ARC1/C18 – Played
ARC1/C18 –
Inside the mirror realm, the faction combatants were still firing relentlessly at the oncoming flying hoards of mobs. Sam had just remained watching as the scene played out, unsure how to intervene and take down these guys.
If he tried to fight against the ones on this roof, it would alert their teammates, losing his main advantage – surprise. But if they could manage to take out the devices forming the barrier around the building, allowing the mobs in. They could do his job for him.
Heading down the stairs, he quickly found the first set of devices secured to parallel walls inside the building. Forming two large blades using Psi energy, he used a brute force attack on both devices simultaneously, cleaving them perfectly in half. He couldn’t initially see what effect had been on the barrier from where he was, but the devices were definitely disabled – laying in shattered metallic pieces on the ground, releasing no Psionic energy whatsoever. Sam continued on through the building destroying the devices, two by two, as he went.
***
Traksis easily followed the strange individual through the building and back up to the roof. His Psionic scent was overpowering – it was like following a human psionic battery. Also, he seemed to distort the air around him, giving a sensory tell to his location if you knew what to look for. Traksis’s species’ knowledge was limited where the multiverse was concerned, but she knew such things as human batteries did exist. Some lifeforms were kept for this very purpose, but their output of Psionic energy was low to moderate and definitely not limitless, as this person’s seemed to be.
She witnessed a scene of intense fighting as the combatants on the roof were swarmed by attacking beetles - the barrier was gone! She was hopeful that the beetles would decimate these creatures and watched on with glee as they writhed on the ground, trying to shake off the beetles in what looked like an insectoid football scrum. She had to remain calm, though, lest she be taken over by frenzy and become embroiled herself in the fight before her eyes. Instead, she hid near the stairs back down into the building, where she could watch safely.
But annoyingly, the enemy did not die from the many attacks that landed on them or even show signs of being affected by the beetle’s continual screech attack that would normally cause a stunning effect.
***
Sam saw his plan had half worked. But he had not reckoned on the fact that this team would have gear that made them invulnerable to their attackers. Sam was actually being buffeted by the sheer amount of mobs on the roof, knocking into his energy barrier. It kept him perfectly safe from the attacks, but he was worried they would soon enough detect his presence, if he did not move.
But before he could think further about what to do, he was almost nailed by twin streams of incoming fire from the other building. Their teammates, having seen their comrade’s predicament, had opened fire on their position. Had they never heard of friendly fire? Though he supposed the team was on the ground. Shrapnel flew, and brick dust erupted as the brick fragments exploded all around.
At this point, Sam was tempted to bail, his plan not being a success, and things getting fairly crazy. But he had now committed himself by destroying the barrier devices. Unless he just destroyed the whole building or something in an attempt to cover this up.
He decided to give it one last go. But what to do? They had clearly come well-prepared. In fact, he had already been thinking everything was just too well organized. They had known exactly what mobs they would face. He would need to talk to the contact from ‘The group’ as there were clearly far too many things he still did not know.
Then he noticed one of the team actually rolling off the roof, being so covered in mobs presumably that he could not see what was going on. Sam lifted off the building and watched as the guy tumbled through the air, the six floors to the ground, causing some beetles to fall off as he went. Until, splat! - he hit the sidewalk.
Sam was glad to see they were at least one man down. So he headed down to scoop up the guy’s core before any of the beetles got to it. However, what he saw shocked his eyes; a very gore-covered guy was getting up to stand on wobbly legs. All the gore was from the beetles.
But on looking closer, the guy was favoring his left side, so the armor didn’t give one hundred percent defense, meaning it didn’t make them immortal. This gave Sam an idea.
Zooming down to the guy on the ground and giving up on any pretense of staying covert. He covered him in a thick film of Psionic energy and lifted him, struggling into the air.
Sam immediately came under fire from two directions. First, from the struggling guy, this was pretty ineffectual as he could lock him down, but a second attack came; as he neared the top of the building, the guy’s teammates opened fire on him. They could not see him or their teammate, but clearly, the radio headset the guy was wearing also allowed them to track each other’s position. It would not take a rocket scientist to figure out they were dealing with a Constructor of some kind - seeing their own comrades’ position change so rapidly as he headed up into the sky.
So Sam flew back down, weaving between the buildings and heading to a position where he would be out of range.
He then ascended at speed, taking the guy straight up again. He wondered how far up he could go. What was the ceiling of the mirror realm? Once he got high above the cloud cover, he got his answer, starting to feel the psionic energies thinning. And figured that was as high as he could go. So he jettisoned the guy from the bubble he’d been trapped in.
Following his spiraling form down to check nothing hampered his descent, he was rewarded by the guy hitting with a satisfying crunch, proving they were not immortal.
Sam then rewrapped the guy in a bubble and carried him away to find his other teammates.
But they were nowhere to be seen until that is Sam looked up.
There high above the City, he saw two of the team hoisted high up in the sky. They were firing on the mobs holding them, but any that were hit falling to the ground were replaced by others.
This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
“Well, I never!” said Sam out loud, in shocked surprise. Not so unintelligent after all, thought Sam, shaking his head in disbelief.
Then Sam heard an inexplicable voice in his head. “I copy you, is all,” it sounded out raspily.
Sam turned his head slowly to see where the voice was coming from and saw a small wasp-looking creature, eye level with him. He had an intense desire to either shout or whack the thing but restrained the impulse.
The wasp looking straight into his eye, said, “The other is dead too.”
Sam paused for a second, relieved that the last team member had not escaped. Then thought out loud, thinking he recognized the distinctive gold-orange markings of this wasp. “Can you see me? And were you by any chance, in my hotel room?”
***
Traksis had watched Sam carry the enemy off into the skies above and had come up with her own plan. She had skirted the roof of the building, dodged the many beetles, and spotted a part of the building that had railings around it. Nice sharp pointy railings.
Most of the beetles around her were in total frenzy mode, so she could not rely on them, but she managed to get some of the beetles further away to listen to her. And after a brief discussion, they agreed to her plan to fly down to join those already encasing the enemy’s body. They then quickly maneuvered his body over to the correct part of the building and rolled him off.
This member’s descent was quite different from the last, however, as each of the beetles on the plane used their maximum speed to accelerate his descent into the metal railings below. Only letting go at the last moment.
This did not kill the enemy but did puncture their armor, allowing for the beetles and poison attacks to get through and eventually kill them.
Traksis then set off to find more enemies to target, only to find they were fleeing. Soon however, her beetle allies caught up with them, and after she gave them the idea, they started hoisting them up into the sky in mimicry of Sam’s exploits elsewhere in the City.
She had then spotted Sam; her senses had become attuned to the distinct blurriness he caused to his surroundings, which was far more distinct in the mirror realm. It was much easier to see if he was next to a building or something, but now she could even spot it when he was flying.
She really wanted to tell him of her success with the enemy she had downed earlier. Especially as she saw this as a chance to win him to her side, she needed him as a comrade, as an enemy; eventually, she would die.
Traksis heard Sam speak and, now knowing where his head was located, flew up and spoke into his ear. He reacted positively, and Traksis was just about to respond when she became very, very distracted.
[Pursuit Level, 100 breaks through to Tier-F, achieved]
[Processing… new abilities]
[Tier-F abilities available:
[Targeting – allows the user to place a target on an enemy or object and track its location. Accuracy scales with perception]
[Psychic Energy Absorption Level 100 break through to Tier-F achieved]
[Processing… new abilities]
[Tier-F abilities available:
[Energy Drain - Users can drain energy from individuals or objects. They can drain physical energy from a target or group, making the affected physically weaker or causing them extreme fatigue while gaining their strength and stamina, even to the point of death.]
What the hell!? It was quite unheard of to get any abilities to level 100. In fact, she hadn’t even heard a story about it. She speculated that she had indeed been in a unique position, being able to use the ability constantly while following Sam using [Psychic Energy Absorption] simultaneously, as well as all the time, keeping her SP permanently topped up.
Traksis rarely looked at her stats, as she had never leveled in her six months of life, just relying on [Psychic Energy Absorption] to survive in the harsh wastelands of the Seracian Kingdom after her home world was taken.
So she was puzzled at what came next.
[Synergy detected processing… new ability]
[Absorbing Regeneration - The user can absorb anything (energy, matter, biomass, elements, etc.) to regenerate their bodies, with the amount absorbed defining the strength and speed of regeneration.]
Regaining her focus,Traksis thought she better not keep this all powerful benefactor waiting. So she responded to his initial question.
“I can’t see you exactly but I have a skill that helps me determine your whereabouts. That is how I have been following you since the Seracian Kingdom. So yes I was at the location you call a hotel. And once you spoke just now I could tell where your head was” said Traksis, not giving the life form a chance to respond.
“I have unexpectantly received new abilities. Can you advise me which abilities to choose? I have just unlocked them but I have little or no experience in this matter.” Said Traksis hurriedly.
***
As the little critter had evidently helped him in the battle, he decided that he was an ally and he could do with as many of them as possible.
“Sure I can help you with that but can you report something to the beetles for me? Oh, My name is Sam by the way.” replied Sam. He was sure he could communicate with the beetles but thought it would be a whole lot easier if this creature did it, as they were already in dialogue with them. After all which of the hundred or so would he talk too?
“Yes I can do that. My name is Traksis. What would you like me to ask?” said Traksis, delighted to be getting on amicably with the creature.
Sam went on to explain that he was happy to relinquish the cores but wanted to get hold of all the equipment the team had. Thinking about the rest of his own team that equipment could literally save their lives in a confrontation. Traksis relayed the information and even asked the beetles to extract the equipment for them.
Sam and Traksis then had a brief discussion on abilities. Traksis also explained how this was a first for her species which disappointed Sam a bit as he had hoped for a stronger ally but maybe Traksis herself could grow into a powerful ally.
It was easy for Sam to cut it brief as he already knew about the [Energy Drain] ability and the [Absorbing Regeneration] had to be good as synergetic abilities always had great potential.
So Traksis chose these two abilities.
Name: Traksis Level 1
Health Points: 15/15 Skill Points: 10/10 Stamina: 18/18
Vitality: 1 Strength: 1 Endurance: 2 Agility: 2 Intellect: 3 Perception: 5
Acquired Path: PSI
Strand: null
Abilities:
[Pursuit Level 100] [Psychic Energy Absorption Level 100]
[Tier-F abilities
[Energy Drain Level 1] [Absorbing Regeneration Level 1]
***
Quan, had smacked his head when he found out that their new catch had left the hotel an hour earlier. The guy was a goldmine. He would literally be dead meat if something happened to him before the match. The other two were thankfully now locked in their hotel room with two people guarding them. It was standard for any new systems lifeforms to be in high demand, as slaves or anything really.
Fractions, just liked to flaunt their power and influence by showing they could do and get anything they wanted, hence having some new system dwellers around would immediately impress others. So they could easily be traded at a starting price of a few million credits. As the merger time went on their value would drop rapidly till they fell out of fashion completely, unless they were something useful. But that was small potatoes, the real money came when factions got to show their superiority over these new worlds. And that was where Quan came in.
He had arranged some of the most famous and lucrative underground competitions involving new systems in Iktophos, worth hundreds of millions. So why had he messed up this time?
The dam Therulian contacts he had turned sour when he tried out of the goodness of his own heart to cut them in and he had to dispose of them. Soon they would be taking part in their own competition and he for one would enjoy that as soon as he located this dam runaway, that is.