There comes a time in one’s life when you have to step up even if you aren’t prepared for it. This situation comes up a lot in sports or multiplayer games where one of the least important team members suddenly determines the success of the whole group’s venture.
Of course, most fail at this time since people are where they are for reasons. A secondary player may not have much talent or didn’t work hard as hard as the primary ones.
Some would feel despair thinking ‘I’m not built for this’ while some would rejoice in confidence ‘I’ve practiced for this for so long, I can do it!’.
Izo however was in between, trusting the knowledge in his mind and the skill ingrained in his body (mostly the firepower of his weapons) but still victory was far from assured. This was a moment of pronounced fear that an individual could only cope and ride out.
He was in a dark sewer system with only the green light of gigantic fungi to light the path. Pools of acid abound and small living beings crawled in their burrowed homes within the fauna or missing bricks.
‘A special battle.’
The chance was of it appearing per arena entrance was unclear but it wasn’t an impossibly low chance. On his 40th, it finally appeared. Though this one was new, replacing the giant special battle.
Izo breathed in deep and breathed out thrice. People underestimate the power of this technique but it’s been repeatedly been proven to be very helpful in labs and in the battlefield.
‘Or maybe it’s just placebo. I wonder if what Sung Soo said about how a lot of soldiers rely on placebo to psyche themselves up.’
Anyway, it worked and his breathing became even and his hands were less cold. Izo’s brain was thinking a bit more clearly now.
‘This isn’t one of the known special battles. Holding Jae here for two hours means this place should not be underestimated.’
Immediately, all thoughts of going out of the APC was gone even if its movements were loud in this quiet biome. After preliminarily checking his surroundings and finding nothing of note, Izo looked at the compass.
There were no overt clues for any specific plan of action so he opted to drive north at 33% speed which is about 25 km/h. This would allow him to map the terrain at least.
With a few commands on his wrist then driving the Lasrain they began buzzing and scared away some of the small animals.
‘It should be a monster. Where is it?’
There were obstacles like debris or large mushrooms filling the tunnel. He couldn’t destroy them even with main guns since it was more of a piercing weapon than an explosive one so Izo had to reroute at times.
Thankfully, he safely arrived at what seemed to be the north western corner.
A crack in the tunnels and a large explosion came from the south eastern direction. It’s already loud sound amplified by the walls of the sealed dark.
Unsure of what it was but relieved that there was finally something different that his lonely travelling, Izo drove in a straight line towards the sound at 50% speed.
In 5 minutes, he arrived at the explosion site that was wreathed in Promethium flame.
Again, there was another explosion now to the north east. Izo had already rerouted towards the direction however. There was simply a trail of acid splashes and still burning mushroom that clued him in on where to go.
‘Are these claw marks?’
They were a meter deep and made him swallow saliva.
‘The Lasrain would last 3 hits from whatever caused this.’
Izo made sure to be on even higher alert as he followed the tracks north east while maintaining enough speed that the Lasrain’s momentum could be changed last minute.
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It didn’t take long before the sound of battle and shouts of command came up ahead followed by a shriek echoing in the tunnels.
Then a large blip on the spiritual radar appeared. This tool was standard equipment for Nexus armies since most of their enemy’s used spirituality. Unless a certain spiritual skill or techniques were used, all things with spirituality radiate it. The more powerful the individual or material used, the higher the radiation.
The Lasrain wasn’t a spirituality powered weapon and instead was a nuclear/electric one. It can only be C grade despite its power.
Izo saw photos and comparisons from the Lasrain’s analyzer. This enemy up ahead should be a monster yet it was being compared in spiritual output to some of those weapons.
His small convoy got closer and closer. Izo heart was pumping fast again so he was counteracting it with breathing deep and slow. The APC turned a corner and Izo finally had a look at the situation.
The disgusting and misshapen monster was ahead and its mass currently aflame. He saw Jae chasing after it with a brown glowing fist which now appeared on the Lasrain’s radar. Two Cilae with one injured and the other supporting Jae was also there.
The pus ridden spider with eight claws encountered the forward scout drone. Izo’s gawking made him forget about controlling it and its buzzing stopped as the expensive equipment was smashed against the wall.
The monster didn’t stop moving towards him however and if Izo’s body language knowledge applied to it, the thing looked scared. It jumped over the fallen Cilae and towards him just to escape Jae’s building spiritual power.
At 10 meters away, a single jump it got to 5 meters from Izo who was now focused. He connected his mind to the Lasrain’s targeting control and unleashed the two barrels of Lasblaster fire on the spider.
It however moved to the side and this bought it half-a second to move four of its claws in front and bundled them together. The actual two bulbous bodies that were soft were hidden behind the large claws.
‘What is that carapace made of?’
It only glowed red and nothing more. If Izo concentrated fire on one part, the lasers would soon pierce through. The spider however was moving and skittering in zig zag patterns making it a feat of luck.
Izo ordered the Decimator drones to surround it and unleash fire. This distracted it for a second where it had to leave only two claws to block the Lasblaster fire. Multiple shots managed to pass through and hit its main body.
The bursts of laser gouged out holes in its weaker thorax and even managed to blind the right set of its eyes. A few hits on its right abdomen then bright green acid came leaking out like sap. Promethium fire entered the now open wounds on its body making it shriek once more.
This window to kill the spider closed however once it noticed that the flies buzzing around it was only tickling instead hurting. The claw shields were reformed but this time it aggressively advanced towards Izo.
“Hold it for a second.”
‘I would also like to. It’s just.’
The Lasrain may be able to fly vertically, horizontally and diagonally but it was as graceful as a tub on water. There was a significant delay between actions and it can only move towards one direction.
The twin cannons were a big deterrent to the monster however as it couldn’t jump. If it wanted to attack it had to stop to use the walking claws or lift one of the shield ones. It was like knife fight where the they were both ranging each other and waiting for a single wrong move.
Unfortunately, Izo was the one who wasn’t up to par as he moved back a bit slower than necessary. One of the claws carved through the front roof between the cannons and went halfway through. The delayed moving back only exacerbated the crevice as the claws through the front.
‘Maybe not 3 hits but 2.’
If that attacked pierced through its would’ve skewered Izo.
“Hold your fire.”
The Cilae man jumped on the air and aimed to pierce it with his shining spear artifact. Jae crushed a stone artifact and she instantly moved twice as fast.
The spider now cornered between 3 enemies didn’t know what to do anymore. It fired acid on the Cilae man from its bulb and aimed to pounce towards Izo.
This was a mistake however since it didn’t expect Jae’s sudden speed as her uppercut punch met its abdomen.
[ Warning! Warning! Large spiritual power detected. ]
Instead of this warning, only one thought was on Izo’s mind.
‘She’s going to finish it off.’
The camera with its IR mode showed the explosive light coming from the point of impact. The crosshair was however pointed right on Jae’s face. Izo could shoot her right now.
He was thinking about it. The money he borrowed from Sun Hee, Sung Soo and others. His bright future that he could achieve if he completes this arena. Flashes of his depressing life on Earth and his future as a sad white-collar worker.
‘Great power and I only need to fire.’
Jae had been nice to him all this time and this action would definitely haunt Izo for the rest of his life. But if it was his dreams or hers.
The power from Jae turned the carapace soil brown. The now ceramic body parts cracked from her impact force.
‘No.’
If it was an evil person, Izo would’ve fired already without hesitation. Not even if it their family was watching. But a good person or someone who is in the middle should be respected. And if he loses to them, Izo could only accept.
When the right abdomen was obliterated and the rest of the body would soon follow, the other more intact left abdomen began radiating spirituality.
[ Warning! Warning! Large spiritual power detected. ]
Izo felt his thoughts slow and his vision fading. Just when he was about to lose consciousness and his body slumping towards the chair, a sudden jerk jolted him.
It was similar when at the boundary of sleep when one felt falling and in fear the body reacts. Izo’s soul and mind remained awake in fear as it felt another consciousness reaching.
The spider’s animal mind unable to convey anything too complicated simply sent a feeling. A feeling, screaming with its pressure saying ‘Now die!’.