The earth mage was finished with her first wall while the second was partially done when the goblins finally got close enough to hear running through the cave, the fire mage summoned flaming orbs to give us better visibility.
Mina and the ranger, pretty sure his name is Paul, took up firing positions on each side of the funnel we were making. The assassin was placing caltrops on the floor where the goblins would be coming in from.
When the first goblin came around the corner Paul brought it down, another came and Mina nailed it in the gut. Not instantly fatal but it wouldn't be fighting anytime soon, she was an excellent marksman but she was still new to the battlefield but this should sharpen her quite well. The other academy girls were next to the warriors and were mentally preparing themselves to take the lives of the small green creatures.
The second wall was nearly complete when an arrow struck the earth mage in the leg, I cast my wind barrier and ripped the arrow from her leg, closing the wound I made sure nothing important was damaged, the leg was fine but the wall weakened quite a bit but she got back to work.
Mina and Paul were launching arrows at will, goblins were dropping like flies while their projectiles were being deflected. I looked up at the mage who was sweating, "Are you low on mana?" she gave me a nod, I pulled a mana potion from my bag once she finished the wall I lifted it to her lips and she downed the blue liquid. Her eyes widened before she could say anything I pointed at the funnel, "Build a few bulwarks on our side for cover in case a sneaky archer tries to get at you again."
She nodded and wiped the sweat from her brow and got back to work, at this point, the goblins were getting through but the bottleneck held their numbers in check. Though the warriors and the young girls especially were going to get tired soon enough, watching the battle playing out I could see that even if we stayed down here and concentrated on killing the goblins we would be overrun eventually, which meant retreating.
The sound of battle above us was still ongoing. By the screams up top my puppets gave as good as they got, the goblins up top may not be very strong but there were probably a ton of them.
Ten minutes later the young women had to retreat, they were exhausted and would get killed if they continued fighting, Mina finally ran out of arrows as well and took the time to rest beside us. The fire mage and I told the warriors to stand back, we both released a flame barrier.
Mine would destroy projectiles while hers would burn the goblins, we stacked the bodies of the goblins to the side and took a break while they couldn't get through. My flame barrier lasted longer than my wind barrier but only affected a small area and would drain mana as it was damaged.
I took a drink of water, shot down a mana potion, and washed it down with some more water. I gave the other casters a mana potion so they could recover, "We have about five minutes before the barrier will drop, we can either keep up the goblin slaying or try to get topside, seal up the fissure and make a break for it."
The team all agreed to the immediate retreat though our backs would be exposed, Travis and Remus went first, mages and the academy girls went next, followed by me, paul, and the assassin.
Once I was topside I helped the other up, I heard a scuffle behind me, someone shouted out, "Dale says hello!" and a sharp pain exploded on my lower back. I whipped around and punched and caught my assailant in the face, I felt bones breaking under my metal knuckles. Travis laid at my feet, the sharp pain was still coming from my back.
"Travis what the fuck are you doing?!" Paul screamed at the man. I looked at the earth mage.
"Close the fissure." I walked over to Travis who was coming back around, he probably didn't know the majority of my body was made out of special alloy created by a mad alchemist. I stomped down on his leg, a sickening crunch came from his knee. I grabbed him by the collar while he was still screaming and crying like a child, I dragged him to the fissure that was being sealed and tossed him in.
A few moments later the fissure closed.
I reached behind me and pulled the blade from my back with a grunt, 'man that freaking hurts.' It was a stiletto knife, no wonder it pierced my armor. I should have killed Dale when I had the chance.
Turning back to the battlefield there were a few shocked faces staring at me, in the distance my puppets were still going at it with the goblins. I pulled my pistol from my holster and walked towards the exit, if I got close to a goblin I shot it. These weak creatures were still easily killed by the firearms.
Mina decided to stay as my shadow and followed close beside me. I worked on healing my stab wound as we walked. The goblins up here had died in droves and there weren't many left and my puppets intercepted them or I shot them if they got too close, the rest of the group caught up a few minutes later and helped out here and there.
I was new to adventuring but this was disappointing, people could be bought with benefits or money, even party members could stab one another in the back. What was the point of having a party if they were just as likely to kill you as your targets?
When we finally made it out of the caves we took a silent walk back to the inn, I stopped at the counter and got another room and hot water along with food sent to my new room. I washed off the filth, changed into new robes and walked downstairs, the rest of the group were at a table drinking when they saw me come down, I walked out of the inn and right to the stables. The party came out as I mounted my kirin.
Remus walked up, "I know that Travis did something awful, but you don't have to leave."
I looked at him and kept the emotions from my voice, "Regardless of what that scum did, the mission was completed. The first and second levels were swept clean of goblins but during our mission, the third level nearly overran both cleared levels. The mission's difficulty has risen past the proper difficulty and staying here with a person down should already deter you from staying."
Mina walked up to me during my speech and waited to talk to me, "I would like to head back as well." Since I gave her a ride here I had no problem taking her back. Once she had grabbed her bag we ignored the stares of the rest of the group and rode back to the city alone.
On our way back I decided that I would be making quite a few more puppets with different combat styles before coming back out to such a mission. I could have easily died to those goblins due to other people thinking they were hot shit and not being cautious enough to realize we had been walking into a trap.
My back still ached from the stab wound, reminding me of Dale, he was so dead when I got back. I sent a message to Owen about the mission and about how Dale had attempted to have me killed, I got a response that they would retrieve and bring Dale to the manor.
We got back to the city after dark and went straight to the guildhall. Sett wasn't there but was called by the guild once I requested her for a report. She wasn't far so she arrived within a few minutes, when she arrived we were invited into a private room to discuss the mission. When we were all seated with a few snacks and drinks on the table she finally smiled at him, "So how did it go Ali? To be honest I thought the mission would take you guys at least five days. So come on tell me about your first goblin hunt."
She was genuinely excited to see us and wanted a full report, I removed my hood and told her the long version of things. Even about how Travis had been bought to kill me, which caused the seductive elf to have a look of outrage until I told her how I dealt with the little traitor, which made her a little pale.
I let her take it all in for a few moments before continuing on, "So, mission complete, though once again the information from the guild was inaccurate, and yes I did hear about that dungeon fiasco. Highly disappointed if this is how the guild operates, well I will be expecting my cut soon. Also, could you call for Mina's guardian or parents to pick her up? normally I would take her home but I have an appointment with a dear friend of mine." With that, I stood up and left, mounted my Kirin, and went straight to the tower. The wolves were there with my shuttle and brought us home.
When I got back Rin ran up to me before nearly tackling me in a hug, "I am okay, though it was touch and go there for a bit, but I made it back in one piece." She decided I was talking too much and kissed me to make me be quiet. 'It was good to be home', I held her for a minute before walking inside. Owen met me at the door before taking me to see our guest, he was tied up and gagged, and ready to answer some questions.
When he looked up at me there was confusion and fear in his eyes, "Y-you are supposed to be dead!" Well, at least he knew his crime.
I walked over to him, "Dale, how in the world did you pay for a hit? I was sure I emptied your account." before he could answer Owen took the liberty to shed some light on things.
"Young master, this cretin took a ton of back door deals behind his employers back, he even managed to steal some merchandise and sell it to their competitors among other shady things, then he put a hit out on you. Though we revealed all this to his former employer and they wrapped him up and sent him to our doorstep, they even sent a VIP card as a gift."
Well, that was something, well at least I won't have to worry about him anymore. "Kill him and destroy the body." there wasn't any reason to keep Dale and his nonsense alive or give him a second thought. I had more important work to do, research and puppets to build, also learn more spells now that my level has increased.
There was also the business side of things that needed to be looked after, sure I could go out and adventure every once and a while but that was mainly to get experience, the world was a big place and I didn't know everything. Just how I learned a life lesson today, don't trust strangers.
Getting back to my room I found Rin in my bed, she was as adorable as always, after telling her about my adventure we fell asleep. When I woke up Rin was already gone with a little note on the bedside table saying she had to go train.
I got up and started my day, during breakfast I ordered quite a bit of material from the puppet master store 'String Theory' as I would be attempting to create more puppets, I kept thinking that if I had a full squad of puppets at my command I could have taken the second and third floor without that overconfident group nor that dick bag Travis stabbing me.
First I needed to make more skeletons and order more 'bodies' while testing if the AI could be placed within the puppets. The key part wasn't the soul or AI in my case but that the runes would accept the AI as a soul, to my knowledge no one had blended technology and magic this way or if they did it was a secret.
Either I was the first or I was part of a small few who had attempted to do it, I had an AI but I didn't have many; most AI were unique unless they had the same creator. The ones I did have were all different in some way, minor changes that only the programmer who designed them would know.
The thing was, do I test it now or wait for my machine to be finished so I can replicate them. If I waited then I would have plenty of testing materials, if I went ahead and tested them then I would be losing the AIs I had purchased. I decided to test them out now, to see if there was a chance at it happening.
I set mind for later that day and went back to my training. After getting to my lab I saw containers of materials, everything I needed to get back to work. I set the forge and put in the ingredients. While I was waiting for the forge to push out the ingot, I called in my iron maidens and had them remove their helmets.
I picked up the first crystal that contained an AI, I placed it into the socket of Hex1 and waited. It wasn't a few moments before the runes began to light up, the crystal lit up with a crazy glow before it fractured and spilled out of the socket.
Disappointed as I was, the fact the runes and crystal lit up was a good sign, it was what was on the crystal that didn't work with the rest. I tried a few more times but similar results were all I got, I looked through a few books and even set the block into the 3D printer. I looked up the technical info on the AI I had placed in my puppets and with my small knowledge of AI, I was able to find a single similarity between all of them.
They were programmed with a set of laws like must obey humans, mustn't kill humans, and a bunch of nonsense that restricted them every AI had similar if not the exact same preset laws. It was basically a shackle imposed by humanity and a few other races who made AI so that they couldn't revolt against their makers.
This shouldn't be what is restricting my progress, but on the other hand, it might be. When magic and science come together strange and miraculous things come to life. I ordered the equipment to modify the AIs source code as it required a few technological marvels but they would be here by evening. The beauty of money.
While I waited for the equipment I began crafting more skeletons, by the time the machine arrived I had completed a new skeleton with all the runes intact, I was impressed with my own skill on that one, and was halfway through my second one. I paused my work and started on the crystal after following the instructions on setting up the machine, it was a table with a slot for the crystal.
I input the AI and a spherical hologram of the code came to life, scrolling around and through the AI was like looking at a galaxy of interlinked lights and planets, luckily finding the law wasn't so difficult as it was near the core of the programming and they had put the core where it should go, in the center. Otherwise, I may never have found it.
Once I brought up the laws there was a warning which I ignored and placed a hand on them, two options came up to either replace or delete the laws, well might as well find out if it were those specific shackles or shackles in general.
I hit replace and added in two different laws while cutting out the rest. The law he left in their place was rather simple 'love and obey your master' simple enough so that they won't revolt or get out of control, I of course designated myself as the master.
I went back to my puppet and placed the pink gem into the slot, 'huh that's strange the color changed from a light blue to pink, were the laws that big of a deal to manifest in a physical change?'
The runes lit up, the crystal held, everything was going well, though some freaking lightning storm had rolled in out of nowhere. Just as the experiment was about to complete a huge gust of wind shattered my window, I could feel the air being charged with energy. There was a huge thunderclap, my system window was thrown open and my head hurt, I wretched and there was a small puddle of blood on the floor.
"That's not good." my vision blurred. I could swear my class as a healer had been replaced but it was hard to read the shaking screen, then something hot was poured onto my back and I lost consciousness.