Previous | Table of Contents | Next
“I thought you weren’t going to help me,” Sam said, communicating with his familiars through his mind. The wooly pig underneath him charged at the Surtakatul and plunged into the calamity’s body. His eyes were blocked, preventing him from seeing the creature’s innards, but even if the twin-headed snake allowed him to see, it would’ve been too dark for Sam to appreciate the inner workings of the Surtakatul. Luckily, since there was the entry hole, Sam’s senses weren’t completely cut off from the outside when he was traveling through the calamity, allowing him to continue manipulating the building-sized limb to clobber the Surtakatul.
“You weren’t impressive enough by yourself,” Vercedei said. “It’d take too long for you to get rid of this pest by yourself. That wouldn’t be a display of overwhelming strength. Besides, the longer it stays in Oterra without dying, the more higher-dimensional beings will be attracted to this plane.”
It was clear to Sam his familiars had marked Oterra as their territory, and any other higher-dimensional being was an intruder that needed to be dealt with. As for what his familiars wanted with Oterra, Sam still wasn’t quite sure. They claimed they wanted world domination, but wasn’t world domination usually a means to an end? Whatever the reason, Sam didn’t concern himself too much with it since he didn’t have much freedom to act on his own anyway; there was no point in wasting time with useless thoughts.
While Sam dealt with the calamity’s legs with his telekinesis, Dirt cleaned up the minions on the ground, preventing the Surtakatul from recovering. Since Sam had the help of nine higher-dimensional beings, it made sense for the Surtakatul, a lone calamity, to be bullied so easily to the point of being unable to fight back. Sam continued to smash the Surtakatul’s legs, and after a few repetitions, Vercedei said, “It’s running away.”
“Are we chasing it?” Sam asked, the floating limb slamming down a final time. The Surtakatul didn’t even bother turning around as its legs kicked against the ground, accelerating as it retreated in the direction it had first approached, its rear end practically no different from its head.
“No,” Vercedei said. “Let it escape. It’ll cause trouble elsewhere, and eventually, the blue avians will handle it, letting the other higher-dimensional beings know Oterra isn’t without its natural defenses.”
Sam watched through his All-Seeing Gaze as the Surtakatul scuttled away, leaving behind a barren line of soil where its minions had harvested everything above the surface; well, the soil wasn’t completely barren, not with the dark and damp patches where the ground had minced the minions. Perhaps new trees or plants would sprout from their remains considering the minion’s bodies were full of vegetation before they were ground up. If there were any seeds left intact, they’d surely grow well with the nutrients so generously donated by the Surtakatul’s minions.
“What if it comes back even stronger?” Sam asked. “Let’s say it eats a blue avian and gains the ability to do everything they can do.” If the Surtakatul learned telekinesis, it could fight back against Sam’s control, and he wouldn’t be able to rip it apart as easily as he did today.
“If it eats a blue avian, there’s no way the rest of those birds will let it get away,” Vercedei said. “They’ll eradicate it thoroughly, and then, they’ll probably attack the mantids who summoned the Devourer in the first place.”
Sam figured it wouldn’t be difficult for the blue avians to deal with the Surtakatul since they had already done so once in the past. It felt odd letting such a large, destructive creature escape to devastate lands elsewhere when he could do something about it, but his familiars didn’t want him to act, so he suppressed his feelings and watched the Surtakatul scuttle away from human territory. When it was gone, the wooly pig underneath Sam landed on the ground, and alarmed cries filled the air as the earth opened up, spitting out those who had hidden in the tunnels: the CEOs and frontline defenders alike along with the excavators and boring machines that had created the holes in the first place.
The CEOs scanned their surroundings before exiting the van. They looked at the bloody, barren ground with craters pocking the surface. The smashed legs of the Surtakatul were lying about like building ruins—slimy, sticky, and fleshy ruins. The CEOs looked at the Surtakatul’s front portion which had been severed and still trapped within the glass with its legs twitching but unable to free themselves.
“I’m assuming we won?” Mr. Park asked and looked at the faces of the surviving employees. “Where’s Mister Hoffman? Did he finally kick the bucket?”
“I’ll kick your bucket,” Mister Hoffman said, his voice practically a growl as he approached the group. “I went up there, and all of you left me behind.”
“You know how to analyze the situation,” Dr. Zhou said and pushed her glasses up with her finger. “If you were in our position and we were in your position, you would’ve left us behind as well.”
Mister Hoffman understood, but it was still a bitter feeling to have confirmation his two—supposedly—closest allies wouldn’t risk themselves to save him when he was in a desperate situation. Mister Hoffman snorted. “Well,” he said before smiling, “it wasn’t all bad up here. I got to see how Sam fought up close and personal, got the best seat in the house to the show.”
The CEOs’ gazes shifted onto Sam, who was sitting atop his shiny pig, his body perfect and unblemished, making him seem a bit unnatural when compared to his gory surroundings. Werchbite’s illusion flashed the CEOs a smile, and Vercedei said, “It’s nice to see you all are safe.” The illusion of Sam pointed towards the area where the frontlines used to be. “Bring me the remains of those who’ve died.”
The CEOs looked at each other before looking around to see who Sam was speaking to. When they realized he was talking to them, bitter expressions appeared on their faces before they turned around and went to the frontlines where remains of the battle still existed: trampled minions, unidentified body parts, bone fragments. Mr. Park made a face as he patted his pockets, checking to see if he had brought any gloves. “Well, let’s get this over with,” Mr. Park said and squatted next to a dead employee who had been unluckily stomped on by the Surtakatul during its frenzied sprint. Although the man’s torso was fine, his lower half had been completely pulverized into a mass of black and red goop mixed with soil into a puddle of black mud. Mr. Park looked back at Sam. “If they’re not intact, do we just do the best we can?”
“Yes,” Vercedei said. “Bring me back as many human remains as you can; I’ll bring those who died back to life. If you want those who’ve died to come back to life, you should do your best to bring me as many pieces of them as you can.”
“There’s a Saamoohik employee over there,” Dr. Zhou said, pointing at a torn shirt with an arm and shoulder inside of it.
“We all work together now,” Zahir said. “There’s no longer Saamoohik or Dynasty or Carbon Peak. We’re all under the Ark umbrella now.”
“Alright,” Dr. Zhou said. “Even if you say that, I’m not picking him up for you.” She ignored the arm and went in another direction to scour the battlefield for remains.
Queen Annabeth raised her scepter, and the area around her was cleansed as the blood and muck was turned into soil, leaving only the skin, flesh, bones, and clothes of the dead humans behind.
“You couldn’t do that earlier, huh?” Mr. Park asked with a frown as he surveyed the region around the queen. He glanced down at his bloody hands, one of which was holding onto the shirt worn by a man’s torso. Although the CEOs might’ve been working under the same employer now, that didn’t mean their differences were suddenly gone; competition existed everywhere whether internal or external. Mr. Park shook his head before bringing the partial corpse of his ex-employee to Sam. “Is this enough to bring him back to life?”
“Yes,” Vercedei said. “It also costs me something, but I’ll recoup the cost by garnishing your wage in the future.”
Mr. Park’s expression darkened. Why did his pay have to be garnished? Wouldn’t it make more sense to take the payment from the dead man’s wages instead? It wasn’t fair, but Mr. Park wasn’t going to argue with someone who claimed they could bring the dead back to life; after all, everyone died, and Mr. Park would rather be in the good graces of the man who could revert death. What if Sam chose not to revive Mr. Park in the future because of one bad impression? “I understand, so please, go ahead with the revival.”
A beam of light descended from the clear sky onto the corpse. Mr. Park took a step back and looked up at the sky; the beam of light was so tall, it was impossible to see where it ended, becoming so thin near the top thanks to how far away it was that it seemed as thick as a needle. Mr. Park lowered his head and squinted at his ex-employee, but he couldn’t see the man’s corpse at all. It wasn’t because the light was too bright; rather, it was opaque, making it impossible to see the things it illuminated. After several seconds, the ray of light vanished, revealing a man lying on the ground. He was half-naked, only wearing the torn shirt that had been on his corpse.
“Where…?” the man asked as he sat up and looked around. “How am I…?” He looked down at himself, and a frown appeared on his face. “So, I’m dreaming.” A sigh escaped from his lips. “Always naked in public in my dreams.”
“You’re not dreaming,” Mr. Park said.
The man stood up and turned towards Mr. Park. “And, of course, my boss is here too,” the revived man said. He closed his eyes and spun around. Then, he opened his eyes and frowned upon seeing nothing change. “Huh, usually that works.”
“You’re not dreaming, Jackson,” Mr. Park said. “You died when the calamity stepped on you, but Sam brought you back to life.” He pointed at the people in the distance scrounging for remains of their companions. “We’re looking for more people who’ve died. Put on some clothes and help with the search.”
Jackson looked in the direction Mr. Park had pointed. Then, Jackson looked at Sam before looking down at himself. “Well,” he said and raised his head while covering his crotch with his hands, “this is embarrassing. I don’t suppose there’s an outfitting station nearby.”
“Yeah, there isn’t,” Mr. Park said and shook his head. “Rather than helping those people unearth the dead, go to the capital and bring back enough clothes for everyone who’s going to be revived.”
“How many people died, sir?” Jackson asked.
“I’m not sure,” Mr. Park said. “Things were hectic.”
Jackson nodded. Although the Surtakatul was capable of sending people into a daze with its roar, the true danger came from Mister Hoffman’s wide-area attacks against the calamity knocking the employees over while they were trying to run away. “I’ll be going then,” Jackson said and took a look around before jogging in the direction of the capital, his movements a bit awkward since his hands were preoccupied. Luckily, there were vehicles in that direction, so he didn’t have to run the whole way back.
Mr. Park watched the employee leave before pressing down on the bluish ring around his thumb. His body shifted into lightning, and he appeared by the frontlines in an instant, a boom of thunder resounding outwards with him at the center. The people there winced before scowling at Mr. Park. He ignored their dirty looks because he had an S-ranked talent. Why did he have to be considerate of others?
As Werchbite and Joe worked together to repair and resurrect the fallen employees, Sam concentrated on his Vasundhara, focusing on the sensations transmitted to him from the ground. He located the Surtakatul, which was still running away, evidently unsatisfied with how far it had escaped. Instead of heading towards Et Serpentium, the calamity veered away from the spectral jungle, heading towards the mountain range to the west instead. Since it was leaving and not heading towards the reptilians where Ellie would potentially be in danger, Sam stopped keeping track of it and focused on the part of the calamity which was still stuck in the glass. He couldn’t help but feel drawn to it, and he wondered if there was a crystal of some sort inside of it that could unlock another one of his chakras. Honestly, he had no idea how many chakras were left to unlock since there weren’t many records about the external ones.
“Let’s check it out,” Vercedei said. “Maybe the Devourer will join us.”
Sam wasn’t quite sure how to feel about that. The Surtakatul was massive, larger than a city. How was it going to accompany him everywhere? Then again, Big Fish was a whale, but it could shrink down to a microscopic level; maybe, the Surtakatul could do the same. Despite how Sam felt about the giant, blobby calamity, the wooly pig underneath him trotted over to the glassy ground. The tendrils on the Surtakatul’s body wriggled, stretched towards Sam as if they could sense him, and the calamity’s body jerked about as it attempted to free itself. The glass was surprisingly sturdy; perhaps, Queen Annabeth had reinforced the material with her ability after the Surtakatul had been trapped.
The CEOs slowed what they were doing, their focus shifting from the ground in front of them to Sam. Considering his mount was glowing as bright as the sun, his actions were hard to miss. Most of the tendrils had been destroyed in the fight, but there were still a few that were intact on the calamity’s front portion, albeit a bit damaged. The tendrils reared back and struck at Sam as he entered their attack range, but their midpoints stopped in place, preventing their heads from traveling far enough to hit Sam, Sam doing the bare minimum with his telekinesis to conserve his stamina; rather than holding back the whole tendril, it required less energy to hold back a key portion to achieve the same result.
The CEOs watched as the tendrils around Sam wriggled and squirmed, creating a passage tailored perfectly for Sam and his pig to walk through. The Surtakatul’s tendrils flailed about even faster, generating winds that rolled through the CEOs’ clothes and billowed outwards despite the distance; however, Sam and his pig remained as steady as a rock on their way to the Surtakatul’s neck, which was sticking out of the glass. The pig turned to the side, allowing Sam to lean close enough to touch the calamity’s skin. The moment Sam touched the calamity, the beast’s tendrils and legs went limp, dropping to the ground with earthshaking thumps.
“Did he just kill it?” Dr. Zhou asked.
“Why not?” Mr. Park asked. “Bring back the dead with a snap of his fingers, kill things by touching them, those abilities are two faces of the same coin, don’t you think?”
“How much do you think the corpse is worth?” Mister Hoffman asked, turning his head towards Queen Annabeth.
“It doesn’t matter,” Queen Annabeth said. “We won’t be seeing any of it. You’ll live longer if you can recognize your place.”
“Advice from the living legend herself,” Mr. Park said, glancing at Mister Hoffman and the queen. “I didn’t realize you two had become that close.”
“Life-and-death situations change people,” Queen Annabeth said. She glanced in the direction of Sam. “So does new upper management.”
Mr. Park turned to look at Sam, but his view was obstructed by tendrils dangling from the Surtakatul. He did see a flash of pearl-white light gleam from close to the calamity’s body. Mr. Park nodded before turning back towards the queen. “Let’s be friends,” he said. “Turn a new leaf between us, what do you say?”
“If you really mean what you say,” Queen Annabeth said, “we can be friends.”
A sheepish smile appeared on Mr. Park’s face. “Great,” he said. “We’re friends now.” His eyes narrowed as he turned towards Sam, who was floating up into the air above the tentacles—without his wooly pig—and shining like the moon. “Let’s do our best to thrive under our new boss.”