In front of our vehicle and all around us, there were some kinds of funny-looking trees. They were pretty short and more resembled overgrown bushes than actual trees. The strangest thing about them was that the trees were shining. They were giving off a bluish light.
It took me a moment to realize that the light seemed to emanate from within the leaves of the trees.
“What the heck are those?” Tamerlan asked from the back seat.
I looked at him in the rearview mirror and saw Vlad—who was sitting next to him—shrug his shoulders.
“I don’t care,” the Russian said. “Let’s fucking go.”
I pushed the acceleration, and our large off-road vehicle slowly rolled forward. As I drove the car into what appeared to be a forest, we examined the weird trees on either side of the Humvee. The light they gave off was not very bright, but it was bright enough for us to see by without resorting to using our night-vision goggles.
“They are like giant lamps,” Tamerlan said, looking out his window.
“Echo, have you ever seen anything like that?” Nate asked. The British guy looked slightly interested for the first time in a long while.
A message from the AI instantly popped up before my eyes. It read, “No, I have never seen anything like this before. The local flora looks strange and very interesting, to say the least. I would like to know more about it. If you find out more about these strange plants, it will be greatly appreciated. You will get more experience points and extra monetary rewards for completing your additional objectives, as usual.”
As soon as he stopped talking, another message popped up in my HUD.
> Your objectives have been updated.
“Sounds great, Echo,” Tamerlan said.
I slowed the vehicle to a crawl and was about to call up my Mission Menu when Vlad snapped at me, “What the hell are you doing, Davey?”
“Just want to check our objectives,” I said. “If you don’t mind.”
“Your job is to drive,” Vlad grumbled. “Leave anything else to me.”
He was really starting to get on my last nerve. Just to fuck with him, I stopped the car completely.
“Drive, goddammit,” he almost yelled at me.
Totally ignoring him, I brought up my Mission Menu, and a holographic screen popped up before me.
> The Mission Menu:
> Current mission: Find out what happened to the scientists.
> Current Main Objectives:
> 1. Examine the mobile base of the scientists (IN PROGRESS).
> Current Additional Objectives: (*)
> 1. Find out more about the flora on the wandering planet (IN PROGRESS).
> (*) Note: Your Additional Objectives are optional. You are allowed not to complete them if you choose not to. If you complete your additional objectives, however, you will get extra experience points and a monetary reward.
“Let’s check it out,” Vlad said and climbed out of the vehicle before any of us could say anything.
The rest of us did the same, and we walked up to Vlad who stood next to one of the trees, studying it.
“So what do we need to do, Echo?” I asked. “Do you want us to bring one of those trees back to the space station?”
A message from Echo popped up before my eyes. It read, “There will be no point in that.”
“Why?”
“Those plants seem to be receiving some kind of energy from below, ” another the message from the AI read. “Thanks to this energy, the trees emanate warmth and light. That’s why the temperature on this planet is quite pleasant.”
Echo’s idea of pleasant temperature was weird. Still, Echo was right to some extent. We had expected it to be freezing on the surface of the planet. Instead, it was chill there, but nothing we could not handle, especially considering the fact that our battle suits could keep us warm and safe even in the cosmos.
“Whatever is giving the local flora energy is somewhere below the surface of the planet,” Echo continued. “So you need to get there if you want to solve the mystery.”
“So we’ve got to find a cave or something,” Vlad said.
The Russian looked around but did not spot anything that resembled a cave in the immediate vicinity.
“Okay,” he said. “So let’s fucking go already, guys. Don’t just stand there.”
Not waiting for us to reply, he wheeled around and headed back for our car. I glanced at the other teammates of mine. Tamerlan shook his head. It was obvious that just like the rest of us, he did not like Vlad much. As to Nate, he did not show much reaction to Vlad’s temperament. He had long since gotten used to it.
We returned to the Humvee and climbed in.
I pushed the accelerator, and our off-road vehicle rolled forward. I weaved it between the strange trees for a few minutes. I consulted the Map every now and then to make sure we were moving in the right direction.
At some point, I caught a glimpse of movement from the corner of my eye. Out of the nearby bushes leaped a creature and stopped in front of our vehicle. I slammed on the brakes, bringing the Humvee to a jolting stop.
We stared ahead, examining the creature standing still in the light of the headlights. The creature looked strange. Sure, this planet was strange, so I had not expected the local creatures to look normal, but the appearance of the critter in front of us still felt wrong. I was not even sure if it was an animal or an overgrown insect. It was large, about the size of a German Shepherd. It had thick plates of chitin covering its body. Between the plates, the creature’s pale skin could be seen. The critter had a pair of mandibles, four legs, and no tail. It also seemed to have wings. Overall, the creature looked like a mix of a huge chubby bug and some animal.
We had been in many solar systems, had visited various planets, and had seemingly seen all sorts of different kinds of insects and animals. Yet we had never seen such a creature. It seemed as though nature had not been sure itself what it had been creating, an animal or an insect, when it was working on this creature.
As I stared at the monster, I could see a window with a small piece of info hovering above the creature’s head.
> Name: Alien
> Level: 50
“What the heck is that thing?” Tamerlan voiced the thing that was in the head of each of us.
“I dunno,” Vlad grumbled. “And I don’t fucking care. Let’s kill the ugly fucker.”
He swung open the roof hatch and pushed his body through the opening to take control of the large machine gun mounted on the car roof. The creature must have realized what was going to happen because it was no longer still. It was not going to run for dear life, though. Instead, it leaped forward and spread its wings, which elongated the distance of the jump.
Before Vlad could open fire on the critter, it landed on the hood with a loud thud.
“Dammit,” I heard Vlad yell in rage. “It’s too close. I can’t get a bead on it.”
I put the vehicle in reverse and stomped on the accelerator. However, a second before I did so, the creature pierced the hood with the claws on its legs, clinging to the vehicle. The monster then banged its head against the tough windshield with such brutal force, the glass cracked.
Vlad got back in the car and yelled at the top of his lungs, “What are you waiting for, assholes? Kill that thing!”
There was no point in driving the car, because the creature was clinging to the hood fast. So I applied the brakes and grabbed my submachine gun as my teammates readied their own weapons.
Nate and I leaned out of the windows and opened fire on the creature. Vlad got out through the hatch again and leaning forward, began firing his assault rifle at the creature on the hood. Our bullets slammed against the armor covering the creature’s body, seemingly doing little to no damage to it. The monster continued to slam its tough head against the windshield, spiderwebbing it.
When Nate and I got back in the cab to reload our weapons, the British guy said, “Aim between the pl
ates, guys.”
After reloading, we continued to pour the stream of fire into the monster. Between the plates on the creature’s body were narrow spaces that left some of its body unprotected. Every time I managed to send a bullet between the plates, the creature flinched and let go with a high-pitched scream of pain. The health bar hovering above the monster was shrinking as we continued to attack the creature.
At some point, when it had about ten percent of its health left, the critter unfasten itself from the hood and turned around. It then jumped off the hood to the ground and ran away, bleeding from numerous wounds in its body.
Vlad was not keen on letting the creature get away. Now that the monster put some distance between itself and our car, the Russian could use the machine gun. He manned it and immediately opened fire on the running creature. The heavy-caliber bullets punched into the monster, knocking it to the ground.
Vlad kept the steady barrage of fire on the creature. The machine gun mounted on the roof was way more powerful than our weapons, so the bullets Vlad fired punched through the creature’s armor without much trouble.
The monster was dead before it would have gotten up to its feet.
“Piece of cake,” Tamerlan said when Vlad got back in the vehicle.
“I wouldn’t say so,” I said. “That creature was tough. Much tougher than you’d expect from a level 50 enemy.”
“For once, I agree with Dave,” Vlad said and then called, “Hey, Echo.”
Immediately, a message from the AI popped up before my eyes. It read, “Yes, warrior? What can I do for you?”
“You told us there were no aliens on this freaking planet,” Vlad asked. “Why the thing we just killed was called alien then?”
“When the crew of the scout spaceship scanned this planet, they discovered forms of life on the surface,” Echo said. “Since they did not know what kind of living forms lived on this planet, it was decided to call all of the local creatures aliens.”
“And the critter didn’t seem like it was level 50,” Vlad continued. “Level 50 enemies are usually way easier to kill.”
“When the crew of the scout spaceship scanned this planet and discovered these creatures, they were not sure what level they should assign to these creatures, because such creatures have never been encountered until now”, Echo replied. “After another more detailed scan, they decided to give these creatures level 50 because they seemed to be about that strong. However, this information is not precise. These creatures may be weaker or stronger than regular level 50 enemies.”
“They are definitely way stronger than that,” Vlad grumbled.
“Which is why you will get much more experience points than you usually do after finishing this mission,” Echo said.
“Good,” Vlad said without much enthusiasm.
He wanted to add something else when two things happen simultaneously.
First, my Passive Ability kicked in, and I heard the mysterious voice speak in my head.
You are in danger. An enemy is approaching from the right.
Second, Tamerlan yelled, “Guys, there’s another one! On our right!”
I whipped my head in that direction and indeed saw another creature crashing through the foliage toward our large off-road vehicle. Wasting no time, Vlad pushed himself up through the roof hatch again and manned the machine gun mounted on the roof. He revolved it around to take a bead on the creature, which almost reached the Humvee.
Vlad opened fire on it, filling the air with the roar of gunfire. The heavy-caliber slugs punched through the armor plates covering the creature’s body. We added to the barrage on the creature, firing through the windows of the Humvee. The monster reached the car and suddenly dropped to the ground, dead, dark blood pouring from the multiply wounds in its body.
“I wonder how many there are those ugly bugs in this place,” Vlad said.
“I assume a lot,” Tamerlan said.
“Don’t jinx it, dammit,” Vlad snapped at him.
My Passive Ability kicked in again, and I heard the mysterious voice speak in my head once more.
You are in danger. There are enemies all around you.
I was really glad I had learned the ability called Spectral Protector some time ago. It could warn me about many types of danger that were about to happen to me. It also warned me if there were large groups of enemies nearby.
Which obviously was the case now.
“Guys, we are about to be jumped,” I yelled as I stomped on the acceleration, sending the large off-road vehicle lurching forward.
My teammates did not question me. They knew very well how my Passive Ability worked. It saved our lives more than once.
As I drove the Humvee, crashing through the foliage, Vlad got in the roof hatch and shouted, “I see them! They are moving toward us!”
“From what direction?” Tamerlan asked.
“From everywhere!” came the reply from the Russian.
I was too busy driving the car over the rough terrain, weaving between the trees, so I did not have time to look around. But when I glanced in the rearview mirror, I saw lots of creatures following us. They mostly looked like the two creatures we had killed. However, they did not look exactly like them. Some of them were bigger, others smaller. Some had pinchers, and some had scorpion-like tails. There were many variations of that creatures.
“They must’ve been attracted to the sound of our gunfire,” Tamerlan shouted over the roar of the engine.
“No shit, Sherlock,” Vlad yelled back.
I was glancing in the rearview mirror every now and then. Chubby creatures could not run fast enough to catch up to our vehicle. However, not all of them were running. Those that had wings were flying after us, and very fast at that. They were closing the gap between them and our vehicle very quickly.
Vlad pivoted the machine gun around and opened fire on the nearest flying bugs. The other teammates of mine began firing on the monsters chasing us as well.
Some of the critters flew over our vehicle without attacking it, which surprised me a great deal. It was not long before I found out what they were planning to do, though.
Several critters landed in front of our vehicle and spun around to face the Humvee rushing toward them. I was about to crash into them when they opened their mouths and spat greenish globs at the vehicle. As soon as the liquid splattered against the hood, there was a hiss, and holes began to appear in the hood.
The creatures’ saliva turned out to be very acid. It was quickly eating away at the metal. After burning through the hood, the acid reached the engine itself to eat at it as well.
The motor damaged, the Humvee began to slow down. The creatures in front of the car spread their wings and flew away before I would have crashed through them.
“They are gaining on us, David,” Tamerlan yelled from the backseat.
“The car won’t go any faster,” I yelled back. “The critters damaged the engine!”
I floored the gas pedal, but the car did not accelerate at all. If anything, it was slowing down.
A quick glance in the rearview mirror told me that the swarm of flying bugs was getting closer by the second. It was not long before they were all around us, pelting our vehicle with acid blobs, that burned through the body of the vehicle.
Vlad suddenly began screaming as a few droplets splattered across his face. His melted skin fell off his face. He dropped down through the roof hatch to the car floor, not stopping screaming for a second.
“Goddammit, it hurts,” he shrieked in an ear-piercing voice. “It hurts, it hurts, it hurts so much!”
The skin and muscle tissue on his face melted and dropped off like wax as the acid saliva was eating away at his flesh.
“Heal me, dammit,” he shrieked. “Heal me now!”
Tamerlan employed his Active Ability, and bluish energy flowed out of his left palm toward the Russian. Tamerlan had learned almost all skills for his Active Ability by that p
oint, so his magic-like healing ability was very powerful. Within seconds, Vlad’s face was restored, and he stopped screaming.
The Humvee continued to slow down until it stopped completely. The engine must have been destroyed entirely.
“It’s dead,” I yelled to my teammates. “Bail out!”
We jumped out of the vehicle only to find ourselves surrounded by the swarm of aggressive creatures.
Vlad employed his Active Ability, and a small battle drone named Kolobok materialized above his head. The flying robot instantly opened fire on the alien bugs. The Russian had learned lots of useful skills for his battle drone in the past few months.
One of them was Deflector Shield. This skill allowed Kolobok to automatically deploy an energy shield when attacked. Some of the bugs spat blobs of acid saliva at the battle drone, so it deployed the energy shield around itself. It absorbed most of the damage.
Kolobok could also deploy various types of mines as well as up to three mini turrets to deal additional damage to enemies. Vlad had also recently learned a skill called Rolling Thunder, so his battle drone also was equipped with a grenade launcher now. It was firing its dual machine guns at the aline bugs, interspersing the gunfire with barrages of missiles.
The four of us stood next to one another, firing in different directions, trying to keep the monsters at bay as they advanced on us from every which way. The air was filled with sounds of gunfire, booms of explosions as Kolobok’s missiles hit their targets, and screams of dying creatures. Yet the number of attackers did not seem to get any lower. If anything, every monster we killed seemed to spawn two or three more.
“How many there are those critters in this place?” Vlad yelled, shouting over the roar of gunfire.
Nobody replied. We were too busy fighting the alien bugs, doing our best to prevent them from getting within biting distance.
Some of the creatures spat gobs of acid at us. Luckily, so far none of them hit any of us. One of the reasons for that was my skill called Malicious Whispers 1 that I had recently learned and fully upgraded. Thanks to this skill, the spectral voice that warned me of danger whispered into my enemies’ ear, trying to confuse them.
The Weaponized: The Complete LitRPG Series Page 35
