When the Ceruelean Baroness told him about the central area, he thought it would be a normal expansive area where they just needed to run like madmen. He was utterly wrong. Already discharging the Jubilant Choir's [Plasmatic Hell] shot directly at the arm of the behememoth, Roberion looked with amazement and fear when he saw what lay ahead.
There was indeed a path to walk through, but it was a complete mess, with the buildings utterly destroyed and the debris blocking most of the path. Here and there he could see a plot of resistance, and it wasn't what he already saw before; there were no guards, no nulls, and the fighting was on a totally new level.
Armed with weapons, an incontable number of The Gentlemen fought tooth and nail against the horde, pulvering the undead without any showing of pity, like machines of war born to destroy their own kin. Their overpowered charging was interrupted any time a behemoth showed up; their invencibility put to the test, most of the time, was utterly crushed.
The behemoths are only powerful but dumb creatures, moved by instincts, and this place was their perfect place for them. The broken building was more of a danger than a boom for fighting uniformized brutes; some of them used the building only to break out, sometimes slowing them and sometimes interrupting their attack. As for the behemoths, they were victims of the same thing, but that was a lesser nuisance; their power was greater than theirs. The difference between Touched and Blessed incarnations.
Even though The Gentlemen were powerful, and for Roberions estimations, almost in the blessed incarnation, they weren't really there. Their numbers and tactical acumen, no doubt given by the Cerulean Baroness, were the only things that helped them use teamwork against these beasts.
The blue hologram said to him seriously, with a contemplative face, "I made changes in the routes as much as I could; most of the survivors dispersed in the Research Station, not that there are many of them. It won't matter; soon enough, this base will be leveled; nothing will survive the eradication."
Roberion looked disbelieving and afraid at the Cerulean Baroness, "WHAT? Damn there as a bunch of behemoths just ahead of me—", the changeling shot another [Plasmatic Hell] directly at a behemoth just ahead, the beast distracted by one of The Gentlemen already present in the battle, "—and the most dangerous thing is just at my side. Why are you destroying this place anyway?"
Looking directly at him, the hologram answered, "Because of you, and other things as well. Just because my little experiment didn't produce, let's say, a world ending weapon, it doesn't mean nobody will be interested in it. There is no way I want to be analyzed and have my code messed with. This version of me will end here; my new one will be born anew with you. If they valued my hard work more, they wouldn't make it only to become another toy soldier for the Emperor of Creation. If you need to learn anything from me, Roberion, don't believe in the powerful. If you get the chance to piss them off when you will no doubt be erased, just do the most damage you can to a being like them. Take something they want and destroy it; it can be a stupid bauble, but just not having a way of having it is enough to make them more nervous than you can think of."
Roberion looked at her, not knowing exactly how to say, "A-alright, I will remember it. I don't plan to die just yet, though, but reality seems to disagree with me. Anyway, you said something about changing this place to help us", Roberion waved with his left hand to the debris that was just in their way—a collapsed building. Even though his carries were strong, he doubted they could jump half a kilometer; that just showed how expansive the place was; it was like another city, a destroyed one at that. Now that he was completely out of the tunnel, he could see it better.
It was like a city transformed into a war zone; rarely a building was intact, most of them broken down and fallen. To think that this was the work of not missiles (as far as he knew), but from these organic machines of war, it was simply crazy. The number of fighters in it, aside from the hordes of undead, was staggering. Roberion could already see ten behemoths and thirty four behemoths fighting; their confrontation was not short of staggering.
The changeling no doubt knew the fight he had with the Blight Squad pair was a great fight, but what he was seeing here was war. They were a bunch of brutes, but their power was massive, any of them being a threat to Roberion's life. Not getting an answer from the Cerulean Baroness, Roberion looked at the hologram and opened his mouth, but suddenly he felt that he was growing taller. The small smile on the baroness gave him all the clues he needed to know it was her work.
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Looking down, he noticed that he wasn't growing taller; it was the floor they were walking on that was rising, like some sort of viaduct, the floor just ahead doing the same, the debris collapsing to the sides. Roberion could see with his remaining right eye that it had the same brightness aura The Baroness used on him. Sadly, he wasn't yet adjusted to his new body; it was difficult to know what type of line it was, and he didn't know many of them anyway.
What interests him the most is that now they have a clear way to go. The Gentlemen that followed him started to run ahead, with half of their contingent going ahead and the other half behind. It would be a beautiful thing if the way was completely clear, but sadly, he could see a bunch of behemoths remained in the raised construct. Looking down, he could see the beasts climbing the stone, penetrating their fingers into the stone like it was some kind of butter.
They didn't have an easy time, though; some of his protectors shot them down. Obviously, it wasn't enough to kill them, but it was enough to make them fall. Some of The Gentlemen down also helped using their rifles to drop some of the behemoths too.
Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. Roberion could already see some of them almost near him; the platform was raising and carrying them too. The changeling looked at the Ceruelean Baroness, restraining the fear in his voice. "You can't help us with that?", Roberion said, nodding at the climbing behemoths.
"It's complicated; my restraints prevent me from killing them, and worse, now that I'm making all these changes, the Research Station protocols are trying to restrain me. What I can do is take us directly to the teleporter, and when we reach there, I will activate its defensive protocols. It's enough to protect you against everyone from his place, but don't dally, even the explosion will destroy here. I think even the old temple structure will be damaged", the hologram said, looking apprehensive.
"Great, just amazing. Alright", Roberion patted the grotesque surface of the Jubilant Choir, regretting immediatly as he touched the moist eye, a viscous substance now glued to his hand. "Eh. Pal, could you say if you would explode if I used your shooting capabilities to the maximum?". The only answer he got was the eye he just touched, blinking. "That is what I thought. It's time to gamble again, this time without a die. It's not like I have a choice", Roberion grinned, fueling all the mana he could into the weapon enchantment.
Strangely, he didn't feel the sense of loss of mana as always, not even a little; his mana was replenished with the blessing instantly. I will miss this. "Hey, baroness, I'm kind of sick of this place. Can we just pick up the pace before my blessing vanishes? I will use this thing at full power", before the hologram answered, he activated the trigger. The weapon charged fast, the blueglow now emitted a calm hue, and the plasma shot was soon released.
The blue orb of plasma was concentrated, with a smaller size than his weaker shots. Roberion looked with wonder at how the result would be, already feeling more mana for the weapon, trying to make all the use he could of the change of use of the grotesque weapon to his heart content, and obviously, with the threat of the weapon exploding if he didn't feed enough mana.
Flying ahead, the plasma hit directly at the head of one of the charging behemoths. The blast soon expanded to cover his torso; the radius was smaller. But the damage seemed greater; the head of the being vanished, as did some of its torso and arms. The creature fell to the side; its regeneration was already working, albeit slower; it didn't matter as much as two The Gentlemen ran and kicked the beast like an animal carcass, the behemoth soon falling from high.
The Cerulean Baroness looked at it with wonder, "Good thinking, or maybe a stupid one. Oh well, it doesn't matter now; as always, your stupidity is a wonder to see. My clone will have so much work to do. All I can do is enhance the speed of these units, but after that, I will need to stop most of my functions, so this is a goodbye. Thank the research station protocols for not having my illustrous presence with you. Remember to be fast to get out of here."
Roberion felt the sensation of the Cerulean Baroness magic again, but it soon faded. "I won't say I miss you, but thanks, for the most part. If I can get out of all this bullshit of being a slave to the Empire of Creation and get some power as well, I guess you weren't half bad. Who am I lying to?! You fucking put a parasite and a copy of you inside my head. I won't curse you just because I want to live and leave this fucking place."
Soon the hologram grinned and said without any hint of animosity in her voice, "I guess that from your point of view, it looks like a bad thing, but soon you will see how great the gift I gave you is. Just now, I gave some instructions to my clone on how to operate the teleporter. I already inserted the coordinates, so just get all the stuff I left. Another splendid gift that you should be grateful for, but you won't because of your limited intellect. What I left will help you immensely. What I only want to ask of you is that you become the perfect being I always hoped to create. Let my clone finish the directive I couldn't achieve", the hologram finished its speech, and its image soon vanished along with it.
Roberion didn't have a chance to make any snide remarks. The only thing he could do now was right in his fingers. Using the trigger, another [Plasmatic Hell] shot perfurated the torso of one of the behemoths. The Gentlemen just went ahead, running as fast as they could—already improved by the magic of the Cerulean Baronnes—and pushing the behemoth out of the way. It's time to leave this hell.