"Watch out!"

  Oliver was focused on the enemies before him; however, amidst the chaos of war, he didn't noti Ork running while brandishing what seemed to be a gigantic sword. An, a bit farther away, saw what was ing toward the boy.

  Unfortunately, he only had time to jump and push Oliver forward, preventing his friend from being struck by the enormous sword and receiving part of the atta his armor himself.

  An was thrown several meters away with the abdomen of his armor destroyed and some broken bones.

  Oliver was still stunned by what had happened, but Katherine and Isabe didn't waste any time. The two advao attack the Ork mercilessly. F a pincer movement, each struck from one side while Oliver drew his pistol to attract the monster's attention.

  Each shot seemed to just graze the Ork's skin. However, the girls' attacks appeared to be causing some real damage. Isabe mao nd two puo the monster's stomach, making it bend over, while Katherine made several cuts on its legs, arms, and torso.

  As the creature bent over and roared, Katherine plunged her sword into one of the monster's eyes, finishing it off ond for all.

  Ding

  Oliver heard the sound of the system, but instead of cheg it at that moment, he preferred to run to An, who was still down.

  "Are you okay?" Oliver asked.

  "Yes, it was just a scratch," An replied.

  her wao imagine if the attack had hit him directly.

  The girls approached with a worried look. They had barely ehe main square and were already having trouble advang.

  "I'll support An; you two clear the way. I think the Orks have some resistao sers—my shots—so I'll focus on their eyes to at least provide support," Oliver expined.

  "Right," Katherine agreed while Isabe was looking at the square.

  An leaned on Oliver's shoulder to keep walking. He could feel that something in his ribs was broken. "Damn it."

  "Anchor! Anchor! No. No." They heard someone shouting in the square. It seemed to be a short boy with rge, thick gsses and a strange mustache. He was swaying while holding the body of another boy who had lost one of his arms and both legs.

  The sight made all four of their stomachs ; that could easily have been An. Oliver spped himself twice, chastising himself for his irresponsibility and trying to increase his tration itle.

  Oliver looked back at the square, waiting food moment to advance. Holding An by the waist and with his other hand gripping his pistol, he began to advance, shooting at any oppo ahead. He sought openings and spaces to dodge through.

  He couldn't use his [Observation] on most oppos; however, he had learned a lot about how to dodge by how the enemies usually attacked.

  When any ot too close, Isabe or Katherine would move forward to divert them.

  'I'm running low on blood; I o be careful,' Katherihought. 'I 't bee a burden.'

  After crossing the square, they were oep closer to the objective. They could finally see the entrao the bunker with the teleporters. However, uheir expectations, no one was there—not even a line of people seeking refuge.

  The group began to walk slowly toward the entrance, but they soon uood what had happened. As they approached the excavation, they saw four Orks climbing up, with one dragging a human body by the legs.

  HUARK

  The Ork babbled, throwing the body he group. Oliver reized who it was; they had talked to him. It was the soldier who had helped them when they arrived at GL581.

  ‘Damn,’ the boy thought.

  "What do we do? Th-the teleporter must be broken if they're ing out of there," Isabe stammered. Oliver could see the girl's hands trembling.

  "Let's go to pn B," Oliver said. "We get out of the city and hide."

  "And if pn B fails?" Isabe asked.

  "Then we'll have to create a pn C," he expined.

  The girl didn't feel very fident, but it was the best they had.

  The group began to retreat to avoid being attacked by the four Orks. However, they noticed that none of the Orks stopped looking at them.

  When Oliver took the first step back, one of the four Orks leaped, brandishing two axes. Katherine, however, was expeg such a move ao meet the Ork. When their ons cshed, the girl came out the loser, being pushed away.

  "Huff," she breathed deeply, rec from the impact. "These are stronger."

  "I'll set you down here; I think I'll o join in," Oliver said to An, who nodded.

  Seeing the level of one of the oppos, Oliver preferred not to leave room for error.

  [Prometheus]

  He activated his best ability. Enveloping his limbs with Energy ing from his gaus, he prepared for the attack.

  The other three Orks also jumped and advanced against the group. One charged at Isabe, a Katherine, and Oliver had to hold off two of them.

  However, this wouldn't be a problem. The boy noticed that the Orks didn't take them seriously; they didn't know their levels but had possibly already killed so many recruits that they thought all were at simir levels.

  Oliver advanced against one of the Orks, trating his energy on this attack.

  'Even if I lose an arm, I o take them out of the fight,' Oliver thought. 'When we have more han they do, the fight will be fine.'

  Before both Orks could react, Oliver was already beside one of them, nding a pun the monster's stomach. The force was so tremendous that the creature's abdomen exploded in a cloud of blood and guts.

  The other three Orks became alert upon seeing one of their own die so quickly.

  "Don't give them space. Let's finish them off," Oliver said.

  The girls didn't need more motivation. As soon as the two they were fighting decided to retreat, they took the opportunity to gain momentum. For the first time, Isabe chose to use her boon, jumping against one of the Orks, accelerating her speed and punch to the point that the beast could hardly see her.

  Although her punch wasn’t as powerful as Oliver's, it broke some bones and hihe Ork.

  Meanwhile, Katherine used [Blood Rose] again, thrusting her sword into the Ork's stomad exploding him from the i with her blood thorns.

  Only one Ork remained, and Oliver jumped toward it again. With his other arm, he nded another punch, exploding the Ork's legs.

  The group was exhausted, having spent almost all their energy, but they had elimihe stro ehey had entered.

  An walked limping toward the group.

  "Is it worth cheg what's ieleporter room?" he asked.

  The others didn't know what to say. "If it's still w, would we know how to use it?" Oliver asked.

  However, none of the other three responded.

  "Then we shouldn't spend more time than necessary ihe city," the boy cluded.

  As soon as he finished speaking, a few more missiles hit the city, knog down several buildings.

  "Will we have to gh the security gate again?" Isabe asked. Retrag their steps would be a long journey, and the gate might already be overflowing with Orks.

  "There was a unicatio nearby; maybe there out of the city," Katherine remembered.

  "Makes sense," An agreed.

  Before Oliver could suggest that the group search for the tent, they heard a noise ing from the top of one of the buildings.

  HUARK! HUARK! HUARK!

  The sound seemed like the ughter of an Ork, if Orks were capable of ughing.

  Oliver searched for where the sound was ing from but didn't expect it to be from the building right o them. The boy looked up to see what was on the rooftop.

  His blood ran cold when he saw what was watg them. It was just an Ork, the same height and seemingly as strong as the others. However, his skin wasn't gray; it was red.

  "Run!" Oliver shouted. "Spread out!"

  BOOM

  Before the group uood what Oliver was shouting about, a small explosion occurred in front of them. The Ork had jumped from the top floor of the building straight to the ground, breaking everything in his path.

  "What's happening?" An asked.

  There was no need for an answer. When the dust settled, he saw the red-skinned Ork walking slowly toward them.

  All four of them khat this type of monster couldn't even be pared to the others.

  [Prometheus]

  Oliver activated his pain. This time, he was no longer worried about what might break. If he got out alive, that would be a bonus.

  The boy jumped at the Ork, aiming to kick the creature's face.

  However, the monster raised one of his arms and quickly blocked the kick. Oliver felt all the pain of the impact. With a quient, the creature grabbed his leg and threw him against one of the nearby building walls.

  ‘It's our end,’ An thought.

  Without reinforts, none of them would get out of there alive.

  An tried to muster the rest of his strength to advance against the monster.

  "Run, I'll hold him off!" An shouted.

  [Gravity Lock]

  He tried to trate all his power to create an ultra-dense gravity field, preventing the monster from advang. The power was so immehat he himself had difficulty staying within the area, even though his ability had a reduced impa him.

  Katherine and Isabe didn't know what to do. They didn't want to flee and abandon their panions, but the enemy before them wasn't something they could defeat.

  An stared ily at the Ork, trying to maintain tration on his powers that, until that moment, seemed to have stopped the beast. However, the moment, the Ork took a step as if An's powers didn't affect him.

  SPLAT

  With a swing of its arm, the Ork’s bde cut the boy in half, severing his legs from his torso.

  "NO!" Oliver shouted from the depths of his lungs.

  Oliver was wounded and afraid a moment ago, yet now, the only feeling within him was a deep rage that would burst if he didn’t do anything.

  With their remaining strength, Isabe, Katherine, and Oliver attacked.

  However, the Ork dodged each attack as if the three were moving in slowly. The mohrew two punches—o Isabe and a Katherine—who were thrown dozens of meters away. As for Oliver, it paused for a moment, the boy's rage, and with a swift movement, severed his right arm with his cws. To finish, it punched him in the face. Like the girls, Oliver was hurled against one of the building walls.

  HUARK! HUARK!

  The Ork seemed to ugh at the trio's plight.

  Oliver's sciousness was slowly fading.

  ‘Is this how it will end?’ he asked himself. ‘But I haven't even started yet.’

  His st feeling was of being dragged by his remaining arm before finally passing out.

  GCLopes