[413] 5.37 Assault on Bouvet VI

“That is… absolutely fucking disgusting,” Lindsey says.  “And I’ve had to do battlefield first-aid for compound fractures, nasty shrapnel wounds, and stuff I’d rather not revisit right now.”

I’m inclined to agree.  Pulsing in front of us is the heart of this castle of mechanical horrors, and I mean that with the word ‘heart’ taken extremely literally.  A rhythmically throbbing mass of reddish flesh about six feet tall, pumping some sort of Ether-containing fluid throughout this dungeon.  Up until this point, I had considered this fortress to be well, a building of some sort, created and operated by some childish [Roboticist] with more power than sense and maturity put together.

Now I’m forced to confront the very real plausibility that this whole structure is something biomechanical— that is to say, alive.  That we’ve been crawling inside of some giant monster for I don’t want to think about how long.  And it begs the questions: What is this place, and what sort of power and Classes does Ms. Fawkes have to claim dominion over it.

“Well, only one thing to do,” Chloe says.  She points [Lumen] at the mass of flesh.  “Time to–”

She thrusts her weapon into the center of the mass, only to be repelled at the last second.  She strikes again, only to meet the same outcome.  Lindsey and I try as well with our respective attacks, and we too find ourselves unable to breach the reinforced energy wall through any reasonable amount of effort.

Lindsey, though still fatigued from the previous fight, fires another [Flash of Insight] directly into the center of the energy field.  Despite even this, the barrier does not so much as shimmer as it absorbs and then harmlessly dissipates the strike.

“I really have to thank you, you know,” Ms Fawkes says.  “I had no idea that Miss Jacobs possessed an attack that destructive.  Had she struck the core of my little pet right when she had first had the chance, you all would have been free to destroy my little sanctuary and workshop and would already be on your way.  But because she stopped to ask for your advice, I had just enough time to erect my ultimate defensive formation.  I’m quite proud of it myself.  Any attacks that you might try to perform will be completely ineffective.  Hell, I doubt even a group of fourth ascension crooks could overcome my little masterwork.  But do keep trying.  If only for my entertainment.”

Before their blithering and childish attempts at insults have even finished, I am hard at work trying to understand the nature of the barrier, in the hopes of finding some weakness.  I do, unfortunately, have to concede that despite complete immaturity, immorality, a lack of decency, and a voice that is grating and inflammatory, that they are a competent inscriber.

[Veilsight] confirms the obvious.  There won’t be any teleportation through the barrier.  And the reason isn’t just some cheap ancillary protection added in after learning about my [Subspace Manipulation], but is instead built into the mechanisms that make it function in the first place

The central principle is straightforward: take any physical or Etheric force directed at it, reroute it into subspace, and dissipate it in every direction, where it can do no harm.  But the real genius— and I do not use the term lightly— in the design is all the redundancies and failsafes.  There are multiple layers of the barrier all meticulously interwoven together, providing additional structural integrity in the event that one of the layers is overwhelmed.

“Can you disable it?” Lindsey asks.

“Maybe.”  I focus my attention on the glyphs that handle the actual transfer of energy and momentum.  They’re based on some sort of… quaternion structure of multiple imaginary dimensions?  I think that’s the mathematical term for them?  Unfortunately, I don’t have much in the way of knowledge of complex analysis to try to target that point of potential failure.

What I can look at is the results of any force applied to it.  A simple punch demonstrates the effect quite nicely.  My titanium fist impacts the barrier with enough force to send a gust of wind through the sterile-white chamber.  In conventional space, the barrier is fixed.  But there are wobbles in subspace.  And that gives me an idea.

“Chloe,” I say.  “Can you stand on the opposite side of this horror show and attack the barrier exactly on my signal?”

“Just give me the signal when you’re ready.”

I study the resonance patterns as precisely as I can, identifying the specific spot where they all converge on the other side of the cylindrical shield.  Unfortunately, it’s not dead center as I had hoped.  Every strike vibrates the array slightly differently due to human error and inherent universal randomness.  And worse, there’s some sort of adaptability mechanism built into the glyphs themselves.  Against any other pair, these defenses would be enough on their own.

However, thanks to [Angelic Bond], the two of us can precisely coordinate our efforts in real-time, not slowed down by the need to enunciate or the limitations of the speed of sound through air.  If our communications can be intercepted, it’ll be only well after that knowledge is able to be used against us.

I strike first, guiding Chloe toward a specific spot on the opposite side.  She strikes with centisecond precision— more than good enough to start building a sequence of constructive interference patterns.  My third strike hits with enough force to send Lindsey’s hair back.  Chloe’s single thrust is off by a couple of millimeters thanks to air resistance— again within the error tolerance for our scheme.

Ms. Fawkes laughs at our efforts.  We pay their jeers no mind, continuing our attacks with even greater force.  I deliver a slashing attack, then a kick, before finally delivering a piercing blow of my own.  Three of Chloe’s [Spiritual Swords], the upgraded form of her previous [Mirage Swords], manifest to assist in delivering strikes with greater force.

After ten seconds, the resonance starts ricocheting back into conventional space.  The barrier shudders by the slightest amount.  The ground and ceiling both start to shake.  There is no more laughter coming in the intercom.

Two gun turrets appear out of the walls.  Lindsey shoots both of them before either can get a strike off.  Then four more appear.  I pay them no mind as I continue our work on the barrier.  Lindsey again proves more than capable of excising them both from continued existence without my having to so much as tilt my head toward the next one.

The building continues to rumble, too loudly for it to be just from our attacks.  Lindsey is already on it.  She’s fatigued, but downs a vial of some rancid yellow liquid and then tosses the empty container back on the ground in dramatic fashion.  Her entire body glows with a rich golden hue and I start to wonder— did someone manage to concoct a potion that is currently allowing her to access a variant of my [Overlimit] state?  The surge in her [Ether] certainly suggests as much!

“You keep at work taking care of the barrier, ladies!  I’ll give these metal bastards a piece of my mind and buy as much time as I can give you.”

I renew my focus on the barrier itself, doing what I can to not think about Lindsey or how much time she’ll last.  By now, the vibrations are rippling through the first layer and reverberating into the second and just barely the third.  Chloe turns to me and nods.  We accelerate further.  Now completely in rhythm, our attacks are echoing against each other in a cavalcade that is, for the first time, finally breaking Ms. Fawkes’ façade.

“Stop it!” they say in a voice that sounds almost fearful.  “If you destroy that, I–  I–”

They don’t finish their words.  I also don’t give a damn what might happen to that asshole if and when this dungeon is scrapped.  Fuck them and fuck Apeiron!  Their whole organization is the absolute scum of the earth and has been irredeemable from the moment they sought to cross the absolute line of nuclear armageddon against human, civilian targets.

At last the third and the final layer of the barrier is wobbling and contorting before a cascade of dozens of strikes per second.

“I hope you two are almost done!” Lindsey screams.  “I’m just about at my limit!  I can give you ten more seconds…  Fifteen at the most, and then I’m done!”

I grit my teeth and channel my rage.  My [Crimson Heart] burns in my chest.  The sweat on my skin sizzles, tingeing my skin in a scarlet hue as I focus on drawing more power out of the magical gemstone buried in my chest.  I know…  I know in the back of my mind that I might not be able to save everyone.  That I am only one person.  But my role, my class, the reason why Madison first created the original design of ｢The Anomaly｣, all of it manifested together in my Skills and my very being.

“Let’s do this,” Chloe says.

Our strikes are now in perfect coordination.  I don’t have to communicate with Chloe any further.  The moment the reverberations converge on her side of the barrier, she’s already there, striking back at dead center with precision both spatial and temporal equal to my own.  The entire facility wobbles.  Chunks of tile fall down from the ceiling.  For a moment, all of the robots Lindsey is holding off stop their movements, though it doesn’t do her a lot of good as her body starts to struggle under the strain that potion placed upon her.

I look away.  If this is the moment she chooses to make the ultimate sacrifice, then the least I can do is make damn well sure that it isn’t in vain.  Harder!  Faster!  My throat clamps up and my own muscles resist me at this level of intensity, firing these shockwaves back to Chloe at speeds exceeding Mach 1.

Chloe struggles as well— the wince as her sword slams into the quivering barrier and the recoil passing up through her right arm.  Her movements, less sharp than before, are forced through sheer exertion of will rather than the finesse of a [Blade Dance] whose duration has expired and where she does not have the remaining [Ether] to reactivate it.

But we’re so close.  So close that Ms. Fawkes’s squawks of panic and pleading like a frightened little child are music to my ears.  If it will make that damn squealing little brat finally shut up for five goddess-damned minutes then I will let my spite alone force the last bit of strength I need and—

The barrier shatters.  Ms. Fawkes’ screams echo throughout the entire chamber.  Something about breaking the barrier itself seemed to have caused them pain all on its own.  Was it somehow tied to their own life essence?  I don’t have a chance to ponder the matter further before Chloe plunges [Lumen] right into the center of the pulsing heart of this dungeon.  I don’t waste a moment before I follow suit with Filia’s edge.

All the lights fail in unison.  The robotics go limp all at once.  Then the explosions start.

I grab Lindsey as Chloe gathers her weapons.  We fly up as fast as we can.  Without the facility’s heart powering the entire complex, the tiles are as frail as any other piece of inanimate matter without System-enhanced durability.  A wall of fire trails us as the entire complex collapses on itself.  All I can do for anyone else who might be trapped inside is that they are able to clear the blast radius before the entire thing explodes.

The sun is low along the horizon as it always is at these extreme latitudes when we finally cross the final ceiling and ascend into the Antarctic skies high above.  From here we can only watch and offer what comfort and solace we can to the innocent, the impressed, and the imprisoned in whatever lies beyond this world.  And end Apeiron’s terroristic ambitions before yet more faultless people get caught up in yet another pointless war.

[You have slain a (Heart of Industry / Master of the Tower, Level 100).  You have gained a boosted 1,000,000 Experience.]

[You have gained enough Experience to reach Level 100.  [Strength] +3, [Speed] +3, [Vitality] +3, [Mind] +3.  Please assign free stat points (Remaining: 10).]

[Maximum Health increases by [Vitality] x 2 + Current Level + Rand[1,3] = 697]

[Maximum Ether increases by [Mind] + Current Level + Rand[0,2] = 416]

[Level: 100; Experience: 23,172,100;  To Next: 591,165]

[Current Stats: [Health]: 5,695 / 33,280; [Ether]: 10,712 / 21,070]

[Current Stats: [Strength]: 690 (Base: 233); [Speed]: 672 (Base: 227); [Vitality]: 882 (Base: 298); [Mind]: 932 (Base: 315)]