Still inside the room, when WuYan had reached the end of the hallway and stood in front of a gigantic exit gate, he turned back to look at the red-illuminated metal facility one more time. He then asked Ada a question before heading out into the pitch black dungeon again to help someone that's in trouble.
"Will your body be fine even without power to supply the pod? We didn't even close the glass chamber either." WuYan was concerned about Ada's physical body and asked about it.
"You don't need to worry about it. That body is made of complex titanium-alloy so it won't undergo any deterioration for a long time." Ada replied with an assuring tone.
After getting his answer, WuYan then turned around to look back at the giant gate again. He looked from the bottom till the top to check if there's any gap or fracture that he could get in. Unfortunately, except only rusts on some areas, there's no access that he could get through it.
"Alright, so about this 5 meter tall metal gate, can it still be opened?" He asked about it.
"This is an automated large gate that needs power to operate. But with the Longinus on you and my help, I can execute commands to it to further boost your body so that you can open the gate by force." Ada mentioned her plan.
After suggesting the method to WuYan, Ada began to input the command into the Longinus. The system received her order and started to execute the given task. In a second, WuYan felt his nerves tingling and muscles became harder and stronger.
"Input received. Executing Body Boosts performance. Increasing the user's endurance and strength. " Longinus reported.
"Go on. Try to put your fingers into the door crevice and pull it to the side. I believe the current boost level should be sufficient to force open the door."
WuYan followed Ada's advice by putting his fingers onto the small gap in between the metal gate. Then with all of his strength, WuYan was struggling at first but he eventually succeeded in pulling to open the gate. Along with some few sparks coming out, the sharp and irritating friction sounds of metals dragging onto had echoed through the dark dungeon and had alerted some goblins to investigate.
"Now, since you had forced open it. The hydraulic pistons inside this door will return itself to the original position if you let go of your hand so…."
*BLAM!*
And once again, without giving Ada another chance to complete her sentences, WuYan had taken his leap forward in a swift and let the door slide back to its original position. With full exerted force from the tight pistons, the door banged to each other and closed itself, creating a loud sound that attracted more goblins.
The group of goblins immediately lost their appetite when they heard the loud noise. They felt unsafe and unease that they decided to temporarily spare their captives for later consumption. The goblins tied her hands with a coarse hemp rope until the wrists started to bruise in red and stuffed her mouth with a cloth that was torn off from her orange colored dress.
With the captive tied up and silenced, they are now heading to the area to investigate. Knowing that the goblins won't be eating her alive anytime soon, the woman felt relieved and not giving up, she's desperate to free herself from this den of monsters.
After making the leap, when WuYan stood up, he found himself surrounded in darkness again. He looked back at the door and saw it had concealed itself by resuming the illusion to blend itself with the rock walls.
Other than the dampness that makes his skin sticky and the sound of condensed water dropping continuously from the stalactite above him, he could also smell the disgusting mix of odor from feces and rotten corpse into his nostril. Although he still got his flower stuffed handkerchief on his face to cover himself from the smell, the odor was still too strong. He quickly pinches his nose to stop the smell from getting into his nose or else he could really feel the need to puke.
"Woosh!….Wow, the smell is getting more awful the further we head deeper into this cave." WuYan held his breath and complained about the air quality.
'Detected substances in the air are harmful for the user to breathe. Helmet with filtration function activated.'
After hearing WuYan couldn't withstand the odor in the air and complaining about its quality, the Longinus took the initiative to scan and had detected hazardous particles in the air that's not suitable for WuYan's body to inhale. The invisible combat suit hidden on his body glows faintly in odd stripes of white lights. The helmet in nano particle form was then summoned and swiftly covered his head. He was impressed by the quick response of the system.
'Initializing particle purifying system. Isolating hazardous particles in the air. Inhaling air cleanliness is now at 99.9%.' Longinus reported.
Sharing the same color palette with the combat suit, the helmet's main color is shining obsidian black with red line engraving around the curved lines. The helmet provides a full face visor made of tough reinforced glass with its appearance tinted with an almost transparent gray color. With the helmet equipped, the HUDs moved their display from his vision onto the visor screen but this time with a new window showing him the view from behind.
"Huh, neat. This helmet also has a camera behind it. Now I can see in every direction."
WuYan was amazed again by the suit and helmet's versatile function. Naturally, he would pay more concern against any threats that approaching him from behind but with a built-in camera behind the helmet, this gives him an extra edge in any battlefield.
"Hmm….I wonder if this visor will turn into a one way mirror? Only I can see them but they could not see me since I don't want my identity to be revealed on some occasion." He asked about the function.
'Yes,this helmet does have such a function to conceal your identity. Please wait for a short moment while I begin to input the command.'
After hearing WuYan requested for a method to conceal his identity, A.D.A. immediately input the relevant code for the operating system.
'Input received. Activating incognito mode.' Longinus was updated and reported.
After it received the code from A.D.A., the screen on the outside turned pitch black but WuYan still could see clearly from the inside.
"Huh, neat." WuYan was impressed again and praised.
" I also took liberty by inputting extra source codes that allow you to show your feelings and expression when you are inside the helmet. Now not only the visor has completely covered your face but whatever you feel, the Longinus that's neuro-linked to your mind will display a relevant symbol to match your feelings." Ada explained her extra work on the helmet.
[•ᴗ•]
Following her instruction, a smiley symbolic face was shown on the visor screen.
'What's that? From the look of it, is it a smile?' Ada asked after she noticed the symbol.
[(⚆ᗝ⚆)]
Another different symbolic face was shown again but this time it shows a rather shocked emotion to convey WuYan feelings.
'Is that….a shocked expression?' Ada asked again after seeing the symbol changed.
"Bingo. You had correctly answered all emoticons that I showed. But Ada, my body felt a bit sore and my heart still felt uncomfortable after pulling open that heavy tonnes metal gate." WuYan asked Ada about his current condition while performing a warm up by circling his both arms.
'That's because the strength amplification provided by Longinus draws power from the source in your heart. So right now, there's 3 of us sharing the same mechanical heart to sustain ourselves. You, me and Longinus are in one body now.' Ada explained his problems.
[TᴖT]
This time, the emoticon shown on the visor is a crying face.
'A crying symbol also means sadness..' Ada explained what she observed.
"So, if I continue to use the power without any hesitation, then the system will eventually drain all my life energy and in the end….die from it?" WuYan asked with worries.
'No. Longinus and I had altered the design of the suit to protect and will not risk the user's life. If the system has detected your condition is in a terrible state, Longinus will automatically cut off the power transfer and prioritize your safety above all else. However, if you insist on using it then you could also choose to verbally give commands to overwrite it.' Ada explained more about the Longinus.
"Well, glad to know the basics of it, thanks. We had burnt enough time so I guess we really needed to move fast to save someone. I don't think it's important enough for me to hide my identity for now. Longinus, hide helmet." WuYan verbally ordered the system.
After receiving the order, instead of turning into particles and returning back to where it came from, the helmet turned invisible with the filtration function still running but exposing WuYan's face. Multiple footsteps moving in a rush can be heard clearly and along with sharp voice tones, the goblins in a group of five mumble in a language that WuYan doesn't understand. But one thing for sure is that the goblins are angry because of him, they had to delay their meal.
'Alert. 5 targets detected. Closing in 10 seconds.'
With the use of sonar, Ada reported her finding after detecting some goblins are on their way to WuYan location. Although earlier, he had killed some of them but they were done in a sneaking method by hiding inside a crevice in the wall. However, the situation is different now as he's in complete darkness while the goblins, each wielding a fire torch, lighting up the way and are heading to him.
"So, they are already that close. There's not much time left and there's no place for me to hide in this surrounding area. My only option left is to confront them directly." WuYan described his situation but this time, he felt much more confidence with Ada and Longinus with him.
The upcoming fight is inevitable after WuYan assesses that his situation is at a disadvantage. He had prepared himself and drawn out his sword from the scabbard attached on the waist belt. With the only experience he got was assassinating a goblin from the dark just earlier ago, he literally has no combat experience in fighting such creatures that he had to adapt, improvise and overcome.
In his life as mercenaries, taking down feral animals in defense for survival or accepting tasks to hunt them are part of his job scopes but fictional creatures? This is the first time for him to go head to head against them but he's also excited to learn new combat knowledge through studying their behavior and tactics.
After he pulled out the sword, WuYan also took out the dagger from his waist pouch with the intention to throw it, hoping that it would land him a bullseye on the goblins heads. With them closed in and revealed themselves with the light from the lit torch, WuYan was able to see the weapons in their hand while listening to those irritating screeching noise from them.
"5 bogeys. All melee armed. No long-ranged in sight." WuYan said to himself.
He saw all goblins that's approaching were only equipped with rusty old swords and clubs. The goblins were so confident in their numbers against a solo adventurer and had let their guard down. Seeing their target in basic clothing without any armor had made them joyful even more.
"Alright, I need to quickly silence them before they can call for any backup." WuYan told himself.
With the dagger readied, WuYan aimed at one of their necks and immediately swung his hand in full force to throw the dagger. In a shock as everything happened too fast for the goblins, one felt its neck was pierced through by something sharp. It tried to scream in pain but its vocal cord was already badly damaged as it pathetically fell back on the floor.
"One down. Four more to go."
While the other goblins were bewildered by the death of their kind, WuYan had begun his next move. As the remaining goblins are now in a mix of emotions of confusion, fear and anger, he already rushed to their front then decapitated another goblin head with a swing of his sword.
His intention was to quickly retrieve back the dagger from the dead goblin's neck and when he finally got it, WuYan immediately used it again to stab another startled goblin on his left.
"3 down , 2 more to go. They sure are the species that easily get panicked." WuYan remarked on their characteristics.
One of the remaining goblins had snuck behind him and attempted to leap onto him so that it could bite then tore the arteries in his neck. However, it plan was immediately foiled when WuYan's helmet detected it with the back camera and alerted him. With a quick roundhouse kick, he kicked the goblin head and crushed it against the cave wall, dark brown bloods and brains smeared the rocky walls. Seeing the outcome of it, he was impressed by the body boosting ability given by Longinus and Ada.
With only one goblin left, fear had already got its mind. It quickly dropped the weapon in its hand and ran away from WuYan by returning deeper into the cave. It tried to scream for help and to alert the other but soon felt a shocking pain on his neck. The goblin can't utter a single word and when it looked down, a sword already pierced through its neck. It then suddenly moved upwards and sliced the goblin head in vertical half.
With the last goblin fall dead to the ground, everything went silent again. WuYan picked up the lit torch so that it could help him see better in the dark.
'Congratulations on winning your first fight.' Ada praised.
"NO! STOP! SOMEBODY HELP ME!"
The woman in distress yelled for help again after Ada complimented WuYan for his combat skill. With no more time to lose and a lit torch in his hand, he immediately returned the sword and dagger into their cover then rushed towards the sound location.
'Alert. 2 targets detected. Approximately 3 meters below.' Longinus reported the sonar findings.
"So it's a short cliff eh? Let's hope that they stand close to each other."
The light emitted from the torch eventually showed the edge of a cliff as WuYan kept running in a straight line. He immediately leaped from the edge then looked down and to his delight, luck had favored him today.
Two impatient and greedy goblins had taken the stuffed clothes from her mouth, allowing her to scream because of their sadistic freak nature; they like to hear the screams of their prey before eating them alive. However, it was too late for those goblins as WuYan is currently free falling and with his overall body and weapon weight, jumping from a 3 meter high cliff is enough to smash those goblins' heads into paste.
*CRACK! PLAP!*
The sheer force from above when WuYan stepped on the goblins head and pushed them to hit the ground immediately crushed their heads into brown-green mixed paste. The brains splattered in every direction and some parts of it also flew and tainted the girl's face. With the two remaining goblins crushed by his weight, he shifted his attention onto the damsel in distress.
Suddenly, WuYan hears the sounds of static and electric crackling inside his invisible helmet. Everything he saw on the visor is infested with small black and gray static grains, even the back camera also suffered the same problem as well.
'ZzzZzzz….war..warning…detected….heavy interference…tampering…sys…system…Readjusting…optimal atom frequency….output to even….' Longinus reported in a breaking tone.
'Longinus? Ada? What had happened? What's wrong?' WuYan asked but there's no response from the two A.I..
"WATCH OUT! BEHIND YOU!"
When WuYan wanted to illuminate the area to take a good look at the captive by lifting the torch closer to her, she suddenly shouted at him. Suddenly from the shadow, a giant wooden club with rusty spikes swung at him from the right and sent him to hit the wall then fall to the ground. He felt the pain from his right arm but his left also suffered severe injuries as he had hit the wall with full impact.
*BAAM!* The loud sound of WuYan being slammed to the wall had echoed through the cavern.
'ZzzZzz….Atom frequency and output achieved, system interference nullified. Warning. Right arm condition is critical. Left arm suffered severe damage. Overall suit integrity dropped by 20%.' Longinus reported.
Although invisible to the other eyes, WuYan could see the damage reports appear only for his view as he pulled himself out from the damaged wall. His right arm segment is displayed in red with a numerical percentage of 20% is highlighted beside it while the left arm is displayed in yellow with 50%. This report from the Longinus told him the current health condition of both arms and is not looking good for him.
'Yeah, those are definitely some serious injuries. Ada, are you alright?' WuYan asked in a concerning tone.
'Nothing of serious implication on me. However, you looked a lot worse than before.' Ada attempted to use sarcasm.
'Yeah, that's some astute observation there. So, could you explain what happened to you and Longinus and why we missed out on an enemy?' He asked.
'The moment you landed, Longinus and I detected a large influx of energy coming from behind. It had massively tampered with us and the system so to nullify the effect, I had calculated the right frequency and output then ordered Longinus to emit the right amount of anti-atoms.' Ada explained the situation earlier.
'Alright, so I assume that the enemy is a threat to us?'
From the shadow came out a giant figure approximately 6 meter tall, it dragged the wooden club with rusted iron spikes on it and produced small sparks as it slowly approached WuYan with an intimidating aura. When it reached into the range of the lit torch that's dropped from WuYan's hand, the light unveil the shadow that's covering it face. With a necklace made of bones and crowns decorated with human skulls, with fearsome sharp green eyes and irregular sized razor teeths, it turns out that the 6 meter giant is another goblin variant and the most powerful of them all- The goblin lord.
'Warning. Large influx of Yin energy detected, readjusting output to even out the interference.' Longinus reported and altered the anti-atoms output again.
"Well, I will be damned. You guys sure came in an all size package with different roles huh?"
WuYan slandered the giant monster one more time as he reached for his sword and pulled it out from the scabbard. With nowhere to flee as the life of the female captive is in his hand, he's prepared to battle the goblin lord with severe injuries on him.