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"Hey! Hey! Seriously? It hasn't even been a day since we ca here!"
"What do we do? What do we do?"
"Shit! So fucking unlucky!"
"Great, this just had to happen when I'm with the noobs!"
"Is this part of the tutorial?"
"Guys! Calm down, don't panic! I'm sure that this is just a simulation. We're not in any real danger right now. Just perform to the best of your abilities."
"The only thing I agreed with you on was your last sentence, the ones before that were completely delusional of you. Wake up! This isn't so ga. We're at the edge of the entire fucking realm, you dingus!"
Cedric ignored the panicked screams and shouts of his fellow cadets. Instead, his eyes narrowed and his pupils constricted as he scanned the environnt for any hints of danger.
It's a bit difficult to do so because of the flashing red lights flooding the entire zone and the loud noises of the sirens blaring, but Cedric has long learned how to filter information with his senses.
With a kick of his leg, he jumped on top of the building where they were scanned earlier to get a clearer and broader view while clutching his standard-issued weapons.
The first sign of a dangerous threat was seen over the horizon at the far end of the camp.
There's a presence that behaved like smoke that can't easily be dispersed. Its tendrils extend ever so slowly but unimpeded. The presence distorted everything it touched.
Just by looking at it, a strong sense of repulsion rose from Cedric's heart. His senses scread at him that, whatever that thing was, doesn't belong here, and it shouldn't appear here either. It also tells him that that smoke, or whatever it was, must never make any physical contact with his skin. He couldn't inhale it either because that would kill him faster than anything he had ever encountered before.
Following his instincts, Cedric exhaled and willed the Void Suit to manifest on his body.
This void suit was the very sa one he was given during his training as a security officer in Site Delta. It was the most basic Void Suit issued to personnel like him, but at tis like this, having one is already a blessing.
To his surprise though, when the Void Suit made contact with the standard-issued weapons he was given, it caused a unique interaction. The rifle and the dagger attached to him were absorbed by the suit, and instinctually, Cedric was inford that they could be summoned at any mont he needed them at any part of his body.
It's certainly a nice addition. Unfortunately, Cedric didn't have the ti to focus on it because there's another developnt ahead.
The 'smoky' presence earlier was actually not the main threat they're facing.
In fact, it was just a by-product of the manifestation of the real threat. That smoky presence was the 'Air of the Void'; it's sothing that the Outsiders bring in as they invade the realm.
The real threat cos in the form of a gigantic blob of nonsensical physiology. Cedric didn't doubt that this was a void creature because it behaved in a very strange way, like it's glitching through reality. Common sense would say that it's advancing forward, but one would physically see it crawling away; however, it is advancing steadily, which truly doesn't make sense.
It's body looked smooth and shiny, but it's covered in a tar-like substance that's seemingly alive too. It has hundreds of slimy tentacles that's dragging its entire body in that sa weird form of marching as the main body shrunk and expanded almost as if it were trying to breathe.
The hairs on Cedric's body rose as he laid eyes on that creature. Cold sweat poured down his back as he realized that this was what he's going to be dealing with moving forward.
And the worst part is that this thing wasn't alone. There's at least five more of them trailing behind the first one he saw.
Cedric had too many questions. He thought that the camp was located behind the Scarlet Division Wall and is well equipped to deal with these things, so how can they appear here? Also, wasn't it said that the Scarlet Division Wall prevents these creatures from breaching in? Then how can they appear here? Shouldn't they be coming from the weaker and undefended zones of the realm?
But again, unfortunately, Cedric had no ti to ponder or speculate for answers because the threat before them was on the verge of doing sothing rather alarming.
It was Cedric's sharp senses, honed through life and death situations, that inford him that sothing big was about to happen.
Unhesitatingly, Cedric hopped down the building, infiltrated its interior, and was headed for the control room. Had it been another day this happened, even his miniscule identity as a cadet would've sufficed to launch the defensive asures of this building. Unfortunately, again, it hasn't even been a day since they arrived here, and they're already forced to face the true threat of the world.
Hence, Cedric could only hack the systems of the building. He wasn't planning on rewiring the entire system, just enough to activate the ergency protocols. It would've been nice if Officer Zod did this before he left, but he didn't since he's needed sowhere else pronto.
Tzzt! Pssh! Woosh!
Since the goal for this hacking was simple, Cedric easily did it. The entire building rose into activity and launched a barrier isolating it from the 'Air of the Void'.
This happened just in ti before the eruption of those gigantic blobs occurred.
Cedric witnessed the apocalyptic scene of thousands of spores raining down on the entire camp, courtesy of the eruption of those 'blobs'.
With his excellent vision, Cedric could see that those spores were actually eggs. Not only do they contain the air of the void, which will certainly taint the camp, they will also produce 'voidlings' that will lay waste on everything around them.
'Hmm, it's been a while since I fired a gun. Hopefully my aim hasn't gone horrific.'
Cedric had this thought as he once again hopped on the roof of the building before starting to rain fire on the spores.
TAK TAK TAK TAK TAK...
The sound of the rifle fire startled the still clueless and panicking group of his fellow cadets, causing them to look at him.
Your next chapter awaits on empire
In their eyes, they all saw this one guy who's wearing a Void Suit holding on to the standard-issued rifle, which gave away his identity, firing fearlessly at the spores raining down on the camp.
The scene shook them awake. So much so that so began going through their things to find their Void Suits so they could wear them too.
Cedric didn't care about what they thought; he simply doesn't have the ti to do so. Fortunately, his aim hasn't gone completely rusty. Unfortunately, his high accuracy rate was only possible since, with these many spores raining down, it'd be hard for him to miss.
As expected, the unique materials used to create this rifle made it effective against the void creatures and their ans. That said, there's simply too many he needs to shoot, and even though Cedric was already firing as fast as he possibly could, so spores still landed on the ground.
And as soon as the spores hit the ground, the withering of all life comnced. The air of the void distorted the surroundings, making things brittle and weak. The voidlings were born the second the spores hit the ground, and as soon as they appeared, they began eating all life around them by instinct.
Even with Cedric's frenetic shooting, he still found the camp crawling with voidlings in a blink of an eye. They ford a wave of strange beings that swallowed everything they ca into contact with, and the scene was especially terrifying.
It was only thanks to Cedric's quick thinking and actions that he and his fellow cadets were safe. Had he not hacked the security systems of the building that launched this barrier, they would've turned into living feed for these creatures.
Be it the air of the void or the voidlings themselves, they couldn't pass through the barrier of the building since it seems to be made specifically to counter them. That said, this doesn't an that the cadets inside are invulnerable. There is no such thing as eternal and perfect defense against creatures of the void.
This barrier could only endure so much. Cedric doesn't know how high its tolerance was, so the best thing he could do is to help out by thinning out the horde as much as he can to buy more ti.
Fortunately, the barrier doesn't prevent him from shooting from within. His shots pass through the barrier without any resistance.
And to increase his slaughter efficiency, he threw the dagger out. Before releasing it though, he infused it with the highest level of fire laws he could emit, coating it with terrifying flas, before having it fly with his mind.
With his shooting rate and his increasing accuracy rate, plus the mind-controlled dagger piercing through voidlings like a hot knife through butter, Cedric's slaughter efficiency skyrocketed, allowing him to buy more ti before the big guys co to rescue them.
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