Nathan reached into the satchel around his neck and pulled out what looked like a snow globe, just with a metal orb and no snow. He silently approached and stopped when he was close enough.
The Scorpions were completely focused on breaking out from their current debacle that they did not register his presence immediately. He took this chance to do what he had planned.
He slowly turned a tiny knob at the side of the metal globe and dropped it on the ground. The knob slowly turned until there was a clinking sound after which the globe suddenly generated metal legs that resembled that of a spider.
Nathan quickly retreated before he brought his watch close to his mouth. "Move." The metal globe scurried forward, moving as fast as its tiny spider legs could carry it. "Leah, get ready." "Okay."
He remained calm but inside, the pressure of what would happen if his plan did not work weighed down heavily on his psyche. He could only hope for the best.
The metal orb finally made it to its destination and just at that moment, the Scorpions stopped firing and sent out a distress signal to the others. The barrier scrambled part of the message but the general text was still able to make it through.
Just then, the metal orb climbed on one of the Scorpions. [Unknown entity discovered. How to proceed?] [Eliminate and await backup.]
Without wasting another second, The Scorpion charged up to fire at the metal orb. "Now." The Metal orb suddenly released a frequency that paralyzed the Scorpion's functions for some time.
The frequency released by the orb was not that dangerous to humans but had the strange effect of interfering with the signals that machines used to communicate internally.
This interference would lead to the machine either shutting down directly or undergoing a system reboot to fix the anomaly.
Its subordinate saw this and immediately moved to its aid, but at that moment, "Leah, now!!!"
The barrier wall in front of the Scorpion fluctuated after which a drone flew out of it. It was a sudden appearance that caused the Scorpion to be temporarily at a loss as to what to do. This opportunity was taken full advantage of.
The drone charged up its weapon and shot at the Scorpion. Instead of a plasma beam, it was a miniature explosive that dug into its joints.
***Boom***
The Scorpion was split in two with a single attack, putting it out of commission instantly. Nathan suffused a smile at such an outcome, things had developed better than he had anticipated.
It was the best possible outcome. Of course, this was no time to celebrate as he left his hiding spot and dashed toward the paralyzed Scorpion. Its paralysis would not last for long as it was already undergoing a system reboot.
"Nathan, you have to be fast. The distress signal sent by those Scorpions was received by the others and they are currently rushing towards your position."
"They won't be able to get here so easily. Don't worry, I'll be done in a minute." He climbed the Scorpion and looked down on it. He was planning on hacking its system and turning it into their weapon.
***
Five minutes later and ten Scorpions finally reached the area the distress signal was released. It was an abnormal clearing with the remains of their subordinate placed at the center.
[Target is still on the loose.] They scanned the area in search of clues as to where the attacker might have gone. Soon enough, they were joined by a lone Scorpion unit, approaching from the direction they had come from.
They continued scanning without bothering to check on the newcomer when all of a sudden, a sudden burst of energy caused them to stop scanning.
[Danger…Danger… Detecting a sudden spike in energy in the area. Retreat to a safe distance.]
They turned to leave but realized that the entrance had been blocked. What's more, the newcomer seemed to be glowing bright red at its edges. Suddenly.
***Boom***
A loud explosion caused the surrounding barrier walls to tremble as the shockwave slammed into it. "Yes!!!" Leah felt joyous at that moment as she fist-pumped in the safety of the Crawler.
She glanced at the loading screen to find that the progress was at sixty-eight percent. "Maybe we can take them all out." She could finally feel hopeful about the situation they were in.
"Don't get so happy yet. We still have a few to finish off. Keep your head in the game." Nathan on the other hand currently found himself running away from a group of five Scorpions.
The same trick wouldn't work twice thus, he had to be creative. As he ran, he made sure to drop a metal orb.
Once it looked like he had gotten to a dead end, he turned to face his attackers. The Scorpions were not too far away from him as they charged their tails to fire.
At that moment, Nathan smirked as he pulled out a makeshift remote from his pocket, his thumb on a button, ready to push.
"Got ya." He pushed it and immediately, the metal orbs he had dropped activated and released a massive outburst of sound waves.
Due to its intensity, Nathan was slightly affected as his facial expression tightened and he staggered somewhat, finding it had to keep his balance. Of course, the state of the Scorpions was much worse as they exploded.
Nathan narrowly escaped as he rearranged the barrier walls and fell to the other end before closing the barrier. "Ugh, that was quite unpleasant."
[Enemy spotted. Eliminating target.] He whipped his head just in time to see a Scorpion in front of him. Its tail was already charged, he was unable to move away in time.
"Shit." He closed his eyes and bent his head, awaiting his fate, but it never came. Instead, there was a loud bang and then silence. He slowly put his head up to find that the unit had been ripped apart by Leah's drone.
"I've got your back." Nathan managed a chuckle as he shuffled to his feet. We are almost done."
***
Thirty minutes had passed since the Tanks began their assault on the barrier formation. At this point, it had most dwindled, only its internal structure still intact.
***Boom***
One last attack and the barrier formation finally came crashing down, falling apart like thread as fires burned it up. They immediately moved it as most of the Sand Turrets were low on power.
But they were soon forced to stop in their tracks as they realized that the Crawler was no longer there. [Scanning for enemy presence.]
Their radar was picking up nothing, thus, they turned back and returned.
But before they had gone too far, a small metal object, no bigger than the palm of an average human, dug its way out of the ground and onto the bottom of a Tank, sticking to it like a barnacle on the bottom of a ship.
A few minutes later and there were fluctuations in the space where the Crawler was meant to be. The fluctuations turned into ripples after which the Crawler made its appearance once again but now it was no longer The Crawler.
Instead, it was The Mammoth. "We did it!!" Leah leaped into Nathan's embrace and hugged him without thinking. She was genuinely happy that they had succeeded. Nathan was happy as well thus he did not reject such a gesture.
They hugged for a few seconds before both realized what was happening. They quickly broke it up and stood a few meters apart. An awkward silence followed.
"Ahem…" Nathan coughed, attempting to break the silence with Leah glancing at him. "I'm glad we made it. You were really helpful."
Leah felt a bit shy as she turned away. "I'm glad as well." Nathan coughed again, Leah's cuteness was distracting. "I will inform Elena of the recent development." "Alright then."
***
"You guys did it?" Elena did not bother to hide the excitement in her voice. Every single member present was pleasantly surprised as they heard the piece of good news from Nathan. "Yeah, The Crawler has successfully been transformed into the Mammoth. Our mission is still intact."
Elena felt the urge to hug him at that moment, and she just might have if he were close by. "We ran into some problems but we resolved everything."
"Good job, guys. You don't know what you have done for me." "I was just trying to correct my mistake. I'm glad that we were successful."
"Hmmph." Jeremiah harrumphed at the side even though he was secretly happy that their chances at passing the test had been restored. "What do you think, Jeremy?" Nathan was partially aware of how he would be feeling and couldn't help but make a petty jab at him.
"Turns out you aren't so useless after all." "Hehe." Elena quickly intervened to avoid a confrontation between the two. "Have you checked on the state of those we left at the previous Mammoth?"
"Mn, they are fine for now. We need to return as soon as possible." Elena heaved a sigh of relief. "Then all we have to do now is figure out how to take down the Crawler stationed here."