Chapter 28 – Will You Take Me Higher
Morning came very early for Matt, so early that the sky was still dark, not a smudge of dawn on the horizon. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the best morning he ever had. His legs were all pins and needles from having the weight of Echo’s head cutting off the blood flow all night. The drake in question had decided that now was the time to get started and wasn’t taking no for an answer.
With a groan, Matt sat up and rubbed his legs to get the blood flowing again. After several minutes of mild agony, he stood, stretched and packed his things. Echo paced around the area, sniffing at the ground and the air as he prowled. He watched the drake for a while before noticing that he could actually see almost perfectly despite the absence of daylight.
“This is trippy. I guess I never noticed since I kept a day night cycle.” Matt said as he finally realized how stats actually affected him. His perception didn’t let him ignore darkness, or not yet but limited its effects. He could tell it was night but could see very clearly as if it were still light out. He was having a hard time rationalizing the thought when Echo came bounding up to him and pawed at his feet, urging him to get moving.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m moving.” Matt said as he vaulted into the cockpit of the mech. “Alright Van, you ready? I want to hit the summit today and see if we can make any progress back down toward the mines.”
The core grumbled back his response. “Yes, I don’t actually need sleep, so the time of day is meaningless. Most nights I just sit and watch the smaller creatures around the camp.”
Matt knew about the cores nocturnal activities being few to none but didn’t want to think about what lurked around after he went to sleep. With a nod and a wave to Echo, he started making his way out of the rocks and back to the ridge he had been following. The hike up was mostly uneventful and the only creature they stumbled upon was a bear that was wandering directly away from them. They decided to let it go, or Matt decided, and Echo grumbled, literally making a grumbling sound in his throat for 15 minutes.
Within a couple hours, they had reached the peak of the mountain, which despite being a significant boost in elevation, seemed like the normal forest to Matt. His suspicion was that altitude was different given that his environmental sensors didn’t show any drastic changes to temperature or air pressure despite the few kilometers difference in elevation. There was a mostly cleared area at the top with only a couple large trees occupying the relatively flat summit. The other trees around the peak had conveniently stayed below the top, creating a clear line of sight all the way around.
Matt was wondering why until he saw the broken off limbs and sheared tops of the trees that would have reached that height. Instantly, he knew that they had wandered into somethings home. Before he was able to tell Echo to back out, his threat detection field started showing movement coming from the sky beyond the treetops. Echo came bounding up to him, growling the whole way and Matt got a good look at the beast that called this peak its home.
The bird was massive, having a wingspan easily reaching 10 meters. Its feathers were a cloudy grey with flecks of blue along the flight feathers. Its long, pointed beak traced back to a crested head with eyes that glowed yellow as they stared Matt down. A shrieking call from the thing spoke of its intentions and he was able to identify it.
Storm Caller Rok. Level 45
“Well shit.” Matt said as Van and Echo expressed similar opinions. “Echo, see if you can’t use the trees to take cover and ambush if it gets close. I will try to be the bait and the trap for this.”
Echo went tearing off into the ring of broken trees, displaying a frightening level of speed and agility for such a dense creature. Matt advanced up the rest of the way to the summit and noticed the nest that was constructed between some of the trees clustered near the center. He didn’t see anything in the nest, so it wasn’t a matter of them threatening an egg but just a bird being territorial. Matt had experienced birds like that before, unfortunately for the rok, there wasn’t a government trying to protect it as a ‘endangered species’ like back on earth. Seriously, how are seagulls protected? There are billions of them on every beach.
Matt watched as the bird circled once, changing elevation erratically as it went. He wasn’t sure how smart the bird was, or if it knew he had some 25 millimeter presents to give it, but he respected the tactic. Before he was able to line up a shot, the bird dipped below his horizon, created by the rim of the hilltop and the remaining trees. His field was telling him that it was moving away but dropping in elevation, as it came back into view much further away, he saw its plan.
The rok began to drift side to side as it flew back toward him, a pale mist beginning to form over the leading edge of its wings. As it got closer it arced harshly, banking to the side and flapping its wings, sending a roiling cloud to blanket the area. Matt couldn’t see much through the dense cloud but that was only with his normal cameras, thermal and his passive mana sense telling a different story.
After delivering its payload, the rok had moved off a little way and began flying in a tight circle, creating a whirl wind as it did. Bracing for some sort of air attack, Matt leveled his autocannon and took aim, leading the giant bird. Knowing that a one-shot hit wasn’t going to happen, he sent a salvo out towards his feathered foe. Unsurprisingly, the half dozen rounds missed, also unsurprisingly, the rok decided to jink and evade rather than continue its patters. Seeing the change in flight path and the sudden deceleration, he was able to fire a few more well aimed shots, predicting the flight path.
Bang, Bang, Bang, thwack. A 3 round burst got one hit, but it was a solid impact. Matt saw one of the legs start to dangle as the rok screeched again, this time arcing around and firing a blast of lightning at him. The bolt moved so fast, there was no way for him to dodge, instead he ended up taking it in his frontal chest armor. The blast didn’t so much hit him as it flowed through and into the ground. He felt his legs buckle and the ground came up to meet him as the mech was dropped and landed badly in a half crouch over uneven ground.
A warning was flashing in Matt’s vision about armor being compromised due to heat and some damage to the servos that controlled motion. He pushed mana from the battery into the regeneration of those components. He could see the rok pass overhead after its lightning attack, it banked to the north and dropped below the tree line again.
Matt began righting himself again, getting back on his feet from the awkward position he had fallen in. He could feel the concern rolling off Echo in waves but pushed calm and determination through the bond, aided by his aura trait. Feeling his drake companion settle back into its ambush position, Matt swung around and started searching the sky where the rok had disappeared. He backed up a few dozen meters to have better footing and to try something a little different.
Within a few moments, the rok reappeared in the sky over the trees and started to orient on Matt for another attack. He fired a few bursts at the rok, working his way over and pushing it on a path that put it over where Echo was lurking. Getting lucky, he got a hit on its wing, but it glanced off and disappeared into the forest below. The hit caused the giant bird to wobble and loose altitude bit matt didn’t stay and watch, dashing to his left and spraying a few more rounds to keep its attention.
As it dipped even lower to avoid the spray of bullets, the rok’s dangling leg was suddenly seized and a great weight jerked it down toward the mountain. It tried to flap and managed to gain a little altitude but not enough to clear the hilltop. After a less than graceful belly landing, the rok felt the weight disappear from its leg and saw what had ensnared it. Echo leapt from the ground and landed hard on one of its wings, grabbing with clawed paws and delivering a crushing bite to the major wing joint.
Matt saw the vicious assault from Echo and was again amazed at the agility and physicality of the drake. It had jumped nearly 20 meters straight up and grabbed the paralyzed leg of the rok. After they had crashed, Echo instantly crippled its wing thus making this fight end on the ground. Matt came to a stop and changed magazines in the autocannon, having run dry while forcing the bird to the ground. He finished charging his weapon just in time to watch the rok right itself, balancing on one foot.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Echo was circling in its blind spot, but the bird had eyes only for Matt. It reared its head back and started collecting mana in its beak, preparing another lightning attack. Matt started moving again, running at an angle that forced the rok to hop if it wanted to keep him in its vision. As he moved, Matt started putting rounds into the giant bird, taking chunks out when hitting but not without issues.
It turned out that the rok was rather hard to actually hit. There was a lot more fluff and feather than Matt first thought. Half of the 20 rounds that he fired passed right through the down and out the other side with a puff. The ones that did contact something solid had good effect, but the vitality of the creature was much higher than he would have expected. He would have assumed that any avian creature would be dexterity focused but this one had dedicated a lot to constitution. It didn’t matter, he was just biding his time for the next part.
With one massive hop, the rok was able to get ahead of Matt and unleashed its lightning attack. An attack that Matt had been waiting for when he instantly cast his teleport, appearing to its flank as Echo attacked from its injured side. Drawing his tomahawk, he advanced while Echo brought the creature down with a bite to its neck, dragging its face to the dirt. Matt ran forward, imbued the blade and swung for all he was worth at where neck met body, separating it and cauterizing the stump at the same time.
You have killed Storm Caller Rok. Level 45
Class Pilot – Gun Fighter is level 34.
Stat points awarded.
Echo roared to the sky with the death of the rok, and Matt joined him, projecting his own voice from the mech’s external loudspeaker. His blood was still hot with the thrill of the fight, having overcome an enemy that could have wiped the floor with him. His wrath finally sated, Matt could assess the damage in more detail.
The fight was over and both Echo and Matt stepped back as the body flopped for a while, neurons still firing in its muscles despite no connection to the brain. Looking over, Matt saw that Echo had some twitching going on. When he asked about it, the drake sent a mental image of being shocked when he brought the head to the ground. Matt wanted to check him out, but he seemed to handle it far better than his own mech. He checked his displays and found that lightning blast had fried a quarter of the servos in the frame and sub layers along with severely charring the armor plate it touched.
Matt moved over to the nest, checking to see if there was anything in there that was valuable before he would claim the carcass of the rok. After the beating he took, he planned on taking that as a trophy to make use of. A feather mattress and pillows came to mind. Reaching the nest, he peered inside and noticed the drake head pop up over the opposite side, looking in too.
There wasn’t any egg or chick in the nest which was nice for his peace of mind. There was however a large, rough stone that gave off a distinct flavor of mana. There were veins running through the surface, glowing a bright yellow along with the pale-yellow mana wafting from it. He just had to identify it since he had no idea what it was or if it was even safe.
Essence Stone: Electric
The essence stones are natural treasures, elemental deposits that can have a variety of uses for the evolution of beasts. Crafters greatly value them as a concentrated form of elemental energy for enchanting.
Matt looked up and met Echo’s gaze. “Oh yeah, we are so taking this with us.” The drake rumbled its approval. He hopped up over the edge of the nest and climbed out of the mech, intending to stow the stone in his storage ring. As he approached, he found that it wasn’t the only thing in the nest.
Littered all around the stone was a treasure trove of beast cores. They ranged in size, but Matt was able to recognize a few, those belonging to the creatures he and Tobias had fought during their journey to the city. Not wanting them to go to waste, he picked up every one of them, taking far longer than he thought as he kept uncovering more as he went. Finally, after half an hour of picking up cores, Matt stored the essence stone in his ring before returning to the body of the rok and doing the same.
After cleaning up his mess, Matt stood at the edge of the hilltop and surveyed the surrounding area. He walked all the way around, getting a good view in every direction. He could see the vague outlines of the settlement in the direction he came, noting that the area looked a little more open than he remembered but not sure with the distance.
After a detailed survey, using the magnification of his optics as best he could, Matt pulled out the rough map that Franklin had given him. Orientating it on the city and lining it up with the hilltop, he was able to get a rough idea of where the mine area was supposed to be. Making a mental note of the terrain and putting in the location of some points from his route, he stowed the map and sealed up the hatches.
“Ready, Echo?” Matt asked, turning the mech’s head to look down to the drake. Getting a nod and a trilling noise in response. With that, he began his climb down, moving toward a depression in the forest canopy in the area of the mines.
“What in the hell is that thing?” Matt asked nobody in particular. “It has to be the ugliest fricking, I… I don’t even know what.”
“You have the identify skill, right?” Van said.
Matt indeed had the skill but was almost afraid to use it. The mass of flesh, eyes and chitin was almost too disturbing to even think about identifying. Still, after a few moments of delay to steel himself, he did, and immediately regretted his decision.
Amalgamated Insectoid Guardian. Level 40
With a shiver running down his spine, Matt told Van and Echo what it was. The guardian was smack dab in the middle of the depression making up the mine area. The trend of putting guardians around high value area was not lost on him and might lead to a way for him to pinpoint these locations.
The problem for Matt wasn’t the guardian, despite it filling him with a hatred that burned at nearly the same temperature as his plasma. The issue was that the Guardian was not the only thing in the depression. Scattered around were hundreds of smaller insects. Smaller being relative since the guardian itself was a 15-meter-wide ball of yuck. The smaller bugs had lower levels, but they also had a lot of bodies.
With one more shiver, Matt backed away from the area, using the ridgeline to stay out of sight. As much as he wanted to purge them all with fire and steel, he knew this would be a great opportunity for the other pilots. There was no way he was going to do this alone and fully intended to make the other fighters work for it. There was just something about having them join in his righteous crusade against the bugs.
Matt picked up the pace after getting some distance between himself and the mine. He tried to avoid the thudding footfalls of the mech disturbing the local wildlife as much as he could. His mech’s leg assembly and digitigrade stance was a far cry better than the other pilots constructs, however. They actually thundered along, shaking the ground with every step, well, most did. He had noticed some variance in the constructs, mostly in size but several had different overall stances and weapons. He would have to assume this was due to the process of how they were originally made at the exchange, being based on the pilot and their equipment.
Matt planned to take a few days to train with the people of the city, and hopefully use the codex. He was planning on creating it that evening since his path should bring him back to the city late the next day. If the Codex worked the way that it was described on the package, it would be a massive boon for the people of the settlement. He planned on filling it with tactics rather than technical information since that would change way faster than “How to clear a mined wire obstacle”.
With the endless ideas of what to fill the codex with keeping Matt distracted, Echo was having fun on his own. The drake had taken to ranging out and away from his summoner, fighting and exploring for the most part. It also wanted to find the spots that would make good rest areas, mainly lots of comfy rocks to sleep on. Echo liked the rocks, especially when they were still hot from the days sun. He was getting kind of hungry and might have to find something to eat rather than just kill at some point.
After frolicking through some trees and snatching a few small critters, Echo saw the perfect pile of rocks to sleep in for the night. He sent Matt a mental image and the intent to settle in for the night, getting that feeling of agreement in return. He was confident that he could train the human, helping him stalk and fight better wouldn’t be necessary but Matt had a thing or two to learn about dens.
“That little lizard would have you living in a cave for the rest of your life if you let it.” Van rumbled to Matt as they moved off toward the rock pile.
“Yeah, or a rocky mountain side.” Matt replied. “I don’t think its going to be a problem but will be something to consider when we get back to the settlement. I might need to find a place to make a house with a heated stone patio, not to mention the 10-meter-tall garage.”
“I will not be shoved into a garage every night.” Van huffed, clearly resenting the idea.
“Fine.” Matt said before mumbling. “Not like you know what a garage is anyway.”
They arrived at the rocks to find Echo doing his impression of a kid on a jungle gym. He was hopping from the tops of the rocks and then prowling around and under them. He was sniffing in every crack, pawing at the ground and rubbing against every rock. Matt just laughed and started setting up camp, trying to get it all taken care of early. After all, there was food to eat and a codex to fill.