Duke had laid his plan out for the Steel Tusks and they had agreed to it on one condition – that Duke carry and keep a recording crystal going for the whole fight. Duke was inclined to say no, but he was now resolved to fight with his full self and not hold back for fear of discovery. He, instead, was going to make a statement to his enemies.
It had taken a matter of minutes for them to get in contact with the Steel Tusks that were pinned down in the fortress. The situation for them was deteriorating rapidly. The fortress’ Mana core was fading. When it ran out, the fortress’ shielding would fail and the dozens of mechs surrounding them would easily break through their physical defenses. The enemy mechs were anchored by a titan-class mech that was doing the vast majority of the damage.
It would take the ship an hour to get into place, an hour that the Steel Tusks could ill afford. The shielding would fail far before that with the pounding the titan was pouring out. Duke was in the mech bay with the Steel Tusks making sure everyone was ready before he moved to execute the plan. The trio of mechs stood ready, fully loaded and as clean as the day they were created. They knew that the odds were heavily against them but to not come to the aid of Clanmates was unthinkable. Duke absently allocated his pending Characteristic points into his Psyche.
“Weapons free. I’m going to start things off with that damned titan mech. If I can take that one down, things should be much easier even if we are still outnumbered.”
“I still don’t like relying on an unarmored human to kill a titan mech. It’s madness,” Ter’fald groused. “Drop me on it and I’ll tear it to scrap with my axe.” His mech’s axe glowed with enchanted power as he tapped into his Mana core to light it up with power.
“I am going to hit the mech like the hammer of a god. If it does survive by some miraculous quirk of fate, it won’t be for long after that.”
“Enough taking about it. Let’s get to the killing!” Gro’nok’s shout set the trio into roars of bloodlust strong enough that Duke wondered if that was an actual Ability.
Regardless, Duke set his jaw, a smile starting to form as his eyes locked into what he had always called “target elimination mode.” With a glance back towards the three mechs he raised a fist and slammed it down into his hand with a shout, “It’s go-time!” He vanished from the ship.
Duke appeared high over the battle and immediately accelerated his FLIGHT as fast as he could manage without pouring extra Mana into the Ability. The near instant acceleration allowed Duke the few seconds needed to orient himself onto his target and eject the ordinance from his INVENTORY. The ten-kilometer drop passed in little over two seconds before Duke used the momentum-cancelling properties of his TELEPORTATION to stop himself a kilometer above the titan mech.
The thundering of sonic booms preceded the hypersonic rain of steel projectiles slamming into the mech and the area around it at just under 3,500 meters per second. Duke had stopped about a thousand meters above to watch the destruction.
The titan-class mech was immense, a humanoid shape forty meters tall with thick armor and weapons built to-scale. The most prevalent were the pair of 50 cm cannons mounted on its shoulders that dwarfed even the 16-inch guns of a historic battleship of old Earth. It had been using these cannons to batter down the now flickering protective shield of the fortress. At least it was until Duke’s strikes descended from the heavens and each struck with the force of a rain of meteors. Of the nearly 800 items Duke committed to the attack, over 200 struck the mech. The rest had been spread out, impacting a radius around 100 meters from the primary target.
Of the 17mechs struck by Duke’s attack, 14 were destroyed by the impacts. The titan-class mech, however, remained standing and started to swivel its guns up towards Duke. He stared open-mouthed at the monstrosity that had only received minor damage after its shielding ultimately failed. But, astonishingly, the shielding had absorbed nearly all of the impact of Duke’s attack.
The remaining mechs reacted in coordination. Their sensors scrambled to find the source of the attack while they regrouped. All they found was a single man-shaped object floating a thousand meters above them.
It took a full three seconds for them to actually coordinate and unleash their combined firepower on Duke’s hovering form. Missiles streaked into the sky accompanied by physical projectiles, beams of coherent light, and particles stripped from molecules and launched at near relativistic speeds. Shit! Time to be elsewhere! Duke’s reaction was almost in time as he saw the attacks coming before they launched. He TELEPORTED to what seemed like the safest position at the moment – the back of the titan mech’s neck. As he clung on, he realized that he could only hold on with his left arm as the right side of his chest and shoulder had been blasted away.
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Another fucking arm blown off. I need to get fucking tougher if I’m going to be able to handle opponents like this!
*** Your ARMOR SKIN has increased to Adept 60 ***
Oh, that’s fucking cute. Duke clung on as his body REGENERATED the missing limb and organs. Plan A didn’t work. Time for Plan B. He activated his DUNGEON SENSE and quickly found what he was looking for – there was a significant open cavity inside the titan mech. He had figured that it would be too heavy if it was solid and apparently, he was right. Another quick TELEPORT and he was inside the chest cavity of the enchanted monstrosity.
Inside the open cavity, Duke got another perspective on the size of the mech. Inside, there were catwalks at various levels in the chest cavity. He could see areas that were clearly labeled such as the pilot’s chamber and the area he was looking for – the Mana Core. He quickly made it to the Mana core chamber choosing to fly rather than navigate the network of catwalks in a moving mech. As he arrived, he realized that most of his chest and part of his arm had been REGENERATED. As he reached for the latch to open the door, he received another notification, one he felt was long overdue.
*** Your REGENERATION Ability has ranked up to Master 1. You may now regrow your body from as little as a single surviving extremity. ***
With a grin, he opened the latch which had no lock on it at all, something he found at least odd, if not insane. The chamber was big enough to fit a few people, but the thing Duke was fixated on was the singe large Mana Core. Whereas the cores the Iron Reaver used were individually able to fit in his palm, this one was the size of his head. It was also covered with silvery runescript.
Duke stepped closer to look at it and started to wonder if the runescript was actually engraved into the core. He shrugged, realizing that it didn’t matter. He reached out with his Ability and TELEPORTED the core to his hand. Or, at least, that’s what he tried to do. When he activated his Ability, a barrier surrounding the core flared brightly and somehow resisted his Ability. He frowned briefly before muttering, “OK, we do this the hard way then.”
He reached forward with his now fully-formed right hand and touched the barrier. It flared and sent a shock down his arm. His SPELL RESISTANCE flared to life and the pain of the contact diminished to a bearable level before he activated his MANA DRAIN Ability. Immediately, the painful tingling disappeared, and he could feel the Mana draining out of the barrier. That was when alarms started to sound throughout the interior of the mech.
Guess the jig is up. No idea if there is more than the pilot in here so I’m going to buy myself a little time. Duke slammed the door to the chamber shut behind him with his foot and traced the outline with his foot encased in LIGHTNING. That’s not going to get me any points at the Tulsa Welding School, but it will hold for long enough!
The barrier flickered as the mech’s Mana Core began to drain. In a matter of seconds, the barrier winked out and Duke received yet another notification.
*** Your MANA DRAIN Ability has ranked up to Initiate 1. ***
He immediately tried to TELEPORT the core to his hand and was overjoyed to find that it worked. The Mana Core was half-depleted from Duke’s quick estimation but what was more important was that all the runescript that had been glowing surrounding him had quickly gone dark and the motion of the mech ceased. Duke couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face. Almost time for phase two.
Fuck! Phase two on hold! The runescript flared to life again from the bottom of the chamber to the top. Must have a secondary Mana Core. I suppose that makes sense. I wouldn’t want this behemoth to be taken out by a single lucky shot if it were mine either. Duke activated his DUNGEON SENSE and searched for the other core. His jaw dropped as he found six more. They were smaller than the apparent “main” core, but they were powering the thing right back up.
“Fuck you!” Duke TELEPORTED all six of the other cores straight into his INVENTORY, grinning once again as the mech completely powered-down, plunging the room into full darkness. Duke weighed the large core in his hand for a moment before putting it in his INVENTORY. New toys for me. Yeah!
Duke considered departing but heard the sound of someone outside the door straining against the creaking latch. Must be the pilot. Better to totally neutralize them now in case they have another backup plan.
Duke TELEPORTED to the catwalk near the door. The area was it up by a brightly burning orb floating overhead. The supposed pilot ceased his straining on the door latch and whirled to face Duke. He looked remarkably like Jablach but a head taller and far more muscular in build.
“You shut down my mech.” It was not a question, rather more a statement that held the full weight of an avalanche. Duke’s XENOGLOSSIA barely warned him of the demon’s muscles tensing before he leaped at Duke with unexpected power, its dark crimson and black wings unfurling behind it as it flashed across the gap in nearly an instant.
Duke was slammed into the far wall of the mech, the inner armor actually denting with the impact. His vision flashed white for an instant as the impact jarred his brain. “I am going to flay your skin and make a hat out of it while you still breathe.”
“Is that the best threat you have?” Duke flexed his own Strength and FLIGHT Ability to slam the demon into the wall across the other side of the mech. It was nowhere near as impactful as the demon flexed its wings, stopping its flight just as they touched the wall.
It laughed, displaying its fangs. “Is that the best you have, human?”
Duke’s smile spread across his face. “Not even in my top twenty. You really want to do this?”
The demon’s fingers started to extend into black claws, “Nothing would make me happier than bathing in your blood.” The fight started in earnest.