Chapter 164: Chapter 158

I streaked toward them, metal fists clenched, and slammed through where the nearest hound should have been. I saw it there, aimed directly for it, and then punched nothing but ground. With a quick roll, I was back on my feet, searching for the threat.

The reaper hounds circled me, each of them flashing sharp teeth as I glanced between them. The one closest to me raised up on its hind legs, and I fixated on it.

It casually reached a tentacle around my throat and cut through my windpipe with a careful, slow attack from behind. The hound in front of me vanished as my neck split open. I wheezed, sputtering blood from the center of my neck, and searching desperately for my attacker. A reaper hound leapt in out of the fog, snarled, and stalked in a slow circle.

The trooper on the ground wasn’t moving anymore, and the hounds were all focused on me, weaving in and out of the fog, impossible to track. I clamped a hand over my throat to seal it and gasped, “Send Phyllis!” into my radio.

Black fog rolled over us, and another reaper hound at my side sliced through the back of my right leg. I collapsed onto one knee and swung my swords in a quick arc, hitting nothing but air. My suit erupted in tendrils, rapidly sealing my wounds, and returning function to my leg.

The attack wasn’t coming from where I could see glimpses of the creatures through the fog. Their scythe tentacles reached around, sought my back, and tore free critical ligatures with almost every hit. I became disoriented and lashed out wildly with both swords, until one clattered from my gauntlet to the ground.

My elbow was slashed through, and I stared at it. The painkiller fuzzed through my mind, and the black fog surrounding me twinkled and sparkled with a fresh geyser of vibrant red blood.

I went down again as my other leg suffered a slash across my Achilles tendon, toppling forward uncontrollably. The Highwater blaster was in my hands before I hit, and I rolled over to fire at a tentacle ball as it rolled toward me.

The hardened ceramic superheated, slagged, and evaporated, dropping the ball in a sustained beam of weaponized light. I racked the empty shell out and primed a new one, turning to respond as my throat was cut again.

Jada roared out of the encroaching fog at my side, her shield sparking pink as tentacles bounced off its surface. She veered her attack at the last instant, and connected with the heavy club, sending the suddenly visible reaper hound attacking me bouncing away into the fog.

This time, I swept the weapon as I fired, and the two-second burst of light caught the retreating reaper hound. It materialized just to the side of where I had seen it just a second prior, as the illusion vanished in a piercing howl of pain.

“Their scent is wrong!” Jada shouted, hefting her blood-streaked mace. “They’re not where they should be!”

“I know! Even my helmet isn’t showing them right!” I replied, struggling to a knee and staring at the wounded reaper hound. I growled into my radio, “All BlueCleave, be advised, cameras do not work to reveal the reaper hounds.”

One of its six limbs was cut off entirely, burned away by the laser. The reaper hound slashed out at me with both tentacles, slammed into my back and tearing at my lungs and ribs. I ignored the damage, racked the shotgun again, and swept another beam of laser in its direction.

My legs were torn into, and this time, the armored plating in my pants caught on the scythe blade. I instantly grabbed at the tentacle and hauled on it, hearing another yowl as the reaper hound was launched toward me.

I slammed a gauntlet into it as it sailed toward me with claws extended. I’d seen it coming out of the fog, and despite my helmet's anti-magic capabilities, it was not where it should be. Focusing on the direction it should have come from saved me, and ended its life in a crash of broken bones.

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More ceramic tentacle balls rolled in on top of me, and a series of sharp snaps and electrical shocks laid me out on the ground. I felt the final hound’s scythe tear into me as I grabbed Jada’s arm, activated my gravitic drive, and we fell up into the sky.

Her eyes went wide, and her tail tucked between her legs, but Jada held on tight. Her claws screamed and scraped against my gauntlets as we flew clear of the cluster of tentacle balls. As soon as we were clear, an entire squad of BlueCleave regulars opened fire, saturating the area with laser fire.

The fog burned away, and tentacle balls dropped, slagged and shattered by the heavy fire.

Once clear of the immediate area, I dropped Jada, and she rolled as she landed, before immediately lashing out with her mace. The ball of sparking tentacles the Knowle attacked blasted apart in a shower of ceramic shards.

She ran back into the fog, seeking another dream storm monster. Veering back up, I dodged an incoming hovercraft and searched the sparse fog below for the final reaper hound, circling back to where I had last seen it.

Phyllis’ hovercraft arrived and she swept over the area in a passing burn, plasma caster roaring. The pilot had figured out how to ride her heat blooms, and the craft swept by at a high speed. I fell further up, trying to figure out how to hover while my suit repaired the damage done to my body.

Her sweep cleared out the black fog, and a lone reaper hound became visible. It was scorched but intact, and sprinting through the black fog clouds toward the nearest starfish trooper. I fell after it, reloading my high tech shotgun with MIRV shells. My hands gripped the familiar weapon and I began slam-firing the MIRV shells, carpet bombing the immediate area.

The hound howled piercingly loud as my explosive barrage consumed it, and I sighed in relief. My throat was repaired again, and I spoke into our shared comlink.

“I got three of them, I think. Starfish troopers!” I shouted. “Reaper hounds are hunting you specifically. Cameras won’t work, use sweeping attacks. Try to close distance while your tendrils are active and guard your legs. If more than one attacks, get to your hovercraft as fast as you can.”

“Yes boss!” came the uniform shout.

Axle sounded off in my ear. “I’m watching from above for them. Focus on the storm, I’ll redirect you as needed.”

I nodded, reloaded my shotgun again, and reversed my fall. I fired the shotgun as I swept over the front line of the black fog, veering when I met Phyllis’ hovercraft again. She was happily roasting the area behind them with her plasma caster, causing far more damage than I ever could.

Once I ran out of MIRV shells, I drew my swords and began falling through their ranks just above ground level, slashing and burning them in lines. Our starfish troopers fought the smattering that got beyond Phyllis and I, and the remaining hovercraft focused their fire on any gaps in our lines.

The dream storm spent its fury against the BlueCleave army, and only one hobb died in the battle. Murdered by an expensive biological weapon. As the cloud of black fog and ceramic tentacle balls began to finally dissipate, the giant donut ship behind us clunked heavily as it engaged its engines and began crawling upward.

“Stop that ship!” I yelled into my coms. “I want the entire thing searched. This was coordinated, I think Dearth released the hounds from the donut!”

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