A werewolf in berserker form was a tremendous, terrible thing. Her greater size and strength compared to the partial wolf form made her twice as destructive, demonstrated by her claws crashing down for the sub-dragon beneath her.

The armor crumpled like tinfoil.

Target: fC-2492 [Sub-Dragon (Dragon Form)]

Vitality: 0%

Amaya snarled out a savage sound and howled after her kill.

Bullets continued to pelt her meaty, furry sides from the two sub-dragons in front of her, but they did not seem to faze her anymore. Her health percentage proved that much, holding steady.

Name: Amaya Silver [Lycan Shifter (Berserker Form)]

Vitality: 27%

Discrete Parts: Left Shoulder (72%), Right Shoulder (36%), Nose (100%)

On all fours, she bounded off her previous kill and tackled the next sub-dragon. Her arms came down in a flurry, one after the other spraying up blood. Amaya's front was covered in it, especially her face. Her open mouth seemed to rejoice in the spatters that graced her tongue.

Vitality: 28%

Even while bullets continually embedded into her flesh, she started to heal. Some sort of bloodlust effect must be helping her regenerate.

eX-0281 could practically hear his scales rattle around in his armor as he shook. There's no way I can fight her. Look how easily she's killing my clones!

Target: eX-3060 [Sub-Dragon Shifter (Dragon Form)]

Vitality: 0%

Another one had died, right before his very eyes.

As the sub-dragons lost their lives, the dragon soul shards formed above their chests and clattered into the pool of blood. If it were not for the deranged werewolf going berserk, eX-0281 would want to collect some more. They seemed to call to him, just like the one he had stored safely on his person from eX-0057.

With the second sub-dragon down, there was only one more to go. eX-0281 snapped out of his daze, knowing that he had to act before Amaya in her frenzy.

"Josie!" eX-0281 cried. He snatched up the woman he needed to protect in his arms and blasted forward with his wings.

"Where are you going?" Cassius snapped.

If the guy had thought for a second that he was anything more than a diversion, eX-0281 felt bad for his gullibility. He focused entirely on the doors—getting out of here.

A few clicks of the machine gun resounded as the next sub-dragon emptied his round. "Wish I had silver bullets," he muttered with a shake of his head.

The time that he took to reload gave eX-0281 an easier time closing in on his target.

Amaya seemed to have stalled, feasting on her latest kill. Her jaws snapped apart portions of the neck that had been exposed through a chink in the armor. Her long tongue lapped at the blood.

Name: Amaya Silver [Lycan Shifter (Berserker Form)]

Vitality: 30%

Discrete Parts: Left Shoulder (74%), Right Shoulder (38%), Nose (100%)

She was definitely healing a couple of percentage points at a time. Unless sub-dragon rage mode magically activated for him like Zeke had mentioned, this was not going to end well.

"Ah!" he hollered out of fright. When he passed his remaining clone, he lowered his shoulder into his back.

The other sub-dragon stumbled forward and received a swipe from Amaya's claws. The fresh victim thoroughly distracted her for the moment that eX-0281 needed.

Sorry, he thought to his clone.

The reptilian scream was soon cut short as the werewolf began her ferocious attack again.

eX-0281 made it out the door and kept running with Josie in his arms. "Wait! Stop!" she hollered. "What're you doing?"

"I'm getting you out of here!"

"We need to help them," Josie objected. Though she squirmed around in his arms, she did not use any magic or his gun to wrest herself free.

eX-0281 had already saved his random stranger for today: Charlotte. That girl still needed to be healed, or else she would lose her leg. "Charlotte's hurt at home," he snapped. "She needs you more than they need you."

"Lottie's hurt?"

"Yeah. Disco," he barked over the party chat, "I got Josie out. They'll be distracted with the lycan for a while. I'm coming to your location now—" In the open street, eX-0281 headed towards his friends. He only got to take a couple of steps forward before his hopes were dashed.

Glass shattered, and metal caved inward from behind him. eX-0281 flipped around, folding his wings inward to carry him to the side. His reaction had been just in the knick of time.

Amaya went hurtling by him, a near miss to his trunk. The tips of her claws grazed across the tips of his wings as they passed each other by.

Name: eX-0281 [Sub-Dragon Shifter (Dragon Form)]

Vitality: 53%

Discrete Parts: Right Wing (88%), Left Wing (90%), Tail (80%)

The scratch did not affect his main vitality, already having dropped that low from the fight with the shadow spectre. Only a few points were shaved off his right wing. Though he had evaded the first attack, eX-0281 doubted that he could get lucky again.

What's the odds that the emo kid knows something about sub-dragons that I don't? He scoffed at the thought. Now if it had been Charlotte, he would believe the wholesome nerd in a heartbeat. Zeke did not seem quite as reliable a source of information.

If sub-dragons have a rage mode, I could really use it right now.

eX-0281 tried to feel angry; he tried his hardest to feel embroiled in rage. "Ah!" he screamed at the wolf.

The snarl drowned out his own growl, making eX-0281 shrink back. Amaya's glowering eyes signaled that she was ready to charge him again.

"Josie, run!" eX-0281 said as he set her down and took his gun back. Before he could get a proper handle on it, the werewolf covered the ground between them. Time seemed to slow.

The running steps of the woman could be heard carrying away from him.

"Josie, over here," the Disco Menace called off to the side.

The Disco Menace and eX-0704 had been waiting nearby in case eX-0281 would require back-up. They had perfect timing because he desperately needed assistance—if only they had made it seconds sooner.

"281, no!" eX-0704 was screaming.

Too bad eX-0281 did not have a claw on the trigger, otherwise he could have lit Amaya up with some more measly bullets. It was not like it mattered. He was going to get mauled regardless.

Without anything better to do, eX-0281 reached for his magic. Panicked, he performed the basic [Manifest Ice].

Slick, cool magical ice formed in his hand. He chucked it as hard as he could, straight into Amaya's face.

The ball of ice bounced off her button nose, eliciting a yelp from her. Amaya reeled back from shock even though the ice chunk had scarcely hurt her.

Name: Amaya Silver [Lycan Shifter (Berserker Form)]

Vitality: 31%

Discrete Parts: Left Shoulder (74%), Right Shoulder (38%), Nose (99%)

"Her nose is sensitive," eX-0281 gasped. His words were drowned out by eX-0704 opening fire on the enemy. At the top of his lungs, he hollered, "Her nose is sensitive! Aim for her nose!"

In tandem, eX-0281 and eX-0704 concentrated their fire directly into Amaya's face. The bullets were worthless against the werewolf in berserker form, even when shot in the face. A normal creature would have had its brains blown out, but silver munitions were required to cut through a lycanthrope's flesh.

"Take these bullets up your nose!" eX-0281 called.

"Snot shots!" eX-0704 whooped after him.

Both of their aims were excellent, particularly eX-0281's stream of bullets had benefited from the [Lock-On] box which highlighted Amaya's nose.

Desperate to escape the line of fire, she stuck up a clawed paw to shield herself. A howl ripped from her belly as she received the bullets in her palm instead.

Name: Amaya Silver [Lycan Shifter (Berserker Form)]

Vitality: 22%

Discrete Parts: Left Shoulder (74%), Right Shoulder (38%), Nose (0%)

Ultimately, she turned heel and ran away. Her fluffy tail disappeared down an alley as the last thing in sight.

eX-0281 blinked from shock for a few seconds, then took to their usual cheers. "We did it!"

"Yeah! You got Josie out all by yourself! Good job, 281." eX-0704 rushed towards him and initiated their secret tail flick.

With his tail lifted high and wagging side to side, eX-0281 thought that he would never get sick of celebrating with his best friend like this.

They had a huge victory: breaking Josie out of jail and scaring away the berserker werewolf. The biggest part of their mission had been completed. Now they only needed to escape the city and make it back to the village for the second time that night.

Given her full mana reserves, hopefully the Disco Menace could [Glitch] them all the way to the surface. eX-0281 felt like they really needed to catch a break and have something go their way for a change.

"Ha. I guess we should get back to the Disco Menace and Josie."

Quickly, he became cognizant of the commotion happening over the party chat. The angered voice of Josie was shrill enough to carry over the microphone of the Disco Menace.

"You can't leave those boys back there!"

When the Disco Menace replied, it seemed that she would never change. "Of course, we can. You just saw how he left those green thumb buddies of yours back in the station. He used them as a diversion, now we use him. It's all fair."

"You have a warped sense of justice," Josie said tersely.

At the same time, the rest of the eco-terrorists bolted out of the police station.

"Which way did Amaya go?" Cassius called.

eX-0281 pointed down the appropriate alley and let his jaw drop as the crazed man started to run in that precise direction.

"Wait, Cass!" Miranda begged and grabbed onto his arm.

"We have to go after her. She's one of us!"

"Amaya's a big girl. Clearly the strongest out of us all," Miranda mused. "She's going to be just fine. We have to trust her on that and get to safety—need to lie low for the time being."

Cassius gave in to the tug of his hand and ran off with Miranda down a different street. Zeke went another way and disappeared soon after.

Meanwhile, the argument between the Disco Menace and Josie was still ongoing. "The incident with the lycan shifter was his fault. He needs to deal with it. I even told him that! We need to get out of here. Get moving now!"

Based on the updated position of the Disco Menace, she had already forced Josie a substantial distance away from them. A [Charged Dash] must have carried her down some city blocks.

"That young man said that he's friends with Charlotte! She wouldn't want us to leave them behind."

A long pause held over the chat channel. "You're right," was mumbled over the speaker. "Hey, Liz 2, you still alive?"

"Affirmative. In fact, your fear was unfounded. We've already scared the lycan off."

"Great. Let's meet up here." The Disco Menace marked a spot on the map.

Goal Point Set: Security Administration Hangar

"Really, Disco?" eX-0281 asked. "The hangar?" There would only be more trouble there. "We need to catch up," he said to eX-0704. It was doubtless that the Disco Menace would leave them behind no matter what she said.

"I would say that I'm surprised she tried ditching us that fast," eX-0704 said wryly, "but I'm really not."

The two of them pounded their wings for the next destination where they would hijack an airship out of here. eX-0281 hoped for no more surprises, or better yet, a pleasant surprise would be nice.