NABC [351] 4.72 Final Flight III
[351] 4.72 Final Flight III
It takes a total of eight hours before we reach the outskirts of the desolation which surrounds the giant tree. As we step past the boundary of the lush grasslands and forest and into the wastes, there’s a subtle shift in the environment and the fabric of spacetime. Just like our other encounters in the Tower, we receive a notification that we’re crossing the boundary from one floor to the next, and will be unable to return without completing our task.Now that we’re here, I can see far more clearly exactly what we’re looking at. The tree itself carries a vibrant and healthy hue, but I don’t need Chloe’s Skill to realize that this is a cursed vitality, stolen from the grass which is brown and desiccated, the trees which are losing their leaves and succumbing to rot. Even the water seems stagnant and the soil dry and sandy, both somehow robbed of its lifegiving refreshment.
Chloe clenches her fists and walks forward with grim purpose that I’ve seen far too much of these past few weeks. I hope when all this is said and done and the issues with Renault are laid to rest, I won’t have to see this aspect of her gain for a long, long time. She truly is a compassionate woman and the love of my life. A compassionate woman who is prepared to fight for what believes in and who will not suffer those who unjustly bring harm on the meek and innocent.
“Sera,” she says in a cold voice. “I’m still getting no sense of life from this thing.”
“I don’t–” I peer at it and try to find something out, but it’s blocking my [Valkyrion’s Perception], distorting any attempt to peer past the surface and figure out what lies within. “Almost certainly it actually is some sort of giant machine. One designed to suck the life out of the area.”
“What do you think it’s here to do?” Chloe asks.
“I don’t know. It’s obviously trying to gather this energy together, although I don’t think we’ll discover the purpose until we get inside and see for ourselves.”
“It’s weird, though. Other than that one robot sentry a few hours ago, we’ve not seen anything but ordinary— if strong— forest creatures lurking about. No people or guards of any sort. One would think that any compound this large would be absolutely swarming with defenses.”
“You’re not wrong,” I say. “Maybe the organization who built this thing believes it has strong enough defenses to not need more than a cursory set of guards. Or maybe we’re being led exactly where this organization wants us.”
“They want us to find this place?”
“Assuming they are harvesting lifeforce and Ether, would they not want strong individuals to power their device?”
“Meaning us. I hate to say it, Sera, but I fear you might be right.”
“We did get away from that sentry earlier, just a bit too easily for my taste. Still, as before, if this is a trap, we don’t have the time, the knowledge, or the resources to figure out how to disarm it. We’ll have to spring it and hope for the best.”
Chloe rolls her eyes. “Please tell me that you have something better in mind than simply walking up to the floor with a giant neon sign that says ‘we’ve come to destroy all your hard work.”
“Of course we’re not going to do that.” I switch to telepathy, grateful that it still works here. “But we should operate under the assumption that we’ve been watched for a long time and are being surveilled even now. Including the assumption that all our plans are going to go straight to hell the moment we sneak our way in.”
Chloe nods in acknowledgement. “So, where is this back door?”
The two of us sneak our way closer, using the few trees struggling to remain alive in the face of this device sucking the life out of the ground beneath our feet. I do a quick check of my own [Status] to see if I’m affected. I don’t see anything to suggest that I am, probably because this curse is probably slow acting, working over months and even years rather than minutes or hours. After Chloe confirms the same result on her end, we make haste.
Beneath the canopy of this unnatural abomination, the land grows dark and cold. Vestiges of the sun’s warmth sneak in through the breeze that has started to pick up, but the overall feel of the place is dark and cold, even as I see a lush land of artificial leaves and branches, their colors a myriad of rich shapes unknown to nature. It’s like walking through a graveyard just before Halloween; shivers race down my spine and I can’t shake the feeling that we’re being watched, and that something is going to jump out at any moment.
Near the front door, there are two of those sentries from before, each standing perfectly still except for their heads which swivel about, looking for signs of intrusion. Not wanting to instigate a conflict against such creatures and risk sending the entire facility into alarm, the two of us begin the arduous journey around the structure, which is indeed much larger than I had originally imagined. Perhaps five miles in height and with a diameter of nearly two, with branches that spread out for another ten.
Over large portions of the journey, we’re forced to crawl through the underbrush. Brambles and burrs catch in my hair and find their way down my armor and into my socks and unmentionables and multiply the discomfort manifold. Chloe fares no better; she does not speak her disgust with the situation, but the contortions on her face and the mumbling under her breath conveys it loud and clear.
After what feels like an eternity and a half, we find our way to the back side of the great tree. I suppose it was too much to ask for a poorly-guarded secret entrance for us to snake our way in, but at least there’s only one of these automaton sentries to block our passage. If I weren’t still suffering from dimensional sickness, I’d just teleport us past and inside, but it appears there’s no other option available but to fight.
“Are you ready?” I ask Chloe.
She affirms as much.
The creature sees us and a massive confluence of Ether begins to coalesce in its single crimson eyeball. Its eye locks onto me as I approach, unfazed by any attempts to feint as I do. I expect its attack, but no, instead the creature continues gathering an amount of energy that is, frankly, utterly ridiculous for a creature of this level. Once I get within about twenty yards, I’m forced to retreat; I don’t trust my ability to dodge whatever’s coming, and I’m not going to rely on [Death Defied], especially not so early on in the trial.
My fear proves well-warranted when the creature unleashes a devastating burst of blue-white energy that moves in the blink of an eye, square on my chest. By lunging out of the way and entering a rolling dodge, I’m able to avoid anything more than the most minor grazing attack against my armor. Good thing I did; the attack pierces my armor as easily as it does the air.
“So, how do we beat it?” Chloe asks as she lets her [Mirage Swords] feel out the battle. “Its defenses seem as impervious as its offenses are strong.”
“It might have a weakness on the back or maybe between the legs or somewhere else. Short of that, it is pretty top-heavy and might be susceptible to tripping… Finally, I can try to use [Reflect] on that beam attack; it appears like it might have some [Light]-element to it.”
“That last one is too risky; I’ve already seen you in too many mangled and broken positions. I don’t need more nightmare fuel to add to my haunting echoes.”
“Then we’ll need to come at it from both sides.”
“The charge-up time on that attack is about eight seconds,” Chloe says to my agreement. “And it seems to have a delay afterwards where its movements are a bit sluggish. We can use both these to our advantage.”
I again take the lead, making a halfhearted assault as I wait down the eight-second timer. Chloe follows suit, sneaking up behind me. I dare not rely on dimensional magic, especially in light of my earlier hypothesis that it seems to have a [Light]-elemental attack, and one that pierces through my elemental resistance like so much wet paper. So I’m forced to instead rely on conventional movements.
This isn’t as easy as I’d initially hoped. In addition to that massive death laser, it sprouts two large appendages which it flails toward us like steel tentacles. They twist at odd angles and are able to chase us while telling the law of inertia to back down. By using my swordstaff to dig into the dirt and quickly pivot, I too am able to match those crazy movements.
Chloe is having a more difficult time of it, suffering a few wounds which are swiftly healed. But with her own blades now matching my strategy, she begins to turn the tide.
One second passes and I sense the buildup of Ether beginning again in earnest. The attacks don’t abate in the slightest; if anything, they only intensify in ferocity and unpredictability both. The second second passes; Chloe is batted aside but quickly recovers. I throw in a quick blast of non-elemental [Ether Strike] toward the creature’s leg, hoping that I can hobble it momentarily. I fail in that task but at least manage to put its attention back on me and give Chloe crucial time to return to a less disadvantageous fighting position.
Three seconds. Maybe there actually is a pattern amidst the chaos; computers naturally aren’t capable of true randomness just the same as we are. There’s always some pattern, even if it’s not one easily discernible to the typical human mind. Then again, I don’t have the typical human mind. My [Mind] stat is sitting over 550 now with Chloe’s buffs applied to me, and I’m able to process dozens of times more information per second than I could six months ago.
Four seconds pass. I’m beginning to see the pattern. Twitches of [Ether] moving through its core seem to herald movements in its body half a second later. A movement upward and… it actually worked! I’m able to dodge the attack with far greater ease this time around, and even get in a glancing blow in return. I convey the information to Chloe, although I don’t know how much she can make use of it.
Five seconds. The creature has responded to its newfound inability to attack me by focusing its attacks on an increasingly beleaguered Chloe. Big mistake. Chloe might not have my defensive capabilities when it comes to dodging, but she has the ability to heal-tank incredible amounts of punishment before finally succumbing. She fights defensively, while I switch to full-scale assault mode, hitting the creature’s arms again and again, to the point where sparks start to crackle and force it into operating some sort of regeneration subroutine.
Six seconds. The confluence of Ether builds. Chloe starts to back off, but I don’t relent. I trust my Skills, and I trust Chloe to do what she needs to do.
Seven seconds. Fear rises; my heart rises into my throat and my stomach churns in anticipation. The creature turns toward Chloe, but I refuse to let her come under risk. With one last thrust, I’m able to deliver a gaping wound on the creature’s underarmored hull before running for my damn life.
Eight seconds. The eye is upon me, and I’m zigging and zagging, making it obvious exactly where I’m going to be and banking on the creature getting too lazy due to my intentionally poor attempt to disguise my position. It relies on a finite number of sensors to perceive visual information. I do not rely on such weaknesses. It fires, but I can see the moment it does and adjust out of the pattern I previously established.
The beam flies right past where my head would have been; I’d be without a brain right now had it connected, [Saintess’s Cloister] be damned. But instead I remain unharmed, which is more than I can say for the eruption of desertified land that just erupted into so many flames.
I turn back around and prepare to strike, but such proves unnecessary. Chloe has already leapt in with her twin swords and stabbed the creature’s eye— its strength and its greatest weakness both— dozens of times in the span of a second. Good night to it, and good riddance. If only we had a chance to properly rest and take stock of the situation. But no, the alarms are blaring, and it’s time to sneak our way inside in the chaos.
[You have slain a Sentry Hulk (Level 73). You have gained a boosted 380,000 Experience.]
[Level: 77; Experience: 9,996,169; To Next: 11,926]
[Current Stats: [Health]: 11,914 / 17,034; [Ether]: 8,917 / 12,536]