Crashing Resolve

Vivian peered through the Targeting Scope, employing the stout telescope from the roof of their base. A mixture of emotions swirled around her head as she played scout: uncertainty regarding her part in this plan, fear that she would screw up somehow, but countering those negative thoughts, was the warm feeling of actually being needed.

For as long as she could remember, she had been looked over by her family, her natural talents not enticing her father or siblings to include her in their schemes. So she retreated to her studies, first to try and find some niche she could fill, then to prepare herself to strike out on her own.

And now that she was part of something, she wanted things to work out. John and Aeolia weren't just her first business partners, they were quickly developing into real friends, giving her the support she had been sorely missing in her life.

'After this, maybe we could just hang out,' she mused as she scanned the streets. 'Aeolia could probably use some decompressing. Maybe I could treat her to something? It's the least I could do after that pep talk she gave me. No, the best thing would be to follow that advice and get better, but still, doing something for her sounds like a good idea. But I can't leave John out. Maybe he'd like something about magic theory? He seemed to be interested in that.'

Her thoughts drifted, growing more dour. ‘Maybe that’s moving too fast. I mean, we’ve just met and they’ve got a lot on their plate. And I think they’ve got a thing going on and I don’t…’

Her musings were cut short when she caught sight of movement down the road. One of the robotic soldiers marched with purpose, and Vivian touched a finger to a small array drawn beside her as she watched its solo parade.

The array wasn't a complicated piece of work, a simple circle broken into quadrants, with each section filled with lines. It was rough, but each line corresponded to the streets that ran around their base, and with a light surge of mana, she sent a signal to the corresponding array she had built for John and Aeolia, letting them know where their target was.

Now it was time to see if their mad plan would work.

"Looks like Vivian spotted one," John reported as he saw a portion of the array glowing with a faint white light.

"No point in delaying,” Aeolia said, flexing her wings and picking up a cloth bag made from a shirt, its contents clanking as she did. “Let’s put this idea to the test.”

She took off and flew towards where Vivian had indicated, John following on foot, bringing with him the piece of concrete that served as their map. The illuminated spot moved slightly up along the line, indicating the movement of the sentry back towards its disguised tower.

“I’m going to take a shortcut,” Aeolia shouted to John, already picking up speed. “Try not to miss the party!”

She sharply ascended and flew towards a hole in the building ahead of them, slipping into the structure and out of view.

“I think that’s cheating,” John called after her playfully, as he picked up his pace and raced around the building. A quick glance at the map showed Vivian had adjusted the location of their quarry; it was now closer to his side of the building. Sure enough, as he rounded a corner, the sword and shield-wielding machine marched towards him.

“Level nine, huh,” John commented as he slid to a stop, sending a small pulse of mana, one point exactly, into the array to signal to Vivian contact was made. At the same time, Aeolia flew around the far corner. If the drone noticed Aeolia’s approach, it didn’t make any indication of it as it advanced towards John, brandishing its sword.

Aeolia took advantage of being unseen and fired off a wind blade; the green arc slammed into the machine, causing it to lurch forward.

12 DMG

The drone didn’t lose its footing nor did it cease its movement towards John; if anything, its pace had increased and was quickly closing the gap between it and its target. John didn’t flinch in the face of this forward advance and instead calmly summoned Senka, pointing the knife at his attacker.

Shadow Snare’s black tendrils phased into existence and wrapped around the machine’s legs as it entered the Evocation’s range, forcing it to a stop. The drone turned its attention to its bound legs and swung its blade down at the dark bindings, bending at the waist to do so. John pulled back, letting his Evocation fade before the drone could strike at it, and turned his gaze towards Aeolia.

The airborne woman had shifted her makeshift pack to her weapon hand and was reaching into it. She pulled out a chunk of debris nearly as large as her hand, just barely able to maintain her grip on the piece of road. She reeled back and threw it at the drone before it could right its posture.

As the road fragment tumbled towards the construct, it grew. Its size tripled, becoming a hefty mass of asphalt that slammed into the off-balanced robot.

20 DMG

The impact drove the drone to the ground, the back of its armored form denting in slightly. More importantly, the weight on its upper back kept it pinned, though it was already trying to push itself up.

John set the array slab down and swapped to his greatsword, swinging the heavy blade at the drone’s right shoulder.

10 DMG

The strike tore into the joint, metal screeching as the wooden blade pried open the armor. John drew his sword back, revealing the metal skeleton and hydraulic muscles of the drone, fluid already leaking from the inorganic musculature as it struggled to escape the weight of the debris. John adjusted his grip into one more suited for a downward stab and thrust the tip of his weapon into the open wound.

8 DMG

More fluid spurted from the opening, now accompanied by sparks of arcane energy, and the limb fell limp. With one arm dead, the drone was unable to fight against gravity and collapsed under the weight of the debris on its back. Aeolia landing atop the chunk of road added insult to its injury.

“Kinda hoped this would have taken it out in one hit,” she commented as John withdrew his blade. “How much did we do?”

“You did twelve, I did ten and eight, and our bit of debris did twenty,” John reported. “A nice fifty damage."

"And how much damage did we do to the archer?” she asked.

“A little over a hundred,” John replied after a moment of thought. “And this guy’s the same level with only a change in weapon and a shield so I think it probably has the same amount of HP.”

“Halfway there then,” Aeolia said, looking down at their captive. “Let’s get this guy out of the way before its friend or any other bots show up.”

She placed her pack of shrunken debris down and spun her glaive to point at the drone’s head and conjured wind along its edge. With a double-handed thrust, she drove the weapon down into the prone drone’s head.

60 DMG Critical Hit

142(7) EXP

The drone’s body gave one final twitch, fluid and sparks flying from the cracks in its facade, then vanished into nothingness, leaving a small pile of loot in front of the asphalt chunk, which had dropped when the machine under it had disappeared. That didn’t faze Aeolia, who simply rode the short fall with grace, before hopping down with the rubble sack.

“Anything good?” she asked, pressing her hand to the piece of the road, shrinking it down and stowing it back in her pack.

“Looks like the common money drop, the bracers and the shield,” John reported, stowing his weapon. “Just going to do a quick Observe on them. Keep an eye out.”

John quickly re-checked the Armor Set bonuses for the new armor. “A five percent bonus to Intelligence is nice and having more defense is always good. Not sure if the helmet’s going to replace the goggles right now.”

“Could you swap them as needed, like your weapon?” Aeolia questioned.

John opened his Inventory and swapped the goggles with the Composite Helmet. Then he shook his head when he tried to will the headgear to switch.

“No dice. Looks like I can only quick swap weapons. So the question is do I want the attack option of the goggles or the defense and Intelligence boost of wearing enough of the armor?”

“Aren’t the goggles getting a little worn down?” Aeolia asked.

“A little, yeah,” John admitted, summoning the item in question to his hands and called up its info. “Twenty durability per shot, so that’s forty gone and using its Attributes drains a little over time. The exact number is… fifty-eight percent left. I really should have used its Minor Regeneration last night after getting back from the barrier while we went over the loot.”

Aeolia shrugged. “Can’t fix it now. Well, maybe you could, but it would be costly, right?”

“Yeah,” John replied. “Either in mana or material. Which I still need to look into, just to know what I’d need if I had to patch it up right away. Anyway, we should…”

Before John could finish his suggestion, the array began to flash repeatedly, catching his eye. He picked up the slab and his eyes widened when he saw the light was close to where he thought they were. And a moment later, it grew closer.

“We’ve got incoming,” John reported, taking one last glance at the array before sending a signal to Vivian and setting it down, calling Senka to his hand once it was free. After a quick thought, he picked up the shield and fastened it to his arm. “I’ll draw its focus, then you can drop another rock on it. Maybe dropping it from higher will give it enough **** to one shot it.”

“At least put on the bracers,” Aeolia said as she began to ascend. “You’re already wearing the helmet, might as well get every benefit you can.”

“Good call,” John responded, quickly equipping them. They seamlessly appeared on his forearms, and the shield’s straps automatically adjusted to the increased circumference of his left arm.

He didn’t get the chance to ruminate on that as the steady clank of armored feet announced the arrival of the other Sentry Drone.

“Great,” John groused loudly as he readied to enact their strategy. “Higher level and smarter.”

He wheeled away from the drone as it advanced, mindful of the distance between them and Aeolia’s position above. Timing was key as casting Shadow Snare too early could give the drone the chance to cut free from the Evocation and be in range for a counter strike.

After over a minute of steady retreat, John purposely slowed his steps, giving the drone an opening to attack. To John’s surprise, it didn’t press the advantage and instead matched his reduced pace, maintaining the distance between them, just outside of Senka’s range.

‘It knows about Shadow Snare,’ John realised, the pit of his stomach dropping. ‘Was it watching as we dealt with its subordinate or do they have the same linked network as the salvage bots? That’s not important now. I can’t lure it in and if I try to tell Aeolia to switch tactics, it might catch on.’

He glanced up and saw Aeolia had a chunk of debris ready to throw. Thinking back to the Salvage Drone and how he stopped its movements with Hex, John cast his nullifying effect, hoping for a repeat. Sadly, the mana was wasted as the spell appeared to have no effect.

‘So much for that idea,’ John thought angrily, hating that he wasted mana like that. ‘I wonder if the zilhavrum in its armor is what protected it. Damn it, do we just abandon the drop plan?’

He shifted his left arm, the unfamiliar weight of the shield straining his limb. An idea began to form, a risky one, but John couldn’t think of anything else. He ceased his backpedalling and rushed at the drone, lifting the shield in front of him. His eyes widened when instead of maintaining its forward momentum or increasing pace to attack, the drone broke to its right, pulling away from his charge.

‘It’s keeping its distance at all cost,’ John thought, slowing his steps. ‘We can’t keep playing cat and mouse like this. I think the drop plan is done for. Time to go with the direct tactic. And if this guy is going to keep out of melee range, I think it’s time to try the Fire Crystal.’

John willed Senka away, opening his Inventory at the same time. The drone maintained its distance, the black lenses that served as its eyes locked on him. With a quick tap, the Fire Crystal manifested in his palm, warmth filling his hand. He wasted no time and thrust his closed hand towards the drone, triggering Blaze Shard.

The crystal grew slightly warmer and a crimson shard around fifteen centimetres long shot from a small flash of red light. It crossed the distance between John and the construct too fast for the machine to evade.

6 DMG

It struck a copper portion of the armor, half of the shard piercing into the drone. It didn’t look phased by the attack but began to advance. It had only taken a step when a crescent of wind screamed towards it and it raised its shield to block Aeolia’s attack. The light green tempest impacted the shining zilhavrum and wavered slightly before dispersing.

“John, back up!” Aeolia shouted as she upturned the bag of debris, sending the compressed pieces of road and building raining down upon the drone. John beat a hasty retreat as the falling rubble began to return to their true size.