[410] 5.34 Assault on Bouvet III

Ms. Fawkes gives us only thirty seconds before sending forth the next wave.  There are more of those drones to round out the ranks, but the far more threatening units are the twenty stealthblade units taking waiting positions in the back.  Just from their construction and flexibility of movement, I know that they are two grades above these baseline drones in terms of both offensive and defensive capabilities.  Each of their bodies is equipped with a cloaking device that renders them all-but-invisible to the naked eye and even manages to smear their presence within the Etheric flow that surrounds us all.

Lindsey doesn’t even flinch as the twenty new soldiers move with astonishing celerity.  She leaps up into the air with her [Gale Walk] skill and begins raining hell down upon the hordes groundbound below.  Chloe remains in the fray, blocking the invisible [Wind Blades] in an effortless manner thanks to all the knowledge of swordplay fed into her body and mind by the [Blade Dance] art.

Though I’m loath to admit it, I’m having the hardest time of it all.  Part of that is that I’m having to deal with seven of them instead of Chloe’s six.  A much larger part is that I don’t have the sort of formal training with my swordstaff that Chloe gets with her classes.

“Hmph.”  I grunt under my breath as a blade of air nicks my right forearm.  I conjure a sheet of solidified air around my weapon and slash my weapon to parry, countering the thrust with equal force and sending a gust of wind shooting outward and then upward as it hits the tiled walls on the side.

I fall prone as the drones are about to skewer my stomach from every direction.  There’s not a moment before they are back on me, forcing me to roll out of the way and right onto the toes of one of the basic drones that moves as though through molasses by comparison to these advanced models.

It’s tempting to start digging into my bag of tricks, but I allow the farce to continue to conserve my reserves for the next eight challenges.  Diving into the mob of drones proves effective at buying me a little space and even manages to take a few of them out along the way.

Their coordination is impressive, to the point where I no longer believe these sentries are all automatons at all.  However, their individual weakness and slow speed relative to these advanced models make them unable to actually execute the commands issued to them quickly enough to avoid becoming collateral damage.

The space becomes more generous as the androids are winnowed down quickly.  Each robot that falls is swiftly swept up into the floors and off to the repurposing bays elsewhere in this oversized foundry of death, leaving more room for the three of us to maneuver around the rest.

I finally get a break as I’m pushed against one of the walls.  Two robots slash at me from opposite sides, giving me the perfect opportunity to phase through them.  Their attacks both cut into the wall, giving me the briefest of windows where their weapons are stuck and their defenses are both lowered.  My swordpoint meets one’s internal wiring and relieves it of its left leg.  The other loses its head, though that proves insufficient to actually stop it from continuing to flail around helplessly.  Losing both its feet and each of its hands, on the other hand, renders it sufficiently scrapped to be sent off to the junk heap with the rest.

Lindsey— damn level 101 overachiever— is already done taking care of her seven.  Despite Madison’s entreaties about the dangers of ranged weapons and the need for infusions of Etheric ammunition, Lindsey has demonstrated that there certainly are use cases for the same.

It takes far less than the blink of an eye for her arrows to fly from her aerie near the ceiling down to the one that was just about to swing for the back of my neck.  Dramatic much, no?  And I had it, too.  I was just about to–  I stymie the thought and give her a smile as I bisect vertically the last of my dance partners for the round.  Three seconds after Chloe finished, even with Lindsey giving me a bit of assistance.

Her smirk suggests that I won’t be living that down anytime soon.

Ms. Fawkes, in their ever annoying fashion, wastes no time in summoning another clock.  Eighty-seven seconds.  That seems to be all the time we’re going to get to catch our breaths.  It’s more than I need; I could keep going at that pace for hours if I had to.  I’m not going to waste it, though.

“I expected better after reading up on your reputations.”  More shrill words out of the intercom.  I’m very inclined to shoot a bolt of lightning through it, if not for the fact it wouldn’t do a damn of good.  “If I were your teacher, I’d give you a D.  D-minus, really.  Poor coordination, poor tactics.  You all are third ascension, for goodness sakes!  When I was level 70, I could have dealt with that whole wave myself!  You put fighters to shame with that pathetic display!

“But, since you seem to need it, I’ll give you a hint.  You are being graded on your performance each round.  Do well and you get more time to rest in-between each fight.  Impress me and I might even reward your performance.  Better potions, a robotic ally for the next round.  Maybe I’ll even go just a bit easier on you if you earn my generosity.  Anyway, I do hope you will entertain me in round 3.  I wouldn’t want to feel my hospitality is lacking or anything.  Until then, adieu!”

Lindsey lands next to me.  “Has she been this annoying the whole time?” she asks me in a whisper.  “Or just since she decided to throw us in her little death game?”

“No, she’s been this annoying the whole time.  And I’m sure she can hear everything we’re saying even when you try to be clandestine about it.”

Lindsey shrugs.  “Military training.  Plus, you never know.”

I roll my neck and arch my back as I stretch my waist and shoulders.  A few more stretches of my knees and ankles and then the buzzer signals the start of the third round.

There are fewer drones this time around— only around two thousand.  But this time around there are fifty of the swordfighter model, along with another ten archers each carrying longbows nearly as long from tip to tip as they are tall.  Lindsey leaps up to claim the high ground and immediately begins firing her [Etheric Arrows] down upon the surface-dwelling clankers down below.

They fire back as expected, leaving them wide open for a burst of my [Chain Lightning].  With my higher [Mind] stat and the qualitative changes to my casting ability upon reaching the third ascension, I need only about five thousand points of [Ether] in order to make their first volley into their last.

“Chloe, shall we join Lindsey in the air this time around?”

“Of course, Sera.”

Both of us ascend at once.  I’m expecting at least some of them to give chase, but none of them do.  Thinking about it, why would they pursue to the air where they are at a disadvantage, when we are the ones constrained to a timer as we allow the keeper to collect more data on our fighting capabilities.

Lindsey continues to fire arrows on the collection of swordmaster clunkers down below.  To her momentary indignation, they seem to have come up with a way to defend against the attacks by rotating their wrists at high speeds and spinning their blades in a barrier formation.  The second shot is likewise evaded, but thanks to Chloe’s feint on the third round, Lindsey is able to score a hit right through the chest of the central bot in the formation.

Chloe wastes no time in engaging her [Blade Dance] Skill once more, using the brief calculation window to weave past the left flank’s defenses before they’re fully engaged.  And I do the same from the right, using my slightly higher stats to compensate for my relative clumsiness.  This time I actually remember to make sure to take advantage of the single biggest reason why I chose a swordstaff instead of a sword in the first place— the range advantage I enjoy.

Once I shake off the feeling of being a complete and total dunderhead and forgetting the most basic principles of how to use my weapons in an actual setting and not just simulated practice with lower-leveled individual, I’m able to use my [Impulse] glyph to accelerate past the final layer of defenses and smash through the two sentries nearest me.

From there, the battle devolves into a massacre.  With the formation sacked and Chloe’s [Blade Dance] again allowing her to split the defenders into two groups, Lindsey and I attack with absolute, ruthless efficiency.  It takes only seventy-three seconds from buzzer to buzzer and the round finally ends.

Pi seconds of blessed peaceful quiet— I timed it.  Then the intercom reappears from within our glorified prison cell, followed by that sarcastic slow-clap that reminds me just how much I yearn to tear that asshole’s skin from her flesh and her flesh from her bones and her bones from her marrow and anything else I can rend into nothingness.

“Congratulations!  You have finally done as I have asked and actually demonstrated an appreciable fraction of your power!  As promised, I’d like to give you a gift, courtesy of Apeiron Sciences!”

A pedestal appears, containing vials of a green, a red, and a yellow liquid.  I examine them with my [Artificer’s Glasses].

[[Potion of Sagacity]: A potion which, when consumed, temporarily increases a person’s [Mind] by x 1.2 for 1 Hour.]

[[Potion of Swiftness]: A potion which, when consumed, temporarily increases a person’s [Speed] by x 1.2 for 1 Hour.]

[[Potion of Might]: A potion which, when consumed, temporarily increases a person’s [Strength] by x 1.2 for 1 Hour.]

My eyebrows rise.  Such potions are not uncommon, but a 20% boost is quite strong by the standards of what is readily available for civilian purchase.  10% is the most common strength, though 15% is not unheard of.  These are military grade, requiring high-dollar and the right connections.  I have the connections, and while I try to keep a couple of the 15’s in my [Inventory], I didn’t think to spend the money on the 20’s and Nicholas didn’t see fit to give any to us before we left.

The fact that these are just being handed to us on a literal silver platter speaks both to the confidence of our warden and the resources at Apeiron’s disposal.  The very best case scenario is that they have profligate money to throw around on acquisitions.  The far more likely one is that they have a high-level alchemist.  Assuming that alchemist is past the third ascension, they can probably even start brewing 25 and 30% boosts, and potions that start being called ‘greater’ or ‘strong’ or whatever other suitable modifier the System sees fit to use.

After explaining what they are, Chloe takes the [Sagacity] and Lindsey takes the [Swiftness], leaving me with [Might].  The surge of energy follows an instant after the last bitter drop passes my tongue and settles into my stomach.  Fortunately, these potions also strengthen ligaments, tendons and bones, not just muscles, so I don’t have to worry about my newly-strengthened muscles

This time, the warden generously awards us a full seven minutes to recover.  My previous [Mental Regeneration Potion] is still in effect, and combined with all of my other effects, I’m able to recover most of the [Ether] I used before the clock hits zero.

To my temporary relief, followed by increasing horror, there are no robots spawning out of the ceiling or the walls when the clock strikes the proverbial midnight on the next doomsday.  Instead, the intercom comes on once more.

“I’ve been thinking, you three.  But I don’t think Level 4 is going to be all that much of a challenge at this point.  So, in the interest of moving us along to this little game’s natural conclusion, I’ve decided that we’ll be jumping directly to Level 6.  Take another thirty seconds, say your goodbyes, make your peace with your gods, and then we’ll get this show on the road!”

The giggle of someone far too immature to wield this power is the last thing that remains, echoing throughout the chamber.