Rune Seeker

What crawled out of the several-city-block-sized hole was well beyond what Hiral had imagined when he’d seen the name 0M3G4 W34P0N. This thing wasn’t quite mountain-sized, like the Colossus they’d fought, but it might as well have been.

Emerging to stand on four legs, the thing had a body somewhere between a cat and a dragon. The molded brass looked sleek, yet powerful, with layered plates of armor seemingly flexing as the thing found its feet. The shoulders were definitely wider than a cat’s would be, while the belly was far more narrow – somewhat reminding Hiral of the Ex-General he’d fought. From those shoulders, metal horns or spines of some kind curved up then back almost the entire length of the body. Similar – though shorter – spines also emerged from sides of the shins of each leg. Massive claws tipped the end of each paw, while a pair of incredibly long tails whipped through the air behind the monstrosity.

And, given how they smashed cleanly through an entire building, they weren’t just for show.

At the opposite end of the construct, the head had more of a canine-slash-draconic imaging to it. There didn’t looked to be any scales across the face, and the snout was clearly more modeled after a wolf’s head than anything else Hiral could think of. From the side of the head, though, a pair of crescent-shaped horns extended to point directly in front of the beast’s face.

Given what the horns on Tomorrow’s Colossus had been capable of – as well as Hiral’s own horn-shaped Crown of Amin Thett– he had a pretty good idea they weren’t just for decoration either.

All in all, standing on four legs, the thing was still a towering twenty-five stories tall, and more than three-times that length, without even including the tail.

“We’ve got to fight that?” Gran asked what everybody present had to be thinking.

“It’s so big, we can’t miss it,” Loan said over the party chat, Ilrolik’s party finding a roof to get a good look at their next opponent.

“Maybe we can just jump on its back and keep hitting it?” Wule asked. “Worked for Hiral against the King of the Swamp, and this looks kind of like a bigger version of that. If it doesn’t have any defenses against…”

Wule’s words trailed off as a swarm of those metal, bird-like flyers – a drone swarm – came out of the metal spines running the length of the W34P0N’s body..

“Never mind…” Wule said, and Hiral could hear him shaking his head, even though he couldn’t see it.

“Seriously, how are we going to deal with something that big?” Yully asked.

“Nivian?” Hiral said, instead of directly answering the question. “Think you can keep its attention?”

“For a few minutes, at most,” Nivian said. “Something like that can’t be lacking on offense.”

“Good thing you’re so good at defense,” Hiral said.

“Sounds like you have a plan, Mr. Raid Leader,” Seena said.

“The start of one,” Hiral said. “That thing has to have a weakness, even if it is the fact something smaller like us can get on its back and dig our way down until we find something important. While Nivian distracts it, the rest of us need to find that weakness.

“High mobility folks, that’s our job. So, me, Left, Yanily, Seeyela, Devison, we’re starting on top of it. Drahn and Igwanda, see if you can find some decent vantage points and start hitting it from range. Remember, it can tear down entire buildings, so if it starts heading in your direction, get out of there.

“As for the rest of you, you’re on the ground looking up for any weak points you can spot. If you see something, give it a shot, and share what you find with the rest of us. Unlike some of the other fights we’ve had recently, an opponent this big…”

“It’s a Wild-Boss,” Yanily said. “In case your View hasn’t triggered yet.”

“A Wild-Boss this big,” Hiral amended. “Is going to have a lot of health – and tricks – which means it’ll be a marathon fight instead of a dash. Ilrolik and Nivian, how are your groups looking for resources?”

“Would’ve liked to have gotten a break,” Ilrolik said. “Doesn’t look like that’ll happen, so we’ll manage.”

“Same,” Nivian said simply.

“No big cooldowns that have a backlash,” Hiral went on. “And keep any longer cooldowns with big single-hit potential at the ready for any of those weak points I’m really hoping we’re going to find.

“Questions?”

“Smash?” Bash asked, though it summed up what everybody was feeling.

The Wild-Boss in front of them was intimidating – to say the least – but at the same time, it was exciting. This had to be one of the peak challenges in the entire Cradle. It was new, unknown, and clearly powerful. It felt like the last chance to push their B-Rank bodies before they moved to A-Rank. And, if they won – no, when they won – there would have to be some great rewards for achieving that while they were B-Rank.

“One last thing,” Hiral said. “If this thing is like the other Mecha-Armor we fought, it’ll only really take notice of you when you’re using solar energy. If things turn bad, stop using any abilities and reposition. That should be enough to hide you.”

“I’ll wait to engage until it notices one of you,” Nivian said. “Even in the best-case scenario, I won’t last long against that on my own.”

As if to prove Nivian’s point, the giant W34P0N smashed yet another building as it casually turned. Stone, glass, and metal shattered at the slightest touch from the thing’s heavy body, and it stepped away from the gaping hole it’d crawled out of. Then, as if it were taking in its surroundings, the head slowly swept from right to left. No, it wasn’t just sightseeing, it was looking for something.

What?

Before Hiral got the answer to his internal question, the 0M3G4 W34P0N stopped, and an echoing, metallic growl rumbled out of its chest. Small stones and debris along the road vibrated from the volume of the deep sound. Whatever it was looking for, it’d found it.

Wait, that direction…

Realization dawning on him, a notification window popped up to confirm his fear.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Dynamic Quest: Update

Hidden Trial (A-Rank): Mechanized

One of Tomorrow’s greatest weapons has awoken, standing as a final trial to those who would challenge it. However, should no contenders emerge – or stop it – the 0M3G4 W34P0Nwill follow its programing to cleanse the Cradle of Tomorrow of all life.

“That… doesn’t sound good,” Seeyela said.

“It’s worse than that,” Hiral said.

“Of course it is,” Wule deadpanned.

“That direction it’s looking,” Hiral continued. “Our base is that way.”

“Then the time for talking is over,” Seena said. “We woke it up, we have to deal with it.”

“And it’s not a short walk to get to it,” Yanily said, storm-cloud wings bursting from his shoulders.

“Go,” Hiral said. “Stick with the plan to find its weakness first, but if it gets to the edge of the city, we’re going to have to engage either way. Can’t risk dealing with the spatial expansions if we need to chase it outside the city.”

“You’re not taking us?” Seena asked him.

“Want to get a better vantage point,” he replied, pointing up. “Besides, moving that many of us radiates quite a lot of solar energy – it might notice.”

“Time for an old-fashioned hike then,” Seena said.

“Speak for yourself,” Seeyela said, Bamfing five blocks away in a heartbeat.

“You could’ve at least taken some of us with you!” Seena called after her sister, then looked at Hiral. “See you over there soon.”

“Be careful,” he told her. “It’s got to have…”

“… lots of tricks,” she finished. “I know.”

“Right,” Hiral said. “Go with her. Keep her out of trouble.”

The double and the party leader looked at each other.

“Isn’t it usually me telling him to keep you out of trouble?” Seena asked.

“Why do I always get the impossible jobs?” Right asked at the same time.

Then it was Hiral and Seena’s turn to exchange looks.

“Hey!” they said at the same time, like they silently agreed they should be insulted by the comment.

“I’m taking Left with me,” Hiral then added quickly.

“Who has the impossible job now?” Left asked Right.

“Yeah, I’ve got it a bit easier,” Right agreed. Then he looked at Seena. “Let’s go before somebody changes their minds.”

With the rest of the parties already moving as fast as their B-Rank bodies would take them in the W34P0N’s direction, Seena couldn’t linger. Her fingers reached out to touch Hiral’s – just for a second – then her party-leader face was back in place.

“Let’s go melt that Wild-Boss,” she said to Li’l Ur and Right, before the three of them ran off to join the others.

“And me?” Left asked when it was just the two of them. “Need an extra set of eyes?”

“Among other things,” Hiral said, lifting himself off the ground on a stable stream of Rejection. “Follow me.”

With the words – and blue Wings of Anella growing from Left’s shoulders – the two of them shot into the sky, the city spreading out below them. As for the giant Mecha-Armor, it hadn’t moved much from where it’d climbed out of the giant hole. Yet.

“It’s not completely awake yet,” Hiral said, as the two reached thousands of feet up. From there, Hiral could see the other party members sprinting in the giant’s direction, each of them being careful about any abilities they were using so as to not attract the titan’s attention. Even Seeyela’s Bamfs didn’t seem to be registering to Hiral’s solar senses. And if he couldn’t notice her while he was trying, it should be just as hard for the W34P0N to as well.

“Can you feel it?” Hiral asked, eyes back on their opponent. “Its solar energy is still cycling up.”

“While not a flesh-and-blood beast, the waking up analogy is a good one,” Left agreed. “The climbing energy is steady, but since we don’t know what its limit is, there’s no way to know when it will be ready to move.”

“No way at all,” Hiral agreed, eyes roving across the massive body. “How much energy do you think something like that would use?”

“Tremendous amounts,” Left said immediately. “More than anything we’ve seen.” The double seemed to stop to think about that for a second before making an amendment. “Aside from The Archwizard perhaps, or some of the squids we’ve witnessed.”

“What do you think, then? One power source or multiple?”

“Hrm,” Left said, clearly evaluating the flow of energy circulating around and through the 0M3G4 W34P0N. Thanks to the heavy, brass plating serving as the armor and body of the beast, even feeling the energy was a challenge. “I feel like each option – one power source or multiple – would have merits.

“More than one would offer redundancies in case of damage, and offer shorter routes for the energy to reach directly. On the other hand, one single source would likely be larger, and potentially capable of more output.”

“Do you think Tomorrow really expected this thing to get damaged?” Hiral asked.

“As its whole purpose is to battle…” Left started. “I suspect her logical side knew it would get damaged.”

“But her prideful side couldn’t believe it,” Hiral finished.

“Exactly. So, you believe it to be a singular power source because of that?”

“Yes, but not just because of that theory. Look,” Hiral said, pointing at the left, front leg. “There at the shoulder, the elbow, and the top of the paw. And in between.” He moved his arm up and down to indicate the clear line of smooth brass that didn’t seem to move quite like the rest of the surrounding armor. “Remind you of anything?”

It only took two seconds for Left’s eyes to widen. “That looks like a Meridian Line.”

“Complete with its own nodes,” Hiral said, tapping his elbow where he’d have a node if his tattoos were present. “And, one of our theories about our PIMs is that one of their main purposes is to carry the bulk of our solar energy to our extremities quickly. Once it gets there, it disperses through smaller channels to where we need it – and it’s why we have something like B-Rank bodies, as opposed to E-Rank – for abilities and our stats.”

“This W34P0N is modeled after a Maker’s lines to carry the energy across its massive body,” Left said. “Or, perhaps Tomorrow helped design a Maker’s tattoos based on this work.”

“It could go either way,” Hiral said. “And neither matters, at this point. What does matter, is we may have our target. I’d wager the power source – if it is just one – is buried so deep we’re never going to punch through that much armor. Remember the plating we saw where the Colossus was being built?”

Left nodded.

“But, those nodes and lines, for whatever reason, they’re on the surface, not buried under the…” Hiral trailed off, then literally slapped his own forehead. “Of course. It’s running off solar energy too. Maybe not pure solar energy – the power source is probably working like our PIM to transform or magnify the energy, like our new Solar Hearts – but it still needs a way to take sunlight in. The brass armor itself probably doesn’t work as well as our skin, so it has to have the nodes and lines made of something else.”

“And if we can damage or destroy those,” Left said. “We can cut this thing’s power off, or at least slow it down.”

“It doesn’t necessarily give us the win,” Hiral said. “But it’s a start.”

“Looks like the others are almost there,” Left said.

“Before we join them,” Hiral said. “Anything else you see? Or can think of?”

“If it’s really like a Maker’s Meridian Lines,” Left said, tapping the center of his chest. “The most important node will be right here. The other nodes will be more minor in comparison, but also – likely – less heavily armored.”

“And easier to reach,” Hiral said.

“Agreed. And since it’s under the chest of the W34P0N, it may not even be clearly visible. It could be where the main power source is, as well. The Solar Hearts we each got were part of a PIM evolution, and though they are lower in our bodies than our actual hearts – for those of you who have one – it’s possible Tomorrow wouldn’t have foreseen them.”

“And looking at the sheer size of that thing,” Hiral pointed at the monstrosity standing beneath them. “The chest is by far the most heavily armored section. If I was going to build a power source into something to protect it, that’s where I’d put it.”

“Exactly,” Left said. “It should be a high-priority target if somebody sees an opening.”

“An opening and a way to capitalize on it. If we start hitting that spot without punching through, there’s a good chance it’ll catch on to what we’re doing. We have to make our first attempt count.”

“It may catch on anyway, if we start going after its Meridian Lines and nodes,” Left pointed out.

“Then I guess we need to take out as many as we can before it figures out our plan.”

“I see something on this guy’s back,” Seeyela said. “Couple somethings… actually. Kind of like crystal or glass domes of some sort. And, why does this look familiar?”

“Sounds like we’re not the only ones who spotted it,” Left said.

“Nope, so let’s get over there,” Hiral said to his double, before going to a wider channel in the party chat. “Let me explain our theory as to why that is, and what we’re going to do about it.”