Brand screamed out in pain as the gigantic horse Databeast bit into the flesh between his shoulder and his neck, right in his trapezius muscle. He had been so busy fending off the attacks from the forearm blades that he was completely unprepared for the Databeast’s other weapons. It was the most pain he’d felt in a long time, and as much as he wanted to recoil from the shock, he couldn’t. He had to push the monstrous bipedal horse Databeast back. His mind blanked white as the fire energy of his element surged through him up his back to his open wound with the creature still biting deep.
And then from the corner of his eye he saw crimson and white.
Before he realised what was going on the Databeast was itself reeling back with badly burnt lips and braying loudly and deeply from its thick neck. Brand’s body had responded like a firecracker, materialising fire in the real world as a natural defensive mechanism, though it had only worked because the horse had stayed latched on. The wound above his shoulder had been cauterized and the element was permeating through it, reinforcing the damaged parts.
Brand had no time to stop in amazement at the process though, as he was still in grave danger. Luckily his actions had bought everyone else a bit of space, and they all managed to pile into the Flux room with him and surround the Databeast. Now if it focussed solely on him it would be smacked, shot, and sliced in the back. Also bitten, Brand noticed, as Clerk had made an appearance at some point and was hovering around the enemy Databeast’s ankles and biting.
Brand took a step back from the still swinging horse Databeast, still having to defend against the vicious blades attempting to decapitate him. It wouldn’t be so easy for the Databeast to pressure him now.
His attempt to create space had unwittingly made room for an unexpected ally to get involved. BumBum, the large bee Databeast had now positioned itself on the central structure and his eyes were glowing a shade of light green. A beam of the same colour shot out of its mouth and hit the bipedal horse, causing it to whinny-scream in pain, arms flailing. Rosie had to duck well under one of its bladed forearms and roll away.
A green hue settled around the horse Databeast, and it was noticeably slower. Brand wasted no time in following up on the attack. The others must have felt the same, as Brand heard the thwunk of an arrow as it settled into the horse Databeast’s neck. Two very differently sounding hits echoed out as Rosie and Tommen both went for the legs. Rosie’s was more a soft and heavy slice through the Databeast’s thigh, whereas Tommen’s was a loud crack as his staff connected with the Databeast’s calf.
Brand wasn’t one to waste time, nor to miss a chance to get revenge, so he leapt towards the horse Databeast and plunged his shortsword into its chest. It went in easy, and the Databeast whinnied once more. It swung at Brand but BumBum hit it with another green beam and it faded into the aether. Brand felt a level up, bringing a cooling surge to counter his burning shoulder.
“Whew! You all good Brand?” asked Tommen.
“I’m alright,” Brand replied. He put a hand to his shoulder and it came away bloody, but the wound wasn’t leaking blood like a faucet.
“Drink a potion,” said Rosie.
“I’m not sure that’s necessary,” said Brand as he continued to rub his shoulder. There were clear holes where the exposed wound met air, but it was mostly holding together.
“It will be now or later. The difference is that if you have one later we’ll have to go back. It’d be stupid continuing this excursion with you injured,” Rosie told him.
He knew she was right and that if it was someone else he’d be telling them to down a potion, so he uncorked one of the potions they’d bought and downed the bottle. He put the bottle in his pack and looked around, appreciating the room now that there wasn’t an eight foot monster-killer horse charging down at him.
He saw Ravena was still tensed and in fight mode, watching the large bee Databeast looking down at them, sat up on the central structure of the place, a number of terminals surrounding the pole that gave them power.
“Ravena, what is it?” asked Brand.
“Didn’t you see?” asked Ravena. “This Databeast hits like a cannon.”
“That’s true. Nice one BumBum, great assist,” said Tommen.
“It hits so hard that I’m not sure it even needed us to defeat the horse Databeast,” said Ravena.
“So then, why did he bring us here?” asked Brand.
“Exactly what I want to know,” said Ravena. “And I’m not quite sure I trust it.”
“Well I levelled up. So I’ll take that,” added in Rosie.
“Same,” said Brand.
“Congrats,” said Ravena, not looking at either of them.
“Well I’m happy for you two,” said Tommen.
BumBum buzzed and flew down, landing before the set of terminals and placed a fuzzy leg onto the central terminal.
“Looks like it needed us to turn this thing on,” said Tommen.
“Well? What do you think we should do?” Brand asked Ravena.
“Hmm. It’s plausible. Keep an eye on this Databeast though. It’s dangerous,” muttered Ravena.
BumBum buzzed affirmatively again and patted the screen.
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“Well we’ve come this far…” said Rosie.
“If we do this, you’ll get Databeast eggs for us?” asked Tommen.
“BZZ,” BumBum buzzed affirmatively.
“I wouldn’t know where to start with this,” said Brand as he walked up to the terminal. BumBum moved helpfully aside.
“I know a little about how to handle these things. I’d be amazed if it works though,” said Ravena as she walked up to the terminal, removing her gloves. She placed her hand on the screen and the terminal scanned it. “Looks like I can login as a guest administrator. That’s interesting… No access to anything except filling this place full of power.”
“BZZ,” BumBum agreed.
“So you want us to turn this place on?” asked Brand
“BZZ,” came the affirmative.
“And then what?” he followed up.
BumBum pointed to the door with one leg, then pointed that leg down.
“We do this and then go down?” asked Brand. “There isn’t going to be another fight, is there?”
“BZZ,” BumBum buzzed affirmatively.
“Oh,” said Brand, rubbing his shoulder. “Well I think I’m in fit shape to handle it. Up to you Ravena.”
“Hmm… I’m tempted to wait to tell Professor Dalton what we’re doing to plan a proper expedition. But I can’t go running to him every time I discover something minor. I’m an adventurer and a researcher, this is where I shine. We’ll do it,” said Ravena, pushing some buttons on the screen.
Lights flickered on properly within the room and the central pillar flared to life with a deep humming sound as it began to slowly spin. The sound continued to rise as the building thrummed into life.
BumBum walked down over to the door, opened it, and began to head down the stairs.
The party looked around a little before following the bee Databeast. BumBum was waiting for them on the ground floor, the one they had come in, but when he saw that they were following he continued down the stairs to the lower floors, metal back legs clacking ominously on the stainless steel stairs.
“Nothing for it but to follow. Everyone ready?” Brand asked. Everybody nodded their assent, so they headed down. Step by step step they followed the bee, until they ended in a large opening. Like above, two heavy metal doors guarded their way. Across the doors in blue paint read “Stasis”. BumBum tapped them, clearly signalling that he wanted to head in.
Two obstacles barred his way, one thick dark iron bar across the doors and one handprint scanner besides it. Brand and Tommen dealt with the first one through great effort, exerting everything they had just to lift the bar and slide it to the floor where it crashed down with a massive clang. Brand had needed to pull element energy into his arms just to pull the feat off.
The second job was much less tasking for Ravena, as she walked up the handprint scanner and simply put her hand on it. There was a cable travelling down from the floor above, connected to the energy source they had turned on. It was easy to guess that the privileges given to Ravena as guest administrator would carry over down here. BumBum had wanted them in that room first for a reason; initially to turn the power on and secondly to get administrator access.
As they had hoped, the doors opened smoothly. The party readied their weapons as Tommen and Brand walked through the door, expecting a fight.
What they didn’t expect was an enormous, singular light-blue clean cut crystal Databeast floating before them passively. There was a face seemingly carved in the crystal, but it posed a neutral expression. It hovered there, either not noticing or not caring about their presence. Behind it there was a number of seemingly scientific equipment holding all sorts. Brand slowly walked around the crystal Databeast trying to check it out, but after crossing a certain line he immediately jumped back. It was good that he did, as a long tentacle made up of many connecting shards had smashed into the ground just before him. It glowed red, as did the Databeast.
“Woah!” yelled Brand. He looked up at the giant crystal. It’s face had turned from neutral to angry as the red colour had arrived, but both were now fading. The Databeast was turning a calm light blue once more and its face became neutral. The tentacle retracted back into the crystal creature.
Several metres across the room, Tommen approached the line that Brand had crossed. He stuck his staff over it, retracting it back immediately as a tentacle of red crystal shards aimed directly for him. This time Brand saw what had occurred. The Databeast had reacted instantaneously. There was no way they could defeat a Databeast like this.
A different Databeast had other plans though. BumBum sauntered over the line without a care in the world, happily dodging a crystal tentacle with a little hop to the side.
The crystal Databeast began to glow a deep, crimson red and its face turned into the picture of anger and terror. Four tentacles dropped from its body as it began to properly awake and it went from hovering in one place to moving spasmodically. Even though it clearly was not fully locked in, it still moved extremely quickly. It shot out a tentacle that struck some sort of tripwire and the doors slammed shut behind them.
Intelligent planning too? Thought Brand as he assessed the situation. A red crystal tentacle shot out for him again, even though he was behind the line. He jumped back, but the tentacle swept out for him and knocked him off his feet. He scrambled up, dodging a second tentacle. He felt the harsh rush of wind as the gigantic rock chain swung past him. There was very little chance they could defeat this Databeast. But then he heard a mechanical whirring from behind the gigantic crystal and a silvery metallic mixed in with the signature green BumBum had produced earlier.
Brand saw BumBum’s eyes had turned green and two circles on his back were whirring. A beam was being continuously fired out, directed at the crystal Databeast. Suddenly it seemed as if the Databeast was moving through molasses as it swung for Brand once more, but at less than half the speed. Maybe even a quarter.
Whatever it was, the terrifying Databeast had now become laughably slow.
Ravena’s arrow hit it from the side, chipping off a large chunk of crystal. It swung one of its tentacles to hit her, but there was no way it could even get close to one as agile as her when BumBum was concentrating its beam on it like that.
“Attack!” yelled Brand as he ran up to the gigantic crystal Databeast. Tommen and Rosie had not needed to be told and they were there with him, chipping away at the great glassy prism.
It took some time even with BumBum’s assistance, but the crystal Databeast faded into the aether just like that. They had simply hit it over and over again and it could not defend itself or strike them back. Brand couldn’t believe how such a dangerous Databeast had been reduced to a punching bag. Brand had actually had the chance to practice his strikes and make sure his form was correct!
In his eyes, it only made BumBum more terrifying. Although the bee Databeast looked tuckered out, exhausted from the continuous use of his Tech.
BumBum managed to stand himself up and walk over to the back of the room, a dark corner where nothing much could be seen. The lights flickered on as BumBum walked over there. A huge round tube took up much of the space, filled with some form of liquid. The party made their way over to see what BumBum had brought them down there for.
BumBum stood against the tube and placed one fuzzy forepaw on the glass. Brand walked up to it, but a layer of icy condensation covered it. He wiped his hand over the glass to clear it up - it was freezing! But what he saw when he pulled his hand back shocked him even more.
There was a man in the tube.