Chapter 175: We have the Technology.
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Chapter 175: We have the Technology.
Delta watched as Maestro and Fera pushed the He-Ro bots harder than before, Maestro pulling a double duty of fighting and protecting Numb and Billy’s cocoons of evolution. In the back of her mind, Nu continued the fight against them in the Symbolic Space, using more devious tactics than Delta had used.
The Agility He-Ro nearly crushed the glowing cocoons despite Maestro turning the room into a literal storm of blazing bullets and vines.
“No!” Delta cried out as the robot raised one of its spider-like legs to stomp down.
In a blink, the two glowing eggs were yanked out of range as Mharia held one in each hand with a scowl.
“Metal men... what happened to good old flesh and blood?” she complained.
“Take them down to the next floor. Hide them behind the waterfall,” Delta told her quickly, and Mharia began to move.
“You sure? These are first floor monsters. Not sure what might happen if they get more Mana mid-evolution,” she said, and Delta didn’t hesitate to nod.
“Better odd than dead,” she said firmly.
“This Dungeon in a nutshell,” Mharia sighed and took off, the He-Ro about to jump at her when Maestro intercepted it with his cane, their bodies locked in a struggle.
“A true performer is willing to break a leg,” Maestro warned, and all the mushroom turrets in the room turned to their locked bodies, beginning to fire bullets.
“Maestro!” Delta reached out, but the bullets thundered into the center of the room impacting both Maestro and the He-Ro unit. The barrage didn’t stop until a few seconds later when smoke and dust slowly bloomed outwards like a decaying flower.
“You think this will stop me? The proud bard of the Delta Dungeon?” Maestro called, and the smoke was whipped away as the mushrooms around the room began to twang in notes similar to a stringed instrument.
It was a continuous chord intermixed with two heavy thrums.
Maestro looked wrecked, his suit in burning pieces and one arm gone, and the He-Ro Unit looked thicker in places, producing a near constant whistle that made the air around it ripple.
“It isn’t over until the robot screams!” Maestro declared and buried his cane into the head of the He-Ro unit, causing it to pierce clean through.
---
Fera looked around her ruined tavern, mentally taking note of which liquors would need to be replaced. She and the robot had both grown a few inches, but the robot was still the taller beast.
She had used all her ammo, her mixtures, and even experimented with a few drinks, but she had to admit the robot could hold its drink. She slowly pulled herself out of the wrecked bar as the Strength Unit emerged from a wall, pushing wooden beams out of the way.
The only true change the robot had undergone so far was the massive golden mane of hair it had grown when Fera dunked a Delta Surprise drink over its head.
Unlike Fran, this hair was clearly held together by dreams and hairclips.
“You’re a cold one,” Fera admitted as she rubbed her lips with the back of her hand. The robot only moved closer.
“But you see, unlike you, I don’t have ice for blood,” she spat and held her hand out. Outside the bar, the third unchanged unit watched the fight without getting involved.
Cocky tin can.
She opened her hand to reveal a red crystal.
“I have fire,” she said and crushed the gem, causing a tiny spark of fire to ignite. All across her bar, smashed bottles glinted as their contents spread across the floor in such volume that they formed a thin waterline across the entire bar.
Fera closed her eyes as for the second time in so many days, her bar exploded
Fran better give them hell, or she would bar him for a week.
---
Maestro watched as his cane cracked, huffing to himself in dark amusement.
“I guess you don’t want to join my fanclub?” he joked, and the cane shattered.
His own form followed suit not long after.
---
Fera has been defeated.
Maestro has been defeated.
Danger level 7: No loot. No rewards. No retreat.
---
Yattina was rubbing the grass all around her as she scurried about like an insect.
“Binding. Bonding. Interlinked mana of base existence,” she exclaimed. Lim tried to shift her, but she was so lost in her new sight that she couldn’t be moved.
Someone stepped in front of her, and she looked up slowly at the long muscled legs of a Guardgoyle. The muscle continued until she was staring blank-faced. In one eye, he looked like a stoic man-monster with wings, but to the other eye, her new eye... he was a glowing angel of beautifully constructed life.
Thriving, singing, humming life. Tears sprung to her eyes as the angel bent down to be eye level with her.
There was no spark or attraction, but Yattina wept all the same as if she had seen a piece of artwork or heard a passionate sonnet.
“Don’t crush the grass,” he intoned, and Yattina blinked.
“I... what?” she spluttered.
“Everything is Delta. Crush the grass, you crush Delta. Don’t,” he explained.
“Eye see...” she said, and Lim gaped at her.
“What?” she asked, feeling self-conscious.
“W-We should go,” he said, and they turned to see Deo emerging from the feast hall with Poppy in tow. The girl looked annoyed to be disturbed, but since it was Deo, she didn’t say anything clearly.
Just as they were about to speak, the entire Dungeon shook so violently that Yattina was thrown on her rear and Lim nearly went head first into the well, only saved by the Guardgoyle at the last moment.
From the connecting kitchen, a spout of fire raged out, burning a perfect semi-circle in front of the door.
“What in the world?” Yattina grunted as she stood up. The entire Dungeon’s system was going crazy. Turbulent flashes of orange intermingled with flares of deep blue raged like a sea.
The Guardgoyle was also looking at the same thing when he spoke.
“Dark things this way come. You all need to leave as fast as possible before they reach the second floor,” he warned.
What dark things?
She wasn’t sure if that was actually going to work! Yattina moved closer to see that the thing had no head anymore and looked like a demented spider. She was going to have words with whoever unleashed these things when she got back to the surface.
There came an odd sound like air hissing, and the undefended body of the unit bent, then exploded outwards as its core was grasped in a clawed hand extended by a steel cord. Yattina saw it pull back in, face frowning in confusion.
Why was the claw red?
She looked down to see that where her stomach should be, there was now a sort of hole where the claw had also tried to yank on her too.
She stumbled back and could barely watch as an unseen He-Ro unit stepped out of the shadows of the far end of the bridge. Right... she had been singular when commanding. She had told the destroyed unit to shut down.
She hadn’t said she wanted all units to shut down. How stupid of her. A rookie mistake.
She was bleeding out, and all Yattina could think about was how pretty the sky was.
What a lovely place to die.
---
Deep inside Yattina’s body, a secondary battle of sorts was occurring. Orange motes banged on bones to demand an increase of red blood cells to account for the loss occurring. The bone marrow didn’t respond, as it was bone marrow.
This annoyed the mana greatly.
There were only two things this mana collective despised.
Gazebos and lazy bone marrow.
It had a moment to think to itself. A body was just a dungeon that... moved, right? A body really was just a dungeon that took food in and produced stuff that other people wanted.
So, if it just ‘pretended’ this human body was a Dungeon...
It stuffed some mana into the bones and demanded red blood cells.
It got... reddish orange brownish ones. That wasn’t quite right, but as the mana went to work, the ALPHA system kicked in and began to assign the excess mana to abilities to prevent mana poisoning.
Lungs? It could do better. Now she could hold her breath much longer! The mana looked at her muscles and just nudged them to be far more compact. A mix of oxygen and mana would skip that pesky mortal limit.
Oh, while it was here, it could turn her liver into a proto-steel!
It reached her brain and found there was zero drive to reproduce or seek fleshy pleasures. The mana saw no defect and moved on. And at last! The Delta Seed replacement! One of the few things in this body that was a work of art!
It just hooked the body up with maybe twice the average connectors than most people might have for their seeds.
It wasn’t cheating. It was min-maxing.
Now, it would work on the anti-gazebo weaponry...
---
Devina reached down, using her magic to heal the deep wound in the human. She was reacting to it much better than Devina thought she would.
She winced as Giant was flung back by the new form, the transformed He-ro unit that had devoured its kin. It had only gained some of its spider-like features, but it retained its head.
“Adapted. Tainted captain weakness. Removed. Command unit in place.” it said with a harsh metallic tone.
“W-w-w-w-weakness removed. Core stability at 35%... error, cannot adapt.” it rambled as it moved forward.
It pointed its hand at Devina as it formed something like a sonic blaster.
“Goal remains. Reach core. Damage core. Return. Strength Unit will return to side soon. We will become one.” it said, and Devina raised up a spirit barrier to protect her, Giant, and Gramps.
The elder frog grimaced as the shield was torn apart a moment later.
“Damage? Why?” Devina demanded, rage in her voice at the idea.
“That is the mission,” it rumbled.
“That explains nothing! What logic do you have for doing this?” Devina asked, hoping to confuse it.
“I exist to serve. I serve. I have a purpose. I am a tool of the god- error. Tool of Fairplay. I am their weapon.” it said as it charged its cannon once more.
Devina covered the human with her body, hoping to at least save her.
“NOT TODAY!” came the sounds of a furious river and power. Devina looked up to see Rale with his fist out, diverting the sound waves with his... muscles?
What a glorious sight. Devina wouldn’t mind nearly dying so much if this happened...
“New threat. You are but one. I will win,” the robot declared as it stomped closer. Rale rubbed his nose with his fingers before he twirled his trident.
“You see one, but I see Bob,” he countered.
“...Error. Element ‘Bob’ not recognized,” it said then a moment later the entire bridge erupted upwards as Bob, the giant worm, swallowed the robot whole.
“Devina, get the guppy somewhere safe. Me and Bob can’t hold back here,” he said as he turned back to the others.
Devina began to shake her head.
“It’s powerful, I fear that-” she began, but he grinned, and her heart skipped a beat.
“Don’t fear, for I will always be here,” he said, and the sun shone down on him, making him almost glow.
“I’ll be back once the human is safe. Do not dare perish on me, or I’ll be beyond upset,” she warned and helped Giant to his feet and let Gramps take the human.
“Hurry back... I can slow it down, but you have the power to truly defeat it, I can feel it,” he said, and Devina moved as she saw Luna setting traps to slow the robot down if it got past Rale.
---
Unseen by the frogs, a form stepped out of the shadows to watch the battle with a tilted head.
Renny made motions of taking off invisible gloves and rolled his neck.
Surely the lord of the rivers wouldn’t mind the Ringmaster taking a shot? There was something delicious inside that robot that Renny simply had to sample.
A sort of in between life and death energy that made his toes curl.
It would be his little ‘midnight snack.’
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Chapter 175: We have the Technology.
Delta watched as Maestro and Fera pushed the He-Ro bots harder than before, Maestro pulling a double duty of fighting and protecting Numb and Billy’s cocoons of evolution. In the back of her mind, Nu continued the fight against them in the Symbolic Space, using more devious tactics than Delta had used.
The Agility He-Ro nearly crushed the glowing cocoons despite Maestro turning the room into a literal storm of blazing bullets and vines.
“No!” Delta cried out as the robot raised one of its spider-like legs to stomp down.
In a blink, the two glowing eggs were yanked out of range as Mharia held one in each hand with a scowl.
“Metal men... what happened to good old flesh and blood?” she complained.
“Take them down to the next floor. Hide them behind the waterfall,” Delta told her quickly, and Mharia began to move.
“You sure? These are first floor monsters. Not sure what might happen if they get more Mana mid-evolution,” she said, and Delta didn’t hesitate to nod.
“Better odd than dead,” she said firmly.
“This Dungeon in a nutshell,” Mharia sighed and took off, the He-Ro about to jump at her when Maestro intercepted it with his cane, their bodies locked in a struggle.
“A true performer is willing to break a leg,” Maestro warned, and all the mushroom turrets in the room turned to their locked bodies, beginning to fire bullets.
“Maestro!” Delta reached out, but the bullets thundered into the center of the room impacting both Maestro and the He-Ro unit. The barrage didn’t stop until a few seconds later when smoke and dust slowly bloomed outwards like a decaying flower.
“You think this will stop me? The proud bard of the Delta Dungeon?” Maestro called, and the smoke was whipped away as the mushrooms around the room began to twang in notes similar to a stringed instrument.
It was a continuous chord intermixed with two heavy thrums.
Maestro looked wrecked, his suit in burning pieces and one arm gone, and the He-Ro Unit looked thicker in places, producing a near constant whistle that made the air around it ripple.
“It isn’t over until the robot screams!” Maestro declared and buried his cane into the head of the He-Ro unit, causing it to pierce clean through.
---
Fera looked around her ruined tavern, mentally taking note of which liquors would need to be replaced. She and the robot had both grown a few inches, but the robot was still the taller beast.
She had used all her ammo, her mixtures, and even experimented with a few drinks, but she had to admit the robot could hold its drink. She slowly pulled herself out of the wrecked bar as the Strength Unit emerged from a wall, pushing wooden beams out of the way.
The only true change the robot had undergone so far was the massive golden mane of hair it had grown when Fera dunked a Delta Surprise drink over its head.
Unlike Fran, this hair was clearly held together by dreams and hairclips.
“You’re a cold one,” Fera admitted as she rubbed her lips with the back of her hand. The robot only moved closer.
“But you see, unlike you, I don’t have ice for blood,” she spat and held her hand out. Outside the bar, the third unchanged unit watched the fight without getting involved.
Cocky tin can.
She opened her hand to reveal a red crystal.
“I have fire,” she said and crushed the gem, causing a tiny spark of fire to ignite. All across her bar, smashed bottles glinted as their contents spread across the floor in such volume that they formed a thin waterline across the entire bar.
Fera closed her eyes as for the second time in so many days, her bar exploded
Fran better give them hell, or she would bar him for a week.
---
Maestro watched as his cane cracked, huffing to himself in dark amusement.
“I guess you don’t want to join my fanclub?” he joked, and the cane shattered.
His own form followed suit not long after.
---
Fera has been defeated.
Maestro has been defeated.
Danger level 7: No loot. No rewards. No retreat.
---
Yattina was rubbing the grass all around her as she scurried about like an insect.
“Binding. Bonding. Interlinked mana of base existence,” she exclaimed. Lim tried to shift her, but she was so lost in her new sight that she couldn’t be moved.
Someone stepped in front of her, and she looked up slowly at the long muscled legs of a Guardgoyle. The muscle continued until she was staring blank-faced. In one eye, he looked like a stoic man-monster with wings, but to the other eye, her new eye... he was a glowing angel of beautifully constructed life.
Thriving, singing, humming life. Tears sprung to her eyes as the angel bent down to be eye level with her.
There was no spark or attraction, but Yattina wept all the same as if she had seen a piece of artwork or heard a passionate sonnet.
“Don’t crush the grass,” he intoned, and Yattina blinked.
“I... what?” she spluttered.
“Everything is Delta. Crush the grass, you crush Delta. Don’t,” he explained.
“Eye see...” she said, and Lim gaped at her.
“What?” she asked, feeling self-conscious.
“W-We should go,” he said, and they turned to see Deo emerging from the feast hall with Poppy in tow. The girl looked annoyed to be disturbed, but since it was Deo, she didn’t say anything clearly.
Just as they were about to speak, the entire Dungeon shook so violently that Yattina was thrown on her rear and Lim nearly went head first into the well, only saved by the Guardgoyle at the last moment.
From the connecting kitchen, a spout of fire raged out, burning a perfect semi-circle in front of the door.
“What in the world?” Yattina grunted as she stood up. The entire Dungeon’s system was going crazy. Turbulent flashes of orange intermingled with flares of deep blue raged like a sea.
The Guardgoyle was also looking at the same thing when he spoke.
“Dark things this way come. You all need to leave as fast as possible before they reach the second floor,” he warned.
What dark things?
She wasn’t sure if that was actually going to work! Yattina moved closer to see that the thing had no head anymore and looked like a demented spider. She was going to have words with whoever unleashed these things when she got back to the surface.
There came an odd sound like air hissing, and the undefended body of the unit bent, then exploded outwards as its core was grasped in a clawed hand extended by a steel cord. Yattina saw it pull back in, face frowning in confusion.
Why was the claw red?
She looked down to see that where her stomach should be, there was now a sort of hole where the claw had also tried to yank on her too.
She stumbled back and could barely watch as an unseen He-Ro unit stepped out of the shadows of the far end of the bridge. Right... she had been singular when commanding. She had told the destroyed unit to shut down.
She hadn’t said she wanted all units to shut down. How stupid of her. A rookie mistake.
She was bleeding out, and all Yattina could think about was how pretty the sky was.
What a lovely place to die.
---
Deep inside Yattina’s body, a secondary battle of sorts was occurring. Orange motes banged on bones to demand an increase of red blood cells to account for the loss occurring. The bone marrow didn’t respond, as it was bone marrow.
This annoyed the mana greatly.
There were only two things this mana collective despised.
Gazebos and lazy bone marrow.
It had a moment to think to itself. A body was just a dungeon that... moved, right? A body really was just a dungeon that took food in and produced stuff that other people wanted.
So, if it just ‘pretended’ this human body was a Dungeon...
It stuffed some mana into the bones and demanded red blood cells.
It got... reddish orange brownish ones. That wasn’t quite right, but as the mana went to work, the ALPHA system kicked in and began to assign the excess mana to abilities to prevent mana poisoning.
Lungs? It could do better. Now she could hold her breath much longer! The mana looked at her muscles and just nudged them to be far more compact. A mix of oxygen and mana would skip that pesky mortal limit.
Oh, while it was here, it could turn her liver into a proto-steel!
It reached her brain and found there was zero drive to reproduce or seek fleshy pleasures. The mana saw no defect and moved on. And at last! The Delta Seed replacement! One of the few things in this body that was a work of art!
It just hooked the body up with maybe twice the average connectors than most people might have for their seeds.
It wasn’t cheating. It was min-maxing.
Now, it would work on the anti-gazebo weaponry...
---
Devina reached down, using her magic to heal the deep wound in the human. She was reacting to it much better than Devina thought she would.
She winced as Giant was flung back by the new form, the transformed He-ro unit that had devoured its kin. It had only gained some of its spider-like features, but it retained its head.
“Adapted. Tainted captain weakness. Removed. Command unit in place.” it said with a harsh metallic tone.
“W-w-w-w-weakness removed. Core stability at 35%... error, cannot adapt.” it rambled as it moved forward.
It pointed its hand at Devina as it formed something like a sonic blaster.
“Goal remains. Reach core. Damage core. Return. Strength Unit will return to side soon. We will become one.” it said, and Devina raised up a spirit barrier to protect her, Giant, and Gramps.
The elder frog grimaced as the shield was torn apart a moment later.
“Damage? Why?” Devina demanded, rage in her voice at the idea.
“That is the mission,” it rumbled.
“That explains nothing! What logic do you have for doing this?” Devina asked, hoping to confuse it.
“I exist to serve. I serve. I have a purpose. I am a tool of the god- error. Tool of Fairplay. I am their weapon.” it said as it charged its cannon once more.
Devina covered the human with her body, hoping to at least save her.
“NOT TODAY!” came the sounds of a furious river and power. Devina looked up to see Rale with his fist out, diverting the sound waves with his... muscles?
What a glorious sight. Devina wouldn’t mind nearly dying so much if this happened...
“New threat. You are but one. I will win,” the robot declared as it stomped closer. Rale rubbed his nose with his fingers before he twirled his trident.
“You see one, but I see Bob,” he countered.
“...Error. Element ‘Bob’ not recognized,” it said then a moment later the entire bridge erupted upwards as Bob, the giant worm, swallowed the robot whole.
“Devina, get the guppy somewhere safe. Me and Bob can’t hold back here,” he said as he turned back to the others.
Devina began to shake her head.
“It’s powerful, I fear that-” she began, but he grinned, and her heart skipped a beat.
“Don’t fear, for I will always be here,” he said, and the sun shone down on him, making him almost glow.
“I’ll be back once the human is safe. Do not dare perish on me, or I’ll be beyond upset,” she warned and helped Giant to his feet and let Gramps take the human.
“Hurry back... I can slow it down, but you have the power to truly defeat it, I can feel it,” he said, and Devina moved as she saw Luna setting traps to slow the robot down if it got past Rale.
---
Unseen by the frogs, a form stepped out of the shadows to watch the battle with a tilted head.
Renny made motions of taking off invisible gloves and rolled his neck.
Surely the lord of the rivers wouldn’t mind the Ringmaster taking a shot? There was something delicious inside that robot that Renny simply had to sample.
A sort of in between life and death energy that made his toes curl.
It would be his little ‘midnight snack.’
Chapter 175: We have the Technology.Delta watched as Maestro and Fera pushed the He-Ro bots harder than before, Maestro pulling a double duty of fighting and protecting Numb and Billy's cocoons of evolution. In the back of her mind, Nu continued the fight against them in the Symbolic Space, using more devious tactics than Delta had used.The Agility He-Ro nearly crushed the glowing cocoons despite Maestro turning the room into a literal storm of blazing bullets and vines.No! Delta cried out as the robot raised one of its spider-like legs to stomp down.In a blink, the two glowing eggs were yanked out of range as Mharia held one in each hand with a scowl.Metal men... what happened to good old flesh and blood? she complained.Take them down to the next floor. Hide them behind the waterfall, Delta told her quickly, and Mharia began to move.You sure? These are first floor monsters. Not sure what might happen if they get more Mana mid-evolution, she said, and Delta didn't hesitate to nod.Better odd than dead, she said firmly.This Dungeon in a nutshell, Mharia sighed and took off, the He-Ro about to jump at her when Maestro intercepted it with his cane, their bodies locked in a struggle.A true performer is willing to break a leg, Maestro warned, and all the mushroom turrets in the room turned to their locked bodies, beginning to fire bullets.Maestro! Delta reached out, but the bullets thundered into the center of the room impacting both Maestro and the He-Ro unit. The barrage didn't stop until a few seconds later when smoke and dust slowly bloomed outwards like a decaying flower.You think this will stop me? The proud bard of the Delta Dungeon? Maestro called, and the smoke was whipped away as the mushrooms around the room began to twang in notes similar to a stringed instrument.It was a continuous chord intermixed with two heavy thrums.Maestro looked wrecked, his suit in burning pieces and one arm gone, and the He-Ro Unit looked thicker in places, producing a near constant whistle that made the air around it ripple.It isn't over until the robot screams! Maestro declared and buried his cane into the head of the He-Ro unit, causing it to pierce clean through.---Fera looked around her ruined tavern, mentally taking note of which liquors would need to be replaced. She and the robot had both grown a few inches, but the robot was still the taller beast.She had used all her ammo, her mixtures, and even experimented with a few drinks, but she had to admit the robot could hold its drink. She slowly pulled herself out of the wrecked bar as the Strength Unit emerged from a wall, pushing wooden beams out of the way.The only true change the robot had undergone so far was the massive golden mane of hair it had grown when Fera dunked a Delta Surprise drink over its head.Unlike Fran, this hair was clearly held together by dreams and hairclips.You're a cold one, Fera admitted as she rubbed her lips with the back of her hand. The robot only moved closer.But you see, unlike you, I don't have ice for blood, she spat and held her hand out. Outside the bar, the third unchanged unit watched the fight without getting involved.Cocky tin can.She opened her hand to reveal a red crystal.I have fire, she said and crushed the gem, causing a tiny spark of fire to ignite. All across her bar, smashed bottles glinted as their contents spread across the floor in such volume that they formed a thin waterline across the entire bar.Fera closed her eyes as for the second time in so many days, her bar explodedFran better give them hell, or she would bar him for a week.---Maestro watched as his cane cracked, huffing to himself in dark amusement.I guess you don't want to join my fanclub? he joked, and the cane shattered.His own form followed suit not long after.---Fera has been defeated.Maestro has been defeated.Danger level 7: No loot. No rewards. No retreat.---Yattina was rubbing the grass all around her as she scurried about like an insect.Binding. Bonding. Interlinked mana of base existence, she exclaimed. Lim tried to shift her, but she was so lost in her new sight that she couldn't be moved.Someone stepped in front of her, and she looked up slowly at the long muscled legs of a Guardgoyle. The muscle continued until she was staring blank-faced. In one eye, he looked like a stoic man-monster with wings, but to the other eye, her new eye... he was a glowing angel of beautifully constructed life.Thriving, singing, humming life. Tears sprung to her eyes as the angel bent down to be eye level with her.There was no spark or attraction, but Yattina wept all the same as if she had seen a piece of artwork or heard a passionate sonnet.Don't crush the grass, he intoned, and Yattina blinked.I... what? she spluttered.Everything is Delta. Crush the grass, you crush Delta. Don't, he explained.Eye see... she said, and Lim gaped at her.What? she asked, feeling self-conscious.W-We should go, he said, and they turned to see Deo emerging from the feast hall with Poppy in tow. The girl looked annoyed to be disturbed, but since it was Deo, she didn't say anything clearly.Just as they were about to speak, the entire Dungeon shook so violently that Yattina was thrown on her rear and Lim nearly went head first into the well, only saved by the Guardgoyle at the last moment.From the connecting kitchen, a spout of fire raged out, burning a perfect semi-circle in front of the door.What in the world? Yattina grunted as she stood up. The entire Dungeon's system was going crazy. Turbulent flashes of orange intermingled with flares of deep blue raged like a sea.The Guardgoyle was also looking at the same thing when he spoke.Dark things this way come. You all need to leave as fast as possible before they reach the second floor, he warned.What dark things?She wasn't sure if that was actually going to work! Yattina moved closer to see that the thing had no head anymore and looked like a demented spider. She was going to have words with whoever unleashed these things when she got back to the surface.There came an odd sound like air hissing, and the undefended body of the unit bent, then exploded outwards as its core was grasped in a clawed hand extended by a steel cord. Yattina saw it pull back in, face frowning in confusion.Why was the claw red?She looked down to see that where her stomach should be, there was now a sort of hole where the claw had also tried to yank on her too.She stumbled back and could barely watch as an unseen He-Ro unit stepped out of the shadows of the far end of the bridge. Right... she had been singular when commanding. She had told the destroyed unit to shut down.She hadn't said she wanted all units to shut down. How stupid of her. A rookie mistake.She was bleeding out, and all Yattina could think about was how pretty the sky was.What a lovely place to die.---Deep inside Yattina's body, a secondary battle of sorts was occurring. Orange motes banged on bones to demand an increase of red blood cells to account for the loss occurring. The bone marrow didn't respond, as it was bone marrow.This annoyed the mana greatly.There were only two things this mana collective despised.Gazebos and lazy bone marrow.It had a moment to think to itself. A body was just a dungeon that... moved, right? A body really was just a dungeon that took food in and produced stuff that other people wanted.So, if it just pretended' this human body was a Dungeon...It stuffed some mana into the bones and demanded red blood cells.It got... reddish orange brownish ones. That wasn't quite right, but as the mana went to work, the ALPHA system kicked in and began to assign the excess mana to abilities to prevent mana poisoning.Lungs? It could do better. Now she could hold her breath much longer! The mana looked at her muscles and just nudged them to be far more compact. A mix of oxygen and mana would skip that pesky mortal limit.Oh, while it was here, it could turn her liver into a proto-steel!It reached her brain and found there was zero drive to reproduce or seek fleshy pleasures. The mana saw no defect and moved on. And at last! The Delta Seed replacement! One of the few things in this body that was a work of art!It just hooked the body up with maybe twice the average connectors than most people might have for their seeds.It wasn't cheating. It was min-maxing.Now, it would work on the anti-gazebo weaponry...---Devina reached down, using her magic to heal the deep wound in the human. She was reacting to it much better than Devina thought she would.She winced as Giant was flung back by the new form, the transformed He-ro unit that had devoured its kin. It had only gained some of its spider-like features, but it retained its head.Adapted. Tainted captain weakness. Removed. Command unit in place. it said with a harsh metallic tone.W-w-w-w-weakness removed. Core stability at 35%... error, cannot adapt. it rambled as it moved forward.It pointed its hand at Devina as it formed something like a sonic blaster.Goal remains. Reach core. Damage core. Return. Strength Unit will return to side soon. We will become one. it said, and Devina raised up a spirit barrier to protect her, Giant, and Gramps.The elder frog grimaced as the shield was torn apart a moment later.Damage? Why? Devina demanded, rage in her voice at the idea.That is the mission, it rumbled.That explains nothing! What logic do you have for doing this? Devina asked, hoping to confuse it.I exist to serve. I serve. I have a purpose. I am a tool of the god- error. Tool of Fairplay. I am their weapon. it said as it charged its cannon once more.Devina covered the human with her body, hoping to at least save her.NOT TODAY! came the sounds of a furious river and power. Devina looked up to see Rale with his fist out, diverting the sound waves with his... muscles?What a glorious sight. Devina wouldn't mind nearly dying so much if this happened...New threat. You are but one. I will win, the robot declared as it stomped closer. Rale rubbed his nose with his fingers before he twirled his trident.You see one, but I see Bob, he countered....Error. Element Bob' not recognized, it said then a moment later the entire bridge erupted upwards as Bob, the giant worm, swallowed the robot whole.Devina, get the guppy somewhere safe. Me and Bob can't hold back here, he said as he turned back to the others.Devina began to shake her head.It's powerful, I fear that- she began, but he grinned, and her heart skipped a beat.Don't fear, for I will always be here, he said, and the sun shone down on him, making him almost glow.I'll be back once the human is safe. Do not dare perish on me, or I'll be beyond upset, she warned and helped Giant to his feet and let Gramps take the human.Hurry back... I can slow it down, but you have the power to truly defeat it, I can feel it, he said, and Devina moved as she saw Luna setting traps to slow the robot down if it got past Rale.---Unseen by the frogs, a form stepped out of the shadows to watch the battle with a tilted head.Renny made motions of taking off invisible gloves and rolled his neck.Surely the lord of the rivers wouldn't mind the Ringmaster taking a shot? There was something delicious inside that robot that Renny simply had to sample.A sort of in between life and death energy that made his toes curl.It would be his little midnight snack.'
