"so, what now?"after having travelled for a couple of hours the group decided to stop and have a quick lunch, after which the still slightly annoyed Alice asked about their future plans
"yeah that"s a good question"
"wh!"
"well jokes aside. Viktor, Laura you guys can both use fire magic right?"
"um"
"yeah a bit"
"how hot can you get the flames? hot enough to melt steel?"
"impossible.."
"yeah there"s no way that"s possible"
"why?"
"okay let me show you"
viktor quickly grabbed his staff and after a second a small fireball appeared in the palm of his hand
"now this is fire magic in the most basic form, if i wanted to increase the size i just increase the area like this"
canceling the first fireball Viktor once again channeled mana into his staff, this time a larger fireball, about a meter in diameter appeared in front of him
"now this is a larger scale fire magic, but the temperature is almost the same"
"what if you try and compress it?"
"this is what happens"
Viktor slowly compressed the fireball, bit after about 5 seconds the flame went out
"well of course it did, you choked the flame"
"i...what?"
not only Viktor, but everyone else present gave Dax a confused look
"Viktor what is needed to start a fire?"
"some sort of fuel and a spark, why?"
"okay… to make a fire, or start and maintain a combustion cycle you need 3 things. first as you said you need fuel, second you need not a spark but proper temperature and third is oxygen, or air"
receiving blank stares all around, Dax gave a sigh before giving up on his chemistry lesson
"oh well, it doesn"t really matter. that just means all of you have to protect me while i break though the orb"s ablative heat s.h.i.+eld…. okay for now i want Redmond in front with Eduard right behind, with Viktor and Laura on the flanks for ranged attacks."
"what about me?"
"you my lovely Alice are on overwatch, therefore you can borrow this"
Dax quickly tossed Alice his mask, which she caught with a suspicious look on her face
"are you gonna stick it to my face again?"
"while that would be entertaining, no. come on you can trust me for once Alice"
"okay…"
with a nervus look on her face, Alice equipped the mask
[INTERFACING, STANDBY.. COMPLETE. LIMITED MIND MELT IN EFFECT]
"woah, this is amazing!"
"yeah yeah calm down Alice, for now i will spot targets as we move closer to the orb but it"ll be your job once i start breaking through the heat s.h.i.+eld, so listen to ICI, its gonna explain how to use it"
"ah i can hear ICI in my head…"
Alice started to seemingly talking with herself, with an increasing amount of annoyance in her voice
"yeah i am focusing! what the h.e.l.l do you mean thermal vision! and what the f.u.c.k kind of language is that!?"
"is she gonna be okay?"
"yeah Alice is a smart kid Redmond, i think"
"Dax is ICI always this annoying?"
"welcome to my world…"
after about half an hour, Alice started to get the hang of using the sensor masks features
"are you good Alice?"
"yeah, but it"s still a little strange being able to see… well….like this"
"okay just focus on getting used to it, let"s move out"
"ah but Dax don"t you need the mask to spot threats?"
"nah, i won"t need it. ICI this is a combat situation, right?"
[AFFIRMATIVE, LIMITERS RELEASED.]
Lazarus 04-Omega cla.s.s custom cybernetic implant: Eye of Argos
made by the illusive Lazarus cybernetic industries, the eye of Argos was designed exclusively for use of qitons. making use of the artificial nature of qiton fysiologi, Lazarus industries made not only a first cla.s.s cybernetic implant, but build an entire processing system around that and integrated directly with the occipital lobe, allowing it to surpa.s.s natural limits. the eye is made up of 4 individually moving lenses arranged in a diamond pattern, allowing for vision on par with high spec military sensors.
"i can finally get this stupid thing of my face"
Dax quickly removed his eyepatch that covered his left eye, revealing an artificial eye with a faint red glow, to the surprise of the members of Blue Phoenix
["EYE OF ARGOS" ONLINE]
"if your eye works then why were you wearing a eyepatch?"
"...creepy.."
"oohh! it"s glowing, yeah that is kind of creepy"
"yeah it is kinda creepy right? sadly this thing was made with only functionality in mind, but it"s really handy, a little to handy to be honest"
"how so?"
"i"ll show you a example Redmond, i"ll read Laura"
"read her?"
"yeah, okay let"s see.. from this range i can clearly see her carotid arteries, from that i can judge her pulse, which is a bit higher than normal. now i observe her lovely blue eyes, pupils are slightly too wide for this light level, that combined with the small amount sweat forming on her forehead and her pulse i can a.s.ses that she is scared of me, but also slightly curious."
"...how..did…..you?"
"with this eye i can see stuff like this, in combat i can even predict my enemies movement by observing their eye movements and/or muscles, or i could the count individual leaves of the highest tree on that mountain over there"
""...creepy""
after spending an extended brake the group moved further into arachnid territory as the forest slowly started to thin out and as it gradually turned into tundra with rare pine trees dotting the landscape. after reaching a spot where a few pine trees cl.u.s.tered together, Dax stopped moving.
"okay let"s stop here for a moment"
"Dax this is the 3rd time, why are we randomly stopping?"
"i just want to see you getting frustrated for a moment, Alice~"
"wh!"
"mute. 10 seconds"
[MUTING for 10 seconds.]
with a single command Alice realized that she was a fool to trust Dax, as she was robbed of her voice and drew her sword in a fit of anger which was caught by Dax immediately.
"or there"s something out there, and you starting an argument every time i call a command is not beneficial for our overall health, okay~?"
"did you see something Dax? i still haven"t seen anything on this whole trip"
"yeah and you"re kinda being an a.s.shole towards Alice"
"am i? yeah i kinda am. sorry it"s a coping mechanism my- *cough*
breaking up mid sentence Dax coughed up a large amount of black liquid
"..ah s.h.i.+t, yeah that"
"Dax!? are you okay?"
"..hurt.?
"woah that looks gross, is that your blood?"
"ICI, run repair."
[CONFIRMED. REPAIR OF LUNG TISSUE IN PROGRES.. REPAIR FAILED: INSUFFICIENT BLACK MATTER]
"well f.u.c.k me sideways, redirect from non-essentials"
[CALCULATING…]
"Dax what"s is going on?"
once again able to speak, Alice kneeled down beside Dax with a worrying voice
"my body is breaking down, i"ve been starving and without maintenance in deep cryogenic sleep for about a 100 years. think of my body as a sword that have been rusting for that long, and is starting to break down"
"can"t you just heal, like you did with me and Viktor?"
"sadly no, in fact healing you too depleted about a fifth of my remaining black matter"
[CALCULATION COMPLETE, REPURPOSING ORGANIC MATTER FOR REPAIR, TASKING NAn.o.bOTS STANDBY..]
"here we go.."
after a brief delay, Dax started coughing up a now even larger amount of black liquid this time mixed with bright red blood. after about a minute of Dax wincing in pain and quietly using a creative mix of swear words in between him coughing up blood and broken down nanomachines, ICI"s cold voice sounded again
[REPAIR COMPLETE. LUNG FUNCTION NOW ABOVE TORRABLE MARGINS, DISSADVISEING ALL FUTHER UNNESSESARRY COMBAT UNTIL RESUPLY CAN BE MADE]
standing up again as if nothing had happened, Dax wiped his lip free of blood with a relieved look on his face, before noticing the shocked faces around him, specifically Alice seemed to be on the verge of tears behind the sensor mask
"well s.h.i.+t, okay everyone gather around, come on form a circle. okay, i gathered this team because i believe and trust in everyone"s skills, you are the most talented people i have meet in this world, even so we stand at a cross point. if you guys can"t trust in me then i can"t trust you, and i currently don"t have time to discuss my every callout as i am not-so-slowly bleeding out. now we"re about 10 kilometers from the orb, if anyone can"t follow me then please leave, i"ll make sure that you still get rewarded for the mission"
continuing on the group stopped seemingly random multiple times at the command of Dax or speed up to a run, crisscrossing the terrain, and they made slow progress. only Alice seemed to sometimes pick up on the nearby arachnids with the use of her borrowed reaper mask, sometimes ICI would warn her of detected movement or a closing heat signature, communicating the form of contact followed by the heading, range and elevation. sometimes she would spot an orange dot in the distance, or ICI would warn her of unnatural movement and she would catch the glimpse of a arachnid behind a tree, making her realize that Dax was skillfully avoiding contact with multiple arachnids at the same time.
"and let"s stop here for a moment"
stopping in the middle of an open field, Dax signaled the group to drop down low.
"okay n.o.body make a sound until i say so again"
for the first time Dax asked for their silence while the group laid down in a gra.s.s field cursing Alice to wonder
(something must be close)
(CONFIRMED, UNKNOWN CONTACT 1 @ HEADING 26 RANGE: 600 METERS.
UNKNOWN CONTACT 2 @ HEADING 311, RANGE: 621 METERS)
(s.h.i.+t, that is close, what will Dax do i wonder?)
after about 5 minutes had pa.s.sed, Dax still showed no will to move, starting to make Blue Phoenix restless. especially Eduard as it looked like one of his legs were starting to cramp and Laura looked at Redmond and Dax with increasingly bored eyes.
(okay this is getting increasingly crafty… ICI connect coms)
(DIALING GUARDIAN 47, PATCHING CEREBRAL ARCHITECTURE. WARING: LIMITED MIND MELT IN EFFECT. EXPECTED CORRUPTION UNDER 0.00000000012% PATTEN GREEN IN EFFECT HOLDING PROCESSING SPEED AT 2.45 PETAFLOPS A SECOND TO PREVENT MINDBLEED)
out of nowhere Alice felt extremely dizzy, first her vision went completely black and she felt like she was free falling, that only lasted a second however as her vision instantly returned and she was left with only a slight headache.
("okay please don"t hate me Alice, but i need your help")
("why the f.u.c.k can i hear you in my head Dax?")
("no time to explain now sorry, i"ll do this however, ICI share sensordata")
(RENDERING LAZARUS-04 DATA IN AUGMENTED REALITY, STANDBY..)
suddenly Alice"s vision greatly improved and she instantly spotted 2 large red and orange spots through the gra.s.s about 150 meters in front of Dax.
("is that what i think it is?")
("sadly yeah, we need to take them out simutanly, we can"t risk one of them running or alerting other arachnids in the area. i need you to kill the one on the left instantly on my timing, ICI will handle the coordination. ICI terminate connection")
(wait! how the f.u.c.k am i supposed to do that!?.... Dax?)
(COMBAT MANEUVER IN 50 SECONDS, PLEASE COMMENCE MANA CIRCULATION AND PREPARE 2 STEEL ARROWS. SYNCHRONIZING MANEUVER NODE..)
as an absurd amount of information flooded Alice"s head she suddenly knew what to do
(ah, i see..)
as Viktor lay bored in the gra.s.s thinking about what Dax mentioned about fire he suddenly felt a surge in mana from Alice that laid right next to him. as he looked nervously towards her he saw that Alice had readyed 2 anti monster broadhead arrows made of solid steel, holding both of them in her hand with one of them nooked on her bow. realizing that something was about to happen he quietly crawled forward about a meter to check on Dax, that suddenly was laying on his back while checking over Redmonds sword with a serious look on his face.
"ZU-RA!!"
after about 20 seconds had pa.s.sed, Dax souted a command in a foreign language and Alice rused about a meter forward before sliding to a stop and shooting her first arrow followed by the second about a second after. in the same breath Dax also rushed forward with Redmounds and his own sword in separate hands doing a front flip with a half twist while tossing both the swords, sending them both flying while rapidly spinning. the intended targets where 2 arachnids, both standing about 150 meters away. arachnids are large spider like creatures with 8 legs and their whole body covered in a solid black exoskeleton. with their four spiked mandibles that can easily rip a plate armed knights to bits in seconds and 12 eyes in multiple sizes and overall agility they make excellent hunters, and are feared by any hunter under gold rank.
the first projectiles to find their targets were Alice"s metal arrows, both of them buried themselves in the head of the arachnid on the left, having struck the weak exoskeleton around its eyes with a wet sound, reaping its life instantly as it. a single breath later 2 swords really not designed as projectile weapons struck the second arachnid, one stuk the left section of its head, breaking its softer exoskeleton and smas.h.i.+ng its head open, the second hit the throat, and with the spin imparted on the sword it almost completely decapitated it stopping four fifths parts trough.
"showoff."
"ah, f.u.c.k me"
[INTERNAL TRAUMA DETECTED. ]
"yeah i detected that too, how long till its fatal?"
[ESTIMATED LOSS OF MAJOR FUNCTIONS IN ABOUT 2 DAYS]
"Dax! are yo-"
"yeah yeah, let"s just get a move on before the smell of blood attracts anything. we"re about 2000 meters from the orb now… okay f.u.c.k stealth let"s sprint to it, if anything engages i"ll spit off and distract it, Viktor and Laura start the fortification as soon you arrive guarded by the rest off you. any questions?.... okay move out!"
now prioritizing speed over anything else, the they now moved significantly faster as they all except for laura being carried by Redmond sprinted across the tundra tarian with Dax leading
"i don"t see anything pressuring us!"
"..lucky?.."
"that"s probably because me and Alice just created a giant lure!"
[GRAVITATIONAL SIGNATURE DETECTED: IFF INDICATES FRIENDLY, SEARCHING LIBRARY FOR MATCHES..]
"we"re close now! Viktor, Laura! i want spikes facing outwards all around 5 meters from the orb but leave a single way through!"
"got it!"
"..nn."
moving past a larger fern tree Alice spotted the orb. slightly smaller than the first one she saw with the same mesh of black and gray metals creating an eerie and organic looking shape, but there was one small difference from the last one.
"HOW AND WHY IS THAT THING FLOATING?!!"