Chapter 35
(Litterbox)
The platform they were riding on was still dozens of feet in the air when the heads of the Naga-zombies covering the floor of the massive room below them began to slowly rotate upwards to inspect the unexpected incoming arrivals. There was no intelligence in their milky eyes as they looked up at the slowly descending party: only an acknowledgment of the incoming platform from above.
A large smile split Grolluk's face as he inwardly welcomed the oncoming battle. He began to wring the handle of his morning star in anticipation, his fingers flexing and readying themselves to perform the intricate movements required while wielding such a large weapon.
Mediv and Jarow readied their blades as well, not with excited anticipation, but with some anxiety over the daunting task ahead of them. Suhry's horns slowly grew with intensity, beginning to burn a bright icy blue as her magical energy began to build, ready to engage. Isilandra closed her eyes and began an almost indiscernible chant.
The platform lowered them to within a story above the floor. Mediv ran his fingers down the edge of his sword's blade, a slight glow following his fingers and remaining upon the metal. He also crouched down, ready to tumble away and insert himself into the throng of enemies. Suhry closed her eyes and softly began chanting under her breath, causing the air around them to cool, the light on her horns flaring intensely.
Jarow watched the others readying themselves and realized he didn't have much in his repertoire that could affect a large number of enemies or a large area. His go-to power for that was Complete Cleanse, which was technically just a quick stun and blind when used offensively. He did activate his Aural Armor, which would give him some additional protection.
His body's unique cleansing aura was also active, swirling the air around them, creating a soft breeze. He could see his pale skin catching the light, enhancing and reflecting it away, similar to how his aura pushed away light debris and contaminants in the air. He had become a beacon, something he had been avoiding. He thought to himself that the zombies probably wouldn't have even bothered to look up if it weren't for him.
The platform steadily descended. Isilandra inhaled deeply and began her second chant, the first spell settling over them and boosting their defense and endurance. The area around them started to glow a faint silver, and each of the party members felt invigorated as the moon-like glowing orb of her most powerful buffing spell manifested above them.
"This is gonna be fun," Grolluk growled as he began to twirl his morningstar in anticipation. He easily spun the massive spiked head of the weapon around with one hand, whooshing through the air as he twirled it off the side of the platform to avoid hitting his companions.
The others didn't share his enthusiasm, but his excitement was somewhat infectious. They all donned a crooked grin in agreement. They had fought through odds like this before and knew they could do it again. Sure, the big machine things they had fought on this world had been tough, but these zombies were actually rather pathetic. The only truly scary thing they had going for them was sheer numbers.
Ten feet, five feet; the lift was barely off the ground now. Rotting faces of Naga-zombies clustered around them, arms reaching out to intercept the intruders riding the platform down. The zombies may not have the wits to understand who they were, but they did recognize them as a possible threat. This was something instilled in them: a remnant from their former life, due to the mere fact that they were undead, or some sort of directive given them by the nanobots infesting them. No one knew for sure.
"I'atzi-kiay!" Suhry screamed as she jabbed her staff down upon the floor of the lift, just before it touched down.
From the end of her staff, passing through the lift and to the floor underneath, a ring of frost erupted, spreading outwards in a fifty-foot radius. An icy chill filled the air as a slick layer of frozen magical ice coated the ground below.
The biting cold seeped into the skin of the Naga-zombies, freezing their serpent-like lower halves in place and encasing their decaying flesh in frost. Their movements slowed as the relentless cold crept up through their bodies, swiftly rendering them immobile. The magical ice left the ground unaffected, providing secure footing for the party as they all exited the platform.
Mediv, Jarow, and Grolluk swiftly dispatched the closest enemies with their respective weapons. The party then fell into a triangular formation, with Isilandra and Suhry positioned in the middle. Although Mediv wasn't a tank, each side needed protection, as they lacked a wall at their backs.
That problem was quickly resolved when Isilandra shouted to the party, "Shift left!" Suhry had been chanting familiar words, and Isilandra understood what was about to happen. Her wife even gave her a small nod in the direction Suhry planned to cast her spell.
The party swiftly shifted left a few feet as Suhry aimed her staff towards Grolluk's previous position, uttering the final sharp syllable of her incantation. The still-icy floor surged upward, the ice spreading and thickening into a towering wall that reached thirty feet high, spanned fifty feet wide, and was five feet thick.
Behind where the party had just shifted from, the colossal ice barrier rose, forming a huge protective shield against the zombies in that direction. Grolluk and Mediv, familiar with this tactic from the party's previous encounters, quickly assumed their positions: Grolluk taking the frontmost spot as the party's tank. The rest of the party backed up and put their backs against the wall for protection, now having a forward-facing direction in which to continue the battle.
However, Jarow, unfamiliar with this strategy as the newcomer to the group, was caught off guard. As the massive wall of ice extended into the air and widened, he saw what was going on and instinctively began to make his way closer to the wall to join the rest of his team.
He took a step back, only to have his ankle grabbed by a fallen, yet still-living, Naga-zombie. The attack sent him sprawling, hitting his head and leaving him momentarily disoriented. With him in such a vulnerable position, the horde of zombies rapidly closed in, seizing the opportunity.
Claws raked and grabbed at Jarow as he lay sprawled against the icy floor. The mass of putrid, rotting bodies pressed down on him, the stench overwhelming his aura's ability to clean the air. He could see the entries in his log scrolling by rapidly, the small window blurring with the speed of the incoming messages.
Jarow wasn't overly frightened, though. For one, he'd noticed this body was immune to whatever it was that coated the zombies' claws: poison, nanobots, disease, or something else entirely. Second, several strategies were forming in his mind for escape. Finally, he knew Grolluk and Mediv would be here shortly. They'd be fighting their own battles, but they wouldn't leave him to die. "At least, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't," the negative thought wormed into his mind as he strategized.
Although, now that he thought about it, that wasn't a bad strategy for them. They all knew he'd come back to life, so leaving his corpse as a distraction could be seen as an acceptable sacrifice.
"Suzerain, I advise moving before you become completely inundated and your body can no longer sustain the weight and damage," Xinpo reminded him.
"Yeah, yeah, I was just taking a moment to think. Tell the others to close their eyes," Jarow replied, pushing the negative thought down and attributing its intrusion to his unfortunate situation.
He paused for a few seconds, allowing his teammates time to receive the message and close their eyes. In that brief moment, Jarow found himself acutely aware of his unfortunate position.
The pain from the scratches was undeniable. The claws might not have been poisoning him, but they were certainly causing harm, his HP bar visibly decreasing. The weight pressing down on him made it increasingly difficult to breathe. Each strained inhale brought in less purified air, the stench of rot and smoke thick on his tongue. His aura seemed overwhelmed, unable to fully filter the contaminants in the air under such duress.
Yet, amidst these challenges, his mind remained calm and clear.
Jarow wondered about his own lack of reaction to these dire circumstances as he mentally activated the button in his vision for Complete Cleanse. In an instant, a brilliant light flared out from Xinpo, causing the oppressive weight to instantly vanish. This powerful spell not only eradicated the re-dead bodies of the defeated zombies scattered all over the floor, but also incinerated all traces of filth, rot, and decaying flesh. Consequently, the majority of the Naga-zombies within the now extremely vast radius of the Complete Cleanse lost a significant portion of their substance due to Xinpo's powerful ability.
The Naga-zombies atop Jarow were not only stunned by the sudden flash but had also shed almost all of their fleshy, decayed bodies. With newfound strength from having the pressure upon him removed, Jarow easily pushed himself up from the ground, sending the zombies' bodies flying off him as he practically sprung to his feet.
He then leaped upward, his wings spreading wide. He remained airborne for a moment before gently descending back to the ground. Even the breeze from his circulating aura seemed amplified now. The contaminants expunged by Complete Cleanse left the air filtering into his lungs smelling of nothing, a welcome elimination of the odors he had just escaped.
With a powerful flap of his wings, several of the now severely emaciated zombies remaining around him were swept away from his position by the force of the gust. "Is it because I always come back?" Jarow's earlier thoughts demanded another explanation now that he had less to worry about.
"Show off much?" Mediv's voice called from behind where Jarow now stood.
He glanced over his shoulder at the sarcastically smiling Mediv and returned the smile. With another quick leap and a flap of his wings, he launched himself back towards the rest of the group. Landing gracefully next to the rogue, who shook his head in amusement.
"If you've got it, flaunt it, right?" Jarow quipped, giving Mediv a playful wink.
The Cathan rolled his eyes and returned to his defensive stance, readying himself to continue the fight.
"If you two are finished measuring dicks, would you focus on the ongoing battle? The next wave is almost here." Suhry scolded them from behind.
The next wave was indeed incoming. Along with what was left of the zombies, a larger shape unfolded itself in the distance, its glowing eye looming ominously over the horde. From the way the long, neck-like stalk rose up, the party could tell this was another controller, the same kind they had faced above ground upon arriving on this planet. One like that had killed Jarow just the other day.
The elongated neck-like appendage protruded above the horde of zombies, its yellow pupil barely discernible from the distance, focused on the group's location. Within moments, it seemed to have completed its transformation and began to charge forward with utter disregard for the zombies it trampled over.
The sight of the controller sent a shiver down Jarow's spine. He had only recently perished at the hands, or rather the eye, of this type of machine, and he wasn't about to let history repeat itself. Apparently, seeing a hole burned through your body tended to leave a lasting impression.
As the horde of zombies advanced, the controller leading them, Jarow knew he had to act swiftly. He had erred in his previous encounter with the machine by attempting to use Molecular Fusion to bind the creature's molecules with the solid rock beneath it. The results were minimal due to the strength and rigidity of both elements. This time, he opted for a more malleable substance.
An evil smile spread across Jarow's face as he cast Molecular Fusion once again on the swiftly approaching robot. Unlike before, he didn't target the ground as the molecular replacement; instead, he chose the flesh of one of the zombies surrounding it.
The pale brown light of his power enveloped the massive machine, causing it to convulse violently before collapsing to the ground with a wet, snapping crash, its momentum carrying it forward several yards and crushing multiple zombies in its wake.
"Well, that worked," Mediv remarked from Jarow's side.
"Very clever, suzerain," Xinpo chimed in with a compliment.
Jarow's smile instantly transformed from sinister to gleeful. He couldn't contain a quick "HA!" of delight as the creature fell and writhed in a futile attempt to regain its footing. Its entire metal body had transformed into gray flesh, sinew, and hollow bones. Its immense size and weight were far too much for the new fleshy frame to handle, and all it could do now was flail helplessly on the stone floor.
The remaining zombies continued their advance, but they posed little challenge now, being mostly just cartilage and claws. Suhry effortlessly dispatched waves of them with her ice magic alone, while Isilandra took a more aggressive approach, summoning her massive lunar hammer to crush groups of enemies. Their bodies exploded into a rain of sharp, fishbone-like shards.
Several more controllers eventually joined the fray, but now that Jarow had discovered their weakness, he dispatched them swiftly before they could ever get close enough to pose a threat. The team found their rhythm and momentum, pressing deeper into the cavernous hall. They left behind the melting wall that had protected them as they thinned the horde of zombies and machines. Now, it melted away, leaving a large puddle in its wake.
The entire scenario brought the team back memories of their previous battle alongside Jarow. Despite feeling like the huge cylindrical cavern had been eons ago, it actually had only been about a week ago. As they made their way, fighting and clearing the area towards the nearest cave wall, they couldn't help but feel like this was turning out to be very similar to their last foray.
"Is every time we go out with you going to be like this?" Mediv asked sarcastically.
"I like killing lots of monsters, but these guys don't even offer a challenge," Grolluk added in a bored tone.
Jarow smiled. "At least the ground is flat here," he said. "We don't have to constantly move down along a narrow path, right?"
They moved across the enormous room until they finally encountered a wall. It didn’t seem quite as necessary anymore, but it was nice to have something to keep behind them anyway, so they didn't have to watch their backs as much.
They decided to follow the wall to their right. Neither end was visible, so either direction seemed equally viable. The mass of zombies and controllers had lessened, but the seemingly endless supply of these creatures kept new enemies flooding in to fill the gaps.
The ground around them was scattered with the remnants of the Naga-zombies, their bodies frozen in pieces to the ground. After hours of relentless fighting, exhaustion weighed heavily on everyone. Jarow wanted to cleanse them with Complete Cleanse to ease some of the discomfort before they rested, but the party had advised against it, fearing it would attract more enemies.
"Well, I'm sorry I can't help with all the blood and guts covering you guys, but go ahead and rest. I'll keep watch," Jarow offered, not needing to sleep himself.
Since he didn't require sleep or sustenance, Jarow volunteered for guard duty while the others took a much-needed break. After hastily devouring their rations, they pulled out blankets from their bags and settled down to rest. Jarow, meanwhile, swiftly dealt with any straggling enemies that approached their makeshift camp.
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Jarow marveled at how quickly his teammates dozed off. Despite the exhausting hours of battle, he couldn't help but recall facing even longer fights in the vast underground cavern from their last adventure. The thought struck him: they were once again in a similar situation, underground, facing countless foes, and searching for some elusive item.
"At least the first place had more variety," Jarow thought to himself as he quickly and quietly dispatched a lone Naga-zombie that had wandered near.
There were a few enemies who stumbled upon their location while the others slept. Thankfully, they arrived only one or two at a time and posed no real threat. Jarow dispatched them quietly, careful not to disturb his companions.
In between these skirmishes, Jarow enjoyed the relative silence, grateful for the moments of solitude. He enjoyed having these people near him and wouldn't trade their company for anything, but he also enjoyed these few moments of quiet reflection and planning he gained while they rested.
It was during one of these peaceful moments that he decided to check his character sheet. Upon opening the screen, he discovered he had leveled up twice more. Considering where to assign his attribute points, he debated whether he should maintain his well-rounded approach or start to focus on a more specific stat. He decided to inquire with Xinpo before making any changes.
"What do you think I should do with these unallocated points? Keep my stats balanced or start to focus on a specific stat?" Jarow asked his longtime companion.
"You have mostly relied on sword fighting styles while here as well as the last place, so boosting your physical attributes makes sense, suzerain. But don't forget that you do use a variety of powers, and you'll get another when reaching the next level," Xinpo replied. "Some forward thinking is always a good idea as well."
Jarow had forgotten about that. He'd gain a new power at level twenty, in fact he gained powers at every five levels now. He briefly wondered what the new power might be. "An area of effect spell would be extremely useful," he thought to himself, visualizing some kind of massive switcheroo or other type ability.
Looking at his character sheet again, Jarow decided to follow the first part of Xinpo's advice. He might put more points into his mental attributes when he got a new ability, but for now, his MP was more than enough for the powers he used.
He added four points to his Power attribute and three each to Durability and Mobility. Watching the numbers change on his character sheet, he saw his HP and SP increase significantly. Satisfied with his choices, Jarow closed the screen after idly watching the bars slowly refill.
After a few more hours of rest, the party woke up eager to resume their journey. They pressed on in the same direction, keeping the wall to their side. It wasn't long before they began to encounter more enemies. More Naga zombies appeared only an hour further on.
The repetitive encounters made for slow progress. These Naga zombies posed little challenge anymore, lacking the numbers to overwhelm them. Even the controllers were easily dispatched. The team yearned for something new; monotony, it turned out, was the true enemy of an adventurer.
Their teamwork and fighting style grew sloppy. They either dispatched enemies with careless blows or experimented with new techniques in an attempt to add excitement. This resulted in several near misses, and a malfunctioning spell almost caused Grolluk to bear the brunt of Isilandra's Lunar Hammer.
As the team leader, Isilandra chided herself as well as the others for their laxity during the lull. The near miss served as a stark reminder: new techniques belonged on the training grounds, not the battlefield. They all needed to maintain their positions and formations.
Several more hours passed as they continued their trek. Finally, with the end wall of the cavern looming before them, their wish for a change was granted.
Throngs of zombies encircled the party like they were lining up for the next dance with the prettiest girl at the ball. But this dance was less romantic, less meeting their soulmate, and more having the dance-hall burn to the ground around them.
Within moments, the bodies began to pile up high in a circle, where they were frozen and created a small wall. The zombies, being near mindless automatons, continued to slither over the ice to meet their demise.
Then, a new noise joined the zombie's dance of death. It was a pounding, rhythmic, loud noise accompanied by a whistle or high-pitched release of air. Boom, psst. Boom, psst. Boom, psst.
The strangely inorganic rhythm began to transform the battlefield into an unsettling dance hall, the ground shaking with each bass-like "boom" followed by a high-pitched "psst."
"Seriously? I want cocktails if this is turning into a nightclub situation," Mediv yelled above the clamor.
"I wouldn't mind a drink either," Grolluk added. “I hope they have ale.”
"You two are idiots," Suhry said loudly, then under her breath added, "But a good glass of wine would be nice."
Jarow smiled at the friendly banter. Even Suhry seemed to be loosening up a bit. He knew this body was a big part of what was going on with her lately, and had been trying his best to avoid focusing any attention on her. Isilandra had been talking to her as well, he noticed, and it seemed as though the anxiety and discomfort she involuntarily felt around this body was finally subsiding.
Boom, psst. Boom, psst. The sound drew closer, the ground below them vibrating slightly more as a reminder, until Jarow could see something metallic just over the tops of the Naga-zombies they were continually fighting.
"Here it comes, whatever it is," Jarow announced since he was the tallest in the party now, he was the first to spy the creator of the loud noises.
Only moments later, the rest of them could also see the humongous machine ambling towards them. The zombies didn't move out of its way, though, so as it approached, it squashed its own minions with its gigantic feet.
"Feet" wasn't quite the appropriate term for what actually propelled the colossal contraption forward. Each step it took was marked by the lift and fall of three imposing, piston-like columns of metal, each the size of a small tower. With every thunderous 'boom' as the pistons drove themselves into the ground, the surrounding area seemed to vibrate with the sheer force of its advance. A swift release of gas from its massive hydraulics quickly followed the piston’s boom, adding an ominous undertone to its relentless march.
Directly following the first trio of piston-legs, on the opposite side, three more rose and moved forward, pounding themselves onto the stone floor. The hiss of released gas once again filled the air, creating a rhythmic: Boom, psst. Boom, psst.
The massive, alternatingly moving, ground-pounding piston-legs supported a formidable structure in between them. It was a large, blocky, rectangular torso crowned with three dark red bulbs. These bulbs, clearly serving as the machine's eyes, were encased within semi-transparent energy bubbles, positioned directly atop and in front of the colossal contraption, casting an eerie glow as they hovered atop their ladder-like stalks.
Beneath and alongside the red-metal rectangular body, a multitude of mechanical arms extended out, each equipped with various sharp tools, hammer-like implements, and whirring circular blades. These arms were attached to the torso via frame-like appendages with rotating joints, granting them a wide range of reach and motion.
As it drew nearer, the top of the machine slid open, revealing two large metal tubes ascending from inside the creature atop a menagerie of gears and rotors. These long hollow tubes formed a T-shape at the bottom, where thick hoses were attached to the rear of each. These hoses were linked to large tanks that bulged out near the rear of the rectangular torso.
The party observed as the tubes extended outward in a telescoping manner, adjusting and angling from where they attached as if calibrating their targeting system. Then, with the tubes now facing in the general direction of the party, the interior of each tube began to glow orange.
Suhry was the first to realize what was about to happen. Both tubes had angled forward, their large openings protruding just past the front of the machine and angled down, aiming towards where they all stood. She quickly chanted and yelled a familiar word of power, and a wall of ice appeared just seconds before both of the large cannons fired a plume of orange fire at them.
The ice didn't hold long against the heat generated by the flame-cannons. It took mere seconds before the intense heat melted the ice and began spewing through.
They all rapidly backpedaled as far as they could, looking on in fear as the fire billowed closer and larger with each passing second. Jarow had just enough time and wits to cast Spatial Exchange on the monstrous contraption. He chose a target as far away as his power would allow and instantly, the large machine disappeared from where it was, reappearing where a random zombie had just been a hundred yards away.
As it reappeared in its new location, its cannons continued firing for several seconds before slowly powering down. The zombie forces caught in the flames where the machine had teleported to were incinerated almost instantly.
The rest of the party watched in relief, releasing their held breath almost simultaneously.
"Holy shit! We would've been melted," exclaimed Mediv.
"I don't think I like fire much," added Grolluk.
"We need to come up with a strategy for that thing quickly, before it returns," Isilandra said as the first distant ‘boom, psst’ could be heard.
Undeterred by the destruction wrought upon them by the flames of their 'ally', the zombies continued to advance. While the gigantic machine had thinned their ranks somewhat, there were still plenty of the mindless creatures around, each intent on killing them. The party held the line, slaying the zombies as they climbed over the wall of corpses and ice that Suhry quickly recreated.
The loud, large machine began moving towards them once more. The echoing boom psst, boom psst of its pistons reverberated through the chamber, steadily propelling it forward. Its metallic cannons, still visible on top, now loomed over the heads of the zombies, glowing a fiery red as the metal still retained the heat from the flames.
"Can you make it flesh like the others?" Suhry called out to Jarow.
"I'll try, but I'm not sure if it'll work," Jarow replied. He focused on the steadily approaching machine, waiting for it to come within range for his Molecular Fusion spell.
As soon as it was close enough, Jarow cast the spell. The entire surface of the gigantic machine momentarily glowed brown, then shifted to a slightly gray color. However, with a loud snap, the spell obviously failed, and a wave of energy shot out from the robot.
The wave caused the party members to blink and step back. When they looked up again, the machine still retained its red metallic sheen.
"Nope," Jarow called out, as he continued slicing through a particularly desiccated Naga zombie. It used to have at least four arms, but all but one were gone. It also appeared to have had multiple heads at one time, with only one almost unrecognizable face remaining; the bottom jaw was missing along with the skin from the top of its head. The once slimy gray brain was almost completely exposed and jiggled as it hit the ground following Jarow’s powerful slice.
Feeling relatively unthreatened, Jarow took a moment to check his log, hoping to find an explanation for why the spell hadn't taken effect.
Molecular Fusion fails due to Z=K1-LLRT (0MAD0) Swiz’rmii-Nyfe Pounder’s resistance.
Type: metal alloy contains 2.2% Ozmium
“Really? Swiss army knife?” Jarow sarcastically commented to himself. His memory didn’t include much about his original life, but somehow he knew what a Swiss army knife was, and this thing was named after one? He remembered the plethora of instruments hanging from its sides and sighed.
“It’s got a resistance to it,” Jarow said after checking the message. He had no idea what Ozmium was, but he thought if he were still a dwarf he would.
“Resistance? I didn’t think that would be possible,” Isilandra replied between swings of her staff. Her healing abilities weren’t needed against these rotting Nagas, so she had taken to beating them to death along with the others, using her staff as a weapon.
“Any other ideas?” Isilandra asked after caving in another skull.
“I may have something,” Mediv said. He rolled out from under the falling corpse of the zombie he had just decapitated and over closer to Isilandra’s position. “I only just briefly got to try it out while outside, but my new skill, Aetherblade, should be able to cut through it.”
Mediv rolled away once he was finished speaking and brought his sword up through the jaw of a zombie moving closer to Suhry.
“Worth a try,” Isilandra said then yelled over to Jarow, “Can you get him somewhere close?”
"Just tell me when you’re ready, Mediv," Jarow called out, his voice sounding over the chaos around them. With a fluid motion, he spun around, his sword cutting through the lower half of the Naga he was engaging with. As he completed his turn, he crouched low, his gaze fixed on Mediv. Behind him, the dismembered torso of the zombie collapsed in a heap of lifeless flesh. With a flourish, Jarow extended his arms, his wings unfurling dramatically, accompanied by a self-satisfied smile, reveling in his own prowess.
“I’m ready,” Mediv said as he shook his head and brought a paw to his eyes. He appreciated a bit of theatrics, but even he found Jarow's display a tad excessive. Taking a deep breath, he steadied himself and focused. Running his fingers along the blade of his sword, it began to emit a faint orange glow.
Once Jarow saw the Mediv had finished enchanting his blade, he cast Spatial Exchange, transposing his position with that of a Naga-zombie which was located directly behind the humongous robotic enemy. The machine continued to move forward, its boom psst sounding with every step.
Mediv felt the strange pull as Jarow cast his spell on him. One moment, he was standing in the middle of the party members, activating his ability, and the next, he found himself staring at the backside of the huge robot. Its enormous piston-like legs lifting then and then whistling directly in front of him.
"Yeah, that's close," he said to no one in particular, his voice barely audible over the cacophony created by the machine.
Mediv wasted no time. He rolled forward, ducking under the swipe of a zombie directly behind him. Scurrying around one of the machine's legs as it thudded onto the ground, he momentarily paused, nearly losing his footing amidst the intense vibrations emanating from the stomping of the other set of legs. The entire floor seemed to tremble beneath him.
"This cat body definitely comes in handy at times," he thought to himself as he leaped up, grabbing onto one of the less sharp-looking appendages hanging from the belly of the monstrosity.
With a swift swipe, he removed the pick-like implement from the arm and climbed further up the appendage. From this vantage point, he began spinning around and swiping at the other arms dangling below the torso. He quickly cleared the area around him, the removed appendages clattering to the floor and impeding the army of zombies behind him. His Aetherblade sliced through the metal arms as if they were wet noodles hanging from a drying rack. The monolithic machine didn't even notice.
However, Mediv knew the smaller arms weren’t the true threat. He faced a decision: cut his way to the cannons on top through the torso from below or climb to the top and work his way down. Unable to find secure handholds along the sides, he chose to ascend through the torso.
Each arm hung from a small slit in the metal body. Mediv wrapped his fingers around one of these slits and drove his sword into the metal underbelly. This Aetherblade ability, earned from leveling in the cavern with Jarow, encased his blade in an outer sheath of Aether—an interdimensional substance. The Aether, defying the laws of this universe, effortlessly separated atoms upon contact with solid material, making it the ultimate blade capable of cutting through anything. Mediv had been surprised when this power became available.
As a Galactic Freebooter, Mediv's class typically focused on movement, speed, and resilience, rather than astral properties. Unlike most classes, he could choose from a variety of powers and gained them every three levels, as opposed to the usual five. It was these unique characteristics that led him to choose this Legendary class in the first place.
The blade moved up and in. Mediv pushed the blade forward, and it separated the metal as if slicing through hard cheese. There was slight resistance, but nothing he couldn't handle. He cut in a straight line, then added another cut at a ninety-degree angle.
That's when the large robot finally noticed him. The center eye bulb floated out from its socket, moving itself while still within its bubble. It remained attached via a small cable which led up to the metal housing where it normally rested. It moved down to the underbelly and found Mediv there.
Mediv saw the eye looking at him and stared back defiantly. "What are you gonna do?" he yelled at the eye and showed his third finger in what amounted to a rude gesture from his culture.
The machine suddenly stopped moving forward causing Mediv to lurch forward. He used his sword arm to stab into the metal above him for stability. The orb-eye flashed a bright red several times, as if mocking him, and began moving itself back up into place, being pulled back along its wire like a fish on a line.
Barely registering what was happening in time, Mediv's brain kicked into action. His eyes widened, and he leapt with all the strength and speed he could muster, leaving his sword still plunged into the metal underbody of the robot.
Without warning, mere seconds after the eye was out from under the monster, the entire body of the machine immediately collapsed as the hydraulics operating its legs both released simultaneously.
It hit the ground with a thunderous thud that echoed for miles, the force of its metal body hitting the stone shaking the ground and toppling over the zombies surrounding it.
"Mediv!" Jarow yelled as he felt more than heard or saw the machine suddenly drop to the ground.
"Mediv!" came the voices of Isilandra and Grolluk a second after Jarow's. They were all facing in opposing directions, so they hadn't seen how quickly the machine had dropped. However, they certainly felt the impact.
Fear washed over Jarow as dread told him that Mediv had been underneath there. He had seen him only seconds earlier, his blade working furiously, slicing through the arms and their attachments. Mediv had already detached most of the arms from underneath and was sawing into the thicker metal of the monster's underbelly when Jarow had last glimpsed him.
Jarow had looked away for only a second as a somewhat well-preserved hand and its attached claws came swiping at his eyes from his side. Apparently, that was all the time the large machine needed to drop.
A new zombie slithered up to Jarow's right, but he was too focused on Mediv and the machine to care. He swung Xinpo in a wild arc and hit flesh. It seemed that was all that was needed against the zombie, as the head of the creature fell from the rest of the body and landed on the ground with a wet squelch. They had all become so accustomed to the sound that Jarow didn't even register it.
The party members all looked to where the machine now sat, semi-motionless. They searched for Mediv, hoping to see him unharmed, while also keeping an eye on the machine for any signs of movement. It could, and most likely would, come after them again unless somehow Mediv had managed to stop it. They searched for any sign of hope.
What they saw was both fascinating and disturbing. The machine's eyes all popped out from their sockets and began scanning the area. A loud scraping sound emanated from the legs of the machine as it slowly started to lift itself up. Then, a dark gray streak rocketed up from the side of the machine.
The streak of gray was actually Mediv's furry body covered in what Jarow assumed was some kind of lubricant. He leapt along the side of the machine and sank his claws in deep, easily piercing the exterior and making ribbons of the metal as he climbed to the top.
The party watched, a new sense of hope filling them, but they also sensed that something was not quite right with their friend. Firstly, he was without his clothing; his previous attire was nowhere to be seen. Secondly, this new Mediv felt more feline and feral. There was a viciousness and animalistic quality displayed on his face as he attacked the machine with his orange glowing claws.
The cannons began shifting and turning, but Mediv noticed them and sprang forward. His claws easily separated the hoses behind the large guns, and their movement immediately stopped, accompanied by a burst of gas erupting into the air above.
He didn't stop there, though. He leapt past the cannons to the eye-ball on the right side of the machine. With one easy swipe, the entire framework apparatus fell to the floor. The cable binding the eye-orb severed. The attached eye immediately dimmed and fell to the floor where it shattered like a porcelain vase.
The tiger-hybrid-man then leapt to his left stalk and tore apart the framework there with similar results. The orb there glowing brightly as if to fire its beam at Mediv, but its cable became severed before it could fire, and it too fell to the ground and shattered.
Rather than finishing off the eye bulbs, he leapt back up on the back of the monster where the cannons had raised from and began tearing the metal apart as though digging through sand.
The machine was finally activating its huge hydraulic legs again, but Mediv was already several feet deep into the back of the monster. The remaining eye stalk moved up to watch what the feral cat-man was doing. It began to glow a deep red, priming its beam.
Before the eye bulb could fire its laser, Mediv leapt straight up and out of the hole. In his hand, he held a familiar sword. The luminescent orange glow had moved from the blade to his nails, but now the Aetherial glow slid down his fingers and back to course along the blade.
The laser shot, but the beam only lasted a second since its victim had already moved. It re-angled its sight upwards to where Mediv landed on top of one of the cannon barrels, but it was only able to get a visual of the cat-man for a second before the orange-edged sword sliced directly through the eye bulb.
With the last eye-orb destroyed, the huge machine stopped moving altogether, ending it’s movement with a loud clang and continued hissing as internal gasses escaped. Oil and other liquids leaked from the bottom coating the ground and causing the zombies to slide uncontrollably.
All of this movement and running, with Mediv in his naked state, seemed odd and perhaps even disturbing, especially to the ladies present; though his dangly bits were mostly covered in fur now. However, even with some of the potential disturbance lessened, what followed next was truly unsettling.
Now that the monster was unmoving, Mediv moved to the hole he had dug in the machine while retrieving his sword and proceeded to... relieve himself. He dropped his 'kitty biscuits' right into the inner workings of the gigantic machine.
He then proceeded to bend over on all fours and use his back paws to try and cover the hole, scraping his claws against the metal and causing an ear-piercing scratching sound in the process.
Bits of metal scratched off and flew over the hole, but there wasn’t nearly enough shavings to cover the business this new feral Mediv had left, and all of the party members were instantly glad that Mediv was downwind.