Kyle saw the circles glow with mana, and knew he had nowhere to run in the confines of the narrow tunnel. Gritting his teeth as he activated HASTE, Kyle sprinted for the exit of the tunnel. He felt a searing pain across his legs as he dove to the side, too slow to fully escape the blast. He screamed in pain as he deactivated his Skill, already focusing his mana into HEAL and REGENERATION. Kyle set C.H.A.D.D. down next to him before looking at his legs, and he was surprised at the precision of the burns. The areas that had been struck directly had been damaged heavily, but outside of where he’d been hit there was unblemished skin.

He thought back to when he’d taken Carlyle’s FIREBALL head on. If Carlyle had been able to focus his mana the way this beetle did, Kyle likely would have died. A direct shot to the head or the heart against an attack like this wouldn’t give him the time to recover, a reminder of the danger he was in. He shuddered as he considered that, a cold shiver of fear running down his back. This isn’t the time, Kyle. Back to the task at hand. Fortunately, he could feel that the pulses weren’t coming closer at the moment.

The beetle didn’t seem eager to come back out into the more open chamber, and Kyle couldn’t blame it. It had just been attacked by an intruder, and it likely didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks either. While that bought him time to recover, it also gave him space to start forming a plan. As he continued to heal, he turned to C.H.A.D.D.

“What did your scans tell you about this thing?”

[IT IS AN INTERESTING ORGANISM. AMBIENT MANA IS EFFICIENTLY DRAWN INTO THE FORMATION ON ITS BACK BEFORE BEING EXPELLED.]

Kyle nodded as he took that in. He’d experienced it too – the beetle was able to fire far more often than he’d expected for a technique with that kind of offensive power. Kyle wasn’t an array technician by any means, but he knew that powerful systems were typically much easier to break than build. The damage C.H.A.D.D. had taken was a perfect example. Still, he knew he needed to get more information before planning the rest of his moves. He’d more than learned the consequences of moving forward without a plan, and that wasn’t a mistake he was going to make again.

“Were you able to get any information on its shell? Did you note any weak points like we saw with the ant?”

[SCANS INDICATED THE LAYER OF CHITIN WAS CONSISTENT ACROSS THE BODY OF THE INSECT, DR. MAYHEW, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE JOINTS. AS COMPARED TO THE ANT, THE LAYER OF CHITIN APPEARS TO BE ROUGHLY SIXTY PERCENT THINNER.]

The healing work on his legs complete, Kyle stood up. The plan was forming in his mind, and looking at the ground at the mouth of the tunnel the final pieces started to fall into place. The residual heat from the attacks warmed the otherwise cool cave air as he walked over. He carefully reached over, pulling up a cracked shard of earth. The beetle was responsible for the patches of cracked earth, it literally fired the clay when its blasts hit the soft dirt.

Tossing the fist-sized shard in his hand, he tested its weight. It wasn’t particularly heavy or durable, but for what Kyle was thinking it would probably work. Kyle closed his eyes and took a deep breath. You can do this. When his eyes opened, the soft glow of HASTE suffused the room. He stepped into the mouth of the tunnel, sensing the beetle hadn’t moved. It responded nearly instantly, beams of heat streaming down the open passage. Kyle’s enhanced Perception in this state allowed him to see the twisting mana in the air compressing into the flowing circles, and he lined up his shot.

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The shard of clay left his hand and hurled down the hallway towards the creature’s exposed abdomen, but the strike missed the array he was aiming for – instead the hardened clay crumbled against the chitin to the left with an audible thump. Kyle was out of the line of fire as quickly as he’d appeared, though he still felt the heat from the passing beams. Grabbing another piece of freshly fired clay, Kyle prepared to try again.

This process repeated itself over the course of nearly an hour, and the only thing Kyle had to show for it was a set of nasty burns on his right forearm and shoulder and a nickname for the damn bug. They’d taken to calling the creature the “Infernal.” Kyle was sitting next to C.H.A.D.D. as he treated his fresh injuries, grumbling under his breath.

“It’s just not fair. This stupid thing isn’t even looking and it still knows exactly when to shoot at me. Damn bug has eyes in the back of its head.”

[AS A POINT OF FACT, DR. MAYHEW, IT DOESN’T. SCANS REVEALED NO OCULAR ORGANS OF ANY TYPE.]

“Thanks for that, C.H.A.D.D. Either way, it has some way to know when I’m stepping into the mouth of the tunnel. I know I can kill it if I can get close, but the clay just isn’t hard enough to do any real damage to stop it from firing.”

[OR, DR. MAYHEW, YOU AREN’T HITTING THE ARRAYS IN THE CORRECT LOCATIONS.]

Kyle wanted to argue with the drone, but C.H.A.D.D. made a fair point with that one. In the dozen or so attempts he’d made, he’d only struck one of the arrays squarely twice. The theory was a good one, but his projectiles just weren’t quite up to snuff. The clay wasn’t durable enough to hold its shape and transfer the force when it hit the chitin. He was interrupted as his drone companion continued.

[FURTHERMORE, DR. MAYHEW, IT’S QUITE CLEAR HOW IT KNOWS WHEN YOU’RE GETTING CLOSE. I TOLD YOU YOUR PULSES WERE EASY TO DETECT.]

“It’s a lot harder to fix than it sounds, C.H.A.D.D.”

[SO IS INTERNAL MEDICINE. SO IS SURGERY. DID YOU QUIT THOSE BECAUSE THEY WERE ‘HARDER THAN THEY SOUNDED?’]

Kyle sighed in exasperation. “It’s not the same thing, C.H.A.D.D. We don’t have time for me to try to figure things like that out.”

[WHY DON’T WE, DR. MAYHEW?]

“Because…”

Kyle trailed off. Because you’re on a timer, C.H.A.D.D. Because I don’t want you to get damaged anymore. Because I don’t want to be alone out here. Those were the words he wanted to say, that he knew he should say. But he couldn’t bring himself to say them. “Because we don’t have food. I’m running low on water. And there are people out there that still need our help.”

[DR. MAYHEW, IN ANY EMERGENCY SITUATION THE FIRST PRIORITY IS ALWAYS TO SECURE YOUR SAFETY BEFORE PRIORITIZING THE SAFETY OF OTHERS. YOU HAVE A SOURCE FOR CLEAN DRINKING WATER IN THE CHAMBER WE FOUND EARLIER. AND THE FOOD SITUATION WILL RESOLVE ITSELF SHORTLY.]

“And how is that, C.H.A.D.D.? In case you haven’t noticed we’re a long way from Albaum. And I don’t think the Infernal is just going to let us kill it and eat it any time soon.”

[CERTAINLY NOT, DR. MAYHEW. BUT THE OTHER BEETLES THAT WILL BE ENTERING THIS CHAMBER SHORTLY SHOULD BE WELL WITHIN YOUR ABILITY TO HANDLE.]

Kyle’s jaw dropped as he saw a group of three beetles enter through the same tunnel he and C.H.A.D.D. had come through, and now that he thought about it he’d seen the Infernal eating a beetle when they’d first walked into the chamber. He stood to meet the newcomers, and in moments there were three dead beetles. They were no real threat to him, and Kyle reflected once more on how much he’d grown since his grandfather died. And still, it isn’t enough.

Bitterly, he thought about what his weakness had cost him. C.H.A.D.D. was damaged, and people had died. The drone was right. He had to make sure he was taking care of his own affairs before trying to change things for everybody else. He couldn’t help anybody if he was dead. Still, there was the food situation to figure out. Kyle lifted one of the dead beetles up by its leg, glancing down the tunnel where the Infernal still rested. Stepping into the mouth of the tunnel, he quickly stepped aside as a blast of heat was sent his way. Looking at the dead beetle in his hand, he groaned.

“These things taste even worse than normal if they’re overcooked C.H.A.D.D. And I know they’re going to be way over done.”