[411] 5.35 Assault on Bouvet IV

“I hope you have some sort of a plan here,” I tell Lindsey through hitched breath.  “Because I’m not confident in my ability to outlast this wave for too much longer.”

“You’ll have to buy me a little more time, Seraphina!  Maybe fifteen seconds.”

Sure, Lindsey.  A ‘little’ time.  ‘Just’ fifteen seconds.  Why not ask for a free unicorn and the pot of gold at the end of the nonexistent rainbow?  I think both of those would be easier to give you than the eternity that is ‘just’ fifteen seconds.

The fourth wave has been, on account of being the sixth level, altogether different in kind compared with the first three.  While there are still a few of the base drones that comprised the entirety of the first level, their scope has been mostly reduced to semiautonomous shields whose purpose is to intercept and tank our attacks with their own bodies, protecting the stronger, faster, and much more deadly types that have shown up this time around to cause trouble.

More of the swordmaster types are just the tip of the shit-stained iceberg.  Now we have to deal with berserkers that can fly through mechanisms I can only describe as ‘somehow’ along with massive heavy units each the size of a large pickup truck and the defenses and [Health] stats to match.  My swordstaff, with all my buffs, is able to pierce its defenses and do superficial damage to them.

The only saving grace against the heavy units is that they are so bulked up that they are slow and not particularly strong offensively.

Worst of all is the mage corps.  Only five of them in total, but having to deal with bolts of lightning and gusts of wind attempting to shoot me down as I’m also trying to evade axe-swinging slashers gunning for my head and maybe even on rare occasions actually fire some attacks back to winnow down the field and protect Lindsey while she prepares her attack.  And this is just level 6?  As in, there’s four more levels after this shit?  Goddesses help us all!

“Sera!” Chloe shouts.  “Can you come over here?”

“I’m sorry, Chloe!  I’ve got my hands full just protecting Lindsey right now!”

“Damnit!  Alright!  I’ll try to hold out a bit longer then!”

A burst of flame slams into my back.  I hardly feel the heat anymore.  I use an aspect of [[Infernal] Element manipulation to grab hold of the intangible flickers and command them to do me and my allies no harm.  After a moment of hesitation, they oblige my order and dissipate into the air.

Three berserker drones throw their axes like spinning tomahawks.  I teleport over to Lindsey and raise a barrier to surround her and deflect the projectiles before they can interrupt her concentration.  I wince from the sudden exertion as the metal collides with the wall I’ve erected and slams directly into my consciousness.  The barriers hold, but only just, nearly cracking under the tremendous forces at play.

In the brief moment I have before the three drones catch their weapons and continue their assault, I unleash [Infernal Doppelgänger] and command it to slam into the sentry nearest me.  It obeys, for its will is my own, and for the first time, I’m able to completely incinerate it.  No mitigating measures, no partial functionality remaining.  Importantly, no scrap left over to be repurposed and rebuilt into more machines for the next round.  Just smoke and the fetid stench of residual smoke as the law of conservation of matter is asked to kindly go fuck itself.

“Try [Celestial Fire], Chloe!  My [Infernal Doppelgänger] was particularly effective!”

“Got it, Sera!  I’ll need a moment to–”

While I relay the information to Chloe, I command the still-active [Doppelgänger] to charge into the heavies that had thus far resisted my attacks nearly completely.  Even this isn’t enough to completely bring these behemoths of steel and oil down.  But the Skill is able to evaporate about half of the hulk to dust before finally dissipating.

“Done!” I can’t turn my eyes to Lindsey, but I can spare just enough [Veilsight] perception to acknowledge that her eyes are now shining, one a shining yellow-white, the other a yellow tinted with a green hue.  Her body sparks with a form of [Lightning] with which I am not familiar and which feels as though it has some intrinsic property that pierces past my flesh and [Ether] and threatens my very spirit and existence on the most fundamental level.  I might be able to survive whatever she is concocting behind heterochromatic eyes.  I would not enjoy any part of it, and I do not think my pain suppression would do a lick of good against it either.

“Chloe, Seraphina, out of the way, now!”

A strange iridescent spark emerges from Lindsey’s right hand.  It grows into a surge of current that flows in a closed loop just above her open palm, filled with enough power to unnerve me.  Where did Lindsey get a mage class?  When did she start learning how to wield [Ether] in this manner?  Some variant of her [Energy Arrows]?  I assume so.  I hope so, or I’d have to accept that even with all my advantages, I’ve fallen even further behind than I’d thought.

“[[Insightful] Catastrophe].”  Lindsey’s words are spoken calmly, barely over a whisper.  They echo throughout a chamber which has gone silent, as though the name of her technique alone is enough to force the world itself to pause before it.

The attack is instant.  Chloe and I both look away just in time.  A single bolt of [Lightning] mixed with [Light] energy, traveling at nearly the speed of the latter.  If my [Chain Lightning] attacks from before had stunned the mechanical mob, this was the equivalent of frying every circuit, every connection, and every shred of Ether stored within their carapaces all in the blink of an eye.

The silence remains even after the effects of the attack dissipate.  An idea springs to mind.  Just as the floor starts to open up to swallow the now useless pieces of scrap metal and ceramic, I use every drop of [Ether] and dip into my [Health] with [Lifecasting] to conjure one last [Infernal Doppelgänger] and issue it a final order.  Follow into the depths of this dungeon and destroy every piece of machinery and equipment it can find.  If it can destroy the entire repurposing facility, even better.

My Skill does not have emotions of its own.  But when I relay the command, the effigy of myself looks back as though pure glee had just been carved upon blackened lips.  She dives into the chute with a certain pep in her step that hadn’t been there before, slipping in-between tiny cracks of the floor just as the final panels start to close behind her.

Chloe gives me The Look as I expected.  Emergent situation or no, she still doesn’t like when I deliberately injure myself through [Lifecasting].  I’m healed in short order, and she also shares a portion of her [Ether] with me.  I’m about to lie down on the tile floor, but then a buzzer snaps my fatigued consciousness back to full attention.

“Ah ah ah, ladies!  And here I was just about to congratulate you on another successful mission, and several minutes faster than I had dared hope.  You had proven yourself worthy competitors, and for your excellence in the line of battle, I was about to share some of my premium wares with you.  New accessories, perhaps, or perhaps top of the line potions.  The ones that provide permanent boosts to your stats!  Maybe if you had played all the way through the end and scored an excellent rating, I could have even given you something out of my private reserve.  A free level, perhaps?  I’m sure you of all people know that such things exist… for the right price.”

I have personally eaten a [Level Apple].  And I don’t doubt that permanent stat-boosting concoctions exist.  I don’t believe for a moment that Ms. Fawkes would part with them for any price.  I sure as fuck wouldn’t part with something that could move me closer to the fourth ascension and unlocking my third and final class.

“But no, Seraphina.  You broke the rules of the game.  You are a dirty rotten cheater!  A cheating cheater who cheats and lies and steals and has no sense of self-respect or fair play.  No honor!”  The sound of Ms. Fawkes blowing a raspberry through the intercom is not something I had expected, but it seems more and more in line with their complete lack of character with each passing second.

“So, the game is over now.  You lose.”  A maniacal giggle follows.  “Everything.  Now die.”

A giant red strobing siren descends down from the ceiling.  Several more of various colors follow, creating a disorienting rainbow array.  The walls open on all sides, revealing soldiers by the tens of thousands.  Most of them are ordinary drones, but there’s the whole potpourri of specialists to join in the fun.  Heavies in the front, mages and archers in the back, berserkers and swordmasters on the sides, and one colossal, oversized tank— an actual, literal oversized tank— in the middle, possessing I don’t even want to know what kind of structural integrity.

Lindsey is still winded after her earlier devastation.  I have some stamina, but my [Ether] hasn’t had nearly enough time to recover.  Chloe is the only one of us in fighting shape, but there’s simply too many of them for her to either outlast or outdamage the horde.  I’m still two days away from being able to [Overlimit] again, and even if I could, I’m not confident.

There’s still no sign of my doppelgänger back from its journey.  I can think of only one strategy to get us out of here, which isn’t guaranteed to work even now and still might not be possible due to my current lack of [Ether].  I relay the plan to Chloe.  She looks back on the encroaching army, then back to me, then relents.

Chloe feeds all her [Ether] into me.  I scan the surrounding area to double-check the fluctuations I’d been noticing ever since Ms. Fawkes started their little tirade.  I confirm what I’d vaguely noticed.  The destabilized region of subspace around us had grown less chaotic right around the same time the walls in the chamber came down.

But I have to be precise.  Chloe and I take defensive positions and mock a battle-ready perimeter while Lindsey continues to rest behind us.  Despite neither of us saying a word, she’s relaxed, no tension in her muscles, no grimace on her face that she didn’t put up there herself as a ruse, playing along as though she had the ability to read our mental link.  The scary part is, I’ve got no way of proving that she can’t!

The robots stop when they’re within ten feet of us, guns and weapons all drawn but not yet used.  Another part of our plan.  The intercom comes on again, this time from everywhere all at once, repeating in the sort of bizarre repetitive cadence that would feel right at home in a haunted house as part of some C-budget horror film.

“Alright, ladies!  Congratulations on making it all the way to the end of the road!  You did it!  But, as thanks for all the entertainment you’ve generously given me, I’m willing to hear your final words.  So what will it be?  A final word of defiance?  Maybe a prayer, an apology, something you want to convey to someone you love?  A family member?  Go on, you three are warriors, after all.  I’ll hear you out.”

An explosion flashes in the distance as my doppelgänger finally finds its mark.  Lindsey grabs my shoulder, Chloe wraps her arms around me from my front, and I teleport the three of us as far up and away as I can manage, hopefully out of this hellish shithole.