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The Surtakatul’s minions were ugly by human aesthetics. Since Wendy was half-reptilian, and she thought the minions were hideous, it was fair to say they were ugly by reptilian aesthetics as well. The minions looked like crustaceans without exoskeletons, wobbling around like sacks of water. Despite their lack of a solid skeletal system, they moved quite quickly, their movements closer to a fish out of water flopping around instead of a humanoid—which their forms loosely resembled—walking upright.
Wendy narrowed her eyes as she gripped the spear in her hand. It was made of obsidian, and it had been provided by Linda, the famed crystal shaper—well, technically, a bunch of crystalline weapons had been rented to Monarch and distributed to its members, so it wasn’t a completely altruistic action. Either way, it was a good spear; it wasn’t heavy, so even someone with very little experience could successfully stab a flopping blob, not that Wendy was inexperienced with spears.
Squelching sounds rang throughout the region as the employees of the six big companies thinned out the minions the Surtakatul had summoned; the smaller creatures had reached humanity’s defensive line first. The calamity was large, and each of its steps should’ve covered several dozen feet, but the Surtakatul moved surprisingly slow. Rather than taking big steps, the toes—if they could be called that—of the creature were dragging the huge body along as if they were caterpillars inching along the ground. Perhaps the Surtakatul was afraid it’d miss consuming something if it moved too quickly.
Beside Wendy, there were dozens of other employees, each stabbing or slashing or bludgeoning or shooting the minions with their choice of crystalline weapon. They weren’t using their talents, relying only on their bodies and the training they had performed to defeat the offspring of the Surtakatul. Sam wasn’t sure if it was more appropriate to call the creatures an offspring or creation of the higher-dimensional being; they might’ve even been parasites for all he knew.
Although the minions were weak, they were numerous, easily outnumbering the humans with their numbers growing with every passing second. Luckily for the humans, they weren’t the main focus of the minions. The saggy humanoids flopped around aimlessly until they reached vegetation or detected a living creature. Then, they grasped at the vegetation and shoveled it into their mouths, swallowing sticks and stones without even chewing. When their bodies were engorged, they rolled themselves away from the human defensive line, returning in the direction they had appeared from. For the minions that had spotted a living creature, the minions pounced towards their prey with their skin jiggling this way and that, the sound akin to an ocean slapping its waves against the sides of a cliff. When the crashing blobs of flesh were within striking distance of their targets, they grabbed with their, surprisingly, sharp fingers, ripping whatever they could to shovel into their mouths—an unlucky rabbit had been caught whilst fleeing towards humanity’s line of defense.
Wendy frowned as she retreated, taking steps back as several minions approached her position. They stopped for a brief moment to consume their fallen comrade, the one Wendy had impaled earlier, and in that small span, Wendy thrusted forward with her spear in quick succession, stabbing the minions in their heads. If only the main body of the calamity had a fatal weak point similar to its minions, it could be slain in a single shot; unfortunately, Wendy didn’t think it’d be that easy to dispatch the monstrosity approaching the capital. Tendrils waved on the horizon, faint and small, but visually growing longer and thicker with every passing moment.
“I can see it from here!” someone said from beside Wendy. She didn’t have time to look at them, much less read their mind, not with the swarm of minions still flowing towards the defensive line like a flood. After she cleared some space, Wendy looked behind herself towards the command center where the six CEOs were staying. As the strongest individuals there, they were saving their strength for the calamity even though they would’ve been extremely effective at clearing the mob of minions.
“It doesn’t look that big,” Mr. Park said, standing up straight with his hands clasped behind his back.
“It’s still quite a distance away,” Zahir Gupta said. He was wearing a set of armor made of crystals, covering every part of his body save for his joints. Since it was glossy and dark, he looked like a striped beetle with his white outfit underneath. “Give it another few minutes, and I’m sure you’ll see looks can be deceiving.”
Mr. Park scanned Zahir Gupta from head to toe. “I hope so,” the CEO of Carbon Peak said.
“Let’s keep things civil,” Dr. Zhou said before Mr. Gupta could respond. She looked at Mr. Park. “Are you not going to wear any armor?”
Mr. Park shook his head. Similar to Zahir Gupta’s getup, Dr. Zhou was wearing crystalline armor with different shades of gray bordering closer to white than black. Although the crystals were clear, they were opaque, only giving the illusion of being able to see her outfit underneath. “Armor only hinders me,” Mr. Park said. He had to have his full attention on a single crystal to shift his body into a different element; with multiple crystals covering his body, it increased the chances of him making a mistake.
“You could’ve practiced more,” Zahir Gupta said. “That way, you’d overcome the hindrance and increase your overall combat prowess.”
“I said we’re keeping things civil,” Dr. Zhou said.
“What?” Zahir asked. “Am I wrong?”
“You’re not wrong, but what’s the point of telling him that now?” Dr. Zhou asked. “He can’t do anything to change his deficiency in the time it’ll take for that big thing to reach us; all your comment did was antagonize him.”
“Antagonists should be antagonized,” Zahir said. He looked out at the approaching calamity before pointing his finger at the humans fighting the minions at the defensive front. A wide beam of light shot out of his fingernail, encompassing every employee within his sight.
“I thought we were saving our energy,” Mr. Park said.
“It doesn’t cost me much to restore their stamina,” Zahir said and brought his arms to his chest, crossing them. “I’ll be recovered before the raid boss gets here.”
Mr. Park turned towards Big Chief, and the latter let out a sigh as he pulled out a crystalline gun. It was similar to the one that had been stolen at the restaurant during his encounter with the alleged blue avian assassin. Sam’s abilities were awfully similar to that individual’s, and Big Chief couldn’t help but get annoyed at Sam despite being uncertain if that individual truly had been him. It was the strongest gun Big Chief had, and Sam was being a jerk for not returning it. Big Chief concentrated on the yellow gun within his grasp, and a series of soundless beams shot forward, causing several hundred of the minions on the defensive front to drop dead.
The other CEOs turned to look at Big Chief, and he holstered his gun on his crystalline belt. “What?” he asked. “If Mr. Gupta can do it, why can’t I? It doesn’t cost me much to do that.”
“Although it doesn’t look like it’s intelligent, who’s to say you haven’t given that creature an advantage by showing your hand?” Queen Annabeth asked. “Now that it knows what you can do, what if it prepares appropriate countermeasures? It’s naïve to believe a creature known as a calamity would be stupid just because it looks like moving sponge.”
“Just because something is powerful doesn’t mean it’s smart,” Zahir said, looking directly at Mr. Park whilst speaking.
Mr. Park flipped Zahir off, pointing his ringed middle finger at the CEO of Saamoohik.
“Men,” Dr. Zhou said, practically spitting out the word before walking off to the side. A frown appeared on her face as she observed the approaching calamity on the horizon. The top of its head, if it could be called that, was rising like a sun, slowly climbing up the sky whilst casting a long shadow on the ground—luckily for humanity—away from the defensive front. If the sun were shining down in their eyes, it would’ve been much more annoying to hold back the swarm of minions.
“I wonder if this is how a bee feels when a bear is invading its hive,” Mister Hoffman said as he stepped next to Dr. Zhou. “I know we’ve had our differences in the past, but let’s put those grievances behind us until our common enemy is dead at the very least.”
“I swear I won’t stab you in the back while you fight the calamity,” Dr. Zhou said.
Mister Hoffman blinked at the glasses-wearing woman. “Really?”
“I know it’s hard for you to believe because you’ve done it to me before,” Dr. Zhou said with an impassive face, “but it’s true. I’m not going to throw away my future for a chance at revenge; Sam’s watching everything we do.”
Mister Hoffman cleared his throat, his eyes shifting to the side, before making eye contact with Dr. Zhou and nodding. “That’s reassuring to hear,” he said. “Good talk.” He nodded at Dr. Zhou again before taking a step back. Then, he spun around and left, returning to Mr. Park and Big Chief’s side.
As time went on, the CEOs continued to assist the frontline in ways that wouldn’t exhaust them or reveal too much to the calamity, which was growing larger and larger, its head fully coming into view. It was spherical with tendrils growing out of it in a geometric pattern. The tendrils were attached to hexagonal patches of flesh which occasionally opened, revealing the darkness inside of the calamity’s body. The tendrils were small compared to the calamity’s full size, but they were massive by human perspective akin to an anteater’s tongue when compared to an ant.
“I don’t think we have enough explosives,” Dr. Zhou said with a frown. With each tendril being slightly larger than a building, it’d take several missiles to destroy one, and there were too many tendrils to count on its head alone, much less the rest of its body which was long like a millipede.
“We already knew we couldn’t win,” Queen Annabeth said. “Didn’t Sam tell us as much?”
“He did,” Mr. Park said. “I didn’t like the way he said it, and I didn’t want to believe it either, but I think he was right. That thing is bigger than our whole capital, and it’d take a ridiculous amount of work to destroy it even if it stood still and let us do our thing.”
“It’d take several months to clear debris of that size,” Zahir said, agreeing with Mr. Park. “Even if we were capable of killing it, we’d die of exhaustion halfway through the process.”
“I see its legs,” Big Chief said, pointing at the horizon. He drew the gun from his crystalline belt and brandished it in the calamity’s direction. “Shall I take a shot?”
“Do it,” Mr. Park said. “Let’s see what we’re dealing with.”
Big Chief nodded and pointed the yellow gun at the calamity’s knee that was showing over the horizon like a small skyscraper. He narrowed his eyes and focused on his Manipura, willing the vibrations it emitted to travel up his torso, down his arm, and into his gun. His weapon resonated with his will, and a second later, a beam of light shone out of the gun’s barrel. As it traveled over the heads of the frontline, it illuminated the humans and minions with a yellow brilliance, and the humans looked up just in time to see the beam strike the calamity’s knee.
A miniature explosion resounded, and a tendril was blown off the calamity’s leg. It fell to the ground with a thud that shook the earth, and the calamity’s march froze. Then, the calamity opened all of the hexagonal flaps on its face and let out a roar that seemed to resound throughout all of Oterra. The six CEOs trembled as the sound passed through their bodies, and the humans at the frontline staggered, some of them even falling over with twitching limbs. The calamity dashed forward as if its previously slow movements had been a dream, and squelching sounds filled the air as the calamity’s feet trampled the minions in its way, bursting them like blood-filled balloons.
“Oh, shit,” Big Chief said. “I don’t think it liked that.”
“You think?” Dr. Zhou asked, her expression darkening. She reached over and grabbed the megaphone on the table before shouting into it. “Get out of there! Everyone, retreat to the sides! Scatter and make way if you want to live!”
On the frontlines, Wendy cursed as she fought to regain her senses. The calamity’s cry had scrambled her thoughts, sending her into a daze. Tremors pounded from below, the ground physically bouncing her up and down with her feet leaving ground several centimeters at a time. Despite her surroundings doing their best to disorient her, Wendy found her balance and ran, leaving behind the employees who were struggling to stand. It wasn’t in her job description to risk her life for others, and although she was sure she’d feel terrible in the future upon hearing the casualty reports, she had to help herself first before she could help others, and her future existence was looking quite questionable with the mountain-sized calamity bearing down on her position. How the hell was something so massive moving so fast?
“We should get ready to take action,” Queen Annabeth said. “Mister Hoffman, why don’t you do the honors of stopping it in its tracks.”
“Me?” Mister Hoffman asked, pointing at himself with a baffled expression. “Why me?”
“Because you’re the biggest and toughest out of all of us,” Dr. Zhou said while pushing her glasses up with her finger. “Isn’t that the case?”
“It doesn’t matter how big and tough I am,” Mister Hoffman said and pointed at the calamity. “Do you not see the size of that thing? How about we shoot some missiles at it instead?”
“You heard what Sam said,” Dr. Zhou said. “The missiles need to be precise in hitting the tendrils. If it’s moving around, what’ll happen if the missiles miss and get swallowed instead? Maybe we’ll have to deal with explosive minions next. We need someone to stop it in its tracks, and you’re the best option.”
“Wouldn’t Her Majesty be a better choice than me?” Mister Hoffman asked, looking at Queen Annabeth.
“You’re really going to make a three-hundred-year-old lady fight your fights?” Dr. Zhou asked. “You call yourself a man?”
“Damnit,” Mister Hoffman said and glanced up at the sky where Sam and his golden pig were hovering. “Fine.” Mister Hoffman took off his bag and pulled out a pair of crystalline gloves which he put over his hands. Surprisingly, the joints could move just fine, his fingers bending and straightening as he stared at the approaching calamity. It had reached the frontlines in the short time it took the CEOs to converse, and its body seemed to be endless, its rear still approaching from the horizon.
Mister Hoffman jogged forward at a comfortable pace. If he ran whilst the ground was shaking, there was a chance he’d slip and fall—at least, that was the excuse he gave himself. As he approached the calamity, Mister Hoffman’s gloves shone with a yellow light, and he shouted, “Get out of the way!” to the people on the ground. It wasn’t a very helpful shout considering those who were in the way were already doing their best to run, but Mister Hoffman had shouted it for legal purposes; no one could claim he was a heartless monster for what happened next since he had given the employees ahead a fair warning. Mister Hoffman’s muscles ballooned in size, and a series of cracking sounds rang through his ears as his body expanded, growing to the size of a house. Compared to the calamity, he was still inconsequentially tiny, growing from the size of an ant to the size of a grasshopper.
Mister Hoffman let out a shout and punched forward with the intention to destroy the calamity in a single strike. A shockwave emerged from his glove and radiated outwards towards the defensive front. The few employees who hadn’t been able to escape were thrown into the air along with the minions in front of them. Luckily, the employees weren’t the targets of the strike, or they would’ve suffered more than a simple rise and fall. The shockwave reached the calamity, and for a brief second, the massive creature halted in place as all the tendrils on its head and legs were flung backwards as if they had entered a wind tunnel. Then, the calamity’s many mouths opened, and it let out another roar.
Mister Hoffman’s sense of balance was thrown off by the creature’s ear-piercing cry, and he couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed his strongest attack had only stopped the creature instead of hurting it. He took in a deep breath and exhaled. Since the creature could resist his attack when the force was spread out, he’d have to focus his strength, condense it to destroy a single tendril at a time. There were so many of them, and Mister Hoffman was not looking forward to the dangerous and backbreaking labor. After all, he became a CEO so someone else would do the labor for him.