The hivemind is conquering for me?

Crashing down onto the wall below, I didn’t have time to worry about the structural integrity. Sithrik was bleeding from multiple wounds on her body while Nerissa had finally taken damage on her armour.

I knew why these two were the last two on the wall and I would get mushy about it later, but for now. I grabbed Nerissa around the waist and used my Telekinesis desperately to yank Sithrik towards me, forcing a blow to miss her body.

After having the two of them in my grasp, I jumped off the wall and landed in the river, clearing two thirds of it in one jump.

We then made the rest of the way by swimming, while under fire the entire time. Once back on dry land, I leaned over for a second to catch my breath before chuckling. ”Hey Ness, I have not seen your armour this damaged before. I don’t know If I should kiss you or slap you silly for staying behind for me.”

”No time for talk. The others won’t be that far ahead of us. We need to act as a rear guard as the Drakoshi will come for us.” She then materialised another Deimos rifle and I actually recognised it. It was mine. I left it at Sophia’s as walking around with it would have spelled trouble. Now though...

I began to fire as we retreated. It didn’t take long for a group of Drakoshi to sally out from somewhere and were now pursuing us on foot. Nerissa and I would continue to run and fire constantly, Sithrik however was not doing much, so I instructed her.

”Sithrik, go ahead to the others. Tell them we are out.”

”Yez, husband!” She spoke without hesitation as her serpentine body began to torpedo ahead of us.

Nerissa and I continued to fire before over all the gunfire I heard snickering. Turning to her between shots, I asked. ”What are you laughing at in a time like this?”

”She, hehe, she called you husband and you didn’t correct her. You have a snake for a wife.”

I quipped the first thing that came to me, I didn’t have time to be as lax as she was. I was incredibly wounded. ”Keep laughing like that and I’ll have a Nymph wife next. Just keep firing!”

...

For the next few miles, Nerissa and I were quite lucky. With us being as faster than they were, and the pursuers seemingly not having ranged weapons, we could keep pace ahead of them and inflict maximum casualties.

A few light armoured vehicles caught up to us, but my Minigun did them in when they got close and we finished off the stragglers like shooting fish in a barrel.

Still there were thousands still behind us looking for a good fight. Up ahead was a ridge. The fall back point. They wanted a fight, they were going to get one. We arrived at the top of the ridge and turned back at the Drakoshi, holding our ground for as long as possible. When my rifle ran out of ammo, I didn’t turn to Ness for a reload, I used my minigun and began firing into the grey tide.

I got a real sense of Deja vu with the swarming tactic I was seeing, the only difference was these grey uglies were nothing like my hive beauty. Still though, Nerissa and I had done our job. The Drakoshi were closing in on us tightening their assault. At which point we dropped behind the ridge and made as much distance as possible.

...

The Emoth Drakoshi who had just watched the weak warrior before him drop to the red laser rifle scoffed and charged forward at the armoured cowards. He would be the first to cross over the ridge. It would be he that killed them. He just had to get to the top. And he did.

At which point his little eyes turned into pinheads at what he saw. Two giant Chassis and a small army all pointing their weapons in his direction. Suppressing his fear though, he let out a war cry and raised his axe and took one more step to begin a run before

*Buoooom*

...

The castellans began firing a deadly yellow laser beam that atomised the top of the ridge in a sweeping motion. And considering the other side of the ridge was a gradual incline, most likely a good few thousand Drakoshi with it.

The lasers continued to fire for thirty seconds straight before they overheated. At which point the castellans began to fire standard missiles over the ridge.

The Drakoshi were not deterred. After the death laser ceased firing, the rest that had hunkered down began pouring over the now smaller ridge.

At the knight line. Knight captain Cassian the bold raised his sword above his mech and shouted through his speakers.

”Brothers and sisters! Now is our time! Our Psionic brethren have achieved the impossible and now the foolish grey rats come blindly to their end! Show them that we too can achieve victory this day! Pages earn your merits! Squires Prove to your superiors that your long years of training and devotion to our order has paid off! Prove you have what it takes to ascend and become one of the glorious! Knights of the Order of the guardians! We kill these grey skins and show them we feel no fear! Fire!”

A war cry sounded from the knight faction that was hastily followed by a bullet storm. Two hundred infantry, a company of knights with heavy weapons and two castellans firing their ’smaller’ weapons from all over their bodies was a sight to behold as Nerissa and I ran to join their lines.

When we arrived and turned back. The Drakoshi were already down at the bottom of the terrain. They now had to come back up another incline while being rained upon by lead. I wanted to be in awe, but I didn’t have time as Nerissa had manifested a bunch of Deimos ammo and handed it to me and I began to rain down death upon the Drakoshi once more.

...

The knight order after the initial war cry turned eerily silent. The only sound heard was screams of agony as the occasional Drakoshi with a ranged weapon shot at the ranks, at which point the location of the muzzle flash was dealt with by heavy autocannons from the knight mechs themselves.

They were also making distance in the retreat without making it look like it. Every time they fired, they took two steps back and crouched down to initiate another burst from their weapons.

However, we couldn’t keep our distance forever and that is when a group of knights, alongside the knight captain charged forward.

The knights used their mechs like they were their own bodies. The way they cut through the Drakoshi, protecting each other’s flanks as they did so was a marvel. It got my blood pumping.

Despite not having time to restore my armour, I passed my rifle and the ammo to the Squire I had been beside for the last twenty minutes and charged ahead. And I wasn’t the only one. The melee specialists from the squad began to charge forward upon seeing me break ranks and moments later we clashed with the Drakoshi frontline.

The fighting for the next hour was brutal. I was already injured and drained before the current withdrawal, but now I was fighting on pure adrenaline and willpower. Instinct was the name of the game now. Bait out an attack, block, deflect or evade. Then either engage or let the over extending of the enemy be taken care of by a neighbouring ally. All of which were beginning to take serious damage and injuries.

You can be as strong or as powerful as you like, but eventually numbers will get you. That was hive 101. Still we continued to fight. No unneeded sounds. just grunts of exertion and pain. The sound of gun fire long became white noise over the battlefield. And still Drakoshi were coming in the thousands upon thousands.

The news of a good scrap was having the result of reinforcements piling in from all over By low to ground flight or carried in on vehicles. Reinforcements that also began to carry ammunition, making the fighting even tougher as casualties began to ramp up from that.

The balance of power was beginning to turn towards the Drakoshi as they began to flank our melee column and start charging to the gun line. However, we had done just enough and pulled back enough over the course of the gruelling battle.

”Charge! For Spartari!”

Phalanx and heavy armour tanks and vehicles began to pour over the surrounding hills. Bayonets fixed to their weapons while they fired in full sprint.

They barrelled towards the Drakoshi frontlines, crazed and the following clash was... Bloody. The Phalanx were monsters. Thanks to the Lyssa drug, the front line of the Phalanx were basically mouth frothing berserkers and it showed.

While one was swung at with a club and sent, mangled, flying backwards. Another three took his place. With fixed bayonets they charged into the Drakoshi and fired point blank toppling the beast over, only to get flattened and chopped to pieces by the following Drakoshi. Scenes like this continued over and over again without even a shred of cowardice from them.

As a result, the battle had turned from order to bloody chaos in a moment’s notice.