Chapter 69 – On the road again
“How does it look?” Van asked as the Photonic Mantle was activated. It was what Matt used his Construct Equipment Replication Token on. That is to say it was the result of him using the token on his viper hood and the mech ended up with a version roughly 8 times the size and broken into multiple pieces. It attached differently too, using a type of mana activated fastener rather than a simple buckle.
Photonic Mantle (Epic)
A construct sized enchanted netting that allows the user to blend with its environment and obscure identifying information. Netting is applied and held in place by mana adhesive contact nodes with allow for secure fit and easy removal.
“You look like a pile of rocks with brush growing out of it. It’s interesting that it also makes the cannon look like a tree that has fallen on its side.” Matt walked around, trying to see it from several angles. “Yeah, if I didn’t know you were there, I would look past you with the naked eye.”
Van got up and began moving. “How about now?” he began with slow, steady steps before gradually accelerating to a full run. While the mantle worked best when he was holding still, it was still semi functional at a slow, walking pace.
“I would say it will be decent obscuration at a slower pace but anything faster than a trot and its pretty ineffective except to obscure your outline.” Matt said as Van moved back over to him. “What do you think Echo?”
The drake had been watching the entire demonstration and seemed to be quite taken with the new equipment. He rippled his own scales and shifted colors, mimicking the surrounding ferns and leaves. The image he sent was of them ambushing prey without ever being seen.
“Yeah, that’s the idea. If we can go unseen until it’s too late for them to respond.”
Several mental images of attacking prey from behind. Matt felt it was sarcastic in tone.
“I too do my best work from behind.” Matt said with a chuckle. When he got the impression of questions from both the core and the drake, he felt the need to explain. “Old joke from back when I played video games.”
It had come about playing a couple different first-person shooter games and knowing the spawn mechanics on some of the smaller maps. It was possible to essentially run a loop and constantly be behind the enemy team. The constant complaints of being shot in the back led to him coming up with the double entendre.
He decided to leave explaining it to his future self and climbed back into the mech as they continued down the valley. He had left the city the morning after their visit to the Exchange. Franklin had wanted him to stay and help with the refugees, but Tobias had reminded them of Matts less than optimal people skills. After dinner and drinks with his friends that saw him bombarded with questions about his new looks, he had said his goodbyes and prepared to leave, exiting the gate at an insanely early hour to absolutely zero fanfare.
After a couple days of travel, the rolling hills were beginning to give way into flatter land with little islands of forest amid the grass. Matt had peeked into some of these little islands. They varied from a few hundred meters across to over a kilometer and appeared to be getting bigger as he went farther into the flat lands. On occasion he saw creatures moving between but they always stayed low and went fast.
Matt had pressed into a few of the larger ones and found a strange ecology within. Instead of multiple species, there was one that was overwhelming in number. It varied as to the species, but they would be low 30’s at the edges and working up to a high 40 or low 50 range at the center. One of which had an evolved form of wolf that had been an absolute pain in the ass to take down, with a ridiculous amount of vitality.
“In another few kilometers we have to set up another re-trans antenna.” Matt said. “That would be our 5th?”
“6th.” Van said. “Unless you aren’t counting the one we replaced on our way out.”
“Well, I wasn’t really but we did have to detour to handle that so might as well.” Matt sighed. “Not like we can send Tobias the bill for it.”
“He wouldn’t pay you if you did.” Van replied with a little rumble of laughter. “Although, you might be able to con Frank into giving you a little something.”
Matt didn’t think he should be looking for payment since this was as much for his benefit as anyone else. He was about to convey his opinion on the matter when a shadow passed over him. Out of a healthy amount of paranoia and a lot of luck, he teleported to the left.
As he tuned back, he saw the shadow was cast by a diving bird. A very large bird. A very large, long necked bird with green scales… a wyvern.
Emerald Wyvern. Level 65.
Swinging his barrel up, Matt hip fired the cannon. He used his imbued rounds and the rapid-fire skill on the monster that was only a few hundred meters away. At least it was off target now that he teleported. Bangbangbangbangbang, he cut loose with a long burst, fully bracketing the creature as it was trying to pull out of its dive.
The 20 rounds streaked out, leaving a blue trace as they flew toward the creature. Around half of them hit, the rest passing harmlessly, spread by the natural cone of fire. Most tore into the wing membranes then zipped through but a few lucky ones found solid contact with the body…and barely penetrated.
Matt switched to his unstable imbuement and emptied the rest of his magazine into the now frantically flapping dragon. These had much more impact, the slightest pressure setting them off and the explosions shredding the thin membrane of the wings.
The wyvern, now flapping around with nothing more than meat ribbons dangling from its arm bones hit the ground. It wasn’t a hard impact but was not exactly graceful. Matt reloaded, strafing to try and keep behind the creature as it tried to follow him. Unfortunately, the wyvern had a very long and very flexible neck.
A new magazine was inserted, and the bolt run back, the springs pushing it forward again as he was bringing the muzzle back to point at the wyvern, it suddenly spat a stream of hot liquid at him. The stream hit just as he pulled the trigger and fired a trio of rounds in return.
“Ah, shit!” Matt yelled as he teleported back in the direction he had come, hoping to shake off the monster’s lock on him.
“Hull, breach.” Van said. His voice was filled with fury and the base rumble carried a hint of danger along with it. “Lower right of the cockpit. Armor is zero on that side of torso and upper arm.”
“That mother fucking flappy lizard.” Matt roared as he teleported a second time, back toward the woods he had just passed. He fired a few bursts toward the wyvern as he lured it forward. The imbued rounds slammed into the chest of the creature and deflected. “Come here, you abhorrent pile of shit.”
“Aim at the belly and flanks.” Van said. “The chest and neck have thicker scales.”
Matt switched his aiming point and put a burst at the right-wing joint as he continued to lure the beast toward him. 2 of the rounds hit and managed to penetrate, taking a chunk of bone and blood out the back. The wyvern screeched in pain, blood now running down its chest but more importantly, its mobility hampered.
It reared its head back, preparing another acid attack. He didn’t know the range that it could spit but did know that it had crosses over 200 meters the first time without issue. Matt was over 300 away but wasn’t worried. He activated the shield projector on his left arm and pushed it forward, obscuring the rest of the mech as he did.
Stolen story; please report.
Pfssssstttt. Hiiiiisssssss. The wyvern spat its corrosive payload and the plasma of his shield boiled it off nearly instantly in a hissing cloud of steam. He was pretty sure that steam would strip paint from the mech but then he heard the sound he had been waiting for.
ROOOOOAAAAAR. Echo had come out of the grass while the wyvern had its neck arched toward Matt and held in place. The drake roared, causing the wyvern to flinch then freeze. That freeze turned out to be the beginning of the end for the winged beast.
Echo cleared the 5-meter height with ease and his claws dug into the scales around the wyvern’s neck as he scrabbled up toward the base of the skull. The wyvern tried to shake its head and neck in an attempt to dislodge him, but it didn’t quite work. Echo did stop climbing, not because he could hold on, but because he realized this spot would work just fine.
Holding on with his jaws, Echo began to go to work on the wyvern’s neck in a motion that was like a dog digging in the dirt. Blood, scales, and meat flew from behind the drake as he went to town on the monster. He was high enough up that the wyvern couldn’t turn to bite, but it did try one last ditch effort.
The wyvern heaved itself up and tried to flop on its back in an attempt to crush Echo. Problem was, the drake wasn’t its only opponent. As soon as it had landed, it noticed that the smaller drake had vanished in a puff of plasma and a very angry construct was standing over it with a 3-meter-long super-heated sword. It wasn’t sure how it knew the construct was angry but it felt the absolute hatred aimed at it and the massive amount of killing intent pinning it to the ground.
Matt lashed out with the messer. He had imbued it with as much mana as he could push into it. Turns out, it was a lot, and the blade radiated a deadly aura of its own. Seeing the exposed belly of the wyvern, he slashed at the spot right in front of the back legs. The blade sank in easily, barely any resistance as blood and other fluids began to boil out around the blade.
Adjusting his grip, he dragged the messer up, slitting the stomach open as he pulled the blade toward the head. He was batted by the remains of the wings and had to adjust his footing a few times but kept on with the evisceration. After another second, he reached the hardened scale at the base of the sternum and was forced to stop as the cutting slowed.
Kicking out, Matt was able to disengage from under the now thrashing wyvern. He backed away a few steps and resummoned his cannon. Bang bang bang bang bang bang bang. He fired over and over into the chest of the beast until he had created a hole from the imbued rounds. Then he switched tactic and stopped imbuing them.
The unimbued armor piercing explosive round that the 25-millimeter cannon fired were still highly effective when the armor was thin or, in this case, nonexistent. Another dozen rounds broke through the scales and into the chest of the monster, exploding in behind the armored plates.
Hissing and shrieking, the wyvern finally faded in a thrashing and bleeding mess. Bright pink blood poured from its mouth, likely from the punctured lungs and steam rose from the slit that Matt had cut up its belly.
Echo wandered over at that point, never having revealed itself as it waited for the beast to truly be dead. He sent Matt a mental image of the outside of the mech, and he groaned at the sight. The metal was only just beginning to reform, having been melted away like snow under hot water. He then inspected the corpse in front of him.
Emerald Wyvern. Level 65.
The emerald wyvern is known for its bright green scales that help hide it from predators as its feasts on the ground after a successful hunt. This wyvern, like many other varieties, uses acid and surprise, diving attacks to neutralize its prey. As with many of the lesser draconic races, the emerald wyvern prefers to hunt in groups whenever possible.
“Awe shit.” Matt said and looked up to see 2 more shapes on the horizon. “Echo, let’s back up towards that tree line. We can use the concave shape to get you on their flanks and make a kill zone.”
Matt began to back up toward the trees as quickly as he could while keeping an eye on the incoming dragons. He was pretty sure they could take 2 of them but also was worried about being caught with that acid.
Van must have sensed his apprehension. “I am pushing all resources at regeneration. If it weren’t for you needing to imbue the rounds, I would say we separate and attack from 3 sides.”
“Let’s keep that as an option but I want to see if we can take one on the wing and drop it.” Matt said as he began to estimate how much lead he needed for the wyvern in front. He was constantly hitting it with the range finder, finding out it was headed for him at almost 250 kilometers per hour. So about as fast as a helicopter.
Taking the last range, he got his hold over and estimated the lead before firing a 10-round burst. It was a little behind but right on for the distance. Adjusting again, he fires a second burst and drained the remaining 40 rounds from his magazine, pushing his rapid-fire skill to the limit.
In one long burst that sounded more like ripping cloth, a slew of unstable imbued rounds raced out to meet the lesser dragon. A little less than a quarter of them missed but the rest all hit and burst in little clouds of blue plasma. The wyvern flinched and roared in pain as its wings were shredded by the shrapnel. With a few futile flaps, the wyvern plummeted to the ground, digging a deep furrow as it bellied in.
The second one began weaving back and forth, slowing slightly while it tried to be evasive. Matt wasn’t worried, taking his time on the reload. He would take this one by himself since Echo had taken off like an earth-bound rocket toward the one that crashed. Hissing and the snapping flap of wings grew louder as the wyvern closed in on Matt. He held his ground, taking a kneeling position as the monster closed in.
800m. 710m. 580m. The range finder counted down in the corner of Matts vision, overlaid in a transparent text. He readied himself as he watched the number roll down, constantly adjusting his aim. The wyvern stopped its slewing flight path, locking its wings in like a duck coming in to land. The hind legs kicked forward, and its head reared back, preparing for an acid and talon attack.
300m. BRRRRRRRRRRRT. Matt pushed as much energy into the rapid-fire skill as he could manage. His 50 round magazine lasted less than a second as a solid stream of stable imbued rounds split the air like a laser. At this range, there wasn’t enough dispersion to cause any issues and nearly every round slammed into the breast of the monster.
Thunk, ping, whizz, thunk, thunk, thwap, thwap, thump, thump, thump. The first few rounds hit the scales with little effect. A few even glanced off, redirected toward the open sky behind the wyvern. It was after the 8th round to impact the spot, that the scales in that area gave up the ghost and the first round hit flesh. More followed that one, and bored a hole into the creature’s sternum, then through it.
Matt saw a trio of imbued rounds pass clean through the wyvern as he teleported off to the side of the now doomed beast. It hit the ground in a heap, it’s now dangling hind legs digging in and catapulting the creature into the air, belly up as it then slammed back down. Matt rushed forward, messer at hand and imbued with his plasma.
He didn’t need to rush. The wannabe dragon was shuddering and convulsing in its death throws. Its wings flapped and flailed against nothing but dirt. Its tail lashing from side to side was the biggest worry and Matt was able to just step over it as he approached the head and removed it from the rest of the body. That made the spasms even worse, but he was already moving off toward the open field to catch up with Echo.
It turned out that Echo was more than capable of handling the downed beast and was already on his way back. He sent Matt a mental image of how he leapt upon the stunned wyvern and used it like a cat uses a scratching post.
Slowing from his run, Matt eased into a walk as he turned back around to go collect the remains of the dead beast. He was going to push the extra storage he purchased to the limit on this trip. He did review the messages clamoring for his attention.
You have killed Emerald Wyvern. Level 65.
You have killed Emerald Wyvern. Level 63.
You have killed Emerald Wyvern. Level 61.
Class Pilot – Gunfighter is now Level 57.
Stat points awarded.
“If we didn’t have the magazine limitation, we could be quite the anti-air asset.” Van rumbled.
“No kidding. Someday I would like to get an auxiliary weapon system for that.” Matt said as he stored the first corpse before making his way over to the others. “I rather like the cannon we have and don’t want to deal with the longer reload times of a belt fed. Maybe if we had someone else to run with, but not by ourselves.”
“Hmmm. I suppose that makes sense.” Van agreed. “Although, if we had another party member, perhaps they would have the support weapon?”
Matt considered that as he approached Echo, who was standing atop his kill and looking rather smug. If he had it his way, a partner would have a support weapon but in this new universe, he didn’t think that he could dictate terms like that. The commandos had gotten lucky that their teams balanced out with a support member for each team.
He honestly wouldn’t mind having a partner but also realized that the person would need to match his drive and ambitions. He didn’t want to drag someone out there that would rather be more casually leveling. He also wanted someone at least closer to his own level.
“Who knows.” Matt finally responded, taking a moment to shoo away Echo from his wyvern before storing it. “Perhaps one of the refugees will be a good fit. Assuming that any pilots came with them that is.”
“We shall see when we return.” Van said before growling out an addendum. “There had better not be any issues when we get back. I am growing rather fond of our home and its people.”
Matt felt the blood lust and killing intent in those words. Echo must have felt it too since he looked up and seemed to be gearing up for another fight. He also wouldn’t hesitate to lay down the law on anyone that tried anything. System help them if there are any traitors. Matt thought as he collected the last kill, and they moved off to set up the next repeater.