The Scrap Tamer - Chapter 170

Chapter 170: Alex [2]: A Loss
The Twins only hope of getting out of being overwhelmed was the back up that was on its way but even that was uncertain.

After all, with the number of primals that had already spread deeper into the base, reinforcements might not arrive in time.

“Alex,” Tommy called out “we need to find a way to retreat.”

But Alex was too focused on the bliss of his growing soul power that he tuned everything else out.

But he seemed to have forgotten that he was only at silver rank and no matter how strong he was, facing a mid tier primal was a stretch.

One of the primals’ tail suddenly slammed into him, sending him flying across the field.

“Gah!” The air was knocked out of his as he spat a mouthful of blood.

“Alex!” The twins shouted in worry but there was nothing they could do,l since they were also getting overwhelmed.

The primal wasn’t done yet as it immediately launched an acidic projectile at Alex before he could even recover.

Luckily, his forged beast reacted fast enough and pulled him out of the attack’s path before it could land.

The ground where the projectile landed was immediately melted to a green molten puddle. Alex’s pupil’s shrunk as he watched what the attack did to the ground.

‘If that had landed,’ he thought.

He finally turned to the twins who were barely holding on at this point. Their breathing was labored and streams of sweat poured down their faces.

They had no option but to retreat, unfortunately, the primal that just attacked him wasn’t about to let him.

The primal, a scorpion, moved at speeds that was unfitting for it’s size. Before Alex had the chance to blink, the primal was upon him.

It used its claws to attack this time, trying to cleanly cut Alex in half but he quickly rolled and dodged to the side.

His forged beast retaliated with a stream of flames but the scorpion primal just shrugged it off as if the attack was nothing but a mere inconvenience.

“That’s not good.” Alex muttered as he dodged another tail swing from the scorpion, while his hound continued attacking.

But while focused on dodging the attacks of the scorpion primal, he seemed to have forgotten that they were facing a wave of primals.

Another primal suddenly appeared behind him and launched an attack.

‘Damn it, I can’t dodge ‘ he thought.

He hadn’t expected a literal rhino to charge at him from the back so he could only brace himself for the incoming attack.

Schlurk!

The sound of the rhino’s horn piercing something came but strangely, Alex felt no pain.

He slowly turned around only to be met with a view that drained all the blood from his face.

Hanging on the Rhino’s horn, with a gaping hole torn through his torso where it had pierced him, was Timmy.

Alex froze, his breath catching in his throat as the world around him seemed to blur.

Time slowed to a complete halt.

Everything—the screams, the chaos, the thunder of primal attacks—faded into the background.

All he could see was Timmy hanging on the primal’s horn, bleeding out.

The Rhino primal snorted, as if proud of its kill, before swinging its head and flinging Timmy’s body to the side like a discarded ragdoll.

It continued it’s charge towards the frozen Alex but due to Timmy getting in its way, it could gain enough speed to pierce through Alex too.

It was only able to slam him towards the direction Timmy was flung to.

Alex landed with a sickening crunch, probably from a few of his bones breaking but none of that registered.

All he could hear was a constant ringing.

“TIMMY!!” Tommy’s scream shattered through the static in Alex’s ears, filled with anguish and terror.

But even that horror was short-lived.

The distraction cost Tommy everything.

Another primal—a massive mantis-like creature—pounced on him before his beast could shield him.

Its bladed limbs slashed down ruthlessly, tearing through Tommy’s flesh.

The first swipe severed his right arm.

The second tore through his left leg.

Blood sprayed, and Tommy dropped to the ground with a sickening thud.

The primal was about to go for the final attack, his head, when suddenly

Boom!

It exploded into a shower of blood and so did multiple other primals in the field.

Although it might be a little too late, back up had finally arrived, led by none other than commander Voss.

“Surround them,” Commander Voss barked an order “make sure none escapes.”

“Yes Sir,” the subordinates replied and immediately got to attacking the primals with their forged beasts.

While all this happened, Alex forced his broken body to move and he immediately went towards Timmy.

Reaching him, Alex clearly saw the damage caused by the rhino.

Timmy lay on the floor, blood soaked through his uniform and a gaping hole on his torso. His eyes, barely open, fluttered weakly.

“Timmy! Hey, hey, stay with me!” Alex dropped to his knees beside him, hands shaking as he hovered uselessly over the boy, not knowing what to touch, afraid to hurt him more.

Timmy’s lips moved faintly. “A… Alex…”

“I’m here! You’re gonna be fine, okay? Reinforcements are here, they’ll get you to the medbay and patch you up.” Alex swallowed hard, his voice cracking. “You’re gonna be fine…”

But Timmy slowly shook his head, blood dribbling from the corner of his mouth.

“I don’t think I’ll make it… everything hurts… hurts too much…”

“No, no, don’t say that! Just hang on, you hear me?! You’re strong, you’re—!”

“We… we always looked up to you…” Timmy whispered, his eyes losing focus as his breathing grew shallower. “Even when you were a jerk… we saw past it…”

Alex felt like the air was being squeezed from his lungs. “Timmy—”

“You know, you were like… a big brother to us, Alex…” Timmy’s voice trembled, as did his hand, which barely lifted off the ground. “You always looked out for us… even if you didn’t know how to show it…”

Alex grabbed his hand gently, pressing it to his own chest. “You can’t do this, Timmy… please, don’t do this to me…”

“I’m scared…” Timmy choked out, tears mixing with the blood on his face. “I don’t wanna die…”

“You won’t! I won’t let you!” Alex screamed, eyes wide and wet as he desperately looked around for help, but the medics weren’t here yet as the other soldiers engaged with the primals.

And Timmy’s hand suddenly went limp, falling to the ground.