237 HERS VS AT HEAP
Sienna's expression remained blank, but inside her mind was racing.
"Sister Sienna… you do have a backup plan, right?" Mortuum pressed.
Their convoy suddenly veered off the main road and barreled toward the light forest.
"Why are we going into the woods?" Isabelline cried. "The bushes will slow us down!"
The juggernauts spotted the maneuver instantly and swooped after them. This was their mont… the slowed vehicles ant easy targets.
"They're right behind us! What should we do?!" soone shouted from the rear vehicle.
Only Sienna stayed composed. "Just stay focused and rush to the gathering point."
The juggernauts descended.
Soldiers on the trucks opened fire, but the cha pilots were AI programs—they dodged effortlessly and retaliated with precise blasts.
A pair of armored trucks were hit and disabled. Several ta humans were killed in the cross fire.
"Whew… that was too close," Gamboge muttered. "But for how long? We can't outrun them forever."
A heavy tension settled over the group until Sienna finally said, almost to herself, "It's about ti."
"About ti for what?" Isabelline asked.
Then, shapes erged from the trees.
People—no, things—stumbled out in droves, pale, mindless, and hungry. More and more of these monstrous beings crawled from between the trunks, surrounding the woods.
"Zombies?" Celadon blurted. "Is that what you were waiting for?"
"They're not zombies," Sienna corrected calmly. "Dan gave them a better na…Corrosivers."
These were the mutated people of lrose City, transford by Erythos's gene-plague derived from Dan's altered blood.
After the liberation of lrose city there were still too many Corrosivers in the city. It would shock the citizens to live around them, so Sienna placed them in the wilderness.
When she ca to the farm to rescue Argent, she brought the Corrosivers as a backup.
The juggernauts halted in midair, their sensors blaring warnings. Hundreds of Corrosivers filled the forest…. They were exactly where Sienna had lured them to fight.
This was her Plan B.
The chas opened fire. The Corrosivers were shredded instantly… their limbs blasted apart, torsos crushed, and bodies obliterated.
But before the juggernauts could confirm kills… the scattered flesh twitched.
Then crawled.
Then rged.
The broken pieces dragged toward one another, fusing into a rising mass. More Corrosivers threw themselves onto it, adding to the ever-growing body until it ford a towering humanoid monstrosity with massive limbs.
It beca a at Heap.
With a single swing, the at Heap snatched a juggernaut out of the air. The cha struggled, its armored plating resisting at first.
But the monster's flesh hissed corrosively. tal softened… lted… collapsed.
The at Heap was corrosive.
Even a Juggernaut couldn't withstand its touch.
"Unbelievable… is that the legendary at Heap?" Mortuum whispered.
"How did at Heap dissolve the Juggernauts?" Gamboge asked.
"They are not called Corrosivers for no reason…at Heap is its advanced form," Sienna repeated with a faint smile. "that's another na that boy Dan ca up with."
One by one, the juggernauts fell…caught, lted, and crushed by the monstrous heap. Within minutes, the battlefield was silent.
Sienna and her siblings were safe, saved by the at Heap.
"Is… is the battle over?" Celadon asked, his hands still shaken.
"This one is," Sienna replied, her voice steady. "But we're still a long way from reaching Liberty City."
Their vehicles roared forward, speeding out of the forest and back onto open ground…while close behind them, the colossal at Heap lumbered after the convoy, its massive footsteps shaking the earth as it followed.
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After nearly a full day of nonstop driving, Sienna's convoy finally approached the outskirts of Liberty City.
"Finally… we're ho," Isabelline breathed in relief.
But just as their guard dropped, a deafening roar split the sky. Sothing massive tore through the clouds—an enormous warship descending from above.
As it dropped lower, its hull shifted. Wings folded backward, limbs extended, and the cockpit slid into place.
The warship was transford into a colossal cha.
"What the hell is that thing?" Gamboge shouted.
Sienna's face tightened as she watched the machine solidify into its humanoid form. "This can't be… the Veyrans? Why are they coming after us?"
The cha was Project Hers—the pride of the Veyran family. It was once used to crush the Aetheris during their recent feud. Yet now… it ca to Aetheris' aid.
"The Veyrans were the Aetheris' enemies! Why would they suddenly join forces?" Celadon asked, stunned.
"I don't know," Sienna admitted, and for once worry cracked her calm façade.
Isabelline swallowed hard. "Soone must be pulling the strings. Otherwise, the Veyrans would never help the Aetheris."
Sienna nodded grimly. "We still know far too little about the enemies we're facing."
Project Hers' engines shrieked as the machine launched forward. Its fist slamd into a at Heap's head, obliterating it in a single blow.
The Corrosivers scrambled, pulling themselves together… rapidly rebuilding the giant's head.
But Hers… remained untouched. Its armor didn't lt at all.
"Why couldn't at Heap lt that cha?" Celadon asked.
Isabelling noted the material on the cha, "Damn, they are using anti-corrosive coating on the machine. This machine is designed to fight our at Heaps."
Using its montum, Hers struck again.
And again.
Each blow shattered the at Heap into smaller pieces. Then the shoulder cannons fired, incinerating the scattered flesh before it could crawl back.
"That's the only way to kill Corrosivers," Sienna muttered. "Destroy them completely before they reassemble."
"The cha knows how to kill our at Heaps," Mortuum added.
"This is bad. at Heap won't last minutes at this rate," Gamboge warned.
"We're almost at Liberty's gates!" Sienna shouted. "Push the engines…now!"
The convoy sped forward with everything their vehicles had left…. Their destination was near.
Behind them, the at Heap collapsed for the final ti…unable to rebuild without more Corrosivers to replenish it.
"Damn it… at Heap's down," Celadon muttered, wiping sweat from his brow.
"We're here!" Sienna called as they reached Liberty Train Station. The mont the vehicles halted, everyone jumped out and sprinted for the entrance.
A massive shadow enveloped them.
Project Hers hovered overhead..its hand raised for a killing strike. One blow would turn them all to dust.
"Co on! I'm not ready to die!" Gamboge scread.
The chanical giant's arm descended…
And then stopped.
It was frozen in midair and rely inches away from smashing them flat.
"Great…we're not dead yet!" Gamboge cried, bolting for the station.
The others ran after him. Monts later they crossed the threshold into Liberty City's protected zone—where even Project Hers couldn't harm them.
But as they caught their breath, one question gnawed at everyone's mind:
Why did Project Hers stop?
It could have killed them all… yet sothing—sothing unseen—held it back at the very last second.
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