Johnson knocked on the heavy blast door leading to an empty room, another blast door, and monster infested territory. The knock was muted by the dense thick qi forged steel door. "Sebastian the Mad Seabass Farron insisted that every conceivable area in this mansion be reinforced with qi forged steel. The number of credited notes it took drove him into bankruptcy he had to rely on family handouts. Some would have called him a wasteful shame to the family. He ended the money loaning days of house Farron. It is unquestionable that if he hadn't done so, we would all be dead." Markus said. His voice solemn.
"In life you were Sebastian the Mad Seabass Farron but to us you are Sebastian the heroic Seabass Farron. Let none of our generation ever doubt your wisdom. Paranoia can save lives. Even if it is hundreds of years later." Johnson said. He placed his armored hand on the metal feeling the ancient qi of Seabass with his own. There was more desire than madness within the qi.
"You didn't have to save me. But you did." Markus began.
"You are my brother even if we barely know each other. We are in the same boat as it were." Johnson said.
"None were jumping to do the same. They would have let me die but you didn't." Markus said.
"Why did you throw the light spear?" Johnson asked.
"I was scared that our lives were over what else did I have to lose. Not all of us will make it back from this." Markus said.
"There is a monster cell extraction plant near the frame plant. It has heavy doors. Sometimes monsters aren't fully dead when their brought in. If anything goes wrong, we should head there. Maybe there are some extractions we can use." Johnson hefted the tesla converter. "We have a key to it right here."
"I've been there before." Janus said. "The doors are heavy made of qi steel like the blast doors. We don't need to blast our way through, I know the code." He said and pounded his breastplate.
"How do you know the code?" Markus said and crossed his arms.
"The guy who managed repairs on the droids inside was a friend of mine. He's the reason, I started getting into mechanics. It gave us more to talk about." Janus said.
"Alright we have a plan and a backup plan. What do we do if we can't make it to either? There are manhole covers all along the village. They lead to the sewage treatment plant. It won't be quick but many of us should be able to fit down there before…" Maximus said. He was a network trainee not vital for the running of the intranet inside the mansion.
"Get over run and devoured by monsters. Or whatever they choose to do with us. A good plan C lets hope plan A works you should send the information to the other teams. I'm sure the sewer can be used to get closer to the frame plant. If we knock down a few walls, we might be able to move from the monster cell plant to the frame plant. There really isn't much room between those buildings." Johnson said. He nodded his head they had a strategy at least.
The blast doors began to open, and he put a round in the chamber of his Masquerade. With the power armor on the gun weighed less than nothing. They quickly formed lines those with shields and melee weapons in the front. Johnson was on the second row Janus and Markus were with him while Maximus stood in the front. They moved quickly as the doors closed behind them and the next blast door opened.
He heard the wet splattering sounds of blood and gore as flesh was ripped away with the opening of the door. A red cocoon of flesh dropped on the floor and began to shake. A wave from one of self-appointed captains directed Yuta a brother of his house who happened to type into fire. He also took a flamethrower with him. Yuta had a symbol for fire on his steel pauldrons one of the few suits of power armored fully armored.
Pointing the hose of his weapon at the struggling sack. He blasted it with burning napalm. That was when the sack burst open. Hrryyk! The creature within shrieked as the fleshy bag burst open. A corpse within the bag stood up inflamed and yelling. There was another shriek higher pitched and inside of the man. On fire his body was ripped open as thousands of spiders as big around as dinner plates emerged. They several shot a web line to Yuta and yanked themselves onto his armor.
Johnson couldn't break rank so close to the real clash. It was the guy who directed Yuta. He was designated Captain Richard. Richard moved quickly crushing what spiders he could with his bare hands as they began to cut through the joints in Yuta's armor. Johnson realized; he couldn't afford to be distracted. Forcing his eyes away from the spectacle, He saw spiders like the ones from the sack crawling up the walls and around them. In seconds they would repeat the process attach themselves to their power armor and cut them out of it. Or dig inside and make a nest in their bodies.
From his belt, he pulled three incendiary magnet grenades. He pulled the pin and tossed them one at a time in areas he thought they would be most effective. Safe in their power armor and behind qi barriers he hoped their small force would be fine. The grenades stuck and exploded releasing three small fiery explosions. The spiders the fire touched died slowly. Those in the explosion died instantly while many moved unscathed.
Others reacted to seeing his maneuver and threw their own incendiary grenades just as the spiders who survived Johnson's initial attack dropped. That was when massive spider monsters with robotic bodies guiding their movement emerged. Yuta was on the ground one of the spiders managed to get in his suit and was playing havoc inside. Many around them were in the same boat. Already life signs went out.
Johnson yelled out and charged. He didn't know why he did it. These small spiders were able to bypass barriers somehow. Surely the larger ones had a similar assassination ability. A thousand reasons entered his mind all of which were great reasons why not to charge. He left his Tesla converter on the ground it was too heavy. He would need to maneuver. This wasn't a VR he could die here. He knew that but it was the battle with Gloria. Johnson wasn't afraid of these giant spiders like his better armored and heavy shielded brothers. He was familiar with these creatures.
A web lashed on to his armor and he pulled his side arm and blasted a round where the line lead. He paid no mind to any that landed on him he simply continued to move towards the battle and made sure his side arm was loaded. The gun's recoil couldn't be felt in a quarter ton of power armor. He was better armored and armed than he had been against Gloria. While the anarchy rained, he found holes in the line and made his way to the front. One of the many attached droids to the drider monsters either fired off small arms or the occasional grenade launcher. Most were battle droids.
One aimed for him and fired. He was dead, a heavy round cut through the air missing many of his brothers. Johnson threw up his barrier with everything he had. The round hit then he heard the boom. The bullet flattened on his barrier and fell to the ground.
Barrier -10,000
Barrier 999,990,000
Barrier 1b
It seemed that bullets didn't cut through barriers. No wonder they weren't using small arms. He pointed his side arm and fired as another line of web attached to his armor. He would have to use the portable monster cell extractor on them later.
He raced forward letting the small arms bounce harmlessly off his barrier. The force and power behind them were more than enough to kill him normally. This knight system really was beyond the norm. No other system restructured the way qi worked so effectively.
They were already down 50 of their number. Brothers who would never come back. The battle had devolved into chaos and there was no where to go. The blast door behind them was shut and the way forward was blocked.
Johnson raised his hand and created a buffer with his barrier. There was nothing between him and the nearest drider. A blue beam of energy emerged and lanced into the nearest drider. Their barriers held for a moment before he forced his way through and pierce through the exoskeleton. With the barrier protecting his body and power armor from a backlash. He could focus even more power into the attack.
Energy Beam level up x3
Energy Beam lv5 – SOL 10k qi 10k(9.5k)-50k (45.5k) 5x qi used x qi potency = damage – No longer do you flounder about with your basic Energy Beam. You've managed to control the output with your qi barrier and direct it in a more compact form.
Blue energy blasted from his hand in a far darker shade than normal. While he used it, he was forced to remain stationary as he ripped through the enemy driders. At his side Markus threw a powerful light spear slamming through the head of the nearest drider. These monsters were scary, but they weren't unbeatable.
"Their barriers and exoskeleton don't seem to surpass 100k damage combined." Markus mumbled while Maximus quickly sent out the message. Every brother among them who could output enough damage to kill stepped forward tossing spears of flame, light, and any type they had. Slowly, they drove the driders back through the blast door and kept them away with heavy technique fire.
They still had a long way to go. They needed more power. Johnson made his way to the first drider corpse and laid his pack on the ground. He pulled a machine with a massive needle out. Taking the needle, he jammed it into the soft flesh under the monster's carapace.
The monster began to shrink inward on itself as it was broken down and processed by field nanites. Eventually, a lump was deposited in the machine's canister. A red stone like structure was deposited while the useless parts were poured out as waist.
Johnson took off his helmet with Janus and Markus standing with him. "Are you sure about this? Monster cells are dangerous. Even with nanites and a system. They can drive a man mad." Janus said. "You seem like the sort who would start raving about cheese." Johnson tossed the amorphous substance in his mouth and swallowed it down.
Monster Cell Units 450
Level Up x3
lv4 120 of 130 to level up
Attribute points 3
In an instant he was overwhelmingly more powerful. He looked at the others attaching their machines to their kills some of them were still his. They had just attached themselves to them. He wanted the toss them aside and claim what was his and felt ashamed. This wasn't about him this was about all of them. As a group they would have a better chance of pulling this mission off than as individuals.
Gently, he placed his helmet back on his head and looked to the three who followed him into hell. Janus had a tear in his knee joint where one of the spiderlings nearly got him. They needed to level up as well if they were to survive. Turning to some of the other kill, he nodded to them and helped set up their field extractors.