Chapter 138: Human Monster
Sky Tide assumed her human form as she landed, giving Hugo a good look at the fearsome warrior.
The woman standing in front of them was tall and slender, with long hair that fell down in a gentle cascade of pale gold. Her posture was perfectly straight, and her cold face was dazzlingly beautiful.
Sky Tide was wearing a suit of light steel armor, with pauldrons and greaves decorated with stylized feathers. The gaze of her stern amber eyes was piercing and heavy, while her strange vertical pupils resembled that of a bird of prey.
Snowflakes swirled and danced in the air, as if trying to get closer to her.
Hugo noted that was her presence granted to her by her Transcendence. Seeing such a sight made him crave that rank even more.
On the other hand, Sunny looked at the woman with a confused expression.
"Saint Tyris? What... what are you doing here?"
Hugo was startled by this, and looked at Jet.
'She really didn't tell him?'
Turns out Soul Reaper was not always so professional.
Sky Tide glanced at the Master.
"Master Sunless... it is good to see you again. I am glad to find you in good health. As for why I am here, isn't it obvious? I have come to hunt the beast."
"No... uh... I meant why are you here, in Antarctica?"
She stared at him expressionlessly.
'She's like a blonde Nephis,' Hugo thought.
"The White Feather Clan has been tasked with supporting the evacuation effort in the Southern Quadrant."
Hugo had already known this, but Sunny didn't. But he was a smart person, naturally, so it did not take him long to understand that the White Feather Clan was actually banished here by Valor, and not 'sent'.
Master Jet, meanwhile, looked at them for a while and said:
"In any case, we are grateful for your assistance, Saint Tyris."
Sky Tide simply nodded. Soon, the gaze of her striking amber eyes drifted to the tall mountain looming above the ruined outpost.
"What do we know about the enemy?"
Soul Reaper shook her head slightly.
"Not much..."
Then, she smiled and looked at the second youngest member of the group.
"...Yet, Sunny, do your thing."
Sunny gave her an odd look, before sighing and sending his shadows up the mountain.
To this, Hugo was about to offer his assistance, by either assuming the form of the Shadow Serpent or Ghostfreak to study the scene better, however he refrained from doing so in order to not make Sunny feel useless.
It was barely noticeable, but Sunny was quite insecure about his role among people and friends. That had been the case since the Forgotten Shore, and there was likely some traces of that left, so Hugo did not want to make him feel useless.
Sunny's eyes grew distant as he looked through the eyes of his shadows.
His shadow control was definitely impressive, something even the Shadow God lineage couldn't grant Hugo.
'I wonder if his Transcendent transformation would involve his shadows...'
Hugo thought, but just then, the young Master spoke:
"...It's a Tyrant, alright. Large, thick armor. Resembles an insect. There are around five hundred abominations under its command, many of them Fallen. I've noticed at least two dozen Corrupted lieutenants, as well."
He lingered for a moment, and then called out:
"Kimmy!"
A meek-looking young woman with mousy hair and an unassuming face sat up from the group of Irregulars, and walked over to sunny.
She passed the three Masters and Tyris, but seemed to shiver when she saw Hugo.
'...So she wasn't scared of a Transcendent being but was scared of an inhuman?'
Humans were truly a strange species. They were afraid of anything that didn't look like them. In fact, from history, they were afraid of other humans who did not look like them, which is why racism was so common before the dark ages.
That was the case in the Beast Realm as well, with a large part of the population being outwardly prejudiced against Noble Creatures.
It made Hugo wonder if humans of this realm could truly live with Noble Creatures in peace.
Anyhow, the girl seemed to possess an Aspect related to scouting or analysis. One of her abilities seemed to be the fact that she could share that gift with others. So she did exactly that, pairing her ability with Sunny's shadow control.
Studying the abominations more, Sunny slowly listed a few vulnerable points, sharing what little information he had been able to gather and glanced at the other officers with a calm expression.
"So, what do we do now?"
Saint Tyris remained silent, but Master Jet smiled.
Her smile was dark and vicious.
"What else? We kill it."
Sunny blinked.
"How?"
Soul Reaper waited for a few moments, then looked at Sky Tide.
The Transcendent crossed her arms.
"I will handle the Tyrant. As long as it's bound to the ground, I can attack the creature with impunity. If one attack doesn't crack its shell, ten will. If ten attacks fail, a hundred will do the job."
She looked at the Irregulars and frowned.
"However, you will have to deal with its retinue. That task... is not going to be easy."
Winter snorted, and then suddenly laughed.
"Easy? What's that?"
"You sure you won't need help with the Tyrant?" This time, it was Hugo who had spoken, causing them to look at him.
Tyris shook her head.
"No matter how powerful you are, an Ascended cannot do much in this battle."
"I wouldn't be so sure of that... But I'll respect your wishes, Saint Tyris."
He had wanted to offer his help as a courtesy, but in truth Hugo was glad that he wouldn't have to deal with the Tyrant. That meant he would spend less soul essence and deal only with the minions.
***
The group led the Irregulars up the mountain, marching towards the Gate with tense expressions.
Tyris was leading the group as she was a being more powerful than Hugo, which made him feel... Odd.
He had been used to being the strongest in the group when it comes to sentient beings, so standing beside her made Hugo feel... Inferior.
It was not bad though. He liked being strong, yes, but he also liked the idea of humanity having such strong champions like saint Tyris, saint cor, the dream merchant and more.
Their plan was simple: attack and kill the Nightmare Creatures. Their numbers, time limit, and the nature of the Nightmare Creatures did not allow them to form any meaningful plan, so the group simply decided to jump into battle with three divisions. The first was Saint Tyris herself, who would serve as a siege engine and challenge the Tyrant directly. The second was the four Masters and the third was the Irregulars, who were all Awakened.
The second division needed to make sure the Irregulars survived this battle, but they did not need to babysit them as they were already experienced Awakened.
Getting sight of the Nightmare Creatures, Hugo touched the Omnitrix on his chest, causing its lines to open and show symbols of the creatures he had on his playlists.
He circled between them, deciding which to choose for the upcoming battle.
Big Chill was not bad at all, especially with dealing with aerial abominations, but Hugo wanted something more destructive, and specifically something that didn't rely on its abilities.
Thankfully he had no shortage of such imprints, such as Humungousaur, Four Arms, Rath, Eatle, Stone Saint, Dragon... And much more.
Eventually, Hugo landed on an alien that made him pause for a moment.
It was a very old alien, the first he had ever transformed into...
He suddenly felt emotional, as he had not used that form for years now.
It was his Chimera sui generis form.
A rare smile appeared on his face, causing Master Winter, who was looking at him, to shiver.
Hugo informed the group that he was changing forms to warn them, and slammed the Omnitrix on his chest.
His body grew in size, turning light green in color and easily reaching ten feet in size. His skin became smoother, like that of an aquatic creature, and even tendrils were formed around his body.
His skin were more like tendrils fused together to resemble flesh rather than real skin.
He dressed in black armor that had a white stripe on the chest, spikes adorned his knees and shoulder pads and six green tentacles dangled in the front of his face. His tentacles and arms faded into brown and he wore fingerless black gloves. He had blue sacs on the side of his head and red eyes.
The soldiers of the Irregular Company seemed to shiver slightly at the sight of the new form, while the Masters and Sky Tide seemed more curious about the form. Well, aside from Sunny, who recognized it.m instantly.
"So you went from a skinny moth to an ugly giant... Hey, let me give you some advice: ladies sure do love a tall man, but the face is kind of a deal breaker."
Winter was the one to speak, clearly unaffected by the fact that they were about to fight an army of Nightmare Creatures.
Jet had nothing to say, though she did seem interested in how many forms Hugo had access to.
"I kind of missed this form, funnily enough," Sunny said. "Old is gold."
With those words, Sunny summoned the Shadow Lantern and called upon a tide of shadows, allowing himself to be embraced by them before dissolving into one himself.
When he manifested once again, he had taken on the form of the Shadow Devil Shell, matching Hugo in size and standing beside him on equal footing.
Saint Tyris looked at the scene calmly without any particular expression before fixing her gaze on the Tyrant.
The army of abominations had already spotted them, and the terrifying beetle-like creatures were descending upon them like a dark tide, while their leader, a beetle with a jade carapace, was staring at them with malice in her eyes.
The champions of humanity readied themselves, calling upon the powers of their Aspects and entered the battle.