They split off into several groups to clear out the tunnels. It turned into busy work. The driders had been scary. Once their group gained a level up the situation had changed. With a brother giving supporting fire, they had time to kill with techniques. Johnson hooked one of the driders to a rigged wench and tugged twice on the line. The corpse was dragged out to be processed into ambrosia. This wouldn't last. Even as the line dragged away the corpse Johnson knew that the monsters that survived would be trickier. The longer a monster lived the more chances it had to evolve. A frustrating fact and a boon to monster tamers.
Johnson smiled and put the stock of his Masquerade to his shoulder and fired on a drider. They were pop up targets in these tunnels. A thick line of web shot through the tunnel and slammed into his chest before pulling him forward. Johnson fell on his ass and cursed. Markus, Janus, and Maximus rushed forward firing just over his head.
The drider pulled him up through a hole in the tunnel and into a room covered in discarded power armor. On the floor were large pellets of hair and bone. It seemed this was one of the clever ones. Johnson tried to use his energy beam, but she quickly webbed his hands to the wall. He flashed his barrier but something about the web and the drider made his qi brush off.
Powerful taloned hands wrapped around his helmet and pulled against the armor's magnetic locks. With a feat of herculean strength, she managed to pull it free of the magnets. He struggled to get away from the horrible smell. It was like bile, ammonia, and death rolled into one.
She quickly began tearing the rest of his armor free. It seemed this one preferred her prey unwrapped. It gave him time to adjust the code for energy beam. He took scraps from it and rearranged it into something close range. His grieves were gone and he was out of time. Johnson knew his code wasn't ready. He could feel death knocking on his door. The monster's fangs inched closer to his face. In a single motion she would paralyze him then devour him.
New Skill: Synergy lv1 SOL 100k – Bind your qi to a monster and pass their energy through your pathways. +1% to RAM.
Qi Saturation level up x 2
QuickQi Report – Due to infusing your cells with two new and alien types of qi you have expanded the amount of qi your cells can store.
Qi Saturation lv3 SOL 1000 – +3% Qi
It was monstrous and terrifying. He felt the full force of whatever presence created this creature lash out at him. Qi with a mind mad and hungry by its very nature attacked his own reserves as he absorbed what he could from the drider. It was a shark that had mastered walking on land alien and monstrous as it hunted.
He felt the qi enter his reserves and slowly, Johnson cycled it. Every scrap of the qi went to repairing his pathways as the foreign qi ravaged them. The monster peered at him in confusion. It hadn't resisted the merging of their qi. It didn't gain a third type, instead it seemed to twitch and look at him. Whatever remained of the beings that made up its parts were gone. This was a newborn drider.
In a flash of insight some genetic instinct from the drider itself. He saw options. With enough qi this monster could evolve and give up its water or steel typing. It could take on energy. That wasn't the only option. It could become more spider like. This creature could become a spider queen and hunt down other monsters for him. It could drain them of their monster cells and create the purified ambrosia Johnson craved. It could return to its roots and truly become a steel type. Its body would become more mechanical and it would gain a human like body. The extra legs could become arms making this creature a more powerful weapons platform. Those options were far away. For now, he would put his armor back on and use her.
Slowly, he put his armor back on, picked up his rifle, and mounted the monster. Her shell was sticky covered in cancerous flesh molded around the steel carapace. It was disgusting. He sent a message to Maximus. He had managed to tame one of the driders and was on his way. Using her silk, they were lowered down back to the tunnel. He gave her the order to hunt down her own kind.
"What's going on Johnson? She snatched you up and we thought that was the end when your armor went offline. What happened?" Janus asked.
Markus was busy sharpening his combat knife and Maximus was running interference when a drider attacked its own and dragged it off. It was soon known who this rogue drider belonged too.
"You're going to get some flack for this. If she snatched, you she must have snatched others." Markus said. "Richard won't support this action after Yuta's death."
"What are you talking about. Survival is everything. Our foe hasn't figured out we turned one of their and its wreaking havoc on their defenses." Johnson knew where they were coming from but couldn't wrap his head around it. Why would they look a gift horse in the mouth? Has he been out of the loop that long?
"You are our leader. We nominated you our captain. You represent us. We aren't monster tamers. We don't side with those beasts." Markus said. They are Farron Master of Cyber space. Coders who used nanites to bring game mechanics to reality. None would mix their qi with monsters. Those who did sometimes mutated. Mutants were cast out of the city. Johnson didn't feel any different. Though who was he to say what effect synergy with a drider had on him. Worse it was a drider with water typing.
"Water types are practically flesh types. Monsters who mutate frequently are killed on sight." Janus said.
"She is a drider not a mimic or any variant of shapeshifter." They looked at each other through the visors of their silvery helmets.
"What we are trying to say is get ready for a backlash. We will stand with you, but this is your responsibility. We won't share the punishment of this if father deals it out." Markus said.
Johnson smiled underneath his helmet. He had been naïve. Foolish to think that saving a brother would make him infallible in their eyes. This would be a heavy blow against morale. They had just 320 of their original 400.
"I can feel her qi flowing through me. Every second, I must devote more streams of consciousness to keeping my pathways stable. This isn't easy on me." Johnson said. He kept the fact that he was receiving more qi than ever before to himself.
He had only gotten to know them because they were in this mess together. It wasn't his fault that he was different. Different by his own choice. By his own decisions, he ostracized himself from his brothers. He showed weakness and they pounced to dissuade him from such behavior.
Taking in a breath, he focused on moving to the garage. With he tunnels finally cleared the squads regrouped and they made their way to their short-term objective. The garage door opened to an undamaged part of the compound. Power to the 3d vehicle printer was still on. They set about making 4 carriers. They had enough people to pile in 80 each. Johnson left his drider behind as a constant qi supply and to keep the garage free of enemy monsters.
"That thing has to go when this is over you know that." Richard said. "Monsters can't be trusted."
Johnson consumed some ambrosia and felt himself rise to lv6. He added 2 points to TFM to make it easier to transform qi. Then he went about meditating.
The garage door opened, and they spun off into the hellish landscape.