[Chapter 221. Tactics and positioning of two forces]

The healer behind the Salamander began to treat the wounds the shield-bearer had just sustained; its clawed hands wove patterns in the air that drew heat from the surrounding magma pools. The energy coalesced into threads of orange light that stitched themselves into the shield-bearer's wounds, patching its body back to a point where it could stand.

The burned flesh closed before Searanox's eyes. Scales regained their luster as the creature's breathing steadied. While Searanox focused on the singular Salamander, his mind consumed by the primal urge to destroy, the rest of the squad attacked his drones barrier with coordinated strikes.

The first layer had already succumbed to the multitude of skill-enhanced attacks; its hexagonal patterns flickered and failed under the relentless assault. Obsidian blades struck with force, while the spear punctured the energy field, causing the barrier to ripple and warp with each impact. The air crackled with the discharge of energy as his defensive drone strained to maintain its protection, its surface glowing brighter with each deflection.

The sound of metal on energy became a discordant symphony that filled the cavern, the impacts echoing off the walls and bouncing across the magma pools. From above, an intense violet glow erupted from the four offensive drones as all of them began to overcharge their beam emitters. The energy buildup appeared as a pulsating aura around each drone, the air ionizing with a faint hiss.

Seconds later, the violet beams tore through the air, their passage marked by the shimmer of superheated particles. They struck the Salamander's shield with such intensity that the obsidian surface began to glow white-hot, cracks spiderwebbing across it. The barrier formed from its shield dissipated under the combined force of the eight violent beams, letting some of them past to strike the creature's body.

The beams tore through scales and flesh, leaving smoking craters in their wake. With an eerie death roar that echoed through the cavern, the shield-bearer fell dead to the ground, its body dissolving into motes of light as it hit the walkway. With its death, the aggression that had held Searanox's focus on the beast vanished like a flipped switch. The rage-fueled haze in his mind cleared, leaving him disoriented and breathing hard, his armor slick with sweat.

At the same time, an arrow made of obsidian and humming with energy streaked through the air, fired at one of his drones hovering high above the encounter. Searanox turned his head and saw a second squad of Salamanders advancing toward his position, their numbers identical to the first group. They moved with the same military precision, their obsidian weapons glinting in the orange glow of the magma pools as they navigated the treacherous walkway.

`Why are there so many active drones? The entire formation I set up is undone.` He thought, assessing the state of the fight and trying to make sense of the hazy memories of his fury-driven battle against a single opponent.

His mind replayed moments of the battle in flashes: violet beams cracking shields, the roar of the shield-bearer echoing in his skull, the undeniable urge to destroy that had overridden his tactical thinking.

`A taunt skill.`

The realization dawned on him.

One of the new Salamanders, an archer, knocked another obsidian-tipped arrow into its bow, the motion fluid and practiced. Its scales were a lighter shade of red, almost orange in the cavern's light, and its eyes burned with an intelligence marking it as a scout or forward observer.

It released the arrow toward his hovering drones; the projectile cut through the air with a whistling sound. The hit drone remained intact but sustained heavy damage, sparks erupting from its hull as the arrow lodged deep into its casing. He arranged for the second defensive drone to cover his units from incoming arrows, positioning it to create an angled barrier to deflect rather than absorb the projectiles.

Meanwhile, his assault drones began laying down a barrage of crimson beams on the now-unprotected Salamanders. The beams cut through the air, their crimson light painting the cavern in brief, violent flashes as they struck their targets.

The second shield-bearer let out a roar, a guttural sound that vibrated through the very bones of the cavern. For a fleeting instant, Searanox felt the fury that had consumed him earlier try to take hold again. It felt like a phantom itch behind his eyes, a primal urge to obliterate the source of that sound washing over him.

But it never fully take hold of him. The rage crashed against the shores of his consciousness and receded, leaving him gasping but still in control.

`Did I just resist its skill?`

The thought became a spark of realization in the chaos of battle. He had felt the pull, the mind-numbing compulsion, but his willpower held. His gaze fixed on the shield-bearer, playing into the expectations of the Salamander.

His rifle spat one shot after another against the barrier. The violet beams impacted the energy covering the obsidian shield with sizzling cracks, while his drones cleared his left flank. The crimson beams from his assault drones carved through the Salamanders on his left, their scales sizzling and popping like bacon on a griddle.

The creatures fell one by one, their death throes echoing off the cavern walls. With the left flank cleared, he sent his units down the walkway, cutting off the advancing team that was almost upon him. The enemies began to attack his defensive unit in a flurry of skills, their obsidian weapons striking with renewed fury.

`Collapse the right flank before they reinforce.`

The first layer of its barrier gave way within less than a minute; the hexagonal patterns flickered and failed under the relentless assault. The air crackled with the discharge of energy as the drone strained to maintain its protection. But that time proved enough for his attack drones to turn around, shooting the remaining squad beside him in their unprotected rear.

Without the barrier protecting them, they fell as fast as the ones on the left. Their bodies dissolved into motes of light that vanished under the flashes of his drones attacks. The only one that took longer to bring down was the larger variant with the spear. Its scales were thicker, its movements more fluid, and it fought with a ferocity that bordered on desperation. However, even the Greater Salamander fell seconds later, its body dissolving as it hit the walkway. With them out of the picture, his flanks stood clear of imminent danger.

Searanox sent his defensive drone further down the walkway to support his drones that where already positioned there, while he formed the rearguard. The new squad had already broken through the second layer of the barrier, as his other defensive drone joined the new front. The sound of their attacks created a constant, grating symphony of metal on energy, each impact sending ripples through the hexagonal patterns.

This time, there was only one shield-bearer, but this squad had not just a healer but also a magic caster in their ranks. The aura and glowing sigils in the air were a dead giveaway for the other unarmed Salamander's role. The air around it shimmered with an unseen power, and Searanox felt the hairs on his arms stand on end.

The defensive drone with its damaged outer layer pulled back to recover its shield, its surface glowing brighter with each deflection, while the second unit took over. His attack drones focused on the archer in the far back, striking it down in one coordinated spray of beams. What remained of the archer's body hit the ground before dissolving into particles.

His gaze shifted to his Tech-Point counter at the edge of his vision; the numbers were already down to the upper two hundreds.

`I can't keep this up for much longer.`

With a thought, he repositioned both his defensive drones to create a wedge around the Salamanders. Their hexagonal barriers glowed with an intensified blue light as they shifted positions with precise, mechanical grace. The defensive units moved with uncanny synchronization, their forms cutting through the heated air as they established a tactical formation that squeezed the Salamanders into a tightening killbox.

The single shield-bearer could not position his own barrier in two places at once and faced an impossible decision on which side to protect. His ember eyes darted between the two shimmering walls of energy that threatened to crush his squad from both directions.

At the same time, his drones flew around them, encircling the enemy as they fired from all sides. His offensive units descended from above, their violet beams lancing downward like divine judgment, while his assault drones maintained a relentless horizontal barrage.

The trapped Salamanders fought with desperation. Their obsidian weapons struck against the energy barriers, their movements becoming erratic as they realized their disadvantage. The magic caster unleashed a wave of fire that dissipated against the drone formations, while the healer attempted to mend wounds faster than they were being inflicted—his efforts futile against the overwhelming firepower converging on their position.

Moments later, the only things left were glowing corpses that began to vanish in drifting embers of blue. The cavern fell silent, save for the distant hiss of magma and the hum of cooling rock. Searanox dismissed all of his drones after ensuring no single Salamander remained in the immediate surroundings.

Their blue dissipation left the air cleaner somehow, the scent of burned flesh fading. He sat on a flat rock formation further down the walkway, his armor still radiating absorbed heat that dissipated into the blistering air.

His gaze fixed on the Tech-Points. Less than two hundred points remained after this battle, the numbers flashing in his vision like a warning of his dwindling resources. His TP would regenerate at 28 points a minute while he had no active drones; the steady recovery provided a small comfort in this hostile environment. It would take a long time to reach his cap of over a thousand.

As he took his break, he pulled some snacks from his storage ring alongside a bottle of an ice-cold soft drink, condensation forming on the bottle's surface as it emerged into the sweltering cavern.