"Look at you letting me do all the work…" Her voice should probably have sounded teasing but in her current form it sounded more like a threatening growl than anything else.
"Uh huh, and I've found our ticket out of here so hold on tight."
"What do you mean hold on? We are in the middle of this hellish room!"
Giving her a smirk, Matt took out a handle with a button on top from his mantle and showed it to her.
He then raised his other arm before palm striking the floor and extending his hidden blade at the same time.
The rod penetrated the floor and he gave Astrid another look, "That's what I mean by hold on." And then pressing the detonator in his hand.
Four small explosions sounded out around them from small gaps in the floor, the blast lifted up the dust that covered the floor and slightly lowered a section of said floor to reveal a huge square platform.
Astrid showed a surprised expression that quickly switched to fear as she saw dozens of different machines quickly approaching them.
Looking at Matt again she saw that he was still holding onto the ground with a calm expression.
Trusting him once again in his folly, she raised both of her hatchets while still in her werewolf form and struck the platform with their ice axe ends, completely rooting them in the ground to the point that they were now only usable as handles.
The machines came closer and closer, growing in number as they advanced.
All of them came from the other side of this room where diverse contraptions fabricated and assembled mechanical pieces to become complete robots.
Screeching sounded out from below the intrepid adventurers but the platform stayed in place, soon to be swarmed with hundreds of killer robots.
A small whisper came from right next to her, "Three, two, one~"
*CREAK* *BOOM*
The platform fell down lifting against it a thick rush of black smoke on all four sides accompanied by the strident sound of metal scraping against each other.
As they were rapidly descending, a few machines fell down from the newly made hole almost crushing the two humans below.
The platform made another screeching and breaking sound before its fall picked up speed.
Shouting out amidst the loud sounds and the air rushing around them, Astrid made a smart comment.
"HOW THE HELL IS THIS BETTER! WE ARE GOING TO CRASH!"
"Nah, everything's fine."
"MATT! WE'RE GOING TO DIE! "
"Yea, we're going to die, you're going to die, I'm going to die… Just not today."
As he said this, white smoke rushed out along with the black one before completely overtaking it.
The temperature lowered and frost shards flew up from below the falling platform, like snow defying gravity and rising into the sky.
Thick frozen spikes rose from the opening between the platform and the shaft that kept on growing and breaking.
The little light coming from above reflected itself on the ice and grail making a stunning light show appear amidst the smoke..
This unexpected phenomenon exponentially reduced their falling speed and made both of them get thrown into the platform by the change of velocity, at least until there was no more shaft to cause friction between both objects making the platform once again plummet down.
It seemed like they had just entered another giant room but that the elevator descended right in the middle while supported by side beams.
"Well fuck."
The platform crash landed into the floor, thankfully only taking half the impact as the ice that had built up below took the brunt of the damage and completely shattered as sparks and ice mixed for a brief instant.
It saved the couple's life but it certainly didn't make them feel any better.
"Everything alright hubby!?"
"I'm fine… just a broken rib or two… Fuck it hurts."
{Cool explosion, cool quote and cool plan… You have obtained an additional checkpoint.}
"Worth it…"
"Hubby!" Astrid shouted as she saw Matt smile and took out a red bottle along with a bottle of water to help him recover his injuries and his possible head trauma. "Drink this."
Taking the containers and downing them like shots, Matt stood up with all his muscles aching, "We need to move or-"
Stopping mid sentence as he finally looked around their crash site, he saw his biggest fear had just become a reality. They were surrounded by three large machines staring down at them, eying them through their robotic lenses like a meal having fallen from the sky.
They were the two bellowbacks and scorpion robots they had seen leave the day before that Matt never expected to see again, or at least not in such a precarious situation
Squinting his eyes to see what was behind the clouds of smoke and vapor they had created, Matt could only make up tall computer-like walls that seemed to stretch forever.
"-or we'll get surrounded… "
The two parties stared at each other over this unexpected encounter like a mouse having fallen into a cat's milk bowl before the mouses decided to take the initiative.
"Astrid."
"...Yes ?"
"... RUN !"
Jumping off the broken platform, to land in between one of the bellowbacks legs, Matt sprinted through a labyrinth of computer like walls while taking sharp and unexpected turns.
He didn't dare look behind him in fear of seeing a house tall killer robot sharp on his tail so he kept on running and running before he finally decided it was enough and hiding behind one of the rows of servers where he finally felt safe.
Completely out of breath from the escape he had just done, Matt wiped off the sweat of his brows along with some of the jelly and water that still stuck to him.
He didn't have time to see if Astrid had followed him or not but hearing sounds of fighting echoing from the other side of the room, Matt concluded that this was not the case.
He really wanted to go help her right now but didn't even have time to leave his cover before heavy clinking footsteps approached his row of servers.
He felt his blood pressure rising and the primal fear anyone would have while facing a five meter high fire dragon robot.
He had used up all his fire and frost explosives during his elevator stunt while his hidden blade was pretty damaged and his steel weapons wouldn't do much damage to a being of steel with his strength.
He held his breath ready to ambush the bellowback as it passes by since it seemed to be his only option before running away again before repeating the process to hope and defeat it at some point.
The machine placed one foot next to him and advanced the other as it finally reached his row.
Matt grasped his sword within his hand ready to attack the beast before realizing that his entire body was shaking, not from anger but from fear.
He thought everything would be simple, after all he had a ton of abilities and he almost never lost a fight, whether mental or physical within the dome but this was the outside world where he wouldn't be facing human friends but metal titans that only sought destruction.
Stuck in his mind, Matt didn't even realize the machine had stepped forward again and stared down directly at Matt's location.
He finally noticed and still did nothing as his trembling intensified and his breath ran short, the two stayed like this until the bellowback turned back around and continued to walk forward.
'W-what the hell just happened?'
[Well done host! You have activated parts of your cuttlefish membranes genetic code ! A new skill has been added.]
'I-I did it?'
{-1 cool points for being a scared coward, the previous reward will be taken back. Grow some balls you little *****.}
'Right… Shit, I have to go help Astrid!'
Getting a hold of himself, Matt rushed out of cover and headed towards the fight's location, leaving behind a confused machine still searching for a tiny human.
1402 words
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Heya !
Droping by to ask what you think of this chapter, I'm really anticipating any theories or opinions you have concerning this story so please share anything in my comment section.
I can promise you great chapters to come and wish you a good day :p