Chapter 334 - Creator vs Creation (1) (1/2)

Continuing to accelerate downwards towards the core of Styx-1, Dax kept a tight formation with the remaining 8 drones he had brought with him, a force which was reduced by the second as the Emergence defences installed inside the tunnel targeted them with impunity while the precursor's bio drones appeared to be mostly ignoring him. Still, Dax had to constantly alter his trajectory and constantly dodge attempts on his life as he made his way to the core. At the same time, Dax was busy constantly going over his strategies and tactics to deal with the precursor, evaluating and reevaluating his methods.

(Realistically I have a 60% chance of defeating them, but only a 30% chance of surviving if I do… A while back I wouldn't really have a problem with those odds, I would even welcome them in some circumstances. But now things are different, I'm actually looking forward to leaving the Empire behind, so I need to survive this and I have the methods to make that a possibility.)

Flipping around mid fall, Dax started breaking using the build in thrusters on his suit as he neared the core of the planetoid. Reaching the hollow core which had its metal core extracted before being minimally reinforced, Dax followed up with another burst from his thrusters which propelled him to the 'surface' of the hollow core.

[Welcome~]

Right as Dax landed a figure covered in a strange looking, highly advanced vacuum suit appeared right in front of him with some kind of blade in hand. Although Dax was confident in the durability of his armour, he nevertheless felt extreme danger from the blade that was rapidly approaching his neck, so he took a step back at the same time as his suit's mana forge went into overdrive. Grasping the extended hand which held the strange blade, Dax pulled the figure towards him as he lowered his centre of gravity as mana surged towards his free hand which surged towards the figure, as his fist connected Dax injected a burst of mana into the suit and sent the figure flying. Once minimum separation had been achieved, Dax activated the spell formation he had implanted with his punch, Creating a bright explosion.

(That's not enough!)

Following his instincts which were practically screaming at him, Dax started weaving together another spell, but as he once more felt something was wrong he aborted that and instantly collapsed his stance.

[Strong instincts that almost border on premonition, as expected of a pureblood~]

While the precursor continued happily chipping away at him, Dax once more dodged some unseen attack before sharpening his senses with the assistance of mana, only then did he spot a vague outline of a group of figures covered in the same kind of highly advanced vacuum suits surrounding him on all sides.

(They're definitely taking me lightly… Time to kick my struggle up a notch.)

Coming to a standstill after he had eliminated a vast majority of the cloaked opponents, Dax found the others had pulled back, in response to his actions, the communications system of Dax's suit was once more breached, it seemed the precursor was starting to show more than just a passing interest in Dax.

[You really are an interesting sample… What's your name, pureblood?]

”... I'm Dax of the Alpha-4 clan.”

For the first time, Dax chose to respond to the precursor's constant remarks, and although it was followed by a short interlude of silence, the precursor actually responded to him.

[A member of the Alpha-4 clan? I was sure you were part of Alpha-2 at least, as pureblood privilege is restricted to that level…. But I guess it's simply because of genetic drift.]

Feeling like he had just heard something outrageous, Dax took a second to internalize what he had just been told before he responded.

”Am I even allowed to know that?”

[Properly not no, but those old farts don't seem to care much for me so it's okay if I share a bit of restricted information~]

(They sure are oddly talkative all of a sudden… I might as well take advantage of that.)

While Dax felt a cold chill run down his back every time he heard that sweetly sick voice which didn't seem to see him as anything other than a worm, he nevertheless had a very real chance to learn some very valuable information.

”Then while we're acting this friendly can I ask a question?”