Escalation

by Matthew Peed

  “Everyone, I think we have company,” I said to the party.

  “What is it?” Azra asked.

  “A flock of birds that seem to be after something. And considering they are diving at us . . .” I said, not finishing.

  Natsuko popped the hatch open and looked into the air above us. “Yup, they’re circling above us.”

  “Think you can hit them?” I asked. She was created to deal with this kind of threat.

  Natsuko looked at me and flashed an evil grin that I had seen on Father a few times. “No problem.”

  She jumped onto the roof of the ASV and pulled her rifle off her back. Father had made it so that it compacted a bit more after he’d heard about some of the trouble she’d had since she’d left the dungeon. She clicked a button on the side, and the barrel slid out. After pulling a scope off her belt and quickly attaching it, she then lifted the rifle and pulled the catch back, loading a round into the barrel.

  She took a moment to aim, then, with a small boom, fired. I watched from the drone’s eye as the head of one of the birds burst into blood, brain matter, and feathers. The body quickly fell from the sky. Before it had fallen a few dozen meters, the chest of another of the bird vanished after another shot by Natsuko. I gulped as I made a mental note to never piss her off—not that I should have worried; we were all part of the dungeon.

  As the two bodies fell from the sky, the others finally reacted and started to weave around as they tried to pinpoint us. At least that was my assumption. They clearly had lightning mana, so they should have been able to hit us. They started to rise, but they seemed to still be well within Natsuko’s range, as another soon followed the first two with its head going missing.

  It seemed the birds couldn’t take any more, and they started to send bolts of lightning into the forest at random near us. In fact, a tree right next to the ASV was struck and burst into flames. Azra had moved to the roof of the vehicle during the sniping and held her shield at the ready. I was glad that she was able to absorb energy from incoming attacks up to a certain amount.

  I turned my vision back to Natsuko as she fired again. She had two thin pieces of metal that almost reminded me of wings coming out of her back. When she fired, they emitted some energy to hold her in place. There was also a cord that linked the gun to her, whether to give it mana or her more control over it I would have to ask later.

  It wasn’t long before she took out another three, and the rest of the birds decided that it was in their best interest to flee. I set my drone to follow them for as long as it was possible. They were headed in the direction we were going anyway, so I would be able to keep in contact with the drone for a while.

  It was around noon when something I had never felt before happened. We had to stop as everyone, even the automata accompanying us, felt it. It was as if Father was . . . gone. I just couldn’t feel him anymore.

  “What—what happened?” Z2 asked with a lost expression.

  “I don’t know. Something must be blocking Father. There’s no way someone could remove him.” I still felt the link, which meant that the dungeon was still there. “I can feel the dungeon,” I finished as I tapped the crystal that was embedded in my chest.

  “That’s . . . that’s true . . .” Z2 said as she regained a bit of spirit.

  “Let’s keep going. This mission is to help Master, so it’s best if we finish it,” Azra said. She seemed less affected by the strange sensation. Most likely because she came from outside the dungeon.

  We roused the regular automata and kept going, but the pace was noticeably slower than before. Finally, after about thirty minutes or so, Father’s link came back fully, allowing us to breathe a breath of relief. After that we picked up the pace to catch up with the drone that had left my radius. A few hours later, it was nightfall and the regular automata needed to stop so that they could recharge.

  The ASV had several batteries they could use, charged from the excess mana from all the trees that were cut down to make a path to our location. We set up camp by putting the three vehicles into a triangle and letting one of the automata crew the gun turret mounted on the top. They could charge and watch the surroundings via the long cord that Father had provided for the gunner of each ASV.

  I looked around to make sure that everything was set up and then jumped into the canopy of the forest. I quickly made a circle as I planted several of the low-quality drones all around us to make sure nothing could sneak up on us. Once done I made my way to the top of the canopy and peered out at the sky. Ever since the first day I was upgraded, I had liked watching the night sky. Trees always made me feel calm. Part of the reason, I thought, was because of my makeup, with barely any metal.

  I watched the sky for a while, then made my way back to camp. The automata would be charged around midnight, but we decided to wait until dawn before moving out, as it would be safer. Plus, it reduced the chance of their mana being low in the case of an emergency. I lay on top of one of the ASVs as I watched Z2 spar with Azra. They were keeping it low level, but it was still quite interesting to watch.

  Azra was holding out against Z2’s rapid assault. She was able to move her shield almost before Z2 could strike. Even the trickier attacks were blocked, as if she had an extra pair of eyes. I noticed Z2’s tail streaking in for a sneak attack that I knew Azra couldn’t detect. My eyes widened when Azra pressed her heel down gently, but a jut of stone soared out of the ground and blocked the tail strike.

  With Z2’s tail attack blocked, it seemed that while Azra had Z2 pinned down, she couldn’t really attack as well. That’s when I found out I was wrong, Azra’s own tail slammed into the ground, and a pit opened under Z2. Z2 reacted instantly and the metal “wings” on her back opened and released some of the liquid nitrogen stored inside to form a set of full-fledged wings. She flapped them quickly and easily took to the sky. I wondered how much mana it took for her to be able to do that, considering the weight of ice.

  “Hey, no fair!” Azra called to Z2 from the ground.

  “All is fair in a battle. If you feel bad, come up here and tell it to my face,” Z2 mocked. She seemed to have cheered up considerably after she realized how easy it was for us to see Father.

  “You asked for it!” Azra shouted at her. I sensed the terra in the area flow toward her in a rapid rush. What looked like black sand started to float around her, and I noticed her eyes start to glow. Z2 took some distance and waited for whatever Azra was doing to finish. I couldn’t blame her; if I had no idea what was going on, I would put some distance between the enemy and me too.

  In a rush all the black sand seemed to fuse with her armor, and she started to float in the air. She looked at Z2 and then, like one of Natsuko’s bullets, shot toward Z2 in a flash. Z2 flapped her wings and dodged the rush with ease, but I thought it was more due to Azra still getting used to the movement of flight.

  Z2 frowned and readied her sword. A small snowstorm had started to gather around her. I looked over to Azra, who had come to a stop in the air, and she also had what looked like shards of metal that could rip someone apart floating around her. I decided that if the fight continued, someone might get hurt, and it probably wouldn’t only be one of them.

  “Alright, ladies! We don’t know if someone is able to watch us, so let’s not use ALL our abilities in a simple training session,” I called to them. I had to lace my voice with mana to make sure they heard me.

  They looked at each other and smiled sinisterly. “Let’s finish on a real battleground next time. Most kills, wins,” Z2 said nonchalantly.

  “Sounds good to me. Puppet judges,” Azra responded, pulling me into it.

  Chapter 12

  Puppet

  After dealing with the two girls’ fight, I just shook my head. I wasn’t sure if it was a woman thing or just the rivalry that comes from being strong and needing someone to keep challenging you to grow. I leaned back and flipped through my drones to check the area, when I saw something alarming.

  “Looks
like you guys will get to set that tonight after all, we got company,” I shouted to them, then to the rest of the gathering, “Enemy attack! Crew your stations!”

  My order roused the camp, and the regular automata immediately reacted. The drivers climbed into their vehicles and readied them in case we had to move quickly. Another three jumped up on the roof and crewed the machine guns mounted on the top. The armored foot soldiers formed walls in the gaps between each vehicle while the others readied their rifles and other weapons. The shields of the foot soldiers started to emit a barrier, and then they fused with their neighbors.

  “Everyone be ready! We have a large pack of wolf-based monsters in the perimeter. They are tier two or higher!” I shouted as I moved between the groups of automata.

  I was checking that the last group was ready when a howl seemed to shake the air. Several more followed after it that were less powerful but still equally nerve-racking. I released one of the machine gun drones, unsure how effective they would be in the forest. I would have to make a few land-based models.

  “Azra, Z2, you two are in command. I’m going for a walk,” I said and channeled light mana around my body. The surroundings started to appear on me so that if someone looked at me, they would see whatever was behind me. I believe that Father would call it “active camouflage.”

  “Make sure you keep watch!” Z2 shouted in my direction.

  “I’m going to win either way!” Azra retorted.

  I jumped into a nearby tree and made my way toward the pack that was stalking us. I used air mana to erase my scent and space mana to reduce my weight as I made my way toward the top of the trees. I sped through the canopy without so much as a sound, the branches barely bending at my passing. After a few seconds, I arrived at where the wolves had gathered and seemed to be preparing a rush toward the camp.

  I contemplated my options. I wanted to cause some damage, and I knew how to create the gunpowder that Father liked to use so I could create a bomb, but I had too little information on what type of wolves these were. I was about to throw a gunpowder bomb when a wolf entered my view.

  It was at least an extra two meters taller than the rest. It had the form of a wolf, but that seemed to be the end of it. Flames leaked from its mouth and nostrils, while smoke curled off its hide. The ground was singed as it stood, very clearly in charge of the pack. What had me worried was the strange collar around its neck. A green stone was embedded at the throat, and green “cracks” spread from it. Where the green was, it seemed that the wolf’s body had started to become twisted.

  “Well, shit,” I whispered to myself.

  The leader’s ears twitched, and I quickly jumped to another tree. A moment after I moved, an evil-looking black, green, and red flame completely devoured the tree I’d been on a moment ago. The tree quickly rotted from the burned spot and was just a husk in a matter of seconds. The leader looked around as if trying to decide if it was a threat or not.

  The regular wolves started to freak out, but it growled, and the pack returned to calm. A few had even launched fireballs into the surroundings the moment the leader had attacked. It looked like a bomb wouldn’t do much good. The shrapnel might have caused some damage, but a few cuts weren’t going to stop these things.

  I pulled my blade from the scabbard on my waist and channeled mana so that a thin beam of light covered the edge. I made sure the light didn’t leave the blade, making it basically invisible to the eye, then looked back to the pack to figure an attack route that would optimize my strike and, hopefully, avoid the leader until I cut the numbers down a bit.

  My time to decide ended when a bullet plowed through the head of one of the wolves. A few moments later the body exploded quite grandly. Taking the opportunity created by the distraction, I shot toward one of the wolves on the outer edge of the pack. It appeared to catch my scent right as my blade separated its head from its body. I followed the path in my head and struck down three more before I exited the pack and rushed back into the forest.

  Four splendid explosions followed behind me. I made my way up into the treetops and observed the panic I’d caused. The pack was actually calmer than I thought it would be. I knew this because several dozen fireballs followed my path through the forest. I made my way around the pack as two or three dozen meters of trees were turned into ash.

  More bullets shot from the direction of camp and took the heads off a few more wolves. I nodded. At this pace, we might be able to handle this without any trouble. I plotted my next course through the pack and readied my blade.

  I jumped down and charged the nearest wolf, and its head went flying. I was about to remove the next wolf’s head when the flame from the leader encompassed it and its surroundings. The explosion sent me flying into the brush nearby, and my flight ended as I collided with a tree. My right hand was thoroughly charred, and I found it hard to move. I was thankful that I didn’t feel the pain that mortals talk about.

  I jerked up to make my way into the forest but was too late—several wolves had surrounded me.

  “Oh, you dogs want a piece of me?” I said through gritted teeth.

  The wolf directly in front of me was thrown several meters to the side as the leader smacked him out of the way. An unearthly voice came from its mouth. “Dogs! If we’re dogs, that makes you our new chew toy!”

  “Since when did dogs learn to talk?” I said as I looked around to find some way to escape.

  The leader snorted, and flames left its nostrils. They coiled around either side of me, and I was amazed at the heat that came from it.

  “Joke all you want. You and yours are about to be the shit I crap out tomorrow,” the leader said, somehow managing to pull its snout into a grin.

  “Not today!” I shouted as the drone I’d released earlier came around and unleashed a hundred bullets every second.

  The leader roared and turned toward the drone, then unleashed what I was going to start calling “hell flame.” I managed to turn the drone in time to avoid most of the damage, but one of the wings got hit, and it started to lose altitude deeper in the forest. At the same time, I jumped straight up and reached the bottommost branch, using it to propel myself farther into the forest.

  Another hell flame followed me and burned everything in its path. I gulped after I had escaped the immediate area, then made my way back to the camp. The damage to my hand was starting to spread, and I was worried that I would have to cut the thing off. Hopefully, Natsuo would be able to fix it.

  I dropped into camp and shouted, “Open fire! Don’t let them near the camp!”

  The three turrets turned toward the section that the wolves were in and unleashed a steady stream of gunfire. I heard several explosions during the first couple of seconds, but it slowly died down. I felt like the leader had done something to reduce the effectiveness of the weapon.

  “What is it that did that to you?!” Azra asked, shocked when she saw my hand.

  “Big guy, something is up with him,” I responded as Natsuo examined it.

  “Closer, bad,” he said, which I took to mean that if I’d been closer, it would have been worse.

  He poured some energy into my hand, and the darkened section started to fade. The black had receded to my wrist when a fireball soared into the camp. It collided with the side of one of the ASVs. Luckily, it seemed the armor was strong enough to defend against it.

  I looked and noticed that a thin barrier was covering it. I peeked into the driver’s seat and saw that the driver automaton was channeling mana into the vehicle. I gave him the thumbs-up, and he nodded back to me.

  “Natsuko, can you see anything?” I asked. She was lying on top of the ASV and looking through her scope.

  “Hmm, the big dog is channeling mana into a firewall of some sort. Stupid mongrels,” she replied with a really pissed off face.

  “Thanks, let me know if it changes,” I said, and she fired a round into the forest. A moment later an explosion followed.

  “Sure thing,” she said as s
he pulled the bolt back to remove the shell she’d just fired.

  Even with all the wolves we’d killed already, there were still over thirty or forty plus the monster of a leader they had. I suddenly heard a growl from behind us and turned to see at least a dozen of the wolves rushing from the rear of the camp.

  “Fuck! Behind us!” I shouted and shot toward them with my blade shimmering from the energy covering it.

  It would have been better if I could have used both hands, but one blade was going to have to suffice. Z2 followed close behind me. She had her gun out and was firing into the group of wolves as we ran. She managed to take out at least three of them, but it seemed their hide was thick enough to protect it from the rounds she was using.

  I channeled some mana, and blades of light formed around me. I flung my injured hand forward, and the blades sliced into several of the wolves. Let’s just say, limbs went flying. We collided with the group and met claws with blades. Z2 was easily dodging their attacks, and each time she sliced with her sword, ice burst out of the wound . . . usually resulting in the wolf being pulled apart.

  Z2 was quite destructive in a close group fight like this, it seemed. I knew she was getting better with her close-range combat, but it was still surprising that it had reached this level. Her tail was slicing into a wolf’s eye, while her sword gashed one in the side, and her other hand fired bullets into another wolf.

  I didn’t hold back either and went to town, moving like the wind. I used the wolf’s own bodies as jump boards and made my way through the group, removing their heads as I went. In a matter of seconds, the group of roughly fifteen or sixteen wolves was decimated.

  When a thunderous crashing sound came from the camp, I turned and saw that the leader wolf had its mouth around one of the turrets. I looked to Z2 and got a nod. We ran back toward the camp, me scolding myself for thinking stupid dogs would only rush from the front as I ran back.

  I swore we left afterimages on our way back, but the speed required for that was ridiculous. The entire group released everything they had on the leader as I watched. Natsuko shot him point-blank in the head, but the bullet actually bounced off. Damn! It had a thick skull. It seemed this irritated it, though, as it turned its head toward her and gathered its hell flame.