Two face

Hours earlier, while Asa was still looking for fighters for the mission, a man had been standing in a dark and quiet hallway inside the building that used to be the former school and that now served as the headquarters of the human base. He was not alone, in front of her was a woman, her eyes were fixed on him as she was held firmly on her head by the man's hands.

"I didn't expect it to be so easy out of nowhere." The man spoke with good humor. His face, if anyone saw him, reflected a touch of satisfaction and calm, at last a weight was lifted from his back.

"Now that a mine has appeared, I will have fewer obstacles in front of me." He concluded as he removed his hand from the woman and asked:

"What will you do?"

The woman lost her balance a little when her head was released, but she managed to keep her feet by leaning against the wall. Fortunately, after a few seconds, she returned to normal and stood facing the man, and with a resolute countenance she said:

"Find out the location of the mine and kill as many humans as possible."

"Good!" The man nodded and waved the woman to the plan.

So she left the dark corridor and went to look for Asa. Finally her appearance could be seen, she didn't stand out among women for her beauty, her face and body were very normal and easily overlooked, her outfit was a sweatshirt and jeans. Soon, the man also came out of the dark, his body was tall, his long black hair swayed in the wind, however, all attention would be stolen by the right part of his body, in which several tentacles came out of his arm and leg. He walked towards the infirmary, his face showing his joy.

…

In the mine of black crystals, a few kilometers from the base, the last survivors of the attack of the mutant animals were almost completely surrounded, on their back were dozens of porcupines ready to attack, while in front, the leader of these pigs with his five meters tall faced them coldly, not missing any movement. The only option was to flee from the sides, however, due to the hesitation of the survivors, and more importantly, of the trainers who were supposed to take the lead in the decisions, the dozens of mutant pigs began to spread to the sides, obstructing the last hopes of escape without a fight. .

'Damn!' Roberto finally recovered his reasoning without interference, he was lost in his thoughts about how everything had come to this point, but at least his eyes were still locked on what was happening on the floor, so even though they seemed to have no life in them, he unconsciously knew what was happening. Instincts of him roared inside her head, all the experience and training in strategies and tricky situations received in the army filled her being, bringing her eyes back to life.

"Lucas, Humberto, Lara and you 3! Take care of the pack! Ingrid and Jessica deal with the big one! Wing, keep carrying me around it!" In those short moments, Roberto formed a plan in his mind, and nothing he said was accidental. He knew that it was much easier for most to survive the leader, after all, he was just one, as long as someone held him back for a while would allow the other team members to escape. Unfortunately, there wasn't just the head of the pack, his entire group was together, so it was necessary to get rid of them if they were to survive.

'Lucas is almost immortal, he can hold the beasts for a long time, Humberto can handle several animals simultaneously, Lara can slow down and help a little in combat, and the others can support him in some way. The leader has to be slowed down as much as possible, Ingrid has very high agility to dodge the thorns, Jessica doesn't even need to dodge, she will play the role of dead target. In the meantime, Asa will carry me through the air so I can focus my palms on the big one." Obviously, he didn't think all this through, this is just the translation of his boiling instincts into thoughts that drove him to make his decisions.

Asa wasted no time, he knew what to do now. The same happened with Ingrid, even if the situation did not contribute to wise decision-making, she trusted Roberto. As for the rest, even Lucas was a little lost in what to do, however, moments later, with the help of [Blood Understanding], he understood why Roberto's orders.

"Now it's a life-or-death situation for them, and maybe for me too. I can't risk their lives, so the [Blood Armor] is discarded unless strictly necessary. Besides not letting my blood splash on them." Lucas turned to the herd of hedgehogs around him, his face no longer showing a trace of hesitation, his entire being focused on surviving.

All this happened in mere seconds, Lara and Humberto barely had time to prepare, and so did the other three mutants, two men and a woman, who barely heard what the trainer said. Unfortunately, the mutated beasts didn't wait for their prey to prepare, launching the first round of attacks.

So the two-front showdown began, Roberto, Asa, Ingrid and Jessica ensured that the leader was kept busy. The huge porcupine roared with rage, even after its evolution through the black crystals, it had not yet developed a brain capable of specific strategic thoughts. So he could very well be fooled and that was just what was happening.

Ingrid dodged with great difficulty the massive stingers thrown at her, each stinger was about 1.5 meters thick and its high speed made the situation even worse for her. Her body flew in the air, her great flexibility allowed her to perform stunts impossible to the human body. The giant beast was also not easy to handle, although its dimensions were enormous, its speed and agility were not affected, its body moved quickly releasing its giant thorns without rest. The launch frequency was also absurd, Ingrid often had to deal with two or more giant stingers at the same time. Without a shadow of a doubt, Roberto chose wisely, there was no one better than her for this position.

As for Jessica, her situation was much better, the attacks passed through her body without any obstruction, she fulfilled her function with extreme ease, she just needed to run around the monster, calling her attention, and eventually he would attack her. Meanwhile, the two trainers were flying over the monster, Roberto clapped his hands as hard as he could, and Asa flew as close as possible to the mutant pig to intensify the effects of his companion's mutation, deflecting the leader's occasional attacks, the fact being in the air made it much easier to dodge attacks, after all, Asa had enormous mobility through the air due to their wings.

However, the efforts of the two trainers did not bear much fruit, after all, even if Roberto's mutation was useful, it was not strong enough to affect the giant pig, it only bothered the beast, making it more easily irritated.

On the other side of the battle, another dark cloud appeared. In the previous attack, when there were only 15 pigs, almost 60 thorns were released, but now with the addition of 20 more mutated beasts, the black cloud would have well over 100 stingers. However, whether by luck or fate, the beasts did not attack all at once, only half rushed forward to attack the humans.

When Lucas and his group watched half the hedgehogs fall behind, they were excited about their chance of survival, they could even see a light at the end of the tunnel. Unfortunately, their hopes didn't last long as the beasts launched their attack, most beasts hurled three or more spikes, with even some reaching five spikes at once. The cloud formed by the joint attack was much bigger than before, if one tried to count the number of thorns they would see that the numbers almost reached 100.

Hope, which should have been the last to die, dissipated as if it never existed, despair and fear were stamped on everyone's faces. Even the hearts of the two trainers who were in the air stopped for a second when they saw the huge cloud flying towards their team.

As soon as the attack was launched, Humberto turned his head wildly and his blades followed the movements of his hair. Lara swung her staff as fast as she could and activated her mutation to the best of her ability to slow the thorns. Lucas activated [Blood Understanding], [Vital Reinforcement], and [Blood Intuition] at the same time. His eyes began to turn white, his muscles swelled, and his arms stretched out in front of him. Everyone prepared for the approaching attack.