It was a fight so harrowing that one would swear by its memory for a lifetime, recounting it to one's children and grandchildren as the greatest of one's life.
But the truth was apparent, even to the Wartopians who faced odds like these before. With no artillery, no tanks, no air support, and no Star Paladins on site, it was a doomed struggle.
The Earthlings had it worse. If they fight, they'll eventually die; they run, Adam will shoot them, bring them back to the front; they'll die anyway.
"Aaaah! My leg! My leg!"
Mop, who ran away once, dropped on his ass, no longer able to fight after sustaining a nasty bite that dug through his calf. He was dragged to the side as Biscuits started staunching his bleeding.
The Wartopians joined the fight one by one with their bayonets fixed to their blazers, giving the Earthlings a much-needed respite, but it would all be for naught eventually as the Krant Workers began spreading and climbing over Adam's spikes, risking life and limb to allow the swarm to keep going.
"Damn you, you blasted bugs! I'm too crispy to be eaten by mere bugs!"
"AAAH! KUDARANAI MUSHI! SHINE JANAI! SHINDE IKU!"
Flint and Kave still fought hardest in melee, but it wasn't easy to sustain this frantic fighting for too long, and even they showed signs of falling back.
Kave smashed the last bug he was fighting before falling on one knee from exhaustion. How he wished for a katana in that moment, a sleek katana with a sharp edge that would cut effortlessly through the endless horde.
What a geeky thought to have in a time like that!
He watched as the Krants began to form greater hordes, mimicking a tidal wave, and they flooded the trenches, making their most powerful push towards the hopeless humans.
He remembered what Adam said just a minute ago, and shouted to Flint:
"OSSAN! BOMBU… BOMBU YARU YO! TSUKAE!"
Flint looked where Kave was pointing and saw the large number of Krants coming, which spelled doom for everyone. On the left, and on the right, the numbers were endless.
"Sol, guide my hand!"
He picked one of his last three incendiary bombs, armed it, and threw it towards the left flank. The bomb flew in a masterful arc and landed right before the wave of Krant Workers… BOOM! …exploding with a thundering flash of searing blaze.
On the right flank, Flint hurriedly armed a second bomb, but before it could land, the Krant Workers were already here, rushing out of the trench like a river overflowing its banks.
The sight was terrifying! Flint had already thrown the bomb, but it felt like it was too late anyway.
Once those Krant Workers broke through the defensive line, all hope would be lost.
The bomb flew past the first Krant, then the second, then the third. When it exploded, it would kill the ones in the back, but it would boost the ones that had gone past it.
Everyone was ready to take the first hit, the end of their desperate defense, the… STOMP! … large pillar of Earth that descended from the sky, stomping down every Krant that was about to flow out of the trench!
BOOM!
The bomb Flint threw exploded at the base of the towering pillar, yet it only gave it a lava-like effect that added more to its might and majesty.
Even the incoming Krants paused with numb thoughts, perceiving another pillar descend from the sky and lay waste to their ranks.
All eyes looked up; Humans, Krants, and even Goggles had the same image imprinted on their minds as they looked upward.
Even the mad ones had to question their own sanity at some point, retrace every single second that led to this moment, and now looked up as the first of the two pillars was raised, extending from a greater body.
STOMP!
The fiery pillar landed in the middle of the Krant Swarm, and then the other pillar followed suit and descended with a shock wave, quaking through the earth, and sundering tens of Krants in a single motion.
The giant stood tall, born of the Earth in the image of a man, stout and strong, tall and colossal, and it knew no fear.
On top of its head was a hollowed canopy, a chariot-like compartment, and two figures on top of it, clinging for dear life.
"Sol's golden locks!"
"Ad… Adam-kun!"
Flint and Kave were the first to exclaim in the frozen crowd, and then looked at each other.
"The Blessed Titan of Sol Imperius!"
"Taitan ofu Soru Imupeeeriasu… SHORI SHORI!"
Flint and Kave abandoned defense, launching a full charge into the swarm.
If only madness stopped at that point; rather, it became contagious, and the first to be infected was Elena:
"Follow the Titan! The swarm is breaking! PRAISE HIS HOLY NAME!"
Elena rushed and jumped over the trench in one big leap, using her bionic arm to hit whatever Krant got in her way.
"Why is this turning so much into Wartopia?" Yapper (Toby) asked Brains (Qasim), unable to contain the excitement coursing through him.
"Shut up and help!" Brains was assisting Brawn (Luke) to carry up the ramp used to cross the trench, and together they pushed down all the remaining Krants with it. The rest of the Wartopians and the Recruits helped, and all crossed it at once, jumping into a fierce charge.
Adam's Earth Golem swung its arms, kicked its legs, and wreaked absolute havoc, leaving no large group of Krant Workers undevastated with one large swing. Its arms and legs were the parts Adam specifically reinforced with stones, adding both structural integrity and enough weight to cause significant damage.
However, the way Adam handled his "Puppet" Golem was beyond wild.
"Oh God! Dear Lord! Jesus!" Megan was screaming at the top of her lungs, trying her best to stay in the hollowed head of the Golem, "To the left, not too much. Kick wide!"
"Argh!"
As for Adam, he was struggling for dear life, but not from the lack of balance or the fear of wild movement. Rather, he was trying his best to control his oversized puppet.
Megan was acting as his eyes and ears. He was holding his head with one hand and sitting on his knees while holding himself in place with the other. He wasn't even opening his eyes, trying his best to maintain what little control he could exert over that thing.
≪ You have gained 1 EXP! ≫
"Don't stand in place for too long. They will try to climb up!" Megan shouted at him, then gave him directions, "Turn right by 90 degrees. There's one of those lobster Krants. Don't let it get close to the others."
"I… am… trying!"
He followed her instructions, trying his best to maintain control and avoid losing focus, which would lead to the Earth Golem's destruction.
Everything was now hanging on the fine thread of how long he could last, and the fact that he was approaching a lobster Krant meant that he needed to be extra careful.
"It's loading its water jet! Aiming at us!" Megan alerted him.
"Tell me when you feel it," Adam replied, relying on Megan's senses.
"Now!" Megan said immediately, and in the same breath, the Earth Golem ducked.
The water jet that was aimed at the Golem's head missed its target, and now it was facing the full wrath of the element of earth itself. One arm swing, and the lobster was flattened to the ground.
≪ You have gained 1 EXP! ≫
As Adam's first direct kill of a lobster Krant, he got another experience point, even though the kill was direct and involved a vast power difference.
As the lobster Krant was flattened, the surrounding Krant Workers felt the change and scattered right away. Megan sensed this and alerted Adam instantly.
"I found their weakness!" She shouted, "Kill the lobster Krants, and the others will disperse."
"That simple?" Adam asked, halfway into a brain-splitting headache, "Where are the rest?"
"There was one downhill, 200 feet away." Megan redirected him, and he instantly steered the Golem, taking massive strides with no hesitation, even though he was descending the hill.
The fact that Worker Krants dispersed with the death of lobster Krants was almost the last thing Adam could think of when facing the swarm. It was as if there was no time to think between how to defeat an entire swarm all at once and how to deal with the five Krants that were charging him at the same moment.
"Follow the Titan. Without it, we'll get surrounded." Elena redirected the troops into another charge.
Staying close to Adam's Golem meant that they could benefit from the areas it left empty after its wide attacks, using it to avoid being surrounded and swarmed by the Krants.
The risk was great, but the charge wasn't for them to attack, but for them not to be sitting ducks with no fire support. The group was running breathlessly, making themselves bait to prevent the swarm from getting close to the base or ruining its structures.
On top of that, they all knew that Sophie was still in the base, hidden in the storm shelter by Hammerhead and Biscuits, so they weren't simply fighting for themselves at the moment.
Jazz and Patch helped carry Mop around as his leg was in a bad shape, but Elena was in half a mind to let them throw him off. He deserted, but rather than killing him, the Commander decided to let him live and threw him back into the fight as a form of mercy.
Elena thought the way Adam thought and realized that he did so in order not to completely shatter the morale of the Earthlings, who played a crucial role in defending the trenches.
Aside from Mop, every one of those Earthlings was a goddamn hero, Elena thought so. Adam was the first, leading and managing his troops, his experience growing with every moment. Kave was reckless and foolhardy, but endlessly brave, with an unbreakable mean streak in a fight. Megan was resourceful, read everything, and thought ten steps ahead, a spitting image of a young Elena. As for the rest, beginning with Officer Reeves, who fought at the front and never backed down once, and ending with Fish (Yvonne), who, despite the fear that was gripping her heart, swung her shovel every chance she got and killed tens of Krants on her own.
"It was there! I can see it!" Elena shouted while running, gaining the attention of all the troops.
All their eyes locked on her, so she smiled, raised a fist, and then pointed at the Golem.
"VICTORY!"
The bayonet and shovel charge turned from a desperate escape into a warrior baptism; the twenty-somethings who fought in this battle would forever change the future of a doomed world, becoming the leading figures of a new Solarium, following the path of a towering leader.
Looking ahead at the Golem, it jumped into the air, arms raised, and it descended in the middle of the Krants' last wave, descending with tons of earth and stones onto the leading lobster Krants.
Adam and Megan were barely holding onto the Golem, struggling not to fall off it during descent. Still, they were in the heart of a deafening tremor that devoured every last Krant in Springhead.
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