Chapter One Hundred and Fourteen - Rushing Through

  We rushed through the opening areas of the portal. Not because of recklessness, but because we were armed enough that the challenge was negated a lot.

  It was just one of those things. There was a reason why so many portal divers wore heavy plate armour or carried heavy assault rifles.

  There was a good reason not to. Mostly because it was so damned expensive and made logistics complicated, but when facing a big threat, it paid to carry a big gun.

  The first four areas passed easily. I remembered more or less how many raptors there were and where they hid. That meant it was easy to blast buckshot into the brush to scare out ambushers, and then switching to the rifle finished them off cleanly.

  7.62x51 punched thumb-sized holes through-and-through any of the velociraptor's smaller limbs and I think punched right through most bones as well. Sometimes, for whatever reason, the bullet would go in smoothly and rip out a hole on the opposite end large enough to fit a tennis ball into.

  The actual stopping power was a little lacking, but as long as something vaguely vital was hit, the raptors would go down like puppets with cut strings. None of that multiple-wounds and knockback that the shotgun had, just a quick, clean kill... if we hit the right spot.

  Fortunately, the upper, more forward part of the chest was pretty much nothing but 'right spots.'

  We took a break in the room with the sub-boss, sitting around the nest of sorts in the middle. "Urgh, it's not cold anymore," I complained as I took a sip from a freshly popped can of energy drink.

  "A small price to pay," Fran said. She eyed her own can, turning it around slowly. "This is... trash. I can't believe people actually drink this."

  "The nutritional information is never accurate on those. Assume it has way more sugar and way fewer vitamins," I said.

  "There are no vitamins listed."

  "Exactly," I replied, masking a grin by taking a sip. "Ah, there are granola bars too."

  She nodded. "I wouldn't ordinarily be so hungry, or this thirst, but... yes, I feel like I could eat."

  "That's normal," I said. I wanted to say more, but... this wasn't it.

  Fuck, that wasn't a healthy way to think, but it was kind of what I was stuck with. This damned weekend just wouldn't end.

  I think I was going to coast along for the rest of the week. "Alright," I said as I wiggled my toes in my boots. "How are you feeling?"

  "I wasn't unwell," Fran said. "But I appreciate the sit-down. I think that some corporations that do portal extraction demand small breaks like these on occasion?"

  "Yeah, once an hour for five minutes. The army actually does better when it's not an active-combat situation, but I guess they're not paid by the hour, ya know?"

  "Sensible," Fran replied.

  I really wasn't sure it was, but who was I to argue with the corpo princess?

  I stretched a little, just to make sure I was all limber after sitting for a while, then I checked over our equipment. The rifle had fired a dozen shots already, and I wanted to see if there were any signs of wear, but it looked fine from visual inspection.

  It only took a minute to reload the empty magazines we had, which left us with about a third of that extra box of ammo. Then the shotgun was reloaded too, and I checked the rest of my gear, just to be safe.

  This wouldn't be as necessary in the last loop, I figured, but if we had a dud, I'd want to know about it now. "You had a round that didn't go off, right?" I asked.

  Fran nodded. "I just pulled the charging handle, like you said."

  "Which one was it?"

  "Pardon?"

  "Like, the fifth, sixth round?"

  "Oh... I think it was the fifth?" she said.

  I made a mental note of that. Next loop, I'd look at it. Maybe it was just poor timing or something, but it might have been a genuine dud round. That could happen, but it didn't need to if I could find the round and toss it.

  With that all done, we continued.

  There was that nice river, with the slight bend, then the area where... where Fran and I had failed last time. I swallowed, took a moment, then refocused. We wouldn't be failing this time.

  "Let's see if we can't attract them out here," I said. "They're ambush predators some of the time, but they can be aggressive too."

  "I'll stay here on overwatch, then," Fran said. She shouldered the rifle, aiming it down into the forest.

  I nodded, moved closer to the jungle, then screamed. I didn't have anything smart to say, and I don't think the monsters would understand anyway, so the screams were just loud hollers that were swallowed up by the thick vegetation.

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  It took a minute, but a raptor poked its head out, growled, then launched itself out of the jungle towards me.

  Fran shot it twice in the chest and it crashed to the ground, dead.

  A second one popped its head out, but didn't move out, and when it looked ready to back off into the brush, I blasted it with my shotgun and heard a squeal of pain before the monster ran off. Judging by the red splatter of blood it left behind, I'd at least hit it.

  "Think the rest will come out now?" I asked.

  "Not if they're intelligent," Fran said. "We have a very obvious advantage on open terrain with longer sightlines."

  "Yeah. They're too clever by half." I worked my jaw, then slowly walked along the length of the jungle's entrance, keeping a few yards away and keeping my shotgun aimed into the bushes, just in case.

  There was a clear path through. It was one of those... deer trails, I think is what they were called? Space where animals crossed often enough that it left a mark. Fewer bushes, broken branches, ground that was stomped down and clawed into by a lot of talloned feet.

  The trees and the long, deep shadows they cast somehow seemed very threatening to me at the moment.

  "Should we go in?" Fran asked.

  "I guess," I said. "Just getting bad vibes from this whole place. Maybe we can move along the side? It'll let us keep a wall to our back, at least."

  That seemed sensible enough, I figured. Of course, there was no easy trail there, so we ended up hugging the side of the wall and walking through some annoyingly tough bushes. A few steps in, and Fran summoned a blade of light. It was shorter than her usual, more of a machete than a proper light-sword, but it worked.

  She chopped through bushes and cut down a few vines, making short work of it.

  In the meantime, I was scanning, searching the dark as best I could until-- "Wait," I said.

  Fran waited, pausing with her sword raised. "See something?" she asked.

  "Yeah. Don't move."

  I brought my shotgun up, sighted down the length of the barrel, then fired.

  The monster hiding in the bushes a few yards off jumped out, then ate a second facefull of buckshot.

  Fran's sword lengthened a little, and when it came close, she swiped out with a quick thrust-jab that chopped into the monster's skull and shoved it down.

  I swore as there was movement ahead. The raptors were circling around, using the trees as cover and blending in with the shadows. When I saw movement again I spun and fired, and I was pretty sure I nailed something in the flank, but I couldn't be sure.

  They continued to move around, and I continued to take potshots. It had the added advantage of clearing out chunks of brush and blowing down branches.

  Fran had her sword in one hand, and her handgun in the other. She was taking the occasional shot as well and her aim wasn't that bad. She was landing hits.

  At some point, a hissing call went out, and all of the raptors seemed to decide that enough was enough.

  I dropped my gun, grabbed my rifle, then fired as quickly as I could acquire a target. One went down, then a second stumbled onto the jungle floor, bleeding out, a third ate a round in the face, a fourth took two hits...

  I ducked as a tongue lashed out towards my head. Damn, too close.

  A few last shots, fired from the hip, then I dropped the rifle behind me as soon as it clicked empty and dodged to the other side to avoid being trampled as a velociraptor came charging at me.

  Fran had moved as well, in the opposite direction.

  I was hit, all of a sudden, with a wave of vertigo. No! She was...

  But then the nearest monster was on me, and I scrambled to unsheathe my sword and make space to use it. I fired a quick Shadow Bolt into the thing's face, gasped as a claw almost swiped right through me, then I pinned the end of my sword into the raptor's sternum. It didn't penetrate deep, but it did give me some space and leverage to shove the monster back.

  Its mouth opened wide, glistening teeth poised to bite. So I fed it a few quickly-fired Shadow Bolts, cycling my magic through my core as fast as I could.

  The monster gagged, stumbled back, then went down as I punched the sharp end of my blade into its neck and opened up something important.

  Heart thundering in my chest, I looked over to Fran and... and she was fine.

  She was casually reloading her handgun, watching the raptor next to me slump down and die. "Well done," she said.

  "Yeah," I replied. "Well done."

  ***