Unfortunately, these Quizards had a bit of intelligence of their own. By the time the slightly-wounded Quizard from the battle above caught up, they had already been hard at work. With silent communication, they had the largest and heaviest of their number – which just happened to be the wounded one – sit on the cover toward the beginning of the trap, adding enough weight that it wouldn’t tilt when they were crossing. The three other lizards quickly crossed, the cover tilting slightly but kept level for the most part by the heavier one.
As soon the three crossed, the larger one that was left behind moved off the cover and ran back down the tunnel. When it deemed it far enough, it made a running start and practically flew across the trap, falling short of the other side when the cover dropped. At the same time, the three lizards who had made it across dropped their tails into the pit, allowing the one who fell short to grab on to two separate tails, gripping with its sharp talons and drawing a small amount of blood.
Saved from a spike-filled death, the final Quizard was pulled up by its comrades, until they were all safe on the other side. Wasting no more time, they rushed down the tunnel and Milton was interested to see how his slicing blade trap worked against these thick-skinned lizards. He was confused by their unconcern when approaching the spinning blades – especially since the last trap proved that they had some intelligence to them.
He had forgotten for a second how fast they moved but was harshly reminded as they rushed through the spinning stone blades. Either they could analyze the timing of the blade rotations and adjusted accordingly, or they were really lucky; either way, the first three weaved their way through the deadly blades with only the third in line receiving a small cut along their tail.
The last Quizard – and the largest and heaviest – wasn’t so lucky. Since it moved just barely slower that the others, its timing was off. Making it to the halfway point, four of the blades sliced into the rock-hard skin, the extra sharp edges of the blades managing to inflict massive damage upon its head, chest, and front legs. He could hear the cracking of bones and stone all the way down in his Core Room, and his sensor orbs saw the lower half of his trap literally explode into pieces, flinging bloody stone shards down both directions of the tunnel. The trap had broken at an internal level as well, where it stopped spinning and ground to a halt within seconds.
When the dust and shards cleared from the air, Milton could see that the Quizard caught in the trap had its head almost detached from its body, one of its arms sliced and mangled, barely hanging on by flap of skin. Oozing red pools of blood were expanding outward from its corpse, covering the shard-strewn floor with its lifeblood. Shocked at the level of destruction he had caused, he almost missed the Quizards activating the spear-impalement trap further down the tunnel.
They were running so quickly and so close together that when the lead Quizard barreled through the trigger sheet, it and the second in line were past the trap when it sprung, instead hitting the last in line when it entered the trap zone. Although the wooden stakes were not as tough as stone, enough of them pierced the skin of the Quizard that it was impaled in a few key places. Every leg joint miraculously was hit, disabling all forward momentum of the giant lizard. A lucky stake was able to pierce a hole in its side before snapping off, causing it to bleed through what Milton decided was an artery from the amount of blood running out. Although it wasn’t killed instantly, with it unable to move and currently bleeding out he wasn’t worried about it anymore.
With three of the five Quizards who entered his dungeon dead or dying, that left only the two who made it past his first three traps. Looking back as their incapacitated member was impaled, the two shared a strange look and left it to die as they moved on. I’m guessing the draw of my leakage is too much for them to spend time on rescuing an already dying friend of theirs.
Without any more obstacles in place – not that they were slowing down for them in the first place – they raced down the last section of tunnel and reached the entrance to his Core Room within moments. Milton watched them coming from his Core, the frightening sight of the speeding reptiles freezing him for a second in fear. Because of that, he was almost too late ordering his drones to cut the ropes holding his gate block in place.
He had hoped to get them both underneath the block, effectively “killing two lizards with one stone.” No such luck, however, as they had spread out enough that the gate only ended up catching the back half of the lead Quizard, crushing its back legs and pinning it to the floor. The last giant lizard tried to stop in time but ended up smacking into the block with tremendous force, stunning it and creating a giant crack down the center of the block.
Safe for the moment, Milton watched the pinned Quizard that was halfway inside his Core Room feebly struggle to move, weakly waving its head and front legs around in an effort to rise. As its struggling weakened, he saw the block shudder and three fine cracks appeared toward the bottom of the stone block. Switching his attention to the corridor outside the Core Room, he saw the remaining Quizard bum-rushing the stone block again, breaking it apart bit by bit. The next impact saw even more cracks appear, as well as a chunk falling off the corner, further weakening the integrity of the entire gate.
By the time the flattened lizard inside his Core Room expired 10 minutes later, huge chunks of the gate were being broken off and thrown out of the way by the enraged and insanely strong Quizard trying to break in. It was doing damage to itself in the process, bloody gashes and even a broken leg bone not slowing it down in the slightest. As if it couldn’t feel the pain, one last charge down the tunnel broke off enough of the stone that it was able to climb over and wiggle its way through the missing chunks into his Core Room.
Dropping down from the cracked top of the block it had partially destroyed, the Quizard made a big splash as it touched down, just 10 feet away from Milton’s Core. His Clawed Badger was nearby, but it wouldn’t be able to reach the giant lizard in time considering the speed of the reptile. Activating his Overdrive skill for the first time since the Quizards had arrived on his territory, he took the time to consider his options.
He didn’t have much to work with in here: three drones, his Clawed Badger, ALANNA, and his Core shell – all surrounded by a small lake of water. None of his units, Combat or otherwise, was close enough to help. That left ALANNA and him – which was really just him since he considered ALANNA next to useless in battle unless she was specifically targeted. He still had his self-defensive cold laser, but he didn’t think it would do much based on how it affected the Scaly Bear – instead of freezing it solid, it only slowed the bear down a little bit.
He almost gave up in despair, nearly calling out to ALANNA to apologize that he couldn’t do better when he looked at her face. She still had a confident expression, as if she knew he could do it – she had faith in his abilities. No messing around, no cursing, no making fun of him; only the pure faith and knowledge of his strength, his determination, and his strategic mind pulling out a win against a better opponent.
With a renewed sense of determination, he looked again at what he had to work with when he mentally “smacked” his forehead in stupidity. The water! How could I have over-looked that? After activating his self-defensive cold laser, he aimed it towards the Quizard who was starting to move quicker now that his Overdrive skill was ending. Firing it as soon as he was able, he almost miscalculated and hit its foot. The nearly-hit appendage fortunately moved just in time, allowing the light-blue laser shot to strike the water flowing around the feet of the giant lizard.
The water surrounding the Quizard flash-froze, trapping its submerged feet inside the ice. As it struggled to lift any of its feet, Milton could hear and see cracks forming, promising that the large reptile would soon be free if he didn’t do something soon. With the free-flowing water surrounding the island of ice slowly melting it, he sent in his Clawed Badger to attack the backside of the imprisoned enemy.
The badgers’ super-sharp claws easily sliced through the back l
egs of the Quizard, causing gouts of blood to erupt from the cleanly cut-off stumps. The lizard hissed so loud it was almost roar-like, swinging its now-free lower half back and forth in unintentional spasms of pain. Moving as quick as it was able, his Clawed Badger avoided the swinging lower half and moved to the front of the trapped beast. As it neatly sliced off the lizards’ left front leg in one powerful swipe, the Quizard saw through the fog of pain and struck at his badger, picking it up in its mouth – halfway-in and halfway-out – and crushing its torso with a powerful crunch of its jaws. His badger didn’t go down easily; Milton could see its claws slicing through the Quizard, sticking out through the throat and parting the skin like a razor blade cutting through tough leather.
Spitting out the crushed and dying badger – which allowed it slice up more on the way out – the giant lizard somehow swung its body to the side, pulling just hard enough to break the ice around its remaining leg. When the shards of ice were flung up into the air, one of them just happened to hit ALANNA who was resting on top of his shell, watching the attack with an interested demeanor. Apparently, she considered the small shard of ice that hit her a personal attack, and Milton was finally able to see what she could do to defend herself.
It was over quickly, which was fine with him because he couldn’t handle anything else anyway. Leaping off his shell, she dived downwards with her fist in the lead, aiming for the head of the offending creature that dared attack her. With tremendous force and speed, her hand plowed through its skull, utterly destroying the entire head in the process. Missing three legs, throat shredded and torn, and now essentially headless, the Quizard stopped moving – finally dead.
ALANNA looked back at him, a smile on her face, “See, this bitch can take care of herself. I told you not to fucking worry – you got this.”
Chapter 22 – Bonus!
Total devastation. Well, not total, but close enough that Milton thought of it that way. When the last Quizard died, he looked over his domain, surveying the damage sustained by the five giant lizards that had attacked. The sheer amount of destruction just those five caused was disturbing – and he barely survived. Remembering the mountain range that they had come from, the dozens of caverns he had seen from just the one area worried him about the potential for more of the Quizards tracking down his dungeon. If he barely survived a handful, he couldn’t even comprehend if a dozen or more came knocking on his door.
“Sure, it looks bad – but you did it Milton. You fucking did it! It will probably take a while to rebuild, but now that you know what is out there, you can take steps to defend against that shit. And everything you received from that battle will help a bit as well,” ALANNA told him.
Still in his temporary stupor while looking at his dungeon and dead Combat Units, he wasn’t sure what she was talking about. His mind kicked back into gear as he comprehended what she said – his notifications! He had spaced them out, so caught up with the damage done that he hadn’t even looked at them yet.
Congratulations! You have defeated Quizard x5! You gain (5x500) 2500 experience!
Congratulations! You have increased your Combat Level!
Current Combat Level: 5
Experience: 4275/4500
By raising your Combat Level, you can choose to prioritize the development of certain statistics. In addition, your Combat Units will receive a 2% (per Combat Level) increase in their own attack and defensive abilities.
Current Points to Allocate: 5
Current Combat Unit A/D Increase: 10%
Congratulations!
You have upgraded the skill: Formation Fighting (Level 2)
Bonus at current skill level: 10% additional damage inflicted to the enemy when your units are in a formation.
Congratulations!
You have upgraded the skill: Combat Communication (Level 2)
Current # of units you can communicate with simultaneously at your current skill level: 5
Congratulations!
You have upgraded the skill: Cooperation (Level 3)
Bonus at current skill level: 15% increased defense for Combat Units participating in a battle beside a natural enemy
Congratulations!
You have upgraded the skill: Kamikaze (Level 3)
Damage bonus at current skill level: 400%
Congratulations!
You have upgraded the skill: Survivor (Level 2)
Bonus at current skill level: 10% increase in defense of Combat Units[22]
Congratulations!
You have unlocked an achievement:
What The…How Did You Do That?
Survive an invasion of your base after suffering 100% Combat Unit defender casualties
Bonus – 1000 Experience
Bonus – +1 to all stats
Error – Cannot increase Reactor Power/Strength and Structural Integrity/Constitution due to lack of resources.
Congratulations! You have increased your Combat Level!
Current Combat Level: 6
Experience: 5275/7500
By raising your Combat Level, you can choose to prioritize the development of certain statistics. In addition, your Combat Units will receive a 2% (per Combat Level) increase in their own attack and defensive abilities.
Current Points to Allocate: 11
Current Combat Unit A/D Increase: 12%
Oh my gosh! I’m not sure it was worth everything being destroyed, but I’ll take it. It was an intense battle and he was glad that he survived, but he wasn’t looking forward to something that stressful ever happening again. Looking back at what he had done over the last couple of days, he realized that ALANNA’s – and, admittedly his – impatience to start exploring, mining, and gathering resources led to the near-fatal encounter with a stronger enemy. He was lucky he didn’t encounter even one more of those Quizards, or perhaps something stronger.
Milton was sure something even worse was out there in the wide world – there always was. If he thought of this as an RPG, his group of level 4’s got their butts handed to them by some level 10 mobs – and they weren’t even bosses. Who knows what I’ll find out there – or who will find me. The only way to safeguard his well-being was to take it slower this time and wait for the proper resources before venturing outward again. And to build more traps.
He looked at his Core Status and, sure enough, he had received a bonus to everything but his Reactor Power and Structural Integrity.[23] With the increased Processing Power/Intelligence, he could field more units – but they would still be the smaller, less powerful ones that he had already been using and it was obvious that things couldn’t stay the same if he expected to survive. If he was attacked by some Quizards again, they would less than useless; for the moment, they were the only things he could afford, but he aimed to change that.
“ALANNA, I think I made a mistake venturing out too soon. As much as it will delay progress, I don’t want to risk running into anything stronger than what just attacked us. I need to take the time to prepare and adequately defend this place, now knowing a little of what the world has for us out there,” he told her, using his most reasonable voice he could.
“I agree, it was pretty dumb to go out there while leaving this place practically undefended. I mean, if it wasn’t for me, we’d be dead by now. Take all the fucking time you need – better to be overprepared then dead.”
“But you’re the one who…what…huh? Nevermind.”
Damn it, I just can’t win…
Chapter 23 – Facility fabrication
It took more than five years, but Milton was finally ready to venture out from his newly-improved dungeon. The initial cleanup and repair only took a week, with the recreation of his small army of Combat Units taking even less time than that. He was able to create more this time around with his stat bonuses he had received, as well as the points he was able to assign from his level-ups.[24] With his Processing Power/Intelligence now up to 15, he was able to field an impressive 1500 Bio Units. He also chose to increase both Process
ing Speed/Agility and Ingenuity/Wisdom to 13 so that his drones could work faster, and he could better utilize the materials he was accumulating. Even with these upgrades, the reason that it took so long to finish was because of the scarcity of metallic ore that was available to improve and create new defenses, as well as brand new facilities.
The initial deposit that his Clawed Badger had found supplied a great deal of metal units – over 10,000 in fact. However, as soon as it had been mined out, he had followed his badger on multiple feeding runs hoping to discover another one just like it. Unfortunately, only small deposits of ore had been found, providing less than 100 each time. Frustrated at his lack of resources, he began sending his drones to randomly search the surrounding underground area, hoping to find something his badger had missed.
His impatience got the better of him again because one of his drones ended up running across a small family of Clawed Badgers, the adults of which demolished and dismantled his drone. He knew they were only protecting their young, but the loss of a second drone was disheartening – not to mention worrisome. A stupid, and ultimately avoidable, mistake cost him one of his primary connections to the world outside his shell.
What made it worse was what happened afterwards, when the family got a whiff of his radiation leakage and he was forced to put them down when they attacked. He was melancholy for weeks after that, thoughts of the young badgers he was forced to kill running through his mind in an endless loop of self-crimination and forced-justification. Added to that, it was harder to get anything done as he had lost a third of his workforce. He had to completely change their prioritization so that they could still complete all the work he required of them, and as a result his whole prospecting and mining operation was slowed to a crawl.
The Station Core: A Dungeon Core Epic (Station Cores Book 1) Page 16