Chapter 5: Ch.0005 – The Matriarch

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Lvl. 2 Metaleonid 

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Cats like shiny things, he found himself thinking. He’d seen more than one video on YouTube of a housecat chasing after a laser dot or batting at a glimmering bauble. He had never found any amusement in such things, but he had understood the appeal. 

Cats could be interesting creatures. 

Was that why The System had seen fit to mould these monsters in the uncannily rough approximation of an overgrown housecat. 

The monsters were the same size as a young child, and thus he could see why they made for worthy foes for the similarly diminutive imps. 

They strode with the languid, arrogant grace so common to their lesser copies, though with a predatory tinge that would have been comical in something smaller, and unnatural hints of metal and steel poked naturally from their rust-coloured fur, as if grown from their flesh. They carried with them the stink of copper and iron that filled the air as they passed by where he and his troops laid in wait.  

Dried blood stained the mouth of one of the beasts, and the claws of another, likely from a recent kill. There were four of them. A battle could only end with his victory, he was sure. 

Virast sat next to him, the little chief’s eyes alive with hate and bloodlust. It turned to him and quietly gestured. Jimmy had no clue what its erratic movements meant, but he could guess well enough its intentions. 

He shook his head. Twelve imps sat with them. A sizable force that could likely slay the beasts easily enough, but Jimmy needed to level. He sent his bots forth. 

Like a tidal wave of steel and death, the wolverines burst from the grass-line with their swords raised. The creatures were quick to react but for all their grace proved too slow to dodge the hail of bullets unleashed by his eagles. A few of the projectiles missed, but each of the four creatures were hit at least once. They staggered as plumes of red erupted across their skin and then again when the swords of his wolverines found purchase on their flesh. 

Their howls were shrill and loud, but quickly silenced by a rush of metal bodies. In a matter of seconds, the scenery was quiet again. 

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You have earned 7 SC 

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You have earned a level 

3 >> 4 

+1 CHA + 1 WIT 

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Jimmy strode out from the wall of grass and studied the freshly made corpses and then his troops. A few of the beasts had managed a vengeful swipe of their unnaturally sharp claws even as they’d died, leaving two of his wolverines with shallow scratches upon their armour, but that was all. 

From start to finish, the whole ordeal had been the picture of ruthless efficiency. He turned to eye the imps and found faces full of quiet awe and fearful respect affixed onto his metal army. 

Good, he thought. Let them see what the drones are capable of. It was another reason to brook any attempt at disloyalty that may rear its ugly head in the days to come. 

The metaleonid corpses were disposed of in the tall grass as best as they could manage, though the imps were sure that any monster that stumbled upon the area with a keen enough sense of smell would pick up on the leftovers of battle, nonetheless. No matter. He did not plan to stick around. With Virast at their head, his troupe once again set off deeper into the grassy plains, seeking the breeding ground of the feline things. 

He thought it best that such issues be dealt with as quickly as possible, and especially so when he took into consideration their lust for ‘shinies’, as the imp had put it. His base would be a veritable treasure trove for the monsters, and he had no desire to spend time and effort warding off raids in the future that could be better dealt with now. 

The deeper they ploughed into the landscape, the stranger it became. The odd outcroppings of twisted machinery grew more and more common until entire stretches of land were covered in metallo-organic layers of iron and jutting parts. Some hissed and groaned as he marched past, their internal mechanisms lending them a facsimile of sentience. 

Steam erupted from the small hills of copper that littered the biome, bathing the land in a suffocatingly humid heat that left him tugging at his shirt more than once. Sightings of the metaleonids only grew increasingly common, and Jimmy both ambushed and was ambushed by their kind more than once as he ventured onward. Every battle always ended with a quick and bloodless victory, and whilst he appreciated the SC and level gains, their frequency had become too frequent for his comfort. 

“We close.” said Virast as an explanation. “We never come so close. Too dangerous. But shiny things strong.” It gave a respectful glance over its shoulder to the guards that followed on his heels. “No fear weak beasts. I choose well. Leader strong.” It gave him a toothy grin and he accepted it with a nod. 

Metaleonids weren’t the only issue that they stumbled across as they went. The plains were infested with a variety of strange half-metal, half-organic creatures, though the metal half of them became increasingly more prominent the deeper they went. Things that resembled a bus in both appearance and size with a legion of writhing legs skittered about in the distance and the ground rumbled with the movement of monsters beneath them. 

Jimmy was not pleased and wondered whether his troop was powerful enough to ward off every threat that lurked in the ample grass of his surroundings. A crackle of lightning danced across his fingers. Was he strong enough to defend himself? 

The question made him uneasy, but he had come too far. To turn back without even catching sight of their lair would simply be inefficient. Should their numbers prove too large, he would immediately retreat, he told himself. 

And thus, the troop carried on, butchering and growing in strength as they went. Jimmy earned his fifth level after a few dozen minutes of travel and one of his wolverines earned a star that blazed beside its nameplate when he focused onto the construct. His creations had no levels, and no means of earning their strength through slaughter as he could, but the System had not left them entirely unable to advance. 

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★ Wolverine Assault Drone 

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Stars represented a construct’s innate skill and ability to outperform its peers, and thusly granted it enhanced attributes in every measure of the word. At one star, the wolverine was likely twice as strong as it had been prior and represented a sizable boost to his troop’s overall power. 

The only physical change to the drone was the presence of a polished metallic star upon its chest-plate, but more obvious than that was the way that it carried itself. 

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There was a newfound weight to its bearing that set it apart from the rest of his creations. He drew the wolverine towards himself and added it to his personal guard. 

With its strength by his side, he felt better equipped to deal with whatever The System had to throw his way. Of course, Jimmy thought that he should have known better than to tempt fate. 

A sudden heaviness in the air was their first warning, followed by a deafening roar that left him muffling his ears. Jimmy felt a pang of fear shoot through him like a bolt of strength-sapping ice, and his legs grew weak underneath him. The imps immediately shrank down where they stood, their eyes wide and their figures pale with terror. Even his unfeeling, unthinking drones seemed struck by – if not fear, then hesitation. They paused in their steps, their gaze searching. 

Jimmy immediately directed everyone into the nearest wall of tall grass as quickly as he could. Whatever beast could elicit such intense fear through its roar alone was no force that he wished to tangle with. 

The imps needed no encouraging and scurried as fast as their legs could carry them, and he followed quickly after. The army quickly slunk down to their knees; the air quiet as even the landscape seemingly held its breath in expectation of what was to come. 

A mere moment later, the earth several meters away exploded with violence. A creature erupted from behind a copper hill, its steps thunderous as it carried its girth at surprising speed. It was larger than a semi-truck and its body was a writhing mass of roots, leaves and mushrooms. Its bulky body narrowed into a thin snout, and in that it reminded him of the creepers. 

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Lvl. 16 Undergrowth Monolichen 

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Level sixteen? 

The goliath creature was thrice as strong as Jimmy, and far more powerful than anything he had expected to come across in these alien lands. With strength as such that it possessed, what could have possibly done harm to it, he wondered. 

And harm had been done. That much was readily obvious. 

Grevious burnt and blackened patches scarred its ashen skin, and tendrils of flames still licked at its root-body at places. The creature galloped as fast as its six legs could carry it as it charged towards a foe that only it knew. 

No, he realized a moment later. Not charged. Fled. 

Another roar gripped the air as another figure blitzed into view from behind the hill. It was smaller than the monolichen, and sleeker still. More so than anything, it resembled a metaleonid wrought large, its ginger fur almost entirely covered with a naturally grown metal armour. 

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Lvl. 21 Metaleonid Matriarch 

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Its footsteps left patches of grass aflame as it followed its prey and despite the monolichen’s best attempts, the creature refused to give up the chase. Tendrils of roots separated from the fungoid creature’s body and snapped at the pursuing beast with a mind of their own, but tongues of flame that came alive from the numerous vents and slits in the matriarch’s back served to turn them to ash in the wind. 

The matriarch snarled and loosed a gout of fire from its mouth that lashed at the monolichen’s rear. It brayed with pain and rage but could do nothing but continue its flight, for all the good that it did it. 

The massive feline was catching up to it. It was too fast. A scant few seconds after the two had so stunningly emerged into their view did Jimmy and his troop find themselves with front-row seats to the brutality of their new world. 

The monolichen stumbled and fell, its body too damaged to carry it any further. It collapsed to the earth with a thunderous thud and rolled to a stop. Plumes of dust and dirt took to the air for a moment before the matriarch easily cleared the cloud with a burst of scalding hot air that turned the surrounding grass to desiccated patches of death. 

It leapt then; its mouth open to reveal rows of glistening metal fangs. The monolichen brayed a final time, roots rising in a desperate last attempt to defend itself, but the metaleonid swatted away its attack and sank its teeth into the creature’s neck. A blast of fire gushed out of its mouth as it did so, and its prey cried out in pain before its head was torn from its body. 

The air was still. The matriarch stood before its prey, its face alive with the arrogance of victory and the rush of battle. Jimmy hardly allowed a breath to leave him, and neither did the imps. They all watched with quiet dread, and in the Tinkerer’s case, fascination, as the large monster imperiously threw away the head of its slain foe and then burnt to ash the remnants of its body. It then spent a moment staring at where the monolichen had laid, as if lost in thought, before it turned and stalked away. 

A few seconds later and it was gone. 

Jimmy watched the hill it had disappeared behind for several long minutes before he quietly directed the imps and drones both to leave the area as quickly as they could manage. Relief painted the faces of Virast and his kin as they slunk away from where the dread-thing lurked, all thoughts of raiding the metaleonid lair lost in the face of their desire to live. 

The journey back to the village was a long, tense one, and quiet above all. Every creature seemed to have fled the immediate area of the violence and even after twenty minutes of travel, the air still seemed quiet. 

It was only after they returned to the village that Virast allowed a relieved sigh to escape his lips. 

“Never see that thing. Never hear. Only small things. Vicious but we can kill. But that? No chance. Even chief like you will die.” 

Jimmy did not refute it. The truth was harsh, but unavoidable. 

“For now, yes.” he said. 

“For now?” it repeated, wide-eyed. 

He stared at the imp and nodded. He had much to do to prepare. A beast like that could not be allowed to stalk the plains as it desired, and he did not doubt that more of such things roamed the floor as well. 

He was not as safe as he had foolishly assumed. 

Jimmy frowned. He had to accelerate everything. 

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