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Kurt kept firing, picking off stragglers as their formation knit together—shooting one Elite in the knee joint, one in the eye, until their Jackal shields overlapped.
He took a quick body count. Eleven down in the formation approaching his position.
They continued their advance to less than five meters from the base of the stairs.
"Hold your fire," Kurt ordered. "Kelly, LOTUS to standby"
The flowerlike LOTUS antitank mines had been placed in the crux of the first steps and overlaid with a square of silver reflective blanket that served as camouflage in the brilliant light.
Two groups of five Elites split from their line and took up position to either side of the stairs, angling their shields toward the top. Five more Elites took cover behind them and opened fire. Plasma and crystal shards flashed up the slope.
Kurt ducked and the air scintillated overhead. He crawled to the edge and peered over.
The Hunters moved up the stairs followed by the balance of the Elite warriors… just passing the first step.
"Now," he told Kelly.
The LOTUS exploded into a multipetaled flash of lightning, thunder, and fire, enveloping the approaching force.
The concussive force roiled though Kurt's insides.
Three simultaneous sonic booms echoed off the walls.
Kurt popped up with his assault rifle and opened fire. Ash and Olivia were at his side, MA5Ks spitting rounds down the staircase.
The Hunter pair, halfway up the steps, stood stunned and bloodied by the concussive force, their impenetrable shields askew.
Kurt aimed at the closest Hunter's unarmored center. Rounds tore into its exposed flesh. The tangles of eels within his armor writhed and made the monster's bulk seem to boil. He grabbed his last plasma grenade, sidearmed it.
The grenade stuck to the Hunter's abdomen—flashed, and ignited a dozen of the orange eel symbiotes constituting its form. Many fell out, aflame, burning and squealing on the steps.
The Hunter staggered back and fell; the gestalt lost cohesion and spilled into a smoldering mound of worms.
The surviving Hunter ducked behind its shield, bellowing a vengeful cry.
Kurt picked up a rifle and joined Ash and Olivia, combining fire to penetrate the overshields of the remaining Elite solders on the stairs.
A cluster of Elites at the base regrouped, their shields regenerated, and they returned fire.
Ash and Olivia ducked behind cover.
The hill trembled behind Kurt.
He turned and saw a Hunter pair plod onto the top at the four o'clock position, flanked by a vanguard of three Elites with energy swords.
Kelly reacted first, moved in, grabbed an Elite's wrist, and
snapped it. She followed with an elbow to the Elite face— twisted the sword free and slashed, cutting it in half, as well as the two Elites on either side.
She spun to face the Hunters.
For once in her life, she was too slow.
The monsters had leveled their fuel-rod cannons at Kelly. They had her.
Holly jumped between Kelly and the weapons.
The Hunters fired, outlining both Spartans in the blinding green radiation for a split second.