Chapter 11: 011 – Node base 1/4

Geh…

What happened?

It’s completely dark, so I use <Flame>.

Geh!

There’s someone crouching in the corner of the room!

I give them a good kick!

“No! Wait, it’s me! Makoto!” He wails as I kick him.

I give him one more kick for good measure.

“Oh, it’s just you.” I sigh “You scared me!”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Makoto starts tearing up.

I didn’t hit you that hard!

His little fairy comes out of his shirt and glares at me. “Don’t bully Makoto!”

*Sob* *Sob*

Oh man, this is awkward.

But I have an idea!

I’ll just ignore him!

*Sob* *Sob*

We’re in an empty and small room, there’s barely enough space to extend my arms, to my side there’s an iron door, it seems completely normal, but I can’t see any way of opening it, there’s also a bunch of normal grasshoppers all over the floor.

I like ‘em, they’re neat.

Some of them are as big as my palm, and those are the coolest ones.

It’s good to have something nice in such a weird situation.

The walls are made out of gray concrete bricks, but not just ordinary concrete, <Flame> almost turned off when I got close to the wall.

The bricks should be made from ashen concrete, it’s a special material that can absorb mana and resist most rank 1 spells and even some rank 2 spells…

*Sob* *Sob*

I have an idea where we are!

This should be an old war facility called a node base, there’s hundreds of these littering the wilderness in Epice, and all of them were built with ashen concrete, newer buildings use other cheaper or more effective materials.

Node bases were part of the <Tiger cannon formation>, a grand scale spell that could obliterate an entire city, and managed to kill several key figures from the Walkman expanse that had a Pattern of the sky.

Now, someone with a Pattern of the sky is a big deal, it’s the next stage after the Pattern of the apprentice, and it's extremely difficult to form compared to the ones before, with enough time and resources anyone can obtain a Pattern of the apprentice, but it takes enormous amounts of talent, effort and luck to go past it, hell, Sexta has been struggling to form hers for almost a decade now.

*Sob* *Sob*

And it’s not for nothing, you’d need a platoon of people with Apprentice patterns to even hurt someone with a Pattern of the sky, while they can beat the people below them as if they were trash.

The <Tiger cannon formation> was the trump card that allowed Epice to gain independence from the Walkman expanse, but after that, Epice abandoned it for the <72 points clam shell formation> a massive barrier that even someone with a Sky pattern has no hope of damaging, and it’s also the reason we are constantly understaffed, since it requires constant maintenance, and it’s also why you can only enter and leave Epice from Sesame, since that’s the only door in the entire barrier.

*Sob* *Sob*

When we changed over to the barrier, we had to build more node bases and abandon a lot of old ones, however, I don’t know which one this is, Epice littered with well over a hundred of these, and there’s dozens of abandoned facilities between Paprika and Basil.

I also don’t have any idea why I’m here, I have to assume we’ve been kidnaped, was it because of me? 

And who did it? 

Some clever bandits? 

Or is there something more sinister going on here?

*Sob* *Sob*

I can’t give a long winded answer to that, because I have no idea!

The only thing I know is that this is awesome!

*Sob* *Sob*

It hasn’t even been a day and I’m already in the middle of something incredibly dangerous!

I’d kiss that Bartholomew guy on the lips for giving me such good advice if he wasn’t a guy!

*Sob* *Sob*

I’ll probably just buy him another chicken sandwich or something.

*Sob* *Sob* *Sob!* *Sob* *Sob* *Sob!*

*Sob* *Sob* *Sob!* *Sob* *Sob* *Sob!*

*Sob* *Sob* *Sob!* *Sob* *Sob* *Sob!*

“That’s enough! I’ll give you a real reason to cry if you keep doing that!” I yell at Makoto

This guy has been getting on my nerves.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! *Sob* *Sob* *Sob*” He keeps crying “I just wanted a peaceful life  in this new world! *Sob* *Sob* *Sob*”

Well.

Now I feel like crap.

But I also want to kick him again…

It’s a surprisingly neutral feeling.

His fairy is trying to console him.

“Look, I can’t force you to fight, but we need to get out of here fast, we don’t know how everyone else is doing and who knows what will happen if we don’t do anything.” I try to calmly explain the situation.

*Sob* *Sob* *Sob!*

*Sob* *Sob* *Sob!*

I’m not getting through him.

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Well, that’s fine.

Hehe, now… What can I do to free us?

Uhhhh…

*Sob* *Sob!*

I have no idea!

I’ll just use brute force and hope for the best!

I stop casting <Flame>, and then put my hand right over the door.

I take a deep breath…

*Sob* *Sob!*

<Flame bolt>!

A big explosion comes out of my hand and hits the door, leaving a massive indent on it!

My arm hurts like hell too!

But I can still move it, it’s not broken or anything.

Hmph, this idiotic door, thinking it’s sturdier than me, I’ll teach it the depths of its foolishness!

*Sob* *Sob!*

Placing my other arm in the indent, <Flame bolt>!

Another explosion comes, bringing stinging pain to my arm and making a big hole in the door!

Take that!

*Sob* *Sob!*

Light instantly fills the room though the hole, and a second later a giant locust comes through the hole and headbutts me right in the torso, throwing me to the floor!

I spit a mouthful of blood.

This thing!

Makoto’s crying becomes louder and louder, screaming his lungs out “AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!. Don’thurtmedon’thurtme!” *Sob* *Sob!*

And the Locust lunges towards me, and without enough room to dodge the damn thing hits me and starts biting my left arm, the locust’s teeth aren’t sharp but its bite is strong. 

I feel excruciating pain as it begins to chew on my arm.

I manage to cast <Body of steel> an instant before it can rip off my whole arm, turning my arm into metal. But it will only buy me a few seconds, I can feel this damn thing crushing my arm with it’s jaws. 

I punch it in the eye with my other hand as hard as I can, destroying its giant bulging eyeball, but this only makes it angrier as it flails around while not letting go of my arm.

<Flame bolt>!

*Crunch!*

I feel something break in my arm, while an explosion happens inside the locust, and its yellowish gooey insides splash all over the room.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH! MAKEITSTOPPLEASEMAKEITSTOP!” Makoto cries even louder, it almost feels like any nearby windows will break.

While most of the locust has been blown away, its head keeps biting me with a surprising amount of strength for a few seconds until it finally loosens up, falling to the ground.

But just because this darn thing stopped biting doesn’t mean the pain stops!

It hurts even more!

My left arm is completely flattened, bloody, and I can’t move it at all.

That’s not good.

I’ve never had to deal with this much pain before, I’m feeling lightheaded and I’m sweating all over my body.

Especially from my eyes, I’m sweating so much from them my vision is a little blurry.

But I’m alive.

I feel alive.

I think.

I need to sit down for a moment.

That… that was fast, It didn’t even take a full minute.

And I was so close to dying.. if I was an instant too late at casting <Body of steel>... 

I definitely would’ve died.

Same if I hadn’t used <Fire bolt>.

I’m sweating a lot from my eyes, it’s not even that hot in here dammit!

But I’m alive, this pain I’m feeling is proof of that.

I’ve never felt so alive!

I wipe the sweat from my face.

I’ve also never been so horny in my life, it’s no wonder I’m feeling lightheaded, I’m losing half my blood through my arm, and my son is taking the other half!

Greedy bastard.

I really have to do either Antonia or Marceline after this is over, but right now I have to keep going, surely this isn’t everything this place has in store, there’s going to be even more waiting just outside this cell.

I have no idea what’s going on, but this is not enough to stop me!

You’ll need at least an army of these things before I even consider giving up!

Unlike this other guy, I refuse to lose myself to fear!

In fact, the more dangerous it is the better!

I leave the room, only to be met with a blade pointed at my neck.

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