Chương 25: Chapter 23 - A Hole Lot of Problems

We took a break for a few minutes after my fall. There wasn't enough time for me to fully recover my energy, but traveling a flat path was well within my power. Within a few minutes, there were signs that we were on the right path. The biggest one, both figuratively and literally, was the model eleven that swooped down into the scrapyard somewhere ahead of us. I prayed it hadn't spotted us, surprise would go a long way.

Unfortunately I was not as alert as I should have been, so when the path abruptly ended in a small open clearing, I walked right in. Dozens of eyes instantly snapped to my position, the Eleven, dozens of Sixes and a handful of Sixteens all looked in my direction. Time froze for a moment, then all hell broke loose. I brought the CAR up, shooting round after round into the Eleven before it could take off, all the while retreating to a safer position.

Humboldt and the bears burst around the corner, opening up at the horde. The Sixes charged forward, while the Sixteens started shooting their spines above and through the formation. A single spine caught me in my upper left arm, knocking me to the ground, before Bob slammed his shield down to cover me. We need to discuss either a more continuous way for you to heal, or stronger armor. The sound of spines ricocheting off the shield echoed around me.

"Not the time Nyx." I grabbed the spike, gritted my teeth and pulled. Despite my best efforts the spike remained embedded in my arm. Letting my arm drop I reached out with my Augs to the nearest bear. Deadbeat came running over and, without stopping, grabbed the spine and ripped it out.

"Fuck!" the pain intensified.

"Nyx, nanos." Purchased Class I nano-regenerative suite - 15 points Points remaining - 3103 I slammed the injector into my wound, grabbed the CAR with my other arm, and peeped around the shield. The battle wasn't going as well as I would have liked. The Eleven was down, killed by my initial salvo but the bears weren't faring too well. Heavy, who had walked right into the middle of the clearing to draw fire, looked like a porcupine. Dozens of spines were embedded in his face and chest.

Thankfully the new armor seemed to be holding, although I wasn't sure for how long. Spooky and Deadbeat were concentrating fire on the closest Sixes, it was just taking a lot of fire to bring them down. Thankfully Humboldt's cannon, and Dusty's Heavy machine gun were doing work, just cutting through the advancing Antithesis. I flexed my arm, finally getting feeling back in my left hand, and brought the CAR up.

Emptying the magazine into the mass had a cathartic effect, unfortunately it did little to clear the mass of bodies swarming out of the hole.

"Nyx, will AP mines stop those sixes?" They'll slow them down, but not stop them. May I suggest the Mark 1 Cryo Shard mines instead, slightly more points but effective against heavier Antithesis. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"Do it, and don't stop until the Antithesis do." Purchased - Cryo Shard Mines 5 x 15 = 75 points Auto redeployment enabled Points Remaining = 3328 The first mine went off seconds later. A burst of shards shot up, embedding themselves in a model Six's legs and stomach, the area around these wounds froze over almost instantly. The Six's front left leg, which triggered the mine and took the brunt of the shards, cracked and shattered under the weight of its own charge.

The creature convulsed for a moment, then lay still. I watched the same situation occur over and over, all the way down the line. A few of the Sixteens broke off, and ran down into the hive, but the rest tried to hold the line. The model Sixes continued their suicidal charge, so I ordered the bears to concentrate fire on the model Sixteens taking cover behind the line.

Dusty grabbed the heavy machine gun, sprinted up a nearby pile of junk, a feat of athleticism that I'd never be able to perform even when I was at my best, braced the gun on some loose debris, and opened up on the Model Sixteens from his elevated position. The heavy machine gun rounds ripped through the heavier Antithesis, finally starting to deplete their numbers.

The assault continued for long minutes, a huge pile of half frozen, low model Antithesis built up, and I was forced to break out the flesh melters more than once just to make sure we maintained clear lines of fire. Finally, the attack started to peter off, slowing from a torrent to a trickle, giving us time to catch our breath. I slumped down behind Bob's shield, exhausted. Sharron walked over, "I assume those mines were you?"

I nodded "Good choice, once those started going off those sixes didn't know what to do" she bent down "You ok?"

"I caught a spine, but I'll live. Heavy took the worst of it." I glanced over at the bear and grimaced. I could barely make out any of his features behind all the spines embedded in his front, thankfully they didn't seem to be restricting his movement in any way. Every few seconds a spine was pushed out by his auto repair functions, but it would still take awhile for him to recover at this rate. Sharron patted me on the shoulder, "We're almost done here, we just need to clean out that bug hole."

I struggled to my feet, "No problem." — The hive, if this was indeed a hive, was similar to the burrow we found earlier at the apartment building. Unlike the previous location, these tunnels had offshoots, side passages, and sixteens capable of leading flanking attacks and feints.

"I have a feeling they're just trying to slow us down" I said, "How smart is this Twenty Six?"

"Low human level, but with superior planning and command skills," came Nyx's reply from behind me.

"So, an Alien me in other words." Sharron giggled, "Nyx said Superior planning skills, not inferior." I huffed, "Rude, my plans haven't let me down so far."

"Because you really haven't made any." I was too tired to argue, it wasn't that she was correct or anything. Pausing, I noticed Bandit was staring at one of the walls further up the tunnel. Sound indicators pinged in my Augs.

"Hey, stop for a minute, something weird is going on ahead." Humboldt slowed to a stop, then turned to look at me.

"Lot of sound from the tunnel up on the left, maybe movement?" She pointed at the wall, slowly turning until she finally pointed at the right place. I nodded.

"Right, let's just see how sneaky these things can be." She walked up to the wall in question, brought up her cannon, and that's when the tunnel between us exploded and collapsed.