"Mila, look after him," said the girl with short purple hair before jumping out of the drone without hesitation.
"Hera, wait—!"
Mila reached out quickly, trying to grab Hera's arm and stop her, but she had already jumped down. After landing on the ground, Hera immediately took her gun from her belt without wasting any time and began shooting at the approaching monsters, just like the others who were already engaged in the fight.
Gaia took off her glasses and threw them aside without a second thought. Her expression became more serious and focused. She held two guns, one in each hand, and started shooting rapidly at the monsters that were getting closer by the second.
"Why did you come down?" the leader asked while firing, his gaze fixed straight on the incoming targets.
"You think we will just sit and watch from above?" Hera responded without looking at him.
"You could have shot from your place in the drone!"
"Aghh, why didn't I think of this!"
Their personal guns were a lot less powerful than the heavy guns mounted on the armed drones. But their goal wasn't to eliminate every single monster in the area–they only needed to clear a path to the spaceship so they could get there alive.
One of the monsters collapsed to the ground after being shot multiple times in the chest while running at them full speed. But just as that one dropped, more took its place. Shooting was barely helping at all. For every two monsters they managed to kill, ten more showed up from different directions without pause.
"Plan B!" the leader suddenly yelled.
Everyone instantly stopped shooting and quickly reached for another type of gun from their belts. The second the monsters saw the humans pause, they ran faster and lunged forward, trying to reach them in time.
Before the monsters could get any closer, a sharp laser beam sliced clean through their bodies. The humans on the ground raised their weapons and fired laser beams at the swarm, killing multiple monsters in a single shot.
"Go! Go! Go!" the leader shouted as they began to move.
They advanced quickly toward the ship through the cleared path, still firing bullets from their other guns while moving. They had to be careful with the laser guns because the power supply was limited and couldn't be wasted. The laser weapons were meant only for emergencies, when the numbers became overwhelming.
Even with all the preparation, measured attacks, and coordinated effort, they had already used up half of the laser gun's total power. On top of that, they were also running low on regular bullets at an alarming rate.
Mila also fired from above to assist them. Strangely, there were more monsters underneath the drone, as if something drew them in more than the others. The monsters jumped but failed to reach the drone.
"Why are there so many below us?"
Mila looked down, her hands clutching the edges. Solus, who had been sitting quietly the entire time, finally stood up and approached her. Mila glanced over her shoulder as she noticed him.
"Julius, stay where you are. Don't come near the.."
She could not finish her sentence because Solus lifted her legs and flipped her over. Her body flew over the drone, but she barely managed to stay on its edges. The swarm of monsters jumped over one another to reach her, with some missing by a few inches. She could not pull herself up because her fingers were gradually slipping away.
Solus stood on the edge and looked down at her with an emotion. He lowered himself and began removing her fingers from the edges one at a time.
One by one.
Mila's expression was one of shock. He did not look like the person she remembered; he was completely different.
Before she could say anything, her hands slipped and she began to fall. She continued to stare at Solus until the monsters shredded her body to pieces. Solus sat on the edge and watched as others fought for their lives.
They had used up all of the power in their laser guns and had only a few bullets remaining. However, the number of monsters continued to grow.
A monster dragged away one man. Hera attempted to run after him, but a few monsters lunged at her. She shot them down with the last bullets before throwing the guns away. She jumped and grabbed the man's legs, but another monster bit her arm and ripped it off.
Before she could stand up, monsters attacked her from all sides and tore her body apart like a piece of paper.
"Hera!" Gaia screamed, but she could not do anything. Before she could turn around, a monster attacked one of the men. She shot it in the head, but by then it had crushed the man's head.
She threw away her guns and pulled the knife from her belt. Monsters attacked her from all directions, and she swung her knife to slice them. However, the knife caused little or no damage. Monsters gradually exhausted her and caused numerous wounds on her body.
A monster crashed into her, knocking her to the ground. Two monsters immediately opened their mouths to bite her, but the leader and another man pushed them aside with their bodies.
"Gaia! "Are you all right?" the leader inquired, his expression worried. He wanted to check on her, but he could not take his attention away from the monsters.
A monster suddenly attacked the man beside him and dragged him away before he could react. It was just him and Gaia now. Gaia was in no shape to fight back, so he was the only one standing.
He gripped his knife tightly and faced the countless monsters in front of him. It appeared as though the monsters would never stop, and they continued to rush in without pausing to breathe.
Gaia coughed up blood and pushed her from the ground to stand. She took her knife and made a small cut on her hands to stop them from trembling. She then swung her weapon at the incoming monsters.
"Gaia! Run toward the ship while I keep them busy!" the leader shouted.
"I'm not leaving you alone!"
"There is no time! Go! Now!"
She gritted her teeth and started running towards the ship. It was only a hundred meters away, but the path was blocked by a horde of monsters. They were charging at her from the opposite direction.
She heard the leaders scream from behind, but she could not bring herself to look back. The leader was most likely dead, and thousands of monsters could be behind her, waiting for her to pause for a moment. However, she did not allow her emotions to take over her. She refused to let another person's sacrifice be in vain.
Then she snapped back into reality. She noticed a monster in the corner of her vision. It was too close to be avoided.
"I guess I couldn't make it in the end..."
The monster had its head stabbed by the leader. He yanked out his knife and stabbed it repeatedly until its internals were protruding from its skull.
"What are you doing?! Just Keep Moving!"
Gaia suddenly regained her strength after seeing him alive, clenching her knife tightly before stabbing the monsters. The leader's head was splattered with blood, but his rage remained visible.
"Gaia! Get as close as possible to the ship! If we lose here, there is nowhere else to run!"
"kyaak! I dropped my knife!"
"Why are you asking?! Just kick them with your feet! Bite them if you can."
"There are too many of them! We can't hold on any longer!"
"Stop talking, and stab them with this!"
The leader gave her his knife. She wasted no time and stabbed the approaching monsters while being wounded. The leader clenched his fists and smashed them against the monster's skull, but it did nothing but push them away.
"Thirty meters! Just keep moving!"
While he was distracted, a monster severed his left arm. Blood gushed from the veins, staining the yellowish grass with red.
"You bastards!"
He gritted his teeth and smashed his fists into the monsters in front of him. His thoughts were solely focused on punching. If he stopped breathing for even a fraction of a second, he would die.
Gaia stopped stabbing and made a dash through the monsters. They bit her, ripping her clothes and skin, but she kept running until she got to the ship. The heavy weapons were inside, and they could survive with them.
"Gaia! Give me the weapons! Now!"
"Wait! The storage is locked!"
"What?!!"