"That's everything," Gale said, leaving out the other personal items in his space storage.
Erin put a hand on her chin, eyes looking to each item one by one, starting from the top left. She bent down as one of the anti-mage flashbangs floated to her face. It turned over slowly. She stood back up and the object floated back to its original position.
"Most of these are useless," Erin said. "The objects you call anti-mage flashbangs, breach charges, and the scrolls are the only things of any value and use in this whole pile of… garbage."
Kyle scoffed. "The hell you mean 'garbage'? These are top-grade weapons that'd sell a lot in the black market!"
"They may kill mundane opponents," Erin said, "but they will not affect that abomination. If we are to kill it, we must lure it to the Tesla coil. The electrical discharge should be sufficient."
"And the cost?" Ollie asked.
"Two stars of energy," Erin said.
"Guess it doesn't matter. Two stars, three stars. What's the difference if we're dead?"
"A fair assessment," Erin said. She raised her hands, and water coalesced from the air, forming two spheres that hovered above her palms. Eight magic scrolls floated from where they were on the floor and entered one of the spheres. Another of the eight scrolls floated to the second water sphere.
"What are you doing?!" Rachel tried touching the sphere but was met with a solid surface. "Those cost a fortune!"
"They were useless as they were," Erin said as the scrolls dissolved in the water, forming a viscous paste inside the sphere. "I am combining all the conduits used on them into two single-use scrolls of actual utility."
The water swirled faster and the viscous paste turned into sand. Light pulsed in a rhythmic heartbeat of soft blue hues.
"You could have asked first," Rachel muttered.
Erin ignored her, turning to face Gale directly. "You will be the lead on this operation. You must be the one to lure the abomination into our trap."
"Oh, of course he is," Kyle rolled his eyes.
Clyde nodded. "Always the rookie."
Rachel stepped forward. "No. Gale's done enough in this rift already. He can't keep putting himself at risk for everyone else."
"He is the only one who can survive an encounter with the abomination," Erin said. "It can only attack physically. It has no other means to breach his defensive state."
Everyone turned to look at Gale. His shoulders slumped slightly as he realized they were right. Phase Touch made him untouchable. The thing couldn't kill him no matter how many times it stabbed him under the shelf.
"I'll do it," he sighed.
"What about the rest of us?" Lily asked. "What are we supposed to do while Gale lures the monster?"
"There are many tasks," Erin said. "Gale cannot place all the traps himself. That would take too long. Everyone shall work together to set them in specific locations."
She moved to the anti-mage flashbangs and began disassembling one, tossing its inner components aside without a second glance.
A crate near the shattered control panel monitors floated toward her, opening as it arrived. Inside was a tangled mass of cables. Erin forcefully pulled one out, and it disintegrated between her fingers.
"The conduits in this cable can now be repurposed," she said. The dust formed into grains, floating up onto her palm and suspended in the air. "I will apply my own spell into these containers."
A circle of light formed in front of the grains. A circle with a rhombus at its centre. Inside the rhombus, thousands of lines, shapes, and patterns appeared, too complex and numerous for Gale to follow. The circle flashed white thrice, and the circle vanished. The grains changed their hue into a tinge of light blue as they floated into the empty containers that used to be the anti-mage flashbangs.
Analyze.
[Freezing Field Container]
[Effect 1: Reduces hostile movement speed by 76%]
[Effect 2: Reduces hostile friction coefficient to 0.11]
[Activation Type: Trigger on Hostile Entry]
[Radius: 30 metres]
[Duration: 300 seconds]
Erin stood up as the two water spheres evaporated, leaving two blank scrolls floating in the air. Another circle materialized in the air, this one containing an inverted J, a rhombus, and multiple more shapes that Gale could barely describe. Thousands of lines and patterns bloomed along the edges of the circle, densely packed.
The pattern floated onto the scrolls and imprinted themselves. The first scroll now displayed the same pattern as the circle that had disappeared; it had an extra triangle with a missing third line. The second showed the same circle pattern, this one had a full triangle with a line running through its middle.
"This is a paired scroll set," Erin said, rolling them carefully. "They are meant to work in tandem. This shall be our checkmate against the monster."
She held both scrolls to Kyle and Clyde, one each. "We only have one chance at this. If we fail, the abomination will adapt and become immune to our strategy."
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"Famous last words," Kyle muttered.
Clyde nodded. "Yeah, what could possibly go wrong?"
"We will die if things go wrong," Erin said. "Let us ensure they do not."
Gale stood in front of the 3 way fork. He shifted his weight from left to right continuously as he looked at the left and middle paths. Below him, a freezing field container laid dormant. If any hostile came near him, it would pop and lay down a field of ice that Erin said wouldn't affect him.
Was it true? It didn't matter. He was bait and he didn't want to be here.
Clearing his throat mentally, it was the dark hunter that wanted to be here. The monster was something to be hunted, and the way the traps were all laid out, this was the perfect way the dark hunter would hunt its prey, through the sheer amount of traps. If possible, he'd wanted to have laid down a thousand of them all over the place, but that wasn't an option.
The breach charges sat scattered at strategic places. All he needed to do was lead the monster to the dead end after making it mad enough so it'd abandon all reasoning and chase him to hell.
Simple. Right?
No it wasn't simple. Gale still remembered its face. Goddamn, its face. The hollowed eyes out. The way it moved its needle in a blur of speed. It was suicide to face it without the traps. He'd been only listening the whole time while they came up with the plan, but he was the one implementing basically 80% of it.
It's ok, Gale. The monster can't kill you, at least not directly. But if this whole plan goes to bits, then it would wait for him to run out of essence and stab him multiple times until he was dead.
This was the only shot they had. No back up plans… unless Erin had another plan she hadn't shared. The way she spoke sounded like she knew every outcome there was. She was the smartest smart smart out of all of them, right?
The walkie-app in his right pocket crackled as Erin's voice came through. "Young one, you must not falter in the face of demise. There is no secondary stratagem. Should this abomination synthesize its core, it will metamorphosize into a Pestilent. Even the Protection Sector cannot protect us against its might."
He winced.
Great. Fantastic. No plan B. At this point, he should sing I'm a Little Teapot now just to make it look all the more natural too.
Running away by himself probably felt easier, that's what he would've told himself. But then there'd be no way to get back to Earth and he'd have to live in this dead world forever, and the dark hunter doesn't like that.
A sharp pressure stabbed at his ribs and neck. It was the familiar killing intent of the monster.
BOOM
A breach charge exploded down the left path. The flash lit up the corridor in a burst of red and orange, followed by a plume of black smoke. The monster had triggered the first trap.
Gale focused on his breathing. Stay calm. Wait for visual confirmation before running.
BOOM
A second explosion, closer this time. The monster was rounding the winding path.
BOOM
The third breach charge detonated right at the entrance of the left path. Smoke billowed out, filling the junction. A high-pitched whirr cut through the air as the freezing field container at the path's entrance activated, spewing out crystalline particles that suspended in the air and turned the floor into clear black ice.
The smoke parted.
There it stood, ten feet of flesh, dark chrome metal for bones that encased its glowing red heart, its flayed muscles writhing under the skin. Not a single burn mark marred its exposed flesh, not even a scratch from the explosions. Its empty eyes fixed directly on him in that frozen expression of shock.
The monster crouched, tensing its backward-bending legs.
It pounced.
Even with the freezing field, it moved too fast for Gale to react. One moment at the entrance. The next, already halfway across the clearing, needle aimed at his heart.
The freezing field below him triggered as soon as it crossed the threshold. Crystals shot out. Floor turned into black ice. Cold air swirled. Breath fogging up.
Sidestep to the right. Boots still finding traction, just like what Erin said. The monster's needle whooshed past him, missing his flesh by an inch. It crashed onto the wall of pipes as though thunder had struck.
Gale sprinted to the middle path. Behind him, metal screeched as the monster dislodged itself from the dented pipes.
Lungs burned. Feet did too. That's what he thought. Or maybe he was just scared. He hadn't had a hunt this thrilling since the dark forest. He couldn't slow down though. It was right behind him.
He reached the junction. Skidded right. Boots slid on the metal floor grates. Corridor straight ahead. Pipes lined both sides, narrowing.
Tendrils shot out behind him. Visual confirmed of the monster's approach. The monster moved too fast even with the freezing fields.
Gale glanced back. No physical visual yet. But pressure built up. The killing intent suffocating him.
The corridor turned left. He took the corner hard. Shoulder bounced against the wall. Foot immediately pounded on the ground. Vibration scattered throughout the grates.
Another freezing field activated just behind him, not a second too soon.
Flash of movement behind him. Needles extended. A breach charge exploded, slightly changing its charge's direction. The monster slammed into the corner behind him. It had no traction in the field. It once again embedded itself into the metal pipes.
Sprinting ahead, Gale reached the entrance to the battery array. Rows of massive batteries stretched out to the sky in a grid pattern.
As he entered the battery array, tendrils tugged at him. The monster only took seconds to close the gap. Distort and full body Phase Touch activated.
The needle arm passed through his heart. Its momentum carried it forward, unable to change direction as another freezing field from the enter of the array triggered. It struck the first battery with its needle; the end of the point sticking out at the other side of the massive battery.
Blue fluid sprayed from the puncture, covering the monster's arm. It pulled back, spraying its whole body even more with battery fluid.
Gale cut left, ducking between two tall batteries. He zigzagged through the grid, running as randomly as possible so that the monster couldn't predict him.
The monster crashed into another battery, knocking it sideways. The metal container groaned as it tilted, then crashed into the next battery in line. Blue fluid pooled across the floor.
Good distraction.
Stopping, he pressed himself flat against one of the batteries.
The monster moved slower, preventing itself from slipping. It looked for Gale in the array, knowing he was there. Every time it rounded the corner of one of the batteries, he moved to a different spot. It paused at each intersection, needles tapping against the metal floor.
The monster stopped again, head tilting upward. Its nostrils flared wide, taking in a deep breath.
It was looking for his scent.
Suddenly, a needle poked through the battery walls, missing his head by a centimetre. It tried to unstuck its needle, pulling at it twice, but the battery still wouldn't let go.
Now was his chance.
Gale bolted back towards the entrance. His boots splashed against the blue fluid that filled up the battery array.
Bursting out of the array, the sound of metal crashed behind him. The monster still had to work its way through the battery array with the freezing field. Looks like it was getting impatient.
He sprinted back toward the three-way fork. Legs burnt with exertion. Heart beating fast with adrenaline he hadn't felt in a long while.
By the time he reached the 3 way fork, the sounds from the battery array had stopped. He skidded to a halt in the centre, turning to face the middle path.
Now he had to wait until it saw him again to chase him.