NOVEL FROG Chapter 46: Scrap The Heap
With the dirt cloud creating a perfect distraction for Trash to run away as fast as possible, Crisis was left to deal with all the miners that had now put a pause on work to quickly dispose of them before they got a chance to fight. Trash headed straight back to the entrance of the mineshaft on the first layer, and after they had taken cover, antipunks popped out of the mines with rifles. In the commotion, Crisis had to step back to get a proper view of the incoming threats, having to take cover behind the pillar to avoid the fire from the front. But after seeing that seemingly everyone in the ravine was now coming for them, they assumed their previous positions to take the offensive and put up a fight.
–Get rid of these junk rats! Don’t let any of them get away!– Frost yelled in rage to his team as he charged at the antipunks in front, and while his request was easier said than done with all the enemies waiting on the lower levels, Crisis followed his order without a hint of doubt. They rushed forward to purge the first layer of the mineshaft of any antipunk they found.
The enemy was just now coming out of cover and trying to aim at the squad, but before they got a clear shot, Panda and Kiwy were already on their faces, pushing through the shaft ruthlessly, cornering the enemy into the narrow walls found inside, where they could only take cover as they were overpowered immediately. Almost the entire squad charged at the enemy with Frost, but as Indie took a moment to locate the other enemies found below, she noticed right away that Trash was running away in a specific direction.
–They are heading down!– Indie shouted back at Frost, who stopped going further into the mineshaft to let his teammates advance instead, and after turning back to look down, he found Savage, Ruin, and Scrap running through the second wooden platform, the one on the other side of the pillar. They didn’t bother to look back as they escaped in a hurry, but Frost followed them with his stare until they disappeared inside the entrance to the mineshafts in the opposite direction Crisis was heading.
Indie, Nitro, Candy, Tricky, and Scott ran into the mineshafts and began combating the antipunks, with the latter trying his best to provide support, only covering more ground to corner the enemy as he stayed back. Frost turned to Panda and gave him a signal, to which he didn’t hesitate to follow his order as he pointed at the platform across them. Taking a big breath and strapping his machine gun to his back, Panda backed away to get some speed before running up to the edge of the ravine overhang to take a long jump to cross the gap between platforms.
While Panda barely made it to the other side, now that he was found on the floor below, he was immediately surrounded by antipunks trying to shoot at him. The impact of his landing shook the entire platform to the point where the incoming enemies lost their balance before being met with a heavy bullet to the stomach or chest from Panda’s machine gun. He didn’t waste time and began firing, shooting at both sides of the platform to cover as much area as possible while the rest of the team made their way down to him.
But as he turned to the opening where Frost saw Trash run into, Panda managed to catch a glimpse of Scrap running away, but he was only able to shoot at the bags on his back for a second, which absorbed the damage for him, before lowering his guard, which allowed someone behind to take a shot at him. Panda kept shooting, but when he felt a quick slash on his back all of a sudden, he immediately turned around to see that one of the antipunk twins had sneaked up on him and landed an attack with his curved sword. Despite catching him by surprise, his strike was a poor one as it only brushed Panda’s back, ripping his combat shirt, leaving a small cut that barely bled, but annoying Panda to the point he just threw a jab at him in response.
Panda’s punch knocked back the twin, but he appeared to have held back as he was already drawing his gun again. But with the other twin coming out from the mineshaft in front as well, they both took advantage of the short second that it took Panda to raise his gun, and with two enemies jumping at him, he didn’t have time to block their attacks with the shield. Panda braced himself as he took one step back, frantically pulling the trigger in hopes of getting a few shots out before getting hit, but that’s when Frost decided to jump in to defend him.
Dropping gracefully from the first floor by using one of the ropes from the ceiling to swing across, Frost stepped in the twins’ way right as they would strike Panda, blocking both their sword and pickaxe with his blades before pushing them away. In the process, Frost almost got his feet obliterated by Panda as he began shooting mindlessly, but after stepping away, he allowed him to shoot at the twins while they tried to run away. However, instead of running in a straight line back to where they came from, the twins jumped across to the lowest level, which had a higher drop than the other. Despite this, Frost was already on the chase, but before getting to jump to the platform below, a minecart was sent flying through the rails on the platform, and while Panda dodged it, he wasn’t able to stop it before it hit Frost.
Frost was knocked down for a brief moment just as more antipunks appeared right in front. But with Panda drawing their attention and blocking some of their bullets with his shield, Frost had to turn his attention to the incoming enemies behind, where they tried to push more minecarts into them, now filled with antipunks ready to jump at them. Leaving Panda to deal with the armed antipunks in front, Frost charged at the ones on the minecart before Kiwy joined in.
She caught the antipunks by surprise as they left their cover, jumping onto their shoulders to slash a couple of necks swiftly without letting them look up. She took out a few enemies before jumping away once again to avoid Panda’s barrage of bullets that smoked both sides of the mineshaft in an instant. But as more appeared on both sides, Frost took a moment to assess the situation, and after a brief glance below, he saw the twins gathering more armed miners at the lowest platform, allowing Savage and Ruin to keep running away, now heading in the direction they first went through.
–They are everywhere!– Panda yelled in a mix of panic and frustration as he had to keep switching sides to fire at both friends, becoming dizzy as he had to stay alert, now also having to cover himself from the antipunks on the adjacent sides to the platform, shooting cowardly from a distance through the holes in the rock face of the ravine. Frost was now solely focused on getting to the third level, leaving Kiwy and Panda to survive on their own, but luckily, the rest of the team was on their way to help clear out the second level.
With Indie shooting every antipunk that dared to set foot in her path, the rest of the team only had to cover for her and warn her about enemies coming in other directions, so they were able to clear the first layer of mineshafts with relative ease. The antipunks were so scared to face them that they tried to run away deep into the mines or hide behind anything they found, with only a few of them occasionally popping out to shoot back. What helped to avoid Indie’s relentless firing and flawless aim were the many paths the mineshaft split into.
After entering the first stretch to chase the main antipunk squad, Tricky and Nitro noticed that they had multiple directions to go in, but instead of each one taking a different path to search fast, they opted to stay close together and help Indie take out as many enemies as possible. While it was slower, Indie was able to maintain a good pace as she ran through the mineshafts in pursuit of any antipunk she spotted, forcing her teammates to follow right behind until they had reached a narrow set of stairs hidden in one of the walls. It led down to the second floor, but as it was brimming with antipunks, Crisis had to wait for some to come to them in order to clear enough space to get down.
Scott was shaking nervously as he only had a sword to defend himself, but as he stayed back and waited for the team to keep moving, he switched his broken rifle with a new one off the ground. It was still in a poor state like all the other makeshift antipunk weapons, but now armed, he was able to charge through the tight staircase with the rest of the team, shooting alongside Candy through the tunnel opposite to the platform in the center of the ravine, where Indie rushed to reach to provide help for Frost, Kiwy, and Panda.
She didn’t check back on the enemies coming from the mines, and while Candy and Scott were able to fend them off for a second, it took Nitro’s powerful grenades to finish them off and secure the area, allowing Indie to shoot at the enemies surrounding her teammates, though she had to turn back to keep shooting at the wider tunnels where the enemy came from. And with one less side to worry about, Panda focused on shooting forward, successfully preventing any other antipunk from peeking out, clearing the way for Frost to check below and search for the twins.
At the last level, in place of the twins, was a large group of armed antipunks aiming up at Frost and Panda, forcing the former to stay behind and seek another way to get down while Kiwy helped Indie block the mineshaft at the back. The only seemingly clear path to take was the front, where Panda had scared off all the antipunks, but before Frost could leave his position, the armed miners from below all of a sudden came at them from the air. They had shot the pulleys on the ceiling to pull themselves up with the longer end of the ropes, getting quite some altitude due to the weight of the loads attached to them.
Frost and Panda didn’t see it coming, but as soon as they realized the antipunks propelling themselves toward them, they reacted just in time to block their attacks as they struck from above. Frost defended Panda to give him time to raise his shield, effortlessly parrying every attack before countering with some quick cutthroat slashes before the antipunks could even land on the platform. But what did reach the floor were the bags of rocks falling from the ceiling, which Frost failed to notice until it was too late. He rolled out of the way to dodge one, but with another coming right on top of him, he had to cut it open with his blade before it managed to crush him.
Luckily, the bag was full of dirt, but since the cloud it created when he slashed it still distracted him for a second, one antipunk was able to sneak up behind Frost and swing his pickaxe at him. Panda had just protected himself from one of the larger bags with rocks using his shield, but it made him stumble into Frost’s attacker, accidentally pushing him right into a spot where a bag landed shortly after, crushing the miner without Frost even realizing. But as they were becoming overwhelmed by the number of antipunks on the platform, as soon as he found his footing, Frost focused for a moment, and almost out of annoyance, he had to change his approach to take on the enemy invading the platform.
After Panda kept dodging a couple more bags falling onto the platform, he drew the antipunks’ attention while Frost changed position, adopting a peculiar stance that took the enemy by surprise. With one hand holding a blade close to his waist and the other doing the same but behind his coat, twisting his arm completely to cover his back with his sword, Frost prepared to take both fronts as he waited for the antipunks to approach him. They were forced to come close as they only had melee weapons in hand, and with Panda having to deal with the gunfire coming from the sides and below, he left Frost to deal with the opponents on the platform.
With a spiteful frown, Frost’s wrath was unleashed once the enemy was close enough. He avoided getting immediately surrounded by using one of the minecarts at the center of the platform to boost himself, jumping high in the air right as one of the last bags of dirt was about to drop on his head. Instead of getting hit, Frost’s whole body spun around rapidly, and without even aiming, one of his blades ripped the bag open, creating another big cloud of dirt that dazed both him and Panda, but also obscuring the antipunks’ vision as he began ripping them to shreds. His razor blades acted as a saw for the brief moment he spun in the air, and with everyone coming for him, he hacked every last one of their bodies in an instant, almost hitting Panda, who instinctively raised his shield high in confusion, only realizing that Frost had cut every antipunk nearby to pieces.
–What’s the matter? Afraid of getting dirty?– Savaged shouted from below with a maniacal laugh, though he was ignored, so he ran back to cover right away. While Panda coughed the dirt out of his mouth before assuming his defensive position once again, Frost was already shifting his attention down to the last level, where he peeked down briefly and locked his target on Savage before he entered one of the mineshafts in the elevator’s direction.
–Keep them busy, I’m chasing after that bastard– Frost ordered Panda with grit, to which he responded with an affirmative nod and reloaded before advancing with his fully loaded machine gun. Panda headed towards the last place he saw Scrap, where more antipunks from below had appeared, now simply taking the stairs to get to him, and while his path was blocked like the rest of the team, Frost had the entire middle section of the platform to himself, though he wouldn’t be staying there long.
Waiting for some of the gunmen below to split up as they headed to the second level, Frost finally had a spot to drop onto. He landed on the last floor with a big leap, his right foot barely dodging one of the tall and pointy stalagmites sticking out of the bottom of the ravine. The remaining antipunks that were heading towards Indie and the rest noticed his presence, but by the time they tried to turn around and aim, he had already pounced on them from behind, slashing so hard that his blade cut through the entire back of an antipunk and then connected with another one’s arm, dismembering it with a clean slice.
While it was immediately clear that they didn’t stand a chance, it was when Frost managed to cut through some of their weak guns that the antipunks retreated in terror. He didn’t bother with the ones who ran back since the rest of the team would take care of them once they got to the bottom floor, but the few who made their way past him got him to turn around. They appeared to be running in the same direction that Trash had taken to go into hiding, so without wasting any time, Frost ran straight at the mineshaft in front, but his charge came to a halt only four steps into the tunnel as someone got in his way.
Coming out of the first corner of the mineshaft, a muscular antipunk with a huge hammer appeared in front of Frost. His weapon barely fit inside the narrow walls of the tunnel, and neither did his body since he was even larger than Panda, looking like five of the strongest antipunks combined. Since he showed out of the shadows, Frost didn’t get a chance to react and was shoved back to the platform, where he was stunned by the sheer size of his opponent, but at the same time, he looked eager to find someone that could actually pose a threat to him. The giant antipunk was just as thirsty for blood, but he took his time to assert his dominance by approaching slowly with an ugly grin, which Frost mimicked as he sharpened his blades in the middle of the platform.
Letting out a powerful roar that even alerted the rest of Crisis inside the mines, the antipunk brute charged at Frost mindlessly, forcing him to step back to avoid his vigorous hammer swings. Despite his size, his opponent was fairly quick with his strikes, and while Frost remained close to him, barely in reach to counterattack, he held back as he didn’t find any clear openings to do so. The antipunk brute scoffed at him just when he was about to corner him, but Frost waited until he was backed against the other side of the platform to make his move.
Instead of running back through the mineshaft, Frost leaped at the brute, throwing everything he had to connect a flurry of strikes, furiously gashing his broad chest with his blades as he jumped over him. Frost landed right behind the brute, but as he took a moment to catch his breath after such a hasty move, he waited for him to drop dead, though he was surprised when he took a step back and saw the brute slowly turn around. Not only was his opponent still standing, but he appeared indifferent to the excessively deep cuts on his chest and upper stomach, ignoring all the blood pouring from his body, which didn’t seem to weaken him at all; in fact, quite the opposite.
In a bit of a daze, Frost froze for a moment in hesitation. He abstained from attacking and tried to back away, leading to the brute growing and more aggressive. He came at him with his hammer in hand, charging it for a violent swing, and while Frost was able to slide between his legs before he could hit him, the brute kept swinging as he turned around, and when Frost had stood up to counter his attack, he was met with a hammer to the leg. The strike sent Frost flying to the very back, losing his balance in the air and landing roughly on the platform, almost falling off and getting impaled by the stalagmite below. But as he was still able to stand up without any problem, he continued fighting off the brute with the same strategy.
While Frost was able to put up with the energy that his flurries of slashes took, he wasn’t able to get much damage done without risking getting struck and flung around savagely once again. He tried getting closer to cut him up some more, but before he could focus on a single point to weaken the brute, more antipunks showed from behind, coming straight after Frost’s back with their melee weapons. He was able to notice the incoming attack, but with the brute relentlessly hassling him with his hammer, he couldn’t turn back to fend off the antipunks about to backstab him.
Seeing this, Indie stepped back from her position to draw her rifle to the antipunks coming for Frost, getting only a couple of hits on them just as a warning. The bullets scared off the brute for a moment, which Frost took as an opportunity to turn around and kill the antipunks that tried to catch him off guard. But with Indie providing cover fire for him, Kiwy and Nitro began getting overwhelmed by the antipunks coming through their mineshaft. With Panda on the opposite side, he couldn’t turn around to help, but that’s when Candy and Scott had to step in to stall the antipunks as much as they could.
They managed to keep the enemy back before Nitro pushed forward, scaring the antipunks with the threat of blowing them up until Indie joined them once again. With her taking the lead again, Crisis advanced through the mine shaft, but after coming across another thin set of stairs near one of the branching paths, she took Kiwy with her to head downstairs and help Frost. They stumbled upon more antipunks coming for him, and while they weren’t able to join his fight, Indie drew the enemy’s attention away from him while Kiwy cleared some room for the rest of the team to explore the other sides of the mines.
Applying the same offensive tactic, Candy and Scott opened fire at one of the paths where most of the enemies came from since they were circling the ravine through the flanks connected to the other side. But as Scott and Candy didn’t get to kill anyone, not even doing any significant damage, with the former failing every shot he took, Nitro had to come in with his grenade launcher to block the flanks. With only a couple of grenades, the roof of the paths on the left collapsed, trapping the few antipunks that managed to get close enough to Crisis. There were still open passages for the enemy to use, but as Tricky, Candy, and Scott stayed near the main path with the rail to provide cover for Panda, Nitro ran off on his own to block all the other sides.
With Tricky helping Panda push back against the enemy on the other side, Candy and Scott stayed back and waited for Nitro to come back. After hearing a couple of loud explosions and feeling the entire ravine tremble as the mines nearby collapsed, they relaxed a little when the enemy stopped trying to rush into battle, opting to run for their lives instead. Nitro laughed at all the helpless antipunks trying to escape, who had no way to go after he covered all hiding locations with his explosives, but he saved them some of the panic by taking them out all at once with a large explosion.
For a moment, the platforms in the middle of the ravine began trembling so hard that some beams began collapsing. Panda and Tricky couldn’t help but fret about the complete destruction of the mines, but as they managed to clear the other side of the platform, they quickly tried to chase after the ones running deep into the mineshafts. However, they couldn’t get far with a large wall of debris blocking their path, forcing them to go back to the platform after an indignant sigh.
Nitro rejoined the group, and as soon as he showed his face, Tricky and Panda rolled their eyes, but before they got to chew him out, the entire team was startled by one of the antipunks that Nitro let slip by. The rogue miner had one of his arms blown off, but with the other, he managed to push a minecart down the track so hard that it was sent flying at high speed. Nitro barely avoided getting run over, and while Scott and Candy were on the rails, they dodged it just in time as the antipunk behind them dropped dead. But since they couldn’t stop the cart, now it was heading towards Tricky and Panda, with the former running towards Nitro in anger before the minecart came at her.
–Watch out!– Candy yelled as soon as she jumped out of the way of the minecart, warning Tricky to step aside before it collided head-on with her. Panda stayed back as he saw it coming far away, and since he had more time to react, he realized the fallen bags were blocking the track, so there was no need for him to worry. Tricky also didn’t pay much attention to the minecart after it missed her, and since there weren’t any other threats around, she kept running towards Scott and Candy, almost reaching the mineshaft before the cart collided with the bags.
However, as soon as the cart stopped dead on its track in the middle of the platform, Panda was close enough to catch a glimpse of the hidden grenade the antipunk had delivered straight to him, and with no time to move out of the way, he put his shield up to protect himself from the blast. The middle of the platform instantly exploded, but Panda saved himself as the strong blast knocked him back to the opposite end of the team, where he was stuck but lying on semi-solid ground. Unlike him, Tricky wasn’t immune to the blast, and while she was also knocked back towards the team, she fell on the edge of the platform as it started collapsing.
Tricky panicked as the floor beneath her began collapsing. The explosion shocked her body, and as she was barely able to move, she began to scream while hanging for her dear life. The wooden beams of the platform were engulfed by flames, so while there was one right below her for her to step on and boost herself, she almost burned her feet as she began slipping into the pit. Panda was too far away to help, and with him watching stupefied, only Candy and Scott were able to come to her rescue.
Scott was the closest to Tricky when the explosion occurred, and despite risking a fall to the bottom of the ravine, he took a big leap to reach for her hand right as she lost her grip. She held tight but continued hanging as Scott couldn’t keep himself steady as the ledge began burning from the bottom up. His body quivered in fear, yet he was able to focus only on Tricky as the flames below grew dangerously close and intense. He lost his rifle trying to use his other hand to help her get up, but as he began to struggle to hold her for much longer, Candy stepped in and got a hold of Tricky’s other hand.
In a joint effort, they pulled her up and away from the collapsing platform. Once Tricky was safe, Scott began suffering the pain as his knees got way too heated, though not enough to get burns. Despite him suffering most of the damage, Candy immediately hugged Tricky to make sure she was safe, and while she stopped screaming after realizing she had been rescued, she couldn’t stop panting dreadfully for a few seconds until she calmed down and shared a sigh of relief with everyone.
–Thanks…– Tricky muttered in distress while Candy and Scott tried to catch their breath as well. Scott just nodded casually at her, while Candy gave her an overwhelming, appreciative smile before letting her go. Panda joined them after clearing the gap left at the platform with a quick jump, and with the team gathered, they followed him after noticing that Frost was still trying to defeat the antipunk brute on the floor below.