NOVEL FROG Chapter 136: Back To Back
Taking advantage of EchoForce's push, the ravagers charged at the wall in front of the omen base. They surrounded the structure, forcing the omens to backtrack with extreme ferocity. These last remaining soldiers had nothing to lose but everything to do, as they wouldn’t back down this deep into enemy lines. Once they cleared the base of the wall, they attempted to scale it before deciding to break through with brute force. Despite Cookie’s sacrifice, it was seemingly fruitless as Tricky froze, unable to think. She hung for her life without seeing Chappy coming to pull her up.
–WE HAVE TO GO!– Chappy shouted while reaching for her hands. Tricky instinctively leaned toward him, but he had to hold her with both arms to secure her. She wasn’t helping much in her dazed state, but with Chappy strapped to the rope, Shade, Ace, and Zoey began to pull up. Chappy continued shouting to make her come to her senses, and as his teammates weren’t strong enough, Tricky finally noticed Chappy couldn’t hold her anymore, so she lifted herself to reach for the ledge.
They both climbed up to safety, and now on top of the wall, Tricky’s confusion wore off upon seeing that the rookies cleared the entire balcony. There were still some omens running down one of the two staircases on each side of the roof since there was nowhere else to go. The wall only protected a small section of the base, with the rest located deep below, inside the mountain. The entrance was at the base, the same level where the ravagers were trying to break in. It was only a matter of time before they raided the building, and as they also damaged the structure holding the balcony, EchoForce had to hurry downstairs.
Without hesitation, Zoey, Shade, and Ace headed down the left staircase, but Chappy stayed to check on Tricky, only now realizing Cookie wasn’t coming. There was no time to process it, as Tricky recollected herself and was already on the move. Her terrified expression turned into one of resolve, but not a sense of responsibility like the rookies. She was filled with deep frustration and hatred towards the ravagers, now directed at the omens as her furious gaze shifted toward the right staircase. She began charging at the fleeing omens as soon as she spotted them, catching Chappy off guard and forcing him to change direction at the last second.
–Hey! Wait!– Chappy exclaimed before running after Tricky. He grew anxious as the squad split up, but at least Tricky didn’t seem to need protection. She was looking for any excuse to release her anger, so despite not having a weapon, she chased the enemy alone, unaware she was about to stumble into danger far greater than expected.
The rookies reached the last floor first, which had another balcony overlooking an indoor courtyard with a large window. The floor was rather small, with a short ceiling, and a few rows of beams holding it, creating an open space with little cover, yet it was instantly crowded as omens sent backup upstairs. The rookies caught up to the omens from the roof and attempted to take them down, but faced a larger group from below. Luckily, their arrival drew the attention of all the enemies on the floor, letting Tricky sneak behind them on the opposite side. She wasn’t entirely blinded by her rage and stopped momentarily to check on the rookies, deciding to act after seeing them cornered.
While she was still undetected, Tricky reached for her backpack and tossed one of her last smoke grenades into the room. The smoke spread even faster when indoors and obscured everyone’s vision almost instantly. The rookies struggled since they were also unable to see the enemy, who were armed with rifles and opened fire blindly. The omens began shooting themselves, forcing the rookies to duck and preventing them from advancing, except Tricky and Chappy. She turned the staircase corner, heading to the lower floor. But as the omens were marching up that side as well, they stumbled into her in the middle of the stairs.
At first, Chappy ran towards his friends, falling back to take cover from the gunfire on the staircase. But as his friends were cornered, Chappy had no choice but to stick close to Tricky, following her down and having to jump in right as she was about to be attacked. With his sword in hand, he leaped over her but lost balance midair, unintentionally throwing himself at the omens. He threw a wild swing when trying to attack everyone at once but only managed to cut one enemy, knocking him back before he could buttstroke Tricky in the face. Chappy ended up falling alongside the omen, which caused a wave of falling omens that kept rolling down the stairs to the lower floor.
The omens on the opposite side heard the infiltrators making their way down and turned to chase them. The rookies were pinned at the left stairs, with Shade acting as a shield for Ace and Zoey, swinging his axe aggressively to fend the enemy off. He killed instantly with each strike, but quickly got overwhelmed. Ace and Zoey jumped in with bland stabs, hitting a few more omens, but were forced to fall back as they kept pushing them back to the stairs. Everyone inside the base was panicking, and while half the omens tried to block the main entrance behind the front wall, the other half was heading upstairs to join the fight. As the rookies lost more ground, the enemy filled up every floor and blocked every possible path, preventing them from going further down.
Just when it appeared they had to return to the roof, Zoey grabbed Shade’s shoulders, gesturing for Ace to help. He boosted her to climb over Shade, who wasn’t comfortable holding Zoey’s weight but blindly trusted her as he focused on the omens in front. After finding her balance, Zoey leaped over the omens blocking the stairs, kicking some faces on the way down. She swiftly landed behind them, luring the majority away from the stairs and giving Shade and Ace a way down. They immediately had to help her, flanking the omens who were trying to attack. She looked mortified for a second as there were multiple enemies twice her size chasing, but she kept weaving and running circles around while Shade and Ace cleared the staircase and picked the omens off one at a time.
After clearing some space, Shade and Ace rushed to the middle of the room, where Zoey used a couple of beams to hide. Disoriented by the smoke pouring from above, the omens struggled to follow her swift moves, but she was still surrounded as they circled the beams and closed in from two directions. Unaware that the rest of the room behind her had cleared due to the omens chasing Tricky and Chappy, Zoey froze and ducked, hoping the smoke concealed her. Though she bought herself some time, two swords were still swinging down at her until Ace and Shade intervened, stabbing the omens and pushing others away to regroup.
Shade switched back to his sword for speed, but after defending Zoey and finding himself trapped, he quickly used the axe to cover more area as the entire left side of the room filled with omens. As Ace helped Zoey up, Shade blocked incoming attacks, barely dodging a few, but he quickly realized that they were far too outnumbered to stick around and fight. He turned frantically to his teammates for a way out, and fortunately, Ace noticed they could escape through the right staircase at the back of the room.
They could only see the small group of omens gathered up, not Tricky and Chappy in the middle, so Ace and Zoey didn’t think twice before rushing to attack from behind. Shade had to use more energy to run and catch up, though an omen pulled him back by his shirt. Forced to defend himself, Shade jammed his axe into the omen’s mouth, hitting mid-laugh, making him spout blood and gibberish as he choked on the axe. With the weapon stuck, Shade used the omen’s body as a shield, blocking strikes from the rest before shoving him to the others. He bought himself a few seconds as the omens grabbed their teammate, only to realize they were already dead, but it came with a compromise since they were more enraged than ever.
Ace and Zoey ran downstairs, seeing omens point rifles at Tricky, who was heading to the crowded courtyard on the first floor. Chappy seemed to have repeated his improvised maneuver of knocking down anyone on the stairs, but he was also lying among the omens he brought down. Despite growing nervous at the absence of Cookie, Ace and Zoey picked up on Tricky’s plan and swiftly slashed the backs of the armed omens. They helped Chappy up before more omens could recover. Shade peeked down the stairs and saw more enemies coming from both directions. Realizing they didn’t stand a chance even when sticking together, Tricky kept pushing forward, not stopping for a second as she shoved omens aside.
The enemy was caught off guard but couldn’t stop Tricky from running deeper into danger. The rookies followed Tricky’s lead and cut through every omen standing in their way. There was no point in fighting anymore, but EchoForce stuck together, their backs against each other, watching all directions to both attack and dodge as they escorted Tricky to the staircase on the first level. There was only one set of stairs found in the center instead of two at opposite ends of the floor, but that didn’t stop them from pushing the omens back to the middle. If they stopped for a second, they would be completely surrounded, and while they had to duck for a moment to avoid bullets from the desperate omens, the odds were no longer against them. Upon seeing EchoForce reach the final staircase, the mindless shot their own across the room from both sides, inadvertently helping them advance.
Reaching the first floor, the squad was met with more bullets flying through the courtyard windows as the entire base converged on their location. Tricky reached the floor without trouble, but she took a moment to look around as there were too many directions to go. EchoForce was right behind the line of omens blocking the entrance, who were too busy to turn around, but everyone else spotted them immediately, forcing Tricky to keep running without clear directions.
Omens charged at Tricky without giving her time to think. She instinctively ducked just in time to dodge three lunging omens. The bullets stopped momentarily since the floor was so crowded that the omens couldn’t risk hitting their own, especially after realizing the mistake they made upstairs. Ace, Shade, and Chappy jumped to defend Tricky, stabbing the omens pouncing at her midair and allowing Tricky to stand stall. She looked over the hordes of omens coming for them and spotted another staircase at the far end of the left side, but was apprehensive to head downstairs until there was no other path for them.
The rookies were drawing more attention, so they were cornered right before they reached the staircase. Only Tricky managed to get past, but she stood on the staircase to wait for the rookies as they fell back. Shade tried to shield Zoey and Ace to let them think of a move again, but Chappy literally jumped the gun, leaping over his teammates to toss himself at the omens blocking the stairs. He created a brief opening for his teammates to squeeze past the enemies, knocking down so many omens that even Tricky had to step aside. However, he wasn’t so lucky this time, as the omens grabbed him on the floor and tried to pull him away. He could only scream and struggle while the other rookies tried to search for him on the ground. Ace and Shade were about to leave with Tricky when they heard his cries and turned back to stab any omen who dared touch Chappy.
–You have to stop doing that…– Zoey scolded Chappy as he got up. He realized he had nearly impaled himself on an omen’s sword but didn’t seem too concerned.
–But it’s fun…– Chappy replied lightheartedly, proud of his accomplishment, though he had no time to enjoy it as they were shot at. He was slightly disoriented and gleefully grabbed Zoey’s hand to get up while Ace and Shade held omens in place to shield their teammates. The two could no longer stay in place and ducked before the latter led the group and shoved more omens away as they rushed down the stairs, joining Tricky on the first underground floor. They managed to escape the omen’s grasp, but it wasn’t enough since they chased right after.
EchoForce constantly checked their backs to dodge more bullets and fend off any omens who managed to slip through the stairs. But right as the enemy began descending, their attention was suddenly diverted. EchoForce noticed that the enemy was preoccupied with the ravagers but was now directly pushing them back as they managed to breach the base through sheer brute force. Unable to replicate EchoForce’s more strategic entry, the ravagers opted for a direct assault, collectively hammering a few points in the wall with all their weapons.
The initial breach was just a small hole, and the omens had no trouble shooting through it, but even then, they knew their wall wouldn’t last long. Despite being exposed to omen gunfire, they relentlessly attached the wall until they cracked it, which is when they roared in unison before charging into the wall and carving their way inside. Their ferocity came bursting as the holes they cracked eventually were large enough for dozens to pour in simultaneously. Swarming the first floor, they forced the omens both inside and outside to regroup in a desperate attempt to contain them. However, the ravagers’ primary focus was slaughtering any omen in sight, creating a chaotic battleground that only helped EchoForce advance deeper into the base freely without the omens on their tail.
–What is goi-...?– Ace began to ask as curiosity got the better of him. He peeked around the corner of the staircase, but Zoey cut him off, urging the squad to follow Tricky and keep moving away from the chaos. Ace was left in doubt until they reached the first basement floor, where a labyrinth of tight, square-shaped corridors awaited them. Hearing the conflict above, the omens had hidden underground, luring EchoForce into a trap. The squad didn’t see the other corridor behind the stars and instead rushed through the one directly in front, but they only got halfway through before they were ambushed by omens at the end.
–We must plant the bomb at the center. Find a way there!– Tricky commanded while panting, turning to run back while the rest of the squad dodged gunfire. They sprinted back to the stairs and kept going past them, turning the first corner in the intersecting corridor just as ravagers began descending from the first floor. They had cleared the entrance with haste, clearing enough room to begin exploring the rest of the base like EchoForce, so the squad decided to stay together and out of sight as they searched for a site to plant the EMD.
With a clear objective and not enough time, the rookies focused solely on finding a way to the very center of the base, even while being pursued by the omens that spotted them. The corridors wrapped around the center, but without knowing the base’s size, they sprinted down the corridor to the left of the staircase. Ravagers already occupied this floor, but they were dealing with the omens chasing EchoForce, allowing the squad to search for a hidden location to plant the bomb.
Tricky and Chappy got ahead, racing to reach the corridor’s end, while the rest of the team checked every door along the way. Unfortunately, they only found small rooms and no central point, so they kept searching until Tricky and Chappy reached the end. The two discovered more paths but turned right into another long hallway to avoid running in circles. Before they could signal the others to follow, Ace and Shade accidentally exposed themselves as they opened doors to rooms full of omens. They tried to slam the doors shut immediately, but their position was compromised, and omens poured out, chasing the rookies as they fled.
Turning the corner, they sprinted through the right corridor, this time without stopping to check any doors. It would have been pointless since there were more doors to the same small rooms until halfway down the corridor, where they found an open hallway leading to a large room. It appeared to be an armory, centrally located at the intersection of four corridors. Ace tried to clear space for Tricky to plant the bomb; however, Shade and Zoey continued searching around. They reached the end of the corridor and were stumped to find yet another staircase leading further down into the base.
–Ummm…– Zoey muttered, confused and nervous, as she looked back at Tricky, Chappy, and Ace, who were already frantically setting up the bomb. But seeing Shade and Zoey discover a way deeper into the base, they all realized they had little choice. The omens had split up, coming at them from both sides, with the ones chasing about to catch up from behind.
There was no turning back. Forced to press on before they were cornered, they ran past the armory and took the stairs to another subterranean level. This floor was starkly different; instead of living quarters with plenty of light and clear paths, this floor was empty and dark, seemingly an unfinished storage area with crates lining the large, circular hallway. The walls had exposed rock from the ground, with only a few reinforced concrete pillars holding the low ceiling and a couple of lanterns spread out on both sides, catching the squad by surprise when they were suddenly isolated in a creepy basement.
The eerie environment didn’t stop EchoForce from splitting up to increase their chances of finding the center. Tricky and Chappy circled to the right, while Ace, Zoey, and Shade took the left. With no immediate threats, they ran freely through the circle until they found openings on both sides leading to the center. They entered the wide storage room from opposite sides and were relieved to find each other. However, the room extended deeper below, prompting a collective sigh of frustration.
In the room’s center stood a large pillar with a spiraling staircase leading to a lower level. A metal grate around the pillar allowed them to peer down to the bottom. Hesitant to descend further, Tricky retrieved two damaged mini turrets from her backpack, repaired them as quickly as possible, and planted them next to both openings to defend against the approaching enemies. With the rookie’s help, the turrets were hidden behind ammo crates and piles of scraps, though they could already hear enemies closing in. They hurried down the staircase to a small, enclosed circle with only a few crates and a spacious spot right below the staircase, ideal for planting the EMD.
Tricky had to act fast despite barely seeing anything as the nook below the stairs was pitch dark. Time was running out to plant the bomb, find an escape route, and detonate it before they were completely surrounded. The rookies seemingly forgot about the last two steps; it was enough stress to escort until she planted the bomb, as they knew more omens would overwhelm Crisis, leaving them defenseless. Backup seemed unlikely, so any action they took could provide a crucial opportunity to turn the tide, even if it meant giving their lives to accomplish it. However, the surrounding chaos and pressure from the rookies got to Tricky.
Anxiety set in, making her fumble with her backpack and struggle to grab the EMD. Chappy helped her get the bomb out, handling it with extreme care. Once Tricky had it in her hands, she froze, losing focus and starting to shake nervously. The rookies turned their backs and distanced themselves to alleviate some pressure, but the sound of approaching enemies from above only heightened her anxiety. It was only a matter of time before they were discovered, and they’d have to hold out with their backs against the wall. But just as she began to regain her composure and grabbed all the parts she needed to reassemble the bomb and activate it, the sudden activity of her turrets shattered the last strand of calm. Someone had reached the room, gotten past the turrets, and was heading down to the frightened squad.