Chapter 131

A Dream Come True 11

-:-

The race towards the tunnel on the mountain at the edge of the Hellhole district was underway, and Theo’s group was losing.

Despite their head start, Theo’s group could not travel on a straight line because Diego was unable to jump over or smash through large buildings.

Theo and the newly resuscitated Dorothy could do it with their grappling guns, but that would mean leaving behind Vivi, Phoebe and Jennifer.

Another important factor was that the Priestess of Cain had some level of control on the weakest of the demon hordes. Everytime her 5 meter tall gorilla form roared, Fiends would attack Theo’s group

While Fiends were nothing more than cannon fodder, they were an effective tar pit that slowed the group’s advance.

The distance between the hunter and the prey shrunk dramatically.

As the group ran up the serpentine road, the Priestess of Cain and quite a decent number of Fiends were able to block their path by climbing up the mountain side.

And to make matters worse, another group of Fiends were able to cut off their retreat.

“A large amount of cannon fodders to the back and a scary looking gorilla thing at our front. This is bad” said Dorothy as she readied herself for a fight.

“No… this might actually be a good thing.” replied Theo. “Diego, on my word, throw me at the gorilla’s face. Once I distract the gorilla, run straight for the tunnel. Bulldoze through anyone that stands in your way.”

“Ok.” replied the minotaur as he placed Vivi, Phoebe and Jennifer on the ground and grabbed Theo.

“What are you planning Theo?” asked Dorothy.

“You’ll find out in a sec. Look, the dumbass is already starting” Said Theo.

So sure was the Priestess of Cain of her victory, that she would actually commit the most basic mistake that Villains could make

And this was to go on an unnecessarily long speech in the middle of combat.

“Young children of the false order, I welcome thee! We are gathered here to celebrate the ascension of humanity to a higher plane of existence. Right now, we are at the precipice of evolution, yet we have a conundrum. Like any form of research, sacrifices must be made to achieve greater highest of enlightenment. In this case, the payment for human progress is offering up a maiden with the purity of heart, mind and spirit. A beacon of compassion and-” said the Priestess of Cain as she went on and on and on.

“NOW!”

At Theo’s command, Diego threw him into the Priestesses face with surprising accuracy.

5 meters before contact, Theo blew the head off the Priestess of Cain that was fused to the gorilla’s forehead.

While Theo wanted to rip apart the Priestess with his bare hands, this was not the time for personal vendettas.

They were cornered and needed a way out ASAP.

Eliminating the biggest threat and opening up a way out at the same time was the most logical option on the table. Theo had no choice but to take it.

Given his previous run in with the lion, he assumed that the human Priestess was the weakness of the 5 meter tall beast.

He thought that by destroying her, the gorilla would crumble soon after.

He was mistaken.

The gorilla screamed in agony and stumbled back, but it did not disintegrate.

Theo was both sad and happy of this outcome.

Due to the gorilla’s sudden movement, Theo flew past its head.

However, the miss gave Theo a new avenue of attack

He fired his grappling guns unto the gorilla’s back, zipped into it, used an archon battery charge and landed an earth shaking punch into its spine.

The gorilla was propelled forward by the sudden force from behind and tumbled down the inclined highway

Diego grabbed Vivi and Phoebe and dove under to dodge the bouncing gorilla avalanche.

Dorothy merely went up the side of the hill via grappling gun to avoid being flattened.

The Fiends, unfortunately, were too bunched together to evade the rolling meatsack of death. As such, they were turned into dirty red smudges on the gorilla’s body

“RUN NOW! DON'T STOP NO MATTER WHAT!” roared Theo as his elephant gun punched fist sized holes into the surviving Fiends.

Diego the minotaur plowed through the Fiends on the high ground while Dorothy break danced her way through what didn't get gored to death.

Theo provided cover fire while backing away into the tunnel.

Once inside, they kept running at full speed.

Just because they were inside, doesn't mean that they were safe.

“There’s a human sized crack near the end of this tunnel. That will lead to a fairly complex underground maze. It’s confusing as hell, but if we keep heading towards the general direction of the Ecclesiarchy Cathedrals, we’ll eventually encounter Ecclesiarchy personnel.” said Theo

“How do you even know this stuff man?” asked Vivi

“Let’s just say that there’s tons of stuff HAA can't teach you my friend.”

“Quit the com chatter. We’re still in the middle of a mission here.” said Dorothy who was clearly still angry with Theo

“Yes dear.” replied Theo

“Shut up!”

A few moments later, Theo felt a very small load on his brain.

This was a sign that the 2 Scorpion Combat Drones he has hidden in this particular tunnel was within his control range. One of these drones had his usual kit and he would love to get his hands on them so that he can finally begin ripping the Priestess of Cain apart.

However, how was he going to convincingly separate himself from his group?

On que, the opportunity came

“Watch out!” screamed Theo as he pushed Dorothy out of the way.

A massive fleshy tongue came from behind and wrapped Theo’s legs with a grip that broke every bone it touched.

“SHIIIIIIT!” roared Theo in pain.

The tongue violently dragged Theo back to the entrance

“THEO!”

Dorothy desperately ran after Theo with Diego in hot pursuit.

However, the tongue was simply pulling Theo way to fast for his allies to catch up.

Upon reaching the area where his scorpion drones were, Theo used all of his grappling guns to hold him in place.

He removed the glove in his right arm, touched the ground and activated his Midas Alchemy to make a 5 meter thick wall of pure rock.

Unfortunately, the sudden and haphazard use of a large scale Midas Alchemy caused him to throw up.

Not a good sign.

Once he was sure that his group could not see him, the 2 scorpion combat drones crawled out of the shadows and used their HF Blade pincers to rip the tongue apart

The sound of the gorilla’s roar of pain was music to his ears.

Theo used his omnigel to heal up and began arming himself.

1 Beretta ARX160 assault rifle

4 Beretta 92 pistols

1 HF Blade

Omnidirectional flamethrower

1 Super Shotgun

2 Scorpion combat drones with HF Blade pincers and a minigun for its stinger.

Too bad he left the elephant gun when he was being pulled. That would have been an awesome combo with the Super Shotgun

While Theo was about to head out to meet his maker, Vivi spoke via coms.

“Theo! Are you there!? Answer me!”

“Calm down Vivi. I’m fine. Finish the mission. I’ll end this here” replied Theo as he put his helmet on.

“What are you talking about?! This isn't a time to act like a hero!” said Vivi

“Come on man. We all were HAA students at one point. No way you dont know my connection to that monstrous whore.”

Everyone was silent at Theo’s response.

The reasons why they approached Theo because of his direct connection to the Ecclesiarchy leadership and, more importantly, the leader of the cult that was harassing them.

Theo would not say no to a chance of destroying the monster that created him.

After a few second, Dorothy spoke in a shaky voice.

“Y-you have a plan, right?”

“Obviously. But that is none of your concern. What you should focus on is naming the children you’ll be giving birth for me.”

“Heh… Do you ever take anything seriously?”

“This is my coping mechanism. Deal with it.”

“*sigh*... come back to us alive okay? You wont knock me up if your dead!”

“Whatever you say, dear.”

“Heh. Shut up.”

With that exchange said and done, the 2 groups went their separate ways.

Theo downed a large amount of his leathaly high calorie bars and rushed out of the tunnel.

There he saw the Priestess of Cain in all of her gorilla glory. He also noticed that its extremely long tongue and the head of the human part were completely healed

What insane regeneration.

With that in mind, Theo sent the command to the cannon crew of his one and only railgun.

“Begin the firing sequence of the BFG 01. The target is my location.”

“Yes my lord! ETA of entire process to shell impact, 60 seconds.” replied a Reformant unit.

“I know I designed the BFG, but damn that’s fast! How am I supposed to have fun now?!”

As Theo thought of this, he rushed out of the tunnel guns blazing.

“Hohoho! A brave little man has stepped out of the safety of ARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHH!” said the Priestess right before the Super Shotgun blew her human body appart.

“You talk too much” replied Theo

He charged into the sea of Fiends with reckless fury, skillfully headshotting every fool that dared to enter his range.

Though he was quickly surrounded, the Scorpion combat drones finally revealed themselves and unleashed a minigun barrage that turned everything near Theo to tomato paste.

“Loading Doom Bringer Ammo.”

Urged by the incoming destruction, Theo unleashed the omnidirectional flamethrower to take out all of the Fiends in one go.

Alarmed by the sudden loss of her minions, the Priestess swung the gorilla’s massive arms down.

The force was so great that it shattered the road and even caused a small landslide. However, the move was so big that Theo could easily dodge it with his grappling gun

“Removing trash camouflage and exposing turret”

The scorpion combat drones focused fired on the gorilla’s feet while Theo used his grappling gun to go up the mountain wall and rained bullets from up high.

This two pronged attack kept the gorilla off balance.

The gorilla tried to go after the scorpion drones in a desperate attempt to end the annoying stream of pain, however, this left an opening that Theo would most certainly capitalize on.

Theo dropped down and engulfed the gorilla’s head with a close range flamethrower blast.

Annoying enough, the gorilla’s regeneration was in the level that it would negate all the damage Theo has inflicted on it.

“Raising barrel to 72 degrees. Firing solution reached. BFG 01 FIRING!”

Out of the corner of Theo’s eye, he saw the smoke trail that went straight into the heavens.

Time was up.

Theo used an archon battery and punched the gorilla into nearly falling off the mountain side.

He took of his right hand glove and used his midas alchemy to make a 10 meter deep tunnel into the mountain side.

Unfortunately, the energy drain was so great that Theo coughed out blood and lost the ability to even stand. He had to use his grappling gun to drag himself into the tunnel.

Seeing this, the gorilla rushed in for the kill and followed Theo into the tunnel.

However, this was exactly what Theo wanted the Priestess to do.

With the last bit of energy in his already depleted body, Theo used the Midas Alchemy. A massive wall of stone appeared from the bottom of the earth and trapped the gorilla by the head.

It was practically being hung by the neck.

While this was happening, the BFG’s Doom Bringer travel several thousand feet directly above the target. Using built in thrusters, the round changed trajectory and plummeted straight down.

At approximately 1000 feet over the target, the round split into multiple sub munitions. All these sub munitions were pretty much rockets without a warhead.

The rocket thruster then accelerated the already fast moving sub munitions to an unbelievable Mach 25.

The pure kinetic force of these sub munitions were so great, that the corresponding impact was that of a small nuclear explosion that shook the entire city.

And then, there was silence.

Inside the tunnel made by Theo, the Priestess of Cain was able to regenerate her human form and separated it from the 5 meter tall gorilla body that was obliterated by the BFG 01.

The massive damage she received has left the Priestess in a depleted state. Her regeneration was nearly non existent at this point.

Nevertheless, she was alive and she couldn't be happier for that…. But not for long.

In the near pitch black tunnel, a red will-o-wisp appeared from deep within.

The sound of something being dragged through the ground could be heard as the will-o-wisp slowly but surely was going after the Priestess.

This terrified her to no end.

She could not detect any living thing within the tunnel, yet something was clearly moving towards her.

Out of fear, she tried to limp away from the approaching unknown.

She spotted a small crack in the wall of stone that led outside. This was probably a damage from the massive explosion earlier.

The Priestess crawled into the crack towards the light

The sound of multiple grappling guns being fired was heard, and a left hand appeared from the darkness and grabbed the Priestess by the leg.

She used her free leg to kick the hand away, but the steel grip was immovable.

It mercilessly crushed the Priestess’ leg and dragged her back into the darkness.

Inside the cave, she finally saw Theodore Lorne without his helmet.

He was pale to the point of being mistaken for a corpse.

There was no life force left in his body yet he still moved.

It was as if he was too angry to die.

“How can you still be alive?!” said the Priestess as her weak body mounted a futile resistance.

Theo’s left hand grabbed the Priestess by the neck and spoke in a whisper.

“The Machine is Immortal”

From there, Theo literally ripped the Priestess appart.

Her screams were music to his ears.

And just like in his dreams, he did it slowly, painfully and mercilessl