Survivor's Gacha; Endless Improvisation

[Operation Winterfang:]

[Total Awakened: 20]

[Classes: 2 Fire Elementalists, 3 Melee Specialists, 2 Demolitionists, 3 Trackers, 3 Engineers, 2 Tech Experts, 2 Mobility Specialists, 1 Adaptation Specialist, and 2 Healers]

Adaptation Specialist… well that was not a term that you hear every day, but it was a term that now rolled between the lips of all the higher-ups of Fort Aegis who had the authority to take part in the council meeting.

Holt was the first who brought it up, speaking of the civilian Awakened named Ethan Cole. From all that he revealed about his special ability, well, calling him an Adaptation Specialist was not wrong.

At first, despite Holt's claims, the Supreme Commandant had his doubts about a special ability that was related to a Gacha wheel.

Well, you couldn't blame him, simply because gacha wheels are synonymous with gamblers and gambling.

Deciding to go out to face a C Rank on the battlefield was already risky enough as it was, the Supreme Commandant didn't want an even more risky variable in the form of an Awakened with a Gacha power.

Afterall, a Gacha wheel meant probability right? It was a gamble.

What if in critical moments, the Gacha wheel settles on a useless gear or ability when lives are on the line and support is needed from the Gacha Awakened?

What would happen in a situation like that?

Well, in his defense, Holt claimed he had never seen this Ethan's special ability fail to draw what was needed at the right time.

It was an improvisation ability, not just a Gacha wheel. It was an ability that was meant to turn its host into an adaptation specialist, an ability that made him capable of reacting to every and any single threat in the apocalypse.

Considering the nature of the apocalypse, it was an ability that was tailored to surviving it, and hence why Holt pushed it so hard.

Holt had pushed it forward, and he managed to convince the others, now all he had to do was live up to his promise.

Well, that was how the initial draft for Operation Winterfang looked like.

Holt had made the crazy suggestion, convinced them on his final candidate for the operation, and Fort Aegis and its Supreme Commandant had bought into it, which automatically translated to the council buying into Holt's plan.

In 10 days, they would confront the Frost Wolf.

In 10 days, they would fight for the fate of Fort Aegis.

In 10 days, they would fight the fight of destiny.

3 days to ground the plan in reality and make all the necessary preparations, including informing all the Awakened that were chosen of the decision to include them in the taskforce for Operation Winterfang.

…

Later in the evening that same day, Holt met with Ethan on top the wall.

Tutututututu…!

The sound of the wall-mounted turrets firing reverberated like thunder.

The Kill Road lived up to its name as the barrage from the turrets lit up the road, spreading a kill net that engulfed all the Rift monsters who joined this wave.

This wave was a regular wave, and there were just 2 D Rank monsters leading the charge, with majority of the monsters being F Rank and some of them, the Generals leading the cannon fodder being E Rank.

With a lot of experience under their belts already at taking care of the monsters, the wall force did not panic as calmly, they rotated through their array of weapons, slaughtering the monsters before they could ever reach the wall.

A few months ago, Fort Aegis would have quaked at the stomp of any D Rank monster, no matter how small, but these days, only the strongest D Rank monsters could pose any threat to the Fort.

And since both D Ranks these time were just mundane Rift monsters, the wall force had no problem dealing with them.

The wall vibrated, leaving a persistent hum that lingered in the wake of every strike, rattling through the bones of every soldier and Awakened mounting the wall.

Of course, not all soldiers in the quarantine zone were Awakened.

Afterall, only a fraction of humanity Awakened during the disaster that cut through the world 6 months ago.

Most of humanity remained mundane, and though more Awakened after the apocalypse, the ration of mundane humans to Awakened was still exponentially high in favor of mundane humans.

In Fort Aegis and in other quarantine zones around the world, the bulk of every military were still mundane humans.

"Captain Holt!" The soldiers who noticed him climbing the wall saluted as soon as they saw Holt pass, while they ignored the unrecognizable man beside him.

Ethan didn't mind as Holt responded to the salutes with a subtle nod of his head in acknowledgement.

As soon as they stood on the wall, looking at the devastating as the wall-mounted turrets caused havoc beyond the wall, Holt finally asked.

"So, what do you say?"

Ethan's lips twitched. "Ugh, you know what I think about the quarantine army".

"I know," Holt nodded, trying to make his voice heard through the noise. "I'm not telling you to join the army, what I'm telling you to join is the taskforce".

Ethan grimaced. "What's the difference?"

Holt smiled. "There's a big difference? It's the army that you hate," he shrugged. "But you still have to admit that their existence is necessary for the survival of the quarantine zone".

He stole a glance at Ethan. "You know what would have happened if the army behind the wall was not created?"

Ethan kept quiet, but seeing that Holt also kept quiet and that this was not a rhetorical question, he groaned. "Nah, I don't know". He shook his head.

Holt chuckled softly. "Well, there would have been no quarantine zone".

Ethan looked at him.

Holt nodded. "It's the truth. The moment the Apocalypse came, civilization as we knew it fractured, men like the Supreme Commandant are the only reasons why humanity didn't become extinct".

"Just imagine in those early days if there was no quarantine zone, you would have never had direction and a destination to fight towards".

"Maybe, all of us would have died to Pike, or even before that in the Ashroad, or even against the Conductor".

"You can't deny it, you and I know that one of the reasons why we strived so hard to survive is because of the promise of a quarantine zone".

"It was not exactly what we expected, but it's better than nothing".

Ethan stared at Holt. "What does all this long explanation have to do with the difference between the army and the taskforce?"

Holt laughed and shook his head. "Are you really willing to stay on the sidelines and watch as the C Rank monster destroys the quarantine zone?"

"It's not like I can kill a C Rank myself, so what are you driving at?"

"Alone, you can't, but together, we can".

Ethan rolled his eyes. "I can't believe you're doing this. Really? Tell me, how much did they pay you?"

It was Holt's turn to roll his eyes and he did.

Thinking for a moment, he suddenly called. "Ethan".

"Yeah".

"Remember Travis's truth or dare game?"

Ethan looked at him; he nodded. "Yeah, I remember that bastard's game".

Holt chuckled. "You remember when you told us your story?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You said you hated how boring and monotonous your life was, and hoped if something exciting would happen, then the Apocalypse happened".

Ethan's lips twitched. "What are you driving at?"

Holt shrugged. "Don't you think your actions are weird. First, you want excitement and when it comes, you go into hiding from the excitement".

"That's different…"

"It's not," Holt rudely interrupted him. "Besides, forget about excitement, this is something real".

He looked Ethan in the eye. "This is real! People's lives are literally on the line, people are dying, the world is dying, and you have the power yet all you do is pretend to be a civilian just because you hate the system?"

Ethan silently stared at Holt.

Holt shook his head. "I mean, come on man, be realistic. If you hate the system so much, get stronger, become the one in power then you can change it".

"You have the potential to be the strongest, so why waste it?"

Ethan scrunched his nose as he looked away. "Now you're making me feel like shit".

"You should feel like shit, you deserve it".

Ethan glared at him, but then he sighed. "The Apocalypse changed my life so much, my mentality, it changed everything about me".

"For the first time in my life, I killed a human, humans even".

He looked at Holt. "Before the Apocalypse, I'm a guy who doesn't even kill animals. If my home is being infested by a pest, I'll chase it out rather than kill it".

"That's the kind of guy I was…"

"To suddenly change from that to killing people, it was a big change and I couldn't deal with it".

"For long, 6 months… I thought I could just hide, drink, and forget it all," he smiled wryly. "But a bastard like you just had to come rile me up".

Ethan sighed. "Count me in".

"Great!" Holt smiled.