Whether natural or a gust from the airship, just as Zan and Jiehong's bike launched and was about to slam them into the hull of the ship, a powerful gust of wind lifted them up, and directed their rocket just high enough to crash atop of the spectator's hull.

Landing violently and with too many crashing thrashes to bother counting, both boys were flown from the bike to be laid splayed. Their limbs contorted. Crushed. Jiehong handled the crash better than Zan. Who, disoriented, dizzy, and in pain, still managed to gather himself up at the urging of both the Screen Master, and his System giving him [Enemy Alert!] repeatedly.

Standing back-to-back, Zan and Jiehong gathered their breath as they saw a small horde of gold-colored golems congregated around them. Leading the packs were a couple of platinum-golems, their electro-magical energy sparking off in disconcerting displays of power.

Zan saw he and Jiehong were standing on the observation deck. Nice hardwood floors stretched across an open space maybe about as large as a city's central square. Not so far away, Zan saw doors leading into the airship's inner passages. Which meant, the captain was nearby.

Processing this while attempting to regain their breath and step, Zan felt Jiehong's body shake as they each attempted to mentally right the chaos. "What are we going to do?" Zan asked. "I figure we should go for the captain?"

As System notifications flashed on Zan's HUD warning him of low energy, no magic, damage, Jiehong said, "Sure. But we can't fight our way there with our increasingly spent bodies. We have to be more strategic about this."

"Fine by me. What do you propose?" Zan asked, the surprised golems now having shambled close enough to launch attacks.

Backstepping to their enemy's advance, Zan tried to find his own solution to their problem. But what could he do? He reached toward the sky and chanted a prayer, filling himself with magic. He began a healing spell. Yet with his stomach rumbling and his body close to breaking, the healing spell was superficial at best. [Alert: Magical Reserves: 50%]

Fifty percent? Half? I used one spell! Zan mentally shouted.

"You might have mixed feelings, but how about you climb onto my back," Jiehong said as Zan finished another prayer to absorb magic.

Jiehong caught Zan off-guard. "W-what do you mean?" Zan said.

"Climb abord and act as my rearguard -- we're going to slam and dash our way through this shit!"

Slowly, the idea came to his mind: "You can't mean! You want to use the mechanical arms on an airship?! What if we fling ourselves over the edge?!"

"It's a risk we have to take! Let's go! The enemy is upon us!" Jiehong shouted.

Not wanting to risk their compromised position, Zan climbed aboard the racket on Jiehong's back as the airship's alarms came alive.

Zan carefully climbed onto his buddy's SPIDER-y back, locking himself in by securing his arms within the metallic mesh.

From his new vantage, Zan saw more golems enter the observation deck. To his sides, Zan also saw the vastness of the region before them, the ruins just off to the side, the forest in the distance, and the Wizard Towers on the horizon. The airship had gained some altitude since Zan had boarded, but not much, and so a massive dust cloud was visible in the airship's wake.

"Hold on tight!" Jiehong said, powering up the SPIDER system.

Gripping Jiehong's back cage until his fingers were sore, Zan readied himself for the imminent-- !

Not having time to even finish his thought before Jiehong acted on hid plan, he shot out his mechanical arms. Zan quickly hid his face away from the blistering steam escaping from Jiehong's pauldrons. The arms latched onto the airship's cabin on the far end of the observation deck, brashly careening through and scraping by golems. Instantly after, Jiehong pressed some button on his controls, and the arms retracted, pulling Jiehong and he at extreme speeds through the deck, knocking out of the way many automotrons which attempted to impede them.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

With splinters on his face and legs wobblily, Zan continued to hold tight as he heard Jiehong's pauldrons latch back into place.

Looking backward, Zan saw over a dozen golems knocked down and attempting to get back up. "We don't have time for them," Zan said of the golems. "We should move into the interior of the airship."

"I agree," Jiehong replied quickly as he caught his breath. "It's not like we are attacking one of their outposts and have to eradicate them all to protect some village. Let's not go out of our way to destroy every single automotron simply because they exist. We can't do that. Not in a situation like this, where we are already at our wit's end and on the brink."

"Try the door," Zan suggested to Jiehong once he finished catching his lungs.

As Jiehong opened the door, both boys received through their echo-beetles an update from Whiskey: "Are you guys still alive?! It's turned to shit down here!" Zan replied quickly as he did not want to hold up Jiehong who was busy attempting to force open a battle-damaged door. "Yeah. We're still alive," Zan told Whiskey. "But coming to end of our wicks. How are you holding up?" Whiskey replied curtly: "Airship unloaded some of its guys; so many gold golems. We're barely holding out down here!" Zan was not pleased to hear their good fortune at encountering few gold golems came at the ground force's expense. "Hang on tight. We're making our way to the captain's nest," Zan said and then motioned for Jiehong he was ready.

Jiehong opened the door with hardly a tussle. No security? No lock? Whoever captained this ship was bold. Or stupid.

Entering, Jiehong and Zan found themselves in cramped conditions. Although the halls were large enough for a couple of people, with people like Jiehong, that 'couple' downsized to merely one. Zan acting monkey-like on his back notwithstanding.

Gold-painted golems mobilized against them in the hall. "That's a lot of gold," Zan whispered. "What's the plan?"

"What else?" Jiehong remarked. The 'but' was silent as was the implication of Jiehong's plan.

"What do you mean wha-- no, you can't be serious! In here?!"

"Searching for a grip now," Jiehong said, his eyes gazing over every detail in the tight space. Finding one, he said, "Locking on to grip, now. Confirmed. Warming boosters."

While Jiehong continued warming his boosters, Zan saw too many enemies surround them for comfort. Though he tried to encourage Jiehong to move to a better defensive stance, especially with the outside golems -- as Zan saw through a window -- again mobilizing after their searingly rushed encounter with Jiehong's mechanical arms, they needed a better position. Yet, Jiehong remained in his bulky, 'come at me!' defensive stance saying, "I can't move, Zan. The thrusters are on and gathering power. I am rooted in. Please protect us. For a little while!"

Grunting as he lumbered off Jiehong, Zan drew his sword, not realizing how much of a badass he looked doing it.

Zan took a forward slash at the nearest golem. Thanks to Jiehong's SPIDER exo-suit and its devastating impact against automotrons, Zan had time enough to regain some stamina and therefore his initiative. Continuing to lung at and slice-away golems as they approached, Zan only had to destroy a few of them before Jiehong called him back. Zan rushed back to Jiehong by sliding underneath his legs. He sauntered himself onto the metallic cage and resumed his watch, only needing to stab a single golem through its head which had approached Jiehong (and he) from the outside.

"Hold on tight!" Jiehong yelled.

Zan made sure to as he stashed away his sword and clung to the cage. 'Okay,' Zan whispered.

He didn't think Jiehong heard him whisper. Once Zan was ready, however, the mechanical arms blasted from their pauldrons. They flew at incredible speeds down the hall, punching clear through at least a dozen golems before smash-and-grabbing the wall opposite. Securing himself to the floor, Jiehong pressed the same button from his outside rush and released the tension in his legs. Together, Jiehong and Zan screamed toward the wall, and thanks to the heavy bits of his exo-suit to his front, Jiehong smashed through not only one wall, but no less than four.

More alarms blared. Then explosions; Jiehong's charge, evidently, set off a chain reaction when something they destroyed in the wall could no longer perform its function. Fire started and then a water-control system went off to douse the flames. In the midst of this chaos, Zan felt many things. Though what came to his mind more than any else was 'I have a headache.'

About to ask where they had ended up and how to reach the airship's bridge, Zan kept his questions to himself when he realized he and Jiehong had crash landed into the bridge.

The bridge was the largest room they had yet seen while abroad the airship. It was longer than it was wide. Many desks splayed with maps and tactical figures abounded. Though by now, the clerks who manned the desks were in full retreat, Zan and Jiehong were in full advance.

The captain's chair lay at the end of the room. Zan saw too many golems for comfort. Few were higher than red. Maybe two gold.

"One more thrust?" Zan asked.

"I can't," Jiehong replied. "I am too dizzy from that last thrust. The suit needs some time to recharge anyway. We're on our own, here."

Cursing lively, Zan wondered how they would surmount. If they would surmount. He had to admit, it wasn't looking good. Wondering if they should beat a retreat or not, Zan knew they couldn't even as he entertained the idea. Doomed or not, they had to march forward. All he could do was hope his doom would be lively if he had to face it.

Luckily, he did not have long to wait to see how his 'doom' played out.

As the far end of the chamber, whoever was in the captain's chair turned. The chair swung and Zan saw the fighter from the villa. He saw Mentality.