Project: iaseki

Chapter 25: Cybel

What came after was a wordless admiration of the environment. When both of them had had enough, they left the game and turned in for the night.

The next morning they could finally see the walls of Cybel, and it was just as plain as Elle's, through and through. However, Lu knew the interior would be much more grandiose.

The road became much smoother and assured them that the next hour would present them a smooth ride through the forest. However, the thought was quickly proven wrong when they heard a scream in the distance.

The speedwagon slowed to a stop

"You hear that?" Autumn asked.

Lu knew what she was onto, but he did not like what he was hearing, and what she was thinking.

"You're not going to get paid for this, you know?" Lu attempted to convince Autumn to not risk losing a finger or two.

"Don't act like you're against it" Autumn said simply.

"Right, detour it is" Lu said, succumbing to her suggestion. While he isn't a fan of high risk no reward, he knew his sister would scold him if he ran away now, thus his decision to follow Autumn.

Autumn continued to drive the speedwagon, turning to the direction of the cry.

After they had gone out of the trees, the road was again rougher, and at the distance they witnessed a lady running from a titan chasing her while she threw her feathers randomly at it.

"Please help me!" she screamed again.

Autumn drove as fast as she could and Lu threw a feather ahead. However, they were already too late. The giant picked up the woman and ate her soul right before Lu's feather crashed into its core.

They hurriedly came to assist the lady, but her vital signs told them that she was already gone.

Lu noticed that the titan's left hand was not equipped with a humanoid hand, but a drill.

"This one is...different" Lu asserted.

"Hereth! The nearby city!" Autumn shouted and prompted Lu to get back into the speedwagon.

The two heard more shouts and cries as they arrived at the scene. The city walls were broken and a titan that appeared like the previous one was using its drill to puncture its way into the city.

Lu and Autumn took advantage of its labor and deactivated it in an instant before it paid attention to their presence.

"I'll go to the other side, you enter here" Autumn commanded Lu.

Leaving him no other option, he burst through the small hole that the titan bore.

The horrific scene presented itself to him. Civilians were either running around or trying to defend themselves against the mechanical giants that were approaching them. Most of them are having no success at either, and he could tell from the number of bodies on the floor. Not only fires, but also ice towers, trees, and many other elements were all around the city, likely created by animus of both titan and civilian. The size of the effects told Lu that some civilians had already used their 4th animus, and possibly titans as well.

There are four titans that were on the floor unmoving nearby, but Lu counted that there are at least a dozen still rampaging inside.

He jumped into the action, clearing them one by one as fast as he could. Luckily, the colossi were not paying attention to his extremely precise feather shots, or they did not have methods to defend themselves and lost to the techniques Lu had gathered over the years of playing Monitum.