SL: Chapter 706 – Day Unknown – Interior Assault

I made my way into the first part of the structure, in the center of the tunnel. The walls were melted and heavily damaged from the super bomb that had been used. I kept scanning for any kind of traps or monsters.

We came to a ‘Y’ fork in the tunnel where the damage was the worst. This was clearly where the super bomb had been set off. Focusing a bit, I created a small amount of light energy, lighting up both passages.

Clarissa and her minions were right behind me with the second super bomb. All of us floating through the tunnel. They caught up to me as I spent time visualizing the outside construction and how the interior would be laid out. I wanted to reach the center. “This way,” I muttered and picked the left tunnel.

Once we got past the destroyed bits, that was when the interior assault started. Small turrets would emerge from the walls to attack down the corridors we were transversing. I had a large Magnite shield covering my front, it would take several attacks, allowing me to close the distance. I punched the turrets, destroying them. The beam attacks dug into the thick shield. I had to carry it under gravity, then it would have completely thrown me off balance. Here, it was the perfect defense in order to get close.

Once it was too heavily damaged it was easy enough to replace with the portable store. It was an incredibly broken item, I couldn’t help but think again as we advanced through the structure.

“Behind!” I looked back and there were turrets emerging from the walls behind us. Bombs were being thrown as Clarissa and her minions took cover behind their enchanted shields. A beam attack grazed my left foot, but there were no other attacks from behind as I continued to advance. Clarissa was purchasing more magnite slabs to block the passage behind us, while one of her minions placed bombs along walls we passed by, hopefully taking out any small turrets that would emerge.

The explosions would also mark an easily visible path out of this place. The metal walls looked the same no matter which direction we went. Also, the splits in the tunnels weren’t on the same plane, they were offset from each other, since this place was built like some kind of three-dimensional fractal.

After a minute of traveling, which was when a lot of golems began assaulting from all the side tunnels. I continually defended myself. “Michael!” Clarissa sent out the wave of sound energy as I fired around my large shield. Clarissa sent another purchased shield sailing forward. I quickly moved behind it as the shield in front of me was shredded.

“Twenty bombs left!” Gregor called out, I was barely able to hear his voice as explosions and beam attacks continued to be exchanged.

“Keep fighting! Use everything but the super bomb,” I manipulated some energy to call out.

“Ahh!” A bomb Conner had been about to throw was hit with a beam attack and exploded, blowing away his right arm and a portion of his chest. I spun and aimed behind us, circling around the edge of the tunnel, firing in both directions.

Clarissa deployed more shields, but it was in desperation as we were completely pinned down at the moment. I kept up firing, energy reserves wouldn’t matter if were overwhelmed. After what seemed like ages, but was probably a minute at most, there were no more golems attacking from either direction as we had a moment of respite.

I turned to look at Conner. He was still alive, and his fellow minion was applying emergency treatment with supplies Clarissa was purchasing. I checked both directions once more, and there was only destroyed portions of the corridor and golems.

“Status?” I asked.

“I can still fight,” Conner said with a rasp as drops of blood flew out of his mouth. My opinion of the man was revised upwards. Clarissa didn’t pick useless people to come along on this mission. Missing his right arm and a portion of his shoulder and chest, and he was still willing to keep going.

“We are down to less than ten handheld bombs and the super bomb. Points are still strong. But our skills don’t do anything,” Clarissa said. That meant offense would fall to me.

“Your blood and organs should stay inside. I will be healing you slowly,” Gregor said as he finished bandaging up his teammate, making him look like a mummy. The bandages were already turning red from the blood soaking through. Gregor began using a healing skill with some minor effect to stop his fellow minion from dying.

“How is your energy?” Clarissa asked me.

“Too low. Around 50,000. I am going to have to risk regeneration.” I needed at least 100,000 energy to beat the sphere. I used to wonder why in stories and games the big boss didn’t just go out and crush everything in their path first like the Divine Empress. The simple answer was attrition.

I had destroyed hundreds of golems and turrets. While I had taken minimal damage, I was still being worn down and my energy was being exhausted. “I figured this might happen,” Clarissa said and began unpacking a series of curved rods from the crate the remaining super bomb was being transported in.

“What are those?” I asked.

 “A portable astrolabe. It is enchanted in such a way to counter the sphere’s energy. One of Jacob’s last contributions. It should make it some to regen energy,” she replied.

“You want to use it now?” I asked.

“You don’t? This is a good place to hunker down and recuperate,” she replied. I nodded after giving it some thought. If we continued to advance and I ran out of energy, then things would turn very bad very quickly.

“Any other useful surprises?” I asked.

“Unfortunately, no. This is also experimental. I don’t know how long it will work or if it will draw a greater response. I was hoping to save it for when we had to leave. But it doesn’t look like that will be the case,” Clarissa replied as she continued to assemble the astrolabe.

“Done. I can begin sealing up the passage behind us. Unless you want me to look at your wound sir?” he asked me. I shook my head.

“I am fine. They aren’t serious and don’t impede my combat ability. Better to heal up Conner there and save up your energy for anything more serious,” I replied.

“Begin sealing up the passage behind us,” Clarissa ordered and purchased several more large plates and a pieces of frame that could be expanded into place. Conner quickly got to work while Gregor floated quietly to the side, keeping an eye at the passage we had come from.

“Why aren’t we being continually assaulted, this makes no sense,” I muttered.

“You did take out a lot of golems and other defenses. The sphere might not have enough left,” Clarissa replied.

“It is consolidating its defenses then. I would have kept up the attrition at range,” I muttered.

“Depends on how much control it actually has. All the energy you have been using and the bombs has made things quite chaotic. Also, it might be drawing energy to empower itself and its attacks. While we are running low on energy, it could be in the same predicament,” Clarissa said hopefully.

“If I try to increase my regeneration rate, there will be curse damage,” I muttered, not looking forward to the recovery time I would have to undergo. But there was no other option. We had already committed this far. The real risk was how much curse damage I could sustain before losing access to the store. That would be a fate almost as bad as death and in some cases, much worse.

Clarissa finished setting up the astrolabe in the middle of the passage. It was about half her height. She put several crafting crystals in the center of the astrolabe, and it began spinning. There was a small wave of energy expanding outwards, that scorched my clothing, but didn’t do any serious damage to me.

I began regenerating energy. I was soon regenerating 10 energy per second. It would take me about 7 hours to fill up again. I looked at the astrolabe spinning and then Clarissa.

“How long?” I asked.

“Based on the consumption of the crafting crystals, I would estimate about five hours.”

“Based on the crafting crystals and the enchantments on the astrolabe itself, it appears the sphere uses energy based on construct, metal, life, null, and sheer. The last two are opposites,” I said, and Clarissa nodded.

“It isn’t simple, that is for sure. It will also give us a breather as well. At least that worked. One less problem to worry about. Food, water?” Clarissa asked me.

“Water would be nice,” I replied. It was a bit of effort to get a drink with our masks on, but we all managed as we continued to wait and recuperate. There was still no response from the sphere.

“It isn’t repairing its structure,” Clarissa said after a while.

“I find that odd myself. The System doesn’t do anything while anyone is looking. I would have said it was shy, but it might create a vulnerability,” I replied. Clarissa tilted her head to the side asking an unspoken question. “Resonance, or tracing them directly back to their source. Most likely a weakness of some kind, else there would be no need to hide such things.”

“Should we scout?” Conner asked. I shook my head.

“We keep hunkering down. There are small gaps through the barriers we have erected to observe through. We aren’t being surrounded, but if I am going to have any chance of winning, then I need energy. The super bomb will only damage the terrain.” I could tell he was nervous, which was why I repeated myself and the plan we had come up with.

While not a suicide mission, out of all of us, Clarissa’s minions were the least likely to survive. While she might not say anything, I was pretty sure Clarissa had an escape plan ready of some kind. That was just the kind of thing she would do. Which was also why I was keeping an eye on her and everything she had brought along.

It didn’t escape my notice, that the remaining chest for the superbomb, had enough space in the bottom to have a hidden compartment. A small astrolabe of some kind. Maybe a beacon, or another means of survival. Or maybe it might make a portal back to the Systemic Lands for a brief period of time, that she could escape through. Clarissa’s desire to live was immense, just like mine, which was why we understood each other so well. We were alike in that regard.