Chapter 48: Excavation
[Edited by Arthur300000, Deathbricks, and ArchmageNaoki]
[Something possesses Branya to add a bit of here and there after the edit again…]
I tried to sneak quickly to the source of the smoke, but I still spent some time testing out conjuring magic along the way. Well, it's not going to make me slower or anything, and this is a perfect opportunity to test it out when no one is around. Moreover, I might need to use it sooner or later.
However, the results are quite disappointing. All of the monsters I summoned with magic, Spectral Assassin and Dremora Lord included, are dumb. They act like what happened in the game, running around and attacking whatever moving with no strategy whatsoever. I tried to give them easy commands like go over there, sit, or stop, but they don't understand what I said. And the worse of all, when they encounter a monster with an interference field they pop out of existence like a balloon. While some that don't disappear they are still useless and died quickly.
My last hope is summoning dragons through shouts, but I postponed that for later. I'm already too close to the smoke. It would be bad if the people I tried to save turn against me because of a big dragon. Also, I still don't know whether that three-time limitation of that frost giant Karstaag applied here or not, so I don’t want to waste the count.
I also have an agreement with Skynet that she would hold on her attacks until I told her so. The reason of this is her spells consume too much Magicka, and her spell's kick back may disrupt whatever I'm doing if I don't know beforehand. There is still exceptions though. She still helps me activate interference fields during battle and collect monster cores with magic when the battle is over.
As I got close to the smoke, I realized that its source resides on top of a small hill. The hill is not too tall, It's about seven floors high, but it's very steep and broad. Walking around it would take too much time, so I decide to climb instead.
"Hop, hop, hop." The climb is going smoothly at first. I quickly raised above tree height with just jumping from ledge to ledge. But as I climb higher and higher, a rock came loose.
*Crash* One of the rocks fell as I landed on it. I manage to avoid falling together with it by holding on to the cliff with telekinesis. The spell isn't as fast as my leap, but at least it prevents me from falling-
*Screech!* A black bird swooped down on me out of the blue. On closer inspection, it's as big as a hawk. I thought they are some kind of natural bird like crow or raven, so I left them alone. But from the look of it, these guys are also monsters. I use my staff to beat the incoming bird away like a baseball, and I ask Skynet to take care of other hundreds still circling.
[Acknowledged, mistress] As I grabbed on the rough and dusty rock surface to stabilize myself, Skynet drained my Magicka and started the fireworks. The white streaks shoot rapidly like a machine gun, those blackbirds dropping like rain.
[Is this the spell you used against that Lightning Fury?] I asked her as I leap left and right to avoid birds' gore and poop dropping on my head.
[It's one of many that I use as a decoy and peeling off its defense. The one that affects that beast is the gravitation bullet spell.]
[Huh? I thought that spell just increased the weight a bit.] Last time Skynet tested it on the testing range, no matter how many times it hit the dummy, its weight only increased by about 50%. I thought it was a joke spell for playing a prank on people on a diet.
[You see, mistress. Most flying monsters can fly because their body structures are very light. When you add more weight to them, it affects their maneuverability greatly. And because the law of conservation of energy, its speed is decreased when it gains more mass.]
[Wouldn't it suddenly become faster when the spell loses effect which would then crash into something ?] Well, the effect can go both ways, right? I feel dread imagining the monster bouldering through the flying ship as it suddenly lost its magical mass.
[You have been tricked by the marketing scheme, mistress. The actual spell's effect is nothing related to gravitational force. It just adds pseudoparticles in between the target's molecular structure. So, when those particles disappear, their kinetic energy is released in the form of vibration and heat instead. That gives the ship enough time to-] ... I arrived at the top of the cliff, where I saw a pack of monsters awaiting me.
Our eyes met. They immediately jump at me with open fangs and claws, but I cast firestorm before they can reach me.
*BOOM!* A spectacular fiery explosion blew up everything around me. The closest one was reduced to ashes while those in the rear flew back and splattered here and there. The ground underneath me began to crack so I walk forward and pull up my hood to protect myself from the rain of pebbles and ashes.
.
[... It's not the ship.] After the dust had cleared up, I saw a burning village. My emotions are difficult to describe. I felt disappointment, relief, and shock at the same time. The village is destroyed beyond repair. No buildings were left with any intact walls. Some are in ruins while some were burning. Huge footprints were scattered all over the place. Incomplete corpses of villagers and splattered marks of gore sprawling everywhere.
I survey around the smoldering village to ensure that whatever made those gigantic footprints was not here anymore. The roads and alleyways filled with all kind of rubble and misplaced furniture. But on the bright side, they provide a lot of places for me to hide.
Things progress smoothly until I spotted a five-meter tall brutish giant ripping apart a building and vehicle, chewing villagers’ corpse… Footprints owner found. There were also several monsters surrounding him like those smaller fishes that follow a shark. [ED Note: They’re called remora fish btw.]
Its stout body is ripped with muscles. Although it's only one size bigger than that three-headed-six-armed bear that I fought in the black forest, my sixth sense told me that this guy is dangerous. However, I'm still reluctant to leave it alone because there is a military looking car with a broken windshield parked nearby. There could be a radio or something I could use inside that car.
[Skynet, what do you think?] I ask Skynet for her opinion.
[That monster doesn't exist in my database, so it has a high probability that it isn't immortal or first class monster. However, from the look of it, it might be around second class which is still dangerous.]
[Why don't you download entire monster database?] What's with this? I already told her to do so while we still had an internet connection.
[Insufficient storage space. Please reduce the size of "Reference material folder"] ... Alright, it's my fault. She already nagged me, but I ignored her. Maybe I should put it on a separate device.
Anyways, I sneak around the giant and use my dagger to quietly dispatch a smaller one while hoping that the big guy will run off by itself.
"WAHHHHH!!!!!" The giant suddenly became agitated while I was hiding in the shadow of rubble, looking for next target. Huh? Did it notice me?
"WAAAHHHHH!!!!" It turns left and right, looks like it tries to find something. Oh... I see. It doesn't notice me yet, but it notices that his friend is missing huh? Damn it, why aren't real world monsters stupid like the game AI?
"Hu Hu HUUUU!" The giant pulls up a big steel beam or column, well I don't know. Then he uses it as the club to swing it around. Oi! That's dangerous!. Seeing that his swing is a lot faster than mine, I retreat to a safe distance while he still doesn’t notice me.
When there is a huge disparity of speed, strength, and reach, engaging in close combat is tantamount to suicide. The longest weapon I have is only an adventurer grade Pike which is only half the length of his improvised club.
"BANG!" The swing hits the cars nearby, and those cars flew away to the other side of the village. There is no explosion, but I could hear a loud crash from their landing. Oh shit! That giant is moving toward that military vehicle!
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[GOL-HAH-DOV!] I don't know what possessed me, but I tried to use the Bend Will dragon shout against that giant. I hoped it could make him became docile and follow my order even for a short period. Maybe I will just order him to jump over the cliff and run away.
However, He stopped moving... Then he began to shake.
"HEEE UUUU WAAAHHHHH!" What the heck? That guy is resisting! He stumbled, shaking his head, then looked at me with an angry face. Oh, oh... Out of panic, I fired everything at him, but I noticed that I couldn't materialize any spells near him. Even the spell that originated from my position also got dissipated as it contacts to that guy's large interference field.
The giant moves one step toward me then stumbled again. Even though the Bend Will dragon shout doesn't work as it should, it's still delaying him significantly. Seeing that none of the spells I have could penetrate his interference field. I must collapse his field with the overwhelming amount of magic instead.
[Skynet, help me shoot at him!] I activate one time per day power. The Secret of Arcana, the ability that allows me to cast anything without consuming my Magicka for 30 seconds.
[That's not advisable, the amount of energy that’s needed to-] [Trust me!] I interrupt her as I felt my body connect to a strange dimension. Then the power flooded into me like a broken dam.
I shoot whatever long range spell that pops up in my mind while backing away as quickly as possible. Skynet also filled the sky with her magic, but the giant's interference field is still a tough nut to crack.
I was chased halfway into the burning village before his interference field finally broke. I know that I have a little time before it comes back up again, but the giant's skin is also very tough. All the spells Skynet and I fired bounced off him leaving only a small ripple. Then my staff exploded a fraction of second later which made my left hand numb. I think I overloaded it.
[Stop shooting, Skynet!] I told her to stop because I worried that my porn stash would also explode. I could already feel the heat radiating from my backpack. In my right hand, there is a big ass pistol that I used to slay those Slick Panthers in the magical forest. It's warm to touch, but I think it's still safe to use.
I stop moving and try to aim the spell at its beady eyes. Even though I maxed my archery skill, trying to hit a fast-moving target the size of a peanut from far away while backpedaling and avoid tripping and slipping on corpses is still impossible for me. So I stop myself, take aim, and... Oi! The giant is throwing the steel bar at me!
*BANG!* *WOOSH CRASH BOOM!* I fired the spell and jumped away from where I was standing. The destructive power of that steel bar is horrifying. I don't want to imagine what would happen if I was even a millisecond slower in moving. Even so, my eardrums are still hurting from the shock wave.
[Let's not fight this kind of monster again, Mistress.] Skynet suggested. Luckily the giant didn’t dodge. I watched as blood mixed gray matter began to pour out from its eye socket as the giant fell in slow motion.
[Agreed.] I answered Skynet. Still, I don't want to get close to it because it may fake its death and grab me when I get close. I wait until my dragon shout cooldown is complete. During that time the smaller monsters came to inspect the ruckus, but each of them only got an ice spike planted in their brain.
Skynet also uses the spell to collect monster cores, but the core of that big guy doesn't come out. She said the giant's skin might be too thick. I still stare at its body while waiting.
[LAAS-YAH-NIR] I use aura whisper to check its body. Alright, no life detected. I approach the corpse and store it in my storage device. This guy's remains must fetch a lot of panties, I hope. I also look around the area to find any surviving villagers just in case, but everywhere I look... Wait, I found one. I turn around one more time to check again. Wait until the storage procedure is complete. Then I run to the only life that was spared.
The owner of the aura is small. I almost missed it in all the fire and smoke raging throughout the settlement. Moreover, the only survivor was buried under a collapsed building.
[Skynet, someone is here. Tell me which piece should I remove first.] It took her several seconds until she highlights each piece of rubble I need to remove. Skynet is good at solving puzzles. With her, I only need to remove four pieces instead of ten.
The process isn't that difficult, and the monsters around the area are already taken care of so it's just a bit of manual labor and telekinesis spell. Under the rubble I found a little fox girl lying unconscious under what seems to be a table in the fetal position. Hooray, fox girl GET!
The girl looks a bit younger than me, about nine or ten years old I think. Her dark brown hair covered half of her face but I could tell that she was also a beauty. More importantly, she has pointy triangular ears over her head and two tails! Yup, two tails. Both of her tails are bushy and fluffy. They have the same color of her hair, the color becoming lighter toward the tips.
I immediately cast a healing spell on her, and it worked perfectly. A few seconds later her eyelids began to flutter. Then she moves and looks at me.
"Ouch!" She moans as she sprang herself into a defensive position but knocks her head under the table.
"It's alright, I come in peace." I tried to reassure her, but somehow it turns out like I'm an alien trying to conquer earth. Anyways, I think my smile does the trick. She obediently crawls out from under the table, albeit still wary of me.
[Skynet, please be quiet for a while, you might freak her out.]
[Acknowledged, mistress]
"A-Are you alone?" The little fox girl asked me with a confused face after looking around. With a height of about 120cm, she is a real cutie. Ahh, I'm so lucky.
"Yes" I answer honestly while smiling.
"Where is the military or police? The elder said that I have to hide until the military came."
"I don't know, but I found a military car over there. Do you want to go check it out with me?" I offered her my hand. However, she steps back a few pace like a scared cat. Of course, I don't mention the splattered marks with military uniforms to her.
"Did you lift all that debris by yourself? Also, where did the monsters come from?" She asks me while staring at me with her ears pointed backward.
"Yes, I did that. Though I don't know where the monsters came from, I've killed them all." I thought that telling her this would make her trust me. But instead, she stepped back further with shaking legs. Oi! This is unfair. I might be strong, but I'm harmless! The worst thing that could happen is a few underwears going missing while living with me.
[Mistress maybe you should sit on the floor, so you aren't towering over her. It could be what's scaring her.] Oh, I see, it’s one of the steps in How to Befriend a Cat for Dummies.
I sit down, and the girl stops moving back. Then I took out the ration bag that Aunos gave me and began to arrange those boxes and cans into categories.
"What are you doing?" She curiously approaches me.
"Organizing my stuff." I answered her and tossed the package of hotdog that I got as complementary from buying my PC. I hope that it's not expired yet. The girl clumsily received it, tearing open the package, and munching on it hungrily. It's alright I think.
After she had finished the hotdog, I lured her again with a box of strawberry flavored milk that I got from those kids' house when I escorted them back to their parents. Hook, line, and sinker, she took the box from my hand.
"Alright, shall we take a look at that car?" I wait until she finished the milk and asked her. Finally, she cautiously took my hand. Even though she held only on my little pinky, it's a huge step for mankind.