Asceptus bots
"Hongg! Hongg!....." The sound of alarm bells suddenly went off.
"We should be more careful from now onwards." Alex reminded Regis while they were making their way through the forest.
"Why is that?" Regis questioned. Over time, he had started to make small conversation with Alex to give him the impression that Regis was slowly getting used to the war simulation.
'This alarm bell means that the bots that are used to simulate the Asceptus are going to be activated. And trust me, they are a nuisance. The Asceptus are a more advanced civilization and have achieved a galactic level civilization about four thousand years before us. And it is said that they are a few steps smarter than humans when measured on galactic intelligence scale."
"These bots are not only fitted with better equipment than the ones we are provided, they may also make it very tough to navigate the forest and complete other subsidiary missions. Last time, all except one of the bots was diffused by two teams working together. The only team which was able to diffuse their targets was made of one cadet who had his official joining the next day and Carles Capellat, who will join the official post starting the next month. Both of them should have had all their stats around 5 points when they diffused it."
"This does sound bad." Regis now had an idea about their odds if they fought these bots alone.
"There should still be some time before these bots spread out around the area, so we might as well focus on completing the third subsidiary mission before that." Alex replied while turning towards right.
Regis followed behind his scout as they made their way through the forest while avoiding mutated beasts and synthetic beasts alike. Now, their target was a kind of mechanical creature.
While synthetic beasts were made to look like real life beasts made of metal and mostly had abilities similar to or adapted from the real ones, mechanical creatures were made completely from human imagination and resembled inanimate objects more than creatures. One could even call them AI run weapons.
After searching around for dozens of minutes, Alex was finally able to find their final subsidiary target, a mechanical creature that resembled a large bush that had come to life. According to Alex, this mechanical creature had the ability to attack using root like mechanical structures spread around the vicinity and also had some of its parts spread around throughout a small area surrounding it and acting as remotely controlled weapons.
Even when most of the information was blocked, the mask lived up to its reputation as the best scouting equipment in the war simulation exercise.
"On comparing this one to the one I fought last time; it should attack using those whip-like structures for some time. Once the damage exceeds a certain threshold, it will start using the remotely controlled weapons to make the area near itself one big trap." Alex said as he put together the data from the mask and his previous experience
"Let's begin." Alex said after finalizing the plan
Their plan was divided into three phases and quite simple. First phase:
Regis waited for Alex to move closer to the mechanical creature. As soon as that was done, Regis immediately locked the target of his gloves at the machine and fired shots in rapid succession. His current position was just at the tip of the range of the machine's attacks.
Multiple chains spread on the ground around the machine immediately came alive and whipped towards Regis. He slid sidewards and shot at the mechanical creature once again. Once the chains flung themselves at Regis, Alex dashed towards the main body from the side. The blade of the dagger was covered in a thin layer of brown which left deep blackened cuts on the mechanical body. Few of the chains that remained stationary on the ground rose up and moved in Alex's direction.
Regis shot at the chains that were following after him leading to corrosion of the metal at the point of impact while also creating space to occasionally hit the body of the mechanical creature. The mechanical creature pulled back some of the chains and tried to cover them on the parts hit by Regis' shots or the burns left behind by Alex's dagger.
Feeling the pressure reduce, Regis continued firing rapidly at the mechanical creature while also dodging the chains that came his way.
"I found one. There is a solar battery in the flower like structure towards your 8 O' clock." Alex transmitted his voice directly to Regis.
This was the beginning of phase two. Regis immediately turned around to locate the said flower. He freed the aim of one of his gloves that was previously locked on the main body and turned it at the flower.
Alex moved forward towards the mechanical creature at the same time, ensuring that a majority of the chains were moving towards him.
'Electromagnetic disruption.' A zapping sound emerged from the canon aimed at the 'flower' and a beam carrying strongly varying electromagnetic pulses hit the flower. A black smoke rose from the flower and it fell down on the ground creating a metallic sound.
"Don't attack the main body, we have to limit the damage while I try to find more of those." Alex's voice reached Regis' ears, who immediately switched to attacking the chains, corroding each part where his shots landed.
Soon, Alex was able to locate another mechanical instalment in the area surrounding them and Regis shot it down, and then the third and the fourth….
'We should be reaching the threshold soon.' Regis could feel it, the third phase was going to start soon enough.
Just then, Regis heard a faint rumbling sound and Alex turned his attention away from the mechanical creature and focussed towards the ground.
"Move towards that spot. Quick!" Alex pointed towards a nearby clearing as he dashed towards it. Regis nodded and slid towards the clearing, overtaking Alex with the help of his hoverboots. The mechanical plant flailed its chains up and down, trying to reach Regis and Alex, but the two of them were well beyond its reach.
Regis looked back towards the mechanical plant which abruptly shifted away from its location, the first time that it moved. The area of ground where the battle had just taken place suddenly split apart with the two halves rising to different heights.
The flat ground was converted into four small hills within a minute. The target of the mission, the mechanical plant also suffered some disadvantages as all its traps and hidden parts were separated from it, leaving it isolated on the slope of one of these hills.
Regis thanked his luck and wanted to attack the weakened target, but was stopped by Alex.
"The change in landscape has attracted some unwanted attention to this part." Regis immediately understood what Alex meant by saying that.
"Then, shouldn't we run away or hide?" Regis asked curiously.
"There's no need for that. The agility of those bots is restricted so that we cadets can escape them if we encounter them while struck in unfavorable situations. Let's get a look at what kind of bot we will likely be fighting." Alex said as he focussed towards a certain direction.
Soon, Regis could hear the sounds of metal hitting the ground as a figure made its presence known to Alex and Regis. A humanoid robot that should be around the same height as Regis and Alex appeared on top of one of the hills.
Regis looked at the robot and immediately arrived at a conclusion that the bot was designed after an Asceptus. It had humanoid build and even moved like humans by raising its feet to take steps forward. It could even sprint like humans just like what Regis had seen it do a few seconds ago. Although its face looked like a human, it was much more streamlined. Its face looked like a human face, but was also stretched forwards at the tip of its nose such that it appeared to be more like a prism that pointed towards the two of them. The hands designed like humans as well, had two joints instead of one and nearly reached the kneecaps of the bot.
The bot looked towards Alex and Regis for few seconds before it suddenly leapt forward towards them.
"Let's go."
Regis nodded and followed behind Alex as they dashed away from the bot.
The bot chased them for half a minute, but sensing that it was unable to reach them, it gave up the chase and returned back to the hills. The bot glanced at the mechanical plant and a small beeping sound escaped from its closed mouth.
Its processor told it that this flora was something that was targeted by its targets. So, like a creature of prey, it would wait for the targets to appear near the flora once again and hunt them down when the time came. Another small and short beeping sound emerged from the bot and it started moving towards the mechanical plant.
"I think that it will wait for us to go back there. It may have concluded that the mechanical plant was our target. Giving up on this mechanical plant and finding other one is an option, but I think that it may be better if we find someone to co-operate with." Alex stopped after running a few hundred meters and said to Regis who was waiting for him.
"It sure is nice to spend no energy on movement and sliding faster than the others even then. I am tired." Alex looked as if he was jealous of the hoverboots.
Regis couldn't even find a drop of perspiration on Alex's forehead that could support the claim.
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Note: The next chapter [7.5] is an auxiliary one and published in the auxiliary volume. You can skip and directly read chapter 8 since there is no significant plot development in chapter 7.5