Chapter 49: Chapter 49

Asteria, I, and the assembled crowd of Argonauts stare as the Behemoth steam-tank begins moving freely in different directions. Forward, then back, then from side to side, even diagonally. Mur whistles, drawing attention, before vaulting off the platform affixed to the side of the building, over twenty metres off the ground. As soon as he’s clear, the Behemoth angles itself backwards and the blades mounted to the front fire, trailing cables behind them, the hooked blades embedding themselves in the stonework and biting deep. The cables begin to retract, coiling back up as the tank hops, like a freaking jumping spider, the footclaws on its six mechanized legs helping it scale the sheer vertical surface. Massed shouts of incredulity rise from the audience as the construct ascends, clambering onto the platform and settling.

“Ascension isnae the only thing! Specialized shock-absorption allows for the Behemoth tae land safely from almost any height within reason!”

On cue, Trinity pilots the tank straight off. It plummets down, the legs angling out and positioning themselves for impact. It sounds like a bomb going off, but, when the dust settles, it’s fine, not a scratch on it.  

Next, a trolley is wheeled out, containing several suits of full-plate armour, not fancy, but clearly designed to be used in battle, function over form stuff. Ulged raises his voice again. “Now the weapons systems!”

Trinity deftly controls the spider-tank, and I can only imagine what the control system looks like in there. The machine lunges, the mandibular blades slicing one suit of armour in half, crushing their way through the plates of steel and tungsten.

Next, the crossbows, mounted like front-guns begin spitting a hail of bolts that detonate on impact. They’re stubby quarrels tipped with red crystals, each bolt exploding like a grenade. Shrapnel from the suits litters the ground, buckled and rent cuirasses and helmets crashing down in a wave of iron.

 

Silence falls for a brief, awestruck moment, before a roar of surprise and shock rises from a multitude of throats, as Mur reappears on the platform. I have no idea when he got up there, but he’s wearing a harness of some kind that he wasn’t before. His golden wings snap out, and he takes off, rocketing into the mid-afternoon sky.

Ulged declares, “And finally, the Siege-breaker Arbalest! This is a massive repeating crossbow, specially-designed tae use steam pressure instead o’ arms, reducing the overall width of the weapon. However, that does mean it can only fire twice per minute at the most, since the pressure needs time tae build up again. However, tae mek up fer its lack o’ firing-speed, it has great range of almost three hunnerd metres, as well as firing THESE!”

He reaches down and picks something up from the platform. It looks like… a spear, with a fletched butt and an oversized head. “These are specially-manufactured for extreme power, but they dinnae fash o’er friend nair foe. Anyone caught in th’ blast is gannae hate ye fer it! Alas, the Behemoth can only carry a small number of these, since the reloadin’ process takes almost twenty minutes once the magazine is spent.”

I raise my hand. “Um… does that mean these can cause friendly fire?”

“Aye, exactly! Now… let’s see it in action, shall we?!”

Mur, just a speck in the distance, does something, and a large red balloon deploys, an obvious, but small target. Trinity adjusts their aim, the arbalest tilting upwards, then cranking around to the right. A loud click resounds through the courtyard, followed by a loud ‘CRACK!’

The massive bolt hurtles out of the barrel, a cloud of steam emanating from the muzzle as the Behemoth rocks back from the recoil, a streak of crimson light shooting up, up, into the clouds. The balloon…. Explodes, a massive fireball filling the blue. It looks like it’s about fifteen metres across, and I wince at what must’ve happened to Mur. Sure, death doesn’t mean much apart from losing some gold and taking a hit to your equipment’s durability, but getting blown to Kingdom come and back again must still suck-

Mur lands next to Ulged, soot-stained, smoking, and grinning like the village idiot. “Again! Again! Mur wanna do that again!”

I blink, my jaw hanging open, and I doubt I’m the only one. How did the goofy little Lizzara survive what looked like a direct hit from an anti-tank missile???

 

The crowd goes mute, staring in shock, as Ulged throws his arms wide. “Any questions?!”

One audience member steps forward, folding his arms. “Yeah, I don’t believe those big bolts are that powerful. I mean, the Lizzara survived!”

I look at the dude, side-eying him. I’ve seen the living-blender-with-puree-attachment that is Mur. If he survived that explosion, he’s a lot tougher than he looks. But I don’t speak up. The buff-looking Argonaut adds, “Besides, if those really were that potent, why aren’t you just throwing them?”

Mur approaches. “Okay, big dummy! Mur has so-lu-shun! You come with Mur, get hit by greatbolt! If they weak, you not die. If they strong, well… your fault for being a big dummy!”

I can see the back of the Argonaut stiffen. “Tch. Fine, you little reptile. Hey, Ddraigfall, keep my gear for me!” he unequips his armour and hands a massive morningstar to a slim Skyborne with cropped grey hair and a pair of long knives strapped across his back.

“Alright, how’re we getti-WHOAAAA!” Mur cuts him off by leaping onto his back, wrapping his scaly arms around the dude’s chest, and yanking him into the air with steady, powerful wingbeats.

I stare up, Asteria by my side, as Ulged shakes his head. “Verra well. Trinity, ye may fire when ready!”

A deep, mechanical wail blares from the Behemoth as Trinity’s voice booms from some kind of speaker. “AYE AYE, BOSS!”

The Behemoth’s hull rotated as Trinity hunted for their new target, the Arbalest tilting and turning from side to side, until… “Target acquired! Firing pattern established! Fire!”

Another gout of steam vented from the muzzle of the weapon with a loud crack, and a second flash of crimson flickers into the sky. A flash of greenish light reacts, as if a coloured Morse-code message is being sent. A few seconds later, another massive fireball erupts like a second sun for a few moments. Shortly after, Mur crash-lands on the platform, wheezing. His scales aren’t just ‘sooty’ now; he’s completely pitch-black, from snout to thagomizer, with several holes in one wing from shrapnel and large, flaky, raw patches of skin showing through the blackened scales. He coughs up a small cloud of embers, before dropping a skeletal hand on the floor. “He dead, Jim.”

 Everyone erupts in shouts and cries, chaos reigning for several minutes, until the same dude who got apparently vaporized jogs back in, grumbling about the translocation beacons being kind-of helpful, reclaiming his gear from the Skyborne.

Everyone stares as he steps up towards the battered, smoking Mur. Holding out his hand, he hauls the tiny lizard to his feet. “Aura of Healing!” he snaps, and a ring of green light bursts from his feet, surrounding the pair. Mur’s damaged wing starts to repair itself, as the weeping, scorched wounds begin to knit themselves back together.

“I was wrong about those explosives. They’re fuckin’ terrifying. I even cast Sentinel’s Stand to protect me from harm, and it still didn’t work. You’re one tough little bastard.”

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Mur grins. “You very tough too, big fella. No hard feelings?”

The Argonaut grins. “Naaah, no hard feelings. I should’ve kept my mouth shut.”

Ulged sighs, loudly. “ANYWAY, does anyone have any questions??”

I raise a hand. Ulged grins. “Yes, Kettrin? What’s yer query?”

As a few people murmur about my presence, then Asteria’s, I ask, “How does this thing produce enough steam to operate if the power source and the weapons systems all utilize the same resource?”

“Excellent question! Inside, there’s a special split-level containment unit, with a divider. To power the machine, the divider is pulled away via a lever in the cockpit. Inside the containment unit’s lower chamber is an Eternal Ember, a flame that never goes out or burns away. In the upper chamber, there’s a piece of Eternal Ice, which can produce meltwater but never shrinks. The water melted from the Eternal Ice becomes steam, which is piped throughout the Behemoth’s framework and powers the pistons, the main gun, and the mandibular grapnels.”

 

A couple of nerdy-looking players in crimson robes begin having a furious whispered conversation, scribbling notes and gesturing rapidly. Several others look utterly smitten with the prospect of owning one of these Behemoths, and Ulged raises both hands for quiet.

“This is the only functional model we have currently, but as we produce more, the process will get smoother and more refined. The current price-tag stands at 3.5 million gold, due to the acquisition of rare resources and the time it takes to make the parts. We are not currently selling these YET, but we will have them on the market as soon as the end of next month in limited quantities!”

The show breaks up in babbling as Trinity pilots the Behemoth back into the workshop, and Ulged and Mur roll it shut, locking it and clearing up the wrecked suits of armour. I turn to Asteria, preparing to speak, before I get a message from Sionnach.

“Hey, I could use your help! Marika’s being hassled by a group of guys and she’s freaking out like the End of Days has come! I’m trying to keep them away from her, but there’s about half a dozen of them!”

 

I shoot a message back.

“What?! Where are you guys? Asteria and I are on our way!”

 

A ping pops up on my map, and I explain what’s going on to Astie. She nods, and I spread my wings, rocketing up into the sky, Asteria’s Faeflight giving her the glowing butterfly wings characteristic of her race’s flying power.

I bank around and head in the direction the ping indicates, my in-game girlfriend right behind me as we arrow through the air, hunting over the rooftops as I home in on the location of my ping.

As I crest over a rooftop, I pause over a wide, open courtyard with two groups of people. Marika’s brilliant pink hair and Sionnach’s tail stand out, the Bladebreaker’s greatsword drawn and held ready.

Across the square, a group stands, looking familiar. A samurai, two blades sheathed at his hip.  A pair of Vulpae in robes and crystal-topped staves. A lizardman with a pair of brutal-looking handaxes. A leather-clad ranger with a triple-stringed bow, and a girl in robes.

I use my wings to silently manoeuvre around behind them, descending to block the way out of the plaza. As Asteria joins me, I hold my hand out and silently call on Thunderbun. A loud crackle of ionising air causes the group to turn as my giant bnuuy appears, a shroud of lightning fizzing out as she rears up and stamps.

They immediately step back, hands in the air, and the samurai tugs his helmet off, revealing a heart-shaped face with shoulder-length black hair.

“Wait! We don’t want trouble, we just wanted to talk and saw your friend! I… I’m sorry; this all seems to have gotten out of hand!”

Asteria’s rapier glimmers as she holds it low, ready to bring forth some powerful spell or strike for the heart if needed. I keep my swordspear held vertical, like some castle guard.

“What do you want with our friend? If I recall, the last time we met you tried to stream-snipe us and it went rather badly for you.”

The samurai cosplayer looks sheepish. “W-well, yeah, you aren’t wrong. We overestimated our own ability and though that our numbers would work. So, we’d like to ask you a favour, if you could see your way to forgiving us for our foolishness?”

Asteria smiles. “What kind of favour?”

Samurai-dude blinks a couple of times, and then clears his throat. “Look, we really don’t want to fight you anymore, especially after we just respawned after a boss-fight. We were hoping you’d be willing to… team up with us and take it down? You’ll get half the loot between you, same as us. It’s a real challenge to find any players who aren’t just ‘more DPS’. We only have our Cleric, Ferrule. She can’t keep up.”

The girl in robes sighs, nodding. “He’s right, the boss is way harder-hitting than we first thought, and my healing is mostly single-target. I can’t keep everyone in good condition…”

Asteria looks sidelong at me, and I shrug. “Yeah, I don’t mind giving these guys a hand. I mean, if this is a trap, we can just beat them down all over again.”

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