Chapter 146 Fighting Above One's Level
"I'll take two of them. The rest are yours," William said, sword ready, feet moving fast. "Kill or be killed."
Jack, Candice, Natalie, Lucy, and Marcus—five one-star Evolving folks—had to handle three level-two sandworms!
These weren't just any sandworms; they were level-two, a step above their pay grade.
Marcus's breath quickened. He contemplated, 'I just became an Evolving person today and haven't even taken down a level-one mutant yet. Now I have to face level-twos?' He eyed the white crystal on the sandworm's forehead, his hands trembling.
Marcus was scared, but the others' eyes lit up in excitement, including the usually calm Lucy.
They'd been with William long enough to lose their fear of zombies and mutants. Seeing William take down dozens of level-two mutants while he was still a one-star Evolving person would change anyone's mindset.
Plus, Candice, Natalie, and Jack had taken out many level-two wild boars using terrain and modified firearms during the battle against The Pig King Landon.
So, level-two mutants didn't faze them much. The only concern was the size of the sandworms. They were bigger and seemed tougher than the wild boars.
Understanding William's words, everyone looked eager to jump in.
To Marcus, they seemed like a bunch of lunatics.
He couldn't grasp where their confidence came from.
Candice, a former SWAT team leader, naturally took charge when William wasn't around.
She issued a command and made some gestures. Jack got it right away, and Natalie and Lucy had learned these signals from Candice over the past few days.
They quickly caught on to her plan.
Candice would hold off two sandworms with Lucy's cover, while the others quickly took down the remaining one!
Candice called out to Marcus, "Mr. Rodriguez, I heard you're a good shot? And you have a gun William gave you?"
Candice nodded at Marcus. He was momentarily stunned but quickly got his role.
No one was dumb. Marcus realized he wasn't part of the core team, and they were respecting him by not giving direct orders. His job was to use his best skill which was shooting the enemy from the back.
Candice wrapped up her actions and words in seconds. Once Marcus knew his role, she had already charged at the sandworm on her left. She fired a shot at a distant one, then holstered her gun and drew her knife, slashing at the one in front of her.
In one move, she attacked two level-two mutants, even though she was just a one-star Evolving person.
After mentally cursing her as a madwoman, Marcus aimed his gun at his target. The others were already deep in the fight.
Jack and Natalie hit the sandworm almost at the same time, their bodies glowing with Air Shields.
Neither fired their guns; they were out of armor-piercing rounds after the fight with The Pig King. Without better materials for William to make new rounds, their guns were useless against level-two mutants.
Natalie's whip wrapped around the sandworm's pointed head. It didn't hurt the creature, instead, she used it to spring onto its back.
Her model-like figure and tan skin stood out against the sandworm's dark body.
Once on the sandworm, Natalie ran along its long body toward its tail, aiming for the heart.
The sandworm was slow to react, but now that someone was on its back, it went berserk, thrashing to throw her off.
"Your opponent is me!" Jack yelled, he couldn't let it attack Natalie. Ignoring William's advice to cut the creature's middle legs, he swung his Edge of the Moon at its other legs.
The blade struck with a metallic clang, and the sandworm's thrashing paused as it roared in pain.
Jack's blade had cut into one of its legs, nearly severing it.
If William, with his Devil's Gold-infused Edge of the Moon or his two-star Evolving person strength, had made the strike, it would have severed the leg instantly. But Jack couldn't achieve that himself.
Still, it was enough to make the sandworm collapse to one side, allowing Natalie to regain her balance.
The sandworm, severely injured, wasn't done yet. It flipped its body, exposing its belly and throwing Natalie into the air.
Jack barely dodged it, almost getting crushed.
Despite flipping over, the sandworm's attack didn't stop. Its pointed head charged at Jack.
A series of dull thuds rang out as Marcus finally fired, aiming for the sandworm's degenerated but still prominent eyes.
At this distance, hitting such a large target seemed easy. However, Jack, with his SWAT background, knew the difficulty of executing such shot.
First, the sandworm was moving, and handguns, limited by range, were hard to aim accurately at moving targets. Moreover, the angle from Marcus's position made it nearly impossible to hit the eyes. Yet, Marcus did it.
William had modified the gun, making it powerful. If it had armor-piercing rounds, these shots could have killed the sandworm. However, William had only given Marcus the gun, not the special bullets.
Three shots left the sandworm's eyes bloody but not fatal.
However, it gave Jack an opportunity he needed. He roared, driving the Edge of the Moon into its head wound.
The intense pain made the sandworm flip again, lifting Jack into the air. He held onto the blade's handle, flipping with the sandworm.
"Blade!" Natalie shouted, and Jack understood. He bent his body, kicked the sandworm's head, and pulled out the Edge of the Moon.
Without a foothold, Jack fell, but as he did, he threw the Edge of the Moon to Natalie with all his strength.
