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

He was bored! This place was boring!

Alpha slouched on the ground, the TAWP sagging like a deflated balloon. He’d expected more from ruins in a magical world! Traps! Artifacts of world-ending power! At least something to find! Nope, this place was just a plain old set of broken buildings and empty rooms. There may have been something here long ago, but others had gotten here before them and cleared out most of the place of anything interesting.

Where was the excitement?! The danger?! A proper magic ruins tromp needed traps and demons!

They’d even found an old used campsite in the largest building, complete with broken crates and moth-eaten tents. The only real thing of note was the large stone obelisk at the compound’s center. Strange enough, besides the various symbols and glyphs carved into its center, the structure didn’t seem artificial. In fact, the broke stone base seemed to physically grow out of the ground, like it was a giant granite crystal. Alpha took samples for analysis but learned little; the basic equipment he could print on the TAWP nanoskin could have been better.

The rest of the group had bunkered in the large room their predecessors appeared to have used as a central staging location. Snowball, Ganbaatar, and Ulagan, he was fairly sure those were their names now, had wandered off to explore shortly after arriving. Ganbaatar was still rather hobbled by his makeshift wooden leg, but the young man did surprisingly well for having recently lost a limb. Such an injury would only be a few days in a recovery pod back in the Federation but in a primitive world like this?

It was a life-changing and crippling blow. That he was adjusting so well could be attributed to shock, but Alpha had his suspicions.

The three hadn’t had any more luck than his own exploring with the [Wasps], though they’d gotten unreasonably excited over some old rusty equipment left in one room. Nothing Alpha could use, so he let them keep their “treasure.”

On the plus side, his lexicon was coming along great! Spying on several hours of conversations during the trip and while they’d been here had done wonders for his progress. A few more days of this, and he’d be able to communicate effectively. For now, they were stuck drawing pictures and using charades. Well, they were stuck drawing pictures. Alpha had holograms! Hurrah technology!

The older woman seemed rather shocked by the holograms, but had recovered quickly. Hell, she seemed more surprised at his sprinkling of words that Alpha was fairly sure he’d translated properly… probably. The older woman had been addressed directly and in various conversations with several names or titles, so it was harder to pin down a name than the others. Context clues had narrowed it down to Kallik or Grassreader, though Alpha had settled on the former. The latter always seemed to have an air of reverence and authority in how it was spoken you wouldn’t expect from a proper name.

She and the rest of the group, who weren’t exploring the ruins, had set up a temporary operating room shortly after arriving. Seeing them following proper sanitation and medical procedures was more than a little surprising. Well, as much as they could in the middle of some rundown ruins. Alpha had been observing the operation, with the nanites still in the young man’s system and with a [Wasp]. Kallik was fairly skilled, and her movements came with a measure of confidence. Alpha suspected she’d performed this same surgery several times in the past, but that raised the question of how common rapidly growing metallic tumors were in this world.

The growing pile of bloody copper they’d pulled out of the boy had already surpassed what should have physically been possible. Even after the primary tumor had been removed, several tiny bits left inside continued to grow, so the surgery had been a battle, to say the least. However, there’d been a slight complication not even Alpha knew how to fix.

Like spreading cancer, the metal wires had infiltrated the young man’s bones, especially the spine and ribcage. Understandably, removing those wires was taking longer than even the tumor itself had. The delicate area meant that Kallik had to work slowly and methodically, but that also gave the wires time to regrow. She’d clear out one area, only for it to become infected again while she was working on another. The medical nanites were attempting to help, but Kallik was only human, and even with the superhuman levels of endurance she’d shown, Alpha could tell she was running out of steam.

Yet, they couldn’t stop. If the wires traveled up the spinal column and reached the brain, their hard work would be for nothing.

Then, in what was feeling like a very annoying pattern recently, the yelling started. The group turned toward the sound to see a bloody Ganbaatar, Ulagan, and Snowball barreling toward them, two dozen penguins hot on their tail.

That… wasn’t good.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!”

Alpha roared and threw the TAWP into drive, stepping over and through the gaping hole in the building’s side just as the three fleeing explorers slid up and over. Most of the penguins came to a skidding halt. Some of the stupider ones decided leaping full speed at the 15-meter-tall metal giant that had crawled from the building was a good idea. A few quick bursts of auto-turret fire took care of two penguins that would have soared past Alpha and into the building behind him.

The other three didn’t even need bullets. The winner should have been obvious in a contest between fleshy skulls flying at a dozen miles an hour and multi-ton metal objects. Alpha’s hex shield didn’t even trigger!

Alpha kicked one of the bloody, broken penguins away as it slid down the surface of the TAWP’s leg. It flew back the way it came, hit the ground, and rolled several meters, stopping just short of the penguin’s frontline.

Hmmm, interesting. They weren’t running. Surely they didn’t think they could take him, did they?

The next moment, Alpha got an alarm from the [Wasps] he’d placed around the area. Alpha switched feeds just in time to see more penguins rise from the earth, a few dozen meters away from the central building.

{Oh…Ohhhhhh. I see…}

More and more penguins began rising from the stone, and soon the central building was surrounded by a ring of nearly 700 penguins.

Hey, at least he wouldn’t be bored anymore.

——————————————————

15 mins earlier.

Ganaa kicked a small rock, pinging it off the nearby ruin wall. The Akh’lut pup beside him chipped, jumping up and down like an excited puppy might. Then, with a twist of its body, her thick tail swung around and struck her own rock. Instead of flying in an arc and bouncing off the far wall, the rock shot forward like an arrow. With a bang, the rock struck the wall… then pierced through the reinforced stone.

The pup lept into the air and landed gracefully before trotting around Ganaa, head held high. Ganaa tsked and shook his head, but the grin never left his face. Of course, that was the result of trying to compete with a Spirit Beast in physical strength, let alone an Aku’lut. The pup might not have been very old, but he didn’t doubt her cultivation was higher than his own, even if he couldn’t sense it well. If he had to guess, she’d be somewhere around upper-lower or lower-mid [Bronze Spirit], not too far from Ulagan, and she was only a child!

Ganaa shook his head again, imagining just how strong this not-so-tiny puppy would grow to be in the future. By the time she was his age, she’d likely be able to trounce any human in the Radiant Sea, not just because she was an Aku’lut, either. She was smart, far more than an unawaked Spirit Beast should be. Kallik had said she was very close to awakening, but Ganaa thought it was more than just that.

They’d played several “games” so far, and the pup had followed along effortlessly. She had even been the one to lead them to the old [Earth furnace]. How she’d found it, or even if she knew what the old alchemical device was, they didn’t know, but it was a valuable find, nonetheless. Earth furnaces were used to create the super-hard, reinforced stone used in creating Earth Temples. Buildings built from this stone could last centuries, but it was as lightweight and easy to work with as wood. In the open prairies, where wood was a luxury that had to be traded for through the clans and sects at the borders, furnaces like this were exceedingly important.

Unfortunately, they could only be powered by a working obelisk, and all of those were controlled by the various powerful clans and families of the wandering city. Buying a furnace of their own was the first step in a village becoming a true city, but few could afford such costs, let alone the “rent” at an obelisk to power it.

It was unlikely they could get this one working. The relic was old and weatherworn, after all, but Ulagan’s family had worked furnaces before, and he was confident they could salvage something off of it. It wouldn’t be worth a full furnace, but it would go a long way toward the Slatewalker’s future. That’s what the older Guardian did while Ganaa distracted the young pup. They’d tried working together, but the pup’s curiosity had her sticking her nose in every new compartment they opened. The memory of watching the Lord Protector play “fetch” with the pup earlier gave the Ganaa the idea to try teaching the young Aku’lut some of the childhood games he, Yutu, and Zaya used to play.

She’d taken to it instantly and left Ulagan to work in peace.

The young pup flicked another rock toward the wall, though this time, it hit at a strange angle and ricocheted off into the distance. A squawk sounded from around the corner, almost drowned out by the ruckus Ulagan was making as he pulled the furnace apart. It’d been loud enough for Ganaa to hear, though, and the sound made his blood run cold. If the low growling from the fanged-bared, suddenly not-so-cute pup said anything, so had she.

Ganaa gripped the spare spear he’d grabbed from the cart and slowly hobbled forward on the makeshift wood leg, capping his missing foot toward the sound. The pup did the same, leading the way in a low crouch. They eased up to the corner, then burst around it with one fluid motion, Gan’s spear raised to throw and the pup ready to pounce.

What they found was a dead Grassbreaker, a small rock buried in its eye. Ganaa sighed and lowered his spear. Talk about a stroke of luck. Was it a straggler than had followed them? Distracted as they were, they might not have noticed it until it ambushed them. Ganaa turned around to head back to where they’d left Ulagan, but froze.

Why was the pup still growling?

… Why wasn’t she following him?

An icy pit formed in his stomach; Ganaa slowly turned back to the dead penguin and spotted another, very much alive, Grassbreaker, peaking from around the corner. Movement from the corner of his eye caught his attention, and, heart racing, he turned to see a second penguin peeking over the corner of a window seal of a half-collapsed building. Then a third stared at them unblinkingly as it peeked out from the ground to their left.

The Aku’lut pup’s growl deepened as she stepped back, her eyes never leaving the silent penguins. Cold sweat dripping down his back, Ganaa slowly followed, taking slow, careful steps. As he did, he called out in as hushed a tone as he could.

“Ulagan! ULAGAN! We need to go!”

Ulagan, buried shoulders deep in the furnace’s guts, called back.

“What? Why?! I’m almost done here. Just give me a moment.”

Ganaa called back, louder this time.

“Ulagan! We. Need. To. Go!”

Ulagan, perhaps hearing the urgency in the young man’s voice, pushed himself out of the furnace.

“Oh… I see.”

Unsure of what the Guardian meant, Ganaa turned to face him, trusting the pup enough to take his eyes off the penguins. The sight that greeted him froze the blood in his veins. Over two dozen Grassbreaker penguins surrounded the small furnace area in various positions. Some peeked from the ground or hid behind buildings or around the rubble. A few even stood out in the open as if waiting to be noticed.

The square was quiet for a blessed moment.

“RUN!”

Ulagan yelled, then broke into a charge, smacking away a couple of Grassbreakers as they lept for him. Like a floodgate breaking, the penguins attacked. The pup turned and followed Ulagan, Ganaa following behind. Thanks to the crudely built wood prosthetic, Ganaa could walk fine, for now, but running was an entirely different matter. He was burning Spirit energy just keeping the thing together, and he dropped behind the other two right out the gate.

Some might have stayed and fought, but that would have been a mistake. This wasn’t the open prairie; they couldn’t know how many more might hide in the rubble and ruins. If they stood their ground now, they might not escape if the horde was too much to handle.

The abrupt retreat across the ruins that followed was, in a way, more intense than when the group of apprentices had first been ambushed. What felt like an endless tide of Grassbreakers assaulted them from every direction. Ganaa didn’t even have time to see if his running strikes did any actual damage, so he focused on deflecting and redirecting the lunging penguins with his spear. Ulagan charged forward as the spearhead, breaking their encirclement whenever the Spirit Beasts tried to box them in, while the Aku’lut pup weaved back and forth between the two as needed. More than once, she’d bodied him away from a lunge coming from his blind spot or thinned the enemy’s numbers when Ulagan was being pinned down.

They each took their fair share of hits, yet each did their job as well as could have been asked. After what felt like an eternity but couldn’t have been more than a few moments, the opening in the side of the main temple came into view. Ganaa almost cheered at the sight of the Lord Protector climbing out. He wasn’t sure how the mysterious Spirit Beast had seen them coming, but the relief was palpable.

All three rushed past the gargantuan metal creature and into the safety of the main temple, collapsing to the ground. Even the pup was panting heavily; all four legs splayed out on the cold stone floor. They wouldn’t have to worry about Grassbreakers popping out of the stonework here. The obelisk might have been broken, but it still retained some of its power, or at least enough to stabilize the ground and prevent the Radiant Sea’s native fauna from burrowing through.

The hole in the temple’s side wasn’t the only entrance; however, only the largest. Most penguins would focus on the large death bringer standing in the gap, but some smarter ones would try to get in through other means. Seeming to understand this, Ulagan stood on shaky legs and threw a brown pill into his mouth. None of them were truly recovered from the Beast Lord’s assault, and only the Grassreader’s pills had kept them going. But everything came at a price, and Ulagan was already far above the recommended amount. If he was unlucky, they might even damage his foundation. The pup stood as well, shaking herself like a wet dog, but otherwise in a far better state than the rest of them.

Not to be outdone, Ganaa used his spear as support and stood. The rest of the group, save for the Grassreader, still pulling thin copper wires out of Yutu’s chest, rush toward them, both to help and ask what had happened.

The questions were cut off as a deep rumble shook the temple, knocking decades of dust off the stone pillars and nearly throwing Ganaa off his feet. Eyes wide, Ganaa turned to the gap only to stare, open mouth as he watched the Lord Protector undergo a strange transformation.

Like molded clay, the Lord Protector’s back legs elongated and flattened out, wedging deep into the hard temple floor. Meanwhile, his armor along the front legs fanned outward, sprouting several long legs anchoring to the floor, sealing the gap with a nearly three-meter tall wall, the Lord Protector at its center. The Spirit Beast’s back segment bulged, swelling into a large, cylindrical shape that reminded Ganaa vaguely of a grain silo. The bottom of the silo has twisted, then plunged deep into the ground, causing the rumbling.

Even now, Ganaa could see it spinning, physically burrowing further through the hard, obelisk-reinforced ground. Finally, eight long horns clustered in two groups of four to either side of the Lord Protector, pushed themselves out of the Spirit Beast’s metal carapace. The group could only stare in shock at the sight. They knew the Lord Protector could shift his form in minor ways, but this was by far the most dramatic transformation they’d seen. Even the pup was staring, her ears raised and eyes wide.

Suddenly, the Lord Protector’s voice spoke out in some strange language. They didn’t know what the words meant, but their commanding tone was clear.

[Warning! TAWP Siege Mode activated! Please maintain at least a 15-meter distance at all times].

The next moment, a red, glittering formation ring popped into existence, surrounding the Lord Protector. Ganaa had never seen a formation like this, nor had he seen one formed so quickly. The red, shifting, ominous light it gave off sent chills down his spine.

The two sets of four long horns to either side of the Lord Protector began spinning slowly around some center point, gaining speed until they appeared as nothing more than a blur, even to Ganaa’s eyes.

Then all other sound was drowned out by the endless roar of thunder.