The knocking sound of metal on metal was repeated with stubborn persistence as the reason was a full squad of mercenaries behind, who stopped even trying to preserve the surroundings. Using heavy weaponry without remorse, they tore holes in the walls, destroyed whole sections of pipes and cables, wiped out several corridors with explosives, and still failed to kill Robert. At least by this point, because he was not sure about the near future. Accumulated wounds from a few previous clashes weren’t helping.
You stupid moron, you jinxed it!
Cursing himself, Robert ducked into the nearest window that earlier was occupied by a dancing prostitute. To his surprise, despite all his weight and force, he bounced back from the transparent material that gave the ability to watch, but not to touch. That effectively stopped his motions, almost as if taking the remaining energy from his body. Mindlessly lightly bashing it again with his forehead, he felt he was out of charge. The heavy erratic breath showed how beaten Rob was. Not tired, as with his mana-fueled constitution it wasn’t a thing but covered with injuries.
Most of them were simply patched by steel plates to prevent a blood loss. However, not everything could be done with it. His broken ribs seemed to damage his lungs, making to cough the red liquid from time to time. The burns from several tangent bullets, pieces of multiple fragments from the random items or even parts of the walls that got stuck in his thick skin, one phalange absent from his index finger, and that wasn’t even all. The biggest wounds so far were a steel construct instead of his left lost foot and a sharp blade that replaced Rob the part of his left arm, starting from the elbow.
You totally did it, idiot! Wanted to be a buccaneer? Where is my parrot or what bullshit did you spoke, damn it?! You got the image you wanted! Happy now?
Before Robert managed to get into central corridors, where most tourists were gathered, and to the particular super durable window, he had to make his way through two enemy teams. One of the mercenaries from the last used something akin to a hand-grenade launcher the moment he saw the dangerous “Terranoid”, sending a huge projectile into Rob. The following explosion wasn’t that powerful, aiming not to damage everything with heat and shockwave, but to accelerate hundreds of tiny needles all over the surroundings. Their piercing capabilities were enough to penetrate the thick shield, almost turning Robert into a hedgehog. Luckily, he was already in the motion, getting most of them into his shoulder.
On the other hand, the effect was not only in sheer physical damage as the spreading poison immediately tried to knock him out. It could be the same as in the darts, or completely different type for all he knew. Fighting with the darkening vision, Robert almost failed to react in time when another grenade was sent flying. The thick shield saved him from tiny projectiles and torrents of bullets from other shooters, while simultaneously turning him into a sitting duck waiting to be killed. Therefore, using all his desire to live, Rob sent himself into motion. Well, actually, not himself but his steel, but it still took a lot of mental effort.
Sending his steel as it was a sneaky snake crawling on the ground toward the owner of the grenade launcher, Robert made it to grip the enemy’s leg before simply exploding with an unfocused Energy Blast. The power behind the magic ability was enough to turn the armored leg into a mangled thing, but not enough to kill. However, the action was timed right at the moment of the launching of another grenade. The sudden attack dropped the mercenary on his back, while not halting his finger’s motion. Therefore the next moment another wave of tiny projectiles was sent into the surroundings.
However, this time the biggest portion of it was taken by the enemy’s team. The needles didn’t manage to kill everyone if even one, but their number was huge enough to destroy all sensors and cameras on the highly technological suits, effectively blinding them all. Not having a transparent visor backfired at them. That gave Rob an ability to finally stand up, dispersing the steel. The constantly shaking corridor and trembling hands made quite a task to aim his Energy Blast, but he somehow managed to overcome it. Robert didn’t know if it was his physique with increased regeneration, or the effect was lowered because of a wrong target as he wasn’t the terranoid, but he slowly started to return to senses.
Maybe this what saved him from being blown away by the launched grenade. The owner of the dangerous weapon was the last from his squad as Rob thought the wound had taken him out from the fight. It appeared to be a wrong conclusion from the underestimation of the mercenary. Not only the enemy managed to rise his “hand-mortar”, but he even changed the projectile to another. This fact was completely missed by Rob, who instinctively reacted by putting the same shield in front of him.
The explosive blast tore through the steel, simply evaporating his arm up to the elbow before another instinctively conjured shield stopped its devastating advance. The overwhelming pain from the sudden loss of the limb sent Robert backward. He almost felt behind but the enemy wasn’t stopping, raising his grenade-launcher once again after the recoil moved the barrel away from Rob. So, fighting against awful sensation and poison, he used few hastily made pillars to send him to the side. The flying projectile barely missed his head, pushing the wildly beating heart into even faster “dance”. The adrenaline somehow cleared Robert’s mind, giving him opportunity to act, despite the injury. And he did.
Bouncing from the floor by using his intact arm, Rob created the very same blade instead of his stump. Pushing himself forward, he stretched his weapon in the long thrust. Moreover, the conjured construct was simultaneously increasing its length, in a mere moment staring to look like a real lance attached to the elbow. Agile, almost like alive under Robert’s control, it moved slightly before reaching the gap between the helmet and the chest armor. The strike only started to send the kinetic force toward the neck of the enemy, when the mental command turned the steel into a white glowing matter that flickered before turning into the white projectile. The latter was almost the size of the head, clearly fueled by the insane amount of energy. Not wonder in the next moment it simply disintegrated the helmet and half of the torso into nothingness.
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Robert dropped an instant later, planting with his face against the dirty and damaged floor. Covered in tiny holes, burns and cracks, it was silently calling him to prolong their “hugs”. Unfortunately, the circumstances couldn’t give him an ability even for a short rest, not speaking about recovery. In the city full of guns for hire, criminal activity and armed guards, there was no chance that it was the end. On the contrary, those two or three dozen mercenaries that Rob managed to kill up to this point were just the tip of the iceberg, while he was already nearing his limits. Some enemies clearly tried to capture him alive, providing more chances to get out without any wounds, but those, who aimed for his head were no joke, considering the superiority of the highly advanced technology.
Yep, the option with a ship is out. Hostages, I need hostages to survive this.
Rasing from the floor took a few seconds in an attempt to fight with vertigo and another several to cough the blood. Still, Rob’s body was much tougher that the nature designed, being improved in many ways. That left him no inner excuses why laying on such a comfortable floor was the best decision at the moment and in his state. The sounds of running heavy boots accelerated the disappearance of any pondering about how to act. Pushing himself into the motion, Robert continued his hopeless run.
Luckily, the corridor led to the main pathway in no time. Running on now empty “street” that had multiple traces of hast evacuation, Rob after a short consideration decided to get out from the clear sight, not wishing to get the sniper bullet into his head. With powerful bullets, even his “thick-skulled” head would be blown up like a melon. This brought him to the nearest window, which he failed to break in one go. Pausing, Robert focused on his body. Having so many wounds patched by improvised steel bandages, his attention obviously never left it, but he wanted to check if he could disperse some of them to lessen the mental toll. However, as always, the world never froze to give a breathing space in time of need. So, catching the sight of the huge, armored figure, Robert barely managed to jump to the side. Rolling like a bag of potatoes, he used pillars to recover his footing before finally checking the towering opponent.
What the hell? Why don’t you just skip this whole nonsense and let me face the fucking star destroyer directly?
Rob’s angry emotions could be justified as the massive mech was standing right in front of him. It wasn’t similar to the ones he used to control but had an actual cabin inside for the operator. The thing had an oversized torso to fit the soldier inside, while its mechanical limbs were much thinner and disproportional. The upper ones had three-finger manipulators and weapons, hidden in the forearms. The lower ones were really short, making the mech look like some kind of a headless gorilla. Unfortunately for Robert, the aggressiveness from the latter was already there.
The odd fist barely missed Rob’s head, when he made his clumsy evasion. The worst part was that the operator stopped its strike almost instantly, not reaching the window. That spoke a lot about the precision of the control over the three-meter-tall mechanical suit (around 10 feet). Painted in the black with strokes of red here and there, with a huge symbol of an unknown creature on the chest, it gave of a menacing feeling. However, instead of rushing into the fight, the mech made few steps back before pausing on the spot. Hitting both his clenched fists against themselves, the enemy clearly switched his position to the one that wore a resemblance to a martial art’s stance.
“Do you want a melee fight with me?” Rob’s shock couldn’t be hidden, no matter how hard he tried. His mouth got even a wide opening, when the opponent made a quite telling gesture using three-finger manipulator of his battle armor – “come at me”.
What a dumbass!
Glancing at the machine-gun in left limb and the rocket launcher in other, Robert enthusiastically nodded before instantly charging forward, disappearing from his original spot as if teleported. In the next moment he had to duck under the lighting fast swing, only to timely block a following kick with timely conjured steel. Despite the magical toughness, the dark green metal bent under the force, but didn’t bulge under effect of weight increase. That messed up the enemy’s attack pattern as instead of predictable movement forward, the mech bounced back after hitting something heavier than itself. Catching the balance, the operator lost precious seconds, giving Rob an opportunity to hug the massive figure.
The obvious attempt to reap off the clingy terranoid failed as the steel was already conjured between the gaps of the armor, making it hard to move the limbs in the joints. Robert, on the other hand, already found the handle of the hatch. As always, the most vulnerable spot in the mech was its operator and the way he entered the machine. No matter how the engineers tried, there were gaps between the armored plates, and Rob wanted to use it.
Creating a needle in one of those, he simply pushed all the available matter to fill the space underneath the armor. The insides were defiantly hermetic, but Rob’s construct already breached the toughest defense layer – the outer protective shell. So, several consecutive unfocused Energy Blasts tore the machine and its controller into bloody pieces, while leaving the surface of the mech without a single scratch on the paint. Backing from the frozen mech, Robert paused to fight with nausea after the backlash had hit his quite beaten body. Only after the awful feeling went to the background, he finally took a look on the fallen enemy.
Did you really think I would box with you, moron? But I need thank for such a braindead action as I would die if you started with shooting. Thank you, my idiotic hero… Okay, back to business. Where are the tourists? If I were a guard, where would I evacuate them? Hmm, let me think… Or not. Fuck, two more mechs! Shit! Run, Robert, run! Crap, stupid unbreakable window!