Chapter 138: Chapter 3: Pins
Rydel and Alrith couldn't believe their eyes when the Aquarian straight up performed mitosis in front of their eyes.
'You killed my brother, so I will kill you!' All of them spoke harmoniously at the same time, and they all charged forward, chopping down the trees with the sharp Aquarian blades and knocking them towards Rydel and Alrith. Rydel and Alrith hopped away, and as they four jumped high in the air and prepared to cut Rydel down, he instead reached out for the seaweed tree with the Glove and warped it inside of his hand. The glove offering him the sensations of the rough edges of the tree's barks, and Rydel warped it in the air towards the attacking Aquarians like.
The trees rammed into the stomachs of the Aquarians like baseball bat, and they threw their arms and legs forward as their forward momentum is halted instantly as they fell back down onto the ground.
It appeared that all of those clones can only do the same motion as the main Aquarian, however, the timing of their actions is different from one another, the four remaining clones charged towards Rydel and Alrith and approached them.
They all each moved in the same way, with their angles and speed of attack all performed in a similar fashion, though there is a slight time delay in between each, which makes the defense of it incredibly difficult. Rydel was able to parry the first strike, move his head out of the way for the second, knock aside the third, but the first and the fourth attacks at the same time but from different angles.
Seeing no other options, Rydel had to jump backwards, but the second and the third immediately moves forward the close the gap, following by the fourth and the first.
Alrith screamed in pain, as a blade slipped past her defenses and cut her on the arms. However, using this opening, she then dropped the spear onto the ground and switched to the short blades as she endured the pain of the injury and closes in on the clone that damaged her with a barrage of cuts in between the gaps of the armor before slicing the suit underneath wide open. However, no Aquarian blood comes out, but rather some viscous fluid streamed down through the openings and the clone dropped down like a deflated balloon mannequin.
Another pair of blades found their place on Alrith's back, but she spun around and cut those too. Somehow, she is finding these openings after getting hurt, despite her being able to take down two of the clones, there is a price to be paid, and she can't do this forever. The nanotechnology enhancements have begun the healing process right away, but there will be some short term impact on her combat ability.
Rydel saw Alrith's injuries, but also how she was able to form her counterattacks, and that gave him an idea. The opening always comes after the initial attack, as the momentum of the blade was carried through. Skilled swordsman are of course able to continued the momentum of the blade and string together smooth transitions of multiple attacks, but from the look of things, the Aquarian's swordsmanship is actually nothing spectacular compared to the likes of Dolon or even Gold. His attacks are simple to defend even for a human, and the only thing that's making it tricky is the cloning trick and the timing of multiple attacks.
In a vacuum, this system of robotic combat appeared fairly competitive in this setting, but if Rydel sends a massive change into this system like drastically changing the distance between him and the clones, the delayed response time in between the actions of the clones will be exaggerated, and an opening bigger than before can be exploited!
Rydel knocked aside the attack from the second Aquarian, planted his feet hard and immediately countered attack by closing the distance in between the two and sending a punch with his glove directly into the Clone's body! The glove went right through the light armor and punctured the second clone, but the attack from the third clone suddenly sped up and the blade dug into the side of Rydel's neck and into the clone's shoulder!
Thankfully, the physiological enhancements on the skin stopped the worse of it, but Rydel still felt a bit of a sting.
'I know you are the most troublesome human!' The third has spoken, 'but not you will die!'
So this is the real one. Rydel thought, as he twisted and turned to use the second as a shield for him while stepping away. Blood streamed down his side before the wound was sealed by the nanotechnology drones flowing in his body. Then, as he pulled his fist back threw the second of the side, the third, fourth and the first have closed in the distance once again and prepared to strike again. However, Rydel pointed the Lightning blade forward towards the third and sends a massive jolt of lightning as the sound of thunder echoed through the forest. The Aquarian was burnt to a crisp, and with his fall comes the fall of the rest of the clones he is controlling somehow.
'Why did you wait so long?' Alrith asked, as she walked towards Rydel.
'Cause using the Lightning Blade will give away our location,' Rydel said, 'I had to be sure about who I am attacking, and my best bet was to attack the original clone.' He swung his left hand which was covered in the viscous fluid. The clones are fundamentally different from the original, which means some measure of control must be present, and killing the original may be able to stop them all together.
If anything, it will make the rest a lot easier to deal with, if that's needed at all.
'You okay?' He asked, as he walked towards Alrith while tapping on his neck with his fingers just to check how much blood was there, and the big drips on his finger tips was enough information for him, 'you looked to be in a bad shape.'
'Well, none of my vitals are hit though.' Alrith said while giving him a wink.
Rydel rolled his eyes and reached out with the Glove towards the crate. Then, he warped the crate away from mid air and dropped it on the ground in front of them. Alrith opened it right up and looked for the pin, but instead, she only found some left over packaging of foods and an empty slot where there must have been a pin just prior.
After all of that effort, and there is still nothing. Rydel lets out a disappointing sigh and continued onwards. That was to be expected for them, so there is no point getting upset over it. There are a few more crates for them to check out before they meet up with Claws and Andere again, so Rydel and Alrith quickly headed off.
The other two crates were also empty, but luckily there weren't any splitting Aquarians waiting around for a revenge at each of them, and as they showed up at the meeting place, both Claws and Andere were there to their surprise.
'You turtles are too slow!' Claws growled as Rydel shrugged while Andere simply nodded towards the two humans. Both of them looked like they have been in a fight, but both came out in a much better shape than Rydel and Alrith are in.
'Sorry, we had a hold up...' Alrith said, 'we had to fight eight Aquarians, but that's a story for another day. Found anything?'
Both of them shook their head, which is to be expected.
In front of them in the highlands near the center of the forest, there are many clusters of crates dropped, and that's where they will go next. Moving as a quad, they quickly covered vast distances and scanned the two crates that are nearest to them with no luck, but now they also saw the other groups of participants who have regrouped after the initial stages.
It wasn't long before there was a foot race between them and another group of Aquarians towards the nearest pin. Claws volunteered to go kill the other guys while Andere slammed the crate open and obtained one pin for himself.
Nodding towards Alrith and Rydel for offering him the first pin, Andere said he will stay with the rest after all of them have gotten the pins, as he tossed the food packets in the crates towards the pair.
As the group returned to Claws, he has already singlehandedly took down the group that were trying to compete with them for the crate.
'Aren't they your people?' Rydel asked as the Aquarian blood washed all over Claw's body.
'Well, I hate Aquarians!' Claws said with a maniacal laugh, 'you found a pin you fat Rocky?'
'Yes. Let's continue.' Andere said, pointing in the direction of the next crate.
The clustering of the crates are more pronounced in the denser parts of the forest a bit further into the center, and Rydel and Valerie also spotted a crate stock in between branches of the seaweed tree again as the group scattered all around this region to search for the crates. Making sure that Claws and Andere was looking the other way, Rydel warped it down and also found another pin. That was easy enough, and now all he had to do is to protect it until the night's over.
'Yes!' Rydel held the pin tight before sliding it into a pocket in his right arm, strapping it tightly and heading pack. That's when they heard the battle cry of Claws.
They quickly headed back and met up with Andere as he also waved a pin towards them with yet another firm nod. Perhaps that's how the Rocky builds his tree trunk neck. They quickly tracked down the origin of the cry and saw Claws being surrounded by a group of three humans who are all heavily geared in various types of weapons. They have surrounded Claws in a small circle, but there was a motionless body that's missing a head laying not too far there. Claws himself was injured with a knife that's buried deep inside of his arm.
'Claws!' Alrith yelled as they approached, drawing the attention away from the humans for a brief second. Using this opening, Claws immediately charged towards the nearest human, as he hastily tried to parry, Claws gripped onto the spear. The human was skilled enough to immediately drop a spear and reach for the knife attached to his hip, though one of Claw's arm took advantage of the split second opening and landed a lethal scratch across his chest. The human collapsed as blood flooded out and he gurgled with blood, struggling to get in one last breath.
The other two human immediately turned and fled as half of their group was wiped out, but Claws caught up with them in the blink of an eye, the speed demonstrated here far exceeding what Rydel and Alrith previously thought was capable by him. It appeared that he is hiding his true strength just like the pair of them, and possibly just like Andere too.
The clean up was quick and brutal, and Rydel simply looked on without any possibility of interfering with the slaughter. Whoever that signed up to this know the risks and the subsequent rewards, and the price of an appointment with Life Springer is to be used as subjects in her hit series the Life Springer's Game, exclusively on her streaming channel.
'It looked like everything is under control there.' Rydel said with an astute observation, and Alrith rolled her eyes at him.
'Have you found a pin yet?' Claws asked, turning around and leaving the knife on his arm.
'I have.' Andere said.
'Yes, us too.'
'Great!' Claws said with as close to a grin as he can muster, 'then this is all for today. Let's just wait until the next phase.'
Pleasantly surprised by the fact that Claws doesn't intend to pick another fight for the rest of the day, they have decided to exit the forest and set up a small camp in the hills where they came from, which also serves as a high ground to see any incoming enemies.
The exit from the forest is simple, and they were one of the stronger and healthier groups left at the stage, with most of the crates already being found and emptied. No one dare challenge a full quad with a gigantic Rocky and a monstrous Aquarian, not at this stage.
This time, it was the Rocky Andere who volunteered to go fish, and Rydel will be the one in charge of cooking later on.
'Do you want me to fix you up?' Alrith said, as the trio sat quietly around a survival heat pack, 'the knife. I am a surgeon.'
Claws looked at her with a perplexing expression before finally giving her the permission to approach. With the packages in the medical supplies, the job was easy and quick, and the bloodied up knife soon found itself out of Claw's body and on the floor. Andere is still away on his fishing trip, so the three returned to the awkward silence yet again.
'Why did you come here, Claws?' Finally, Rydel asked as the sun gradually sets on Poseidon 5.
'I am here because of the same reason we are all here.' Claws replied, 'Life Springer. She's been playing us like a fiddle, and yet all of us is still playing.'
'This isn't your firsts time?' Alrith asked, 'I knew you can withdraw without dying, but I didn't realize people will come back for seconds.'
'Believe me, there are crazy bastards like that that will die to be seen by Life Springer again.' Claws said, 'that bitch...'
'I wonder what she is like...' Rydel said, looking down at the heater pack, 'we are here so we can get her to save our friend.'
'Trust me, you might keep your friend away when you see her.' Claws said jokingly, 'tomorrow will be the hardest day of all, and she always offer a chance to back out at the end of the second day.'
Meaning that if they wanted to back out, the next few hours will be their last chance.
'We have gone this far for her,' Rydel said, patting the pin in his right arm, 'we can't back down now.'
'Are you sure?' Claws asked, his tunes suddenly changing subtly as he looked carefully at Rydel, and he nodded to the question.
Claws lets out a big breath and stood up from the seated position as his six Aquarians arms began to uncoil. He looked into the forest and away from the other two and said, 'what a shame.'
That's when he moved. Spinning around from the standing position, he kicked dusts into the air with his legs and sent it to temporarily blind Alrith and Rydel, however, as he moved, Rydel also moved. Jumping up onto his feet, he immediately activated the glove, as he knew that Claws cannot be taken down through his swordsmanship that easily, and any time wasted would his downfall.
However, Claws first moved towards Alrith who still realize what has happened and he knocked her out with a single fist, as the edges of his claws leaving three scratches on her face right across the forehead.
Rydel wanted to move towards her to see if she is okay, but Claws has already closed in into melee range. He swung his gigantic claws to the side of Rydel's head, and he blocked the sharpest bit of the claws with the side of his glove, which didn't take any damage from it. However, Claws immediately followed up with two consecutive punches into his stomach which felt like two missiles were fired into his stomach.
Rydel was sent flying backwards, but Claws immediately grabbed onto his right hand and held him up in the air.
Three more punches turned Rydel's entire world upside down as he is completely defeated by Claws quick aggression. There is no answer, and Rydel's reactions were nothing but slow motion to a seasoned fighter like Claws.
'I left the girl alive.' Claws said, his voice twisted and muffled from Rydel's perspective as his vision of Claw's fangs faded in and out of focus, 'however, it's always you that I feel uneasy about.'
'....why...' Rydel mumbled, as saliva dripped out of his lips as another three thunderous punches turned his entire world to black before the light returned again.
'Why? Because I need the pin.' Claws said with a maniacal laugh which sounded like bells that are being violently rang to Rydel, 'finding a pin in a treasure hunt is too boring, finding it off the arms of an Ally, now that's top tier entertainment.'
'Thank you for the win.' Claws said, as he revealed the claws, and it slit across the arm socket of Rydel's. The first swing broke through the physiological enhancements as the nanotechnology drones were immediately mobilized to stop and repair the damage. The second and third strike broke through the hardened tendons and ligaments, and at last he pulled the entire arm out of the socket.
The shot of pain knocked out Rydel totally after he screamed out in pain. That woke Alrith back from her temporarily black out, and what she saw was the horror that's been endured by Rydel, and she also screamed.
Pointing the top of the arm socket away from him, Claws searched for the pocket that the pin is placed in, and took the pin for himself. That's when a bright light appeared from the arm, and a storm of lightning exploded outwards as electricity strands come in and out of existence. The air is burned and catalyzed by the intense release of energy, and Claws immediately smelled the signs of danger.
He dropped the arm onto the ground and jumped off the side of a cliff away. However, as he left the scene of Rydel's amputation, he also left behind a word of advice.
'Don't blame the player, blame the game.'
'RYDEL!' Alrith crawled towards Rydel as her legs were still numbed from the blows she received from Claws, and tears flowed out as she saw the amount of blood that's coming out of Rydel's body. The nanotechnology drones can only do so much in such a short amount of time, and the loss of an arm is simply too great a trauma to one's body to be repaired instantly.
Reaching out for whatever medical supplied Alrith has left over, she began to stop the bleeding before looking over to find the arm that's been ripped off. There might still be a chance that it can be reattached, though it cannot be done here, and it cannot be done now.
She looked to what was Rydel's right arm, and what was left is a charred black rod of meat with a silvery metal poking out from the burnt flesh. The metal had loops and strands of electricity running through and all around it, and it pulsed an orange light.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone