Chapter 93: Outside in Chaos IV

"Last group. Get them across and we close this route," the responder said.

Aaron looked beyond the overturned bus. A group of civilians waited beneath the shelter of a shop entrance, with two students from his training group keeping them away from the road. On the other side, a transport worker held open the gate leading into a fenced loading yard.

All they needed was one clear crossing.

Aaron’s group had come to Sun City for a short supervised training visit, but that plan was clearly over. Once the attack began, their instructor reported them to the emergency response and accepted whatever work the students could safely handle.

That was how Aaron ended up behind an overturned bus, watching a licensed defender fight at the junction while civilians waited for a chance to cross.

As for his summon, it had already helped stop one monster from entering the loading yard, so Aaron withdrew it afterwards and used the bus as cover while he recovered. He only summoned it again when the final group reached the crossing.

"Wait," Aaron told the responder.

Just then, another monster came through the junction. The first was still keeping the defender busy, while this one moved beside the parked cars, its heavy forelimbs striking the road with every step.

"Another Grade Four Peak!" Someone shouted.

Aaron watched as it turned towards the shop entrance. His Python wouldn’t be able to wrap around its entire body and crush it, and there was no saying if the thing even breath air for a choke to be effective. The creature was too large, and if it managed to trap the snake beneath one of those forelimbs, things could go bad very quickly.

But looking at it, at the very least, that didn’t mean his Python couldn’t hold part of it.

"Nymph, go along the wall. Wait for the foot," Aaron instructed while pointing towards the narrow gap beside a concrete utility post.

The Python moved beneath a damaged truck and disappeared from the creature’s view.

The defender also noticed the second monster. She struck the first hard enough to force it backwards before moving to intercept the new one, lunging once she had its attention.

She forced one of its forelimbs against the road and stepped outside the sweep of its head.

"Now."

The Python struck immediately, wrapping around the limb behind its joint. The rest of its body looped around the utility post before tightening and holding the leg bent beneath the monster’s weight.

As the creature tried pulling free, the concrete post cracked under the force, and Aaron felt the strain through their connection.

"Go!" He shouted to the defender.

She didn’t waste the opening. Her weapon drove beneath the creature’s exposed jaw and buried itself deep enough to make its entire body convulse.

Immediately, the Python unwound before the falling monster could trap it.

The defender turned back towards the first creature, which had tried moving around her during the attack. She caught it before it could leave the junction.

"Across!" She shouted.

The civilians immediately started running.

Aaron remained behind the bus until a man carrying a little girl stumbled in the middle of the road. He rushed out far enough to catch the man’s free arm and pull him upright, then stayed beside them until they reached the gate.

The responder counted everyone as they entered the loading yard.

His Python followed along the wall, keeping away from the ongoing fight, and Aaron only withdrew it after the gate closed.

His hands were shaking slightly, so he rested them against the low wall and waited for his breathing to settle. There was no reason to keep his summon manifested when the professionals could finish the fight without it.

"If that thing had gotten past her..." The responder said as he came over.

Aaron looked back towards the junction, "well let’s be glad it didn’t."

The defender had needed an opening to kill the monster, and his summon gave her one. That was plenty enough.

At that moment, a radio sounded from inside the loading yard.

"...Carter continuing along the border response corridor. Workshop evacuation point requesting immediate heavy support—"

"Copy. This group is through. Crossing secured," the responder answered through the handset.

Aaron looked towards the students helping people into the transport.

"Check the rear entrance and make sure nobody followed the wrong wall."

He sat beneath the cover of the overturned bus while he still had the chance.

...

"Keep going," Leon told the people behind him as he moved farther into the workshop entrance.

The Grade Five shoved the delivery truck out of its way, crushing part of the vehicle against the building beside it.

The last wounded man had already reached the inner yard. Two Skeleton Warriors carried him between them as they followed a responder towards the transport, but more people were still trapped inside the surrounding buildings.

A Skirmisher raced along the pavement before suddenly turning towards the side street as claws struck the road behind it.

From the turn, two Grade Four monsters came around the corner, and Leon could see more movement between the abandoned cars behind them.

"Swordsman, that side," he ordered.

The second Great Swordsman crossed the front of the workshop to meet them, while the first remained beside Leon and continued holding the narrow approach.

The Mage started preparing a Fire Arrow swiftly.

One of the monsters lunged through the gap between two cars, but luckily, the Swordsman cut across its reaching limb and pulled away before its jaws could close around it. The blade opened the softer edge of its skin, but the creature barely slowed down.

That happened to be enough time, so it pulled back, and a Fire Arrow came flying towards it and struck the same wound with surprising precision.

Flames spread along its forelimb as the arrow collapsed, forcing it backwards as it tried frantically to quench the fire, giving the Swordsman enough room to turn towards the other monster.