Before drinking the potion, Roberion felt the need to check his equipment. His leafleather set has minor damages, especially on the armor. He was sure, though, that the creatures he would face would destroy his armor in a blink. His body was like an egg protected with plastic film; the maximum the armor could do was contain his meat paste inside if the armor didn't get destroyed as well.
Most important were his boots, and the leafleather they were made of was surprising intact; the material was incredible resistant; at least it didn't wear and tear normally with the soil. Roberion was curious where the material came from. All indicated it was the mirage tree he saw in the inner lake. Roberion shakes his head. It was time to focus.
"Just remember, run, and forget everything else", Shade said, already reading their armor.
It is not like their armor has any dents on it. Dammit! This stupid, strong giant can walk in their own fortress, and I'm using this paper armor. I just wish this plan would work out.
Roberion uncorked the vial of the speed potion. The gray liquid didn't have an odor the null smelled before; it has a hint of metal on it, but aside from that, it seemed odorless. I just wish it would taste better than it looks.
Putting the vial on his lips, Roberion drank the substance in one go. Even as the acrid smeel of the tasteless substance stung his eyes, he forced it down, licking even the last drop. He needed the potion at its maximum.
The effect was immediate; his muscles contracted, and his body felt energized, like for the first time, his heart was working as it should, like a motor finally igniting after so many wrong tries. His arms felt full of energy and compressed mobility. Roberion tested some punches in the air; if he looked at himself from afar, he would for sure believe he became a martial artist, at least in speed sense.
That was his perspective until the effect continued to his brain; his hand movement started to slow down until it became normal; his sensation was the same, though the pumped energy was still working.
My brain must be moving at the same speed as my body. "My legs! It hurts!"
"It will get better as you move. Let's jog first; when you catch up, we will run; remember to follow me all the way.", Shade said, the glaive already dismissed. The giant will follow the same instruction it gave Roberion: run.
Shade started jogging first, and Roberion tried to run but fell face first on the floor. Even his fast hands didn't help to avoid the fall; Roberion felt that the wound hurt more than it should. My power must have increased a little, but my resistance didn't.
Roberion touched his nose; it was bleeding. He drank only a few drops of the healing potion.
"Don't drink too much of any potion; some potions don't mix that well. Restorative potion is fine, but don't drink too much mana potion with it." Shade answered, stopping, waiting for Roberion.
Roberion signaled he was fine and started walking; Shade started jogging and increasing the speed ahead.
Roberion followed little by little, getting used to the increased movement. It felt weird; it was not like everything was slower, but more like he was faster than normal. He could think at the same speed, but the sensation was weird. Lucky for him, as he started jogging with Shade, the weirdness started to subside. If it was the effect of the potion or himself, he didn't know; from what Shade said, he felt it was the former.
Finally, he had time to look at the way they were walking too. Roberion was still suspicious as to why they didn't see any of the other living occupants; even if the place was the size of a city, there were thousands of people here. Either Shade is lying or something is at play here.
The places they crossed had the same style of offices; some had some strange machines, like mini radio towers, displays, and controls. His fast brain activity made it harder to focus on things a little way in, and it was for the better; he just needed to run.
Crossing the place was easy; the halls are spacious, and the ceiling is incredible high. It was like they were walking in a domed city, each room a house in itself, some even the size of districts. Without the help of Shade, he would get lost easily.
The first humanoid undead inside the place started to show up. These undead were strange; they looked more humanoid and had clothes. Thinking about that, the undead that showed up before didn't have clothes. They didn't seem to be the people from the office, though; he had the strange feeling that they should use more formal clothes. These people seemed to be operational staff; some even wear protective helmets and gloves.
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The clothed undead was slower than the humanoid undead he fought before and oblivious. Maybe they are transitioning, probably still in a mundane incarnation. So the undead are real people? People who are affected by something and become these creatures little by little…Fuck! Shade! That fucking giant kept asking if I was alright; I'm probably a dammable guinea pig!
So even the giant doesn't know what is turning these people undead, right? So I probably have a chance of not turning in these creatures. The problem is that I can't trust Shade anymore. If I were in their place, I would use the null and then discard him when I finished what I needed to do, but maybe not. The fiznaults knew me, and one of them could be the victim if it weren't for me showing up. Maybe they knew about that. No, enough maybes; I can't go anywhere like this.
"KEEP SHOOTIN—", a staff member yelled just ahead of Roberion.
Roberion only took a glance before running right ahead, crossing the confrontation the undead people were having with a team of staff; they seemed to be office workers armed with guns. Weirdly, some nulls could seem with them. The quest said something about the nulls, it could mean to join the null, like these guys, but it would be a bad idea if these guys are having trouble with this group of mundane undead. They should have been dead by now; only surviving on incredible luck.
Roberion kept crossing the way, following Shade. The more he walked, the more he felt hopeful of surviving—at least reaching the research and development area. The same thing would appear: people fighting the undead, sometimes nulls, sometimes people, sometimes both, one of which is just ahead.
"Keep fighting your pieces of shit; now it's time for the null to rule. You are ours slaves; die like one!", a null with sophisticated equipment ordered for some staff. The staff was fighting a horde of nulls, some with weapons, but most of them with melee weapons. The nulls were back using guns; some of them even used spells. This leader was one of them.
"Ye-yes!", "Fucking Nulls.", "It was better for us to just d—", "We just need to keep fighting a little more; sometime this must end!". The human staff said all at the same time, a dozen of them fighting the horde of mundane undead. Some were sporting wounds, some were crying, and there were even dead ones on the floor. Roberion had to be careful when running across the blood on the floor, from the undead and staff alike.
Roberion, when crossing and evading the battle, analyzed their might. Taking a better look at the spells, fireballs, thunderbolts, flying swords, and even some nulls that fought with their firsts. These unharmed nulls were inside the undead horde, thinning their numbers more than the staff with the guns. They didn't seem to be being punished; their burred faces showed grins and even some laughter.
Roberion needed time to think to understand all their talking. It was weird, like an information shoot fast at his brain; he needed to focus to keep it. He just wished this effect would be lower when he learned his spell; the spell, though, didn't seem to have this problem; by simply making his movement fast using the help of the air, his brain would probably be at normal speed.
He noticed that some people looked at him and Shade with wonder, but before they could do anything about them, the pair had already crossed the showdown between the parties. Roberion noticed that crossing these clashes was probably Shade's plan, so these people would be the victims of the undead behemoths if any of them showed up.
The giant is really merciless. Maybe if I joined that null team, I would become part of its leadership. It's better to not risk it, though. Not yet, at least. Most importantly, the muscled null leader from before isn't the only one; there are some nulls that got ahead in this game of the masked person. So many spells, I think that isn't normal; maybe the hacked system had something to do with it, or by accepting the new classes, they got them. Anyway, it's not my problem.
"We are near; 20 minutes and we reach our first target", Shade said in Roberion's earbud.
The null takes the new with a smile. He didn't want to say it, but it wasn't nice to see these people die fighting the beasts. It wasn't because of compassion, although their deaths didn't give him any joy either. It's running. Running showed his weakness; he kept running most of his short life.
Roberion needed to get strong, or at least find a peaceful place. Here the only option is the former, and that is the first thing he will do when reaching the research and development area. Even if Shade thinks that I will be an easy target to die, I will at least wound this double faced giant. I will pump my body with drugs and potions if I need to.
Four minutes in, and it seemed that they would reach the place without any clash. That was true until they found a rare occurrence in front of them. A group of armored individuals wore red armor; a glint of gold could be found on their beautiful vest. This armor envolved all their bodies, making them look more like robots than men.
For Roberion, such beings would already look like undefeatable threats, but if that wasn't enough, the two hucking beasts fighting them would for sure finish the job. Their bodies are four times the size of the armored individuals; if they jumped, they could almost reach the ceiling of the giant metallic halls. Their muscles resembled the ones from the regenerative dogs, but they seemed to be compressed and stronger, like steel cables.
"Undead Behemoths!", Shade confirmed Roberion's suspicions.
Saying the obvious Shade are we?! These guys can squeeze my organs like toothpaste with those monstrous hands; it's obvious they are the behemoths. Now it's your time to shine, Shade, and, sadly, my time to hide, or better run away. Roberion gave a sad smile; his luck had run out, if he even had any to begin with.