Travel underground ended up being categorized by three speeds. The first was a walking caravan. Slowest, easiest to attack, the tool of the desperate but nobody could argue with the sheer carrying capacity if they had prepared ahead of ti for the journey. The second speed were Relic Knights, or just soldiers as the undersiders called them. Theyd sprint for quite so ti but could only carry a limited amount. Usually they ran with a hand on a hover sled that carried the important things, like people or ammo, and whatever could fit in their sacks. The third speed was for military and nobility use, which involved renting out airspeeders. Undersider versions had no external handholds and were smaller than their surface counterparts. They could go very quickly, but only among wide enough roads and stretches.
At knight speed, the temple was expected to be three days of travel. The clan knights sprinted the entire way, pausing only to consu ration bars when needed and only for a few minutes to rest the mind and return to sprinting. The winterblossom technique eliminated even the small fatigue of moving an armor that regular knights had to deal with. It was, after all, only the armor moving. At first, the entire clan moved as a unit, since the general direction matched up with the surface recovery point. Day one passed and the group split with only a few words of goodbye.
And now only the dedicated remained, racing against ti directly to the mite forge.
The flooded temple of Ordritz wasnt nad for so lost god or people. A hunter team stumbled on this while on expedition to map the surrounding areas during the days the Undersiders were deciding on settling here or in a few other locations of known pillars.
The scout master was nad Ordritz, and his team had discovered a lot of landmarks along the way. However his massive ego wouldnt put his na on anything that wasnt impressive enough. The temple counted, and that ended up being the only thing Ordritz put his personal na on.
Interesting fellow. And it did not bode well for the size of this temple.
First sign wed co close to our target was the water. We loped down a mountainside path, easily clearing the rocks with vaults and precise jumps before landing into a puddle that just never ended. It looked like Capranors lake, except shallow enough to reach only our boot soles and we couldnt see the other end of the shoreline, if it even existed. Further past the initial empty stretch of water were trees. Not bunched up, but close enough to slowly obscure any vision through them. They all grew in this pseudo-lake, bright teal and green leaves.
The clan knights dove right into the forest, weaving expertly between the wide trees and leaving only ripples extending out on the otherwise mostly still water. Sowhere at the center of this forest, wed find the temple.
Think we made it before ToSefit could show up? I asked over the soul link I had to Wrath. It hadnt taken any effort to keep another tendril of soul linked up to her own fractal, so long as she was close enough to . And the sack I used to ferry her on my back was close enough.
Feathers can be rebuilt anywhere in the world. They use a teleportation network in the lower stratas to then move closer to where they need to be, the final mile will need to be traveled on foot, however Feathers will be faster than you are.
Whats the ti fra were working with?
Wrath humd in thought. At best, ToSefit decided to take her ti and wait in line for the next available forge. Then, when she travels up to the city, shell discover it empty. Only then will she suspect and possibly co here. That would give us perhaps a week at most.
Maybe this expedition wasnt quite as dood as Lord Atius had made it out to be. We could be in and out of the temple within hours. The worst we could run into was whatever machines had already made it their ho, and against us they wouldnt stand a chance.
So long as we remained hidden on the way back up, ToSefit wouldnt be able to tell where we are. The Unity fractal that connected all machines could only connect to the soul fractal, of which wouldnt give much information at all other than the imdiate surroundings if even that. Machines didnt have a soul sight, they needed a wired connection to any kind of sensor.
The Feathers would know shes alive, but so long as she didnt allow any intruder further access into her systems, there was nothing they could do to locate her.
What about the worst case?
The worst possible situation I can calculate is that ToSefit already knew of my allegiances before she arrived to the city. I find this unlikely, as ToSefit would have used a surprise attack directly to neutralize my shell before I could react. Instead, she allowed to get close enough to speak.
Counterpoint, shes a Feather. They like to gloat. Maybe she was doing so kind of ego thing, where she went ahead of her team just to kill you early?
Wrath stayed silent for a mont before she gave a resigned sight. I admit that maybe be a possibility. My kind are prone to certain vices.
So if she was doing it all to toy with you, whats next?
ToSefit would not have expected to have been defeated. I would imagine she would spend everything shes accumulated in order to pass the line and recreate her body at the first available spot and then rush directly to the city. I calculate six to eight hours before ToSefit is within range. She would first search for my shell, find it missing and assu it would have been brought back to the city.
No way Zaang could evacuate an entire city that fast, even if they had been preparing for it. Theyre not nearly that ready.
Wrath gave a sad nod inside her digital world. Indeed. ToSefit would find the migrants and likely attack them. She would hunt down the general, or any other high ranking officer and obtain information on us from there. If this is the case, we can expect her to appear behind us at so point, likely after weve entered the temple. It is possible we could have my shell fixed enough to leave early, before she arrives.
So we had good chances even in the worst case situation to beat the feather to the mite forge.
Cathida chid in, oblivious to our private conversation. Temples in range young man. Chin up, sword out, and do us proud now. She said. The mix of having the empire vindicated as real in addition to seeing Wrath absolutely trashed had made the crusader quite happy for the old bat. She hadnt even insulted all day so far.
The mont we passed the treeline, the group of knights ca to a stop. Partly from natural shock, and party from Lord Atiuss call on the comms. Ahead of us was another long empty stretch of shallow water. And at the center stood what looked like a small city, complete with white walls. All across the ground were pillars with decorative ends, most of which had been broken down with chunks spread across the water ground.
The temple itself was one massive building, interconnected with sloping arches, bridges, and grand statues that look vaguely humanoid. At the very entrance was a set of stairs that must have reached three or four stories high before the actual entrance. Looked more like a city made for giants than humans.
Lord Atiuss voice crackled over the comms. All of you lads should have read the packet General Zaang provided us a few dozen tis now over the trip here. The temple has multiple floors to it, no doors or sealed chambers anywhere. The main floor will be flooded in at boot level like here. The subfloor under it has more pronounced flooding, up to chest level, and thats where the mite forge will be located. Well travel above on the roof level to avoid being slowed down and make our way to the second floor once weve co close enough to the mite forge. Expected enemies will be spiders, screars, locust, and serpents. Advance.
We got about twenty steps forward before Father broke his silent diation, yelling over the comms system from the dallion Kidra wore. LEAP UP, NOW!
Clan knights, having been trained from infancy to follow orders from a superior, didnt question Fathers orders and leapt up high in the air. Even our Deathless didnt take the warning lightly.
It saved our lives. Not even a mont into the air, seventeen beams of bright blue slamd all across the area wed just been at, living only for a fraction of a second, cutting into the water and right into the rock under it.
A shockwave and steam raced out a mont after, the entire world engulfed in chaos and white blinding mist. Journey instantly compensated for that, highlighting objects on the HUD right through the steam including where the ground was, rock outlines, and outlines of all knights with us. On the list of nas in the group, three had turned orange from their usual green.
ToSefit had beat us to the temple. Worse, shed been waiting for us to walk out into the open.
Fall back behind treeline, now! Atius commanded over the comms. Journey instantly highlighted a waypoint, showing which way to run through the fog.
A-7, dive! Father yelled, and a mont later the chaos returned. Beams of blue lanced through the mist, casting them away like an exorcist cutting through a miasma. They werent aid, hitting the ground instead of any target. One ca close to a knight and the shockwave threw him off his feet. Shields flared up on the armor before another hiss of steam hid everything.
Two nas on my HUD turned gray instantly. One turned flashing red. We were getting cut apart.
N-3, four oh one on A-7 Windrunner spoke over the comms, keeping a level voice. R-1, four oh one on N-1. Leave A-5 behind.
In my HUD I could see two knight outlines break formation. One rushed to grab red flashing outlines of a fallen knight, lifting them up and continuing the mad sprint back to the treeline. Another did the sa, running straight for a limp gray outline. I didnt see the rest, already passing right by. A second later, our group sprinted out of the steam clouds like wraiths, vaporized water trailing behind the gust of wind we each left behind.
Another volley of beams sounded behind us, but we were too far out and those beams had been aid at the cloud center. Trees started to blur past, and soon we were back in the deep forest, taking a steep left as a group and circling around to a more unpredictable location.
All units, combat confird. Apply propranolol version 7, call out status. Casualties first. Atius ordered, looking over the group. The knights all nodded, sounds of dical kits clicking open as each took out a cylinder inside, so already lifting it up to their necks and applying the drug.
N-1, leg cut off. One of the knights said, letting go of another whod carried him this far. He wasnt mincing his words either. The leg had been chopped off, armor and all, at an angle starting from his knee. There wasnt any blood, the wound was blackened.
A-7, KOS. Another knight said, putting down a body he'd carried. This one was missing everything under his chestplate. Just a pair of arms with a limp helt. His was one of the nas grayed out on my HUD.
Verify the soul fractal on the side of his helt. Fathers voice crackled from his dallion.
The knight whod carried his fellow paused in his own dical application, then swiftly turned his helt down to the dead body. In a mont, he was kneeling, drawing his helt close enough to touch. Hes alive! The knight shouted, His soul is in the fractal, he cant return to his body, but reports status nominal otherwise!
There was a kind of wonder in his voice. The rest of the knights paused, implications settling on their shoulders.
I had hoped not to test this theory out anyti soon Tenisent, for obvious reasons. Atius said with a sigh, gravel in his voice. Fortune smiles on us this ti it seems. Cut free his soul fractal and hand it to Lady Winterscar. Tenisent, well leave A-7 to your care. All units, keep focused on the mission, do not assu complete immortality.
The clan knights nodded. There hadnt been a change in posture, but there was a feeling of relief. As if the mission was no longer as oppressive as it had been during the run here, even if technically it had gone even worse than the worst possible case.
Mlord, does that an A-5 is also possibly alive? Another knight from the A-group asked, the gray na of his teammate morbidly just under on the list of nas.
Atius nodded. Most likely yes, so long as his helt was not destroyed. We cant afford to grab his body just yet, he can wait until weve cleared out the threats. Old eyes turned to the group. I am not in the habit of leaving warriors behind. Well recover him the mont we can, or plan out a future mission to do so in stealth. Tenisents experience as a soul shows they can remain alive and in slumber for months.
He pointed to eight knights, Split into groups of two and scout ahead. We need to discover if the machines are attempting a surround or if theyve sent forces after us.
They gave a salute, and four scout parties instantly raced out, fading into the trees.
Windrunner walked over to Atiuss side. Plan?
ToSefit has already made a nest within the temple, likely at the high ground for full visibility. We should assu the other two Feathers are also within the temple guarding her. Plan needs confirmation first on viability. He turned to , or rather to Wrath that was secured on my back. Is there any way for Keith to fix you himself on the surface? We could retreat back. Even if it took months, it would be the safest compared to continuing on.
Wrath spoke over Journeys speakers. Keith could repair the majority of my shells systems with my guidance over enough ti. She said. The control nodes for the nanoswarms could be fixed by hand, however the central command systems that could activate those swarms isnt sothing that can be fixed conventionally. Neuromorphic and smaller chips within my head were not built to be operated on by anything other than nanoswarms, his armor couldnt hold his hands steady enough to repair damage there.
Atius nodded, looking grim. Deadlock then. Is another mite forge viable?
No. Travel ti to another mite forge would give the Feathers more access to resources, we would run into a far larger army each ti we turned to search for a new forge. And they would still reach the location before we do.
I see. He said, looking back in the direction of the temple. So this is them at their weakest. Theyll only grow stronger from here on out. If we cant win now, we can never win later.
Howd she even beat us here? I asked. Worse case shes supposed to be interrogating so of the Undersiders and then leaving them imdiately to co chase behind us. She should be attacking from the forest instead of on top of the temple.
She must have moved directly to the temple instead of searching for my shell near the city. Wrath said. It is the only possible way. I do not know how she knew we would co here of all places. My machines do not broadcast any relevant information back to the machine archive.
Is a full frontal charge using a scattered formation possible? Windrunner asked, already moving past the whys. The open terrain before the temple would take only half a minute at a full sprint to reach. Its possible the majority of our forces can reach the temple without being eliminated.
Atius shook his head. If we cant find another way, thatll be our last resort. Wraths report on ToSefit showed the beams ca from hovering plates around her. She could aim those freely. Even split into groups, ToSefit could fire on all of us at the sa ti.
Cathida cut into my helt while the group was discussing possible strategies. You havent taken the shot. She hissed. That drug existed even back in my day, dont think I dont know what its for. Take the booster, or Ill rat you out.
I could mute you. I said, hand over the dical kit to my side.
You cant mute a text ssage, brat. Ill send it faster than you can blink through the nu. Try .
The dkit unhooked from my belt with little resistance. Inside were cylinders, all marked differently. Knights had a different set than scavengers used. My old one had large handles to manipulate through thick gloves, and a needle point to punch through. We also had a field repair kit right next to the vials so we could seal the hole made. This kit was different, the fat vials made to hook up to a socket on the side of the throat. The armor would allow it through.
I picked the right vial and started to give it a few turns, a asuring needle on the side moving with each twist. I think Ive got an idea on how to sneak into the temple. I said to the crusader while working out the dosage.
Pretend to be a walking tree or sothing? Cathida scoffed. The missions a bust. Give up on the minx and just go back ho safe. No need to stick your leg out for a glorified calculator with a pretty face.
That so? Then youre going to love this next part. We just so happen to have a guide following around us sowhere, haunting the place. Ti I put him to work.
Next chapter - Sneak level 10
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