Chapter 19 - Last Stand (1) (1/2)
”F.u.c.k.i.n.g. break. please!”
Smashing his fist repeatedly into a armor plate, Dax's left hand was greatly burned and bruised from breaking the 3 last plates, his ring finger had already stopped functioning as the tendon had snapped and all of his knuckles had been mostly bared with the bones showing by repeatedly fatiguing the metal armor plates by hitting them repeatedly.
”Finally!”
After hitting the plate back into shape for the 5th time, a crack finally formed and finally the plate cracked in half.
”2 more to go! how are you guys doing!?”
”Not good! why the f.u.c.k is there so many of them!?”
As Alice pointed out, several arachnids where closing in around the orb, and multiple arachnid corpses were shattered around outside the perimeter, with most of them set on fire, giving most of the remaining light as the sun had set some hours ago. As the sun had set, monster activity had increased and with the sound Dax made while breaking through the orb's ablative heat shield, arachnids had swarmed towards the orb. Reacting to the increased arachnid activity, Alice had made the call to split the defensive force, making Redmond and Eduard take care of or slow down any arachnids that tried to force themself through the single opening in the fortification of rock spikes. Laura and Viktor where not resting however as an increasing amount of arachnids tried to crawl over the spikes or break them down as they had been busy repelling such attempts and several burning corpses impaled on the rock spikes showed their effectiveness and lighted up the night.
”One more over here! Viktor deal with that one fast and get over here! And Laura get back to Redmond and Eduard they seem to be struggling!”
”NNnn… on.. it!”
”Give me a second!”
”You have 20! Get your ass over here now!!”
Laura responded as she lit a arachnid on fire that had tried to climb over the rock spikes and as it screamed in pain she had impaled it with a rock shard, Viktor on the other hand had to deal with a way more tricky spesimen that he had trouble hitting with a lethal spell.
”DEAL WITH IT! I need you over here now! there's more rude guests in need of some entertaining!”
While Alice shouted commands at Viktor she blinded a arachnid with a well placed arrow, but it had little effect as it started thrashing around and breaking the fortifications
”Oh no you f.u.c.k.i.n.g don't! ICI help me!”
[CALCULATING TRAJECTORY, STANDBY.. COMPLETE. SYNCHRONIZING MANEUVER]
”I see it!”
Guided by ICI Alice shot a steel arrows at the arachnid, hitting a small gap in its exoskeleton between its leg and torso, killing it instantly.
”I'm running out of arrows! Laura can you help!?”
[NEW CONTACT: @ HEADING 260 RANGE: 600 METERS]
”Not...now!... Ed… do… it!”
”OOHHH!”
Laura having hit a arachnid in the head with a rock shard, dissorinting it greatly and then signaled Eduard who responded by channeling strengthening magic and charging it. Jumping of a corpse Eduard managed to reach the arachnids head and stabbed it through one of its eyes, making it collapse while convulsing.
”Laura end it!”
”NNnn!”
Responding to Eduard that jumped away, several flames appeared around Laura and then swarmed the injured arachnid, setting it on fire and reaping its life spreading the smell of burned flesh.
[IFF CONFIRMED]
While melting through to the second to last armor plate Dax finally received identification on the internals of the orb
”Well that took forever.. what do we have here?”
[Z-99 MOD-4 REGISTRATION 000042119 CONFIRMED. STATUS: IN DEEP SLEEP AWAITING PLANETFALL]
”That's f.u.c.k.i.n.g great! ICI commence interfacing”
[UNABLE. PRIMARY AND AXILLARY COM ARRAY OFFLINE]
”Then bypass directly to a cyclops!”
[UNABLE. ALL UNITS ARE IN DEEP SLEEP AWAITING PLANETFALL]
(So the sensors and coms array were damaged in the attack…)
”Shit…. Alice! i have good and bad news!”
”WHAT!? we're all a little busy!”
”Okay, i'll make it quik! This orb contains weapons that can clear this whole area in a minute! But i can't talk to them yet!”
”Meaning what exactly?”
”We win when i get through this armor!”
”Everyone heard that!!?”
”OOHH! i don't really get it but it means we're almost done right?”
”Nnn… pending….vitorry”
”That's great! you owe us a beer Dax!”
”Great! i can't wait to see more of your worlds technology Dax!”
”Your priorities are backwards Viktor! I still need you to kill arachnids over here!”
”Hhiii! sorry!”
Fighting with renewed spirits they managed to push back the approaching arachnids, killing over 20 more and sending the rest fleeing, resulting in Dax starting to panic slightly.
”Okay no time for celebrations! Eduard and Redmond start making barriers of dead arachnids where the spike wall have been damaged for Viktor or Laura to light on fire when they return! Viktor and Laura start recovering mana, use all the leftover mana potions if you have to, then start recovering arrows for Alice!”
”Dax calm down already, we won they're not coming back”
”No I'm sure they are! something called them back… Arachnids have a social structure right?”
”What are you talking ab- oh shit that's right!”
As Alice caught on to what Dax was saying she also started to panic
”It was most likely a queen that called them back, f.u.c.k.i.n.g shit… Redmond! can you guys kill a queen!?”
”My pride would say yes, but there's no way. We would need another gold ranked party to even try it”
”Yeah there's no way…”
”...Impossible..screwed”
”Then focus on slowing it down, Dax how long till you're inside that thing?”
”A hour at the most, if the refit holds together”
”And if it breaks?”
”Then we're all f.u.c.k.i.e.d. So start praying”
Following Dax's instructions Eduard and Redmond started manhandling the few non burning arachnid corpses with the use of strengthening magic and piling them in front of the few areas of the spike wall and then cut up their abdomens, making them easier to set on fire. Meanwhile Laura and Viktor where chucking mana potions both with a disgusted look on their faces and Alice was scanning the surrounding area vigilantly looking for signs of the next wave of arachnids.
(ICI call up Alice will you?)
(DIALING GUARDIAN 47, PATCHING CEREBRAL ARCHITECTURE. WARING: LIMITED MIND MELT IN EFFECT. EXPECTED CORRUPTION UNDER 0.00000094052% PATTEN GREEN IN EFFECT.)
(”Could you please not do that it making me dizzy!”)
After connecting to Alice Dax was greeted by her screaming voice in his head
(”But not as much as last time right? anyway can you tell me about the arachnid queens?”)
(”...”)
(”Are you ignoring me?”)
Waiting for about a minute without answer Dax sighed and then decided to play a prank on her
(”Hey Alice did you know i can shout loud enough in here for you to go insane within a minute without you being able to do anything?”)
(”...”)
(No effect huh.. then let's….)
Dax's mind going into overdrive he decided on a new strategy on a new strategy
(”If you don't answer i won't pat your head ever again”)
(”Are you mentally disturbed Dax?”)
(”Greatly since birth. Anyway we were discussing the arachnid queens”)
After a minute of great abuble groaning from Alice she followed it up with a sigh and then started explaining
(”Arachnid queens are larger, faster, tougher and smarter than regular arachnids. There's usually only 1 or 2 a nest and a party of platinum ranked hunter are usually needed to kill a single one”)
(”How thick is the exoskeleton? 2 or 3 times the normal arachnid?”)
(”About 3 times thicker, and quite a bit denser, why?”)
(”No reason, thanks for answering my questions Alice~”)
While chatting with Alice Dax had finally reached the next plate and prepared to make a whole in it as he drew his pistol once more, only to find Viktor next to him eagerly looking at his pistol.
(INDUCTION HEATER INTEGRITY AT 20%)
”That's a pistol right Dax? can i try it?”
”Yeah it is, but if you fired this pistol it would probably break your wrist and shatter most the bones in your arm”
”That sounds, brutal.. I'll pass”
”Sadly this type of pistol is custom designed for my race. I'm firing so stand back a bit”
Gently jumping a few steps backwards in the low gravity Viktor blocked his ears and gave a nod to Dax that stared at him with a questioning look on his face
”What?”