The group’s energy was slowly depleting. Calvin’s swings became slower and less damaging as his wind blades covered less distance. He was fighting off beetles directly now, thrusting through their bodies and flinging them from the catwalk as they pressed forward.
Wasps had been diving down onto the group, almost scoring deadly hits before Reaper and Crash could take them down.
Amy had an idea and spent the last few minutes preparing for it. She’d removed all of the spikes from her bracers and stashed them in her bandolier, enchanting them with the corrosive toxin. She fought off beetles, trading off with Calvin briefly while she waited for more spikes to regenerate.
The regeneration had completed and now it was time to put the plan into motion. She stashed her main weapons into her pouch and withdrew two spikes, infusing them with Toxic Load, and threw them into the walls at carefully spaced intervals. She withdrew two more and repeated the process, all the while replacing the empty slots in her bandolier with newly generated spikes from her bracers. She’d gotten just over a dozen spikes buried into the walls all over the chamber, the toxins slowly infecting the pulsating mass.
They could see the war happening within the substance. The toxins were slowly trying to spread as the flesh fought to heal the damage.
Crash dropped an incendiary grenade onto the floor, trying to overwhelm the healing abilities of the fleshy barrier with constant damage.
Amy continued filling her bandolier as spikes recharged on her bracers. She withdrew her Shadowthorn dagger and burned nearly all of her mana saturating the walls with Echoing Strike. While the ability wouldn’t carry over the Toxic Load or corrosion from the bandolier, it would apply the innate Shadowthorn toxin from the blade. Blade after blade rocketed out, burying into the walls before exploding in a sonic pulse. The shadowthorn toxin was going to work, spreading thorns from the points of impact, and slowly but surely they began to overwhelm the regenerative abilities of whatever the hell this was.
Marshall had tried and failed to mark the walls for his skill. It seemed that the fleshy mass wasn’t considered a target. It was simply the environment.
As the damage spread, the ceaseless release of eggs slowed to a trickle. Large sections of the walls were decaying away as the spread of the toxins increased in speed. As the mass shriveled and turned to rotting mush, the decay began spreading to the main section enveloping the pillar.
The group collectively released a sigh of relief. The waves of bugs, had completely stalled and the group was able to pick them off from range while Calvin and Freya rested to recharge their stamina.
“Nice fuckin’ work Ames.” Marshall said, “Leave it to Calvin to have us off questing in literally my nightmare. I am SO SICK of bugs.”
“Marshall,” Calvin said, “I seem to recall you telling us all how badly you wanted a rematch with that beetle. Well, Merry Christmas.”
Their banter was interrupted by a deafening screech. It was the sound of metal being ripped apart as a ten-foot-long curved blade punched through the chamber walls and began tearing them apart. The group was up in a flash.
“WHAT NOW?!” Marshall screamed.
The walls shook as yet another curved blade burst through, sending debris flying in all directions. They were working in tandem to tear out a massive hole. Out of nowhere, a colossal head emerged and fixed its gaze on the group. Two gigantic, bulbous, alien eyes stared at them. It was the head of a monstrous mantis.
Reaper wasted no time, he leveled his rifle and activated All-In. A blinding flash pierced through the air, slamming directly into the creature’s face, and throwing its head back against the wall of the chamber. The mantis screamed in rage and began to furiously force its way through the opening. This creature was fucking HUGE!
As it forced its body into the chamber, they could see that it was easily more than 40 feet long. At least some of them had grown up where there were mantids and they knew just how deadly these things were back on earth in their standard earthling size. A system augmented, beefed up super mantis was basically worst-case scenario for them.
“Fall back to the cargo bay!” Calvin shouted.
They fired off several more ranged projectiles before they retreated.
The screeching or tortured metal chased them down the passageway as they booked it.
The group burst into the cargo bay and began fanning out into a formation. Calvin threw down a Runic Snare and a fire attuned mine right into the mouth of the passage, courtesy of Seth. Freya and Calvin stopped halfway into the room and turned to stand their ground against the colossal mantis.
The creature was moving down the passageway now. It was so enormous that it had to squeeze through, using its deadly scythes to pull its way through the tunnel. Calvin identified it while Crash and Reaper unloaded a constant barrage of rounds trying to soften it up.
Corrupted Mantis Lord - Level 29
Of course, it’s fucking corrupted Calvin thought. He had no idea what it meant, but he knew for sure now that his team would be facing whatever bullshit The Corruptors were about for the remainder of this tutorial.
The Mantis Lord had finally made its way through the passage. The front half of its body, freed from the confining passage, now rose up on its front legs as it pulled the rest of its form into the cargo bay.
Just one more step
BOOM!
The Mantis Lord activated the mines, enveloping its underside in a burst of flames as the snare triggered and held it into place.
Calvin wasted no time. He unleashed the golden spikes from his spear. They shot straight up into the air, flipped horizontally, and all aimed directly at the Mantis before firing off like cruise missiles. Each of them left a trailing wake in the air as they streaked toward their target. Each of the spikes struck the mantis and pierced straight through it.
The Mantis Lord hissed, its sound echoing through the air with an eerie, otherworldly presence. Its body quivered with a furious rage, the chitin rattling loudly as the hiss grew louder.
The team burned all of their ace cards immediately while the creature was snared.
A glowing orb shot into the air, firing off from Reaper’s location. The intensity of the orb’s light grew to unprecedented levels in a split second as the orb burst apart and saturated the area around the Mantis with high-intensity pulse blasts.
The scorching plasma utterly destroyed the floor tiles and walls around the creature. Scorching wounds ripped down its body. The tip of one of its scythes was sheared off by one of the blasts… and now it was free. No longer bound by the embrace of the snare.
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With lightning-quick speed, the Mantis dashed sideways and onto the wall. Its immense legs punched through the wall tiles as it scurried up and onto the ceiling of the chamber.
The group scrambled away from the creature as it approached. Blast after blast impacted it as Reaper and Crash performed a fighting retreat.
Calvin and Amy released powerful wind blades and spectral daggers. The wounds inflicted were minor as the creature dropped from the ceiling, landing right in front of Calvin and Amy.
They both frantically ducked a slash of its scythes, which it followed up with an attempt to bite Amy in half. It narrowly missed the bite and Calvin followed up by jamming his spear into its eye. Now that hurt the bug. It roared back in pain before slamming both scythes down toward Calvin. Tearing deep ravines into the floor tiles as he dodged backward.
AWOOOOOO!!
A howl erupted from behind the mantis. One so powerful it rattled debris from the puncture holes left behind in the ceiling and walls. The Mantis was temporarily stunned as the group looked toward Freya.
She was the size of a fully-grown grizzly bear. She barreled toward the Mantis and grabbed one of its legs in her powerful jaws. With a mighty yank she tugged the creature off balance and tore into it with her claws. Before the Mantis Lord had recovered from the powerful stun, enhanced by Freya’s Titanic Guardian, it had lost the leg Freya had assaulted.
Now with five legs it was unbelievably pissed off. The Mantis turned its attention fully onto Freya. This creature was extraordinarily fast. Much faster than it had any right to be with its size. It pounced onto the brave guardian and began slashing at her with its scythes. One blow struck a deep gash into her as another fell for a devastating strike.
Freya activated the stonebound pendant she’d received from the first dungeon. A barrier sprang up, deflecting the second blow entirely. With all four paws, she raked against the underside of the Mantis Lord, tearing away sections of chitinous armor before she vanished from beneath the mantis entirely.
Now there were six, massive, pissed-off dogs on the battlefield. Her Pack Hunter skill had been enhanced by her transformation, and now five illusions were moving and attacking independently. They couldn’t hurt the mantis, but they sure could confuse it.
One of the massive dogs landed an Attuned Bite on another leg and yanked back again. This one was no illusion. Now, identifying its target the mantis swiped its scythe, knocking Freya aside.
The mantis skittered backward from a charging Calvin and a set of wings erupted from its back. The fluttering wings generated powerful air currents that buffeted Calvin back and kicked up dust and debris as the mantis took flight. It zipped through the air back toward the passage it entered from and began to circle the room while dodging incoming fire from the group. Each of them was attempting to damage the wings.
A surge of energy burst out from the mantis followed by a shimmering ripple that spread along its entire body before it straight up disappeared. They could still hear the vibration of the wings, so they knew it was still in the room.
Reaper launched his hawk drone and landed a skilled shot on the mantis. The stealth was briefly interrupted as the shot landed. The hawk drone marked the target which Reaper could now track. The hawk would only stay up for a couple of minutes though, so they needed to end this.
Crash was following up Reaper’s shots with blasts of his own. He would carefully wait for the stealth to be interrupted and then fire a few rounds before changing position. This dance went on for a few volleys before Crash was slammed to the ground, kicking up debris with his impact. Blood seeped from a wound in his stomach.
He gritted his teeth in pain and thrust his rifle upward, jamming it into the invisible body of the mantis as he activated Burst. 15 pulse rounds punched up through the body of the creature, deactivating its stealth and forcing it to tumble backward, half flying, half crashing into the ground. Crash dropped his overheated rifle and drew a pistol. It was a standard earth pistol. He fired shot after shot, while approaching the flailing mantis, taking carefully selected steps with each shot. The magazine ran dry, announced by several repeating clicks indicating it had no more to offer. He dropped his pistol on the ground and drew a knife.
“Crash, back!” Reaper called.
Without any delay whatsoever, Crash retreated back and to the side, knowing what was coming.
Reaper fired both spikes from his spike thrower, then switched out to his pulse rifle, charging another All-In before releasing the entire stored energy of the rifle into the mantis.
The blast cored a large crater into the scrambling insect. Causing it to cease all movement. It was dead.
Something was strange about this whole thing though. Calvin hadn’t seen an experience notification.
“Stay back, something’s not right.” he warned.
A bright green glow began to emit from the wounds on the mantis, including the discarded leg that Freya had ripped off. Tendrils began writing around, beginning to stitch the wounds closed. The writhing mass seeped from the end of the leg, seemingly searching for the main body.
“Oh no you fucking don’t.” Crash said, as he released an incendiary grenade on the corpse.
In moments, the corpse was a pile of ash, all hints of green glow had disappeared, well everywhere except for the leg.
Calvin carefully approached the leg and poked it with a fully charged spear. The release of power electrocuted the limb, destroyed the writhing green mass, and exploded it into small bits of charred gore.
There’s the experience notification he thought.
“So, anyone have any ideas what the hell that was all about?” Marshall asked.
“That was corruption.” a voice called out from nowhere. Then the avatar from before sprang into being.
“And is it gone now?” Calvin asked.
The being froze for a few moments, “Yes, it appears so. The life form that was draining this vessel’s power core has been destroyed as well. You have my thanks, torchbearers.”
“Like I said before, we’re not sure about the torchbearer idea just yet. We still need to learn more about it.”
The being focused on Calvin, staring at him silently.
“The path you walk, is not always the path you choose. While you may not choose to accept the gifts that come with your charge, the path will find you all the same. The Corruptors are here, they’re everywhere. I do recognize that it is wise to demand more information. My duty to this vessel ended long ago when the mission of this vessel ended. My duty to the collective remains. I will pass on that information to you, as the selected torchbearers. What you do with it, is your choice. Return to the power core.”
The being disappeared again, leaving the group standing alone in the ruined cargo bay.
“Lead the way.” Amy said, indicating for Calvin to get a move on.
They entered the power core chamber and the being was there standing at the base of it, all traces of the organic, fleshy mass were gone, revealing the intricate runic tiles lining the walls.
Several small canisters slowly ejected from the base of the pillar in the room, causing the light to dim dramatically.
“These are the energy sources that power the core. Take them.”
Calvin lifted one of the canisters and inspected it before placing it into his pouch. It was a transparent cylinder, like glass but it felt extremely durable. It was surprisingly cool to the touch. A powerful blue glow emanated from within the canister, worrying Calvin slightly about what sort of radiation he might be absorbing right now.
“While intact, the power source is no threat to you. If you should breach the container, which is unlikely… nothing would remain within thousands of your miles.”
“So… you’re sure this is safe? How do we use it?”
“Yes, it’s entirely safe. Trillions upon trillions of these cores existed within the Aetherian Collective, powering all aspects of our civilization.”
The being produced a small crystal and pointed toward several glass-like slates slotted into the chamber walls.
“This is a data module containing all remaining, non-corrupted data from this vessel. Although the corruption was significant, there are many things here you may find useful, including blueprints on many systems within this vessel, including the power interface system. Those are the means to access the data.”
The group began loading up as many slates as they could find.
“I suppose this is the reward for completing the quest?” Marshall asked.
“No. I am unaware of any quest, or rewards for such. These are provided as thanks and in hope that you will use them to continue where the collective left off. Unfortunately, there was no armory aboard this vessel and no weaponry to speak of. All materials aboard this vessel are yours to use as you see fit. I have opened the access doors within the cargo bay, you will find resources there. My time has come to an end. Defeat the Corrupt--”
Then he disappeared. The power core went completely dark and the vessel finally completed it eons-long journey, entering its eternal rest.
They made their way back to the now open cargo bay doors and holy crap.
There were hundreds of containers stacked in neat, orderly rows. They checked a few of them and noted they were filled with different materials, many of which they couldn’t identify. Calvin experimented and placed a slate near one of the crates.
Aetherium Alloy: An ultra-dense material suitable for many structural and energetic applications. This material is highly conductive of nanite energy.
Checking more of the crates, there were metals, polymers, crystals, flora of all types. It was a treasure trove that would take dozens of people to go through and catalog.
“Seth is going to shit himself.” Marshall said.
Everyone agreed wholeheartedly. Olympus was about to get some upgrades.
Calvin pulled out their Quantum grenade and activated the doorway back to Olympus.