Chapter 25: The Beast’s Rampage

It was dusk the next day when one of the scouts sent to watch the beast’s movements reported back. It seemed like the giant mountain beast had moved down to the foot of the first mountain, closer to the village. While the mountain beast was still quite a distance away, it was still close enough to the village. If it decided to attack, it would only take less than ten minutes to reach the village from where it was.

With danger looming so close, Old Man Jine ordered several more barricades to be assembled. These were sharpened logs tied together or buried in the dirt to deter the mountain beast. They were hopeful that the mountain beast wouldn’t come close to their village for fear of stepping on these barricades.

Duan had told them that these wouldn’t stop the beast, but they would still work as a deterrent. The beast wasn’t very bright and would prefer to walk on clear ground. So these barricades could still be used to guide its movements, forcing it to follow a predetermined path. A path that would lead it to a trap.

Aina understood the plan. With both arms attached with the grappler attachment, she brought the ballistas to higher ground, together with the injector bolts and a bundle of rocks. The villagers barely managed to finish the construction of two ballistas this afternoon. Unfortunately, there was no time to test them beyond the calibration tests in the afternoon. Aina could only hope the ballistas would last through the battle.

There was no time to build another ballista, no time to build more barricades. They weren’t confident that the beast would allow them the time to build them. So instead of making something in vain and being tired when the battle started, they decided on conserving their strength for the actual battle.

The battle would depend mostly on their one warstrider anyway. The one owned and piloted by Rinia Virell. They had mixed feelings about it, about leaving all their hope and lives to her. Some even argued that she would just run away when the going got tough, leaving everyone else to be slaughtered. But they had no choice.

It was already too late to run away. Besides, they all agreed to stand together and either live or die together. As for Rinia Virell, all they could do was to simply put their trust in her. Most of the villagers were already resigned to their fates. If Rinia Virell were to run away, leaving behind even her children, they would have nothing more to say.

“Rinia, one final advice,” Duan said as Aina climbed up to her cockpit.

But before he could say anything, a roar reverberated from the mountains. The beast was enraged for some reason and time was not their side. Seeing the battle was about to start, all the villagers went to their posts. This was the moment. The one moment that would determine their fates.

“Rinia!” Duan yelled before she closed the cockpit door. “The eyes are weak!”

Rinia nodded before she closed the cockpit door, sealing herself inside. She adjusted her seat before turning the ignition for the engine. The engine started with a puff of black smoke and a shrill whine. She pressed the newly installed fuel gauge, satisfied that the fuel was full. Then she pressed the newly installed battery voltmeter, watching both bulbs lighting up brightly.

She smiled in her nervousness. She had dreamed of this day many times, though in her dreams, she was fighting in one of those futuristic mechas. In her dreams, she fired bursts of high caliber bullets and explosive cannon shells at an enemy. And when there were too many targets, she would programme a firing solution and unleash a barrage of guided missiles, with individual target leading solutions. Then she would finish the battle with a positron beam cannon that erased air itself.

Unfortunately, it would all remain as just a dream. She wasn’t transmigrated into a futuristic world. There was no chance of getting a positron beam cannon. She would have to make do with this world, taking care of her children in whatever capacity she could manage.

“It’s coming!” Aina heard someone yell through an opened window.

The forest broke with a crash.

The beast emerged suddenly. Its massive shoulders heaving, the dark fur bristling with dust and pine needles. Its arms were big, long and nearly dragging the ground. The barbed tail lashed behind it, tearing furrows into the earth. Its eyes caught the last light of the day, glimmering faintly like a pair of molten bronze orbs.

For a heartbeat the world held its breath. Then the villagers loosed their first volley.

Arrows hissed from behind trees and rocks, striking the beast’s shoulders, its back, its thick arms. Most of the arrows bounced harmlessly away but a few stuck shallowly before shaking loose. Seemingly without care, the monster grunted and swung its arm, smashing one of the barricades aside as if it were nothing but straw.

Aina braced her legs, lowered the Iron Blossom’s stance, and charged forward.

The machine thundered across the dirt, buckler raised. She aimed for its chest, but the beast was faster than she expected. It swerved, its tail whipping around with a whistling of barbs against air. She twisted the controls, raising her shield arm just in time as the barbs smashed against it. The impact rattled her teeth, the mecha’s frame groaning as sparks flew where steel scraped against thorns and barbs.

She shoved back, slamming the buckler into its snarling face. For an instant it reeled back, its large nostrils flaring even wider. Seeing the opportunity, she drove the drill upward hard, its teeth spinning with a high-pitched whine.

The beast’s hand shot down, massive fingers clamping around the drill before it could bite flesh. Metal screamed under its grip as Aina feared it would crush the drill in its hand. Aina gritted her teeth, rammed the power lever forward, and forced the servos to strain. With a little more power, the arm with the drill pushed forward, the drill itself shoved a little closer to its belly.

Then it let go, and its foot came up as it retreated, slamming into her mecha’s chest. The cockpit shuddered violently as Aina was thrown back into her harness. The world jolted sideways. Warning lights flickered but held. She righted the machine, circling to keep her front to it.

The beast lowered itself, swaying slightly, its arms spread wide. Its breath steamed in the cooling air and its guttural growls reverberated through the ground. Arrows peppered its back again, drawing its attention for half a heartbeat, but it was not enough to pierce skin. Thinking of it as nothing more than a mild annoyance, it shook them off with a snarl.

Aina kept her mecha moving, step by heavy step, never giving it a still target. Her eyes tracked its arms, its tail, waiting for the twitch that meant it would spring.

The last light bled from the horizon. Shadows thickened across the field.

It struck first.

The beast lunged towards Aina, closing the distance in two enormous strides. Aina brought the buckler up again, bracing the impact. When the impact came, she felt like her bones were rattling as if it would shake itself out of her body. The beast’s claws screeched down the face of the shield and gouging long, deep scars into the metal. She shoved back in defiance, drilling forward with her right arm, but it twisted, sidestepping with an animal grace.

The tail snapped again. This time it struck the mecha’s thigh, leaving a deep groove in the plating. Aina screamed in frustration, switching the gear to reverse and pulling back before the tail could rake again.

Once she managed to catch a breath, she jabbed the drill toward its flank, forcing it to give ground. The machine’s servos whined with the effort as smoke rose from its electric motor. Her breath came hard and shallow as her sweat made the controls feel slick and slippery.

With neither being able to make a decisive move, they circled each other in the gathering dark. Both looking for an opportunity. Both trying to destroy the other, it was uncertain which of them was the predator and which was the prey.

Another volley of arrows hissed past, one finding its mark in the beast’s ear. It roared in pain, staggering for a heartbeat. Aina seized the chance, driving forward with her left shoulder. The shield of the mecha crashed into its chest, the hidden behind it whining as it scraped across its ribs and chest. Sparks flew as the drill tried to push deeper into the ribs. The beast bellowed in pain and slammed both fists down on her machine’s back.

The cockpit jolted with the impact. She winced as the impact caused the harness bite deep into her ribs. Aina drew in a breath, wrenching the controls, and forced the mecha to twist free. The drill arm came up, gouging a shallow cut across the beast’s shoulder before she pulled back.

The ground around them was littered with broken arrows, churned dirt, and splinters from ruined barricades. The villagers kept firing, but their shots were little more than gnats against its hide. Still they didn’t give up, as long as something hit, surely it would help.

Aina’s world narrowed to the cockpit, the gauges, and the beast’s glowing eyes.

The last rim of the sun slipped below the horizon. Darkness rushed in, slowly, but complete. Her viewport with merely three slits in front of her adjusted poorly in the darkness. The oil lamps from the village too were too far and too small to help. As the darkness deepened, its shape blurred and its shadows blended with the monster’s black fur.

She tightened her grip on the controls, forcing her breathing steady. She could hear it, she had opened the windows before the battle started so that she could hear these minute sounds. She heard the low growls, the crack of branches underfoot and the scrape of claws on earth but she could not see it.

Every instinct screamed at her that it was close.

Then the ground shook.

She barely had time to brace for impact before the dark shape surged forward, massive and silent until the last instant. Its eyes glimmered once in the blackness of night, right before the beast pounced.