Chapter 281: Vexical Prime: The Valkyrie
Earlier.
She had been sent to check on the patrol that was deployed to check on another group. The first group were a bunch of close quarters specialists who specialized in infantry on infantry warfare. They had been sent to a location under a bridge to find possible routes past enemy lines.
Unfortunately they went radio silent and stayed silent several hours ago. So a patrol was redirected to check on them. But when it started raining the chemical mix, they had decided to take shelter in some building. So when her unit had come across them when the High Priestess asked her to check on them she was livid.
They had kicked it into gear and gone ahead of them. When she arrived to see what was going on she found the current situation. The patrol soldiers were walking around, being careful not to touch anything. Because this would take some investigating to figure out the cause.
The bodies were spread out and just outside of the sewer door was a burn radius where an explosion occurred. There were plenty of dead that clearly died from that explosion. Just as clearly as there were dead who had been shot in the head multiple times.
"What happened?" She asked as she stepped under the bridge and out of the rain. She left the rest of her unit up in the armored vehicle. The investigation patrol on the other hand hand driven thor vehicles down into the space under the bridge.
"It looks like they were caught off guard. But these burns and damage all have the residual energy signature from our weapons. The explosion that happened here is unusual because it is two of our grenades going off in close proximity and at the same time." An older man who was leading the investigation patrol explained. He clearly cared little for proper protocol because then he would be calling her by her title.
"That does not look like a blast from one of our grenades. It leaves more scorching and less burning." She pointed out as she carefully stepped over a body. Making sure she was not touching anything to preserve the scene. The investigation team was already taking scans and pictures of the scene. They had to be quick in case the state of the battle changed and they had to quickly extract.
That method of battle field investigation was not limited to their country. Almost all militaries did the same thing. Although they each had different rituals to take care of their dead. The Holy Empire took care of their dead by doing a prayer before they moved their dead. They then left a simple cross on their body until it arrived on a ship where it would undergo another ritual until it was returned to the family of the deceased.
"Okay, once you get the pictures of sketches-"
Creak-click. BOOM!
The door to the sewers began to open up when they could hear a set of clicks. She was nearest to the door along with the leader of the investigation patrol. She instantly called upon her feathers. They flew off her back and around to the source of the noise. Just in time as well since a moment later there was an explosion. The sensors on her helmet were temporarily overloaded and she was blind. Then she blinked out the spots from her eyes and she could hear the screams.
Her feathers had emitted a low level of hard light which had successfully blocked her from the massive wave of burning damage. By proxy she had also partially saved the leader of the investigation patrol. Unfortunately his legs were smoldering as the clothes he was wearing had burned into his legs.
The source had been a small spot at the sewer door. The explosion had left the metal burning and cracked. While burns marked the surrounding area. Fortunately none of the other patrol investigation soldiers had been close enough to get caught up to it.
Unfortunately a moment later she saw one of the corpses that was close to the blast point slide to the side. With its liquids now leaking out it had started to slide across the floor even as the blood bubbled. But all she saw was a grenade slide out from under the body.
"Fuck!" She then quickly crouches by the leader of the investigation patrol. He had fallen to the ground after being injured by the first blast. This time she focused on using the feathers to cover them both.
The explosion had less flash this time and was not as damaging. The man by her was groaning in pain while she looked around and saw the other had backed away, some were repetitively blinking and shaking their heads.
"They left traps on the bodies. Move away for the time being. We need a unit specializing in bomb disarming to come take care of it." She ordered as she picked up the old man who had fallen unconscious from pain.
"Are we good to come up?" She heard a voice from the sewer door.
"There are no more bombs up here." She responded and then made a hand signal and they all pointed their weapons at the door. She had her feathers situated to block any attacks from that location.
They watched as a holy knight walked up. He led the group as he was covered in various smells and liquids. "Sorry we arrived and one of us ran up to check on the group when we found the bodies down here. Looks like he triggered a custom made tripwire. I apologize, Madam Valkyrie." He explained.
"So they came from the sewers and took them down." She lowered her guard as she thought for a moment. Then there was a beeping in her ear and she brought up a hand to tap a button. "What is it?"
"Base, just got a transmission on an open Vexical Military channel we think they managed to allied themselves with a mercenary group. We have the location, but the base was then hit with a saturation attack. They want us to go on the offensive." They informed her.
"On my way back up." She nodded her head and turned to the others. "I am needed elsewhere. Take care of this and be careful of more traps. She instructed before with drawing the feather drones which came to her back and then she zipped up the slope using her boots to glide up across the ground.