COI C49
The city guild had doubted that the sphere is near to impossible to face those Enders, facing them in their utilities like what platinum team did through their reputation. They still want the survivors to return home after the mistake they realized. Those saviors hide them as it is impossible to free them within the deeper depths of the caves. Now a strange phenomenon that is too familiar they were facing from one of the gangs’ realms. Secretly not telling the government about it as messages from the Enders it was existed, but it still exists within their very city. The same tricks, hiding, stalking, and worse than them all . . . No one comes back.
Team platinum had confident enough after it took them down. The adventurer who lost his loot apologizing everyone else who were victim of its supernatural activities. Yet, he was compensated and better yet congratulate him for the discovery. The budget for spending this quest is much helpful now for them. They have a limited time before they reset it. They call anyone from the Enders Bridge to continue its existence as it is vital for their cases happened. The reply was not to their expectation,
“The coordinates are there, you will freely use it unless you have ceased control of the entrance from Enders Bridge”
“. . . Then again, try sending the letter within the sphere. If you manage to deliver it to them. Then we will let it stay, along with the others who are curious about your survival”
It’s good enough, the entire adventurers gathered and start learning about the limits they have. Their equipment is always stronger but their masteries are limited by their own overpowered capabilities. They still wondering why, leaving the other departments keep testing the new psyche of their own people. Emerald is there and giving them the assumptions why they have weaknesses.
“The passive mental state keeps us wary. Either there are consequences or not, they don’t have a mental state to have the Enders militaristic mind set. We have it all but not the correct psychological experience to properly react. We just need to adjust one at the time than everything at once. Now that the new environment appearing out of nowhere, it is difficult to readapt that quick”
They have to reach them before the reset, the rewards place lead to after the success sending the message. No rewards to be this valuable than they ever face.
The victims were all using mana, as the time goes by its way attacking them change. The targets were all mana users, and the squanders are the lower ranks. The quest starts to make a bit more specific than they have to watch over. Written in a specific term as it meant to focus sending a message. It’s cruel to send someone weak to deliver it to them where a fast-moving monster that they barely see through the darkness and getting executed left and right. Leaving no choice but to let the unique team to take the quest. Team platinum.
Added with a few invites, they brought those two who were with them during the summer festival challenge. Nearly complete, but Siren nor anyone with sound magic won’t be coming with them as the noise is the primary attraction from that monster. Stealth is the main recommended strategy written down on the quest. 6 members setting up to this quest, and receiving modified tools to help them. Limited to its uses, but would be enough for them to escape when that happened. Disadvantages arose last time where the place they escape to was spawn camped made it nowhere to go except from the start.
They review and are planning about this quest. The first they need to do is to reintroduce themselves either their new names or their name as an adventurer.
“I’m impressed that you two have a job”
“We’re mechanics or my partner is a college student in engineering”
“Enough about that let’s first have both of you have names. That challenge before you were both anonymous”
“Said goes to you too, I’ve been called sniper after that match”
“That name would be fitting. Let’s first know about each other”
The leader of team platinum, who possessed the powers to transform into a werewolf and calling him the name Lycaon. The one who sided with him and the nerd on the front, who is actually a mage, name MRage. A weird name, but that his internet account name. Nera, the woman with a demonic arm, clearly inspired from devil may cry series. Then the last member, an actual gamer to be called as ‘Forgottoheal’ or paladin, it’s quite sad not going to hear his name. Finally, the two, they quickly said their new names. Sniper and Kombat, the nerd brothers.
The team burst out laughing they keep that nerd names given by the announcer, Cecilla, and now they are registered as contractors. The reward during this quest is an installment, as they will be receiving the rest of the pay by monthly. Receiving only credits to their devices is not helpful for the two. Even though the banks are decommissioned because they are only branch, it is much safer to say that they are accustomed using coins instead. Which they mostly get their resources from Mountaiwall’s trade. The payment shows 100,000 Y each.
Which is less because of the dangers in the sphere was remove, it is good enough for them to succeed as they thought of a plan that would help them benefit both experiencing the new environment and delivering the message to the Enders. The hardest part of the quest if when the Enders are still hostile or not. The payment should have been bigger, but not much of a waste as they have to travel and escaping the grasp of that monster. They enter the sphere as they are all prepare what lie inside. And they see the adventurers who are mostly researchers now.
The night lights inside here are barely seen across the distance but its exact short-sighted vision is clear as night. The two nerds are their first time experience this strange phenomenon. It creeps out most of their night visions to its useless condition.
“I can’t see shit”
“I know the rewards are lower than before. We have to send the message just to keep this place”
“Can’t argue with that, but the adventures had experience it before”
“And also we will be fucked when that monster coming when we leave this place, right?”
“Don’t worry sniper, we could restart back out then go in again”
Nera tells them the bright side of this sphere. Looks nightmarish and it will be when the city will have experience more of this after the reports about the gangs’ realms. People from different cities had come to this sphere and check on it a bit. The robots were targeting them with everything its secrets released, even that one giant machine did come after them on the same incident. Lycaon had enough to look around in this dark blank space. The map sets up according it was before the darkness shrouded in. The last location of those people being attacked and didn’t have chances to see it but its needle like legs.
The barrier shows sign of ripples touching on it. Numerous poking as the monster should be there, and found out the monster left threads of its weaving covering the barrier. When someone starts leaving there had already been attacked. The researcher had made multiple attempts as if it already waiting in front of it. After firing nothing on the dark front, the ripples appeared quicker than the previous attempts. One of the researchers runs out there as he disappeared. The tracer lose signal from him as he comes back in the sphere again. Too fast and couldn’t lay a hand on something in a short distance.
Then it stops, blurry within the darkness and many of the researchers had made a handful of testing tools for the team to use. One by one receiving each new gears with little to no chance it would be good enough for them to survive. All modified through runic words through their writings, but it has one special item made by the dwarves themselves. A speaker with a screen taped on it. A click from it will have sonar waves to see the monster before its coming to get them. It looks childish, and none of them are wiser to have a better rune item than this.
The speaker is given to the sniper, it is logical for long ranged sniper to see far away instead aiming under 6meter distance. Heck, he thought bringing a shot gun would be easier when he pulled it out.
“It’s alright sniper, this speaker will help you to see from a far”
The sniper takes it and test it at the darkness. The screen shows the position where the researchers are, and they are just 10meters away but more so as it reached more than 100meters. His helmet hid his expression and only reply
“Nice!”
The team is ready to set out, where the barrier shows no sign of it being interfered. It’s now or never, as they form into partners. It’s quite unnerving for the nerds to be separated like that.
“Can I partner with my partner?”
“You two have no experience yet facing this dark place”
“It will be fine, for I have a demonic arm”
“Nera, I’m glad you’ve be my partner. I prefer with pal instead”
“???”
“It means you paladin, I kind of agree though an armored sniper need chance to have more time to fight it”
“I should be with Kombat instead, Nera wants to partner Sniper because of his skill shots”
“That would be difficult for me. . . Hey, what happened to your leader and Mr. age?”
They have already left as they don't need to waste any more time. Using the speaker, they already running with such speed. The monster is actually waiting for them. Kombat had no choice but to bring Paladin with him.
“Remember, all stealth, scream when you know you're dead along the way. Longer screams I’ll give credits what you did. Pal?”
Paladin nodded as they need to go soon, the monster is already moving in. Through another check, the monster returned as Kombat and Paladin already split up and going different direction, while MRage and Lycaon are safely moving forward.
“The fuck!”
“Yeah, what the actual fuck. I hope you can run faster than I could”
“Nera, I was thinking, if I wasn’t fast enough, leave me. I would try my best and do to stall that thing”
“Don’t try be a hero, you have that speaker, haven’t you?”
“You could reequip in your inventory, on the plus sides, I would be seeing that monster. I’ve been starting to question about that thing to be as powerful as we are back in Horsin. You know, those speed attacks”
“That’s would the researchers’ job, we are here to send a message”
“Yeah about that, is it really happened in the city?”
“I only heard it on the police side of the case”
“Well, now that sucks. I’m still going with my own plan . . .”
Sniper and Nera leave the safe barrier, and he quickly shuts up when she pulled him into darkness and already lose sight of the barrier after in short steps. He turned on his lights as it darkens his view, then he turns it off and now see clearly. Out of habit of himself wondering in the dark, it’s too damn annoying for his head to understand all of it. After he watch some sniper videos and movies, he could do some stealth missions. He gives the speaker to her, as he is not expecting to live long when that monster comes at him.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Nera turns the speaker side to side and there is nothing. Tapping his shoulder as she showed him something off. No reach of the monster’s position, a drip coming falling down near them. Sniper noticed it and not so for Nera. He points upward and check something from above, the sonar waves didn’t reach upward and the two see a fluid looking limb slowly lowering the ground. It’s a tongue, and they look both the tongue and the tape screen. It’s already here. Sniper goes in slowly while Nera pulled him back, her body is tensing up. Sniper opens up his mechanize helmet showing only his waggling eyes.
Nera didn’t think he had to do it now, it's just the start, and she did explain they could restart again, there was no consequence about it. Silently sigh out to that man’s curiosity, Sniper reaches out and quickly grabbing that tongue. It vanished
“Oh fuck!”
Nera grabs his head with her demonic arm as he said it out loud. Nothing happened, the monster disappeared as if it already left. The two look at each other, Sniper was disappointed while Nera shows intense eyes thought they would get attacked. After that event, they have to move on.
The two uses their UIs to use it like map, cheats maybe, but they already starting to learn to use their own advantages instead relying their other forms of overpowered abilities. It could be useful in the future. It is getting more difficult as they travel the new environment happening in the monster’s presence. Web like traces around them, as it the particles of the jigeram solidifies it. It is impressive at the same time terrifying as it would be a trap. Sniper had checking around trying to test those strange substance. Nera stays with him as he is doing this out of examination.
A student engineer analyzing a biological phenomenon, but the properties it had is like particle size metal. Made up of different fusion of metallic structure, those soft metallic compounds, and set up time bomb to check it what happened. Leaving a cam behind to further his proof. Nera didn’t try to stop him, and he starts to do some experiment in the middle of a monster’s hunting. All setting up and ready to go, none will stop him what he is about to do. He is certain that this monster will be difficult to face. One clicked of his detonator, it exploded and the monster appeared.
Hiding somewhere into a more seclusive area. The cam magnetized to the monster’s body, modified to attract to a certain metal with his magic. It’s luck for him to use it correctly. He brings out his UI and set it to public as Nera sees it too, the cam shows of it appeared out of nowhere from the explosion. Magnetized for a bit and shows it accelerated maneuverability going anywhere with its legs moving. Its size is big and even fits the radius of the cam can see. Then it fell on the ground as it teleported away. The two exchanges text on Sniper’s public UI.
“I don’t know which fan sci-fi I read, but it really works”
“How do you know that monster is mechanical?”
“The description about the sphere, look it up. . . emoji*”
“You can post emoji on your UI!?. . . hehehe emoji*”
“I tinker a bit #shouldbememe”
Nera slapped his face out of frustration. They are doing it in the middle of a monster chase, Sniper shows no sense of fear because of their first interaction. They stop it and continue on searching for any of the Enders around them. The sound of the explosion wasn’t the only thing did attract the monster.
Nera felt something on her head, raindrops pouring out from above. The sphere with open space has formed rain. It starts to pour where Sniper stops her, raised his public UI again and showed her.
“It’s raining”
“? . . . It shouldn’t be raining . . . It must be that monster”
“! . . . raining . . .puddles . . .this can’t be good”
It kept raining as they walking through. This wide opened area is now filled nothing what the monster left. Unidentified debris or heaps of junk piling it and a metallic like thread didn’t even catch a single rain drop in the air. Sniper kept nick picking the details as they travel.
The rain turns into a storm then the puddles appeared. Sniper predicted as he thought, the stealth mission to search and send the message to the Enders have been exposed by a puddle. Nera followed where he stared at. Then she realizes it as well. Both of them thinking differently
“Clever machine/ I remember watching a horror movie about this, no . . . it can't be”
The sound of splashing coming from out of nowhere, someone is stomping on the puddles as then went silent. No screams, but there was splashing. The monster had brought something they couldn’t believe.
The rain had brought done to anyone, darkness reached them in night vision and short sighted, and above all the monster running throughout the area. There will be areas will be filled with water and even submerged. Nera uses the speaker again, all around them as they spotted someone under the 100meters radius. Someone is following them, just one person and there is also somewhere else stationary. They tried to find that man, but kept their distance. Impossible, how did they know? It’s a waste time for them and chose the other one who is stationary.
Carefully not stepping on the puddles, more puddles heard even louder than before. The noise excruciating to her ears and accidentally steps it. The puddles made a loud sound and a strong ripple vibration through the entire area. Out of shock she uses the speaker to find the monster, still the noise kept echoing from the other direction. The monster continues to chase it. They couldn’t explain to themselves why it is getting louder by a small puddle. Through the best of their abilities, they reach into a building as the rain water sinks into it.
The flow of water gushing down as they shelter themselves there. The sounds of the puddles ceased and believing that the one who made it probably been taken out. Coming from out of nowhere as they rest, the monster passed by them in lightning speed to where the noise of the water is. Then back out, the two didn’t even have the time to react and neither of them raised their weapon at it. It comes in then out. It made them insecure of what just happen, the sound of the water pouring into the building lead them close to attract that monster, yet, this is the way where the man stationed.
The two stops for a bit after that quick event, hoping that it won’t come back again. Recklessly pursuing the stranger, they had enough of waiting and go after them. Roof under the place where the rain won’t reach, took their silence into their relief. Nera had checked the speaker again, and again, then again. Surrounding her aim from top to bottom, her frown face changes after the checks. Frustrated to pointed upward, where the stranger is. Either be one of the adventurers or an Ender, nothing for Sniper to hesitate which his rifles loved to go to. Coming out from the building, the thread of metal leaks water from above.
The rest of the water continue to fall down to the lowest parts for it to settle, they walk as they listen to the rain. More puddles sound coming from a far to the point of their ears kept telling them its near. The magic or anything of the source trick their heads as it gets louder. The monster’s stalking kept anyone in suspense, and the adventurers didn’t know as it already learn to do it. Reaching a monster made nesting or whatever they see in a short distance. Their walking becomes climbing and their climbing becomes flying, where the sensitive weavings are there and would attract the monster through vibration.
The monster appeared climbing up, the sense of magic attracted it. Their eyesight looking straight up and the monster followed the glow of her mana released, it can see it. It climbs fast as it should. The strange person was there to shoot at it to the bottom, the two saw a straight line as they are flying. Then a powerful clang heard from the top. Nera nearly let go from Sniper’s arm by the shock, two more loud clang keep going and Nera had to check. The monster is here moving around the nest in a 360 degrees revolution. They tried to find the monster with the speaker.
Then a strong drop coming from the distance as the final check they seen, where the monster is gone but the man already left. The readings show he went into the submerge area and swam away. Nera and Sniper had stopped their pursuit and given up who was station here. The way that unknown man releasing a dreadful sound where the monster would hear it, but amazed what they saw and write it down in their public UIs.
“Are we still going to chase that stranger?”
“It’s better to leave that stranger alone, Nera, I think he did it because we were spotted”
“No way . . . wait look!”
They found a crate filled with supplies, more so to be provisions. The city guild’s provision? The look of her face that it existed outside of their inventory. Why would they let it out in the open? Sniper checks on it tried to touch it, he stops and finds something unusual, same visual properties like the weaving. This is too much for him to judge that monster’s intellect. The traps are getting better by the time they are in, the environment change and even the weather. This is no ordinary monster. A stretch coming from its needle legs, Sniper pulled out his weapons.
It’s too late for them to escape in this high terrain surrounded by this monster’s creation. Nera turns around dodges something out of instinct. A tongue reaches at them as Sniper nearly get hit to the side of his waist. Pulling up his ripper, a knife size chainsaw, and cut it off. The sparks coming from it as it successful been cut. The interaction he witnessed is identical to steel. Sniper fires at it and only hears the sound of metal ricochet his bullets, facing a metallic plate, he had to bring the big guns. Nera is blocking the needle attacks and counter by lunging in front of her. There was nothing there.
The monster climbed on the ceiling where its needle legs stretch to look like it is in front of her. The monster hits her from the top as it landed on the ground. Nera felt the pain of the needle hits by the back. Down on the ground, the monster raised its top of it jaws and slam it down her head. An explosion burst through its metallic limbs and broke off from the explosion. A front in center as Sniper had to go closer within 6 meters to work, he thought he would be blinded by the explosion but it darkens his view and won’t last long.
The monster begins to lean as it almost fell from the explosion, its hidden legs appeared supporting it. Nera retaliates as she run underneath it found the other parts of its limbs and tear it off with her demonic arm. All its metallic limbs are cut off as it leans to the other side, tripping down on the ground, partially rolling nearly to fall off the edge. Sniper reloads again with his grenade launcher, and has difficulty setting up in this night vision. Nera had to finished it by pushing it off the edge. Its spectral limbs appeared and tried to stand up, but spread out from her demonic presence.
It fell off from the building, leaving the two successfully beaten it, for now. Nera reaches him and sees him still reloading, the sounds of herself laughing of their success. Sniper raised his head and sees her laughing then he sees the metallic limbs moved on itself. Nera didn’t see it across the 6meters radius of her view, but it is enough for Sniper to see it. He pushes her away as the limbs slides itself to them. Nera was push off by the legs, but Sniper was pulled entirely. Trying to gripe as his hands held on the monster’s weaves, where Nera sees him on the ground where only his upper torso can be seen.
The three metallic limbs appeared from the darkness and drag him off, she picks herself up and followed him as he fell off the edge. She jumps down but was pulled back to the monster’s reaves, the last metallic limb stayed with her as she tries to break free. A scream from the top of the nest be heard as she loses him.
“SNIPER!”
Sniper gets slammed on the ground as its limbs reconnect the monster’s body. The power armor saves him by the crash, as he is about to stand up, the spectral limbs appeared and pushed him back down.
The monster’s head is exposed in pure view. Sniper fell to his defeat and decided to take a picture with his helmet. The rain poured down on them as this is his final moment facing it, he turns and see a strange blurry force coming at them. A bullet remained floating in the air as it was stopped by time, confused why it kept floating. He heard a silence shot after, as he can’t believe it. The blur was gone and the bullet shots at it, what comes along is that there is more than he could see. The monster’s head got shot in a burst of fire, destroying the head by the tremendous fire power.
The head tore off and something inside starts to blacken his view, the shots are continuing firing under a few second and it finally stops. The monster stops responding and stood still. Someone in power armor comes in with only he could see is his feet, he thought as he said it out load.
“KOMBAT! You sweet motherfucker, what kind of mechanic knows how to make sci-fi? . . . You’re not Kombat?”
A man appeared before him, the unique aesthetic of his appearance for Sniper to decipher is that a monocle is worn with the helmet. The man comes close to him and stomp his helmet.
The stomp causes his power armor to malfunction, leaving him vulnerable and unable to move, and worse of all not enough damage for him to leave the sphere. The man carried him up as he begins to leave the premise. The monster crashes itself to the ground where Nera forced herself down with an attack. The strange man turned around and see what happened and casually leave. Nera sees someone almost disappeared to the darkness, and with the speaker and found two people in that direction. She chases them as she saw Sniper being carried away, reaching closely and begins to yell at the stranger.
“Hey!”
The stranger turns around and shoots her, Nera had enough what is happening charges at him. She missed but managed to graze him. She picks up the speaker again, but now it is malfunctioned. Realizing her only tool to track her partner down and the rest of her team had been neutralized, she is now alone in the dark. Feeling hopeless, she starts to enrage herself with her demonic powers. Her hair starts to change to color white as she blindly tried to find her partner. Coincidentally, the stranger didn’t know where to go, magically appeared, and found each other.
The stranger turned around to use Sniper as a shield, but that moment she managed to grip him on the head almost crushing it. She broke off as she almost released her magic on him. The stranger runs away with him as the chase is on, not knowing where to go, but their motivation to do it made them more daring to ignore the monster’s recovery. Throughout the remaining time to escape from the monster, they busily running around to leave each other’s sight. The stranger held firm to his captive as he has plans to study about his actions. Sniper remained out, he thought something incredibly lucky in this situation.
“. . . Wait a minute? I got captured . . . by an Ender. Sweet, now I should send the message before he kills me. Heh, and I thought it would take forever to find them. I know myself, after travelling this strange world and I thought . . . Hmm, I’m dead. But now, yes! A win, like everything I made seem to work. I hope Nera would be happy to see me getting carried away from them. She thinks it was funny for me to be taken away, guess what? We finish the quest because of that. It was all thanks to coincidence. Haha, so why I’m feeling being carried so tightly and moved so aggressively? Am I that important? Oh no! is it still not dead!!?”
Nera’s demonic rage is weighing down because of the sphere’s limitation. They are somewhere inside a building. She won’t try to scream or else the monster will chase her again. Frustrated of all this happening, the stranger is right next to her without knowing himself beyond the 6 meters radius. Moving spirally to see the few glimpses, he might be close with that woman. They are already are and the darkness made themselves fool around a bit. Some moments they are so close, and other times they really found each other going back to back then left as one of them moved elsewhere. Sniper’s helmet concealed his voice as it was malfunctioning.
The two feel like they are not alone and tried so much to look around the place, they found traces of their footsteps and began following around. They exposed each other, but passed by as they turned their head in wrong and different directions. Sniper is surprised how long that this stranger carried him for too long. He is heavy and thought his power armor encumbered him. Nera stops and waits, the stranger did also as the tracks already covered by their soak bodies dripping from the rain. They both gone mad, the woman silently screams and the other thought he escaped as he silently and madly laughing.
“. . . Is it gone? Did this son of a bitch escape from that monster? But what’s with the circling around. It keeps swinging me like some kind of body pillow. Damnit Nera, what happen to the speaker you take from me? Shit . . . Oh well, going to wait for a bit for him to place me somewhere safe. I have a copy, and only thing left for me is to not die . . . Still standing!? Please get a move on, I don’t like being carried like this for too long. Oh no, my stomach”
On this moment, it continues to persist as they both living in the moment. Within 7 meters apart, Sniper fell asleep on this crucial moment.