NOVGO.NET Chapter 94 Acid trap III
Chapter 94: Chapter 94 Acid trap III
The EMP pulse rippled outward like an invisible wave, and for a moment, it was like the world went quiet.
The missiles that had been moving toward the mansion lost their guidance, their warheads lost as they tumbled uselessly into the forest. The aircraft above sputtered, engines coughing black smoke before dying entirely. One of the smaller ships pitched sideways, its pilot desperately trying to regain control, but the electrical failure was complete. It spiraled downward, crashing into a cluster of trees a few hundred meters away with a deafening explosion.
The soldiers on the ground froze. Their weapons—those sleek, terrifying guns that could shred monsters and awakened alike—were suddenly dead weight. No displays. No targeting systems. Just cold metal and high confusion state among them.
Inside the mansion’s main hall, Luna lowered her hand. The EMP device dissolved back into her space, its purpose fulfilled.
"That bought us maybe three minutes," she said, her voice steady despite the adrenaline pounding through her veins. "Their backup systems will kick in soon. We need to finish this before that happens."
Kai was already moving toward the entrance, shadows coiling around his arms like living armor. "Then we don’t waste a second."
The mansion’s main doors exploded outward.
Kai stepped through first, his body shimmering with frost that spread across the stone steps beneath his feet. The temperature around him dropped sharply, and the soldiers who had been regrouping near the entrance suddenly found their breath fogging in the air.
"Freeze."
The word was barely a whisper, but the effect was immediate.
A wave of ice erupted from Kai’s hands, racing across the ground like a tidal wave of crystalline death. It caught four soldiers mid-step, encasing them in solid ice before they could even scream. Their frozen forms stood like grotesque statues, arms raised in futile defense.
Two more soldiers tried to retreat, but Kai was faster. He thrust his palm forward, and razor-sharp shards of ice shot from his fingertips, piercing through their armor and pinning them to the ground.
"That’s for the monsters you threw on us," he muttered.
Behind him, Rowan emerged with a whistle—low and piercing, the kind of sound that carried through chaos.
From the shadows of the mansion’s overgrown gardens, shapes began to move.
Beasts. Not the mutated horrors the soldiers had unleashed, nor natural creatures that had survived the apocalypse. A pack of wolves, undead armies their eyes gleaming with unnatural intelligence, emerged first. Then came a massive bear, its fur matted with dirt and scars with deep cuts and gaping wounds. A hawk circled overhead, its cry echoing across the battlefield with hanging eye balls, and beak that looks far away from falling.
Rowan’s hands glowed with a soft amber light—the signature of his beast-taming ability. It had been leveling it quietly, strengthening the connection between himself and the creatures that still roamed the broken worlds and the unnatural circles of creatures.
"Go," he commanded, his voice carrying authority that made the beasts obey without hesitation. "Protect. Attack."
The wolves surged forward, tearing into the soldiers who had been trying to reinforce their position. The bear charged, its massive body crashing through a line of soldiers like they were nothing more than a piece of paper. The hawk dove, claws extended, targeting the soldiers’ eyes and exposed skin.
The chaos was beautiful in its brutality.
Ethan followed close behind Rowan, his combat instincts sharpened to a razor’s edge. He didn’t wait for the beasts to clear a path—he created his own with his thoughts.
His fists moved like pistons, each strike finding its mark with surgical precision. A soldier raised a knife, and Ethan caught his wrist, twisting until the bone snapped. Another swung a baton, and Ethan ducked, driving his elbow into the man’s solar plexus.
They were trained and highly disciplined, But Ethan had been fighting for survival since the day the world ended.
He was faster. Stronger. More desperate for results.
"What’s the matter?" Ethan taunted, his breath coming in controlled bursts as he dispatched another soldier. "Your fancy weapons not working anymore? Come on, show me what you’ve got."
The soldiers hesitated. That was their mistake.
Ethan closed the distance in two strides, his knee driving into the nearest soldier’s chin. The man’s head snapped back, and he crumpled.
Adrian watched from the mansion’s entrance, his dimensional energy crackling as he assessed the battlefield. The soldiers were faltering, but they still had numbers. They still had enough training. If they regrouped, this could turn bad.
"I’ll cut off their escape," Adrian announced.
He raised his hands, and the air around him twisted. Portals began to open—not one, but four, arranged in a square pattern around the main cluster of soldiers. Each portal shimmered with that familiar dark purple light.
"What are you-"
The soldiers didn’t finish their question.
The ground beneath them fell away.
Adrian had opened portals beneath their feet, each one leading to a different location. Some were fifty feet in the air. Others opened over the acidic traps that Luna had set earlier. A few dropped the soldiers directly into the path of Rowan’s beasts.
Their screams were swallowed by the dimensional rifts.
Adrian swayed slightly, the energy expenditure taking its toll. But he kept his stance firm, his eyes locked on the remaining soldiers.
"That’s all I’ve got for now," he admitted. "Someone else needs to finish this."
Astrid stepped forward.
His hair was matted with sweat and blood—not her own, but the blood of the soldiers she had already taken down. His eyes burned with a crimson glow, and when he raised his hands, blood—thick, dark, coppery—began to surround around her palms.
"Blood sovereign," he murmured, echoing the words Luna had used earlier. "That’s what you called my powers right?"
Luna nodded from her position. "Because that’s what you are."
Astrid’s lips curved into a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
"I never asked for this," he said, his voice low. "I never wanted to be a weapon. But if the world wants to treat me like one..." he raised his hands higher, and the blood around them began to form shapes—thin, razor-sharp blades.
He launched forward.
The blood blades followed him, moving as if they had minds of their own. They sliced through the soldiers’ defenses, cutting through armor and flesh with equal ease. Astrid moved through the carnage like a dancer, his movements fluid and deadly.
One soldier tried to raise his hands in surrender.
Astrid’s blade stopped an inch from his throat.
"Run," he said quietly. "And tell whoever sent you that this place is off-limits."
The soldier scrambled away.
Behind Astrid, the remaining soldiers had seen enough. They broke, scattering in every direction.
But the skies were not yet clear.
One of the larger aircraft had managed to stabilize itself, its backup systems flickering to life. It hovered, tilting dangerously, but its weapons were still functional. A turret rotated, targeting the group below.
"Luna!" Kai shouted. "That thing is-"
"I see it."
Luna stepped forward, her hand already moving into her space.
The EMP had done its job, but it had been a temporary solution. She had known that from the start. What she needed now was something definitive. Something that would send a message that couldn’t be ignored.
Her fingers closed around the weapon.
It was heavy—massive, really—a cannon-like device that hummed with barely contained energy. The design was sleek, metallic, with intricate patterns that seemed to shift and flow like liquid silver.
"What the hell is that?" Rowan breathed.
Luna didn’t answer.
She raised the weapon, aiming it at the aircraft above. Her system displayed a targeting reticle, calculating trajectory, wind resistance, and the exact amount of force needed.
"This," she said, her voice cold and steady, "is what happens when you threaten my peace."
She fired.
The beam that erupted from the cannon was blinding—a column of pure white energy that tore through the sky like a meteor. It struck the aircraft dead center, and for a moment, nothing happened.
Then the aircraft disintegrated.
Not exploded. Disintegrated. The metal turned to dust, the weapons to ash, the pilots to nothing. The beam continued upward, dissipating only when it reached the upper atmosphere.
Silence fell over the battlefield.
The remaining soldiers who had managed to flee froze in their tracks, staring at the empty sky where their reinforcements had been.
Luna lowered the cannon, her expression unreadable.
"That was a demonstration," she announced, her voice carrying across the field. "If you value your lives, you will leave this place and never return. If you come back, the next shot will be aimed at your command center."
She let the threat hang in the air.
One by one, the soldiers began to retreat.
The beasts that Rowan had summoned circled back, their instincts telling them the danger had passed. The undead wolves settled on their haunches, tongues lolling. The dead bear grunted, rolling its massive shoulders.
Kai’s ice began to melt, steam rising from the frozen soldiers who were now starting to shiver—alive, but thoroughly defeated.
Adrian slumped against the mansion’s wall, his energy depleted but a tired smile on his face.
Ethan cracked his knuckles, surveying the carnage with grim satisfaction.
Astrid let his blood blades dissolve, the crimson liquid dripping harmlessly to the ground. He doesn’t know how he was able to control that but he sure did. It heeded his advice.
And Luna stood at the center of it all, the weapon in her hands still humming with residual power.
She looked at her team—and allowed herself a small breath of relief.
"Good work," she said quietly. "All of you."
Rowan let out a shaky laugh. "You had us worried there for a second. When you pulled out that thing..." He gestured at the cannon. "I thought you were going to blow us all up."
Luna’s lips twitched. "I calibrated it. Mostly."
"Mostly?"
"Seventy percent accuracy."
"Seventy-"
"Relax. It worked, didn’t it?"
Kai shook his head, but there was warmth in his eyes. "You’re impossible, you know that?"
"Impossibly effective." Luna allowed herself a small smile. "Now let’s get inside. I have a feeling this isn’t over."
She turned toward the mansion, but not before looking back at the retreating soldiers.
The weapon creator—whoever they were—would know about this. They would know that someone had countered their technology. They would know that Luna existed, with probably the same cheat code as him or her.
And they would come for her.
She could feel it in her bones.
But for now, in this moment, they had won.
That was at least thrilling to hear and the survivors from their attack would face the horrors beneath the Sea soon. At that moment her house was the least of their nightmare.