Executor Rising: A GameLit/LitRPG Adventure (Magnus Book 2)

by Vowron Prime

  “Just watch,” she repeated, pointing at the enemies.

  MC looked over to the wasps, hardly believing what he saw. They’d gone limp. The previously concerted force was now aimlessly milling about, occasionally smacking each other in midair like they had the worst hangover in history.

  Slowly, the wasps bumbled back to their holes, albeit a hell of a lot slower than before. One minute later, and there was nothing but silence. Several holes had opened up inside the wall of flesh right next to them, giving them a view of the multitude of organic tunnels within, like arteries and veins crisscrossing inside a living being.

  A minute later, and there was nothing but silence.

  Nova turned around and smiled. “The anesthesia worked! The infection should spread to the early warning systems, so we need not worry about the pillar’s sensors on this floor.”

  A bit too easy.

  “I find it hard to believe that a bit of blood would be enough to bring down an advanced alien defense network. You sure about this?”

  She beamed in response. “It is not just blood alone. Only someone with intimate knowledge of Qephyx flesh tech could manipulate their systems as I have. I imagine this would have been an impossible task for most Dyn.”

  MC tossed her the cleaning orb, which removed all traces of the blood on her hands.

  “I’m beginning to realize just how different our technologies are. You literally just infected a living organism with the flu, didn’t you?”

  She flashed a brilliant smile. “Something like that. It is not fatal, but it should serve our purposes. That said, with a pillar as large as this, every floor should have its own organic senses. The Dyn keep them completely isolated so that no one can take down the entire system. Still, this area should now be safe for us. It is the other Dyn that I am more worried about. Are you ready to do your part?”

  After considering the situation, he nodded. “Only as far in as we absolutely have to, right?”

  “Yes. We should only need to infiltrate a few hundred feet into the facility. I have no intention of getting caught by my people.”

  This part was going to suck. He’d have to get them inside without being spotted, and do it without Midar. A tall order, one that would put to the test every stealth trick he’d learned. There would be Dyn casualties from this particular infiltration op, a detail he neglected to mention to Nova.

  Staring at the foreboding tunnels of gore, he took a deep breath.

  “Well, here goes nothing.”

  Eight

  “Another bust, huh?”

  Nova nodded sadly, her beautiful wings drooping. “Empty, like the others.”

  Skulking through the intestine-like tunnels, the pair had yet to come across a terminal she could use, despite having taken several detours to search for them.

  Though seemingly endless, the organic tunnels were thankfully devoid of Dyn traffic. MC had initially tried to maintain a mental map of the crisscrossing hallways and larger chambers, but soon realized there was no need. With Nova’s eidetic memory, the chances of them getting lost were nonexistent.

  Voices from ahead prompted MC to grab Nova and pull her into a side passage. They then ducked around another corner to hide from the approaching Dyn. Scratchy, modulated speech grew in intensity as they approached.

  It made for the strangest sensation—at first, the voices sounded like white noise, yet the Dyn language was clearly embedded somewhere inside there. There was just a whole lot more on top that made their garbled chatter sound like someone trying to speak through a radio during an electrical storm.

  He peeked around the corner and shuddered. Despite knowing what to expect, the sight threw him for a loop. Two black metallic spheres floated several feet above the ground, their synthetic antennae-like protrusions jutting out from their polished surfaces like spikes.

  “-atus wishes… accelerate the indoctrination.”

  “I have heard the same, but he knows full well what overdosing does to them. Feral beasts may be marginally useful, but are ultimately a failure.”

  “Yes, our team has been tasked with discovering the exact dosage limit. A tall order… natural variances… kind.”

  The voices grew faint as the two Harvesters passed by, oblivious to MC’s presence.

  “Qephyx Dyn,” Nova whispered after they’d left. “The ones I had mentioned before.”

  “I thought you said they were fleshy?” It was hard to imagine these mechanical creatures constructing anything remotely similar to this.

  “The hoversphere armor I mentioned completely surrounds them. Their actual organic bodies are suspended within, though perhaps body is a misnomer. Their brains constitute most of their organic mass. Truly impressive anatomy, actually.”

  He’d have to take her word for it. The fact that those aliens occupied the same galaxy as humanity just did not sit right with him.

  MC was getting worried that they’d penetrated too deep into the compound when they happened upon a massive cylindrical room. He immediately pulled them back, observing the hive of activity from an adjacent passage.

  Room wasn’t the right word for it, seeing as the ceiling wasn’t even visible—it was like the atrium of some giant skyscraper, an area that drove home the ridiculous height of the structure. Bright red lighting flooded the place from unseen sources, and walkways of flesh soared high above like tendons.

  Traveling up and down its walls were organic pods. Yet unlike a typical elevator, they had no rails or cables to actuate them. Instead, dozens of metal millipede-like suction appendages secured the capsules to the soft walls.

  The massive ground floor was a hive of activity. Qephyx orbs hovered around, busily doing whatever aliens did.

  “Can you teleport us into one of the elevator pods?”

  “Sure, but I’m not going to. We’re aborting the mission. The situation's too hot.” Before Nova could argue back, he added, “If we find a terminal on our way back out, you’re more than welcome to use it. But this plan is a bust. Understood?”

  She bit her lip and nodded in reply, anguished.

  They were about to head back through the same tunnel when a voice called out to them from the tunnel they’d just passed through.

  “Ah, Artificer! The Legatus has been expecting you. How nice of you to drop by.”

  Four Ultimators had appeared behind them, along with a Zevan-type Dyn dressed in a fancy tailcoat suit, her hands on her hips, smiling smugly. Her holographically-projected white wings swayed gracefully, simulating ruffled feathers in a breeze.

  MC immediately moved in front of Nova, focusing the energy dampener to their front as he prepared to relocate the foes into oblivion, but Nova grasped his arm before he could.

  She shook her head, imploring him not to take action. His instincts fought with her suggestion, and the parasite’s compulsion fought with that. In the end, he acquiesced. She wouldn’t have stopped him unless she had a damn good reason.

  “I see that you’ve trained your Ultimator slave well! Look how thoroughly it has imprinted onto you. No wonder the Legatus was unable to find you.”

  If the Dyn was looking to get a rise out of MC, she failed completely, receiving only a stone-cold stare in response.

  The Dyn angel motioned to her Ultimators, who surrounded them.

  “You will come with me,” she commanded as she strode up to a fleshy wall that opened to reveal some kind of private elevator. This one had a shaft all to itself.

  MC hesitated a moment before reluctantly following Nova into the opaque pod. Being escorted by the enemy to a location of their choice ended in tragedy more often than not. That said, the confined environment did give him the perfect opportunity to wipe out the Ultimators and use the alien as a hostage.

  To his surprise, he was able to see out of it just fine, despite its lack of windows. One-way organic material—that was new.

  After the Ultimators ambled inside along with them, the elevator’s millipede legs shot them up the pillar. The
vast room disappeared beneath them as they entered a shaft reminiscent of a modern elevator’s. Floors flew by with astonishing rapidity.

  MC flew into action, relocating the four unsuspecting Ultimators far outside the pillar. Given their constitutions, he didn’t bother fusing them—they’d probably recover unless he diced them to bits. And even at their current height, he doubted they’d perish from falling to the jungle that lay at the pillar’s base. But it didn’t matter; he’d be out of here well before they could return.

  He gripped the angel’s mouth before she could scream.

  “Listen to me,” he said, grasping her neck with his cybernetic left. “You are going to guide us to one of the outer walls of this tower, on whatever floor we end up on. If you do, I’ll let you live. If you betray us, I will end you just like I did your goons. Understood?”

  Fear was evident in her eyes, yet she didn’t appear nearly as worried as he’d hoped. When he released her a moment later, she smoothed her clothes before responding.

  “I will do as you say. Just, walk behind me when we exit the elevator? It will make it easier to convince the Legatus’s overseers that my life was in danger.”

  “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

  A few seconds later, the familiar tug of gravity indicated the end to their ascent. Nova, for her part, remained silent during their entire vertical trip, perhaps realizing that she might very well make the situation worse.

  The tall Dyn angel beckoned for them to follow, her holographically projected wings swaying with her movement. They followed her in silence over an empty tendonous walkway suspended high in the air. In fact, they were so high that the bottom floor of the tower was barely distinct, the Dyn milling around mere dots a thousand feet below. After crossing the bridge, they came upon a large domed room with a similarly gory ceiling, bathed in eerie crimson light.

  They halted by a fleshy wall. In the next moment, the living membrane dissolved, revealing a doorway into an adjoining room.

  “Come,” she beckoned.

  Once the three of them were through the door, the wall grew back into place, a scab closing over a wound, fading rapidly. It was almost as if the natural healing process had been sped up several thousand times. After just a few seconds, it was impossible to tell that a hole had ever been there.

  The room they’d entered was a two-story domed affair attached to the main dome they’d walked through, except its far wall was entirely translucent, giving a view of the dark cavern and the pillar’s island far below.

  MC rejoiced. To think she’d actually done what he’d asked! She didn’t even have a Zevan magic barrier to protect her. A plan formed in his mind—after eliminating her, he’d then teleport them out through the wall, calling for Eiga to make their escape.

  Their captor spun around on them, fuming. “What do you think you’re doing, just waltzing into this place? Are you out of your mind? Do you have any idea how badly the Legatus wants to find you?”

  Nova was surprisingly composed. “So you are with the Resistance, after all?”

  “What?” Magnus demanded.

  “What gave it away?” the Dyn asked.

  “You, actually. A Dyn Praetorian would never personally involve herself in the subjugation of a criminal. You’d have sent your Ultimators without ever putting yourself in danger. Yet you did not, because you knew Magnus would destroy them. The Legatus would have seen footage of Magnus’s abilities by now. The first action you would have taken would have been to flood the air with antimagic venom aerosol.”

  MC cocked an eyebrow at his winged companion. That was the kind of assessment he’d expect out of an experienced veteran, not the clumsy, naive Nova.

  And did she just say aerosol?

  “Astute. There are more of us than you know, in places you could not imagine. I am Sareen, of the Resistance, but down here? I am merely one of the many Praetorian overseers responsible for the management of this facility.”

  She looked Nova up and down.

  “Tell me, have you finally taken a name, after all these centuries?”

  “You know me? And yes, I have a name now. Nova.”

  Sareen laughed. “Of course I know you! I doubt there is a single Resistance cell on this planet who doesn’t. Just how do you think you managed to elude the Legatus these past weeks? Silly girl, with his vast resources, you would not have stood a chance! We have been pulling strings and manipulating events from deep within his ranks, all to help you two escape.”

  “Why would the Resistance help us?” MC asked.

  “Ah yes, your mysterious friend. We all wondered how an Ultimator candidate could ever develop such fascinating powers…”

  “And maybe one day I’ll tell you, once you’ve earned our trust.”

  “Your actions in the elevator more than proved your paranoia, so I can’t say that I am surprised. Good. Perhaps you will manage to keep her alive after all. We all know that Nova lacks the mental capacity for such precaution,” she jabbed, throwing a sidelong glance at his angel.

  “But to answer your question, you’re the talk of the Dyn these days—the one who got away. The Legatus’s greatest failure!” She chuckled. “Anything we can do to disrupt his plans is a win for us, and so long as his attention is focused upon you, we can conduct our own business far more easily. If anything, we should be thanking you for granting us such a unique opportunity.”

  Nova hung her head in shame. “I thought I defeated this facility’s senses. How did you find us?”

  Sareen looked upon her like a lost child. “My dear, you may be an expert with Dyn technology, but that only applies to the technology you were allowed to know. The Dyn have plenty of secrets even a Lead Artificer such as you would not know. For example, this facility employs multiple redundant sensory systems. The nature of what we’re doing down here warrants such caution. You are both fortunate that I ensured no one else noticed your intrusion.”

  “And what exactly are you doing here?” MC asked. “Seems to me like you’re trying to poison the Zevan. You’re feeding them water from the mutagenic ponds, aren’t you?”

  Sareen raised her eyebrows. “I would like to know how you came across this information.”

  “I’ve seen a few of those ponds on the surface, with giant pipes pushing out water from underneath. When I saw your little operation down here, it didn’t take a genius to put two and two together.”

  “Not just an Ultimator candidate, I see. It is reassuring to see a good head accompanying those terrifying powers of yours.”

  “It was a team effort,” MC said, maintaining his distance as he continuously scanned his surroundings.

  “You are wise not to trust me,” she said amusedly.

  “Comes with the territory. So you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t believe your story.”

  Sareen sighed and addressed Nova, “The only reason I can think of why you would make such a foolhardy decision would be to uncover more about the Indoctrination plan. This should answer some of your questions,” she said, tossing Nova a small transparent crystal.

  “It is as you suspect,” Sareen continued, “the Dyn are mutating the Zevan of this planet. Why? Even I do not know the answer to that for certain, though I have my suspicions. For you see, this facility is managed not by the Legatus, or even the Consilium, but by Ubiquity Prime himself.”

  Nine

  “Why go through all that trouble?” MC asked the alien woman. “The Dyn seem advanced enough not to need to resort to something like indoctrinating the Zevan.”

  Sareen gave MC an appraising glance. “There may be several reasons behind this operation. For one, conquering the galaxy requires too much manpower, even for us. Drones and automata can only do so much, and Ultimators are far too rare for that purpose. We need living, thinking drones that can obey advanced commands, and we need to be able to create them en masse. What better way than to convert the denizens of the planet we wish to conquer in the first place? When they do not fight, they breed.
It serves both purposes.”

  “And throw away the mysteries of Zevan magic?” Nova exclaimed.

  “When successfully indoctrinated, they ought to retain both their magic and absolute obedience. Yet even I am not aware of Ubiquity Prime’s true motivations. What I do know is that he seems to be heavily invested in this operation, and especially with Zevan spatial magic. In fact, we have poured hundreds of our best minds into understanding that one discipline alone. To me, it feels like this effort is about more than simply raising an army. It feels personal, somehow.”

  “Those creatures look more like zombified mutants than intelligent minions. Whatever he’s up to, sounds like you guys have a long way to go.”

  “Failures. Progress is slow but steady. Before long, the Zevan will be no more than a memory, and we will begin cloning the mutants to seed the initial army. There is nothing you, or I, can do to stop it,” she added softly.

  “Sareen, I cannot accept that!” Nova interjected. “To keep fleeing as I have, when so many Zevan lives are at stake? You must know how that feels. Please—help us! You must have secrets, information on Dyn activity. Something, anything, that can help! Share it with us.”

  “Even if I had such intel—and I am not saying that I do—why should I take such a risk, leaking that to you? In just a few minutes, Ultimators will swarm this place looking for you. Your value to the Resistance lies in the Legatus’s fascination with you. What could you possibly do with that information?”

  “Make a difference,” MC responded. “It looks like you guys have a pretty impressive intelligence network, but what have you done with it? You continue to hide in the shadows, failing to take any kind of decisive action against that bastard.”

  Sareen scoffed. “We have achieved a multitude of accomplishments against the Legatus, often at the cost of many lives. Precious lives, of greater individuals than yourself. Who have paid the ultimate price in the hopes of overturning this tragic system. How dare you spit upon their sacrifice!”