They were halfway across when it happened.
The river hissed, and a soldier just ahead of Adam let out a sharp scream.
Something had grabbed him.
The man flailed, his arms thrashing as yanked him under.
It happened in the space of a second, ending before they even took another step.
The soldier's scream turned into a gurgle, then silence. The river swallowed him whole.
Everyone froze.
Then the current surged.
The oil churned wildly like it was alive, bubbling and frothing around their legs.
Adam's war hammer pinged with frantic warnings, red lines darting across his HUD.
-Motion detected beneath surface-
-Hostile contact imminent-
He reached for his plasma rifle, but the liquid tugged at his legs, pulling him slightly off balance.
He couldn't see anything under the dark surface. He could try getting out by blinking to the other shore, but he was out of charges.
-ERROR: Blink unavailable-
-0/15 charges.-
He grit his teeth.
It didn't matter. He was used to fighting against terrible odds. This wouldn't be any different.
"Stay calm!" Commander Ruorke yelled.
Another scream echoed behind him.
This time, a volunteer was dragged down, disappearing beneath the sludge. A moment later, his war hammer's HUD blipped offline.
The silence didn't last long.
The river erupted.
Metallic tentacles burst from the surface, wrapping around anything they could reach.
One latched onto a soldier's leg and yanked him backward. Another wrapped around a war hammer's chest and squeezed until the metal groaned.
They were under attack.
From below.
"Defensive formation!" Commander Rourke roared. "Protect the wounded! Watch the surface! Don't waste ammo! Aim low!"
Plasma fire lit up the air, the red beams flashing in every direction. But the sludge distorted everything.
The beams lost power underwater, their paths bent and scattered by the thick liquid. Most shots missed.
Adam kept firing anyway.
A shape darted near him. He turned and fired, catching the edge of something silver. It recoiled with a screech that sounded more like twisting metal than anything alive.
Mechanical squids.
That's what they were. Shiny armor. Red sensors. Razor claws on the ends of their tentacles. The oil river was their hunting ground.
Adam turned to move, and that was when he realized that the river of oil had thickened. Whatever the squids had done to it, it was working.
The sludge clung to his legs, dragging with every step. He tried to move faster, but the resistance was brutal.
There was a loud screech as one of them got him. A tentacle coiled around his left leg and pulled.
He dropped, half-submerged, and began thrashing. He drove the butt of his plasma rifle into the tentacle. Once. Twice. It didn't let go.
The creature pulled harder. He was being dragged.
Adam reached to his thigh, unhooked the emergency combat knife with his right hand, the left still holding the rifle, and jammed it into the tentacle's base.
Sparks flew. The tentacle twitched, then released his leg.
He didn't stop to fight it.
He ran.
Step. Pull. Drag. Repeat.
It would be pretty stupid to try fighting the squids in their hunting grounds.
The river fought him every step of the way, and the screams kept coming.
Behind him, the squids finally rose out of the river, revealing themselves.
They were massive, their bodies half squid and half machine, the dark oil sloughing off them. Dozens of them.
Tentacles lashed out in every direction, slicing through soldiers and pulling down war hammers like toys.
Someone exploded beside him, their ability destroying one of the squids. But more kept coming.
Adam didn't stop, moving as fast as he could.
Some of the soldiers and volunteers had gotten to the shore, and were firing at the squids, giving those still in the river some space.
He broke through the sludge at last, collapsing onto the metal shore. The thick black liquid peeled away from his armor in strings, like tar.
He rolled to his knees, then up to his feet.
His helmet buzzed.
-Oxygen levels nominal-
-Environmental toxins reduced-
He turned, gun in his hand, and opened fire on the squids.
The rest of the group were scrambling towards the edge. Commander Rourke was dragging two men by the arms while firing from his mounted cannon.
A woman in red-plated armor floated face down in the sludge, unmoving. Her war hammer was dead, just like she was.
One of the volunteers screamed and vanished beneath the surface, a tentacle dragging him under.
It didn't matter who they were.
Prisoner or volunteer, soldier or civilian.
Everyone bled the same.
They reached the shore in waves, turning around to fire at the squids. Finally, they were all safe on the show, their plasma guns firing nonstop.
The energy in Adam's gone went out and he swapped out the cartridge with the spare one attached to his war hammer.
The suit would charge the cartridge as he used this one.
They kept firing until the surface of the river was calm again.
"Hold fire!" Commander Rourke raised a fist. The gunfire tapered off. "They're finally—"
The river exploded.
A massive form launched from the surface, tentacles flaring outward. It was bigger than the others, with spines running down its body and a single, glowing red eye in the center of its head.
It landed with a crash, metal legs anchoring into the floor. More followed.
Dozens.
Squids poured from the river, the oil still sticking to them. Their metal tentacles writhed, their edges sharp.
"Fuck." Someone swore as the gun fire resumed, beams of plasma flying.
"Hold formation!" Rourke shouted. "Melee! Burn them down!"
Some of the squids shrugged off at least five shots before going down, giving other squids time to draw closer. With every squid taken down, two more took its place.
The shore became a slaughterhouse.
Commander Rourke reached behind him, drawing the sword, a katana, attached to his warhammer and raising it into the air.
"FOR HUMANITY!"
He yelled as the first wave of squids reached them.
Blades sparked against tentacles. The exploding war hammer exploded again, sending a slight shockwave through the air as it destroyed a squid.
Someone screamed as a tentacle punched through their war hammer, tearing it apart with ease.
'Fucking Rank 7' Adam swore as he fought with everything he had.
The battle passed in a hazy blur.
He ducked under a lunging tentacle, burying the squid with shots from his rifle. A second later, it clicked empty.
With a snarl, he drew his blade.
A squid lashed out. He ducked. Slashed. Another came from the left. He twisted, slicing through it. Sparks burst across his visor.
Then a squid grabbed him from behind.
He was lifted and slammed into the floor.
His armor cracked.
He gasped, tasting blood. His sword slipped out of his hand, the katana folding in on itself and slamming back into place on his war hammer.
-System integrity compromised-
-Damage Level: Critical-
The tentacle wrapped around his torso, squeezing.
His arms flailed. He tried to reach his knife again but couldn't.
Everything blurred.
His HUD flickered, and his vision warped.
-Warning: Neural overload-
-Core Armor Integrity: 43%-
-Initializing Emergency Protocol-
Then it happened.
The war hammer pulsed.
Adam's mind was yanked inward as his suit connected with something. Something so vast, he couldn't comprehend it.
A hum filled his ears.
The notification slipped into his mind.
-Welcome back, Forerunner-
-Connecting to the War Hammer Protocol-
The tentacle holding him burst into sparks.
His eyes widened as code flashed across his HUD.
The war hammer was integrating with what it had connected to.
To Abaddon.
To the world killer itself.
And it was responding.