“Approaching the path down!” The driver called out to us in the back. I immediately let the harp I’d been strumming lightly melt away and sink back into my skin. This was it. An ambush supposedly awaited us just ahead. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited for it.
The APC pulled off the streets and pulled into a large parking garage that blended in with the rest of the city. It was almost entirely abandoned. The semis followed along, barely scraping by thanks to the lower roof. They probably thought of clearance beforehand, yep? Semis weren’t the best vehicle to bring into tight shafts…
We didn’t approach the ramps and instead heading for a heavily guarded gate hidden in a recess of the parking garage. Valkris PMCs were set up around it to block the way forward. Their winged helmets with V-shaped visors were a dead giveaway of their affiliation. Then there was the heavy plate covered in runic inscriptions that most of them wore.
And, of course, their dual weaponry of techno spears, swords, and axes combined with more modern ARs, DMRs, and SMGs also indicated VDS. From what I’d heard, each VDS mercenary was not only a master of their chosen weapon, but also a remarkable marksman. There was a reason Valkris held a chokehold on most of Throne’s PMC contracts. They may not be Wardens, but each was a more than capable fighter.
“Halt!” One of the PMC’s called as we pulled up the checkpoint. Interestingly, most of the defenses were pointed inward rather than outward.
”Yeah yeah.” The driver threw the APC into park. He pulled out a shard from his pocket and handed it out the window to the VDS merc. “We’re on a tight schedule.”
“You and everyone else.” The guard plugged the shard into a data slate. “What are you moving?”
”Mining equipment… you want to check us too?” The driver pulled another shard from his pocket, toying with it in his hands.
The PMC’s eyes snapped down to the shard. He looked between me, the driver, and the convoy parked in a line behind us. ”I don’t think that’ll be necessary."
“Here’s our manifest.” The driver tossed another the shard to him. “We really are in a hurry.”
“Right.” The merc shoved the other drive into his pocket without even checking it. “One last thing. Protocol dictates I ensure you know what you’re getting into before we let you down-“
”We’re fully aware.” The driver chuckled. “We have three APCs transporting simple mining equipment. You think we’re doing that for fun?”
”Still…” The VDS merc cast one last look toward the convoy and then waved at the other mercs set up around the large checkpoint. “Open it up!”
The main gate leading into Crypt lifted like a garage door and the merc went back the way he came. The driver threw the APC back into drive and roved down through the gate into a wide tunnel. The convoy followed closely after us.
I pointed out toward the smooth tunnels bored down into the earth. They were large and easily fit the semis and APCs. “What made?”
“Crypt?” Sarge asked, looking out toward the front of the APC. “Um- a lot of things. It’s said that massive tunnel worms did the majority of the work. Then there were the whole underground tunnels and roads dug out by people. That was hundred of years ago when the Thirteen Arcs were just being built.”
I eyed the tunnels. Thirteen Arcs… right, Bastion was considered an Arc. What happened to the other twelve? Regardless, if the path continued as just one tunnel down the whole way to Moller Ironworks, we’d be pretty safe. Although it limited us, it also limited our attackers. Getting behind us was impossible, and I was confident I’d be able to take anything up to C-rank without an issue.
But, of course, that was a fool’s hope. Not long after heading down into the tunnels we came to our first set of break off points and intersecting passageways. Some were small and barely enough to fit a single person. Most were large enough to fit the convoy though. We rumbled down the caves with lights flaring into the darkness.
The single person sized passageways and gaps made me uncomfortable. There were so many places that a person could hide down here. All it would take was a high-level Warden or one with a weird power to cause some serious mayhem. If I was in charge of an ambush, that was what I’d do anyway. A quick, surgical team to eliminate the product and ghost before a retaliatory strike could come would be ideal.
Nothing happened though. We continued to move down the massive mined out tunnels without any issues. We passed a couple other groups while moving, though there was a tacit understanding to wait for each other to pass and not even try to get close. It seemed the people and creatures down here operated by very different rules then up above.
The driver called out about half an hour later. “Approaching Catacomb Cavern.”
I shifted in my seat. The cave led out to a cavern? There was a good chance it’d be here. I doubt they’d wait much deeper. From the idle chatter of the Tenok, it seemed the deeper down Crypt people went, the more dangerous it became. There were very few groups like Moller Ironworks that dwelled in the darkness. I motioned to the group around me. “Careful.”
”Aye.” Sarge checked his rifle, which he’d done several times by now. He swayed slightly in his seat, staring forward with deep concentration. He wasn’t the only one either. Several of the Tenok swayed slightly. Hmm…
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
I rubbed at my eyes and pushed up the sunglasses. I was feeling a bit… tired? That couldn’t be right-
The APC swerved slightly like the driver lost control. He quickly righted it, swerving back to the center of the path. I hesitated for a moment and then called out. “Stop.”
The driver hit the brakes, bringing the entire convoy to a crawl just before we could exit out into the dark space ahead of us. “Something- haah- wrong boss?”
His yawn caused a cascading effect around the cabin of the vehicle. Several people passed out immediately under whatever was affecting us. I was even starting to feel something pressing at the back of my eyes as if to push me into sleep. It only made me all the more aware.
There was an extremely faint layer of ether in the air. It felt tainted though. Poison? Or some type of curse? Regardless, the sudden drowsiness wasn’t natural in the slightest.
“Attack-“ Sarge, also realizing something was wrong, passed out before he could finish his call. Not that it mattered. It would’ve fallen on sleeping ears. In a matter of moments, I was the only one still awake. I could feel it pushing and pulling at me though.
I stifled a yawn and used one of my new Skills, Radiance. I expected golden light to flare up, but instead a gentle silver light like that of the moon glowed out from me. I manipulated the Skill’s ether, controlling it into a glowing ball in the palm of my hand.
Under the gentle silver light, the poison in the air gently melted away like it was never there. The entire cabin pulsed with the soft silver moonlight. It wasn’t just me that recovered from whatever was affecting us either. The others around me slowly started to wake back up as Radiance purified them of the effect.
Sarge bolted upright, and pulled up his rifle in the millisecond his eyes fluttered open. He relaxed slightly when he saw the light radiating from my hand, though tensed back up when his eyes flicked to the sleeping squad. His voice easily slipped into a commanding tone and he slammed the floor. “Wake up now! Wake! Up! Now!”
His shout caused several of the resting group to bolt upright. He didn’t stop there though. “I didn’t say maybe wake up, did I?! Ye look like soggy laundry waiting for yer next cycle!”
“…!” Ah, this brought me back. Been a while since I’d been around this kind of energy. Those around us scrambled to get their bearings. The soft silver light melted away whatever was affecting them, completely contrasting with Sarge’s vindictive commands.
“Up! Up!” Sarge stood up next to me, kicking at those still drowsy. “We aren’t auditioning for Sleeping Beauty! For the love of all that is holy, don’t let me catch ye yawning or its triple PT for a month!”
That got the rest of the group up and at attention. I glanced out toward the front of the APC where the driver and gunner were now awake and watching for signs of the next attack. There wasn’t anything yet.
“At yer command, Moon.” Sarge’s voice returned to normal like I hadn’t just seem him become a drill-sergeant from hell. He nodded to me, turning over all authority easily. It seemed some of his distrust melted away alongside the poison. Good.
”Play dead.” I called out softly to the cabin. They were likely going to make a move after ensuring we were all passed out. Better to let the attackers close in and hit them hard, turning the ambushers into the ambushee. Besides that, we didn’t have room to maneuver down here in the first place. “Poison?”
”Roger.” The driver called out, taking his hands off the controls entirely. The gunner followed his example. “Some kind of magic effect. Our filtration systems are still green.”
“…” A Warden or Anarch then? Or just some kind of magic poison that could go through walls? Hmm…
”Gas masks are useless then.” Sarge said.
”Jinx.” I called out to the Cipher of our group. “Signals?”
”Um—give me a sec, ma’am.“ The woman dropped back down to her seat and went entirely still. Her eyes glowed subtly, though lost all intelligence and glazed over. I’d heard Ciphers could literally enter the Grid, but seeing it in person was a bit creepy, yep.
While she was doing that, I motioned toward one of the other soldiers. “Call back. Reinforce.”
“Already on it!” The other Tenok weren’t slacking. There were supposedly a couple squads waiting for us to call for backup. I doubted they would get here in time, though.
I moved forward up next to the driver and looked out the viewport. It was tinted, so we didn’t have to worry about others seeing through to us. Ahead, a group slowly approached. They were small. Far smaller than I’d expect for ambushing a convoy of our size. It seemed someone thought along the same lines that I did.
At the front was someone I recognized. An extremely buff man with flaming red hair: Temoc. The frail man must’ve pre-buffed up before commencing the ambush. If he was here, that all but proved this was a Tzon trap just like Lucia expected. She really was smart, wasn’t she? I felt a bit of pride that I rapidly pushed down. Now wasn’t the time.
There were two others I didn’t recognize. They looked like Wardens or Anarchs though. That much wasn’t hard to figure out. They both had on the overly flamboyant outfits that most awakened adored for some reason. People just wanted to stand out, even if the tallest tree bore the most wind.
One was dressed like a spider with four mechanical arachnoid legs sticking out from her back. The other had on a flaming red shirt. Literally. It was literally on fire. If I had to guess, our poisoner was the spider-lady. The flaming red guy probably had some kind of fire powers.
The others behind them mostly looked like a mundane strike squad. All had tac-gear and rifles. Flashlights panned around from them, illuminating our convoy. There were fifteen in total.
Beside me, the gunner twitched with a certain look on his face that I’d seen far too often. “One shot would wipe them, ma’am.”
”Wait.” I caught the glimmer of ether around Temoc. There was definitely some kind of ward protecting them.
I wanted to attack just straight and simple. We could easily overpower them. Their one advantage was putting us to sleep, but now that the poison was neutralized by Radiance? It wouldn’t even be that hard. We had the armor, firepower, and positioning. They just had three Wardens.
If the spider was fully specked into poison, then they really just had two Wardens. If I distracted them, the rest of the squad could handle the strike squad without much issue. I mean, we had a fully armored APC with us. No way they should be an actual threat.
I created another orb of Radiance. This time, I hardened it and filled the thing with ether, supercharging the silver glow like it was some kind of battery. I wrapped it in a layer of Ivorshroud those the ether together then tossed the orb to the one of the Tenok. “Take back. Awaken.”
”Roger.” The woman stood up and moved for the back. She paused, waiting for the battle to break out before making a move.
“Focus strike.” I waved out toward the front. “Wardens. Mine.”
My reasoning wasn’t entirely pragmatic, to be honest… but I had unfinished business with Temoc. Last time he was saved by circumstance. He delivered himself right onto my plate now though. Down here? No one would hear him scream.
