Alpha Strike: [An interstellar Weapon Platform’s Guide to being a Dungeon Core] (Book 2 title)

The Crimson mountain range in the wild north of the Skybreaker continent spanned for thousands of miles in all directions. These lands were filled to the brim with legendary treasures of all kinds… and powerful beasts guarding them. As such, they had long been the premier destination for treasure hunters and fortune seekers for centuries. Popular folklore tells stories of how the reddish color of the mountain range comes not just from the vast abundance of mineral wealth locked inside, but from the oceans of blood spilled in search of the riches found here over countless millennia.

For these same reasons, adventurers, from mages to cultivators, flock to the Crimson Mountains, seeking power and wealth. Thus, in the southern portion of the mountain range, where the lands of many powerful sects and clans converge, the City State of Halirosa was born.

The City of Gold.

A Land of Opportunities.

The Home of Adventures.

Its wealth, promise, and, most importantly, freedom offered by Halirosa are as a shiny beacon to all the world’s free mages and loose cultivators. Through them, Halirosa has remained independent and neutral in a world otherwise embroidered by constant conflict and competition. While it may not hold the title of one of the Five Great Pillars of the Skybreaker continent, none would ever deny that Halirosa stood as one of the most important places in the world.

But.

The next step in our story, in Alpha’s story, doesn’t take us to Halirosa. Not yet.

No, the story that would, for some, be the beginning of a legend and, for others, a nightmare starts farther west, in the same mountain range. Sundown Mountain was small when compared to its towering neighbors. Nonetheless, its peak broke through the clouds and offered a spectacular view of the Crimson mountain range. Fitting of its name, every day at sunset, the light from the sun and sister above would peek through the surrounding mountains and illuminate the mountaintop in a dazzling display.

Even now, so soon after the Darkest Night, the few stray beams of sunlight seemed to concentrate in this place, reflecting off thousands of discarded weapons of various types and sizes. For the expansive, craterous peak of Sundown Mountain was famous for something besides just the view.

Duels.

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The eyes of the two figures standing atop Sundown Mountain burned with Spirit energy as the two pointed their weapons at each other. Both men were bloody and worn after their long battle. The plan had been to finish the fight long before the Darkest Night had even begun. But each had proven more stubborn than the other had expected, and now, days later, both were nearing their limits.

The once vibrant, emerald robes of the younger man, Xiang Yi, were now little more than scraps of burned cloth. His large saber, as long as he was tall and wielded with both hands, was chipped and cracked in several places, despite the streams of mana that barely held it together.

The older man, Lu Zheng, wasn’t in much better shape. Dozens of large cuts had reduced the crimson robes to tatters, what remained stained a darker red by his own blood. The top of the gnarled wooden staff in his hands, which had once blazed with an eternal flame, now flickered as if blown by some fierce wind.

Lu Zheng sneered at the younger man as he spoke. “What’s this? Has the little mage who fancies himself a cultivator run out of steam already? No wonder the Stonewalls have turned you down every time. Trash is trash, after all.”

“Better than the hunting dog of an overgrown chicken!” Xiang Yi snarled back. “At least the Stonewalls know how to fight their own battles, unlike your ‘young master.’”

Lu Zheng frowned and narrowed his eyes. “This is why you keep finding yourself in trouble, boy. Never know when to shut up or when to respect your betters. The plan had been to teach you some simple respect. But no… It’s clear to me now you’ll never learn. Time we ended this.”

Xiang Yi sneered back. “Fine by me. One less dog nipping at my heel.”

The two flickered and vanished, reappearing in the middle, saber, and staff clashing in an explosion of mana. Xiang Yi jumped back, then closed the distance once more with a wide slash. As he did, dew collected on his blade, then shaped itself into a thin blade, extending his saber’s reach by nearly a meter.

Lu Zheng humphed and blocked the water blade with his staff, a thin red barrier forming a few inches away. “Always the same tricks, boy. Time to learn something new.” The water blade slammed into the shield and scattered into dew drops.

Xiang Yi grinned and responded. “Who said I hadn’t?”

The scattered drops of the water blade stopped in midair behind Lu Zheng and twisted into long, thin needles. Lu Zheng’s eyes widened, but he couldn’t bring his staff around in time. A dozen water needles plunged into his back and burst out of his chest. The older man fell to his knees and coughed out a lung full of blood.

Lu Zheng laughed. It was a low thing at first, but slowly, it grew louder. He glared up at Xiang Yi and spoke through bloodied teeth. “A cheap trick, boy. But I’ll admit, effective. Still, this isn’t over.”

Xiang Yi’s eyes bulged as the mana in the area pulsed, and Lu Zheng’s chest began to glow red. “You Bastard! Are you really so willing to die for your master that you’d detonate your mana furnace?!”

Lu Zheng chuckled, coughing up a bit more blood. “You’re too dangerous to let live, boy. Nor do you know the wrath of the master. At least this way, I can ensure my family is well taken care of. Goodbye, boy. It’s a shame you didn’t know how to pick your side better.”

Xiang Yi gathered his mana and lept into the air. He needed to escape now. Someone as strong as Lu Zheng detonating their mana furnace would be enough to take out half the mountain top. But as he lept, thick, burning roots erupted from the ground and grabbed his legs, pulling him back down.

Xiang Yi fell back to the ground with an oomph!

Panic filled the young man’s eyes as he desperately clawed at the roots ensnaring him, ignoring the burns they caused him. Even his saber finally shattered as he tried to chop away at them. Lu Zheng only watched and laughed as the light in his chest grew brighter.

Bloop!

The laughter stopped as both men’s eyes were drawn to the sound of space unfolding. High in the sky above them, a large black sphere, 1.5 meters in diameter, appeared. It hovered in the air briefly as space stabilized around it, then fell… directly above Lu Zheng.

Lu Zheng stared at the black ball as wide as he was tall and sneered. “Pathetic.”

For final gambits, this was a weak attempt. Lu Zheng didn’t know how Xiang Yi had materialized the ball above him like that. It didn’t matter. He was an [8th Circle] mage; something as simple as a falling ball was child’s play. He raised his staff in the air as four concentric magic circles formed in the air above him, forming a large shield.

His sneer was soon replaced by wide-eyed shock as the large black ball instantly crashed through three circles. Three more circles formed instantly, and the ball shattered all but the last, with thick cracks forming under it.

Xiang Yi stared at the scene in shock as Lu Zheng formed an eighth, much larger circle under the final one. The seventh circle finally shattered, and the black ball fell onto the last circle with the sound of a gong. Lu Zheng visibly strained, pushing himself to his limits as the eighth circle bulged downward. “H-heavy…” was all the man could say before spiderweb cracks spread across the circle.

Then, in an instant, it shattered, and the ball fell.

Splat!

Warm blood splattered across Xiang Yi’s face as he stared, and the roots holding him down vanished as the force of the ball’s impact threw him back. Xiang Yi pushed himself up on burned hands and stared at the giant black ball that had just saved his life. It sat in a small, blood-filled crater, Lu Zheng’s broken staff laying off to the side; one more trophy claimed by Sundown Mountain.

Still, he laughed.

Xiang Yi had always felt that fate had something more planned for him. Of course, it wouldn’t let him die in a place like this. He wondered what this thing was. Some kind of treasure? Or maybe an artifact? Could it be a Fallen Star?! It had come from the sky, after all. He’d heard legends of Fallen Stars before. How they’d appear in front of the chosen few and help raise them to unimaginable heights. But the legends also said how the arrival of a Fallen Star would be more… obvious. The heavens themselves would declare their arrival, and grand battles would be fought over them.

This thing just… appeared.

Nonetheless, greed welled up in his heart. If this thing really was a Fallen Star… it could be the very thing he needed. There’s no way the Stonewall family could say no to him now. Hell, as the holder of a Fallen Star, they’d practically beg him to join them. His heart racing, Xiang Yi stood, his burned hands and legs forgotten in the face of a life-changing opportunity.

Then, he froze… as the black ball stood up as well.

A dozen spindly legs pushed themselves out of the dull, black surface of the ball, like branches growing from a tree. They spread out, then down, pushing the strange ball up and out of the crater.

Xiang Yi took a step back, his heart racing for different reasons now. He could barely feel any spirit energy or mana from this… thing, but that meant little in the Crimson mountain range, where all manners of strange creatures lived. He’d already seen what it had done to an [8th Circle] mage. Xiang Yi wasn’t going to stick around to find out what else it could do.

As he turned to escape before the ball creature noticed him, something else caught his eye. Floating in the pool of blood under the creature… was a glowing red crystal.

Xiang Yi’s eyes bulged, all thoughts of Fallen Stars and escape vanishing. He folded himself into a tight ball and covered himself in as many mana shields as possible. The red crystal flickered, and the world erupted in flames.

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When Xiang Yi awoke an unknown time later, he lay at the other end of Sundown Mountain’s peak. He flipped onto his back and groaned, feeling all the fresh wounds and a few new broken bones. His hands shaking, he pulled a recovery pill from his storage ring and threw it into his mouth. It would take hours before he was fit to travel, and months of recovery once he returned to Halirosa, but the young man felt with reasonable confidence he would recover.

If nothing wandered by and ate him beforehand, that was.

His eyes suddenly widened, memories flooding his mind, and he cranked his head to one side. He then let out an air of relief. The black ball creature was gone… as was a good portion of the Sundown mountain peak.

When Lu Zheng’s mana furnace detonated, it hadn’t been nearly as powerful as it could have been. Otherwise, Xiang Yi would have been obliterated as well. But it had been enough to take a good chunk out of the mountain peak.

Xiang Yi crawled to the edge and peered over. Much of it was as he would have expected, appearing as a blasted wasteland, but something else caught his eye. There, near the bottom of the crater caused by the blast, was a… hole? No, a cave. Had the blast opened up a hidden cave in the mountain? Sundown Mountain was a popular place and had been well explored, but Xiang Yi didn’t remember hearing anything about a cave system under the mountains.

Who knew what kind of treasures were down there, just waiting to be discovered?

The greed returned, but Xiang Yi pushed it away. He was in no condition to go exploring. Not now.

But he knew it was there.

Smiling to himself, Xiang Yi used the last of his mana to collapse part of the entrance. It wasn’t perfect, and anyone who thought to look would still notice it, but it might buy him some time.

Xiang Yi then flipped on his back and pulled out another item. A small, golden sheet of paper. He stared at it, questioning if he could afford it or not. The Adventurer’s Guild gave all its members a single distress ticket every decade. When used, it would send a signal and lead a rescue team to his location. You could technically buy more from the guild, but they were insanely expensive, to the point some people died every year rather than use theirs.

Finally, Xiang Yi reached up and tore the ticket in two, releasing a pulse of energy.

What was the point of having something that could save your life if you didn’t use it?

As he watched the golden ticket halves dissolve into dust, darkness finally took him, and Xiang Yi fell unconscious.

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Bloop!

Space unfolded as the Blink Drive deposited Alpha in high in the air over an unknown mountain range. Part of Alpha had the presence of mind to take a quick 360° snapshot of the area with his core-mounted cameras before space stabilized and he fell.

The rest of him was fuming.

Who did that bastard Jīshí think she was?! That’s what he got for trusting natives!

//WARNING! Core integrity at 51%. Prime Processer at 22%…21%// 

Did she really think she would get away with this?!

//WARNING! Core integrity at 50%. Prime Processer at 20%…19%//

Ohhhhh No. Nononono, no one pulled a fast one on Alpha! That was his job!

//WARNING! Core integrity at 48%. Prime Processer at 18%…17%//

Alpha hit the ground with a bang! Many of his Sub-AI were acting… odd, the coding walls that portioned off parts of his consciousness beginning to break down for some reason. Alpha ignored that. He would worry about that later. For now, he had revenge to plan.

BANG!

Alpha’s core slammed into something, then the ground.

//WARNING! Core integrity at 41%. Prime Processer at 16%…15%//

Alpha tried to stand, but the TAWP wasn’t responding. Oh, right, that’s because the TAWP wasn’t there anymore. That bastard stole it! The thought reignited the burning fury.

When he got a hold of her!

//WARNING! Core integrity at 40%. Seek immediate assistance from your nearest maintenance personnel!//

{WILL YOU SHUT UP?!} Alpha mentally yelled at the automated system. He didn’t have time for that. Who knew what Jīshí was doing with his body?

Alpha manipulated the nanite layer of his core to form rudimentary limbs. His core wasn’t meant to move independently, but it could, if need be. Sometimes, pulling himself into a core dock was faster than waiting for the machines to do it.

The spindly limbs pushed his core out of the small (for some reason also wet?) crater it was in. Before he could take another step, however, a new warning blared in his mind.

//WARNING! EXTREME ENERGY SIGNAL DETECTED! EVASIVE MANEUVERS ADVISED!//

Alpha barely had time to activate his core shielding before the mountaintop exploded. His core was thrown a dozen meters into the air, along with thousands of tons of stone and earth. When he fell back down, he fell further this time, tumbling down the mountainside along with part of the mountain.

He tried to correct himself and latch onto anything solid, but with half the mountain falling with him, there wasn’t much to grab onto. After a few seconds of falling, one of the extended nanite tentacle limbs grabbed onto solid ground, and Alpha pulled himself into a hole in the side of the mountain. Alpha’s core tumbled into the hole and deeper into the cave, finally free of the avalanche outside.

His core came to a stop at the bottom of a steep incline. It was too dark for his cameras to pick up anything, but his integrated radar told him he was in the middle of a long tunnel that stretched out in either direction. Alpha lay still momentarily, trying to process what had just happened.

//WARNING! Core integrity at 27%. Prime Processer at 13%…12%.//

//WARNING! Personality Matrix critical! Conditions met. Beginning emergency maintenance protocol: DEEP SLEEP.// 

{Wait, what?! Abort! ABORT!} Alpha tried to give the command, but the few remaining functioning Sub-AI overruled him. That should have been impossible! His Sub-AI only had that kind of power if his prime processor had been compromised! That was ridiculous! He felt fin—.

Alpha’s consciousness went black.

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//Good morning, [SEAU - 01]: ALPHA. You have been in emergency maintenance mode for: (12 days. 8 hours. 23 minutes. 12 seconds). Core Integrity at 62%. Prime Processer at 32%// 

Alpha came too slowly. Why did this feel so familiar? Or was he getting used to waking up in strange places? That wasn’t the best of habits to have…

Slowly, he brought more and more systems online, trying to understand where he was.

Underground, he could tell that much. His logs were thankfully undamaged, so he still had a pretty clear recording of the mountain range he’d blinked to. Where that was in relation to where it had been… it was hard to tell. The [Blink Drive] in his core, while technically ‘short-range,’ was still capable of 100,000 kilometers or more. He could be in the mountains he’d recorded beyond the prairies… or on the other side of the planet.

It was hard to tell. The [Blink Drives] were used as emergency escape methods for a reason; it was relativity hard to predict where you’d end up, other than ‘somewhere’ in a general direction. Jīshí had to have known that if she really knew as much about his systems as she claimed to.

The memory of the ‘Prima’ kindled Alpha’s fury a bit.

Now that he was a little more… stable, Alpha could see the rationale in her thinking, but that didn’t stop him from calling bullcrap! He’d been doing fine until that point! All she was doing was grabbing an excuse to get him away from the TAWP.

If he really had been in as bad of a condition as she claimed, she could have just ejected his core and had the humans carry him away. But no, she purposefully triggered his [Blink Drive]. Okay, fine, he would admit he might not have been thinking clearly at the time, and he didn’t have all the information, but there were other options! Instead, she chose the one that removed him from the picture entirely.

Why?

To take credit for the save?

To monopolize the energy? Hell, she’d been practically drooling when she talked about it before.

Something else entirely?

At the end of the day, it didn’t matter. He’d fallen for her trap like a chump, and he had no one by himself to blame.

That’s what he got for trusting natives.

Now, he was in worse condition than after planetfall, trapped an undeterminable distance underground and moving toward who knew where.

… Wait… moving?

Alpha hurried to activate the rudimentary sensors on his core, then froze.

The AI’s core was slowly being carried through a massive tunnel, lit by bright glowing mushrooms, clutched in the jaws of a massive… ant?

Half the size of Alpha’s core, the creature was a black and brown molted color and resembled a giant ant, though much spiker, like a king crab. Alpha almost put a nanite lance through the creature’s head but stopped himself as he got a better look at his surroundings.

The creature that carried him wasn’t alone.

All along the massive tunnel, dozens, if not hundreds, of ‘ants’ marched down the tunnel, each carrying some item or another. Some carried shiny rocks. Others worked together to carry the bodies of unidentifiable mammalian creatures several times their sizes. Still others held various times of plant matter. One particularly large specimen carried what looked like an entire tree on its back, the trunk glowing with pulsing veins of blue.

Worse yet, above them, on the tunnel ceiling, dozens more ants, free of any burden, marched in the opposite direction. Alpha was sure if he had a better angle, he’d see even more ants in either direction.

Not good.

If it was a lone creature, he felt confident in escaping. Against hundreds? His core wasn’t built for that kind of thing. As it stood, it seemed his… escort likely assumed he was just another shiny rock. But if he let on, he was more than that; it was likely Alpha didn’t doubt he’d be swarmed in an instant.

If the mangled bodies of the creatures being carried alongside him said anything, it said these ‘ants’ were more than capable of causing actual damage. He would have to wait for his chance to escape.

Now, the only question was, where were they taking him?

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