What appeared in our collected vision was a few dozen molemen that were much larger than the ones we've been encountering up to this point. Along with their bigger builds, they had better guns and actual armor that wasn't just a few thin pieces of metal attached to leather that most of their brethren were scurrying around in.
All those six foot tall molemen guards were surrounding one huge moleman that stood at a bare minimum of eight feet in height. That particular moleman was equipped with its own set of makeshift armor too and a DMG-15 Double Barrel Machine Gun which was far superior compared to the weapons its guards were using.
Good, we've found the moleman king. Once I get rid of it, mopping up the rest should be no issue with their leader gone. Although it will still take me quite some time since I'm going to need to scour every inch of the cave system and clear it in its entirety.
Wanting to wrap things up here so I can get back to clearing the cave system and locking it down, I charged into the chamber with everyone while unloading my NPDM that was getting rather low on ammo again with all the molemen hunting I've been doing. In the midst of firing at the many hostiles within the chamber, I made the decision to leave the guards to the old man and my robots to take care of while I focused on the number threat amongst the molemen.
Thus leaving it to them, I took aim at the moleman king's head and shot a controlled burst of three rounds. Within far less than a second, they struck his helmet, digging into it but not making their way through its armor.
Mm, his armor is thicker than I expected, smart. Let me disable his weapon first before I figure out how I want to kill him. I don't particularly want to get laid into by two 7.62s simultaneously.
Not able to penetrate its armor, I swiftly adjusted my aim the very next instant to the moleman king's weapon and fired another burst, putting three sizable holes in the receiver of his double-barreled machine gun. The vermin, not knowing I had made his weapon inoperable, attempted to fire its weapon at me, but when it pulled the trigger, all it provoked was a click and no other response.
As it was about to begin inspecting its weapon to see what was wrong with it, I realigned my weapon with its head; however, instead of just targeting its skull as I had done previously, I aimed for the eyeholes of its helmet because they were the only weak point I could take advantage of. All while this was going on, gramps and my robots were keeping the approximately six foot tall armored molemen entertained, easily taking them down one by one.
Pulling the trigger once again I fired one round and after it left the muzzle brake at the end of my NPDM's barrel it sailed through the air and right into the moleman king's eye taking it out and causing a burst of blood and bits of the annihilated eye to fly out of the helmet's socket. The following instant, the big fucker started screeching and moving erratically as it was experiencing the pain of losing one of its essential sensory organs.
Damn, this bastard's durable. I was expecting that round to pierce right through its eye and deal massive damage to its brain. However, seeing as it hasn't keeled over and dropped to the floor of its den, it must have a pretty thick skull to stop a whole ass 7.62x39mm round.
After firing that last round, I was out of ammunition, so I tossed my light machine gun aside and went to engage the moleman king in melee combat. I could've swapped to the two laser assault rifles I had on my back, but if my NPDM couldn't penetrate its armor, there is no way those two energy weapons would be able to.
Super heating it with continuous laser pulses was an option however, it would've taken quite a lot of time to do so hence why I'm not. Sprinting ahead, I pulled the combat knife from the holster on my war belt and held it in reverse grip with the blade facing downward.
Rapidly approaching my prey, that was still flailing about and screeching in pain, I rammed my armored shoulder into it, trying to tackle and bring the moleman king to the ground. Sending the much larger and heavier creature than myself to the cave floor, I swiftly brought the combat knife in my hand down, precisely stabbing it in between the gaps in its armor. I got a few more stabs in before the brute threw me off of him and sent me flying around two meters away onto my back.
Rolling over, I quickly got on my feet and charged forward as the moleman king was struggling to its feet. Slamming into it again, I returned it to its place on the chamber's floor before jumping on top of it, and activating the new Martial Weapon Master qi I gained recently.
As soon as I coated my weapon in the energy, I inserted my knife wherever I could slide it in. Getting several more stabs in and drawing increasingly more blood from it, I got thrown off another time, but instead of being thrown on my back for a second time, I twisted my body while in midair, landing upright on my feet this time around.
Not willing to let it have any sort of breather, I hurried over to it and took its other eye, making it screech even louder than before. From there I kept stabbing and ripping my gramp's old combat knife through the gaps in its armor plates and after several minutes of doing so and getting a punch sent at my head that rocked me a decent bit, the king started to go limp.
With the creature losing strength, I pried its helmet off that I attempted to do multiple times before. Removing and throwing its helm away, the grotesque moleman king's face was revealed.
"Damn, you are one ugly bastard." I commented aloud.
Receiving a tired screech in reply, I brought my knife down and stabbed it into its neck and began slicing it to the opposite side of its neck. It took some effort, but I got the job done and separated its head from its body, thus ending the fight then and there. Getting off of the moleman king's corpse, I took a deep breath and looked behind me, seeing gramps with his helmet off looking as proud as he could be at me.
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"You did it, kid. I guess you will accomplish those dreams of yours some day."
Taking my own helmet off as well, I replied confidently. "I will."
"But I couldn't have done it without you, gramps. If not for all the training you put me through and all the things you've shown and taught me over the years, there is no way I would be where I'm at today without you. Not to mention all the help you've provided to Alice as well, right Alice?"
"Dom, is right grandpa John, if it wasn't for you we wouldn't be anywhere near the level we are now. Thank you for spending so much time helping us improve and become better and better every day." Alice chimed in appreciatively over the durable streaming device I was wearing.
"Yeah, thank you for taking the time to help us, gramps. We both really appreciate it."
Gramps showed a twinge of emotion before covering it up and practically smiling from ear to ear at what he just heard. Obviously happy as can be to hear that we both appreciated him and the help he had provided to not just me but Alice too over the years.
"As long as you two keep striving to improve, that's all I'll need to see to know that you two appreciate what I'm doing for you little rascals." The old man said prior to coming over to me and bear hugging me like the bear of a man he was.
The three of us talked for a bit more before Alice decided to get some words of appreciation for herself. "Hey, Dom, since grandpa John is getting some words of appreciation from you, what about me? I believe I deserve some as well."
If she were here with us now, I know with absolute certainty that she would be utilizing her glistening blue eyes and staring at me expectantly. Unable to deny her request, I came up with something quick on the spot.
"You were also instrumental to my success too, Alice. If not for you always helping me out and supporting me as much as you do, I wouldn't have been able to accomplish nearly as much as I have, let alone take down the moleman king."
"And…" She followed up with seeking a bit more than just words.
"And I suppose I should reward my ever helpful and loyal wife-to-be, who has stood by my side for nearly the entirety of my life."
"Nn, that's more like it. I'll be waiting to see what you have in store." She responded happily in her typical sweet voice that was laced with satisfaction and a bit of anticipation.
Sigh, I know she's going to attempt to push the boundary again, but that ain't happening. I already don't want to be doing what we're doing currently with her being a kid even though a big five foot six inch tall one with a very abnormal mental maturity.
If there wasn't the issue of her possibly developing issues mentally from me rejecting her advances like I've thought about in the past, I wouldn't be allowing what's been going on since I'm into actual developed women with sexy full figures and tight bodies like most men and not kids. But things are what they are even though I'd much rather they not be. Guess I'll just have to keep putting up with it for another seven years until she's an actual adult and I have the green light.
"You two lovebirds done. I'm about to start throwing up over here." Gramps joked from the side.
"Yeah, we're done, gramps, let's head on back and end things here for today. I think we've achieved enough for one day."
"Sounds good to me. I'm gonna take a nice long nap when we get there."
After our conversation, gramps, I, and the robots scoured and looked through the cave for loot and anything else of interest. In our search we stumbled across what I thought to be the moleman king's family in a connected space in the chamber's rear, which consisted of two adult females and a litter of pups that they were attempting to protect by covering them with their bodies.
Entering the space, fear was clear as day on the two adults' faces. I felt a twinge of emotion at what I was about to commit. Child killing wasn't my thing, but I needed to do what had to be done and not leave a single root that could germinate and come back to bite me later on.
If Alice and I were in the same position, the molemen would've ruthlessly butchered us, so why should I show them compassion and give a damn when they wouldn't have shown us the same.
Hardening my mentality, I brought one of the two laser assault rifles I was carrying with me to my right hand and pointed it in their direction, and ruthlessly pressed the trigger. The red laser pulses lit the dimly lit space up for several seconds before things returned to how they once were when we first stepped into this room.
Finished tying up loose ends, we searched the room and gathered a decent haul to take with us and headed to the previous chamber. Ready to get this show back on the road, I had several of my mulitbots grab the four molemen guards; I had them leave alive. One might ask why they were left alive, well the answer was rather simple: I require test subjects for my medical and drug experiments I plan on doing real soon, consequently the reason why they haven't been exterminated like the rest.
With things wrapped up, we dragged the four molemen guards away with us. Though not literally, since they were being carried to keep them from being harmed any further than they already were, we began tracing our way back to the Genesis Foundry.
…
Likely, due to them no longer having a leader to direct them, we faced very little resistance while we were traveling through the expansive network of passages and chambers. It took us a few hours, but we made it back to the well defended armored doors of the foundry in one piece.
Coming upon the armored doors of the facility, I had them begin opening as we were closing in on them. And right as all of us had passed through, I shut them behind us, sealing the facility off from the danger the remnant molemen posed. Finally, at base, we moved to the armory and dropped our gear off there, along with a good amount of the weapons and ammo we hauled with us.
Leaving the armory behind as my robots went off to the warehouse area of the foundry to deposit the rest of this trip's rewards, including locking up and the four molemen guards, gramps and I walked to the planning/relaxation area. As the both of us came strolling through the door, I was unsurprisingly jumped by an excited Alice that was happy to see me and gramps return from our excursion unharmed, mostly.
Back in the foundry's safety, we took a seat and started conversing about what transpired and after doing so for a decent while the old man left Alice and I here to continue while he occupied a couch for himself along with a soft gray blanket and whatever else he needed to take a comfortable nap.
"It's good you only got some light bruising from your fight with that moleman king. You know you could've gotten seriously hurt from that close combat fight of yours, right?"
"I know, but I knew if I had any trouble, gramps and robots would've rushed over to my aid and in a heartbeat and curb stomped the ever living shit out of the moleman king, so it wasn't that dangerous in fact. The fight also allowed me to gain some real hand to hand combat experience, which knowing my goals will make my future endeavors safer for both you and I when we start exploring the wasteland."
"So overall I would say it was well worth it and besides, I injected a couple of medstims already, thus I'll be good as new in no time at all."
As we wrapped up that bit and moved onto what she had learned today whilst I was in the cave system with grandpa John getting rid of the molemen infestation, I received a sudden notification.
Ding New Perk Unlocked!