Chương 49: Chapter 47 - Office work

As soon as I fired my rifle all hell broke loose, within seconds I had Threes pouring through the windows and Fours smashing through the door. I met their charge with explosives and gunfire. The horde was so thick that it took less than a minute for the dead Antithesis to coat the floor and start creating a safe path through my minefield. One Three made a desperate leap for my makeshift bunker, missing by mere inches and setting off a set of my shard mines instead.

The sudden burst of super cold air fogged up my helmet's visor almost instantly.

"Fuck, Nyx I need a way to clear those bodies fast, and a way to defog this fucking helmet," I yelled. I'm giving the grenades to the bears. Drop behind the barricade and open your hand, I'll get you a defogger. Just apply it directly to the visor. When I opened my hand a can fell into it. I struggled to see it through the frost, it appeared to be some sort of spray can. Somehow I managed to point the thing in the right direction and spray it into my visor, which immediately cleared it up.

The situation in the room was better than before, but deteriorating again. Even though the bears just used a pair of flesh-melters, the dead Antithesis were starting to build up again. I was beginning to regret choosing such a small room. That regret grew exponentially when a Model Twelve busted through the wall. The charging monster made it about five steps before the Cryo shard mines started going off, freezing its legs solid. It kept trying to move forward, crippled but not dead.

I couldn't care less about the injured beast, I was more concerned about the huge hole it opened in the wall. It was twice the size of the door, and allowed the Antithesis to pour through from a different angle. Something that looked like a bear covered in quills rushed through the hole and promptly exploded. Thankfully the mines were still doing their job, but I wasn't sure how long my defenses would hold if the Antithesis didn't let up.

"Nyx, is there a way to automatically deploy flesh melters? If I keep losing floor space these Antithesis are going to be able to reach me before my reinforcements do." You could purchase an APS and load it up with customised flesh melters to fire off, or you could just get another bear to throw grenades. I paused. I apparently had become fairly averse to spending points on bots because, for some reason, that last option hadn't even occurred to me.

"What's an APS?" Active Protection System, they intercept incoming projectiles. Most of the ones you have access to are explosive based, but they're still useful to intercept the projectiles fifteens throw. Higher tech ones can even intercept bullets or spines. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Screw it," I growled.

"Just get me a dozen grenades and a bear to throw them with." Purchased Class I modular autonomous combat unit - 155 points Flesh melter grenades x 12 - 36 points Points remaining: 717 points With the third bear my trench suddenly got a lot tighter, but the grenades helped clear up the dead Antithesis and give my mines space to work. I quickly checked my augs, the bears were still fifteen minutes out, still too far away for my comfort.

The Antithesis and I hit a stalemate for another few minutes, they kept running directly into my defensive line only to die horribly, but I couldn't move from my position. Suddenly, a massive explosion rocked the office building. Outside the building the Antithesis milled about for a moment, then the majority of the horde rushed away. I stood up, unable to believe what I just saw.

"What the hell was that?" The death of a hive, if I had to guess. I raised an eyebrow, "You think they took out a hive already?" You're only about five minutes away from the nearest farm, and with your bears the rest of the team had enough firepower to advance. If the Antithesis have built as many hives as we expect, it should have been simple for them to find one.

"Well, the Antithesis going back to defend the hives is good for me, but bad for them." I sent a quick command to the bears causing them to sprint to the window and fire into the street. The two bears with the machine guns started gunning down as many of the retreating Antithesis as possible, while the third bear just stood there. I shook my head.

"Nyx, give that third guy a B3 please. No point in having him run around practically unarmed." I paused, "And don't bother updating me for purchases under a hundred points, unless I don't have the points to cover it." As soon as the package arrived the bear ripped it open and started shooting out the window as well. The streets emptied quickly, almost too quickly. I stuck my head out of the building to look around. At the end of the street the Antithesis were swarming the farms, struggling to get in.

I frowned, that could be an issue.

"Nyx please send a message to the others, and let them know all the Antithesis in the area are converging on their position. That might include that behemoth from before. I'm going to try and figure out a way to pull some attention back to myself." Done. Do you have a plan?

"I have the beginnings of one," I admitted, "but I need to wait for my bears to arrive first. Then I probably need to farm up a few more points." And after that?

"Well, you mentioned my Heavy Weapon Emplacement Catalog had some things that would take care of that Mantis Shrimp thing. Something that strong would probably do some damage to a hive too wouldn't it?" And the support pillar behind them.

"Unless it's REALLY powerful, that's something we can fix later. If nothing else that should split the Antithesis's attention between me and the rest of the team." That could work, in theory. I grinned.

"Well then, time for me to do my best to make it a reality."