by Tao Wong
The Huskies sit in the back of brand new dark blue truck that Mikito and Richard have acquired. It’s huge and monstrous but strangely silent, the mana engine and battery not making a single sound as they run. It’s an incongruity that clashes with my understanding of how things should be that I struggle with even with Sabre. Still, the good news is that Sabre runs smoothly even if it does look like its seen better days.
Of course, Xev was less than impressed considering I had just gotten it fixed and had rather firmly told me to be careful. You’d think she’d enjoy the extra business, but I guess having your work wrecked in the space of a day was a bit frustrating. I’m definitely going to have to see about getting on her good side soon though since she’s the only Master-class Armorer in town. It’ll take months if not years for the rest of the humans to catch up with her and till then, it’s either her or the System.
Idle thoughts as we drive down the Highway, heading to fight the Spiders. We stop only long enough to switch the fort out between all of us, Mikito and Richard gaining the experience bonuses before I take it back. I should make a note to bring Lana out while it’s still in our control. Easy experience for her and there’s no reason not to. In fact, I bet we could run a train of people through here to give them the experience and get them a significant way to their first level.
When we start getting close to the original ambush point, we pull the truck over and disembark. I trigger the change and feel Sabre slide all over me, locking into place and giving me a sense of invulnerability and safety. My smile widens and it’s only the barking of the dogs that brings my attention back to our task. I’ve missed this.
“Mecha!” Mikito is pointing at my newly power armored clad form, her jaw on the ground. Oh shit, I forgot to tell them.
“Yeah…”
“Fuck man! How come you didn’t tell us about this?” Richard swears, eyeing my armor clad form.
“Ummm… I forgot? I’ve been trying to keep this quiet. Don’t want it stolen and what not, you know,” I shrug uncomfortably, feeling a bit like a jerk. They are working with me after all, they deserve to know some things.
Ali is laughing his ass off, invisible as usual. “Real smooth boy-o.”
Richard continues to glare at me before he visibly shakes himself and lets it go and walks over to inspect Sabre. “Damn, but that’s cool. Like, really cool. How much did it cost you?”
When I name the number, their jaws drop again. They just stare at Sabre and me and then Richard barks a laugh, “What’s your class? Moneybags?”
“No,” I begin to protest and then realise he’s teasing me.
“You are going to let me test this out,” Richard points his finger at me and Mikito nods firmly at that. For the first time, there’s a look of wonder and glee on Mikito’s face, the first I’ve ever seen. Mostly, she’s this quiet, reserved, perfect little Japanese girl until she fights, then she’s just death on two feet. But now, now she seems almost happy. It’s gone in a moment and her face closes down again. Thankfully, the PAV can resize to a certain extent though I’m not sure it’d fit Mikito. Still, we can give it a shot.
“Of course. Just, keep this quiet will you?” At confirming nods from both of them, I breathe a little sigh of relief. Not sure if matters, but keeping a few aces up my sleeve still seems like a good idea. “So, we follow the plan?”
Once I get their acknowledgment, I draw a deep breath and head into the woods first with Mikito and Richard following a good distance behind. Small radios clipped to their body and installed into my helmet lets us keep in contact at a distance while I scout out the spiders. It’d taken nearly a full day for Richard to learn Stealth, Mikito only needing a half-day but neither had very good levels yet which is why I’m in front.
Getting all the way to the ambush point takes nearly an hour of slow, careful moving. I can’t rely on Ali’s abilities so I have to look for them myself. When I do spot the first spider, it’s lying in the tree tops among its webs, just waiting for prey, occasionally shifting its head to sniff at the air and twitch its furry ears. The creature is still weird looking, a strange mixture of a wolf’s head on top of a spider’s furred body.
Wexlix Spider Adult (Level 34)
HP: 780 / 780
The moment I spot it, I start scanning the ground and I begin to see the thin threads of spider-silk laid around the base of trees ahead of me, ready to catch and hold unsuspecting prey. There’s no way in, not without triggering a trap or alerting the watching spider so I call a halt to Richard and Mikito over the radio before hunkering down.
“Ali, you can still spot them using your eyes,can’t you? And they can’t see you right?” I think to my companion and he nods, flying forwards. It’s nice that he actually can be serious when he needs to be.
It takes nearly an hour before the Spirit returns to my position, floating above me and wiping at non-existent cobwebs. “Yeah, you’re fucked.”
Okay, mostly serious.
“Details Ali,” I mutter in exasperation. We’re far enough away that the Wexlix Spider guard can’t hear me, especially while I’m in my helmet but I still curse myself out. No need to talk when I can just think at my orange-clad companion.
“Right, remember how you fought 5 of them and got your ass kicked? Well, there’s about a dozen adults and a half-dozen youngsters. And a spider that’s about half again the size of the biggest one whom I’m guessing is the Alpha,” Ali says. “Oh, and I found your rifle. It’s in the middle of the road, in enough pieces I’m not sure even Zev can fix it.”
I crawl back carefully, making my way over to my companions before letting them know the bad news. They fall silent at my news, the numbers well above what we had initially expected to fight. As much as I want to get my revenge and pick up the young lady for the quest, this is way too challenging for us right now. I’m doing this for, well, money and a distraction. Getting killed is definitely not on the cards.
“Time to leave?” I suggest.
Mikito shakes her head, anger flaring in her eyes at even a mention of running away. I’m somehow not surprised, I’ve never seen her decide not to fight.
“Mikito…” Richard begins.
“No. They will kill others. We are here. We kill youkai,” she insists and clutches her naginata to her.
Richard frowns, looking at the determined widow and then me. I groan slightly, shaking my head. “Mikito, this is insane. There’s more of them than there are of us.”
“We fight. I fight,” she points to herself, standing up and I growl, grabbing her arm and pulling her down. She isn’t able to fight my strength and has to sit, though she glares at me till I let her go.
“This is a bad idea,” I say and Mikito looks at me and then Richard who looks between the two of us.
“Boy-o, one thing to note. The longer we wait, the harder this is going to get,” Ali chimes in next to me, pointing backwards. “These guys have an Alpha which means they’re breeding. Longer you wait, the more there are.”
I grunt, shaking my head and then relay the information. Richard draws a deep breath and Mikito looks triumphant. Shit. Still, there’s no reason we couldn’t get a few more hands - but really? Who would we ask? Most of the others are too low level or just not equipped enough and the only other option is Raven’s Circle. You know what, fuck that shit. “Okay, fine.”
“How are we doing this then?” Richard says. I frown and then stare back, thinking about our options before I start speaking.
What do you do when you’ve got to fight a force that outnumbers you? Fight them piecemeal of course. Seems like not all the spiders will leave to attack immediately, at least from my experience. If my rather limited encounter experience holds true, all we need to do is make sure we attack and pull back, drawing them to us and killing them in small bursts. It’s why I’m back at my original scouting position while Mikito and Richard have drawn the truck further up the road, only a short run from where I am.
Can’t hit it with my pistol or t
he Mana Dart from this range, so I get ready to trigger the Quantum State Manipulator. When I do activate the device this time, I can feel the QSM extend its field, enveloping my body and shifting me to another dimension I guess. I can feel the effects, the field that wraps all around me and the energy that floats through me, around me. For a moment, I just stand there in surprise, taking it all in.
“You can feel it now can’t you? It’s our affinity,” smirk Ali.
“Yeah…” purchased knowledge comes flooding in now that I think about it. I stand there for a second, trying to understand what I already do - which is as strange and confusing as it sounds before I shake my head. Something to look into later, I got things to kill. Later. Always later.
I ignore the need for Stealth, just making sure my escape route is clear of spider webs before I grin, focusing on the creature as I trigger the QSM off. Time to test out my new spell. The moment I phase back in, I cast the spell, sacrificing Mana so that the floating blue bolt of energy can form in the air. I gesture with my hand and the dart flies straight out, slamming into the creature’s eye, blinding and angering it. The Wexlix spider howls in anger and a moment later a reply comes moments later from its pack mates.
Ali stays behind, floating in the air and counting, “1, 2, 3… and that’s 5 adults and 3 of the juveniles. Best run fast boy-o!”
No need to tell me twice as I bolt for it. Good news is that I’m able to stay ahead of them, though I have to duck and roll once when a Spider shoots its web at me. Other than that, I manage to make it back to the road without much trouble, the Spiders only 20 feet behind me. I run straight towards the truck and my team, spinning around with my pistol in hand to snap off a shot. The creatures burst out of the foliage even as I turn around, clustered in a clump of skittering spider legs and howling wolf heads.
Richard on top of the truck opens fire, launching an explosive shell into one side of the group and then another, tossing spider bodies around like so much confetti. Even as they begin to recover, I add to the carnage with my pistol, targeting the injured to end their lives quickly. As much damage as the explosives do to the ones that they hit, there’s too many for Richard to stop and the remaining spiders flow across the gaping holes in the asphalt and around their dead or dying friends.
Mikito and the four Huskies are there to meet them, both sides clashing in a maelstrom of fang, fur, claws and metal. Mikito slides past the lunging bite her first opponent makes, the blade of her naginata leaving a scorched wound across its body as she dodges, engaging the second almost immediately. Her blade flashes, blocking and cutting at legs as she dances between the two adult spiders.
The Huskies each take on the rest individually, pouncing forwards to bite at a leg before scrambling back. The juvenile spiders are out-weighed by their opponents and seem to be getting the worst of it, but an adult spider slams into the black and white puppy that attacks it, a leg rising and pinning the dog to the ground. Before it can attack again, I turn my pistol on the creature, burning a hole in its neck. It distracts the creature for a brief moment, long enough for Orel to swoop down and pin the spider into the ground, claws piercing the body. Orel doesn’t stop there though as it flaps its wings, the elemental blades of wind that surround them shifting the air to help it lift the creature off the ground.
I stop paying attention to Orel as I take off to help Mikito, swinging my sword at a back leg that comes into range. It causes the spider to lurch, giving Mikito a chance to open its chest up. The rest of the fight is actually relatively short, Richard and the puppies working to stall their opponents till Mikito and I finish off ours. Once that is done, we use overwhelming numbers to kill the remaining spiders, massacring them with ease.
I exhale, staring around at the various Spider corpses and a part of the tension I’ve been carrying since Mikito first insisted on this fight dissipates. Yeah, we can do this.
As I move to cast my Minor Healing on the injured dog, Ali shouts, “Incoming!”. The dog that I was about to touch lunges forward, putting itself between me and the launched webbing. The injured dog staggers and the web stream continues, sticking its body to the asphalt. Another dog is caught in the sticky web attack and restricted but everyone else manages to get away unscathed. Behind the flying webs, the remainder of the spiders come rushing out from the undergrowth, baying their need to extract revenge. At the back of the group, a truly massive Wexlix Spider looms, its fur dark grey and its eyes glowing red.
Wexlix Spider Alpha (Level 42 – Boss)
HP: 3280/3280
“RUN!” I shout to my companions, grabbing a plasma grenade from my inventory and tossing it into the incoming horde. A rainy day has definitely come and my only regret is that I don’t have time to get a second one out. Mikito ignores my order, flashing forwards as she activates her skill Charge and then goes into a slide underneath one of the creatures, her naginata held upwards to disembowel it.
On the truck, Richard curses the woman and unloads a round of normal shot before he begins to return the favor by using an instaglue shell on one of the closer Spiders, eyes flicking down to where his target just shot, “They webbed the tires!”
The explosion of the plasma grenade is less intense in the open air, heat and flames rushing out in a sphere of super-heated air that bowls the spiders and my companions over. Sabre’s extra weight and its gifted strength help keep me on my feet, while I spot Mikito slowly stagger upright leaning on her polearm, having been partially shielded by the body of the fighter she had been fighting under. I take the extra time that I’m given to sprint forward and behead a juvenile spider as our enemies recover. Screeching its anger, Orel returns to the battle from the skies and picks up another adult into the air, circling to gain altitude immediately as she gets ready to drop her opponent. The remainder of the adults including the boss recover quickly and I see little choice but to wade into the middle of them to distract the creatures before they can focus on my companions.
There are too many though, too many for me to distract completely. The injured, black and white husky has its throat torn out, unable to avoid its fate as it struggles to free itself from the webbing. Another has its side pierced by a spider leg, the creature rearing over it to finish it off. Richard screams in anger, unloading shot after shot into the spider and manages to punch a hole through the creature’s chest where it collapses on his pet.
I only catch glimpses of all this as I spin and attack in the middle of the spider horde. A leg slams into my shoulder, spinning me around and I take the momentum to slice off another foot that comes towards me. I no longer have time to think, reacting purely by instinct as fangs and claws come at me from all directions. Ali pops into existence occasionally throughout the fight, adding to the confusion as attacks pass through his incorporeal figure and buying me slivers of time.
As I fight, I catch a glimpse of Mikito. Her face is one of intense concentration and rage, lips pulled back even as blood drips from a cut down the side of her face, her skin red as if she’s been standing in the sun too long, portions of her long black hair burnt off. The naginata twirls in a dance of light and fire, slicing first one, a second and then a third leg off before burying itself in the throat of her opponent, all in the time it takes for me to exhale. Even as she finishes it off, she instinctively steps away from a lunging bite that comes from her side, swinging the butt of her polearm into its throat.
A mistimed block ends up with a Wexlix spider’s mouth around my right arm, attempting to crush and rend. Hundreds of pounds of pressure come to bear and even under the armor, I can feel my bones begin to crack. I release the blade from that hand and transfer it to my left, angling my cut to slash open the throat that is so invitingly positioned.
Even as blood gushes and the creature flops forward, pulling me off balance, another blow catches me from behind and I am sent sliding along the asphalt. Before I can recover, a leg pierces through the armor into my abdomen, pinning me face down on the ground. I scream into my helmet, activat
ing the QSM to fade out from the pinning leg and scramble away to see my attacker.
Wexlix Spider Alpha (Level 42 – Boss)
HP: 2430/3280
I know the creature wasn’t directly in the blast of the plasma grenade, but I know it was close. I groan mentally, backing up as much as I can to give myself space, mind racing. Blood drips down from my wound even as Sabre reacts to the damage, applying pressure through electronic sheathing around my stomach, slowing the bleeding. Adrenaline is keeping most of the pain away for the moment, but I know if I stop now, it’ll come back with a vengeance.
No time to treat the wound properly as the Alpha gets over its confusion at the disappearance of its original prey and skitters to the truck and Richard who stands on it. I don’t let it as I take a few running steps and leap into the air, calling the sword into both hands as I angle to land on the creatures back. Just before I do, I release the field and come back fully to this reality, sword landing first into its back.
The blade sinks in deep, cutting through coarse fur and muscle into vulnerable organs beneath as I land with one knee bent, the other splayed behind me as I try to keep my balance. Or at least, I hope vulnerable organs. I twist the blade with both hands, then as the creature bucks I fall flat and take a grip on the open wound. I dig enhanced strength hands into its back, crushing flesh as I attempt to stay on the monster.
While I keep the Boss distracted, my companions take the fight to the remaining spiders. Orel returns after having dropped its latest prey, this time landing on and staying on top of another wolf to peck it to death, beak tearing into the creature’s neck and spine. Richard has switched to slugs, each shot tearing a hole into the spiders he targets, creating distracting, painful openings for the Huskies to finish the monsters off. Mikito seems to have lost her naginata in the body of a spider, switching to fighting with a pair of glowing curved short swords that she wields with finesse and speed.