GZ Legends 78: Hiss from the Abyss

           

 Blacktide’s eyes clouded in dark shadows as his power grew. He clenched his fist, also shrouded in the dark energies he commanded. Shadow wisps even emitted from his lips as he spoke.

            “Now.”

            Nyhtwulf shifted out of the way and Blacktide thrust his fist forward. Despite the amount of power coursing in the effect, a disintegration bolt or wave makes little more in noise than a cough or ‘whumping’ sound. The crackling and spitting sparks all came from the Chaos drone as it took the attack full in the chest. The air sizzled from the relentless attack and the drone started to be forced backwards. Layers of armor dissipated into smoke followed by wires and circuit boards. Still, it didn’t happen as quickly as this kind of power would destroy anything common to Earth. Blacktide didn’t realize it, but this charge released on Earth would have been catastrophic in its effect.

           

The drone stumbled as the blast achieved the halfway mark into its body. Blacktide pressed advantage and stepped forward. All he knew in the moment was rage. Rage at all the horrors he and his friends had faced so far. Horrors all set in motion by the one man they sought on this nightmare path. Finally, the drone shuddered and fell backwards, floating away into the strangeness of the void around them. Blacktide stopped firing and watched for a second as the useless metal trash drifted away. He leaned over and put his hands on his knees and realized he was out of breath.

            Electrode could feel a sharp tooth press its point against the side of his neck. Even with all Sandstorm’s elemental strength and an iron ore fist in its mouth, the giant hound only needed to flinch and kill its prey. Electrode’s mind raced and desperation fueled the invention of idea. One of its red glaring eyes was close to his right hand where he had a fistful of black fur. For anyone else, the time it would take to let go and try this stunt would result in death. For a man who could move faster than the speed of light, it was perfect timing. While his body was pinned, he could still move that hand. Utilizing his speed and making the world around him stand still, he darted his hand to the creature’s eye and dug his electrical arcing fingers in hard. Its eye was the size of a racquetball and just as rubbery in consistency. He pulled with the power of his speed and ripped the eye from its socket, still attached by its long cord. Now was the time to charge it with everything he had to offer. The jolting hit home this time and the beast threw its head backwards, howling in pain. Taking advantage, Sandstorm pulled its head back and grasped upper and lower portions of its jaw. With a mighty heave in strength, he snapped its jaw outward. The beast fell over dead.

            Anubis and Galose wrestled with their giant hound. Galose activated strength adaptation programs in his armor. Because Cyborian armor keeps all its equipment and systems in pocket dimensions, it can store machinery much larger than itself. The strength adaptation and amplification systems were powered by a metron reactor twice as big as his armor. In times of need, Galose could amplify his armors strength capabilities by 50 times or more. It was a temporary surge, but usually enough to complete any task at hand.

            “I can’t budge this thing!” Anubis shouted.

            “I have something.” Galose responded. “The creature’s hide is virtually impenetrable, however…”

            He slowly pushed the creature back and jammed an arm down its throat. He extended his metron rifle and fired several times. The creature convulsed and went limp, hanging from Galose’s arm. Anubis had been knocked to the path by the creature but quickly got back to his feet.

            “Nice force feeding.” Anubis said.

            “It worked.” Galose pulled his arm from the beast’s throat and shook some disgusting green slime off.

            “You want me to clean that off of you?” Anubis asked.

            “Not necessary.” Galose’s armor cleaning programs dissipated the mess. “We are supposed to take pride in our armor’s appearance after all.”

            “Is everyone okay?” Sandstorm shouted.

            “I’m fine, now that I can keep my head.” Electrode said.

            Everyone looked to each other and many nods indicated that all would live for the time being.

            “Galose, are you getting any more readings for up ahead?” Sandstorm asked.

            “My sensors work at a limited distance in this dimension.”

            “But we can see clear down the path to where it disappears.” Anubis said.

            “That is an illusion. We cannot see precisely where the path goes. We can only follow it.”

            “I am also unable to detect anything at a distance here.” Nyhtwulf said.

            “Sounds like we’re in a twisted fog bank.” Sandstorm said. “Well, we may as well keep going. Stay close together. I don’t want us losing anyone.”

            “Oh, and don’t fly. It works really weird here.” Anubis said.

            “Yeah, we saw you go for a ride.” Blacktide said.

            “Hey, that’s no ride I want to take again.”

           

They marched forward on the path with purpose. Whatever waited for them ahead, they knew it was their mission. Clearly, they were meant to follow the path with no choices for other avenues. In a few minutes of moving forward the path rumbled and shook.

            “Tell me we aren’t going to lose the path.” Anubis said.

            “I don’t think so.” Sandstorm said. “Something is up ahead of us.”

            As they moved forward a gigantic black mass started to form ahead for the sake of vision. The path shook again from a loud growl as the new threat came into view.

            “You gotta be kidding me.” Electrode said.

            The giant black serpent’s body was wrapped around the hovering path ahead of them. Its body was as wide as a mid-size car and longer than two city buses. It raised its head with another growl and opened its mouth to show dagger long shining teeth. A light green residue dripped from its jaws as it gave them a loud warning hiss.