directly down the barrel.
–There you go… See if you like this, you worthless piece of c-…– Nitro muttered to himself as he held his grenade steady with both hands to take his shot at the tank’s barrel. But right as he pulled the trigger, he was shot again, and while his grenade was already in the air, the tank shot at him as well, only a split second later. He even saw the fire and smoke coming from the barrel before dropping his weapon as an omen hit his right hand, but he didn’t appear to feel the pain as he grinned proudly and watched his grenade fly straight into the tank’s barrel, being faster than the shell and intercepting it before it could shoot out.
Despite not seeing the collision, Nitro began cheering when he felt a sudden ball of heat warming his skin and temporarily numbing all pain or sensation, though nothing could take the satisfaction away from him. It was the exact opposite for Saint, who clutched his sword and tried to shield himself from the bullets in a state of despair, but in the process, he grabbed something else. Without realizing it, Saint pulled the trigger for the satchel charge, only feeling the immediate reaction to his accidental decision as he felt a strong force right in front.
Saint couldn’t tell if it was an explosion or a bullet coming his way, much like Frost, who couldn’t tell when to set off the explosion. He couldn’t see past the wall, but with the trigger in hand and Panda watching eagerly for him to pull it, at the mere sound of the ravagers retreating, Frost trusted the enemy, and with a reluctant nod, he triggered the explosion. It was around the same time as Saint and Nitro, and with all three setting off explosives blindly, they could only pray they managed to succeed and their plan hadn't backfired.