Chương 233: Book 4 - Chapter 23 - Echo Chamber

The tunnel system was so narrow that the bears could only travel two abreast, and the samurai had to travel in a single file line. As an undercity dweller, the enclosed space didn't bother me--I actually found it comforting, but not everyone felt the same.

"It's fine… I'll be fine as long as I concentrate on the job at hand and don't think about it. Just take deep breaths," Saber whispered under his breath. He probably thought no one would hear him, which said a lot about his mental state because he should have known that pretty much everyone was able to hear him with their samurai-enhanced senses.

"You okay up there?" Nora asked from behind him.

"I'm fine! Don't worry," the man snapped.

"No, you're not," Helen sighed.

"Everyone hold up a minute!" Halting the bears, both in front and behind, I turned to see what was going on. Helen slowly made her way back down the line, squeezing past Amy so she could stand face to face with Saber.

"Look at me, in the eyes," Helen ordered, grabbing him by the shoulders.

"Having fears is nothing to be ashamed of, okay? Everyone's afraid of something. Hiding your fears and letting them eat you up inside doesn't help anyone, so I'm going to teach you a quick method to deal with them. Okay?" Saber nodded skeptically but didn't argue.

"Now, take a deep breath for four seconds, hold it for seven seconds, then let it out over eight seconds. That's right, count it out in your head, and concentrate on the counting rather than the space. Slow breath in, slow breath out." The pair went through a couple of cycles, and with each repetition, Saber appeared to get a little more calm, regaining his composure.

"Better?" Helen asked after a few minutes.

"Much, I appreciate the help," Saber replied quietly.

"No problem, just keep counting and you'll be fine." When Helen turned back around, I could see a small, sly smile on her face, even through the darkness and the polarization of her visor. She shot me a cheeky wink before performing a shooing motion.

"Everything's under control, carry on now!" Helen declared.

"I never realized that Psychosis was so good at helping people with their fears," I heard Amy whisper reverently.

"She's always been good at telling people exactly what they want to hear," I grumbled.

"I wouldn't be surprised if that wasn't just an extension of the skills and tech she was using when we first met." The girl looked at me, confused.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, forget it," I muttered as I prodded the bears forward again. The narrow tunnel twisted, turned back on itself, then straightened out again, but it never once branched. Instead, it just seemed to go on forever, a labyrinth of blind corners. The Antithesis still attempted to assault us with intermittent charges, but they suffered from narrow tunnels just as much as we did. Without the advantage of overwhelming numbers, the bear vanguard easily dispatched their assaults.

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"Alright, this is starting to get ridiculous. How far down is this hive?" I grumbled after about half an hour of trudging through the tunnels.

"Why are you asking us? You're the one with Foxes," Saber grunted from behind me.

"Well, they can't seem to give me any straight answers. The entire tunnel seems to have been built like an echo chamber. Sounds are bouncing around far too much, confusing their sensors. They alternate between telling me there's skittering in the walls and the skittering coming from either in front or behind us," I explained.

"They can't even tell me how far the noise is or what type of antithesis is making it."

"They can give you that level of fidelity?" Helen asked.

"They're not as accurate as Bandit, but yeah, usually," I replied.

"And you've never experienced this before?"

"Never, but it seems today is a day for firsts," I replied quietly. The further we advanced, the more aware I became of the echoes. Gunshots, footsteps, and even the sound of Saber's deep breathing all echoed off the walls. It became so apparent that when I finally stepped on a section of floor that didn't immediately cause my footsteps to echo, I stopped.

"What the fuck?" I muttered, pausing and stomping on the floor a couple times. As I did, the fox at the front of the column turned and started going nuts. Before I could even process the data it was sending me, the floor below us collapsed, sending me tumbling into a dark cavern below. After several seconds of freefall, I smashed into something hard, which crunched and collapsed under my weight.

I didn't even get a second to get my bearings, because several Model Threes immediately clamped onto me and began attempting to tear through my armor.

"Fuck you," I growled, kicking one in the face. It let go, tumbling away, only to be replaced by two more. It was only then that I realized that I'd landed in a cavern completely teeming with antithesis. I'd literally landed on one on the way down, and now I was trapped in an area that was too crowded for me to move, never mind escape. Even though there was a Model Three clamped on my arm, I did my best to bring my rifle up and fire indiscriminately into the crowd. It wasn't like I needed precise aim here.

"Bob! Get the fuck down here!" The Three clamped on my right arm and jerked its head violently, twisting my arm painfully, and causing me to drop my weapon. With my options swiftly dwindling and an increasing sense of panic, I started to thrash. Twisting as hard as I could, I wrenched my right arm across my chest. The Model Three clamped on my right arm either refused to let go or couldn't and was carried in an arc before smashing down upon the pair clamped onto my left.

The momentum flipped me around, putting me into a crouch, which allowed me to burst forward and shoulder-check one of the monsters in front of me and break through to the wall. Despite breaking free, I was very aware that I wasn't causing any real damage, and this was a losing battle.

"Nyx! Grenades!" {What type….}"Armed! In a semicircle around me, now!" I snarled as I punched the nearest Model Three. In the darkness I missed the grenades teleporting in, but I didn't miss them going off. The concussive blast threw me against the wall and shook me to the bones. The antithesis around me fared much worse. The shrapnel eviscerated the closest creatures, penetrated their corpses, and shredded the ones behind.

Although it was only a momentary opening, I did my best to take full advantage of it, diving for my weapon and coming up firing. The horde surged forward in response. They closed in on me from every direction, snapping and pouncing. Now I could even see Model Fours within the swarm, cracking their tentacles like whips as they advanced. There was no way I could stop them all. When they closed within a few feet, a form plummeted from above, landing lightly before striking out.

Saber's blades easily sliced through the horde, driving them back.

"What took you so long?" I panted.

"You were the only one to fall, and we were both in the back," he explained as Nora crashed into the middle of the swarm.

"That might have been an oversight."

"No shit! I expected the antithesis to try something, but I never imagined I'd be dropped into the middle of a pack like that. I'm lucky my armor held up, or I could have been in serious trouble. I guess we're lucky more people didn't try to cross that section before it collapsed. Amy might have been in serious trouble if she fell down here."

"What did you do to cause the tunnel to collapse anyways?" Nora growled.

"Nothing! I just noticed the floor was slightly different," I explained.

"I didn't try and bust it open or anything; I'm not Bob!" Saber grunted and pushed further towards the remaining Antithesis. In response, the swarm pulled back and started slipping into the tunnels around the perimeter of the room, retreating. As I surveyed the horde's bizarre behaviour, my eyes were drawn to a Model Six standing at the back of the room. The tanky, six-legged camel was just standing there, breathing heavily and staring directly at me.

I brought my rifle up to put the creature down, but before I could it collapsed to the floor. The Six spasmed a couple times, then lay still. Lowering my rifle I examined the now empty chamber, confused.

"What the fuck just happened?"