“So, anyone wants to talk about the fact that we’re only 7 kilometres away from the nest but that we haven’t encountered any Vertaerax since we set out two days ago?” Kirk said, half serious, looking at the map displayed through his implant.

  “Don’t worry about it kiddo, it means it’s going to be that much more fun once we get inside that nest.” Officer Neilr answered.

  “Oh, I’m worried alright,” Kirk added. “We haven’t known each other for long but I know your version of fun is a little skewed."

  The cadets had been making their way toward the nest almost non-stop for the last two days, only stopping for a few hours a couple of times to sleep and eat. For Jake especially, the last days had been somewhat of a nightmare, and he was so exhausted he looked ready to keel over at any moment. His improved physical and mental attributes he’d gained from improving his spec were probably the only reason that his body hadn’t given out due to the fatigue already. While he was still a long way from boasting the earth-shattering strength and attributes that stronger awakened Officer Neilr could display, his body was now stronger, more resilient and more agile than was humanly possible without being awakened, although only slightly.

  Name: Jake Hawkins

  Rank: Cadet

  Energy Core: 85/85

  Recovery Rate: 0.425

  Strength: 16

  Dexterity: 18

  Constitution: 15

  Recovery: 15

  Perception: 19

  Cognition: 24

  [Basic Reinforcement | Lvl. 12 | All attributes +12, Core +60]

  [Basic Telekinesis | Lvl. 1]

  [Basic Biotic Reinforcement | Lvl. 5]

  Jake had hardly done anything but run in the last two days, pouring his entire energy recovery into keeping his reinforcement skill activated as often as he could, which had allowed him to finally level up the skill to level 5.

  “What’s the plan once we get in there?” Owens asked.

  “Your sole focus once we’re inside will be not to die, cadets.” The Kreigen answered with a chuckle. “You let me handle the rest.”

  “That’s just great. I swear once I graduate I’m going to spend a month in one of these all-inclusive hotels in sector 1,” Kirk mumbled, nervously.

  “Oh, I’m afraid you all will be going from one assignment to the next once you graduate.” Officer Neilr answered. “The Alliance is greatly understaffed, but if there is one thing it has, it is resources. It will undoubtedly go to great lengths to make sure you stay in the field as much as possible.”

  During the last few days, the cadets had once more grown a lot closer to each other. This time, however, they had also grown a lot closer to their commanding officer, who was unsurprisingly very lax with decorum and authority. As a species, the Kreigen were very few in numbers, but it was widely known that they hardly cared about any of those things and were an eccentric bunch that judged people’s value in terms of strength and power, completely disregarding proper decorum. Kirk, especially, had long started addressing their officer like he was one of theirs, although without foregoing to address the officer as such, for the most part.

  “We’re here.” Officer Neilr said as they all made a halt in front of a giant hole leading underground.

  The hole must have been at least 20 meters in diameter, and obviously went deep below the surface since the cadets couldn’t see the bottom of the tunnel from where they stood.

  “Any chance we can go back to the settlement?” Kirk asked, “Mind you guys, it’s not that I don’t want to enter the horrible death pit with you all, it’s just that I really need to do this thing back at the camp, you know?”

  “Shut up.” Officer Neilr cut him off, “I don’t sense anything inside. Let’s go take a look for ourselves.”

  The cadets all entered the giant tunnel one after another, on their guard. They hadn’t fought any Vertaerax since they’d departed from the settlement, and now that they were finally at the nest, it was rather worrying to see it empty.

  The underground was a labyrinthian maze of numerous tunnels intertwining all over the place, meaning they had to rely on Officer Neilr’s perception ability to navigate the underground without getting lost. On top of that, the cadets all took out the flashlights in their backpacks in order to see inside the pitch-black darkness of the tunnels.

  They kept walking for over three hours, which almost made Jake cry in relief after running around for all this time. Now that his attributes were higher than a regular human's, the slow walk inside the underground tunnels allowed him to recover enough to feel alive again. It was evident the others felt the same as the ragged breathing echoing inside the cave at the beginning of their descent had slowly been replaced by a more controlled, more relaxed version.

  Still, after all this time, Officer Neilr had yet to sense a single living being inside the cave, which was worrying in and of itself. Shortly after, however, the tunnel they were in suddenly opened up in some sort of giant dome. The dome was clearly over a hundred meters wide, and almost as high, with thick stone pillars littered around the cave acting as structural support for the ceiling.

  “I’m guessing that’s what we’re looking for?” Jake asked

  “There’s a decent chance, yes.” Officer Neilr answered.

  They entered the cave, with the four cadets glancing nervously all around as they didn’t possess the officer’s supernatural ability to feel their environment. They all stayed silent for a few minutes as they explored the cave, until finally, they reached the end of it. At the edge of the cave, a gigantic, monstrous creature lay unmoving on the ground, pools of Vertaerax blood all over the ground around it. The creature was obviously one of the Vertaerax, although it must have measured over 50 meters in length, and almost as much in width. On the lower end of its body lay a gigantic gaster, which by itself must have measured at least over half the creature’s total size, making Jake wonder how the thing could even walk around with the thing. The rest of his body was almost identical to the crawler, meaning it looked like a big, scary and horrifying version of an ant.

  “It’s dead,” Neil said, surprised.

  “What is this thing?” Jake asked.

  “The Vertaerax queen” Officer Neilr answered.

  “Well that’s just amazing then, I wouldn’t want to fight that thing if it could make me as rich as Owens’ family,” Kirk answered with a relieved sigh.

  “Hey, not cool man.” Owens spat back.

  “Shut up, all of you.” The officer snapped. “You morons, if the queen is dead, what the hell is controlling the other Vertaerax?”

  Realization finally appeared on the cadets’ faces as they understood the implications of what the officer had just said.

  “Are you saying that someone is using the Vertaerax to take us out?” Ryan asked

  “That’s not good, we have to warn the others.” Officer Neilr declared before he stood still for a moment, clearly using his implant to contact the settlement.

  “We have to go back to the settlement and help them.” Jake almost shouted.

  “I’m afraid that won’t be possible.” A mysterious voice echoed from behind them.

  The cadets and the officer instantly turned around in surprise, only to fall face-to-face with a group of around two dozen individuals. They all looked like nondescript humanoids, with various features that Jake could attribute to one species of humanoid he knew or the other all on the same person, On the left, one of the corrupted looked like a normal human, although Jake recognized the pair of Akari wings that latched onto its back, without any of the species other discerning features. Another looked almost exactly like one of the goblins, although it was almost as big as a Kreigen and sported a gigantic pair of horns on its forehead. More importantly, however, all of their bodies looked to be in an advanced decaying state, with necrosis and various stitched wounds littering their bodies. All of them showed not a hint of emotion before the perfectly still mask that was their unmoving, expressionless faces.

  “The corrupted.” Officer Neilr mumbled, under his breath.

  “That is what your pathetic little region calls us, isn’t it?” The mysterious individual that seemed to be the leader of the group reflected, thoughtfully.

  “So, you’re the ones who messed with the Vertaerax.” Officer Neilr accused.

  The mysterious man would have almost looked human, if not for the numerous parts of his body where the flesh had begun turning black and rotten. It was almost like some parts of the man had begun turning into a corpse, making it clear how the corrupted had earned their nickname.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “Indeed.” The leader answered, a dangerous smirk etching its way onto its face.

  The mysterious man seemed about to speak up again when he was interrupted by Officer Neilr’s fist digging into his torso.

  The leader was sent flying all the way back for a dozen meters, landing brutally on the cave floor.

  “Why is it always the weakest garbage that talks the most crap.” Officer Neilr mumbled, unhappily.

  While the cadets had spent quite a lot of time travelling with their commanding officer, none of them had yet to see him fight once, except for the time he’d killed off a hundred spawns with one swing of his fist.

  As a result, they were stuck looking at their commanding officer in amazement when they should probably have been getting ready to attack the enemy, who stood strangely still as their leader had just gotten obliterated.

  The weirdest thing, however, was when the leader suddenly got back up on its feet, visibly unbothered by the gaping hole in his chest which was closing up at an alarming rate.

  “What the hell?” Ryan said, startled.

  “You guys take care of the lackeys while I deal with this guy.” Officer Neilr said to the cadets. “They regenerate really fast, but otherwise they shouldn’t pose much of a threat to you all, probably.”

  Officer Neilr suddenly disappeared, along with the enemy leader who went after him, and the cadets were left alone facing the 11 remaining corrupted.

  The cadets were left in a daze for a few seconds, and their inexperience was made evident by their inability to make any decisive move until the enemy made their move for them. The 11 corrupted all dashed toward the cadets simultaneously, encircling them all in one coordinated operation. As their officer had implied, the corrupted displayed speed that was mostly similar to that of the cadets, whereas their other attributes or abilities had yet to be tested.

  Jake was about to unsheathe his sword when one of the corrupted appeared right in front of him. Now that the thing stood closer to him, Jake realized the creature was much more of a corpse than his earlier assessment had suggested. From up close, it was clear that the corrupted’s entire body was slowly being rotted away by necrosis, with a disgusting smell of petrified flesh emanating from it. Small claws and long, numerous teeth completed the corrupted’s look, giving them an evil look that could have rivalled Jake’s worst nightmares.

  The creature yanked both of his arms back over his head, and Jake instinctively stepped back. Unfortunately, his reaction came too late as both of the enemy’s fists came crashing into his chest, sending him flying backwards. He’d barely had any time to get back up that the creature was upon him again, along with two more that had finally reached his position. He could see from the corner of his eye that the other cadets were all tied up fighting the other corrupted, although they looked to be holding their own better than he was.

  Jake stepped aside as one of the other enemies tried to body slam him, and he slammed the same corrupted’s head onto the ground in one swift motion, using the enemy’s previous momentum to his advantage. This time, Jake took the initiative and charged at a second enemy, the one that was closest to him.

  He opened up with a straight kick that only met air before he twisted back on himself and sent a second kick toward the enemy, this time hitting his target in the side of the ribs. He was about to follow through with his assault when a third corrupted grabbed him from the back, biting into Jake’s shoulder like some sort of animal. Jake let out a pained yelp as he grabbed the corrupted by the arm and threw him over his shoulder. He took a step back, only to see the corrupted get back up, unaffected, along with the two others.

  The three corrupted warily made their way toward him, with Jake keeping his distance as he tried to come up with some sort of plan. After all this time, he finally managed to unsheath the sword in his back, and he activated his newly improved basic strengthening skill.

  The first corrupted charged at Jake for another assault, littering him with wide swings that he easily dodged, although his sword only sliced through the air anytime he retaliated. The exchange lasted for a few seconds before Jake made a mistake and overstepped, allowing for the corrupted to land a hit on his side, slicing the skin from his left scapula to his stomach open with its sharp claws. Jake keeled over in pain as he let out a scream, but he still kept his eyes on the enemy as the second corrupted tried to renew his assault. Jake got back up on his feet and made a wide swing with his sword, forcing the corrupted to step back, before stepping back into the fray, face-to-face with the third corrupted, plunging his sword into the enemy's chest in a swift, controlled motion.

  Not a single sound came out from the enemy’s mouth as his entire torso was pierced through by Jake’s giant sword. It only stopped for an awkward moment before trying to rip Jake’s throat open while still being skewed by his sword, which frightened Jake so much he let go of his sword and took a giant leap backward, taking out his gun. The two other corrupted were making their way toward him, while the one with a sword poking through his chest was trying to take it out. He had yet to use the sniper even once since the start of the assignment, but Jake shouldered the sniper like he’d done many times before in training, and he aimed at the struggling corrupted before taking the shot with precise accuracy. A blinding blue light exploded into view as a small, powerful bullet of energy pierced the corrupted’s head, causing it to explode entirely.

  “What the actual fuck?” Jake mumbled.

  With one of the corrupted eliminated, Jake let out a sigh of relief. The two others didn’t sit around, however, as they in turn charged at him from all sides, hitting Jake in a fury of relentless swings. He did the best he could to hold on but his tattered armour could hardly protect him as the enemy bit, clawed and hit him with everything they had. Jake took many hits, and he could feel his body slowly giving out under the assault.

  On top of the hole in his shoulder, the wound to his left side and the numerous injuries from previous fights that had reopened during the altercation, Jake was literally seconds away from keeling over. In a rage-fueled retaliation, Jake caught one of the enemies’ arms and swiftly moved around it to catch it in a key lock before popping out the entire bone with his newly acquired superhuman strength.

  They had taught little about breaking bones during their training, but with his superhuman strength attribute, breaking a bone or two required little skill, even against the reinforced bodies of the corrupted. Once again, the enemy didn’t show a single sign of weakness as it kept assaulting Jake, unrelenting.

  At this point, Jake only had a couple of minutes worth of remaining biotic energy to spend on his strengthening skill, so he quickly chained his previous attack by grabbing the thing’s head and twisting as hard as he could.

  A loud snap was heard as Jake was now standing behind the creature, yet looking right into its globulous eyes, and he had to dodge backward as the remaining enemy almost caught on to him. To his surprise, the enemy he had just snapped in multiple places got back up, his movements somewhat weird due to its broken bones but still looking unimpeded under such damage.

  Jake made his way back to where the first corrupted was now laying unmoving on the ground, and he grabbed hold of his sword and yanked it out of the enemy corpse in one swoop by placing a foot on the enemy’s chest. He’d turned back around and swung his giant sword right into one of the corrupted’s head, slicing through half of it like butter before dodging the last enemy’s charge to the side and retaliating with his sword. They exchanged blows for more than half a minute, during which Jake managed to cut one of the corrupted’s arms, at the cost of the thing biting right into his own. However, it finally allowed him to cut down the now unmoving enemy that was biting through the flesh of his forearm in one clean straight from his available hand.

  Jake took a step back before kneeling down on the cave floor. He looked around to see Kirk and Ryan helping Owens finish off the last two enemies. He let himself fall flat on his back, panting loudly before he heard Kirk call out to him in a panic,

  “Hey, Jake!?” He shouted from across the cave. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, thanks.” He answered as Kirk appeared next to him. “Just a little tired.”

  The young cadet was panting and pearling with sweat, but Jake could not see a single wound anywhere on his body.

  “You know that girls don’t really like scars, right?” He added with a chuckle. “Also, since our regeneration is many times higher than before, they are all going to end up healing away at some point.”

  Jake let out a small, weary laugh.

  “Believe me, man.” He said. “If I could get out of these little squabbles without a new set of wounds, I would.”

  “Hey, Hawkins,” Owens asked as she appeared next to Kirk along with Ryan. “We don’t really have the time to take a nap, so if you don’t mind how about we get back up and make our way back to Officer Neilr?”

  “No.” Ryan objected. “We stay here until the First Lieutenant comes back to get us. He knows where we are thanks to that ability of his, we don’t know where he is.”

  Jake took a moment to look at his teammates as they were carrying on with their conversation. The three of them all looked in peak physical form, with only small wounds covering both Ryan and Owens and Kirk looking as fresh as the day they’d arrived in Genova. He was once more reminded of how far behind his friends he was, and how he would need to find ways to survive without relying on his attributes or biotic skills, like the other cadets. What he needed was the skill to kill enemies that were stronger through wits, technique and ability, or by any other means necessary.

  Owens seemed to notice Jake’s worried expression because she suddenly frowned. Moments later, as Jake was getting back on his feet with Ryan’s help, Officer Neilr suddenly materialized behind the cadets, holding the corpse of the corrupted’s leader by the neck.

  “So, torture didn’t work on this guy so we have very little information, but I’m assuming they have a base in the underground somewhere around here.” The First Lieutenant said. “Before that, however, it’s time you guys learn about the corrupted, so that you are better equipped to fight them.”

  The cadets and First Lieutenant were all sitting in a small circle, finally allowing Jake to catch a much-needed rest after running almost non-stop for the past few days, on top of their most recent fight.

  “As their name suggests, the corrupted were once members of the multiple species that dot our universe.” The Kreigen started. “Humans, Kreigen, Akari, and many more, are then awakened much like you were, but instead of using pure biotic energy to awaken them, as we did for you, the process is done using some form of corrupted energy, on which we know very little. From the moment they awaken, the corrupted lose all previous memories belonging to their earlier lives, becoming something much closer to a biological machine that is neither alive nor dead. As you’ve no doubt witnessed for yourself, they do not fear or feel pain, and their bodies are much more resilient than most, especially their regeneration.”

  “Why are they here?” Jake asked, knowingly. The corrupted were a well-known force of the invaders, meaning that the fact they had made it all the way to Genova was far from good news.

  “The other officers wouldn’t want me to be telling you this, but despite what we have been telling you until now, we haven’t been able to get a hold of headquarters since we landed.” The officer answered Jake. “This could mean a great variety of things, but our guess is that the fight against the invaders has reached the outer sectors of the Alliance.”

  “Meaning?” Kirk asked, unsure of what the officer meant by that.

  “Meaning the frontlines have been breached, and the enemy is roaming freely inside our borders.” He answered. “There’s a decent chance the Alliance has fallen.”