Raine sulks from the passenger seat as Kaidan drive the two-seater military car. She feels a bit offended as Iden, Ron and Kaidan have decided to separate Tanya from her person as they deemed it too dangerous for both of them to be near each other. They state that it is best to separate them for now to prevent one corrupting the other. She is unsure who they are referring to when they mention the one who is guilty of corruption.
"Come on Raine don't sulk, here have something to munch until we reach the station administrative office." Said Kaidan as he passed a bag of protein chips to Raine.
Raine accepts the bag of protein chips, open it and munch on it. Feeling better after some salty snack, she hummed while watching the increasing amount of pedestrians they passed on either side on the road. Everyone is happy and excitedly conversing with each other, while the vast majority are humans, she spotted some elves, dwarves and the rare orcs as well.
"Hey Kaidan, looks like something festive is going on. Everyone looks excitable and happy. What is going on?" Said Raine as she munched on the protein chips like a chipmunk.
"Oh, we're having a mechs tournament at the Colosseum at the moment. I can bring you there once we finish with the paperwork and red tape for registering Tanya with Lai Dai." Answered Kaidan as he continued driving.
Raine's eyes sparkle at the notice of giant mechs fighting each other in a colosseum.
"Are they giant mechs? Can they shoot lasers and punch each other to scrap?" Asked Raine excitedly.
"Of course! The mechs are maintained by a clan and a person pilots the mechs. I suppose it's like football team from your time, and each team has their legion of fans. I'm rooting for Jade Falcon clan by the way, while Ron is rooting for the Timber Wolves clan. So it's a bit fun and hectic when those two clans duke it out in the colosseum, we always hoot and shouted at each other when watching it." Said Kaidan as he laughed good-naturedly.
"When can we watch the match?" Said Raine with excitement, chips forgotten.
"There would be one tomorrow. I can ask Iden if we can go and watch together. How's that?" Offered Kaidan as he continued driving along the road.
"It's a promise!" Confirmed Raine happily.
After that Kaidan nodded good-naturedly while continuing driving and Raine getting back to finishing her protein chips contently. After around fifteen minutes, they have finally reached a branch administrative office of the station, and after parking both of their cars, everybody steps out and gather in the parking lot.
"Now Ms. Raine, we're here to do some medical check up for Tanya. I don't know how long it will take, but I hope you behave. You are free to look around and find something to do, while I accompany Tanya for her checkup. Ron would also be accompanying me as he has the legal right to Tanya, so his presence is necessary for the paperwork and administrative purpose to go smoothly." Said Iden sternly.
"Yes, mother." Said Raine flippantly as she inspects her laser pulse handgun.
"I'm serious here Raine. Your stunt already left me with a mess to clean up with the station administrative office. After that, we have to go to the Lai Dai department to check your claim regarding Ms. Tanya." Admonished Iden with consternation at Raine's attitude.
"I promise, we will just do some exploring around here." Said Raine as she sulks again as if denied sweets.
"Alright, and don't go outside the compound you hear. Kaidan, I leave her to you. Try to keep her in one piece would you?" Asked Iden exasperatedly.
"Will do Commander, she's in good hands." Affirmed Kaidan confidently.
Raine then waved her hand for goodbye but before they left she approached Tanya hurriedly and proceed to hug her. Tanya looks confused and uncomfortable at her action, but she did it anyway.
"I'll see you again Tanya, and don't worry they won't hurt you as Lai Dai is practically my family. So that makes you one of their family as well." Said Raine kindly and reassuringly.
"I envy your optimism, and positive outlook on life. I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop and finding out that this whole thing is a scam and I am now being trafficked to another place instead." Grumbled Tanya as she pushes Raine away from her person.
"Aw don't be like that Tanya, as long as we live we should look at the bright side of things. That should be the only way to live." Admonished Raine cutely as she approached Tanya carefully.
"And become blinded to the harsh reality of life? No thanks, I'll just look down in the gloom and doom and just spread myself and grow like a fungus. That way I won't be cut down in my prime of life by those that want to exploit me, such as God who brought me here and making me born as an orphan." Said Tanya negatively and smiling bitterly.
Raine peps herself up and proceeds to kiss Tanya on both cheeks to Tanya's surprise.
"That's for luck Tanya!" Said Raine as she smiles serenely at Tanya.
Before Tanya can reply, Raine took Kaidan's hand and dragged him away from the group towards the administrative office garden grounds. Kaidan, feeling bewildered just let himself be swept up in the unforeseen situation as it seems that it's their lot in life he supposed.
"Do you kiss girls often?" Asked Kaidan uncertainly as he looks back at the frozen group looking back at them.
"Only the cute ones. Now shut up and walk! Adventure awaits!" Said Raine as she pulls Kaidan harder towards the quiet and deserted garden compound.
Once Raine cannot see the rest of the group anymore, she finally stops and looks around the garden grounds. She found that the garden features a lot of strange plants and ferns that she never saw before, and she feels that the garden ground is too large and extravagant to be practical. She can't imagine the expense and effort needed to make the garden grounds so large and maintain it. Curiously she can't see anyone around them, even though she found some of the plants have grown beautiful flowers here and there.
"How come such a garden do not have anyone around to enjoy them Kaidan?" Asked Raine as she looks around.
"Ah, that's because the floras here are imported from the Gallente Federation. We imported them to compete with the other trade hub of the other races. From what I heard we spent a lot of money importing and training the necessary personnel to maintain it. Unfortunately, the majority of us certainly don't care to appreciate something that has its origin from the Gallente Federation. However, the main purpose is to show the other major faction how well off the Caldari State are that they can afford such extravagance, but it's more of a pride thing you see." Explained Kaidan as he walks sedately behind Raine.
"Ah, that's unfortunate as some of these plants are beautiful." Said Raine as she gently stroke one of the brightly colored flowers.
Curiously the plants are moving under her touch as if it enjoyed Raine's touch. Now that she thinks about it, she's wondering why are the leaves swaying when there is no breeze around them.
"Are these plants supposed to move? I'm asking since these are not native Earth plants that I can recognize." Asked Raine as she withdraws her hand and turns to Kaidan.
"No... This is the first time I see this happening, and it's disconcerting, but I can expect this coming from you. It makes perfect sense when I remember Dryad lore though." Answered Kaidan as he marveled at the moving floras around them.
"Oh, but it feels nice as I can feel the plants here are happy to see me. My presence here is nourishing them somehow. To be honest, there is some part of me that wants to get loose and take over the garden." Confessed Raine bluntly as she walked again towards the gentle stream of water leading deeper into the garden.
"Please don't do that, the commander will surely kill me when we get back." Said Kaidan good-humoredly as he follows Raine along the shallow stream.
"Oh fine, I'll take over another less public place if we happen to encounter one. Hey Kaidan what is that?" Said Raine as she spotted a grille at the end of the stream and approached it until she is in front of the grille.
"Looks like the stream leads to the culvert. There's no telling what is inside there. We should go back Ms. Raine." Said Kaidan as she follows Raine again.
"Where is your sense of adventure? Besides, I needed the experience to grow, might as well see if we can find any bats or some aquatic lizard in there. If we're lucky, there might even be a large alligator in there." Said Raine with sparkles in her eyes as she tried to open the access door grille but find it locked with a pin code.
"I don't see why encountering an alligator is lucky, but why would we find an alligator in a space station? Besides the fact that they're practically extinct, you don't expect a cold blooded animal to survive the ice age do you?" Questioned Kaidan.
"Details details, I'll settle for rats then." Said Raine as she repeats the trick she used to transform the PlayStation 45 given to her by Ron.
Raine's tendrils sprouted from the edge of her fingers and enters into the lock pad circuitry, she willed the lock to disengage and with a beep the grille open for her.
"Ms. Raine! We shouldn't be doing this! We promised the commander that we would stay in the compound!" Said Kaidan in panic.
"Technically the culvert is still part of the administrative office compound." Retorted Raine as she enters the dark underside of the culvert looking for prey.
As Raine get swallowed by the black gloom of the culvert, Kaidan is understandably torn whether to report this to the commander. In the end, he decided not to, as to report a problem not even five minutes after they separated would not reflect well on him.
"Sigh, I just know this will screw me over in the end... Ms. Raine! Wait for me!" Shouted Kaidan as he rushed into the dark culvert to follow after Raine.
Raine walked along the dry embankment at the edge of the canal looking for prey. She can see the futuristic design of the culvert due to how clean it is inside the dark gloom of the sewer, intermittent with red lighting for better vision. The rotten smell she was expecting is almost nonexistent. A large part of the reason she supposes is the shimmering nanobots that she can see in the water traveling in clumps, breaking down dirt and solid matter and carrying it like ants somewhere into the small hole lining the edges of the canal.
Raine can finally hear footsteps from behind as Kaidan catches up with her. By the time Kaidan did catch up with her, she spots a staircase leading underground hidden by a locked hatch at the end of the tunnel, so she repeats the trick that allows her access to the culvert again. Beside her, the water in the canal is flowing through a small opening at the end before falling like a waterfall. Feeling appreciative of the night-vision that comes equipped with her helmet she descended the staircase with confidence followed by a hesitating Kaidan.
After descending a few levels of staircases, Raine pushes through a door and found herself standing on a larger dark and gloomy canal pathway. Raine finds that the environment at the lower level of the canal are dirtier compared to the one above and she can also smell something rotten in the air, seeping in through her helmet filtration.
"Why is the condition so bad compared to the upper level here Kaidan?" Asked Raine as she swivels to look around.
"My guess is, the upper level is for public viewing while the lower levels are not maintained properly to save on public funding and to save the contractor reputation." Answered Kaidan while scowling at the unmaintained culvert which looks like it has been neglected for some years.
Raine was about to reply but unable to since she came under attack from above the ceiling by something dark, shiny and have too many legs. The unidentified mass is covering her helmet and trying to bite through the helmet.
Kaidan's expend frantic effort to help her take off the mass of dark abomination latching unto her faceplate. She took out her Car-9 Amarrian scrambler pistol and angled the barrel to point upwards sandwiched in between her faceplate and the dark mass and proceed to fire a single shot as the pulse laser burns through the dark mass. Until finally, with a twitch falls dead, fried to a crisp on the floor ground.
Raine sighed with relief and turned her attention to identified her dead assailant on the ground.
"Are you alright Ms. Raine?!" Asked Kaidan as he patted Raine on both sides to make sure she is alright.
"Yeah, it can't bite through my helmet. What is it? It looks like a cockroach, but it's the size of a dinner plate." Said Raine as she stared at the dead cockroach specimen.
"It's a thief bug, a mutated cockroach. It can grow to the size of a car tire, and it has the habit of stealing anything if it's not bolted to the ground and brings it to the nest to attract the person looking for the lost item. Once the person is there, the swarm will eat an unarmored person alive until nothing is left, not even the bone." Answered Kaidan as he scowled at the dead cockroach on the ground.
"There is another coming in at us now Kaidan. Just wait a second." Replied Raine as she spotted the approaching thief bug hungry for flesh and sustenance.
[https://iluvmonday.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/golden_thief_bug.gif]
Raine promptly blasted it to a crisp with the pulse laser. Not even a sound and was heard when the pulse laser is fired from the Car-9 Scrambler pistol and no recoil as well to mark the passing of another giant cockroach.
Level up!
Raine looks up and saw the figure of a white angel suddenly appear and act as if granting her a blessing, at the same time she heard and saw the level up notice from the Ragnarok system. Raine checked her status and found that she just gained a base level and her level is raised for the second time to level eleven, while she earn five stat points to upgrade her stats.
This is it! This is what she wants and looking forward to. Sublime experience and the thrill of a hunt. That she can grow stronger under the Ragnarok system is the icing on a cake. Ignoring Kaidan's unspoken expression for an explanation, she strips the thief bug looking for loot but finding none but internal organs and waste scum.
A bit dejected about it, since Raine knows she can't expect to get a blade, a jacket or a two-handed sword from inside a bug, but since Kaidan said they like to collect things maybe they ate something valuable enough that she can rip out of their intestine.
With gauntlets covered in grime and bug blood, Raine finally answered Kaidan.
"I just leveled up, just take it as something magical. I can grow stronger the more monsters I slay, and it seems that these oversized cockroaches are counted as one. With that in mind let's hunt some more!" Answered Raine as she washed her gauntlets with water flowing through the canal.
"Absolutely not! How would I explain this to the commander when we return to the surface?! We should go back now, and then we can come back with everyone as a backup!" Said Kaidan with agitation and insistence.
"It doesn't work unless I am the one who dealt the final blow it seems, bringing in more people would have reduced the experience I need to level up again. So… You can go back to the surface if you want but I am staying to look for more of these thief bugs." Answered Raine as she rechecked her status screen again to update her stat points.
Confirming stat distribution:
STR: 1+2
INT: 11
AGI: 11
DEX: 11
VIT: 11
LCK: 11
Raine decided to put all her new stat points into strength to make her a well balanced individual, plus it will increase her strength by being able to carry an additional sixty kilograms or more than a hundred pounds of weight.
Current stat distribution:
STR: 3
INT: 11
AGI: 11
DEX: 11
VIT: 11
LCK: 11
Raine nodded satisfactorily at her updated stat and she can literally feel that she has already becoming physically stronger three time compared to earlier. Raine plans to carry on without Kaidan if she has to, as he is acting like a headless chicken now. Which she did easily and walked deeper into the culvert for more preys.
Kaidan tried to contact Commander Iden to update their current location and status but to his consternation found that his signal is being blocked this deep underground. He does not want to spend the time to go up and broadcast the signal from above and lose sight of Raine in the meantime. Kaidan sighed and followed behind Raine again as they hunt for the thief bugs.
For the next hour Raine spent her time hunting for thief bugs and going deeper into the culvert, the deeper they go, the more numerous the thief bugs became until Raine decided to holster her Car-9 Scrambler Pistol and start using her spells and her ‘Blackprey' Nova knife instead to save her ammunitions.
Raine's level has increased by an additional six levels to become level seventeen, and she has gained another thirty two additional stat points to distribute. Her current available stat points are thirty three points counting the one point leftover after she spent in on raising her strength by two points.
The bountiful harvest of levels is possible because Raine instructed Kaidan not to interfere, even if they have covered her from head to toe as it has been proven that they are not able to bite through the armor she is wearing. In fact, it has been her favorite moment, as she goes berserk chopping them up viscerally using her nova knife in a whirlwind of guts, blood and body parts.
After careful consideration, she raised another eight levels on strength making all her total base points the same at eleven. However she still has an available balance of seventeen stat points to spend, but unfortunately the cost of raising an attribute level now has increased to be three stat points per increase in attribute level no matter which attribute she choose. In the end, she decided to spend it on INT and raising it by five levels as she is a mage.
Confirming stat distribution:
STR: 3+8
INT: 11+5
AGI: 11
DEX: 11
VIT: 11
LCK: 11
After confirming her selection, and having the leftover two stat points to spend in the future since she do not have enough stat points to raise any of the attributes.
Current stat distribution:
STR: 11
INT: 16
AGI: 11
DEX: 11
VIT: 11
LCK: 11
Now, in terms of strength, she is now able to lift three hundred and thirty kilograms or more than seven hundred and twenty seven pounds in weight for having eleven points in STR. While the increase in INT resulted in increasing her MATK by almost double.
To Raine's increasing happiness, she even manages to encounter a single slime! The slime just crawled out of the murky canal and approached her on the ground as a dog would.
[https://game.mthai.com/app/uploads/2013/03/04.golden-poring.gif]
Raine picks the cute slime up from the ground and holds it tight against her breasts.
The slime is gold in color, with a simple face shifting here and there randomly it is also not that large at about a foot in diameter. Raine can see through the slime, focusing at the slime core is about the size of a golf ball and also golden in color.
The golden slime is moving here and there while trying to envelop her body and rubbed itself against her armor trying to seep in through the crack. Raine is starting to feel uncomfortable as her body tingles uncomfortably as the slime's touches her bare skin. Thus she stabbed through the slime with her 'Blackprey' nova knife and ripped through its body like melted butter and rips out its golden core from its melting mass.
"What was it, Ms. Raine? I have never seen such a creature before." Asked Kaidan with curiosity.
"It's my golden ticket to get a Guardian, that's what it is." Replied Raine excitedly as she wiped the golden goop out of her body while marveling at the small golden orb in her other hand.
"I should collect the goop and pass it to our R&D team. Maybe it can be used for something." Said Kaidan as he used his Omni-tool to vacuum up the remains and seal it in a container before storing it inside his side pouch.
"Go ahead, by all means. I have what I need already." Acknowledged Raine while she stored her golden slime core securely in her side pouch.
Raine was about to call it a day before behind them, the water surface of the canal exploded, and an even bigger slime rise out of the dark water and filling up the whole space from ground to the rooftop and from one wall to the other.
[https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-aYBsxblX1cI/VArWJHoic-I/AAAAAAAAABU/wBtt8zUALP8/s0-U-I/king_deviling.gif]
Raine stares, frozen at the giant slime in disbelief looking at the size of the thing it has enough mass to fill an Olympic size pool. Her reverie was broken when Kaidan let loose his assault rifle at the giant slime, which unfortunately just went through the body and doesn't even hurt the giant slime as the slime's expression turns feral and starts to flow towards both of them.
"Stop firing! It's no use firing solid matter at such gelatinous body. It will just go through it, and it doesn't do any damage that I can see. I don't see how my pistol and knife can help much in this situation either. It'll be exactly like facing a whale with a dagger. Let me try something, cover me Kaidan!" Commanded Raine as she prepares a spell.
A magic circle expanded under Raine and rotated as the spell matrix takes form and Raine put SP into it.
Thunder Storm!
Multiple lightning bolts strike from above the large mass and continue to do so ten times. As the smoke clears, Raine can see that it has inflicted some damage but not significant enough for Raine to be happy about it.
"This damn monster!" Said Raine as she realizes it channel her bolts to the flowing canal water below it, it grounded the spell and received minimal damage from her spell. Not only that, but the spell long cast time also give time for the slime to approach her rapidly.
Raine turns to look at Kaidan who have continued to fire his assault rifle at the slime on full auto to stop or slow its movement.
Stolen novel; please report.
"Kaidan, we are leaving. There is no choice. We have to run deeper into the culvert and hopefully find another exit from there. Save your bullets for the smaller fries blocking our way when we blitz through them." Said Raine as she suggested retreat in the face of the monster flowing their way.
"Best news I have heard all day Ms. Raine." Said Kaidan as he acknowledged Raine's suggestion.
Raine and Kaidan turn around and make a run for it deeper into the culvert, some thief bugs are jumping at them, but with Kaidan blazing full auto in front of him, their way is clear.
After running for fifteen minutes in a straight line without encountering any branch to lose the pursuing slime, they managed to outpace it by a large margin. Thankfully it's speed is slower compared to them, yet if they continue like this and encounter a dead end at the end of the tunnel... It will be the end for them. Well maybe for Kaidan as she will get a new body generated for her back in her tree. Either way, she does not want to spend the time waiting for a new body, so she continued running behind Kaidan.
However, is it her or does the rotten smell getting stronger and stronger the deeper they went in the culvert? After turning a bend at the corner, she can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
There is light shining through from a hole on the rooftop, which may make it difficult to reach if not for the pile of dead humans, elves, dwarves and orcs corpses piling up below it.
Kaidan is so shocked seeing the pile of corpses that he stops in the middle the road and just gawked at it. Raine is irritated at Kaidan's hesitance and proceeds to kick his rear into gear again.
"Kaidan! Hello, there's a death glob behind us! Which one do you choose? The dead in front of us or the death behind us? If you know what's good for you, then start moving and climb the dead to reach for the chance of still being among the living!" Shouted Raine as she kicked Kaidan's ass into running forward again.
In addition to the horrible smell, it's complicated by the swarm of thief bugs of all sizes feasting on the corpses. The moment the thief bugs realizes that there are fresh preys in their midst, they charge at both Raine and Kaidan like a black tide of claws and chitins.
Kaidan took out all his grenades with lightning speed in response to the swarm and threw a spread of beeping thermal grenades in front of him. The thermal grenades detonated with a fiery blast, the heat wave obliterated the thief bugs at the center and incapacitating the rest, making their path clear once again.
With salvation in their grasps, both Raine and Kaidan climb the pile of corpses. As they are midway towards the light, the corpses under both of them shake and in front of them an even larger thief bug. Incomparable in size and color compared to a normal thief bug, emerged from the pile of dead bodies, golden in color with beady brown eyes and sharp claws. The giant golden thief bug spits out the corpse it was chewing and seemingly stared at both Raine and Kaidan hatefully.
[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7SJ_mEljvqI/maxresdefault.jpg]
Golden Thief Bug Battle OST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SJ_mEljvqI/
"Well, ain't that just grand?" Complained Raine sarcastically.
Impossibly large, the Golden thief bug rears up and blow a giant fireball attack that consumes both Raine and Kaidan. Thankfully as Raine take cover behind Kaidan's body, the heat washes over Kaidan's stronger rated energy shield, so the damage is minimal for both of them, yet Kaidan's shield is depleted, and he would need to wait for it to be regenerated again.
"Kaidan, don't fight it! Let us climb to its back and reach for the opening above it! Distract it for me, and I will make it pause for a while! Use the chance to climb up it's back and reach for the opening!" Ordered Raine as she prepares a level ten lightning bolt spell, a single targeted spell compared to an area of effect spell like thunder storm but much faster to cast in return.
Raine fearfully looks back as the giant slime has finally caught up to them and are blocking the path they came in while consuming the corpses of both people and thief bugs that they have incinerated, which thankfully slowed it down a bit. However, as she sees the exposed corpses melted dreadfully fast in front of her eyes, she fears that they are out of time and space to run.
Kaidan didn't have time to reply but instead blazed out his assault rifle on full auto. This time his effort yielded some result as pockmarks of blood leaks out from the golden thief bug shells. The golden thief bugs the shrieks loudly as it retaliated at Kaidan by throwing another fireball which Kaidan dodged by leaping to the ground.
Unfortunately, as the fireball soared through the air above Kaidan's prone body, it's trajectory made it clear that it is heading towards Raine's fixed position. However, Raine completed the cast on time and let loose a level ten lightning bolt that tore through the fireball and disperses it while continuing to traverse above Kaidan's still prone body, striking the golden thief bug head on.
The golden thief bug screams as the electricity coursed through its veins and temporarily paralyzing it. Raine wasted no time as she immediately scrambled towards the golden thief bug, stopping by and forcefully dragging Kaidan's, who have been frozen in fear by the exchange of fire and lightning above his head.
"Move it Kaidan! Do you want to die?!" Shouted Raine as Kaidan scrambles up and run towards the golden thief bug as well.
As Kaidan and Raine climb on top of the golden thief bug back, Raine used her newly gained strength to lift Kaidan up and throws him up through the opening above them. As Raine stands alone on the back of the golden thief bug, the monster under her feet shrieked again and started to move angrily, trying to shake her off.
Raine holds on for dear life as she used her nova knife to stab through the monster back and used it as a foothold to stay on the monster back. Hearing Kaidan's shout from above, she looks up and sees Kaidan's outstretched hand trying to reach for her. Raine strengthens her resolve and twists her knife inside the golden thief bug wound, and as the monster reared up and shrieked in pain, she pulled back her nova knife and jumped from it's back reaching out with her free hand towards Kaidan outstretched hand.
As their hand grasped together, Raine can feel herself being forcefully pulled up by Kaidan as she avoids the angry golden thief bug, retaliating for the pain she inflicted by snapping its massive pincers and narrowingly missing one of her legs.
Raine can feel herself being pulled through the hole by Kaidan and as Kaidan hugged her, she sees a brightly lit room where they are surrounded by angry armed men pointing their weapons at her and Kaidan.
[http://www.desktopimages.org/pictures/2013/0615/1/soldiers-video-games-war-futuristic-shooter-dust-science-fiction-mmo-vehicles-mercenaries-ps3-wallpaper-525348.jpg]
"Dear God, give me a break..." Complained Raine as she whispered from beside Kaidan's head.
"Freeze! Don't move or we shoot you down! What the hell is going on and why are you coming out of our corpse disposal shoot?!" Said one of the armed men near them threateningly.
"As you can see, we are not here by choice. I am her bodyguard, and we were attacked by monsters from down there. Please if you can assist us that will be very much appreciated and if you are mercenaries there would be a monetary reward for you if you can escort us back to the station administrative office that should be nearby our current location." Offered Kaidan as he let go of Raine and gesturing in surrender towards the speaker.
"Well it's too bad for you, but we're not mercenaries, in fact, we are Guristas SpecOps, the special forces team of the Guristas pirate faction. Unfortunately, since you have discovered our base of operation in Jita trade hub, it seems that both of you needed to die." Answered the Guristas SpecOps speaker.
"While that is all fine and dandy. Maybe you can kill us after all of us are safe? There is a big monster down there, and I think I am saying what is best for everyone if we all just get out of here and escape before the monster climb up here and by then it will be too late for everyone." Said Raine mildly as she dragged Kaidan slowly away from the hatch which leads to the hell she just escaped from.
"You, little girl, shut up while the adults are talking. What kind of bodyguard are you that you can't handle thief bugs? Even in swarms, they are not able to chew or scratch drop suit armor." Mocked the Guristas SpecOps speaker.
"If you believed that the thief bugs down there are your normal average thief bugs variety then you are sadly mistaken... Did you throw radioactive material down there? As the thief bugs are literally out of this world." Retorted Kaidan as he increases the distance between him and the hatch.
"Both of you should stop moving! Someone go and check what is down the hatch! It's too quiet... The thief bugs are usually noisy, something is wrong, and I don't like it..." Said the Guristas SpecOps speaker with suspicion.
Raine sees one of the Guristas speaker subordinate breaks off and approaches them carefully. The Guristas subordinate keeps an eye on both Raine and Kaidan for any sudden movement. That is, until the Guristas subordinate stand next to the open hatch and look down the hatch for a second before a tentacle made entirely of slime shot out and wrapped the panicking Guristas SpecOps.
The unfortunate trooper managed a weapon discharge on full auto uselessly before the whole tentacle slime pulled the doomed Guristas SpecOps through the hatch screaming on its way down. Raine can hear the sound of impacts as she imagines the body is being hurled across the walls and pillars repeatedly before the screaming sound stopped altogether.
"What the hell..." Said the original Guristas SpecOps speaker weakly before shifting his aim at the hatch opening tensely. A notion followed by all of his colleagues as well as they shifted their aim at the hatch that has taken the life of one of their comrades, Raine and Kaidan forgotten in the face of a graver threat.
Everything is silent while the tension is so thick that it can be cut with a knife. Then as if stoking the fire of the tension, everyone can hear the sound of cracking as the ground around the hatch are breaking apart... Until finally with a shockwave, the whole area explode upwards as the giant slime burst from the ground and with tentacles sprouting from every surface of its body.
The giant slime is glowing with vitality as large amounts of skeletons are floating inside, the remnants of the corpses it consumes earlier. Floating inside the giant slime body is also the giant golden thief bug that blocked Raine's and Kaidan's way a moment ago. The golden thief bug is still alive as it thrashes wildly and it breathes a fireball from the inside of the giant slime. The fireball went through the slime and almost hit one of the Guristas SpecOps member surrounding the location where the hatch was destroyed by the breakthrough of the giant slime.
Every single Guristas SpecOps team fire their assault rifle at the slime monster as they curse and screams their battle cry at the monster which has suddenly invaded their territory.
Raine and Kaidan ducked as the tentacles whipped around them and crashed into some Guristas SpecOps member. The Guristas SpecOps member scream as they went flying through the air and with the sound of bone crunching on impact, the body dropped to the ground and never stir again.
"It's our chance to run Ms. Raine!" Shouted Kaidan as he stood up and carried Raine under his left arm like a football while aiming his assault rifle at the door at the end of the chamber where the monster appears.
With a burst of bullets, Kaidan shredded through the door and kicked it open to the shock of some Guristas workers laboring to manufacture combat drugs in a makeshift factory. The shock turns to screams of panic though as some part of the slime tentacle went through the door Kaidan just went through and grew lances that extend and stabbed through some of the Guristas workers, effectively impaling and killing the workers, causing the rest of the panicked workers into a rout.
Raine can hear the sound of screams and death throes from behind her as she is being carried like a sack of potato under one of Kaidan's arm. She can no longer hear the sound of assault rifles firing. She suppose the Guristas SpecOps are all dead already, so much for being elites.
Kaidan weaved in among some panicked workers and following the routing crowd of Guristas workers towards the exit. Some are heading towards the lift while some are taking the emergency staircase. Kaidan remembers his training and proceeds to escape through the emergency staircase.
This turns out to be a wise decision as before the lift managed to close, a tentacle slime went in and basically turn the lift into a mixer as it converted the worker into minced meat.
"Kaidan go down the staircase instead of following everyone to go up!" Shouted Raine urgently as she shakes Kaidan's ribs forcefully.
"What? Everyone is going up! We should follow them to safety!" Shouted Kaidan in a panic.
"Trust me Kaidan!" Pleaded Raine as she hung helplessly.
Kaidan took a chance and proceeded to go down the emergency staircase and hide behind the emergency staircase which is a dead space used as a storage space. While catching his breath, the commotion of the crowd rushing up to escape by going up the emergency staircase is replaced by a scream of despair as the slime flows impossibly fast and swallows the crowd hole.
Raine tries not to imagine how bad are their suffering as the Guristas workers are swallowed whole by the expanding slime and dissolved in minutes. The scream is the worse, and it gets progressively weaker as their flesh get dissolved until nothing are left but their skeletons.
Raine and Kaidan hold their breath as they hide behind the staircase hoping that the slime would not be able to find them there in their safe space behind the staircase, which is ironically a dead space.
Alas, Raine and Kaidan's hope is a futile one, as unknown to both of them... The slime can sense the life force of it's prey, now that every other living being nearby has been consumed by the slime. In essence, by killing all the nearby Guristas personnel and workers, it has cleared the white noise which had confused its senses by obfuscating Raine's presence with multiple other signatures.
Raine screams as both her and Kaidan are dragged from their safe space and swallowed by a part of the giant slime. Through her faceplate, she can see through the slime and feel that they are being pulled towards the main slime mass at the center of the worker's workshop they have just escaped from.
There is no pain as Raine noticed that her energy shield is blocking the digestive power of the slime body fluid, yet her drop suit electronic system is warning her that the shield is dropping fast.
Raine did not stay idle as she struggled by unsheathing her nova knife and made wild swings while unholstering her scrambler pistol with the intention to shoot the giant slime core in the distance as it moved randomly in all direction. Unfortunately, the Car-9 Scrambler pistol refused to fire as the slime goop jammed the scrambler pistol as it seeps into the mechanism and circuitry, short-circuiting it.
Raine dropped her unresponsive Car-9 Scrambler Pistol as her nova knife strike yields better result as it slices and vaporize the slime fluid and freeing her movement somewhat but more slime fluid immediately filled in the gap she created with her melee attack. With one of her hand free, she cast the near instant spell, a level ten Napalm Beat towards the slime core, but the spell projection strikes the surrounding slime fluid instead of the slime core as the spell still register the fluid as part of its body. A large void is made in front of her hand due to the Napalm Beat spell, which is immediately filled with slime fluid again.
Raine desperately spammed her near instant level ten Napalm Beat spell, a necessity as her other spells needed time and focus. She would be unable to cast the spell as long as she is still sucked deeper into the slime and receiving sustained damage from the digestive fluid of the giant slime.
As Raine continuously spammed her spell, she continued swinging her nova knife and glanced at Kaidan who is suspended upside down with his legs where his head should be and frantically swinging his own Nova knife in desperation. She felt the same desperation as she has already tapped out her SP reserves and currently using the blood reserve from her breasts.
Raine glanced down and worriedly sees her breasts shrinking rapidly, the giant slime still has plenty of body fluid left even after she vaporized enough slime fluid to fill the room they are in currently. At this point, she fears that she will be tapped out of reserve before they deplete the giant slime's health. Hopefully, it is an attrition battle that she can win.
Eventually, Raine's reserve became empty as she returns to being a flat-chested Dryad, her energy shield have already disappeared a while ago while Kaidan's shields are starting to flicker before her eyes until it disappears as well. She continues to swing her nova knife even as the energy field surrounding her beloved nova knife disappears due to overuse.
The slime senses that it's body fluid are no longer vaporized by the nova knife energy field rushed in and enveloped her helmet in a tight grip and with a pop, ripped her helmet violently and removed her mask, exposing her face and eyes, like an octopus cracking open a crab shell.
Raine quickly closed her eyes otherwise the sting of acid will blind her in addition to the damage to her face. She can feel the grip of the slime tentacle holding her head strengthened as the giant slime forced open her mouth and the slime tentacle rushed in to fill her insides with its slimy body fluid, intending to digest her from the inside-out. She winced as she can feel the rush of the tentacle as it forcefully goes through her throat and filling in her stomach and continue to flow without stopping for an uncomfortably long time.
Blind and in pain, Raine resolved herself for her last resort as she clenched her inactive nova knife tightly on her hand and raised it high above her head before forcefully plunging it into her body. As the knife stabbed through the acid-weakened and brittle armor covering her body, it pierced deep into her stomach, and with a grim resolve dragged it across to the other side of her stomach in a morbid display of Japanese suicide ritual of harakiri.
Groaning at the pain, Raine sheathed her nova knife again and using both hands, forcefully opens and expose her stomach to the environment within the giant slime body. As she had hoped, the slime body fluids surrounding Raine are sucked into the blackhole within her stomach, a void connected to another dimension of space contained only by the flesh of her unique constitution.
The giant slime felt that something is wrong as more and more of its body fluid are sucked into its prey. The situation has backfired for the giant slime as instead of digesting Raine, and it is being consumed by its prey instead. Like water being flushed down the toilet, the giant slime is losing its body fluid at a rapid pace as everything is being sucked into the blackhole within Raine's stomach. Everything within the giant slime, including half digested corpses, skeletons and melted weapons and armor are sucked into the blackhole within her stomach as well.
As the slime prison containing Raine and Kaidan shrank, becoming smaller and smaller until there are not enough slime body fluids to hold both Raine and Kaidan. The last drop of the slime's body fluid is finally sucked into Raine's stomach, and she promptly sealed back her stomach and using both of her hands to hold the black hole at bay now that the threat is gone.
Raine sighted Kaidan crawling towards Raine as he reached the ground beside Raine, he took out a packet with a red cross stamp on it, unsealed it and apply the gel within around Raine's stomach while she is still holding it. The gel work it's magic as it sealed the wound on Raine's stomach until only a thin line of a light colored scar is left to mark the place where she slashed her stomach open.
"It's medigel, it seals and sterilizes the wound. Your stomach should be alright now. You do not have to hold it anymore. Heck of a thing you did, I thought we were a goner when you stab yourself in the stomach. I thought for a moment you were going to leave me alone to die." Praised Kaidan weakly as he lay on his stomach on the ground beside Raine.
"Hmph, I won't die today. And I won't let you die as well. You promised to bring me to the mechs colosseum tomorrow." Said Raine as she snorted and let go of her stomach and bent down to pick up her helmet, her mask and her malfunctioned Car-9 scrambler pistol.
"Hahaha... That I did, I did promise you didn't I?" Replied Kaidan weakly, face down on the ground floor.
"Hmph, and you have to invite Tanya as well tomorrow." Bargained Raine as she equipped back her mask first and then her helmet, then she proceed to approach the dying golden thief bug a distance away, it seems that it was leftover when she sucked the slime into her stomach.
"Small price to pay for my life I suppose. Fine, I'll take both of you tomorrow. Now can you help me up and walk?" Pleaded Kaidan as he tries to raise up from the ground floor.
"Just a minute, I would have to finish off the golden thief bug first then we can go back to the surface together." Answered Raine as she approached the struggling golden thief bug as it stares at the approaching Raine hatefully.
As Raine stand next to the dying golden thief bug, she can see that every surface of the golden thief bug are pitifully melted and exposing some of its organs, she can see the golden thief bug internal organs directly as it struggled to breathe.
"It has been thrilling I suppose, yet you must have had a good run. May you find happiness in the next life." Said Raine as she stands next to the dying golden thief bug and recites its last rites before lifting her hand and using the small amount of newly generated SP to perform a single spell.
Napalm Beat!
Raine watches as the white soul orbs from her spell appear from her hand and strike the golden thief bug like a shotgun.
Level Up! MVP!
Another white angel appears above Raine, and she raised an eyebrow when she does a quick check on her status and found out that her level has increased by twelve points, she is now a level thirty Mage. Not only that, the word MVP is floating above her head boldly in bright colors before disappearing on its own after a few seconds.
As the golden thief bug life fades from its eyes, the whole body starts to glow golden, and it's whole mass become compressed and form a single card. The floating card soared through the air and landed on a surprised Raine's hand. While in her hand, the card stop glowing and Raine is staring at a Golden Thief Bug MVP card.
[https://forsaken-ro.net/tokenshop/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2013/04/gtb.jpg][http://i.imgur.com/fXQlMpV.jpg]
Raine sighed morosely at the card she received, an ultra rare card in a universe where no one can cast magic beside herself. Perhaps she can sell it in the market when she returns to the Citadel, or she can keep it and see whether it can protect her from the power of the group of Gods that she encountered in the orphanage earlier today.
Raine kept the Golden Thief Bug MVP card securely in her tattered breast pocket, cursing that her helmet is malfunctioning as well after it momentarily fritzed. Not even a week has gone by, and she has already broken her gear, professor Dexter won't be happy about this…
Finally, Raine approaches the beach ball size slime core left on the ground. Her prize for winning the boss battle, one of two boss battle in fact. She will inform everyone in the Citadel that she defeated two bosses simultaneously in a fair fight, and no one can claim otherwise.
Raine is thankful when she spent the newly acquired stat points on strength earlier as she won't be able to carry the beach ball size core otherwise. However, with her increased strength she can comfortably carry the giant slime core under one arm and have one hand free to do something else.Talking about stat points, doing a quick check on her status, she just gained a massive ninety three points of stat points for defeating a boss monster and becoming an MVP. She now has ninety five available stat points to spend.
After consideration, she spent her stat points on the following attributes. The arrangement did not left her with any leftover stat points.
Confirming stat distribution:
STR: 11
INT: 16+5
AGI: 11+15
DEX: 11+10
VIT: 11
LCK: 11
This time she decided to prioritize on AGI as from battling the boss monster she could use more agility and speed to give her more option in battle. Plus the AGI attribute have a good synergy with one of her equipment, ‘Mask of the daughters of Aku’ which raises her fleeing rate and by another fifty percent.
However she need to redistribute future stat points more evenly in the future, but she have to be satisfied with her current status distribution.
Current stat distribution:
STR: 11
INT: 21
AGI: 26
DEX: 21
VIT: 11
LCK: 11
With her business done, Raine approached Kaidan again to assist him. When she is right beside him, she uses her free hand to easily lift and securing him enough as Kaidan start walking by using Raine's body as a crutch.
"What happened to you? You walk like an elderly and infirm man." Said Raine as she guided Kaidan and assist him to walk towards the emergency staircase and this time both of them climb up the staircase heading for the surface.
"I don't want to talk about it… But I have to say that I was right…" Said Kaidan miserably as he lifts his leg with a considerable effort of will even after being supported by Raine.
"About what?" Asked Raine curiously as she and Kaidan climb the emergency staircase slowly due to Kaidan's injury.
"I was right when I said that chasing after you at the culvert entrance will screw me over in the end…" Said Kaidan grimly as he winced in pain as both Raine and Kaidan climb the steps.
"Look at the bright side though. We survived after beating the odds like a boss. Can't be any prouder than that." Soothed Raine as she tries to cheer up Kaidan.
"I can't eat pride, and it certainly wouldn't ease my heart pain." Grumbled Kaidan as he slowly took a painful step.
"How about the loot left behind by the dead pirates? They certainly wouldn't be bringing it with them to the afterlife. We should come back later with everyone and clean the place. What do you say?" Offered Raine cheerfully.
"It's a miracle, Ms. Raine! My heart pain and broken body are healed instantly!" Shouted Kaidan as he put more strength in his steps and his walking pace became considerably more vigorous although still handicapped.
Raine chuckles at Kaidan's new optimism and enthusiasm, happy that her encouragement has changed Kaidan's outlook and morale. With her purpose achieved, both of them walk silently for a while, broken only when Raine pose a question.
"Hey, Kaidan… Do you believe that God is ruling our lives and controlling everything that happens to us?" Asked Raine solemnly as Kaidan shifted his attention to see the unusually morose Raine.
"God is a fairy tale made by unenlightened humanity to explain everything bad and good that happens to them before they realize that their fate is entirely in their hand and all they have to do was to grasp it. Every single human being today believe this after they let go of their faith during the devastation of the ice age. They realize then that they cannot put their trust in something that cannot be substantiated and refuses to prevent the tragedy, so they put that faith in themselves instead. " Said Kaidan with the certainty born of a lifetime of education from state directed education programs.
"I see… I may not agree with you as I have personally witnessed their existence myself. I am finding myself questioning the reason why does such a God or creator give us so much adversities to overcome rather than resolving those adversities. Are we not their beloved creation? Should they not have the responsibility to take care of their creation if they bothered to make us at all? Did we do something to displeases them that causes them to test us? These are questions which I hope to ask of them in the near future." Confessed Raine as she exposes her innermost thought and worry.
"I don't have the qualification to answer those question Ms. Raine, nor am I able to address it to you with absolute certainty. For all I know, God could be making us go through the adversity today because it's his hobby and our struggles are just entertainment for his fellow Gods to pass their time. The death, the suffering, the drama for their viewing pleasure as they watch through their equivalent of a computer screen." Said Kaidan adding his two-cents.
"While that is unlikely, I hope that the adversity is meant to test and temper us to grow for some unknown purpose in the afterlife. I would be quite unhappy if these adversities serve no purpose whatsoever." Complained Raine as she finally reaches ground level and reached out for the locked door before opening it by unlocking it from the inside.
Raine and Kaidan are blinded by the rays of sunlight coming in through the open door and happily spotted the main administrative building where they separated from the rest of the group for what feels like a lifetime ago.
"When we reunite with the others can you explain to them that it wasn't my idea to wipe out a whole base of Guristas pirates when we were strolling through the garden earlier today?" Asked Raine hopefully as they finally exit the culvert and, with satisfaction, walked on the soft and green grass and among brightly colored floras.
"Not even to save your life would I do that for you Ms. Raine." Said Kaidan flatly rejecting Raine’s pleading.
“Damn it’s the end of the line for me now, even though It’s too soon for my adventure to end here. Oh woe is me.” Lamented Raine sadly.