Nathan glanced over at him. He was one of those that had helped to guard the Mammoth on their first day in Perfect World. "He should be fine after some rest," Gary assured.
"Yeah, I know. Let me get something to help you guys climb out of there."
***
Once they were all out of the hole, Elena took a look around the area and could not help but suck in cold air. The destructive capabilities of the ICBM were greater than she had imagined.
"I can't believe the Northern Crawler would be so brutal as to sacrifice its brethren just to get a chance to eliminate us." "They are Machines. I think this was played out to tell us that. They don't care about protecting lives like us. Their only concern is to get the job done and that in itself makes them inherently more dangerous."
Everyone paused to look at Nathan. They had varying degrees of expression on their face. "Ahem, we should head back to the southern valley." He attempted to change the atmosphere but his previous statement still held sway over the group.
***
/Southern valley/
"How are you feeling?" Reyes asked as he lay on a piece of metal and stared at the blue sky. "Not much different from when I first woke up." Celeste sighed, breaking her meditation as she took a similar position to Reyes.
"I told you it was pointless. We may be cultivators now but there's no way we would be able to heal the kind of injuries we sustained with a few hours of meditation."
"Hah, I don't want to admit it but I guess you are right. We are out for the rest of the fight." He tried to shrug but his shoulder injury was something that could not be ignored. "At least, Ruben has accepted things the way they are. All we can do now is wait here for our squad to get back…"
He suddenly trailed off as his facial expression distorted. "Did you hear that?" Snipers were sensitive to sounds thus it was easy for them to catch even the slightest frequency if they were close enough.
Celeste frowned as well. "That sounds like…" Reyes cut her off. "Machines. Their reinforcement is on their way and judging by how we can hear them, I'm going to assume that they are pretty close by."
They exchanged looks. There was nothing they could do except wait for their fates. "I was hoping I'd be around until the end of the assignment. I guess we'll be heading out first."
She tried to move her legs but there was no response whatsoever, it was as though she were paralyzed for good. "I guess that seems to be the case."
Just then, Ruben opened his eyes and stared ahead to find a battalion of Scorpions headed their way. "…" He remained speechless as he watched them approach.
[Enemy has been discovered. Commencing extermination sequence]
***Whirrr***
They charged up their tails and fired. "It was fun while it lasted." The beams slammed into a shield that protected him. Unfortunately, it did not hold for long under the combined assault, and once it showed signs of breaking.
***Pew***
They fired once again. This time, the shield broke apart without any resistance and completely disintegrated Ruben. [Player Ruben Diaz eliminated.]
"There was something I wanted to try in-game," Celeste said. Both she and Reyes fought the urge to curse out the Machines for being so brutal. Alas, their turn was just about to come.
"What is that?" [Enemy has been discovered. Commencing elimination process.]
"This…" She turned and kissed Reyes on his cheek, leaving the latter a little confused. "They are right. It is just like real life."
***Pew***
Reyes did not know why but he grabbed Celeste and climbed on her, activating his [Lifeline]
"It doesn't matter, Rey. No need to fight it." He fought back the tears that welled up in his eyes and instead forced a smile. "Yeah, you are right." He placed his forehead on her own and deactivated the skill. Instantly, the fiery red beams slammed into them and they were both disintegrated without any trace.
[Players Reyes Goldman and Celeste Thelma have been eliminated.]
***
Everyone aboard the Mammoth had heard it. Reyes, Celeste, and Ruben were eliminated. "They sent reinforcement to finish the job." Indra simply stated.
"… We should find a place to lay low till we can recover. The Northern Crawler is going to be the most dangerous amongst the three, we are going to have to be fully read when going up against him."
Everyone agreed with her decision. So far, the Northern Crawler had shown them just how dangerous and how extreme it was willing to go to get the job done. It was successful in taking out three of their squad members.
"Hah…" Nathan sighed. He was unable to save Reyes even after he had said he would. It tugged at his consciousness differently from the rest. With everything said and done, they dispersed to get some rest.
***
"Hey.." Elena came to him in the middle of the night. He had his hands full working on something. "What are you doing?" She asked as she walked over.
He managed a glance at her before returning to his work. "Trying to keep calm." "Are you upset that Reyes got eliminated?"
"Not really. This is a game, he isn't dead but… I assured him that we would make it back in time. I feel guilty thinking about it."
"I understand. But you shouldn't worry so much. Isn't that why we are attempting the test?... We are learning so that once we get down to the surface of the blue planet, we would be able to take better care."
"What if we aren't able to do so?... What if the enemy overwhelms us?... Would we be able to protect ourselves then?"
"… I will do my best to ensure that never happens." She assured but Nathan was unconvinced. "If only I had stronger power, maybe I wouldn't be forced to be so passive."
"I don't know if you have noticed, Nate, but you have been the greatest help to me ever since the start of the test. Without you, I don't think we would have gotten to this stage. So don't try to assume that you are not helping."
He stopped what he was doing. Silence reigned between the both of them. "You should get some rest. We take the fight to the North tomorrow."
She reached out and grabbed his shoulder somewhat, giving it a light squeeze before taking her leave. He glanced at her retreating figure and sighed. "She has a firm grip." He rubbed out his sore shoulder.
***
"Hope everyone is fully rested and ready for combat." They had gathered in the Mammoth control room.
"Today we are going after the Northern Crawler. I'm sure we can all agree that if we wait, it would end in us getting bombed again. I don't know how but the Northern Crawler somehow has the resources to send out not just one but two missiles capable of wiping out cities."
Nathan put up his hand. "I have reason to believe that it is sacrificing huge chunks of the energy node to build them. I analyzed pieces of the missile gotten from the West and realized that it shared similar attributes with the armor of the Scorpion unit."
"Doesn't this mean that the energy node still available in the North would be greatly reduced?" "I believe that to be the case as well."
"It isn't bothered about losing one node since it would gain two if it destroyed us. Truly a decisive opponent." Elena respected the Northern Crawler despite its actions against them.
It would be a hard fight if they want to bring it down, there was no doubt about that. "If we are going to take on the Northern Crawler, we have to prepare to be as extreme as it is."
"I don't think that is smart. The difference between Machines and us is their ability to not truly die except their program is deleted and that still wouldn't matter since they do not possess emotions.
"We can't afford to act like them. If we are going to take them on, we need to consider our human nature." Nathan seemed surprisingly mature today.
Jeremiah snorted. "Who do you think you are to correct the Herald?... You think you have the right just because of the small achievement you have racked up?"
"No, he is right. We can't afford to act like them. We need a different plan if we want to have a chance against the Northern Crawler"