by Ros Per
- “Um ... well, something like that,” Tilorn agreed with me reluctantly.
- I still think this is nonsense, but we can test your hypothesis. I’ve had an unallocated point since the last breakthrough, so I’ll use it on Mind. -
- “Where did you get that? I’ve never heard of someone that’s earned a free point here.”
- I got it from an achievement, and I have every reason to suspect that quite a lot of people will get this one or even more. -
- “Wow, can we somehow emulate what you did?”
- If you have never died before, then you can try it. -
- “Damn, all of us have already died several times.”
- Then this achievement is definitely not available to you. Okay, enough talking, let's get ready, the young people have probably been waiting for us a while now. -
We gathered everything quickly because we had several sets of equipment that were all easily accessed. Although all of us had already passed level 20, we were in no hurry to update our gear, for a completely ordinary reason - we lacked the money to do so. I’d had to invest heavily into additional kits for all of us, and the most expensive thing turned out to be a shield for Tilorn, that looked like a violin he carried on his left hand. It emitted a force field that almost completely covered his body, and had power sources that could be easily replaced during a battle.
Well, the rest of the equipment had been updated as well, but just a little. Before setting out, I decided to hold a quick briefing, hoping this would deter any unnecessary questions as we traveled. The group was almost operational, and I walked alongside them, telling them about the current situation and our task while simultaneously checking whether they’d put their equipment on properly.
- What I’m about to tell you is information you already know, but I want to make sure you understand the situation. Yesterday, while we were practicing covert movement, avoiding any encounters with monsters far from the outpost, Castra discovered a small mechanical spider, which she identified as a "Garbage collector of a mechanical colony." After mulling it over for some time, we decided to follow it. After three hours of crawling on our bellies and very careful observation, during which we almost lost sight of it twice, this spider led us to some ruins. We discovered several more similar spiders during our observation. Upon returning to the base, Tilorn and I very carefully studied the available information about them and found out the following: most likely, this colony is protecting an object. At the same time, it has its own mobile repair base, or as it’s also called: a “Queen”. According to rumors, some of the raiding groups and a number of clans have already managed to destroy about a dozen such colonies. The queen was only found twice, but she escaped both times. So, there is a possibility that we might find this queen. The chances are slim, but we have to be vigilant and not miss it if it’s there. However, even if we do miss it, we can still make some money because all of these colonies have a miniature factory that produces robots. -
- “If they can reproduce like that, how come they haven’t conquered the entirety of Alfarome by now?” And who would have thought to ask such a brilliant question? Quartz, of course!
- There is a limiter in place. According to all the rumors, there are no more than two or three hundred units at one time, taking into account the collectors, repair bots and other robotic attendants. By the way, “NanoTech”, our local clan of techies, has promised around ten million for the queen, depending on the state of its remains. But the "Wolves" have promised two hundred million credits, if they get the queen untouched, safe and sound. How they imagine that happening, I don’t know, but it’s safe to assume that they want to put it in a closed complex and just pump out the young there, as the total number of robots will always replenish. But that task is too difficult for us. We’re going in there to get the object and, if possible, destroy the queen. Afterward, we’ll call the trophy group in and get fire support. Everything clear? -
Everyone nodded and prepared to move forward, but I stopped them.
- And now we move on to the unpleasant bit. The object is located in the zone of influence of clan "Storm". The chance that they will find the place before our arrival is rather low, because they’re currently focusing all their attention on strengthening their positions in anticipation of a new breakthrough and are doing almost no exploration. But we still need to move very carefully, so as not to attract their attention. One more thing: we recently discovered one very unpleasant fact: after the capture of a new location, officially registered groups have twelve hours to challenge our control over it, and they can do so by force. Hopefully, it won’t be an issue, since too many challenges might destabilize everything and even lead to all out clan wars. Any questions? -
- “Why are we going in with our light gear? We might run into a lot of intense fighting,” Castra asked.
- Because these mechanoids use mainly lasers and plasma, and we don’t have equipment with sufficiently good protection against energy and thermal damage. Therefore, we will primarily rely on mobility and Tilorn's power shield, and also on Quartz, who can replace Tilorn’s power sources quickly. If his shield disappears… the whole group will die without even a chance to slip away. Any more questions? - Without waiting for someone to ask, I continued. - Then we’ll move forward through the southern gate, going five kilometers deeper, moving toward the object along an arc. Wading through all that will be harder, but make it less likely that someone from the clan will follow us. For the same reason, maintain radio silence. Headsets are good, but their protection from the signal being intercepted is weak, so let’s not risk it. Last but not least: if the raid is successful, I will lead you to a very interesting place, where a rather big fortune is waiting to be made. And not only that…
Having checked our equipment for the last time, we moved along the previously agreed on route, trying to avoid any encounters with monsters, and trying even harder to not be seen by other people. Because we moved so carefully, it took us almost six hours to get there. We never started a fight, to our great satisfaction. Now we were at about three hundred meters from the building where we’d noticed the mechanical spiders before, and were considering how to approach it. Castra was looking through some binoculars, and I was using the optical sight on my combined rifle.
This combination rifle had a longer barrel for sniper fire, with a magazine that held ten rounds in the butt, but the bottom one was shorter and with an automatic fire mode. It also supported magazine cases with miniaturization and switching between two types of ammunition. Such a gun spared me from having to carry several different types of weapons with me to complete different tasks. By the way, the cartridges no longer had cases, an option that had become available to me after hitting level 20. I’d also replaced the pistols with automatic ones that held thirty rounds each. I’d wanted to take the two compact submachine guns for added crowd control capabilities, but such models were limited to level twenty-five and above.
- Well, what do you see? - I turned to Castra.
- “I’ve spotted two entrances.”
- I spotted three. Send me their coordinates, I’ll verify them. -
Having received the coordinates from Castra and after making sure that I’d found the same ones, I decided that I could try to storm one.
- Castra, take a high vantage point and watch the surrounding area. Sargos, put explosives on both of Quartz’s drones so we can mine the two side passages. Quartz, get the drones to the specified passages, then run to Tilorn to cover you. Tilorn, while the drones are doing their thing, you break through to the central aisle and hold it until we get there. While you’re breaking through, I’ll cover you with a rifle, so try to move in a diagonal that lets me shoot normally. If everything goes according to plan, at my command, everyone go in after Tilorn and start clearing it. Any questions? Alright. Castra, get in position. When you do, click the radio twice. That’ll be our signal to commence. -
Castra crawled away from us and hid somewhere in the building w
here we’d hunkered down, and Tilorn took her place, not far from me, ready to run. Turning around to check everything, he noticed how Sargos was doing something with the small, round reconnaissance drones. They weren’t intended for use in combat, but the recent trick him and Quartz had come up with had prompted us to start doing so anyway. Meanwhile, Quartz had already put on his tactical glasses and neural gloves, doing some last minute tests on the drones.
It’s a pity that, for the time being, he can only manage two drones, and only low level ones. Never mind, we’ll still make him a war veteran, to the dismay of our opponents. Everyone seemed to be ready and Tilorn was going to use a skill to start off with, based on how he was positioned. Having estimated the pros and cons, I also decided to activate the "Rifle amendments" skill. The cooldown, of course, is lengthy, but I don’t think I’ll need a sniper skill inside the building, so I doubt it’ll matter. Now… what’s taking Castra so long?
It seemed like she was taking a long time to get into position. Oh, wait, I could hear the two agreed upon clicks in my ear, and Tilorn was taking off to my right, making sure to give me enough space to shoot without hitting him. Immediately behind him, two drones flew off overhead, going in different directions. The only disadvantage they had was that Quartz, while they were being controlled, was almost completely immobile and vulnerable. Sargos was currently covering him though, so I didn’t have to worry about that. And then our first foe jumped out to go after Tilorn.
They’d noticed him rather quickly, but that’s fine. I adjusted my rifle slightly, fired, and, almost immediately, the mechanical creature was thrown into the air, flipping over several times before it fell down, sparking due to the damage that had been done to it. Tilorn had already covered half the distance when another spider jumped out of the left aisle. Some weird creature, looking like a caterpillar with four manipulators, also came out along with it, and they immediately started moving in his direction.
I got the spider in my sights and only had to fire two rounds - the first one hadn’t hit the body, but the joint of a mechanical leg instead, completely tearing it off. This only slowed it down a little, because it had five more of them. These bastards apparently didn’t feel any pain. I shot two more bullets at the second mechanism, completely killing it. Suddenly, two sizeable explosions went off, nearly causing Tilorn to stumble as he ran the last few meters. Damn, what had the young chemist mixed into those explosives? I’d nearly been stunned, and I couldn’t even imagine how our medic and tank had fared.
- Quartz, meet up with Tilorn. Castra, leave your position and head there too. Sargos, cover me. I’ll cover Tilorn. - I quickly shouted orders to my team while aiming down the sights and scanning for any enemies.
- “Volper, I’ve spotted two groups of fighters coming in at six o'clock. Each is about the size of a platoon and they both seem to be heading our way.”
- F*****! - I cursed immediately. - They’ve really picked a bad time. Can you identify them? -
- One group is clearly from the Wolves, judging by the unique pattern on their armor, and the second one is unknown, their identification marks aren’t visible.
- We’re going with the plan, - I decided.
- “Orders received,” Tilorn stated.
- “Yeah,” Quartz added.
- “Roger that!” Castra replied.
Sargos just nodded. He was sitting next to her, but facing in the opposite direction, covering my back. I asked Sargos if he’d taken anything from our pursuers.
He nodded in response, and after a few seconds, he took out a round device from the side pocket of his backpack and handed it to me. It had a diameter of seven centimeters and was about three centimeters thick. I didn’t understand what it was at first, so I simply called up its information.
Directed activation mine "Clean Boom"
Area of explosion: 5 meters
Angle of explosion: 90 degrees
Kinetic Damage: 82-103
Penetrating damage: 94-132
Condition: 68%
Weight: 0.2 kg
Manufacturer: Quartz
- And do you have many of these “surprises” left? -
In response, he showed me three fingers, then a clenched fist. He’d need thirty minutes to make more? Well, what could I say? I was surprised, very much so. I didn’t know when he’d found the time, but we could discuss that back at the base. I was embarrassed by a few things, however: the state of the product, since it had apparently been assembled from very old parts. And it was also unfortunate that a laser had been chosen as the trigger element since those are quite visible in certain conditions. And turning the mine upside down, I was totally amazed.
- Seriously? You used double-sided tape to attach things together... -
Sargos just shrugged and rubbed his thumb along his index finger, clearly hinting at a lack of funds.
- Are you kidding me? Not two days ago, I gave you one hundred and fifty thousand credits! And that doesn’t even include the credits the system awarded you for destroying the mobs.
After dismissing his attempt to look angelic in order to pacify me, I simply waved a hand at him.
- Everybody, move forward, the rest are already in place. As we enter, you go last, and carefully leave our little explosive surprises behind us. Get creative, to ensure no one spots them and disarms them. -
Reaching the other members of the group, I gave the command to enter. Castra immediately slipped inside. Her task was to detect any traps and do general reconnaissance. Tilorn immediately moved to follow her. If anything happened, he would immediately cover the girl with his shield. Quartz followed right behind him, ready to quickly replace the batteries powering said shield. After briefly looking around, I dived into the passage. Our procession ended with Sargos, who would arrange surprises for those wanting to follow after us. I could feel it in my bones, we’d have trouble with both those groups yet. And if, God forbid, the queen turns out to be there, then we can expect a localized war to break out for the right to possess it. I’d been hoping to just get money for simpler trophies, but the presence of these two groups greatly increased the chances of finding the queen here. After taking a couple more steps, I almost began cursing out loud.
Attention! You are entering the area of the spontaneously formed dungeon: "Reserve Base No. 9 of the Mechanical Colony". The dungeon is designed for a group of players from level 19 to 32, with at least five fighters in the group.
Attention! If you destroy the Martha mechanics production complex, you will receive an additional reward.
- Gentlemen ... - looking at Castra, I added, - and lady! On behalf of Murphy’s law and the bitch queen Fate, congratulations! -
- “What are you congratulating us on?” I knew that Quartz would be unable to resist asking, hell, I’d counted on it.
- My dear young friend, I’m congratulating you on the fact that from now on we’re up to our necks in shit! It looks like the clans have also discovered the lovely local attractions. They most likely know that the queen of mechanoids is in here. And if you recall what kind of money the Wolves have offered for the queen… It should be obvious just how utterly, hopelessly screwed we are. -
CHAPTER XXIX: RACE AGAINST THE CLOCK
I expected them to become despondent and panic; I was even prepared to try and raise their morale. That’s why I was quite surprised when Castra simply bit her lower lip. This meant that she’d made a decision she wouldn’t be budging on. Tilorn, after turning off the shield for a second, destroyed another spider with his hammer. Then, activating the force field again, went deeper into the passage. I didn’t see Quartz nor Sargos’ faces since they’d remained behind, but unlike the others, Quartz voiced his opinion.
“What's that? We have a chance to rub it in a clan’s face? Two, even? Sure, it would be easier not to antagonize them… But just picture it! We walk into a room, and all anyone can think of is: ‘Wow, that’s the group that made two clans look like fools!’ I think the risk is worth it, Volp
er, and I’m sure the others do, too.”
At first, I wanted to object and remind him that the clans also knew how to take revenge, and at the same time, had the resources to enact said revenge with, but I decided not to. Moreover, there was quite a good chance for us to get out of this mess. Well, if everything worked out.
- Everybody, stop talking, quickly clear the dungeon, and then we’ll decide what to do from there. Castra, how long will it take those groups to get to us? -
- “Twenty minutes.”
- Okay. We’re at least twenty minutes ahead of them. If the groups belong to different clans, they might end up fighting each other once they meet up, on top of the delay Sargos’ surprise will surely cause. Therefore, we’ll be quick but thorough. Also, try not to make too much noise if you can avoid it. -
They all nodded in agreement and then moved to fulfill their orders. Castra cleared the bulk of the spiders on her own, hiding behind Tilorn's shield only when several of them popped up at once, or if their bulkier, mobile assemblies tried to jump us. We avoided getting too close to those things because they had a welding device on each feeler.
They were a sort of universal welding machine, which, apparently, could assemble various metal constructions. Quartz usually tended to take care of them with his shotgun before they got too close. In our brief moments of respite, he also managed to collect what he felt were interesting tidbits from the remains of the mechanoids. We moved like this for about five minutes, Castra and Quartz doing most of the damage. Experience, of course, was divided among everyone equally, as well as the money for destroying the mobs. The development of skills, however, was calculated individually for everyone.