22. Beast tide

Everyone gathered to the rendezvous site aka initial briefing site, the freed prisoners were all gathered together and fed with food appropriated by the military.

Gareth was one of the last teams to arrive, carrying some of the weaker or disabled prisoners they met with the rest of the soldiers who congratulated each other for a successful mission.

Standing from afar everyone gathered to watch the total anarchy that was happening at the bandit camp.

The beast tide came as scheduled and began ransacking the newly assembled bandits, the first to arrive were the flying beasts, swooping down or simply smashing into the ground many bandits were pulverized, eaten or crushed from high altitude.

The sabotage team had a large holographic monitor that gave an aerial view of the entire camp, the freed civilians watched with tear stricken eyes shouting hoarsely at the monitor some feinting from the wariness that had tormented them.

The bandits had overwhelming numbers but lacked discipline and by the time they managed to calm down from the previous attack a new attack would appear removing order all over again.

10 minutes in the ground wildlife arrived, the first to cause havoc were 3 meter tall rolling balls of destruction their hard exterior constantly hardened and worn by the rocky terrain they call home made it difficult for normal weaponry to get through.

These giant wheels were a type of adult grub, they had poor eyesight and had excellent sense of smell. The grubs were attracted to the scent of the eggs they had laid been eaten by the various bandits and now went on a roller derby of destruction flattening anything that stood in their way.

Another beast group a type of ground lizard was constantly underground, there favorite food is a type of screaming pygmy bear that creates a loud shrill that attracts these lizards towards them when threatened. The pygmy bear produce very quickly and would take anyone that would antagonize these bears down with them by attracting its biggest predator: the earth-burrowing twin headed monitor.

Its size was 10m tall and over 50m long and these dangerous creatures were currently having a feast amidst the bandits.

Some creatures would attract other creatures like the infested mushroom rat, it lives alongside a sentient fungus man and when one of them appears the other would follow not far behind. The rats are attracted to this sweet smelling fungus that is produced by a strange grub inside its anus. These fungus don't fall off naturally and the grub rarely defecates so this fungus is an extreme delicacy for the rats.

The fungus man is attracted to the various fungus that sprout from the rat, the various spores the rat emit would be food for the fungus man and any fungus that fall of the rat would be absorbed by the fungus man which would increase its lethality. The rat would make its home underneath the huge cap like head of the fungus man.

The last to arrive were not beasts but sentient plants and rocks, there were all very slow but their vengeance very deep. Due to their slow growth, taking anything of value from these elementals would incur a grudge that lasted centuries even when it is returned. most of these individuals are difficult to kill due to having a special core that acts as their main body while the exterior is just protection and misdirection. The core is very small and grows very slowly a millenia for it to grow half a meter.

currently a huge crystal mammoth had walked into the camp, its rage had turned its lovely purple colour a dark red. It was currently looking for its unborn child which would look like a pretty piece of crystal.

There were countless other creatures more than 200 coming in various sizes, and naming them all would require a few chapters.

The huge battle lasted more than 3 days before everything seemed to settle, most of the creatures had returned home while only those who had an irreparable grudge or loss continued to linger their wrath as furious as when they initially appeared.

The sabotage team by the second day had departed and had left the remnants to be dealt by the main army. Any of the lucky bandits who managed to escape were intercepted by the main army to be dealt punishment with the freed people as witnesses.

The sabotage team didn't come back empty handed, they had brought food, water, medical supplies, weapons & ammunition, camping equipment and vehicles as well as the numerous prisoners.

After they had returned to military HQ the logistics tallied up the loot and the result surprised everyone. The amount of food brought back was enough to increase food rations by 75% for the rest of the journey. The medical supplies had also saved many of the sickly who were currently on their deathbeds, the vehicles would help those who were crippled or to weak none were given to the big families despite their huge protests.

Gareth had been given a stim injection which massively increased natural healing by at least 450% he rejected any painkillers as it would numb his senses as well as his pain.

After he returned he was immediately greeted by Mikage who scratched at his feet probably wanting food. He didn't know where the food it ate went but Gareth had never seen it poop before, but given that it had been very patient waiting for him he decided to give a little extra to the little furball.