Chapter 409
Captain Jake arrived at the food factory alongside the Militants from the Corps.
The factory occupied an entire district of the city, standing apart from the tightly packed buildings surrounding it.
It was a sprawling complex of towering concrete and reinforced steel structures, its sheer size making the nearby warehouses and commercial buildings appear insignificant by comparison.
Long rows of tall windows lined its outer walls, while enormous chimneys stretched into the sky, releasing steady streams of white steam that drifted lazily overhead.
A broad road circled the facility, normally bustling with heavy cargo trucks constantly arriving and departing through towering steel gates.
The entrance was protected by a heavily fortified security checkpoint, beyond which high fences enclosed the entire compound.
Company insignias adorned both the outer walls and the massive front gate, proudly displaying the identity of the establishment.
Behind the perimeter fence, several loading bays stretched along one side of the factory, where long trailers sat parked in neat rows awaiting shipment.
Stacks of massive shipping containers and neatly arranged pallets rested beneath open canopies, while forklifts remained frozen where they had been abandoned, still carrying supplies that would never reach their destination today.
The grounds surrounding the factory were surprisingly orderly.
Wide concrete pathways divided the enormous complex into separate sections.
Patches of neatly trimmed grass softened the otherwise industrial landscape, while evenly spaced rows of trees lined the main entrance road, giving the gigantic facility an unexpectedly refined appearance.
Even from outside, the place usually never rested.
The distant rumble of machinery constantly vibrated through the walls.
Warning sirens occasionally echoed across the compound.
Workers, engineers, and transport vehicles normally moved from one section to another like blood flowing through the veins of a living organism.
It was more than just another building within the city.
It was one of Wall Steel’s beating hearts...
Relentlessly producing enough food to feed thousands of people every single day.
Well...
That was how the factory looked on a normal day.
Today...
It stood eerily silent.
The bustling workers were gone.
The forklifts sat abandoned.
The trailers remained parked without drivers.
Only a handful of empty military vehicles and civilian trucks remained scattered around the compound.
Since intelligence had revealed this would become one of the Aberrants’ targets, emergency evacuation had begun immediately.
Most of the civilians had escaped in time.
But the calm they left behind only made the atmosphere feel even heavier.
And now...
The Aberrants had arrived.
Towering above the factory buildings, they stood shoulder to shoulder in an almost perfectly straight formation.
Gigantic titans worthy of being called humanity’s greatest enemy.
They had only landed moments ago, meaning very little destruction had occurred thus far.
Above them...
Their colossal Mother Ship hovered silently dozens of metres in the sky.
Its dark shadow swallowed nearly half the compound beneath it.
Soon enough...
The Militants poured out of their armored vehicles, rapidly taking defensive positions.
Captain Jake stood at the very front.
His gaze slowly drifted toward the spotless asphalt beneath his feet.
A faint trace of sadness flickered across his face.
This place wasn’t simply another battlefield.
It represented humanity’s survival.
Gripping the hilt of his longsword...
Jake slowly stepped forward while glaring at the towering Aberrants standing beyond the food factory.
If they weren’t careful...
A single careless step...
A single stomp...
Would be enough to reduce an entire production line into rubble.
They both understood that.
For one brief moment...
Neither side moved.
The battlefield fell into an uneasy standstill.
Then...
"FIRE!"
Jake swung his longsword forward alongside the command.
Immediately...
The artillery roared to life.
Their cannons glowed brightly before unleashing volley after volley of blazing energy spheres that screamed across the battlefield.
The Aberrants remained unfazed.
Almost lazily...
They raised their massive arms before their faces.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
The energy projectiles exploded against their rocky armor, showering sparks and fragments of stone into the air.
Blue blood trickled from a few shallow wounds...
But not a single creature took a step backward.
The artillery refused to relent.
Round after round continued hammering the towering monsters, filling the battlefield with deafening explosions and rolling clouds of smoke.
The objective wasn’t to kill them.
Not yet.
It was to pin them down.
To stop even one of those gigantic monsters from advancing toward the factory.
’There’s no way we’ll fight here without this factory getting destroyed... Damn it.’
Jake ground his teeth.
His eyes rapidly swept across the massive industrial complex.
Then he tapped the communication device resting against his ear.
"Mina, are you there?"
Within moments...
Several reconnaissance drones zipped into view, spreading throughout the air above the factory.
— Roger, Captain.
Jake never took his eyes off the battlefield.
"I need complete visuals of the factory."
He paused briefly before adding,
"Find me every section I can destroy without crippling production. We may have to move this battle inside the compound."
There was only a brief delay before Mina answered.
— Understood.
With the command given, Jake pressed his feet firmly into the asphalt, his grasp tightening around the hilt of his longsword while the hundreds of Militants behind him prepared to move.
Their VMS boots whirred to life with nothing more than a mental command.
Then,
Bang! Bang! Bang! Pffffff—!
Compressed gas erupted beneath their feet as they vaulted into the air with blazing speed.
Within moments, they landed atop the factory gates.
Without the slightest hesitation, they kicked off once more, slicing through the air like a volley of arrows released from a drawn bow.
Beneath them, the earth hidden beneath the asphalt trembled and shuddered as though eagerly awaiting its master’s command.
The Militants—and even Captain Jake—were all Earth ability users.
Landing on the rooftops, they immediately broke into a sprint, their boots pounding steadily against the concrete while their hands remained calmly folded behind their backs.
Down below, the artillery continued doing its job.
Boom! Bam! Boom!
One volley after another crashed into the charging Aberrants.
However, the cannons barely managed to injure them.
If anything, they only seemed to irritate the towering creatures, forcing them to give up a few reluctant steps while deep frowns spread across their monstrous faces.
"LET’S GO!" Jake roared as he launched himself off the edge of the building.
Compressed gas hissed behind his boots, propelling him forward while he drew his weapon in one smooth motion.
Peeking from behind its raised guard, one of the Aberrants immediately caught sight of the Captain hurtling toward it.
Without delay, the creature exploded into motion.
Each thunderous footstep shook the ground as it closed the distance in the blink of an eye.
Its massive claws tore through the air with frightening velocity.
Yet...
They struck nothing.
Jake had already disappeared from its front.
He was directly behind it.
Rumbling violently beneath their feet, the concrete split apart.
A massive earth hammer burst from the ground and flew straight into Jake’s grasp.
Without breaking stride, he swung it with crushing force.
BANG!
The hammer collided squarely with the side of the Aberrant’s head.
The ringing impact echoed across the battlefield as fragments of rock-like armor and droplets of blue blood burst into the air.
The creature staggered several heavy steps forward.
"Now!" Jake barked through his comm device.
Strings materialized out of thin air and instantly wrapped themselves around the Aberrant like a tightly bound present.
With one synchronized pull...
The gigantic creature lost its footing.
BOOOM!
It crashed onto the ground with a deafening thud, the asphalt splintering beneath its enormous weight.
Without missing a beat, Jake weaved beneath a claw that sliced through the space where his head had been a heartbeat earlier.
His longsword flashed once.
A clean, precise slash.
The Aberrant’s arm separated cleanly from its shoulder before crashing onto the broken street.
Landing lightly atop a nearby chimney, Jake barely remained there for a second.
A gigantic fist came crashing toward him.
BOOOOM!
The chimney exploded into chunks of concrete.
Jake had already kicked off into the air.
Using the empty space beneath his feet for leverage, he propelled himself even higher.
At that exact moment...
An earth spear shot upward from the ground and flew into his waiting grasp.
Gripping it tightly, Jake twisted his waist before hurling the spear downward with every ounce of strength he possessed.
Crack! BANG!
The air itself seemed to split apart.
The earth spear pierced straight through the Aberrant’s head before bursting out the other side, carrying shattered fragments of rocky armor, blue blood, and pieces of flesh along with it.
Before the lifeless body could even collapse...
The remaining Militants surged into action.
Earth abilities erupted from every direction.
Metal twisted and shot through the battlefield.
Other unknown abilities burst to life one after another.
And just like that...
The battle against the Aberrants truly began.
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