It exploded, making two more stealth systems fail; twenty or so automatons were revealed.
Steve charged with a roar, acting as a shield for those behind him. His axe took out the repair bot-repeater platforms.
Deia got up to see Dave laughing as he jumped off Steve’s back.
“Thanks for the ride!” A dozen metal creations fell off as well, occupying the automatons.
A yell broke free from the throats of the melee fighters. Deia saw the excitement in their eyes.
She drew her blades, falling in beside a smiling Anna, whose tail swished happily. Excitement filled them both as they slammed into the automatons.
Deia and Anna fought side by side, their blades dancing in the light of Deia’s fire lamps.
“Dave, fix that AI!” Deia called out.
“Steve, give me a boost!” Dave said.
“Set!” Steve called out, slamming automatons back and turning to Dave.
Dave sprinted. Deia’s eyes widened a bit as he blurred.
Steve flicked his axe as Dave put a foot on it. Dave sailed through the air. A shield formed around his outstretched arms and head as he slammed through the windows of the command center.
Party Chat
Dave> Ow
Deia shook her head. She moved out from under a blow; her left blade took out the creature’s knee, her right blade spun and cut through its burly arm. Imbued with the power of her Fire, her blades were as strong as plasma torches—at least that was what Dave had said.
The sounds of fighting died down as Deia planted her blade in the blue spot her perception showed on archer guardians’ legs mixed with a repair bot’s manipulators, each holding a different weapon.
It had been one of the more effective fighters, to Deia’s dismay. Now, it slid to the floor, smoke coming from the hole Deia had made.
“We’ve got incoming!” Dave yelled from the tower. “Heavies! This thing needs another couple of minutes until it can do a reset!”
“Why not just destroy it?” Deia yelled back.
“We do that, this whole place locks down!” Dave said.
Deia grunted. Getting stuck in this workshop was not her idea of a good time.
Lights started to come on around the control center, showing off the catwalks and corridors that surrounded it.
“Steve!” Dave yelled, tossing a truly massive bow out of the control tower, at the big dude.
“Thanks, man!” Steve sounded overly excited as he held the bow. Dave tossed down a crate of two-foot arrows for the thing and then disappeared again.
“Malsour, get us some barricades. Anyone who has traps, start laying them down. Crafters and ranged, move up to the control tower,” Deia yelled.
Malsour created new barricades and a ladder that climbed up the control center’s wall and up to the window Dave had broken through.
People moved around the different approaches, muttering out their spells as different colored images appeared on the ground before disappearing.
Deia sheathed her two blades and pulled her bow off her back, fitting one of her specialty arrows to the string as she waited and watched for incoming experiments.
She didn’t have to wait long.
Chapter 31: Fight for the Automaton Workshop
Anna dodged behind one of the barricades as bolts filled the air. Everyone followed suit, waiting for the automatons to run out of bolts before they rose back up.
Steve’s massive bow took one in the chest, sending it back four feet and leaving it there.
Deia focused on the repeater-bots. Two more of the fighters had bows on them and added their arrows into the mix. Darklings and curses rose up around the automatons and started to pull them apart.
“On the other side!” Induca yelled.
Suzy’s creations shifted away from the immediate battle, turning to stop the combatants on the other side of the control center.
Anna looked out of her cover. Seeing that there were no bolts coming at her, she ran, leaping over barricades and running on them to face the new fighters on the other side.
Half of the melee fighters moved with her. All of them slowed as she skidded to a stop, facing a new group of automatons.
An archer fired one of its crossbows that had replaced its arms.
Anna flicked her blade; a whistling blade of wind tore the arrow apart and cut the automaton’s crossbow off.
It didn’t pause, firing with its other arm-crossbow.
Anna sent a flurry of wind at the creature as Suzy’s Air creations ripped through the automaton’s midst. They swooped in low, cutting them at their ankles and lower limbs. Many teetered on their multiple legs or fell over, their legs coming apart.
They didn’t stop moving toward the Stone Raiders.
Induca dropped a firestorm on the disabled automatons, filling the hall and turning it into an oven.
“Incoming centurions!” Dave called out. A new waypoint appeared at another corridor.
“We’ve got it!” Deia said.
“Fuck, we’ve got a behemoth coming in,” Dave said. Another waypoint came up on the opposite side of the corridor Deia headed toward.
“We’ve got it,” Anna said.
“The hell is a behemoth?” one of the Players asked.
“Steve is one,” Anna said.
“Ah shit, I was hoping he was just a freak!” another said, shifting their shield around.
“Awwe thanks man, makes me feel all happy inside!” Steve sounded genuinely touched by the praise.
They got to the hallway, waiting as they heard Deia’s group fighting whatever was on their side.
Induca jumped down from the control center; flames slowed her drop as she stood next to Anna. “Okay, I can give you about two shots with the plasma cannon before I’m going to pass out from the strain,” Induca muttered so no one else could hear.
“You sure?” Anna asked.
“Yeah, so make sure you make them count,” Induca said.
“Thank you. I will.” Anna pat her on the shoulder.
She heard the telltale sign of a plasma cannon being fired on the other side. It seemed Deia had stepped up her game.
“Incoming!” the fighter with the shield said. Their shield went up as they ducked behind cover. Anna dropped as she heard the whistling of bolts.
The shield bearer had half a dozen arrows in their shield before they hit the ground. Two more Stone Raiders were hit with the bolts, losing a good third of their Health.
Suzy’s creations surged ahead, painting a picture of their targets. Three behemoths with various modifications jogged toward the command center. Two of them had their arms and head replaced with repeaters. Repair bots moved over them, reloading the repeaters as a behemoth with a shield arm and sword followed behind.
The hall was too narrow for them to do anything but run in a line.
Centurions wielding weapons followed.
Anna sighed, happy to see that none of them had magical arms or augments. Those bastards were powerful and scary in tight spaces. The AI here is strong, but not strong enough to control all these creatures and magical weapons.
Anna ducked back as one of the repeater mounts started to fire.
“Your shots will take out the first two, but then the third is going to be the biggest pain in the ass with its shield and sword,” Anna said.
“Just tell me when.” Induca stood behind the barricade, her eyes glowing.
Anna felt her senses tingle. She allowed her magical sight to take over. Induca was a veritable raging inferno. That wasn’t what caught her eye, though. Malsour and Dave were putting off an incredible amount of Mana.
But Deia’s aura seemed to dominate the room as Anna heard another plasma round go off.
“How does she have so much Mana?” Anna asked.
“We all have our secrets,” Induca said, clearly knowing who she was talking about.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Anna asked.
“It wasn’t any surprise for us.
Our family isn’t exactly the weakest.” Induca grinned. “Now, we going to shoot these things or what?”
Her family isn’t the weakest? Is she saying that Deia is part of her family? But Dragons don’t change into Elves; all of them look like humans when they change forms. So, who else could be in her family and that powerful in human form? Anna shook her head. It was a thought for later; right now, she had three behemoths to kill.
“Hit them whenever you get a clear shot,” Anna said.
“Alrighty.” Induca held her arms up.
The multi-colored flames made Anna look away as they settled onto Induca’s frame. She didn’t show any sign of being burnt or even hot from the miniature inferno next to her head. Induca stepped out, bracing herself.
“Down!” Induca yelled.
Anna crouched as the plasma cannon bellowed. Anna’s ears rang from being so close to the cannon.
There was a flash of light and the sound of something getting torn apart as Induca stumbled back behind the barricade. Anna caught her and lowered her to the ground.
“I’ll be good in a minute,” Induca said.
Anna had to read her lips; her ears were still ringing. Anna gave her a thumbs-up and looked down the corridor. One of the behemoths had been torn apart; the repair bots on the second repeater-behemoth were scattered but it had plenty of bolts already loaded.
Anna ducked back as bolts once again filled the air.
Induca held her head, trying to pull herself back together after all the Mana she had just expelled.
As soon as there was a pause in the bolts, Anna started to dance. Her teeth pulled back into a hungry smile as she unleashed her teachings. Blades of Air cut into the repeater-behemoth, striking its armor, leaving deep grooves and taking off the repeater mounts.
She cut down the scouts and repair bots. The fighters were harder to kill but Anna had distance and time on her side. She took them and the weaker archer experiments out as the handful of centurions and behemoths continued on.
“Ready!” Induca said, not sounding so good.
“Shoot!” Anna said. She might be doing damage to the now weaponless behemoth but it was continuing on, its wounds of small consequence to it.
“Down!”
Once again, everyone hit the ground. Anna covered her ears this time.
Wind seemed to race toward Induca before a flash of heat and a wave of Air was thrown back out. Anna jumped up as the round slammed into the behemoth and tore it apart. Plasma burned through everything it touched, taking out a few centurions and leaving smoking craters on the third behemoth’s shield.
Induca took a step back before she fell like a wilted plant. Anna reached her before she hit the ground.
“Good work,” Anna said. Induca was out cold.
“Just need forty seconds!” Dave yelled.
A bolt flew out of the control tower, slamming into a centurion, and exploded, ripping the armored creature apart.
Anna once again threw her wind blades at the behemoth as it exited the hallway and came into the open area around the control center.
A flame trap covered the behemoth with bright red veins, but its Health barely changed. One of Dave’s crossbow bolts slammed into its shield, leaving a dent in the thing, but not doing any harm to the behemoth. It stepped on a shadow rune; darkness covered it. Dave’s bolts flew true, hitting with a metallic dong.
“Focus on the smaller centurions—we’ll get the behemoth after!” Anna yelled.
The melee fighters roared out their defiance, leaping to attack the centurions.
They were slower than the ones Anna had fought in the past, but they had thick armor, couldn’t feel pain, and they were good with their shields and swords.
The melee fighters came in and tore through them. They had better weapons and even if they had low levels, they had been training since coming to Emerilia. Many were E-heads and they fought as if their very lives depended on it.
Anna was surprised by their viciousness and their fighting styles for a moment. Her ears flattened as her tail swished in anticipation. “It isn’t the village, but this lot know how to fight!” She jumped into the melee, leveling automatons with her great sword.
“Stay out of the shadow trap!” Dave yelled.
Everyone made sure they were clear as explosions went off. Dave’s arrows hadn’t just been simple metal constructs.
The shadow trap faltered moments later; the behemoth had lost ten percent of its Health.
A repair bot archer hit it in the chest, making it turn to face Steve, who slammed his way through the automatons with a look of glee on his face.
“I see why people find pinatas so fun!” Steve hit a centurion so hard that its metal innards were sprayed across thirty feet.
Anna shook her head, looking at the behemoth that was now charging Steve and his group of fighters. Anna sprinted; the floor behind her cracked from her steps as she turned into a blur. The wind pulled at her face as she held her sword behind her, headed right at the behemoth’s back.
Blue spots appeared on the behemoth, showing weaknesses. Anna launched herself. There was no sound, only her sword whistling as it cut through the Air.
“Wind drill.” The Air threw her forward, a dart with a sword in her hands. The wind turned into a white spiral just moments before she ripped into the behemoth.
Her blade pierced; the metal around it tore apart as her blade became buried in its back. She braced herself, trying to pull the blade out as it jumped, trying to crush her underneath him. She jumped free and watched as her blade broke from the behemoth landing on it. At the same time, she noticed that its shield arm wasn’t functioning. Her attack had taken it out.
Steve didn’t give the behemoth time to recover. He cut its arm off with a powerful swing, running past as it tried to move.
“Finish it!” someone yelled.
“Wait!” Dave yelled.
“Why?”
“It can’t get up and we’ve got five seconds till this place resets itself. I’d like to have that thing on our side instead of having to repair it.”
“Automaton workshop reset. Insert command crystal. Command crystal inserted. Integration complete. Security settings updated, wiping old rune coding. Connecting to main Shard for instructions and verification,” Shard’s robotic voice said as any of the still moving automatons stopped their movements.
“Well, this is a fine mess you have here. It looks like the other teams that were sent here got stuck in different areas. None of them were engaged with the automatons. I am opening up the workshop and updating them on the situation. I am going over logs. This has presented a number of different possibilities to upgrade the automatons. Good work in completing your quest,” Shard said.
Quest: Aleph Homecoming
You have cleared the old malfunctioning runes from the Aleph Automaton’s Workshop and started the process to bring it back online.
Rewards: Ability to improve/repair current automatons and create new automatons.
45,000 EXP
Increased standing with Aleph people
Lights, not just those directly around the control center, started to come online.
“Okay, I’m saying we get some damned food and rest before we go and check on the forge. I’m beat.” Dave sat on the edge of the control center where a wall had been.
“Agreed.” Deia looked tired as she slumped down, smoke, dust, and sweat on her face.
“Dave! I’m going to need a new blade,” Anna said.
“Do you mind being a bit flashy?” Dave asked, half his mouth filled with bread.
“Why?” Anna asked.
“’Cause if you don’t, then I might have just the thing for you, though I’m going to need your help shaping those wind holes you had on your old blade,” Dave said.
“Okay.” Anna had liked her blade and been through many tough times with it, but she needed a new one if she was going to continue to be able to fight the enemies the Stone Raiders were finding.
Dave munched happily as the rest of the Stone Raiders sat down; eating, drinking, resting, and talking of their fight.
“What happened?” Induca asked groggily.
“We defeated the AI while you decided to take a nap.” Malsour drifted down to the floor and threw Anna and Deia a water skin before he moved to his sister, who was holding her head.
A metal spear landed next to her as Suzy rode her metal creation down next to Induca.
“Always getting yourself right in the middle of it,” Suzy admonished, putting her knees under Induca’s head as she gave her water.
Anna saw Malsour smile before he stepped into the control center.
“If I get this treatment every time, I’ll do it more often.” Induca grinned at Suzy. Suzy’s eyes thinned as her face got closer to Induca. She gave her a quick kiss, a smile on her face. “What was that for?”
“For being my idiot.”
Induca giggled as Suzy checked her over.
Suzy examined every inch of Induca for any sign of wounds.
***
The repair bots had carted away the majority of their broken brethren turned experiments.
They had all got a scare when the intact units started to move, only to wander away. As if they had never tried to kill them.
Deia closed the private chat she’d had with the party that had cleared out the forge they were supposed to be visiting next.
“Okay, it looks like the forge is all cleared of possible threats. There was a bunch of rock worms there. They do have a big issue with the forge’s refinery being all stuck up from the metal that was supposed to be smelted in it solidifying. Runes are all a mess from being warped by heat. The whole place is apparently pretty damn hot and massive,” Deia said to the gathered parties.
“Woohoo,” Dave said, sounding like an unenthusiastic, deflating paper bag.
Deia gave him a look as he shrugged sheepishly and gave her a smile. She couldn’t stay annoyed at him long, looking away and smiling to herself.
“Get your stuff together. We’re moving out,” Deia said.
People tossed what they had brought out back into their bags of holding. It would sort it anyways and ten minutes later, they were headed out of the Aleph automaton workshop.
For The Guild (Emerilia Book 2) Page 39
