Taking the elevator leading above ground, Erika let out a heavy sigh as she let her tired body rest on one of its interior walls. The elevator was made with a very strong composite material which was made from the carcasses of beings called Zirtues.
Erika was feeling restless because of them, well not really the Zirtues in particular, she was more concerned about a certain someone. He was sent out on a mission outside the Base to deal with a group of Zirtues six hours ago and had yet to return.
The even more worrying thing was that it was already nighttime, and Zirtues get especially fearsome during this time. But, what were these Zirtues?
Optimistically speaking, they were alien creatures trying to overtake the world. The conquest started four hundred thousand years ago and the weird thing was that they had already consumed the world, there were no continents, no vicinity where you would not find a Zirtue, yet they had not stopped.
They were also very intelligent, most of them were also very strong and some even carried abilities of some sort. Categorised by their appearances and strength, the Zirtues were split into three grades:
Trees, these were the first Zirtues to ever appear on Earth. They actually did not look that similar to trees, however they possessed a kind of 'bark' and their insides were similar to wood. They walked on threes and some walked on fours, their long legs—which seemed to be longer than its body—moved in a metachronal rhymth, similar to how a millipede or a centipede would move on Earth. Across its whole body laid countless unmoving black eyes which spewed out a poison that corroded even the toughest of materials.
Crabs, these beings descended on Earth a lot later than the Tree-types. They looked like crabs with powerful claws, numerous legs and were connected to a carapace. They weren't small though, some of them were half the height of an average human but most would dwarf them in size. They were also characterised by its unbreaking shell, supposedly made from chitin and an unknown material.
Lastly, the Platonics, not much was known about this type of Zirtue except a few testimonies from witnesses, including: looking humanoid, warping reality by its mere presence or whatever that meant and a head sharp enough to split apart the world. The information wasn't very helpful, so it was dismissed as some people falling under the effects of mind control.
The grades were also split into five smaller classes, with I being the smallest and V being the biggest. The reason for the classes were the fact that with each increment in class, the Zirtue would look noticably more similar to a Zirtue of the next grade. An example of this was that a Tree-V looked almost identical to a Crab-type, while a Tree-III was somewhere in between.
Tapping her foot to a melody in her head. Erika cursed silently at the speed of the elevator, of course, the distance itself was quite far, which was five kilometers, but still, she could traverse that distance almost instantly with a leap.
The reason why she could even pull off such a feat in the first place was the fact that her body, and the body of numberous others were augmented by the materials from the Zirtues themselves.
She didn't mean to brag but it was her who discovered it was possible to even do that. It all began with an accident and that accident had most likely been the sole reason for why humanity had survived for this long.
'Right, and also because of him.'
Her first test subject, the one who raised the flag of rebellion against the Zirtues, the person who liberated Europe for almost a hundred millennia: Jean, who was also the person she was trying to get to.
After an awful long time, the elevator finally stopped and its doors opened with a smooth motion. Outside, the sky was filled with a myriad of stars, some stars even appeared to flicker but in truth: there were things that moved in the sky, blocking the light from the stars.
These were the theorised Sky-type Zirtues, but Erika heeded them no mind. Looking at the ground, all she saw was a land barren by black ash and dried blood.
Stepping out from the elevator, she heard a sound, turned back and saw that the elevator had already descended and in its place was solid ground—as if the elevator was never there in the first place.
Walking for a few meters and carefully looking around her, she was met with the same sight in all directions: a black, barren wasteland. Realising that it would take too long, Erika dashed forward.
The blackness of the ground lessened with each increasing second and after a while, she saw something other than black, sand. There were also pieces of glass here and there but that didn't really matter.
Hearing sounds of a fight in the distance, Erika dashed towards the source of those sounds.
***
'I was informed of four, why are there twenty four?'
Thought Jean as he dodged the attacks of a Tree-IV. He had departed six hours ago to get rid of some Zirtues near the Base but was misinformed of the number.
Grabbing one of its limbs, he punched the Zirtue in one of its eyes, piercing through its bark and arriving through the other side, the corrosion hurt quite a bit but not to the point where it was unbearable.
Looking around, he saw that there were still three more Zirtues, including two Crab-types and one Tree-type. The Tree-type was of the fifth class, so he was basically dealing with three Crab-types.
Suddenly, a Crab-II dashed forward to smash him with its massive chela while the other Crab-I moved to his side, attempting to grab him, either to cut him apart or immobilize him, while the Tree-V was just standing there, boosting the two Crab-types with its ability.
Starting from the third class onwards, Zirtues are more likely to possess a random ability—manifested as a crystal called a 'core' located randomly within its body—and this time, the Tree-V had an ability to augment other Zirtues—a valuable ability that would be of help to the last remaining humans if Erika implemented it well.
Though, he couldn't really think about that right now. Jumping up to avoid the Crab-I, he was then hit by a whip-like motion from a leg of the Tree-V, which allowed the Crab-II to land a really good hit on Jean, sending him flying a dozen meters back.
He could feel a few of his bones break from the impact but it was nothing a healer couldn't solve. It was quite quick, but the Crab-I had already arrived on him. Standing up, he deflected an attack from the Crab-I and hit it in one of its numerous eyes which made it stagger back a little.
Hearing a whistle of wind from behind him, he turned back and delivered a roundhouse kick to the Crab-II—in the air. The crab was sent away a few meters but there were no noticable damage on its chitin, instead his leg was broken beyond comprehension.
'Gods, I'm tired.'
Suddenly, he felt the air around the crabs grow a little weaker, as if weakened, no not weakened. Looking at the place where the Tree-V should have been, he saw that it was lying on the ground and on top of it, was a feminine figure—it was Erika.
Using this chance Erika brought him, he rushed towards the dazed Crab-I, pried open its mouth, reached inside and crushed its brain. The crab suddenly lost all life, so Jean set his sights on the Crab-II, which was already in combat with Erika.
Pulling his hand out from the Crab-I, he grabbed one of its chelae and threw the the whole crab towards the Crab-II. Erika, seeing this, dashed away from the Crab-II just in time before the class I landed atop the class II.
There was a loud bang, dust scattered everywhere and the Crab-II was sunk deep into the ground. Using this chance, Erika took out a small cubical device from her pocket and threw it at the class II.
The Crab-II tried to escape but to no avail, it then used its massive chela to help itself crawl towards Erika. Then a clicking sound could be heard and the whole world was bathed in an intense white light that drowned out the light of the countless stars.
What Erika threw was indeed a bomb, however just that would not be enough to subdue the Crab-II. When the light died down, the Crab-II seemed to have siezed all movement, prompting Jean to take action.
He dashed forward for one last time, ripped out an eye of the class II, reached inside and crushed the creature's brain. It should be enough to kill the Crab-II, however Jean immediately jumped away from the crab, which was a wise decision as instantly after that, the crab hit itself in its eye with immense force.
Though, after that, it stopped moving altogether and Jean could finally be at ease. Speaking of Jean, he was currently lying on the ground—gazing at the endless skies—a few meters away from the corpse of the crab.
"You're not going back to the Base?"
'Ah'
It was Erika.
"Sorry."
"Come here, I'll carry you back."
"You're not getting the corpses?"
"Just come here."
"...Alright."