Chereads / Ascendants Records Mankind Saga (A.R.M.S.) / Chapter 8 - Chapter 8- Arms and Armed

Chapter 8 - Chapter 8- Arms and Armed

The sword in WuYan's hand is shaking as his arms are still trembling from the injuries inflicted earlier by the goblin lord. Fortunately the illusion on his mechanical right arm that masquerades itself as a normal human arm is still functional. However, it was so badly damaged that it began to malfunction. He tried to move the fingers to grip firmly onto the sword but failed as it slipped off and fell to the ground.

*Clank!* 

'Alert, right arm condition critical. Initializing self repair function. ERROR. Overall health is critical. Health assessment indicated that continuing using more power from the heart to repair increases risk of fatality. Self repair function stopped.' Longinus reported.

Although Longinus had detected WuYan's mechanical right arm was in serious damage. It wanted to execute the arm self repair function but due to the protocol that prioritizes user survival, the repair was immediately halted.

"So….I could only use my left hand to fight that big greeny meany monster now?" While WuYan is in a dire condition, he still asks questions that mock the goblin lord.

"You could try overriding the protocol but it's highly not recommended. However, if you insist, say 'override command- continue self repair'." Ada explained the command to him. 

While the Goblin Lord casually walked toward WuYan like a hunter ready to kill its prey, WuYan looked at the damaged mechanical arm in hesitation.

"Alright, let's test it. Override command - continue self repair." WuYan gave the command through the neural-link and without uttering a word. 

'Override command received - continue right arm self repair.'

After WuYan initiated the command and the Longinus resumed the process, the mechanical right arm began to repair itself. But it was at this moment, he felt his heart was suddenly under a massive stress. He felt a force was pushing his heart to pump faster and harder that left him even more fatigue as if he just finished a long distance sprint.

"Stop self repair!" WuYan ordered again in exhaustion.

'Command received. Self-repair halted.' Longinus acknowledged and replied.

"Oomph, almost kill myself for it." WuYan blamed himself for the mistake.

"WATCH OUT!"

After WuYan gave out another command to stop the self repair since it's very stressful for his heart, the lady in captivity shouted at him to look out for the Goblin Lord next attack. The 6 meter tall Goblin Lord with its giant but obese body size raises its spiked club to the air then swiftly swings it at WuYan with intention to smash him into paste. 

*BAM!*

The stone floor was destroyed by its spiked club, the loud sound was almost deafening and the echoes made it worse. Shattered rocks from the fractured floor were sent flying everywhere and the dust from the impact had also covered the area, limiting the Goblin Lord vision.

Hearing there's no sound from WuYan, the Goblin Lord laughed hysterically. When the dust finally settled, it was eager to look forward to his dead body but to its shock, there's nothing underneath the spiked club.

*SLASH!*

The sound of flesh torn apart echoed clearly in the cave. With a decent strength and speed boost granted to WuYan by the combat suit- Longinus, The Goblin Lord felt its both legs were cut open by something sharp and it immediately fell to its knees. The sudden and sharp pain causes it to scream loudly in pain, almost having the cave trembled by the vibrations. 

"Searching for me, big guy?"

WuYan appeared and cautiously walked to its side. It's all thanks to the lady who shouted at him to warn him about the Goblin Lord's next attack. With her aid, WuYan was able to escape from the attack and had saved himself from another hit. 

'That's my bad. I got careless and will not repeat the same mistake again.' WuYan reprimanded himself silently. 

Just earlier of what happened, with the dust flying into the air and clouding its vision, WuYan took this opportunity before the dust settled down by striking its leg tendon from behind and succeeded in immobilizing the monster. The monster fell to its knees but his agony and shame peaked as this is the first time that it fell with both hands touching the ground. Never in its life, from a lowly goblin to now a lord, it never suffered such pain and disgrace and now it's bloody determined to kill that puny human.

The Goblin Lord couldn't believe what it had just experienced. It trained itself for decades, with grit and went through many skirmishes, fought against other creatures and humans that led it to be what it is right now- The Lord of its kind. Soldiers and adventurers had tried to eliminate it but had so far failed for its skin is so tough that their strength and steel weapon were unable to even injure it, and those unfortunate ones that were unable to flee from its sight were tortured, killed and flesh consumed. 

"Two consecutive blows from you would surely end my life but unfortunately for you, things took a turn because of her warning shout and now, it will be me to end your life." 

After giving farewell words to the Goblin Lord, WuYan raised his sword up high and prepared to chop the Goblin Lord's head in one swing. Suddenly, saliva began to drooled heavily from its mouth as it endured the pain on its legs. Something was changing from within as its eyes suddenly turned blood red then glowed in the dark in an ominous way. The saliva that dropped onto the ground immediately released a pile of steam, telling him the fluid is boiling hot. 

'Warning! High energy reading detected. Countermeasures are currently unavailable. Current overall health assessment-poor. Calculated and recommended plan- run.'

Ada reported high energy reading came from the Goblin Lord. She also concluded that with WuYan's current state, it's impossible for him to kill the monster. Thus, she recommends to him that right now, the best course of action would be to run away from it.

"It….it demonizes itself by absorbing the corrupted Yin energy inside this dungeon. It has ascended into a higher ranking form. A…a Demon Goblin Lord."

Behind WuYan, the lady that's still had her hands and legs tied with a crude straw rope explained to him what's happening to the Goblin Lord. Realized things had escalated to a new level and while the monster still underwent the transformation process, he quickly sheathed his sword then went to pick up the still lit torch on the ground. With only little time left, he rushed towards the damsel in distress and finally was able to look clearly at her face.

When the light from the torch shined on the lady's face, WuYan was immediately captivated by her beauty. Although her face and body was stained by dirt and dust yet those couldn't hide her slim yet curvy body. She is gifted with a soothing fair white skin mixed with a light peach pink tone. 

The color of her eyes are light gray but mesmerizing and sparkling like a platinum reflects when lights from his torch fall onto it. Her red-pinkish lips are thin but enough depth that could seduce almost anyone with impure thoughts. The damsel raven-colored long hair with a mix of shallow silver overlay tint, styled in a tied-up ponytail with a pearl-colored peony design hairpin that made a side bun on her right. In WuYan preference, her overall appearance is considered a beauty.

"So….sorry, miss. You are going to be safe. I will use the dagger to cut off the binds on your hand and legs. Don't move too much as I don't want to accidentally injure you."

WuYan was so enchanted by her look that he almost forgot to unbind her. He quickly kept himself collected then took out the sharp dagger from his waist pouch and carefully placed it through the center of the bind. After warning her, he started to move the dagger to quickly cut off the crude binds but he couldn't resist the temptation to look at the lady's beautiful face again. Eventually, he chose to resist the temptation by shifting his attention to somewhere else but her voluptuous body also made him embarrassed to look at.

"I….uh. Sorry. I will try not to look at your body and quickly cut the binds off." WuYan apologized to her with a blushing-red embarrassed face.

"Don't be. I admire your chivalry for apologizing but this is an understandable and forgivable situation." She replied with a mellow voice

With his face blushed red, WuYan awkwardly apologized to the lady for his rudeness. However, the lady insisted that she's fine with him looking at her in such a way as given the dire situation that's currently happening to them, she understands the circumstances. Her kind and forgiving replies had surprised WuYan as he did not expect a fine lady would say such sentences due to protecting their honor and chastity. Thus her words had made him intrigued about the lady's past, wondering what had taught her to say such things. 

She wore a red female-variant Hanfu that's made of smooth silk with an intricate pattern of a beautiful yellow peony flower sewn on it. Unfortunately much of her elegant outfit was badly torn by the goblins earlier. 

With the lights coming from WuYan fire torch so that he could see clearly to cut off the binds from her wrist, he accidentally saw her breasts are covered in shimmering sweats. Some of it had rolled down to her puffy rosy nipples and remained hanging there for a while till it dropped and wet her skirt. 

They were exposed because the fabrics covering those parts were torn off by the goblins and used to stuff her mouth. Although the lady had mentioned that given the dire situation right now, she doesn't mind him accidentally seeing her exposed areas but she's still not mentally prepared in the presence of another male seeing her exposed skin. She hid her embarrassment by closing her eyes but her nipples began to turn aroused and stiff. 

The dress section below the waist were also almost torn off to the left, revealing her glistening sweaty thigh due to the humidity in the cave. Going upwards, WuYan could almost see her nether region but luckily the fabric covering the area is still in fine condition. With top and bottom too risky to see, he immediately shifted his sight to her feet and to his surprise, the lady was bare feet and her ankles were also bruised.

'Intriguing. How is a lady that's properly dressed not wearing shoes? Did she lose it or the goblins took it away? Also, those bruises on them sure looked like this lady had just taken a long walk or run….from something.' WuYan questioned her situation in silence.

While WuYan is cutting the binds quickly to free the lady, the Goblin Lord behind them is still grunting in pain. It had endured the torturing transformation process while looking at its body mutating into a horrible yet stronger form with a haunting deep laugh. With saliva still drooling from its mouth, its skin started to change into reptilian-like hard scales. WuYan and the lady looked at Goblin Lord who's transformation is almost close to completion with a worrying manner. Once he cut off the crude straw binds on the lady's wrists and legs, WuYan then handed her the dagger and the lit torch.

"Can you still run? If yes, then I will draw that monster's attention and you need to run as fast as you can to get out of this cave. This dagger is for your safety, I assume there would be no more goblins left since I had cleared them out but it is always better to be safe than never."

WuYan pulled her up from the ground and helped her to stand firm on two legs since she was bind on the floor for too long. He felt awkward and couldn't look straight at her when the lady was still partially nude. With heart fluctuating while mind was filled with embarrassment, WuYan immediately take off his robe and hand it over to the lady to cover her exposed parts. The lady looked at him with a smile of gratitude, she took his clothes and then put it over her shoulders, covering her exposed areas. 

"If you gave me these, then how could you….No, this is not what I want. We will escape together!"

Although the Lady is very serious about escaping with WuYan from the cave, her words made WuYan smile because in his line of work, 'No One Left Behind' is not just only a slogan or motto, but a valuable and good core value. He understood her thought but then quickly rejected her in the most polite way since he's trying not to be rude towards her. 

"Miss, I appreciate your kindness but your whole body is covered in injuries. We can't escape fast from this monster and this cave if we stay together. And for the torch, take it. I will figure out a way. Trust me and don't worry about me, I will catch up to you soon." WuYan assured her with confidence. 

The whole conversation only lasted for 10 seconds when the Goblin Lord stood up again and roared at them with its new transformation.

"RAWR!"

The monstrous thundering roar akin to a hungry beasts echoed loudly in the cave. 

The Goblin Lord's big gluttonous body had protruded multiple razor sharp bone spikes on both its arms and legs. Its chest is now covered with extra bones, acting as another layer of protection for the heart while its head also mutated an extra upper half-piece skeleton helmet to protect it with extra defense. Its skin had turned from dark green to a dusty gray color with hot steams still flowing out from the scales. The Goblin Lord eyes glow red in the dark and are leaving trails whenever it moves.

"Better get going now. Or it will have us as his happy meal." 

In seriousness, WuYan looked at the Goblin Lord that's coming to them while telling the lady to quickly leave. He gently pushed the lady to the inclined path that will lead her to return to the entrance of the cave. He found that escape route after leaped off from the cliff and saw a semi-spiraling inclined path on his right that could help them leave the area. 

When she was pushed away by WuYan, the lady was still hesitant to leave WuYan alone because he's risking his life to save her. Moreover, when she witnessed him get slammed by the Goblin Lord spiked club that sent him flying to the wall, injuring his arms badly, her kind intuition and guts always try to convince her to escape together with him. 

"You have to trust me, miss! Run now! And don't look back!" WuYan shouted while still facing the Goblin Lord in front of him. 

WuYan urges the lady to start running while he distracts the Demon Goblin Lord's attention. Shocked by his confident shout, she eventually gave in to reality by realizing that in her current wounded state, she would be no help to him. Her continuous presence in this battle or escape together would only stress WuYan to constantly worry about her condition and become his liability. So she listened to his plan, carrying her wounded and tired body, the lady began to move her legs then run towards the exit route.

The Demon Goblin Lord had its attention fixed at the lady running on an incline slope to escape from this cave. It wanted to shout at her so that she would tremble onto the floor in fear but a rock was sent flying and hit its left eye. Although it's just a poke without any damage, it was annoyed by WuYan's actions. It shifted its attention onto him with a deadly gaze and is ready to tear him apart any time soon.

"Eyes on me, pal! Don't go thinking of wooing that lady's heart with that ugly face of yours!" WuYan mocked the Goblin Lord with a shout.

*RAWR!*

It roared at WuYan again but on a much larger power scale. Terrifying vibrations from the roar had shaken the rocks and stones on the ceilings above him. As if the whole cave structure was going to collapse from the thundering roar along with uncountable pebbles had started to fall from the top. With only a sword in his left hand, WuYan pointed it at the monster. 

After seeing the lady had escaped the area and was out of his sight, with the torch in her hand, there's no light to brighten up the area. Stuck against a demonized Goblin lord in complete darkness, WuYan decided not to conceal anymore and it's time to test the weapon's full functionality.

"Longinus, materialize." WuYan ordered with confidence.

"Command received. Materializing…" He acknowledged. 

In nano-particles, the Longinus' suit was summoned from the center of WuYan heart as it began to spread out in wave-like molecule form. It merged itself with his clothes and the suit appeared in obsidian-black color with crimson-red stripes on the outer lines of his torso, arms and legs. The helmet that was summoned from the back of his neck also appeared with the same characteristics like the suit and covered his head within. This time, the HUDs were transferred and displayed on the helmet visor instead of inside his vision.

"Stop concealing the mechanical arm.." WuYan ordered again.

"Command acknowledged. Right arm camouflage stopped." Longinus confirmed his order.

'After careful calculations and considerations, activating the night-vision system would be a more optimal battle plan than activating the lights on the suit. I shall take the liberty of activating the night-vision system now.' Ada reported her suggestions and input the command to activate the system.

With the night-vision system activated by Ada, WuYan could now see everything clearly in the dark but tinted in green. He ordered the Longinus to stop the camouflage, thus revealing his almost malfunctioned mechanical right arm. WuYan smirked as he placed his damaged mechanical hand on the sword body then dragged it to create blue electric sparks, taunting the Goblin Lord with a despising smile.

"Let's burn that fucking fat belly of yours!" WuYan loudly mocked it again.