District 42-Chapter 280: Against time part 3
Ari gave a challenging stare at the Vanir. He was confident that he would be able to leave that situation no matter what the man did.
From the perspective of their enemies, they were just being stubborn and trying to avoid the inevitable. Just a bunch of helpless warriors and a weak Aesir that were hitting their heads against the wall over and over again.
That toxic gas was traveling around the city’s surface, and also in the underground. They could be caught from different sides and in all sorts of locations. Also, the more that gas spread, the fewer places they would have to use as an escaping route.
Even if the group managed to run away for the longest time possible, the dome wouldn’t let the gas spread across the entire floor, so that area would become a huge stuff of toxic substance without any means to escape.
To worsen the situation, there were now the Frelsis for them to worry about.
TAC TAC
The sound of the cane stomping the ground echoed in the tense and silent atmosphere they were in.
’Roughly 3 seconds for them to react.’ Ari thought, a new clock appearing on his mind.
The Frelsi adjusted the aim of their guns and held their breath.
’More 2.2 seconds to pull the trigger after preparing themselves.’
Their fingers began to press the trigger, the exchange of bullets was eminent.
"Boom" He whispered, smiling wryly toward the Vanir.
Abruptly, the buildings around them exploded and wreckage flew everywhere. The criminals that were on top of it no longer could be seen. They had vanished in the blink of an eye.
The distance that the group was from those buildings was enough for them to not get harmed, but some wreckage flew like bullets in their direction and nearly struck them.
Ari began to walk calmly toward the Vanir, putting his launcher grenade on the shoulder and chuckling.
The Frelsi from the buildings on the left side couldn’t finish their motion to pull the triggers because of the scene that happened in front of their eyes. No one would ever expect such a turn on the table.
"What are you waiting for? Don’t get shaken. Fire!" The Vanir stomped his cane on the ground again, retrieving back to not let Ari approach.
Nonetheless, before the Frelsi could adjust their aim, another explosion happened on the left. The last thing they could hear from those people were their shrieks of surprise.
Desperately, the ones that didn’t die began to retaliate, but none of them had the chance to land a single shot because more explosions happened one after another until none of the Frelsis were there anymore.
"What’s your name, Vanir?" He asked, casually.
Ari, though, never looked at his face and kept on glancing to the sides to see if someone remained from those surprise attacks.
"Loki. Yours is Ari, right?"
"Hmm, I see. Yeah, it makes sense since you are as tricky as Loki, the god. But not as powerful as he probably was, I suppose. Also..." he showed to the Vanir his wristwatch. "Just as I said, we did it on time."
Loki clicked his tongue, doing a huge leap backward. He stomped his cane to the ground. The asphalt suddenly cracked under the cane, but not because of the strength of the impact.
That crack opened in a fissure, from where the pressurized green gas that was underground came out. A cloud of the toxic substance covered the Vanir’s body, making it impossible to catch him for now.
’If he can pressurize the gas this much, then we may be in trouble. But now we need to rush.’
Meanwhile, Ridires were searching in the wreckage for the bodies of the Frelsi, or what remained from it. Some of them could already find the plague masks and wear them. Others were still struggling as fast as they could.
Ari saw the angle of the explosions and was aware of how strong each one was, so he helped in the searching by pointing to his comrades some specific locations. He had measured where the Frelsi’s bodies should be, more or less.
After a short time searching, they could find all the masks they needed to get.
When Ari wore one of them, he understood how it worked.
’These masks filter the air and transform it into a type of antidote. It’s a good functionality. This combination of technologies is quite powerful in a long-term fight, even more when you set your strategy anticipated as Loki did.’
Just as Ari predicted, the ground under their feet began to crack again bruskly. He was sure that the Vanir wouldn’t wait for any further to do his countermeasures.
’He is smart. Now that the gas won’t work on us, he will use it in unorthodox ways!’ Ari looked toward those fissures opening on the ground and a mass of gas coming out of it. ’He wants to bury us in the underground of this place. Rather, he wants more gas circulating so he can threaten the lives of the citizens and we will get troubled.
’However, you are not dealing with anyone, but Ari. No matter which variant appears, I am always some minutes ahead of you!’
The fissures on the ground got wider and wider, and the pressurized gas came out of it. Soon, the street began to collapse completely.
"Follow me! Don’t lose yourselves nor get behind. He is trying to make us lost track of him!"
Now that he could walk freely inside the places where gas was dominating, they had more options of where to go.
However, Ari was still worrying about that gas traveling under them. If that pressurized gas got them, then it wouldn’t be light harm for sure.
While the group escaped, following their leader as they could, the street continued to collapse, knocking down the buildings around as well since their foundations were being affected.
The plague masks were doing well their jobs. They weren’t feeling anything wrong with their bodies.
"We can’t just keep up running from this disaster. We need to focus on the citizens as well. They are under this gas for more than one minute. This long isn’t enough to kill them, but we need to arrive quickly to save them. Take the extra masks you got and give to them, give yours if needed. They are top priority!"
The Ridires agreed with a strong shout. When they arrived at the place where most of the citizens were concentrated, they entered into the buildings and began their rescue.
’Ok, while they are at it, I need to go to the Healing center and find a way to save people there. I wonder if I will be able to find something, but I got to try before giving up.’
The Aesir got into the healing center as fast as he could. The citizens wouldn’t die right away from the effects of the gas. Ari himself felt a lot of pain when immersed into it, and his heart even began to stop to beat, but to kill him it would need to last for longer. Nevertheless, the harmed people inside the Healing Center were a completely different matter since they weren’t in their peak condition.
When he got there, he saw that people were surrounding the Healing Center outside. Frelsis carrying guns were keeping guard on that place.
The zone around the Healing Center was full of gas. In a minute or two it would be finally invaded.
’I don’t have too much time to fight, but I got no other choice!’
He took his grenade launcher and aimed at the Frelsis. He looked at his wristwatch while pointing at them.
Among the numerous clocks that were inside his head, one of them was nearly ending its cycle.
’Yes. Just as I thought, 10 minutes after the attack started would be enough for them to surround the building and make the wounded people hostages. However, your predictable way of thinking is what killed you!’
A mine planted underground activated in the next moment, the timer on Ari’s imaginary clock got to zero.
The explosion wasn’t like the ones that happened when his group was sieged by Frelsis, but it was good enough to kill half of those criminals without harming the structure of the Healing Center too much.
The enemies got flabbergasted because of that sudden action. They first looked to the remains of their dead comrades, then drew their guns to aim at Ari.
However, the man was faster. In no time he was already beside those Frelsi, crossing their way and entering the Healing Center.
They got furious because of his actions. They felt like their strength was being looked down upon.
Five or six Frelsi turned behind to face their enemy, trying to prevent him to get past that door. It didn’t matter how fast that man was, soon or later he would get tired and they would retrieve it back.
Nonetheless, they stopped even before aiming at him. They were hearing a bip sound that was getting louder and quickly each time. They looked down to see it and found two tiny explosives near their feet.
