A technomancer’s journey in an apocalyptic world - Chapter 138

“Sister Jess please remember to keep a distance and no matter what do not get too close that thing is a menace, it just needs to touch the copter to crash it, even if does not have any hands but its legs are powerful not to mention the plethora of undead stored inside it, there might be a chance of some flying undead as well.”

Jessica gave an assuring smile towards Ryan as she spoke, “Do not worry I will be fine and before you know it I will be back.”

With that, she climbed the nearest copter and left soon after along with another three that accompanied her.

The reason for using the copter was simple the copters were built along with special sensors that would scan the Hive to locate its core, the core of the hive was similar to that of a Necropolis not to mention as long as it existed the Hive can regenerate by absorbing the undead stored in it.

As such the best way to deal with the Hive is to destroy its core but unfortunately, the core is deep within the body of the Hive, and currently, none of them has the strength to destroy the core by facing the creature head-on.

A few had suggested sneaking inside the core but it was quickly crushed, as venturing into a creature where your powers are weakened, a creature that can eat creatures that enter its body but most importantly the hidden undead within it.

As such after an intense discussion a plan was hatched, the plan that required four copters strapped with special sensors to locate the core and triangulate its position.

As the copters seemed to become smaller and smaller as they moved further and farther away from his sight Ryan quickly moved to prepare for the next part of the plan.

Four large Missile Artilleries stood at equidistance from each other while at their centre of them was a raised platform with a large antenna and multiple wires running out of them connecting the four immobile Missile Artilleries.

Ryan sat on the centre platform waiting patiently, while each of the four Missile Artilleries consisted of a large rectangular box with each of them fitted with eight tubes in a manner that a pair of the tubes would be sandwiched in between a pair of three tubes, with each pair placed on top and bottom respectively.

The missiles that he had placed in each of the tubes comprised of normal missiles to bunker busters each with a range of two hundred kilometres.

Ciara herself stood near the platform and seeing the tensed look on Ryan’s face she could not help but speak out in a comforting manner, “Son, just relax everything would be fine.”

Ryan looked at her as he spoke with a grimace on his face, “Sorry mom but I cannot shake off this feeling of uneasiness, I feel like wanting to throw up, there are so many things that could go wrong.”

“But you tested the system before right?”

“I did but still no matter how many times you test there is bound to be some mistake that might occur, just look at those space agencies even after so many safety precautions, tests and whatnots accidents still happen.”

“Yes, they do happen but I believe in you, I know you can do it, now get ready.”

Ryan gave a nod as he raised his right with his palm facing upward he spoke out loud, “Come forth Caligo.”

A blob of darkness appeared on top of his hand which he tilted causing it to fall on top of the platform and to Ciara, it looked like a large drop of water that fell on top of the platform disappearing into it while leaving behind a ripple that soon spread from the platform to the four Missile Artilleries.

The missile tube carrier moved on its own suddenly before coming to a stop facing towards a certain direction.

Ciara looked up to see the look of utmost concentration on his face before she suddenly realized a glaring mistake on both their parts as such she spoke hurriedly, “Ryan your earmuffs and where is your helmet.”

Ryan’s eyes widen as he quickly took out his helmet and earmuffs and wore them as he spoke, “Mom, I think you should also move and take your position.”

Ciara nodded as she left shortly while Ryan waited for the news from the copters but each passing moment felt like an eternity.

Ciara sighed as he sat inside the control tower listening to the communication from the helicopter platoon while her deputy sat near her when the radio crackled as a voice came to their ears.

“School has begun recess I repeat school has begun recess, football game has started.”

Ciara and Zhan exchanged a glance as Ciara replied to them, “Good luck on the game and play carefully.”

She then picked up another piece of radio as she spoke through it, “Ryan you have heard the message?”

The radio crackled as Ryan’s voice came from the other side, “Yes mom.”

“Then get ready.”

Jessica looked at the hive from a distance as she let out a small whistle of appreciation as she spoke, “This thing is huge no matter how many times I see it I cannot help but feel awed at its size to think such a creature that looks so cumbersome and out of balance can move in such a manner.”

Ylerias who had accompanied with her could not help but nod in agreement as she spoke, “So true but I think it is time for the operation to begin.”

“You are right.”, that she radioed to the rest of the copters, “Goal Keeper moving towards the goal with dramatic pace.”

“Striker is moving fast towards his position.”

“Midfielder is stalking towards the midfield.”

“Defender is shadowing in the deep.”

As each of the pilots of the copters spoke, they flipped a switch turning on a set of runes that made the copters invisible not only that each of them was covered by runes that made the noise extremely low as well erase almost any thermal emission and smell, but the problem was that they cannot be maintained together for too long as such all of them were activated when they came closer to the creature.

A few more minutes later the copters had surrounded the creature while the sensors attached to it were turned on.

Ylerias sighed as she spoke, “So now we just have to wait.”

Jessica gave a nod as she spoke, “Hmm, it being such a big creature it would indeed take some time to be completely scanned.”

It did not take long for one of the copters to spot the core of the giant beast and then the rest used their scanner to triangulate the position of the said beast, and then to send the message back to the base.

Ryan sighed as he received the exact coordinates he had been mentally preparing for some time now, and at first, he had wanted to make it mobile artillery but then the thought that beast might spot them and jump on them before they could aim and fire properly.

Ryan raised his right hand while curling his finger into the shape of a gun while the artillery began to move following his command, Ryan took a deep breath as he got ready to fire the missiles only to freeze as a voice came to his ears.

“Oh my, what a wonderful creation and idea, but alas at the end of the day it is futile.”

Ciara was sitting on the top floor of Fort Genesis, where the communication room was situated, from there she was monitoring the entire situation with her close friend, Zhan, and from there she could spot something was wrong with Ryan.

Her first clue was when Ryan did not fire even after being ordered to do so, she at first thought he had gotten cold feet she was about to give him some sort of encouraging but then his shoulder dropped and he acted like a puppet whose string had been cut, the mobile missile tubes also dipped down, it did not take her too long to realize that something was wrong.

“Ciara I am goi…”

Zhan was cut off from her speech as a large pulse went off from Ryan’s position as the missile artillery vibrate and twitch before it let loose the missile in randomly instead of a focused fire that they had planned the missiles looked as if they were haphazardly sent towards their target.

“Damn it, one thing after another with that Ciara dashed out of the room followed closely by Zhan hot on her and they were not alone as Xuelong who was watching Ryan from a distance dashed towards him but before she could reach him the platform suddenly formed spikes on them that caused her to jump back while a familiar feeling washed over her.

Meanwhile, Ryan found himself kneeling in front of a rather familiar person who spoke with a hint of amusement in his voice, “Tell me my dear idiotic, naïve and overall unimpressive disciple what are your chances of hitting a target considering your previous test results.”

“I missed the target by a meter but with the destructiveness of the missiles it would be moot point not to mention the target is so large I would definitely hit it.”

“True you would have hit it but a second before the impact it would have jumped away and the missiles would miss it narrowly.”

Ryan’s eyes widened in alarm as he spoke, “it would be able to detect the missile.”

Avtis gave a small chuckle as he spoke, “No the creature would not be able to detect it, if it were os capable it would have already detected the copters but no it is simply lucky.”

Ryan blinked owlishly as he spoke with disbelief in his voice, “Luck?”

“Yes luck, yes the same luck that enabled you to win a bicycle in a lottery but you exchanged it with the third price because your sister wanted the teddy.”

A fond smile appeared on Ryan’s face as he spoke, “Yeah it was a long time ago, and I was really lucky that day.”

“Just like that the hive is lucky because it chose to move.”

A tired sigh escaped his lips as Ryan spoke, “So back to the drawing board.”

“Oh no I cannot have you do that my young disciple you have a task ahead of you and no time to waste as such I helped you a bit, I took control of your body made some changes with the missiles and now let us see if I managed to hit the mark.”

A bright light engulfed them making Ryan close his eyes as a sense of weightlessness hit him as Avtis spoke, “You can open your eyes and look down.”

As Ryan opened his eyes and looked down he could easily spot the hive and the copters flying beneath him.

‘Eh, why are they not invisible like I told them to be?’

“They are invisible to others, but not too many others including yours truly who is helping you to see, now watch closely as the missiles arrive.”

Ryan’s vision changed as he found himself flying along with the barrage of missiles that instead of in a group was spread in a certain pattern as his vision changed again as he found himself watching the hive as Avtis spoke, “Now watch the magic happen.”

Ryan watched with horror as Avti’s words rang true to him as he whispered out loud, “I would have missed it completely.”

Back with the squadron of copters, Jessica let out a dejected sigh as the creature bend its knee before jumping up high in the air as she spoke with a tired sigh, “Abort mission…”

But before she could complete her command the missile slammed into the hive in a manner that made her look flabbergasted at the sight in front of her.

‘What is this? Just how is this possible? How did Ryan fire those missiles in this way?’

The reason for not only her but everyone’s else’s shocked state was the fact that all the missiles hit the jumping creature at the same spot, a creature that was trying to jump away was hit in mid-air by missiles that are not only unguided but was released from a great distance.

‘This is inconceivable, did Ryan even manage to calculate how the creature would move, how it would jump but more importantly how did he manage to do so.’

By the time the Fifth missile had hit the Hive, it had directly managed to destroy the core killing the Hive which was soon fragmented by the rest of them.

Ylerias herself looked flabbergasted she had seen Ryan practising a bit but he could never pull something like this, she watched as the carcass of the Hive fall onto the ground before it detonated with a titanic ball of fire.

Jessica let out a cry of alarm as the fire engulfed them but it left them completely unscathed, even the copters were untouched as Ylerias spoke with a sigh of relief, “I belief that it was caused by his first circle, the creature exploded into a ball of flame and because of its size it was titanic in proportion but most importantly how did Ryan do such a thing?”

Jessica bit her lips as she spoke, “I have no idea but I believe it is prudent we return as early as possible.”

Meanwhile back at the base both Ciara and Zhan were stopped by a kneeling Xuelong as she spoke hurriedly, “Ciar, Zhan stop do not approach him, I believe that his Patron God descended into the mortal realm using him as a vessel so please keep some distance from him, do not disturb him.”

Both Ciara and Zhan were taken aback before Ciara was suddenly reminded of what she had learned about the apostles and Gods.

‘Gods are powerful being just their presence would destroy the world as they use Apostles as an extension of their will.’

A feeling of dread welled up in her heart as a thought passed through her mind, ‘If it is so dangerous for the world itself then what about my son.’

“Ciara!”

Xuelong’s voice bought her out of her musings as she spoke in hurriedly, “Ciara please get a healer quick, even if we are Apostles, a Divine possession so early is not good for our health and please be fast, and do not worry I will keep an eye on him.”

Ciara did not need to be told twice as she left to get a healer for Ryan and thus missed the damage that had begun to show on his body.

Zhan’s eyes widened as she spotted tears of blood leaking from his eyes where his nose began to bleed but Ryan sat on top of the platform in a trance.

Back with Ryan and Avtis, Avtis looked at the copters that were created by Ryan as he spoke with a hum, “So you copied the design of the copters from Alligator or was it Crocodile?”

“It is Alligato…”

“Meh, not important as all those so called cool copters from your world can only be used as scrap metal nowadays, so how is your preparation going on.”

“I am fully prepared to leave any moment but I do not know where to go as such I have no idea what vehicle to use.”

“Hmm, today my purpose of my visit was just that now looked at this blueprint.”

With that Avtis produced a holographic rendition of the blueprint that made Ryan’s eyes go wide.